Game Time…

I found myself in a rather unusual place on Tues Morning of this week.  Yes, the maternity ward of Piedmont hospital is not my normal hang-out, but that is not the place I am speaking of.  At 6:00am in the prep room, waiting for the 7:30am C-section to begin I was transported back in time…and I wanted to throw up!  I felt like I was back in high school playing football on a Friday night.  Prior to almost every game I would be so nervous/excited I would throw up before to leaving the locker room for kick-off.  Well, this was o Friday night, and my wife’s belly resembled more of a basketball than a football, but I was there…in game mode.  I was not nervous that something would go wrong.  I had full faith and assurance in God and our great doctor Nancy Cook that Tenly was in the best hands possible.  For me it was the anticipation of what was to come.  In a few short minutes I would not be gazing across the field and sizing up my opponents, but look upon mine and Tenly’s new-born. Tenly, while having the pains that come with contractions was attempting to calm my nerves and temper my excitement, but all her attempts were in vain, it was game time.  The nurses came and took Tenly back to the OR to prep her for surgery.  the doctor and nurses cam in to give me the rundown of what was to come.  I sat in the transition room where Tenly would return after surgery playing out in my mind what was to come, just like I did many, many time over prior to kickoff. I was figatity, I was anxious, I was focused. Already decked out in my hospital issued OR room attire, the nurse came through the door and called for me.  I was in, and now the game was on.  I walked in the OR where they were beginning the surgery.  They guided me over to where Tenly’s head was and they told me I could sit on the stool next to her.  She was lying on her back, arms out o each side in restraints, with a curtain 2-3 three feet high in front of her.  Tenly  could not see or feel a thing.  I would be the first one of us to see the baby.  Last time I watched none of the procedure.  However, this time I decided to stand and glance over the curtain.  I cautiously looked a few times at the urging of Tenly.  Then, I decided I would just watch.  I had to be all in this time, I had to keep Tenly informed on what was happening, it was my responsibility and it was my role.  Before I knew it, I was the top of a head.  I told Tenly, there is the baby’s head.  Then, the doctor freed the head, and began to pull the baby up by the neck.  I wa ssure at this point it was a boy.  The baby had dark hair and dark skin like me.  I told Tenly the baby is almost here…we are almost there!  And then it happend…Dr. Cook pulled the baby from Tenly’s womb and hoisted my descendent in the air, and what I thought was a boy, what Tenly and I suspected all along was a little man turned out to be a Sammie.  Not a boy Sammie, but a 9lb 7 ounce baby girl, Samantha McKay Stewart.  My heart leapt with joy.  I had secretly wanted another girl.  I looked down in Tenly’s eyes and said Sammie is beautiful.  Tenly’s eyes filled with tears and said we have another little girl.  I wiped a lone tear from her eye and told my wife I was hoping for  Sammie.  That moment was pure joy!  I felt no more nerves, no more anxiety, only peace, joy, and love.  I left the OR nd went with Sammie to the transition room where she would get a thorough inspection and a bath.  While the nurse was cleaning her up, I said wow, she has a lot of hair, would you make her a mohawk?  And, so the nurse made little (well actually big 9.7)  Sammie a mohawk.  All that was left to do now was make the walk down the hall and out the door to the waiting room.  I had made this walk once before, but this time would be different.  This time, I had a 2 & 1/2 year old waiting to her if she had a brother or sister.  Perry was on the shoulders of Tenly’s dad looking through the window in the door to the waiting area.  I opened the door, everyone gathered quickly to meet me.  Perry, now standing before me  looked up to me with anxious eyes.  I bent over grabbed her hands, looked her in the eyes and said, Perry Rose you have a little sister named Sammie.  Mine and Tenly’s parents (as well as my brother ) all said what a surprise, we thought for sure it was a boy.  But that friends is why we play the game, why we don’t find out the gender of the baby, because in that moment the game reaches an epic climax, and with a new life, we all win.  Having a baby game over…raising another daugter…just in the first minute of the first quarter.

Get Ready! Will be Posting Something of Great Significance Within the Next Two Days…Stay Tuned

Let’ s just say it will be a welcome suprise to us all..until then!

If God Were To Speak to You…

If God were to speak to you what would he say?  By this time anyone who is reading this blog will likely say, God has spoken to me and he still speaks to me.  Fair enough, I too believe God has spoken and is still speaking.  I believe his primary and preferred means of communication is His Word.  I also know God can and does speak to the conscience and spirit of individuals.  Where I would likely disagree with most is God’s topic of choice while speaking.  Most who claim to have heard God speak almost always tell of God speaking to them about them.  Rarely, have I heard another (John Piper not withstanding)  say that when God spoke to them, he spoke of himself.  Almost always “God-speak”  is centered on and around the individual who heard from God.  In Isaiah 6, when Isaiah receives is call from the Lord to beProphet to God’s people, God shows himself in a vision in which his own holiness and person were on display.  When God gives Moses and his covenant people (though not all were God followers) the Ten Commandments on Mt. Sinai from Exodus 20, God’s character are the point of emphasis.  The Law, is meant to show us the holiness of the Lord.  Without the knowledge of his holiness, we would never even begin to understand our own sinfulness.  I’m not saying God does not speak to people about their own lives.  I am simply stating that far to often people would rather hear a word about themselves than a word about God.  We need look no further than the state of preaching that exists in the vast majority of pulpits on Sunday’s…sermons saturated with “ME”, and “I”, and “YOU”.  The church as a whole is suffering from a lack of reverence for God in his holiness.  We need far less sermons that deal with personal application, and far more that deal with the glory of God.   I hope we can see the connection, we are so accustomed to hearing sermons each week that focus on the individual what else should we expect to hear from God through prayer and his word then something pertaining to our own lives.  Also, if God does speak to you outside of his word, be careful.  It is not as though I doubt God’s ability to speak, but rather, our own ability to hear and interpret in light of his word.  When someone declares they have received a word from God and share that word, it is not “Thus Sayeth The Lord”.  The word of God is our complete and final authority on all matters without exception.  It is my hope that we would all seek daily to hear the voice of God, not so that we might learn more about ourselves and our own lives (we all do enough of that already).  Rather, that we might be awe-struck by his person and wonder as Isaiah was during his vision of the Lord.  We would all do well to focus on God more and make less of our selves and our own lives.

The Purpose of God’s Great Salvation

Jesus did not chiefly die to save sinners.  Nor, was Christ’s greatest accomplishment keeping sinners from an eternal hell.  If you were to ask most in the church today what is the primary purpose in God sending his own son to die in the place of sinners, most would say to save them.  Well, if that is the case, then God is an idolater.  If God sent Jesus into the world with the chief end being to save sinners like you and me, then God has just placed something/someone else above himself.  Likely, no one has radically/biblically shaped my view of God more than John Piper.  During my time reading portions of Desiring God, and The Pleasures of God, I was introduced (rightly so) for the first time that God was chiefly about God.  As Piper writes, “God is upper-most in his own affections” (DG).  Some will argue, well, God is an ego-driven maniac.  No, he is the most supremely valuable and important being in existence.  If God does not value himself above all others, then he puts something else above himself and he becomes idolatris.  Simply, God must value himself above all else and all others because of who he is.  Secondly, many in the church believe that Christ’s greatest effort on their behalf in salvation was saving them from an eternal hell.  While I’m quite happy that I will not ever taste the death and despair of eternal hell, the real prize in salvation is God himself.  The great benefit we receive in Christ’s death is being reconciled to God by Christ in a way that is both pleasing and acceptable to God.  It is right of no man to say, I was saved because I did not want to go to hell.  Fear of hell is a good thing, and God can use that fear to lead us to himself.  But, the primary reason we should desire to come to God is, we see him as he is meant to be seen (though with still fallen eyes), as the greatest, most beautiful, most satisfying being in all the cosmos.  We come to God in Christ because we want him, all of him for all of eternity.  We have tasted and seen the cheap tricks and gimmicks of the world, and now we long for true pleasure and satisfaction.  As John Piper will often say, “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.”  The very purpose of our existence is to worship, glorify, and enjoy the ultimate and supreme being of the universe, God.  God wants us to enjoy him and find our deepest level of satisfaction and happiness in his very person.  Piper call this Christian hedonism.  A hedonist pursues his/her pleasure as the chief end of their existence.  A hedonist does whatever it takes to be happy and pleased here and now.  It is a path of all pleasure and minimal pain.  We as Christians should pursue our greatest pleasure in God, and find our only and ultimate satisfaction in him.  We should not however strive to lead a painless life, nor should we go looking for pain…it will come.  But, we should expect pain and suffering and see it as  a way of drawing near to God and trusting in his person all the more.  Our God is great well  beyond our ability to comprehend.  His salvation is great because it leads sinners to himself and we are to enjoy his person here and evermore.

Revelation 7:9-11

⁹After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with⁽palm branches in their hands, ¹⁰and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” ¹¹And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they⁾ fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God,

John Piper on Hearing the Vioce of God

From Pastor John Piper: 

 Let me tell you about a most wonderful experience I had early Monday morning, March 19, 2007, a little after six o’clock. God actually spoke to me. There is no doubt that it was God. I heard the words in my head just as clearly as when a memory of a conversation passes across your consciousness. The words were in English, but they had about them an absolutely self-authenticating ring of truth. I know beyond the shadow of a doubt that God still speaks today. I couldn’t sleep for some reason. I was at Shalom House in northern Minnesota on a staff couples’ retreat. It was about five thirty in the morning. I lay there wondering if I should get up or wait till I got sleepy again. In his mercy, God moved me out of bed. It was mostly dark, but I managed to find my clothing, got dressed, grabbed my briefcase, and slipped out of the room without waking up Noël. In the main room below, it was totally quiet. No one else seemed to be up. So I sat down on a couch in the corner to pray. As I prayed and mused, suddenly it happened. God said, “Come and see what I have done.” There was not the slightest doubt in my mind that these were the very words of God. In this very moment. At this very place in the twenty-first century, 2007, God was speaking to me with absolute authority and self-evidencing reality. I paused to let this sink in. There was a sweetness about it. Time seemed to matter little. God was near. He had me in his sights. He had something to say to me. When God draws near, hurry ceases. Time slows down. I wondered what he meant by “come and see.” Would he take me somewhere, like he did Paul into heaven to see what can’t be spoken? Did “see” mean that I would have a vision of some great deed of God that no one has seen? I am not sure how much time elapsed between God’s initial word, “Come and see what I have done,” and his next words. It doesn’t matter. I was being enveloped in the love of his personal communication. The God of the universe was speaking to me. Then he said, as clearly as any words have ever come into my mind, “I am awesome in my deeds toward the children of man.” My heart leaped up, “Yes, Lord! You are awesome in your deeds. Yes, to all men whether they see it or not. Yes! Now what will you show me?” The words came again. Just as clear as before, but increasingly specific: “I turned the sea into dry land; they passed through the river on foot. There they rejoiced in me—who rules by my might forever.” Suddenly I realized God was taking me back several thousand years to the time when he dried up the Red Sea and the Jordan River. I was being transported by his word back into history to those great deeds. This is what he meant by “come and see.” He was transporting me back by his words to those two glorious deeds before the children of men. These were the “awesome deeds” he referred to. God himself was narrating the mighty works of God. He was doing it for me. He was doing it with words that were resounding in my own mind. There settled over me a wonderful reverence. A palpable peace came down. This was a holy moment and a holy corner of the world in northern Minnesota. God Almighty had come down and was giving me the stillness and the openness and the willingness to hear his very voice. As I marveled at his power to dry the sea and the river, he spoke again. “I keep watch over the nations—let not the rebellious exalt themselves.” This was breathtaking. It was very serious. It was almost a rebuke. At least a warning. He may as well have taken me by the collar of my shirt, lifted me off the ground with one hand, and said, with an incomparable mixture of fierceness and love, “Never, never, never exalt yourself. Never rebel against me.” I sat staring at nothing. My mind was full of the global glory of God. “I keep watch over the nations.” He had said this to me. It was not just that he had said it. Yes, that is glorious. But he had said this to me. The very words of God were in my head. They were there in my head just as much as the words that I am writing at this moment are in my head. They were heard as clearly as if at this moment I recalled that my wife said, “Come down for supper whenever you are ready.” I know those are the words of my wife. And I know these are the words of God. Think of it. Marvel at this. Stand in awe of this. The God who keeps watch over the nations, like some people keep watch over cattle or stock markets or construction sites—this God still speaks in the twenty-first century. I heard his very words. He spoke personally to me. What effect did this have on me? It filled me with a fresh sense of God’s reality. It assured me more deeply that he acts in history and in our time. It strengthened my faith that he is for me and cares about me and will use his global power to watch over me. Why else would he come and tell me these things? It has increased my love for the Bible as God’s very word, because it was through the Bible that I heard these divine words, and through the Bible I have experiences like this almost every day. The very God of the universe speaks on every page into my mind—and your mind. We hear his very words. God himself has multiplied his wondrous deeds and thoughts toward us; none can compare with him! I will proclaim and tell of them, yet they are more than can be told (Psalm 40:5). And best of all, they are available to all. If you would like to hear the very same words I heard on the couch in northern Minnesota, read Psalm 66:5-7. That is where I heard them. O how precious is the Bible. It is the very word of God. In it God speaks in the twenty-first century. This is the very voice of God. By this voice, he speaks with absolute truth and personal force. By this voice, he reveals his all-surpassing beauty. By this voice, he reveals the deepest secrets of our hearts. No voice anywhere anytime can reach as deep or lift as high or carry as far as the voice of God that we hear in the Bible. It is a great wonder that God still speaks today through the Bible with greater force and greater glory and greater assurance and greater sweetness and greater hope and greater guidance and greater transforming power and greater Christ-exalting truth than can be heard through any voice in any human soul on the planet from outside the Bible. This is why I found the article in this month’s Christianity Today, “My Conversation with God,” so sad. Written by an anonymous professor at a “well-known Christian University,” it tells of his experience of hearing God. What God said was that he must give all his royalties from a new book toward the tuition of a needy student. What makes me sad about the article is not that it isn’t true or didn’t happen. What’s sad is that it really does give the impression that extra-biblical communication with God is surpassingly wonderful and faith-deepening. All the while, the supremely-glorious communication of the living God which personally and powerfully and transformingly explodes in the receptive heart through the Bible everyday is passed over in silence. I am sure this professor of theology did not mean it this way, but what he actually said was, “For years I’ve taught that God still speaks, but I couldn’t testify to it personally. I can only do so now anonymously, for reasons I hope will be clear” (emphasis added). Surely he does not mean what he seems to imply—that only when one hears an extra-biblical voice like, “The money is not yours,” can you testify personally that God still speaks. Surely he does not mean to belittle the voice of God in the Bible which speaks this very day with power and truth and wisdom and glory and joy and hope and wonder and helpfulness ten thousand times more decisively than anything we can hear outside the Bible. I grieve at what is being communicated here. The great need of our time is for people to experience the living reality of God by hearing his word personally and transformingly in Scripture. Something is incredibly wrong when the words we hear outside Scripture are more powerful and more affecting to us than the inspired word of God. Let us cry with the psalmist, “Incline my heart to your word” (Psalm 119:36). “Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law” (Psalm 119:18). Grant that the eyes of our hearts would be enlightened to know our hope and our inheritance and the love of Christ that passes knowledge and be filled with all the fullness of God (Ephesians 1:18; 3:19). O God, don’t let us be so deaf to your word and so unaffected with its ineffable, evidential excellency that we celebrate lesser things as more thrilling, and even consider this misplacement of amazement worthy of printing in a national magazine. Still hearing his voice in the Bible, Pastor John cribe to… Text Only Feed Sermon Audio Sermon Video Sermon Text View list of podcasts and feeds .You’re listening to The Morning I Heard the Voice of God Listen: Full Length Download Audio: Full Length Let me tell you about a most wonderful experience I had early Monday morning, March 19, 2007, a little after six o’clock. God actually spoke to me. There is no doubt that it was God. I heard the words in my head just as clearly as when a memory of a conversation passes across your consciousness. The words were in English, but they had about them an absolutely self-authenticating ring of truth. I know beyond the shadow of a doubt that God still speaks today. I couldn’t sleep for some reason. I was at Shalom House in northern Minnesota on a staff couples’ retreat. It was about five thirty in the morning. I lay there wondering if I should get up or wait till I got sleepy again. In his mercy, God moved me out of bed. It was mostly dark, but I managed to find my clothing, got dressed, grabbed my briefcase, and slipped out of the room without waking up Noël. In the main room below, it was totally quiet. No one else seemed to be up. So I sat down on a couch in the corner to pray. As I prayed and mused, suddenly it happened. God said, “Come and see what I have done.” There was not the slightest doubt in my mind that these were the very words of God. In this very moment. At this very place in the twenty-first century, 2007, God was speaking to me with absolute authority and self-evidencing reality. I paused to let this sink in. There was a sweetness about it. Time seemed to matter little. God was near. He had me in his sights. He had something to say to me. When God draws near, hurry ceases. Time slows down. I wondered what he meant by “come and see.” Would he take me somewhere, like he did Paul into heaven to see what can’t be spoken? Did “see” mean that I would have a vision of some great deed of God that no one has seen? I am not sure how much time elapsed between God’s initial word, “Come and see what I have done,” and his next words. It doesn’t matter. I was being enveloped in the love of his personal communication. The God of the universe was speaking to me. Then he said, as clearly as any words have ever come into my mind, “I am awesome in my deeds toward the children of man.” My heart leaped up, “Yes, Lord! You are awesome in your deeds. Yes, to all men whether they see it or not. Yes! Now what will you show me?” The words came again. Just as clear as before, but increasingly specific: “I turned the sea into dry land; they passed through the river on foot. There they rejoiced in me—who rules by my might forever.” Suddenly I realized God was taking me back several thousand years to the time when he dried up the Red Sea and the Jordan River. I was being transported by his word back into history to those great deeds. This is what he meant by “come and see.” He was transporting me back by his words to those two glorious deeds before the children of men. These were the “awesome deeds” he referred to. God himself was narrating the mighty works of God. He was doing it for me. He was doing it with words that were resounding in my own mind. There settled over me a wonderful reverence. A palpable peace came down. This was a holy moment and a holy corner of the world in northern Minnesota. God Almighty had come down and was giving me the stillness and the openness and the willingness to hear his very voice. As I marveled at his power to dry the sea and the river, he spoke again. “I keep watch over the nations—let not the rebellious exalt themselves.” This was breathtaking. It was very serious. It was almost a rebuke. At least a warning. He may as well have taken me by the collar of my shirt, lifted me off the ground with one hand, and said, with an incomparable mixture of fierceness and love, “Never, never, never exalt yourself. Never rebel against me.” I sat staring at nothing. My mind was full of the global glory of God. “I keep watch over the nations.” He had said this to me. It was not just that he had said it. Yes, that is glorious. But he had said this to me. The very words of God were in my head. They were there in my head just as much as the words that I am writing at this moment are in my head. They were heard as clearly as if at this moment I recalled that my wife said, “Come down for supper whenever you are ready.” I know those are the words of my wife. And I know these are the words of God. Think of it. Marvel at this. Stand in awe of this. The God who keeps watch over the nations, like some people keep watch over cattle or stock markets or construction sites—this God still speaks in the twenty-first century. I heard his very words. He spoke personally to me. What effect did this have on me? It filled me with a fresh sense of God’s reality. It assured me more deeply that he acts in history and in our time. It strengthened my faith that he is for me and cares about me and will use his global power to watch over me. Why else would he come and tell me these things? It has increased my love for the Bible as God’s very word, because it was through the Bible that I heard these divine words, and through the Bible I have experiences like this almost every day. The very God of the universe speaks on every page into my mind—and your mind. We hear his very words. God himself has multiplied his wondrous deeds and thoughts toward us; none can compare with him! I will proclaim and tell of them, yet they are more than can be told (Psalm 40:5). And best of all, they are available to all. If you would like to hear the very same words I heard on the couch in northern Minnesota, read Psalm 66:5-7. That is where I heard them. O how precious is the Bible. It is the very word of God. In it God speaks in the twenty-first century. This is the very voice of God. By this voice, he speaks with absolute truth and personal force. By this voice, he reveals his all-surpassing beauty. By this voice, he reveals the deepest secrets of our hearts. No voice anywhere anytime can reach as deep or lift as high or carry as far as the voice of God that we hear in the Bible. It is a great wonder that God still speaks today through the Bible with greater force and greater glory and greater assurance and greater sweetness and greater hope and greater guidance and greater transforming power and greater Christ-exalting truth than can be heard through any voice in any human soul on the planet from outside the Bible. This is why I found the article in this month’s Christianity Today, “My Conversation with God,” so sad. Written by an anonymous professor at a “well-known Christian University,” it tells of his experience of hearing God. What God said was that he must give all his royalties from a new book toward the tuition of a needy student. What makes me sad about the article is not that it isn’t true or didn’t happen. What’s sad is that it really does give the impression that extra-biblical communication with God is surpassingly wonderful and faith-deepening. All the while, the supremely-glorious communication of the living God which personally and powerfully and transformingly explodes in the receptive heart through the Bible everyday is passed over in silence. I am sure this professor of theology did not mean it this way, but what he actually said was, “For years I’ve taught that God still speaks, but I couldn’t testify to it personally. I can only do so now anonymously, for reasons I hope will be clear” (emphasis added). Surely he does not mean what he seems to imply—that only when one hears an extra-biblical voice like, “The money is not yours,” can you testify personally that God still speaks. Surely he does not mean to belittle the voice of God in the Bible which speaks this very day with power and truth and wisdom and glory and joy and hope and wonder and helpfulness ten thousand times more decisively than anything we can hear outside the Bible. I grieve at what is being communicated here. The great need of our time is for people to experience the living reality of God by hearing his word personally and transformingly in Scripture. Something is incredibly wrong when the words we hear outside Scripture are more powerful and more affecting to us than the inspired word of God. Let us cry with the psalmist, “Incline my heart to your word” (Psalm 119:36). “Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law” (Psalm 119:18). Grant that the eyes of our hearts would be enlightened to know our hope and our inheritance and the love of Christ that passes knowledge and be filled with all the fullness of God (Ephesians 1:18; 3:19). O God, don’t let us be so deaf to your word and so unaffected with its ineffable, evidential excellency that we celebrate lesser things as more thrilling, and even consider this misplacement of amazement worthy of printing in a national magazine.

Still hearing his voice in the Bible, Pastor John

Martin Bashir Interviews Rob Bell

This is the second interview I have seen today with Rob Bell speaking about his new book.  The more I hear him talk, the less sense he makes.  I get what he is trying to say…I’m just not sure he does.  Check this interview out with Martin Bashir.  And, please, please stay away from Rob Bell’s book Love Wins.  It’s a poor theologian doing very bad theology. 

   http://www.dennyburk.com/martin-bashir-takes-on-rob-bell/#more-11841

Rob Bell’s New Book

Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived 

If you have heard of, or, are intrested in this book I encourage you to read Kevin DeYoung’ s review of the book.  The review is a bit lengthy, but if you are intrested, well worth your time. 

http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/kevindeyoung/2011/03/14/rob-bell-love-wins-review/

Why Japan Is Suffering

Japan is suffering because of sin.  Now, I am not saying the people of the country brought this upon themselves.  I am speaking about a much bigger problem, a sin problem that crosses over every ocean, infiltrates deep into the heart of every country, and even reaches the ends of the galaxy.  The sin I am speaking of is a cosmic problem brought on by Adam and Eve, and experienced by the creation itself.  It was not just humans that fell that day in the garden, the whole creation was subjected to the curse of sin.    For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. ²⁰For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope ²¹that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. ²²For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now (Romans 8:19-22).  The creation did not asked to be cursed.  It was not the creation itself that rebelled, but man, the man whom God set over the creation as keeper and lord.  We most often think of the fall as having to do with the moral depravity of humanity, and that is right, because we are God’s chief creation.  But, the creation (i.e trees, oceans, stars, cats, gold-fish, sand)  was likewise affected profoundly by the sin committed by Adam and Eve in the garden.  The creation was punished because Adam, it’s caretaker was unfaithful to God.  The world is not as it was created.  The cosmos are a much different and more violent place than it was prior to sin entering the world through Adam.  This is why we have earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, tsunamis and every other form of natural disaster.  And, until Christ returns and the new Heaven and new Earth are created unfortunately, we can expect many more violent acts of nature.  Only God knows why Japan was struck with such as disaster.  Science tells us it was because of the earth plates shifting and moving.  I believe what science says to be true, but I also believe what the Bible says, and it speaks to acts like the tsunami as the result of sin.  Did Japan deserve this type of natural disaster?  No more or no less than America, Kenya, or Chile would.  We are all under the curse of sin.  All nations feel the effects of the fall, unfortunately some live on or near fault lines.  Same are prone to experience land slides, some tornadoes, some extreme drought, some hurricanes, some extreme cold.  The falls curse can be felt anywhere on the globe, there is no true paradise here on earth.  So, brother and sisters in Christ let us join with Christians around the globe in praying for Japan.  Let us pray that salvation would come to many, many of the over 128 million or more unreached Japanese.  That a great country humbled by a catastrophic event would come to know a savior who has conquered sin, and will one day return to conquer all things including tsunamis.  Let us pray for the Island country shaped like a dragon to know the one who has slain the ultimate dragon.  Japan, we love you and your people.  May these present sufferings be regarded as nothing compared to the eternal glory that is in Christ (Romans 8:18).  Do not lose hope, but place your hope in the one whom your hope is safe in…Christ Jesus.

Psalm 25:5

 ⁵ Guide me in your truth and teach me,
   for you are God my Savior,
   and my hope is in you all day long.

A Taste of Heaven

 

                  

   Photo Courtesy: Laura Barnand

Yesterday, on the hallowed flats of what is the Georgia Institute of Technology inside the Bill Moore Tennis Center I witnessed/experienced a taste of what heaven must be like.  For 23 long years the University of Georgia men’s tennis team had not lost a match to the Men of Georgia Tech.  23 years is a long time to oppressed by any other…especialy if that other is them dawgs of Georgia.  This last moment of joy for the Yellow Jackets against the dawgs came in 1988, when current men’s and women’s coaches, Kenny Thorne and Brian Shelton were senior’s on the team.  I was 8 years of age then, just as a point of reference.  The match was a battle.  The dawgs struck first taking the doubles point (1-0 gawga).  In singles, The mighty men of the flats struck back beginning on court two with Juan Spear making light work of his dawg foe.  The dawgs countered with a win on court three against Tech’s #3 man Eliot Potvin.  Tech broke back, at #1 where Guillermo Gomez fought off a mistake ridden first set to find his groove and a straight set win.  The dawgs would not go away however, as they would take #4 singles from the Yellow Jackets andKevin King in three sets.  Georgia Tech would be dealt a big blow here, but it would be the last they would incur.  On court 5, Magin “the machine” Ortiga played like gravity.  He wore, and wore, and wore, his opponent down with ball after ball after ball.  Magin would seemingly not miss, and we defiantly would not lose.  Score…3-3!  Now to Dean O’ Brien.  A South African who transferred last year from Tennessee Tech to Georgia Tech.  Only this week did he replace a fellow teammate in the lineup.  Prior to the match, as the two players were standing, facing one another, they looked more the part of professional boxers than tennis players.  Each man in his corner bouncing, jumping, focused eye-ball to eye-ball.  This would foretell much of what was to transpire.  Deano (as he is most affectionately known) would drop a tough first set 6-4.  Both teams hopes of a victory hung in the balance of these two young man and the racquets they wielded.  Deano turned it up in the second set, taking it by the score of 6-3.  The deciding match was all nodded up.  Georgia and Georgia Tech would come down to one match and one final set.  The set was a battle at every level, both players competing, failing, rising up, making, missing, but competing for each point, and every single ball.  Deano would have his chances to break deep in the third, up 0-40, his opponent would hold strong.  Deano would battle back, down 4-5, serving, Deano, would save two match points from his opponent to win the game and tie things up at 5-5.  Perhaps the shot, or point of the match came on a match point during that 4-5 game.  Deano serving, misses his first, and then comes back with what looked like another first or close to it which surprised the heck of Georgia’s #6.  Deano, full of confidence and smelling blood, would break his opponent for the second straight time with relative ease.  Now, the match was clearly in his hands.  Serving to beat Georgia.  Serving for the win for his team.  Serving to become a forever Georgia Tech tennis legend.  Deano stayed relaxed, stayed focused, and stayed aggressive.  His opponent got tight, missed on two occasions, and then Deano was serving for it all.  23 years of frustration were about to come off the racquet of one Dean O” Brien.  Dean’s serve would be placed by his dawg opponent properly into the middle of the net…and alas the celebration had begun.  Players both current and former rushed the court.  Fans stood and cheered frantically for their beloved yellow jackets.  I watched all of Dean’s match up in the coach’s office with Head women’s coach Brian Shelton, and women’s assistant Allison Silverio.  The moment the match concluded, I high-fived and hugged coach Shelton and said I gotta get down there with those guys.  I hugged the guys.  I was in attendance their freshman year at Georgia when we were beaten so badly and quickly by the dawgs, Coach Thorne practiced the team on UGA’s courts for a few more hours.  That was now a distant memory, but a reminder about how far we had come.   I then went hugged men’s assistant Aljosa Piric.  Then, my last embrace was for the head man himself, Coach Kenny Thorne.  I don’t remember exactly what I said to him, I was just so happy for him.  And when I looked in his eyes and I surveyed his face, I saw 23 years of frustration gone.  I saw a man who was overjoyed, and loving every ounce of the moment.  I stepped back to gaze over the crown of several hundred.  The GT contingency were all on their feet cheering for their brave warriors.  It was a gesture of appreciation for the show these boys put on for all in attendance to see.  I stepped even a little further back and just enjoyed a panoramic view of the GT fans, coaches, and players.  No one was sad, no one was angry, no one was hurt.  Everyone wearing gold a white was euphoric with joy.  At that moment there were no burdens (like tests to take), no worries (like more tests to take), no troubles (you know tests and stuff), just jubilation.  I thought this must be what heaven is like.  No worries, no burdens, no suffering, no sadness, only joy and love all of the time without ceasing or end.  If that had occurred in heaven, the after party of the match would still be going strong.  But, as great as this was, it was only a sip, a taste of heaven.  If heaven is a constant and unlimited refill of the big gulp fountain drink at 7-11, this was just one sip from that cup of joy.  Oh what a sip it was though, one that will linger on the lips of the Tech players and fans for many days to come.  And if wins in tennis matches can bring us thus much joy, imagine how much more we will enjoy heaven and the very presence of Christ.  If heaven is better in every than what we experience on Saturday, then count me in as one who can’t wait to know joy like that, and peace like that, and freedom from burdens like that, and love that will cause us to sing and dance and smile forever.  Praise God there is a heaven…and we will love it there!

Revelation 21:3-5 (English Standard Version)

³And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. ⁴ He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” ⁵And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”

Because We Want To!

I asked my daughter during Christmas if she wanted to go and see Santa Clause, to which she responded “no”.  I asked her why she did not want to go see him and she said, “because we don’t want to.”  I am still not sure who the “we” is she is referring too.  I have no reason to belive that at this point in her life she has a split personality like Gollum from Lord of The Rings. She does refer to my wedding ring as “The precious”…only time will tell.  That fact remains, she didn’t go see Santa Claus because she did not want to. Well, you and I are not so different.  We do what we do (whatever that is) because we either do or do not want to.  I am thinking of sin here particularly.  We sin because we want to.  No one forces our hand to sin.  No one makes us give in to temptation and commit acts of sin.  We sin because we want to.  I told some student athletes at GT FCA Bible study that I sinned because I like it.  Now, that was not say I sin recklessly, or cavalier, without any thought of God.  Rather, I was speaking to the fact that any sin is an act of the will that follows the greater desire of the heart.  We sin because its brings pleasure to us, or happiness, or satisfaction…If only for a moment.  And that is the one of the great troubles with sin, it does not last.  Sin’s pleasing effects are momentary and fleeting.  Like an addict, we need more and more to helps us reach our desired “high”.  And, like the ring in the Lord of The Rings, the thing we desire to possess ends up possessing us.  Growing up, I heard sin is wrong, sin is bad, don’t do it!  The problem was, no one ever presented me a better option.  Why would I want to cast down the idols in my life if they were so much fun, even if not ultimately satisfying?  We must present Christ as a superior joy and satisfaction to any sin.  If we don’t, we only teach basic morality and not Biblical Christianity.  The purpose of having a relationship with Christ is to enjoy Him and his fellowship more that nay thing else in our lives.  Who would be attracted to a faith where we just say do this and not that?  That is the type of faith I grew up with, and it was not very appealing by comparison.  We must continually point people beyond sin and to Christ.  Sin is not the end of all things, Christ is.  Christ is a better alternative to any sin we can think of or act upon.  Ultimately, we will sin because we want to, or we will enjoy Christ if we want to…the choice is ours.  In the end one way or another Christ will prove superior to all other affections.               

Joshua 24:14-15

¹⁴ “Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. ¹⁵ But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”