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Tuesday, February 24, 2004 |
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Tuesday, January 06, 2004 |
"(Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth.)"
Numbers 12:3
Now, wouldn't that be an incredible claim to fame. :)
6:39:19 AM
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Monday, December 29, 2003 |
I am currently reading a book entitled, "What Happens When We Pray for Our Families" by Evelyn Christenson. In it I came across the a quote similar to one by George F. Will recorded here:
"In the 1940s a survey listed the top seven discipline problems in public schools: talking, chewing gum, making noise, running in the halls, getting out of turn in line, wearing improper clothes, not putting paper in wastebaskets. A 1980s survey lists these top seven: drug abuse, alcohol abuse, pregnancy, suicide, rape, robbery, assault. (Arson, gang warfare and venereal disease are also-rans.)"
The quote struck me considerably and I have reflected on it quite a bit especially in conversations with fiends. It is certainly scary for those of us raising children. As it turns out the lists lack scientific credibility but regardless, I think it reflects a true trend that is seemingly accelerating.
How does one balance raising children that are protected appropriately early on but also responsible once they face such challenges?
2:54:31 PM
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Monday, December 15, 2003 |
In church today John Underhill spoke on the topic of "Productive Spirituality." His primary point was that there is an abundance of things to do in this world, and many of them are not bad in the least. However, in choosing how to spend one's time, he argued that we should question whether what we are selecting to do is "productive." Is it contributing to being a fruitful Christian. He gave the example of his daughter reading a "fantasy" book and indicating that it was not bad in itself but that perhaps there were more productive choices that could be made.
I really struggle with this question. I have wrestled with it many a time, especially in regards to my work. I believe that God has gifted me in many areas and that with his guidance I could have a significant effect in bringing about his work if I was in full-time ministry rather than a full-time computer nerd. So the question, "Is activity A or B productive or fruitful regardless of whether it is good or bad presents" a real challenge to me. As a computer nerd am I being all that God wants me to be? (By the way, I found William Hendricks' and Doug Sherman's book, Your Work Matters To God to help wrestle with this topic. It doesn't provide the answers necessarily but it helps probe the issue within your own life.)
I confess that I have still not fully come to terms with the question of whether my work is the most "productive" choice I could be making but I have come to the point of believing that it is, none-the-less, the right choice for me at this time in my life. In other words, I am reasonably confident that my work is what God wants from me at the moment. The question as to whether a choice is "productive" can be significantly misleading, however. Sure in the case where the answer is yes you are fine. However, whenever the answer is no (perhaps most of the time) then little conclusion about the activity can be drawn (except to note that the answer wasn't yes). Furthermore, as I discussed a while back, there are times when choosing to do exercise or even veg. out in front of the TV is the appropriate choice, even when it would be difficult to argue that it is doing much to bring God's kingdom here on earth.
In summary, I don't think the question, is appropriate and the only time that it can provide any guidance is when the anser is yes. Choices about time are way more complicated than this question implies.
1:14:10 AM
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Currently my church is doing a series on John 15:1-8 and being a "fruitful Christian". I think that typically this is generally interpreted in regards to how effective one is at sharing their faith. However, I appreciated John Underhill's broader perspective on the topic as follows:
What is a fruitful Christian?
- Fruitful Christians do good to others (Titus 3:14, Colossians 1:10)
- Fruitful Christians are growing in Christ-like character (Galatians 5:22-23, 2 Peter 1:5-8)
- Fruitful Christians help other trust in Jesus Christ as Savior and grow to serve Him as Lord (Romans 1:13, 1 Corinthians 16:15)
- Fruitful Christians give their resources to God for His work (Romans 15:28, Philippians 4:17)
- Fruitful Christians honor God by the words they speak (Hebrews 13:15)
- Fruitful Christians pray with results (John 15:7, 16)
- Fruitful Christians learn and obey Christ's Word (John 15:3, 7, 10)
- Fruitful Christians possess a joy that doesn't depend on circumstances (John 15:11)
- Fruitful Christians love other sacrificially (John 15:12-13)
1:12:49 AM
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Sunday, December 14, 2003 |
Today was the final episode of Survivor. Elisabeth went to join the neighbors to watch while I stayed home with the kids. When she got back she was sharing how so much stuff on TV is such garbage. Hmm... I thought:
Up until moving into our current home a year and a half ago, we had never had a TV that was hooked up (we could watch rented movies). I confess that I was somewhat concerned that having the TV would be a problem for me as it is the type of thing I can be easily addicted to. As it turns out, I have watched very little TV. Over the past year I would estimate it has been less that 50 hours total, at least in my home. (I have perhaps watched a similar amount when traveling and staying in hotels.)
As I look back on the TV missed and Elisabeth's comments about how bad it, is all I can do is agree. It occurs to me that aside from 3 or 4 significant news stories, I have never regretted not watching TV. Sure, there are some negatives to my TV abstinence. I am certainly clueless in discussions about this advertisement, that show, and what-not around the water cooler or pop-culture-quiz-game. However, this inability to chit-chat on such topics pails in comparison to my gratitude at not getting sucked in to something I am confident I would simply regret.
In no way am I advocating that to watch X amount of TV is wrong or even bad. This is one of those things that each person has a different level of appropriateness. In my case TV watching should be low. For others, TV is presumably much more acceptable. That said, I would be interesting to know how often an avid TV watcher would declare they regretted watching TV and if the regret becomes desensitized the more avid the viewer?
I did a quick search on the Internet and found some links that had some rather staggering statistics on this topic:
11:49:05 PM
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Sunday, November 02, 2003 |
This weekend I attended a Family Life Marriage Conference at the Coeur d'Alene resort. The material presented was solid and served as a great reminder for making my marriage strong. Of far greater value, however, was dedicated, un-distracted, one-on-one time with Elisabeth. Elisabeth was even able to refrain from calling home to check on the kids. It was truly a phenomenal weekend in which our marriage was greatly enriched by such focused time together.
Goals:
- Attend a marriage conference of some kind at least once a year.
- Take a at least one weekend per. year away with Elisabeth that is devoted entirely to spending time together.
(Note to Self: Refrain from trying to accomplish anything, conquer anything, or do something you have never done before. Just be together.)
P.S. Thanks to my parents for babysitting. We couldn't have done it without them.
12:13:36 AM
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Thursday, July 17, 2003 |
Here some Bible software for the Pocket PC that my brother recommended. I really like the startup page. Rather than requiring you to enter the book, chapter and verse it allows you to drill down by simply clicking the book then the chapter then the verse. Simply but a pretty significant UI helper given the Pocket PC.
Along the same lines, there is a WAP online bible at http://GodBib.com.
11:16:47 PM
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Monday, July 07, 2003 |
I must confess that there was a time when I thought that going to a see a Baptism was low on my priority list and wasn't really relevant to anyone except those that knew the person being baptized. Well, that has certainly changed. Over the past few years I have probably attended four or so services where multiple people have been baptized and each time I have come away completely blessed for the time. There is just something about witnessing people from all walks of life declaring public ally their devotion to Christ. Each testimony is unique and each one has a nugget that penetrates my heart in some way and challenges my own walk. I highly recommend these services to other.
By the way, I should mention that aside from simply being an act of obedience to Christ, baptism has no special spiritual implications. In other words, being baptized does not make one into a Christian. You need to already be a Christian before you can be baptized and publicly declare your faith in Christ. For some baptism happens shortly after they receive Christ and for others there may be a long time between when one becomes a Christian and when they get baptized. Being baptized as a baby, however, does not make you into a Christian any more than sleeping in a garage at night makes you into a mechanic. Since baptism is designed to allow Christians to publicly declare their faith, it is best when baptism is left until a person is at an age were they can reasonably communicate their faith.
9:14:15 PM
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Before you can answer this question you have to first ask better than who? Christians are certainly not better than non-Christians. Absolutely not! However, Christians are better than they would be if they had not become Christians. In other words, if Kevin becomes a Christian he is a better person than what he would have been had he not become a Christian.
12:22:40 PM
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There is this book that we read to Benjamin sometimes called Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney and Anita Jeram (Great book!). In it a baby rabbit tells her parent how much she loves her and the parent responds in kind but with an order of magnitude greater. In one of the interchanges the baby rabbit holds out her hands as wide as she can and says, "I love you this much." In response the parent holds their hands out as wide as they can and says, "I love you this much."
As I reflect on this line I think about Jesus saying, "I love you this much!" as he hangs on the cross with his arms and legs outstretched.
12:02:02 PM
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Monday, June 23, 2003 |
As I continue to the process of evaluating how I spend my time I was struck by the phrase, "Failure is to succeed at something that really doesn't matter." Wow! I really like that. It kinda puts a negative spin on the past as it causes me to have to re-evaluate things that I had previously thought I succeeded at. It also potentially provides guidance for the future, but perhaps not as much as I first thought. Let's consider some examples:
- Ran Bloomsday in less than 7:15 min/mile
Success? Sure, I felt pretty good about that pace given my twice a week training schedule.
Does it matter? Hmmm, the pace sure doesn't. The time I spent training with others and the fact that it challenged me to do some regular exercise that I wouldn't have done otherwise. Yes, perhaps.
- Wrote a total of 3 computer books
Success? Debatable, at a minimum I would argue that the COM+ one was a success although I was a little late in getting it to market.
Does it matter? Really to answer the does it matter question one needs to have a good understanding of what does matter.This is, of course, a lot of what the Purpose Driven Life book focuses on. This book concludes that the five purposes of life are 1) Live a life of worship, 2) Love you neighbor as yourself, 3) Go and make disciples, 4) fellowship, and 5) Become like Christ. Hmmm, it is hard to fit writing computer books into any of these five items. But is that all there is too it? Based on these criteria, where does my work fall?
AT this point coming up with more examples doesn't seem to make sense. I have not fully figured out how my life (work, play, sleep, etc.) fits in with my God given purpose, however. As a result, I am not always sure what does matter.
Clearly, this is a nice saying that I believe can provide guidance on prioritizing items in the future. I need to figure some more of my purpose, however, to be able to use the statement with it full force.
Upadate 6/26/06:
I found the source of this quote: "I don't worry about failing but that I'll succeed at something that doesn't matter."--Howard Hendricks
11:58:36 PM
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Friday, June 06, 2003 |
Forgiveness is an act of obedience not an act of feeling. You don't have to feel like forgiving someone in order to forgive them. You just need to do it and then the feelings will often follow.
As a side not, be willing to give and receive forgiveness.
7:36:52 PM
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As I wrestle with the issue of time management and balancing my time between serving and being with my family I wonder if it is possible to spend too much time with family? If I take into consideration the fact that I have a 6 month old and a three year old at home and that there are no extended family members nearby, is it possible that I am currently at a stage in life where it is appropriate to not be serving God. Or, perhaps to make is sound less drastic, that the best way for me to serve God right now is for me to be spending more time with my family, even to the exclusion of serving others and using my gifts to their full capacity.
I am not at all confident of the answer. If the answer is to not serve God outside at the moment when would this phase end? I am confident that I should end but how does one determine when. Surely there is going to clamoring for my time by my family for many (perhaps 12) years yet and but I am confident that it would not be acceptable to not serve for outside the home for that long.
By the way, I am curious what percentage of American wives believe their husbands spend enough time at home?
7:27:18 PM
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About two weeks ago I felt like God has been virtually yelling at me to scrutinize his Lordship in my life. Unfortunately, the message to examine my life has been perfectly clear but the examination has not yielded any clear insight (don't you hate it when that happens.)
The issue:
How does Jesus' Lordship play out in my life when it comes to my time?
When I think of the Lordship of Christ in my life I think of the following:
- Putting Christ above all else in my life
- Being obedient to Christ in every way
- Submitting all areas of my life to His scrutiny
- Constantly evaluating my life to find ways I need to change to be more like Him
- Living as Jesus would if he were Mark Michaelis in the 21st century (always asking what would Jesus do and the responding accordingly.)
- Spending my time appropriately balancing my life such that I am serving God
- Living my life to the glory of God
- Lifestyle worship of God
- Making my life a living sacrifice for Christ
Okay... enough of the vision... now what does that mean? As I consider the issue of Lordship and my time, three main considerations have arisen.
- Firstly, Elisabeth is quite disappointed about my decision not to cancel my trip up Mt. Rainier. Since George canceled because of an injury she believes that there is little purpose in me going as I will not nearly have the quality time with my brother because there are three people going rather than four (I have since provided an explanation and she is now very graciously understanding even if she doesn't like it).
- Secondly, through the current section of the Purpose Driven Life book I have become clearly convicted that I am not serving God, that I am not using the gifts that God has given me for his glory.
- Lastly, through some Willow Creek messages I have been challenged with the atrocity of the excuse that the reason I am not living for Christ more is because I am simply too busy, that business is the main obstacle in my relationship with Jesus.
So, now what? I don't believe the response is as obvious as it might seem...or at least I would like to be given the grace to rationalize and wrestle on the issue for a little while:
My level of service in the church is currently zero. I am simply not doing anything and really, I haven't done anything of significance since moving to Spokane. For the first year this was expected as Elisabeth and I agreed that during our first year in Spokane I would not take on any additional obligations and instead focus on family alone. That year is now over but I have still not begun to serve God in any way. Several opportunities have come along such as leading a small group or playing guitar for worship but Elisabeth is still not very supportive of me doing these things and this stance is only stronger with all the travel that I have had this year. However, the bottom line is that my serving God is zero and he has gifted me (as he has everyone) for a lot more than that.
It is no surprise that may work takes up the biggest portion of my time. This is probably true for the vast majority of people that work full-time. What is less prevalent is the fact that my work does require some travel. Most recently this can more accurately be defined as too much travel. This is almost certainly the key issue for Elisabeth and the month of June is especially bad.
The next issue relates to my personal time doing exercise and short trips unrelated to work. This includes being gone for four days for the Odyssey Adventure Race and the up coming six day trip up Mount Rainier. The vast majority of my exercise is during the hours when I am at work. During lunch I attempt to run three days a week and play volleyball the other two. On weekends during the winter I had an indoor soccer game but I generally only went to the games that were late at night so that I was around for the kids. So, there is no doubt that I am doing some stuff that is not family, work or church related. In fact, it is pretty much self related since I am not really doing it for any other reason than trying to stay in shape and because I enjoy it. (Another reason is because I value the time hanging out with non-Christians but even if this wasn't the case I would still exercise so it is less relevant.) The question is how much of what I will call self time is appropriate? Without at least some time to myself like this I am pretty confident that I would be grouchy and unpleasant to be around. There is no doubt that I need this time to stay in shape and that at least to some degree staying in shape relates to treating my body as as temple (1 Corinthians 6:19). Although I certainly enjoy adventure racing I believe my races are rare enough to be a reasonable. The fact of the matter is, however, without a race ahead of me I wouldn't run. The race provides just enough motivation to get me out there training. How much is too much when it comes to exercise?
In summary:
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I am not serving enough.
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I am traveling way to much up through the end of June.
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I need personal time for things like exercise and some time or race is required for me to be motivated enough to run.
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My family wants more of me.
but (aside from the travel) I am not sure exactly how and what to adjust, just that I need to make adjustments.
6:07:15 PM
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Wednesday, May 28, 2003 |
At times I have been accused of being more of a brain than a heart. It was interesting to me, therefore, when I was asked how I felt about a really difficult issue in my life and I said I didn't know the answer yet because I hadn't thought through my emotions. This is of course a typical response from a thinking (versus a feelings) oriented person but it really described well where I was at in wrestling with the particular issue. What exactly does thinking through emotions mean, however? Is this an oxymoron? Is it possible to think through emotions and if one does do this do they end up in touch with the underlying emotions or instead simply control the emotions? Whatever the answer, thinking through emotions is a pretty common occurrence for me so I am curious to know whether it helps me get more in touch with my feelings or not.
11:16:29 AM
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Wednesday, May 14, 2003 |
I found this article quite intriguing.
If one takes a purely surface look at the Matrix I believe that the result would be acknowledgment that the movie simple entertainment. Part of the entertainment, however, is that afterward movie goers continue find it intellectually stimulating, in a similar way that Back to the Future made for entertaining mental gymnastics. In other words it is fun to plop yourself into the movie and wonder how you could identify if the world was indeed like the Matix (in Back to the Future it was fun to play what if scenarios with time turned back on itself). In such a way the movie has little impact except for pleasure.
If one goes down a little deeper in the plop-yourself-into-the-movie process, however, one may consider the self-help perspective the Matrix advocates, the idea that you can do anything if only you can imagine yourself doing it or believe in your self enough. In fact, the Matix takes this idea to the extreme and even presents scenes of one practicing this (such as Neo practicing martial arts with Morpheus). I think there is certainly some truth to having confidence in yourself but from a Christian perspective, one should be careful that belief in self does not out weigh belief in God. More importantly, belief in self should not take precedence over an acknowledgment that God is actively involved in the universe, that he cares for you personally and that ultimately we are dependent on Him. Unfortunately, our dependence on God is not advocated much (if at all?) within the Matrix.
If we step back and take another surface view of the movie one needs to acknowledge that overtly the movie is not advocating Christian values. The scenes at the apartment with the kids bending spoons and the find your way or Neo's confusion about whether he is the one seem much more of an Eastern bent than anything else. The problem with this is that most people probably don't take the time to delve deeper into considering what the movie is saying about real life, truth or religion. As a result, they are bombarded with yet another non-Christian perspective that on it own is presumably not formative in ones thinking but en-mass with all the other anti-Christian world views will make an impact unless intentionally thought through.
What is important to consider about this article, however, is that it encourages people to think more deeply about the religion in general. and this I believe should always be encoraged. In fact, the idea of showing this movie at a church function and then leading a discussion of its value and truths seems to me to be a great way of bridging the gap and encouraging non-Christians to engage in a discussion about Christianity.
(As far as the Matrix Glassary goes I would say that I almost entirely dismiss the correlations between Matrix images and characters and those found in the Bible. I seriously doubt that many of these terms were intended by the authors to have such subtle correlation to Christianity and any forced correlation is meaningless in my opinion.)
6:22:26 AM
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Tuesday, May 13, 2003 |
Zondervan is in the process of releasing some new Bible Study software. It looks pretty comprehensive in terms of on-line content and supposedly even supports note taking. However, it doesn't seem to support inductive Bible Study or Manuscript study methods. Notes can only be attached to verses, for example, not to words. (Perhaps attaching to words is unrealistic?) Also, this seems to be desktop focused only so no Pocket-PC support yet (or even mentioned).
The price is pretty steep for the professional and scholar versions but the lower end versions don't seem too unreasonably priced.
2:33:59 AM
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Tuesday, April 29, 2003 |
In this chapter, Rick Warren asks you to consider what your life picture or life metaphor is. Examples include a party, race, marathon and battle. What your life metaphor is reflects you view on life. If you see your life as a race then speed is probably important to you and you will likely find yourself often in a hurry.
For me my life metaphor is probably adventure. This aligns closely with my recent discussion on being all I can be. As in that discussion, I need to watch that the adventure is Christ focused.
I disagree with Rick somewhat on hit identification that the Bible offers essentially three metaphors: "Life is a test, life is a trust, and life is a temporary assignment." Sure each of these are true to some extent I believe there are a lot more just as significant Biblical life metaphors (in fact race happens to be one of them).
I am especially skeptical of Rick's emphasis on life being a test from God such as when he says, "God continually test people's character, faith, obedience, love, integrity and loyalty." Are these tests really all from God? Rick goes on to write, "You are always being tested. God constantly watches your response to people, problems, success, conflict, illness, disappointment, and even the weather." It is not that I disagree that God sometimes tests us, I simply wonder if he "continually", "always" tests us. Sure, God cares and watches our responses to everyday life but is each event we encounter a specific "test" from him. I am not convinced.
Other notes:
- "...everything you do, even simply daily chores, has eternal implications."
10:18:17 PM
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- When you start living in light of eternity, "suddenly many activities, goals and even problems... appear trivial, petty and unworthy of your attention. The closer you live to God the smaller everything else appears. When you live in light of eternity your values change." (page 37-38)
- "Death is not your termination, but your transition." (page 38) "Only a fool would go through life unprepared for what we all know will eventually happen. (page 39)
9:57:04 PM
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Saturday, April 26, 2003 |
I already commented some on the March 3rd New Community talk from Willow Creek entitled "Flow, A Beautiful Mind," by John Ortberg (see Avoiding Possible Delusion Through Small Group Discernment). I would like to add some further thoughts, however.
"All thoughts have a spiritual charge to them and thoughts with a mind set on the spirit always lead to hope and never despair, virtue and never sin, growth and never stagnation, truth and never illusion, authentic love and never arrogance.
Essentially thought governed by the spirit lead to life and those governed by the sinful life lead to death. Therefore,
"Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things." (Colossians 3:2)
John Ortberg goes on to describe some research published in a book called Flow. The research concludes that when people are alone and not distracted by activity their minds tend to wonder to thoughts of awareness of disconnectedness, anger, anxiety about the future, and chronic self-preoccupation. It is no wonder, therefore, why people generally flee from solitude.
As I reflect on this I wonder how much of my thought life leads to life and how much leads to death? Are all negative thoughts a result of not being spiritually focused? When I get discouraged and wonder whether my marriage will ever be as good as Elisabeth and I dream it could be, whether my son will ever start obeying me the first time or whether I will ever gain control over my workload am I perhaps the victim of thoughts not lead by the Holy Spirit. Yes! And, in response, I need to label these as such, identify them as illusions that do not reflect reality or thoughts inspired by Jesus Christ. At the very least I should not be sharing them with other unless it is to request that they help me to identify the illusion and over come it. Actually, many times these thoughts may be true (for example I don't really expect my son will start obeying me the first time...at least no always) but they are corrupted and moved inappropriately to center stage such that they get the focus rather than "things above."
Note that this doesn't mean that bad things won't happen but rather that even when they do, it is how I respond that really makes the difference. God never desires for me to be joyless! Never! Even when life is seemingly destitute or a loved one dies. Sadness is totally appropriate and God desires so much to comfort me. However, God does not wish that I be miserable and he wants to help me as much as I am willing, to overcome the sadness. In the day-to-day events of life there will be pain. What I do with that, however, is up to me. Ultimately, I need to choose joy! This reflects a mind set on Christ.
God, help me to be Christ centered in all I think and do.
10:55:32 PM
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These reflections are based on a Dec. 4th Willow Creek New Community talk entitled, "Recognizing Divine Interruptions" by John Ortberg.
In the talk John exposited on Luke 1:26-56. This is the passage where Mary is visited by an angel and foretold the birth of Jesus. Perhaps the key point that John makes is that Mary has a high interruptibility quotient and that furthermore, when she is interrupted, she respond with, "I am the Lord's servant" (Luke 1:38).
So Lord, what is my interruptibility quotient? It is certainly not as high as it should be. Just as importantly, when you do interrupt me do I have the attitude of being your servant? Am I truly willing to do whatever you ask? I am reminded as I consider this question that it is not just the big interruptions either. In fact, it is possible that there won't be any big interruptions until I am able to handle the little interruptions appropriately. God, please help me to better monitor your channel and until I get good at it would you please yell just a little louder, especially when I have selective hearing or choose to ignore you altogether.
10:26:16 PM
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Chapter 3 discusses five of the most common forces that drive people: guilt, resentment and anger, fear, materialism and lastly, the need for approval. As I carefully considered each of these none of them seemed to be true for me. Sure, I am perhaps motivated by a little of each but I don't think any of them is particularly compelling to me.
And yet many people close to me would describe me as a driven person (not something I take as a complement). What drives me? I discussed this some with Elisabeth and her response was that I am driven to be the best I can be and to push myself to the limit in every area not just certain areas of my life. I am driven by self achievement, to be self actualized. I am striving to be all that I can be and live life to the fullest.
Personally I think Elisabeth's perception is quite accurate. I too would say that I am driven to be all that I can be. (She knows me well.) The hard question in response to this, however, is what is wrong with that? Elisabeth points out that it is (or at least it can be) very selfish, self focused... living for self. Yikes... again, there is a lot of truth to this. However, this does not mean that being driven to be all that I can be is something to try to abandon. Rather I think an adjustment is required. I need to focus my energies to be all that God wants me to be. Perhaps a subtle distinction in wording but a ginormous difference in practice. I confess I am certainly guilty of being too self focused and too little God focused. To be all that God wants me to be is to take my drivenness to be all that I can be and make sure that the scope of all that I can be is limited to the things God wants me to be. In so doing, I may have to give up some seemingly good things.
On this idea Elisabeth is in complete agreement. She points out that I can't do it all. I want to but I can't. I have a desire to do everything but the challenge for me is to give up some areas and focus on particular areas that are most important. This means often giving up good things for even better things. Or, as Rick Warren points out (italics mine),
"If you want your life to have impact, focus it! Stop dabbling. Stop trying to do it all. Do less. Prune away even good activities and do only that which matters most." and
"You become effective by being selective."
(page 32)
This all sounds great in principal but I struggle to understand how to apply it. It often seems a stretch to come up with how my work is eternally focused. And yet, at least for the moment, I think my work is the place that God wants me to be. What about exercising? Sure, God wants us to treat our bodies as holy temples but there is a huge spectrum of opinions on what that means in terms of the amount of exercise required. The struggle for me is determining what are the (perhaps even good) activities that I need to prune from my life. Especially when some of the most major portions of my life appear to lack eternal focus. Frankly, Rick Warren does a poor job of addressing how the principles he outlines play out in real life.
None-the-less, for me the change is clear. I need to be driven by all that God wants me to be. To be the best that I can be at doing the things and being the person that Jesus wants me to be. Simply making this question a part of my regular routine I expect will begin to help direct me in the right direction.
Some final notes on the chapter:
"Many people spend their lives trying to create a lasting legacy on earth. They want to be remembered when they're gone. Yet, what ultimately matters most will not be what others say about your life but what God says. What people fail to realize is that all achievements are eventually surpassed, records are broken, reputations fade, and tributes are fogotten.... Living to create an earthly legacy is a short-sighted goal. A wiser use of time is to build an eternal legacy.
(page 33)
I agree with this point wholeheartedly. It is interesting that this provides a different goal than many parents actually strive for with their children. For many parents the goal as a parent is to have a lasting impact on your children such that they people that are going to remember you most will have fond memories of how wonderful you were. To have a, "the greatest Dad" written on your tombstone is one of the ultimate tributes. However, legacy is not the goal. Legacy may, in some circumstances, be a side effect of the goal but the goal it self is to be all that God wants you to be regardless of what legacy that may leave.
Lastly, at the end of the chapter Rick Warren says that God will ask us two crucial questions when we die. Firstly, "What did you do with my Son, Jesus Christ?". To this question I agree entirely. This is the deciding question between those that are saved and those that are not. The second question, according to Rick Warren, is, "What did you do with what I gave you?" And he goes on to say that this will determine what we do for eternity. On this point I am not convinced. Unfortunately, Rick doesn't reference any scripture in regards to this question and I struggle to see that such a question would really take such prominence. Hmmmm.....
9:34:18 PM
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Thursday, April 24, 2003 |
In a March 3rd New Community talk from Willow Creek entitled "Flow, A Beautiful Mind," John Ortberg mentioned the movie about John Nash called A Beautiful Mind. In the movie John Nash suffers from delusions of people that talk to him. At one point in the movie a man come to visit John Nash and discuss with the fact that John is a Noble Prize candidate. In response, John Nash turns to one of his students and says, "Do you see that man standing there?" The idea is that John is looking to others to help discern delusions from reality.
In the same way we need to be looking to friends and our small group to help us discern falsehoods from truth. John Nash's humility in asking a student adds significantly to the example of seeking discernment as this is often a key ingredient to seeking God's will.
8:12:53 AM
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Wednesday, April 23, 2003 |
We were very surprised and disappointed to discover that the in-print version of the NIV is different from the version posted at BibleGateway.com. Here are a few examples:
- John 19:16 in the printed NIV is split in the middle with a title, "The Crucifixion." Surprisingly, the BibleGateway version of verse 16 is shorter and verse 17 actually starts in the middle of verse 16 of the in-print version. In other words, part of verse 16 is placed into verse 17. Yikes!
- There is a space before a comma following O LORD in the BibleGateway version of Psalm 5:1.
Now these may appear arbitrary but we just happened to run across these two during a cursory look last night. What concerns me is how many of these may be out there.
I took the time to submit feedback on the typographical errors here.
1:52:21 PM
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Tuesday, April 22, 2003 |
The Purpose Driven Life: You are not an Accident (but How Much Did God Plan Really?)
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"He planned the days of your life in advance, choosing the exact time of your birth and your death."
Okay, this seems pretty obvious but lets consider the implications. If God has planned the exact time of a person's birth and death then the implication would be that prayer could not have any effect on these times. Yet I certainly have the perception that prayer can do anything. What would be the point on even praying for someone to live through a terrible accident or that a child would not die from a particular disease if in reality the prayer had no effect because the days were planned in advance.
Personally, I would argue in favor of the power of prayer and the fact that God is even greater because he does respond to prayer rather than go with a predefined plan.
9:06:08 PM
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Monday, April 21, 2003 |
There are countless people who believe that there are many ways to God. Their analogy is one of a mountain that has many paths leading to the top. The assumption, however, is that the journey to God starts with us. We are the ones that are climbing the hill, we are the ones that start at different locations around the mountain, and ultimately, it is on our strength that we are able to reach the summit.
From the very beginning, however, I believe the premise that we find God and that we are climbing up to him is false. We cannot reach heaven on our own, even heaven here on earth. Rather, it is God who reaches us. Jesus came down to earth, not the other way around. God chooses to save us, it is not that we save ourselves.  |  | | The emphais on God not actually considering my input provides a nice contrast to the 21st century attitude in which democracy if not concensus is given such a high priority |
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In the same way, the search for purpose in life should not begin with us. Rather we need to begin by looking at God and what he desires for us, what his plan is for us.
"God was thinking of you long before you ever thought about him. His purpose for your life predates your conception. He planned it before you existed, without your input!"
(page 21) It should be noted that one can still be successful even if they don't start with God. However, success (especially as defined by the world) is an entirely different matter from fulfilling your life's purpose. Many people have been extremely successful at achieving all sorts of amazing accomplishments. The question, however, is how many of them have completed all that God planned for their lives.
8:35:35 AM
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For the next 40 days I am going to be reading a book called The Purpose Driven Life. This is the same book that almost every member of my church is reading. Furthermore, all small groups are going to be going through discussion material on the book. The goal: to get a better understanding of why I was created and why I remain alive, to have a firm grasp on God's plan for my life.
The choice of 40 days is simply because of the number of people in the Bible that were transformed in forty days. Noah, Moses, David, Elija.... the list goes on. Even Jesus spent 40 days wondering in the wilderness.
One interesting note from the introduction was the disappointment that registered while breezing through the introduction. There it strongly urges one not to read more than a day at a time. I had sat down with the intention of reading ahead so that if I happened to skip a day I wouldn't get behind. Oh well! There goes that idea. I am going to try go one day at a time and rely on consistency.
8:15:52 AM
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Tuesday, March 18, 2003 |
Tony Blair's Speech to Parliament on the Case For War without the UN
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This morning I was up at 3:30 AM to drive to the airport. On the way to the airport I listened to England's Priminister Tony Blair speak to parliament on the case for war against Iraq without UN support. I confess that although I have consistently been opposed to war against Iraq I found Blair's speech quite compelling. He presented a clear history since 1993 on Saddam's behavior. I am not sure I would support war yet and I believe that still more diplomacy could take place but I was somewhat convinced that France's blanket refusal to give Saddam an ultimatum was not a good thing and resulted in virtually eliminating any motivation for Saddam to act according the the UN resolution 1448 (or some such).
While I am about it I might as well mention that George Bush's ultimatum yesterday for Saddam to leave Iraq was strategic especially his approach in targeting the Iraq military to abandon their loyalty to Saddam. Very cunning I would say.
Several things still concern me, however.
- There seems to be a glaring inconsistency between our treatment of Iraq and our treatment of North Korea. The latter seems to be even more of a concern.
- As with the war against Afghanistan, America seems to be a ginormous bully.
- I am aware of the atrocities that Iraq has committed in the past and yet still it seems hypocritical for us to object to their possession of weapons of mass destruction when we many other countries have them. I understand those who can't be responsible with weapons revoke the right to have them but still there is a twinge of comfortableness with the we-can-but-you-can't attitude. Interestingly enough I support strong gun control within the US and some could argue that we are applying strict "gun control" against Iraq. :)
- Regardless of the nobleness of the war innocent people will be killed.
- I have been extremely disillusioned by the election of George Bush and I strongly oppose his international policies in general (i. Not signing the Kyoto agreement on the environment, ii. His bias toward Israel over the human right violations that Israel commits against the Palestinians, iii. Even much of the war effort against Afghanistan.) I question how much of the Iraq situation is motivated by political gain?
- I strongly believe that God takes a much more global (universe) perspective than the (dare I say) selfish and often uninformed perspective taken by America.
Well... that's all on this issue for now. I took a break from writing this and during the break my mind has wondered on to matters of software architecture that have distracted me from completely documenting my thoughts on the issue of war on Iraq. Anyway, I expect this will solicit enough criticism for the week (if anyone was actually reading this that is).
5:44:18 AM
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Sunday, February 16, 2003 |
Last night the family got together to watch Big Ideas' Jonah (see Family Movie Night at the Michaelis'). Aside from the fact that the movie was enjoyable, I was surprised that the key message brought out in the movie was one of being compassionate and merciful just as God is compassionate and merciful. Now I realize that this moral is perhaps obvious to even the not so bright light-bulbs among us but I confess compassion and mercy were not the main themes I would have caught on to from the story of Jonah. For me the message of Jonah was usually one of being called to be God's messenger and not ignoring the call. Obviously the ideas of compassion and mercy came up but they just weren't the focus. It was refreshing to be reminded of how there is no need to have a Master's of Divinity to see the simple truths within God's word and that the Bible always has more to teach even from the stories that are familiar.
Next step: Look for the areas in my life where I can be more compassionate and merciful and be more mindful of the fact that I am constantly in need of God's compassion and mercy.
4:20:50 PM
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"Never doubt in the darkness what God has shown you in the light."
In order to do this fully one needs to keep a record of how God has been faithful. Today Pastor John shared in Sunday School how a pastor in Portland had kept a record of the ways God had been faithful to him and he had all the handwritten notes bound before giving them to his son for a wedding present.
... Priceless!
11:18:32 PM
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We had a rather different church service this morning... different for me that is:
Levi is a fourteen year old boy that attends my church with three siblings and his parents. On Wednesday he was not well so his mom took him to the emergency clinic. They said it was just a cold and sent him home. By Thursday, however, the situation had deteriorated seriously so his mom took him to the hospital. It turns out that his heart was enlarged two to three times. After moving him to Sacred Heart Hospital in Spokane they decided he needed a VAD. After surgery the situation deteriorated even more and the kidneys and liver gave up. Anyway, in short it is a bad situation that is looking worse. | | | While processing this I realized more of what I need to work on when it comes to my family (see Finding Accountability for My Family). If a serious crisis occurred, would I know how to care for Elisabeth? I have often wondered about this and my conclusion is that this would present a serious risk to our marriage. Not knowing what to do, however, I have essentially decided that since I can't control Elisabeth's response, it would be mostly up to her as to whether we could make it through. Today, however, I realized (well, it is too obvious to just realize, more like I decided to own the fact) that my response could be a key factor in determining what kind of healing could take place after tragic occurrence. I, therefore, need to learn how to care for her better. But how? Hmmm.... This doesn't seem like something I could just read a book about. |
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What was cool was the response of my church. This morning the entire service (both since there are two) was dedicated to prayer for Levi. It really was amazing to see how the church came together as a family to care and pray. As a philosophy major I have wrestled many times with the problem of evil. The most satisfying answer I have come across was in a book called Waiting: Finding Hope When God Seems Silent by Ben Patterson. He talks about the evil that Job experiences and shows how Job cries out to God and asks why? God responds by overwhelming Job with the magnitude of his God is and reminding Job of who he is. Ben Patterson presents this powerfully. He notes, however, that
"God has not attempted to answer any of Job's questions. He barely even acknowledges them. He offers no explanations of his suffering, no theories as to how God's justice and power can coexist in a world filled with evil and injustice. All he does is confront Job with his ignorance, and that is sufficient for Job. He receives it as an answer."
Clearly, this is not the response sought by the average philosophy major and yet I find it compelling. Each time I am confronted with the problem of evil, not from an intellectual standpoint but really confronted with real life examples, I find that God doesn't answer the questions of why, instead he reveals more of who he is and who I am and this somehow causes the question to dissipate. Essentially what happens is that I realize how insignificant my question is in light of how great my God is. Doubt gives way to faith as I am confronted with the greatness of my Lord and Savior.
The case of Levi is no different. True enough, I don't know Levi personally (although by the end of the service I sure felt and wept like I did) yet the reality of his situation raised the problem of bad things happening in a world controlled by a good God. This time, God used the church to reveal more of himself. I saw the family of God crowd around the family of Levi and weep with them. It was truly amazing. How do people live without families like that?
(During the service one person shared about how David dealt with the death of his son in the old testament. David was distraught to the extreme when he heard that his son was going to die. However, once it happened David got up and began living life normally. Essentially, David did everything he could to try and keep his son with him down on earth. Once that didn't happen, however, David realized that it was now just a matter of time before he went to join his son in heaven. To deal with things like this we need to have an eternal perspective. Not a very helpful response when we are in the throws of crisis but still comforting after a time.)
7:05:46 PM
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"If you are not living on the edge, you are taking up too much space."
... Accept the Challenge!!!!
6:56:49 PM
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Perhaps one of the most serious hindrances to my spiritual growth since moving out to Spokane has be the lack of an accountability group. I have been keenly aware of this for some time now and after reading a chapter from The Man In The Mirror by Patrick Morley entitled Accountability: The Missing Link I have been reminded not only of the value that an accountability group or partner but the necessity of one. There are essentially three parts of my life that I need to be living a more examined life.
Firstly, there is my spiritual life. For a while I was doing great with at least having daily quite times. The problem, however, was that although I was reading good Christian literature, I was not spending time directly in God's word. Given my life these past 3 months, just having a daily quite time would be far better than the once a month occurrences that I currently experience. I need the accountability to get back to regular quite times and spend to spend more time in the Word.
Secondly, there is the area of my family. I am truly very grateful that my marriage is so much better than a year ago. A lot of this can be attributed to changes in Elisabeth as she settles down in Spokane. However, our marriage can be a lot better in ways that I control. I need a lot of improvement in the area of expressing my love for her. What does it mean to love her tenderly? How 'bout loving her in a crisis? Also, Elisabeth has clearly identified that I fail miserably in the "supporting her" area. I don't know how to be supportive of her when it comes to dealing with my family especially. Supporting her is clearly something I need to learn as I am not even sure what it means. What makes it especially confusing is how to be supportive of her when I don't necessarily agree with her position. Another problem is the degree to which my work is spilling over into my home life at unacceptable levels. (Having work overflow into home life is acceptable for short, infrequent bursts but absolutely unacceptable when it begins to become the norm.) My work is also impacting my patience with Benjamin. He is 2.5 years and needs lots of attention. Although his acting up is probably typical I think it can be reduced significantly if he got more attention. Often he misbehaves because he is board. I have set myself the goal of devoting Saturday morning to time with him but that time is often neglected.
This brings me to the last critical area of my life, work. As you can probably gather from the paragraph above, my work is consuming too much of my time. I am undoubtedly working to much and not maintaining a reasonable balance between how much I work. One of the key problems is a lack of direction. Rather than managing my time proactively and selecting how I should spend it based on an examination of my priorities (See Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey), I am being interrupt driven by whatever people ask. As a result I am doing nothing well and instead I am running around like wildly. I need to identify what are the priorities at work and then accept or reject requests of my time and energy based on these priorities. This has been very difficult for me as I am not entirely sure what my priorities are. Aim at nothing, however, and you are sure to achieve it. The first step to gaining control of my work is to seek wise counsel about what my priorities are. Once this has been determined I need someone to ask me the hard questions as to whether I am working according to those priorities. Lastly, I would sincerely like to find someone that is willing to speak frankly, honestly and lovingly with me in pointing out the areas of concern at work that I don't know about. Ideally this should be a Christian who I don't work for and who doesn't work for me. I am really intrigued by InterVarsity reagional director Jim Lundgren's idea of an advisory council that meets once a quarter to discuss both personal and work related items.
7:19:12 AM
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Friday, February 14, 2003 |
Doing What Is Right Vs. Becoming the Kind of Person Who Does Right
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I was recently listening to tape four of a Willow Creek series entitled "If Jesus Ran the World" by John Ortberg. At one point he presents the case case against the Pharisees as follows:
"If you aim your behavior at doing what is right and avoiding what is wrong," you will surely fail. Jesus understood this and instead preached that we should, "aim at becoming the kind of person who does right things, the kind of person who doesn't want to do wrong things."
It is an interesting distinction but I think one that rings true. Inevitably, simply striving to do right fails. If one strives to be right then the doing right falls in to place naturally. Doing right becomes the natural desire.
2:59:58 PM
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Thursday, January 23, 2003 |
On Saturday I attended a Peace Rally of all things. This was my first time to attend such an event and I confess I was only there for a short time but I was glad I went none-the-less. I firmly believe that the rallying cry to go to war that we are hearing from President Bush at the moment is simply not right. It has been surprising given all the claims Bush made to his guilt that the Iraqi inspectors have not turned up anything of significance, but since this is the case I don't see how we can possibly be looking to attack an entire nation when there is no evidence of guilt. What amazes me is the double standard on this issue. If we prosecuted someone in the US without evidence there would be a huge outcry. Why do we have such a double standard against those over seas. I am truly baffled.
Here are a couple of the pictures I took at the event.... no, I am not in any of them although I did try get a picture of Benjamin carrying a NO WAR sign.
For more pictures of the rally see here.
9:09:55 PM
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Wednesday, January 22, 2003 |
"Truth, which only doth judge itself, teacheth that the inquiry of truth, which is the love-making or wooing of it, the knowledge of truth, which is the presence of it, and the belief of truth, which is the enjoying of it, is the sovereign good of human nature."
(By Francis Bacon - Taken from The Book of Virtues which was edited by William J. Bennett and published by Simon & Schuster in 1993.)
Wow! Very cool!
10:41:36 PM
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Monday, January 20, 2003 |
In Sunday School this week raised the topic of giving came up. My ears pricked up as this is something Elisabeth and I have been discussing how can do "better" with. At issue is obviously not the 10% discussed in the Bible but rather how far to go above that when God has blessed you beyond your needs. (Needs is of course completely subjective but if one considers that when we graduated we were able to live well within our means and now that I have moved up in my career I have earning significantly more, it seems clear that we don't "need" all that we have been given even with two kids.) But how much more should we give? At some point one would think that the percentage could increase... say everything over X,000 dollars we would give away 20% and everything over Y,000 (where Y>X) would be at 50%? Anyway, I believe the goal that we should set our sites on is to be sacrificial and extravagant in our giving. Now the challenge is to live up to these words as we set the target.
11:01:16 PM
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Sunday, December 08, 2002 |
Priorities: How to Decide What's Important (Life is Like Grocery Shopping)
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I recently got back to reading The Man In The Mirror by Patrick Morley and published by Zondervan (ISBN 0310233682). I have been really impressed by the book overall and I have had some great discussions with my brother-in-law, George, on several of the chapters.
Today I was reading Chapter 14, Priorities: How to Decide What's Important, and I really appreciate the grocery shopping analogy that Mr. Morley used. He mentions how almost everyone has gone grocery shopping on an empty stomach and without a shopping list only to wind up at the cash register having bought a ton of unhealthy stuff that has little to do with the nutritional meals that will need to be cooked throughout the week. The result is to have missed the point of grocery shopping because there was no list to guide what to get and there were very attractive temptations pulling you away from what should have been the priority. Just like the grocery store, life’s many options compete for our time. To have any control over our lives, however, to choose appropriately what to spend our time on, we must decide in advance what our priorities are and then live according to them.
Other notes from the chapter:
· Saturdays often serve as a bell whether for evidence of what priorities you are actually living by. Saturdays are like discretionary spending and how we spend this time indicates where our treasure truly is.
· Consider how your dreams and hopes for your children reflect on your own priorities.
· If we could change ourselves just in the areas of loving God and loving others we will demonstrate more of the Gospel than any generation before us.
· Everybody thinks of changing humanity and nobody thinks of changing himself. Leo Tolstoy
· When laying out your priorities don’t forget that to honor your father and mother is one of the Ten Commandments.
· John 13-17 reflects the last 24 hours of Jesus life. Reflect on what Jesus did and said with this time knowing that he knew when he was to be put to death.
One more note, there is a web site devoted to the topics of the book at http://www.maninthemirror.org/.
11:16:31 PM
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Sunday, November 03, 2002 |
Yesterday, I came across an article entitled Color Me Meaningful: A fresh approach to studying the Bible that appeared in the February 1986 of HIS Magazine. I am very excited to have found this because I used to have the original but after lending it to someone I never got it back. I think it is a great resource for introducing folks to the Manuscript Bible Study method taught by InterVarsity. Information about obtaining manuscripts is available here. A PDF description of the method is also available.
While coming across the Color Me Meaningful article, I also bumped in to information on the Inductive Bible Study Method or what appears to be now known as the "Communal Discovery Bible Study Method" (yucky name IMHO). Anyway, when I do an in-depth Bible study I combine these two methods together and it is by far the most insightful means of Bible study I have come across and it is great to have resources that I can direct people to for more information.
6:32:58 AM
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© Copyright 2004 Mark Michaelis.
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