Merry Christmas

Romantic Language in Hymns (Pt. 2)

Just One Touch of You, Dear Lord

1.

Just one touch of You, dear Lord,

Just one look into Your eyes,

Just one kiss from You,

You're all I need, my Love.

Let me hear again Your voice.

You are now my final choice.

Speak in love to me.

I'll waste myself on Thee.

Chorus 1:

Nothing and no one can satisfy me

But You anymore.

Jesus, I love You, my only desire!

O Lord, I just love You.

2. Let me touch You as before,

Craving for You more and more,

You're the very best!

I'll drop the rest for You.

Oh, the kisses of Your mouth

Make my lips to praise and shout.

Lord, You're full of grace,

Oh, what a taste, my Love!

Chorus 2:

Nothing and no one can satisfy me

But You anymore.

Jesus, my first Love, oh, set me on fire

For You, my only desire.

3. Just infuse me with Your eyes.

Oh! This union satisfies!

As I gaze on You,

I'm filled with You, my Love.

Only You alone will do.

I can't make it without You.

Keep me close to You,

Just joined to You as one.

Chorus 3:

Nothing and no one can satisfy me

But You anymore.

Jesus, I love You, my only desire.

Oh, set my heart on fire.

4. I repent and now return,

Grant my heart for You to burn.

Flame in me this zeal.

Lord, be in me so real!

I repent and now return.

Grant my heart for You to burn.

Flame in me this zeal.

Lord, be in me so real!

Chorus 4:

Jesus, my first Love! O Jesus, my best Love!

I now return to You.

Jesus, my first Love! O Jesus, my best Love!

I love You. I just love You!

Romantic Language in Hymns (Pt. 1)

With the Kisses of Your Mouth

1. With the kisses of Your mouth,

Have You kissed me, Lord.

From Your kisses flows a fountain,

From a depth unknown.

Gently tempered by Your touching

Of my deepest chords,

My heart’s renewed with gladness,

And my love o’erflows.

2. Let me kiss You, drink You deeper,

Fully satisfy

All the longings deep within me,

For Your presence nigh,

And a deeper, sweeter union,

Of Your life with mine

That our natures fully mingled,

Would our hearts entwine.

3. Ever increase,Lord, within me,

My desire for You.

Let Your kisses ever kiss me,

And that I’d kiss You.

Dear Lord Jesus, may I ever be,

So betrothed to You.

May I love You, always love You,

And respond to You.

Video of Church Raid

From "Voice of the Martyrs":

Just as we put the finishing touches on our November newsletter about Vietnam, we received this video footage of a small house church being raided by Vietnamese police. This church had been raided before. Local officials told the house church they did not have official permission to meet, so they could not have religious meetings.

Church members reported:
On Sunday, August 23, 2009, we were still gathering together for service meeting since this is necessary spiritual need. At 3 p.m., many district security officers came into my house. At that time, we were having service meeting, they came and stopped and dismissed us. We stopped and explained to them we had made the application of permission already, but they still blustered. Several of them towed Brother --- out to the house and had him sit on their motorbike. They did the same way to ---. They oppressed him ruthlessly and towed him; they did not allow for him to speak a word. And other women were towed away also. They did take away one guitar but they did not make a report to taking away guitar. After arriving at the district police station, they made the report with the accusation: “They are gathering together illegally.” They used the abuse words and threatened Brother ---: “If you came back this place again; you will be beaten.” … and at 6:30 p.m. they released us.

See video footage of the raid here. Continue to pray that our Vietnamese family will not succumb to the pressure against them. Pray they will continue to meet together and encourage each other, so they can continue to share the good news of Jesus Christ.

Excerpts from a Book (pt. 3)

"The greatest thing any person can do for another is to confirm the depest thing in him, in her--to take the time and have the discernment to see what's most deeply there, most fully that person, and then confirm iut by recognizing it and encouraging it.

Each of us has contact with hundreds of people who never look beyond our surface appearance. We have dealings with hundreds of people who the moment they set eyes on us begin calculating what use we can be to them, what they can get out of us. We meet hundreds of people who take one look at us, make a snap judgment, and then slot us into a category so that they won't have to deal with us as persons. The treat us as something less than we are; and if we're in constant association with them, we become less.

And then someone enters our life who isn't looking for someone to use, is leisurely enough to find out what's really going on in us, is secure enough not to exploit our weaknesses or attact our strengths, recognizes our inner life and understands the difficulty of living out our inner convictions, confirms what's deepest within us. A friend."

Leap Over a Wall: Earthy Spirituality for Everyday Christians - Eugene Peterson

Excerpts from a Book (pt. 2)

"Parents encourage these explorations and discoveries by presenting their children with toys. Toys provide a safe, or at least safer, means of carrying out experiments on the world than wandering out into the streets and forests. Instead of sending our two-year-old down to the fire stations to climb all over the fire trucks and pester the firefighters with questions, we buy a small fire truck and let him rescue people from under the dining room table. Instead of sending our three-year-old to the woods to look for bears and badgers, we buy her a few stuffed anmials that will give her a feel for these creatures without the danger of her becoming a meal for them.

In the process of this exploration we learn that there's more to the world than size and shape, color and texture; there's meaning and purpose, good and bad. There's someting just beneath the surface of everything, something invisible and inaudible but just as real, maybe even more real, than what we're seeing and hearing and touching. Stories are our primary means for exploring these beneath-the-surface, behind-the-scenes relalities that are as present and immediate to us as anything we have access to through our five senses. Stories are as important as toys."

Leap Over a Wall: Earthy Spirituality for Everyday Christians - Eugene Peterson

A Word to Bible College Students and Graduates

I'm posting this here, if for no other reason than to have access to it in upcoming years when I need a good slap in the face. The last 13 minutes or so are some of the most convicting words I've heard preached in a while.

Matt Chandler speaking in chapel at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

My Paper for Class

For those interested, this is the paper I wrote for class about a month ago. It's not lengthy as far as papers go, but it is lengthy for a blog post. Read it if you'd like. Comments are always appreciated.

-----

The Divine Design: Gender, Marriage, and Authority

Few issues have consistently sparked as much controversy over the course of human history as has the topic of human gender rights, roles, and responsibilities. Hesiod, a Greek poet and foundational source of Greek mythology, gracefully recorded his two cents worth concerning the matter when he wrote, “Trust a woman – you might as well trust a thief” (Theogony 375). In more recent history, famed author and journalist Rebecca West wrote, “I myself have never been able to find out precisely what feminism is. I only know that people call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat or a prostitute.” (219). Indeed, such matters that flow from the heart of human sexuality and relationships are of pressing concern - especially in the 21st century world of sex-saturated media, growing global divorce rates,1 and the rising popularity of so-called gay marriage.

The topic of gender roles was addressed heavily, yet in my opinion insufficiently, in the first week of class and in more roundabout ways in the ensuing weeks. Therefore, I would primarily like to explain more fully my understanding of YHWH’s design for the male and female marriage relationship as established before the fall of man in Genesis 3.2 Included in this explanation, I will contrast YHWH’s and Zeus’s motives for creating the genders; and I will juxtapose Genesis’s outlook on gender equality with Aeschylus’s depiction as presented in The Oresteia.

The Bible makes it clear that the creation of the first male and female was “exceedingly good” in YHWH’s eyes and that the purpose of the woman was to be man’s helper (The Five Books of Moses, Gen. 1.31; 2.18). This stands in shocking contrast to Hesiod’s account of the creation of the first woman. In his Theogony, Hesiod speaks of woman as being “an evil for men” (45). He speaks again of this mythical event in Works and Days when Zeus says, “I too will give them a gift, an evil one…in which all will delight in their hearts, as they embrace their own evil” (73). Whereas YHWH creates the woman to be a helper to the man, Zeus creates the female as a punishment to the male.

Not only does Genesis record the creation of male and female as being “exceedingly good,” it also implies an equality of essence as manifest through the fact that male and female are uniquely and equally created in the image of God (Gen. 1.26-27, 31).3 Consequentially, neither gender is to be celebrated as intrinsically better. This equality differs greatly from the explicit favoritism shown toward the male gender in The Oresteia. One such example is found when Clytemnstra announces the victorious end of the war in the beginning of Agamemnon. Whereas she claims that in her boldness and honesty she “speaks as a woman,” the chorus responds with the compliment, “She speaks like a man.” (Hughes 22). The attributes considered virtuous in the text continue to be identified as masculine throughout the trilogy.

In addition to these similarities, the Genesis account presents clear distinctions between YHWH’s intended purposes for the two genders – specifically as it pertains to the marriage relationship. As stated in the previous paragraph, these distinctions do not serve to present one gender has being superior to the other but rather to present the genders as necessary4 compliments for one another.

One primary distinction worth addressing is the headship5 of Adam within the marriage relationship. This is evidenced in the text both before and after sin entered the world. First, Adam is said to have named Eve (Gen. 2.23). Regarding this point Wayne Grudem says, “The original readers of Genesis and of the rest of the Old Testament would have been familiar with this pattern, a pattern whereby people who have authority over another person or thing have the ability to assign a name to that person or thing, a name that often indicates something of the character or quality of the person” (28). It is important to point out that this act of authority happened before Adam and Eve had sinned.

A second evidence of Adam’s headship in the marriage was his accountability before YHWH for the moral behavior of both him and his wife, Eve. The Genesis account makes it clear that even though Eve was the first person to transgress the law of YHWH by eating fruit from the Tree of the Knowing of Good and Evil, Adam was the first person confronted by YHWH about the sin (Gen. 2.16-17; 3.6; 3.9). If there was not an elevated status of moral responsibility for Adam within his marriage to Eve, one would find it peculiar that YHWH initially confronted only Adam about the sin (Gen. 3:9-11). Moreover, the entire account of the fall of man demonstrates an inversion of the divine design for authority in that an animal addressed only the woman, who then proceeded to address the present, yet passive, Adam (Gen. 3:1-6). This progression is juxtaposed with the account of YHWH’s confrontation of the man, woman, and serpent regarding the sin. YHWH here addressed the man first, the woman second, and the serpent third (Gen. 3:9-14).

Lastly, an important part of the curse placed on mankind in Genesis 3:16 involved a sinful inclination of both genders to both pervert6 and invert their God-ordained relationship roles. As a result of sin, Eve now possessed a natural desire to rule7 in her relationship with Adam, while Adam was now naturally inclined to be passive in his involvement and abusive in his headship through physical domination. A relevant objection to this point would be that the consequences of the curse don’t require the pre-fall headship of Adam. I would agree with this objection and echo the words of Wayne Grudem when he says, “…Genesis 3:16 should never be used as a direct argument for male headship in marriage” (35). I am not intending to use the curse to independently establish Adam’s headship in marriage, but rather to make it most clear that a dramatic shift towards relational conflict happened as a result of the fall. Consequentially, I would argue that the first three points (naming, moral accountability, and dialogue progression) establish what the previous roles had been; and that in partnership with those points, the consequences of the curse assist in presenting a strong argument for the pre-fall and post-fall headship of Adam in his marriage relationship with Eve that would have been understood by the Hebrew people.

Based upon this brief surveying the depictions of gender as presented in Genesis, The Oresteia, Theogony, and Works and Days, it is safe to say that, of the four works, Genesis provides women with the highest degree of dignity and value. Therefore, in a world characterized in large part by the objectifying and devaluing of women, it is imperative that those who submit themselves to the authority of the Bible put forth great effort in preserving this dignity and value and showcasing it to an unbelieving world.

Notes:

1 http://www.womenofchina.cn/focus/marriage_and_family/5166.jsp.

2 Because of the limited length of this paper, this explanation will be far from exhaustive in its support of this argument. Hopefully, however, it will be sufficient in presenting a solid case.

3 The creation of mankind is unique from the rest of creation. Its uniqueness is expressed literarily in various ways. One such way is seen in Genesis 1:26 when God says, “Let us make…” when referring to mankind (Ware 72). For all other created things God said, “Let there be.” Both the creation process and the product are seen as unique.

4 I include the word “necessary” in an effort to emphasize YHWH’s recognition that “it is not good for the human to be alone” (Gen. 2.18).

5 Although this exact term, “headship,” is not used in the Genesis account, for sake of consistency and for lack of a better word, I will use the term “headship” when referring to Adam’s authoritave role in his marriage with Eve.

6 Grudem’s comments regarding this point were helpful when he said, “…Genesis 3:16 should never be used as a direct argument for male headship in marriage. But it does show us that the Fall brought about a distortion of previous roles, not the introduction of new roles. The distortion was that Eve would now rebel against her husband’s authority, and Adam would misuse that authority to rule forcefully and even harshly over Eve.” (35).

7 In order to best understand the meaning of the Hebrew word for “lust” in Geneis 3:16, one must look to Genesis 4:7 where the word is also used. In Geneis 4:7 the text speaks of sin’s “lust” to control Kayin. It can be assumed, then, the word “lust” does not speak of the sinfulness of a wife’s sexual desire for her husband, but rather a desire to “rule” or “dominate” in her relationship with him.

Churchill on the Deuce

 

Letter from Prison

I read this on Kevin DeYoung's blog today. Great stuff.

---

This is a portion of the letter Guido de Bres, the author of the Belgic Confession, wrote to his wife while he was imprisoned in the Black Hole of Brunain for his Protestant faith.

My dear and well-beloved wife in our Lord Jesus, Your grief and anguish are the cause of my writing you this letter. I most earnestly pray you not to be grieved beyond measure…We knew when we married that we might not have many years together, and the Lord has graciously given us seven. If the Lord had wished us to live together longer, he could easily have cause it to be so. But such was not his pleasure. Let his good will be done….Moreover, consider that I have not fallen into the hands of my enemies by chance, but by the providence of God….All these considerations have made my heart glad and peaceful, and I pray you, my dear and faithful companion, to be glad with me, and to thank the good God for what he is going, for he does nothing but what is altogether good and right…I pray you then to be comforted in the Lord, to commit yourself and your affairs to him, he is the husband of the widow and the father of the fatherless, and he will never leave you nor forsake you.

On May 31, 1567, Guido de Bres, 47 years old, was publicly hanged in the market square of Valenciennes. He was pushed off the scaffold as he exhorted the crowd to be faithful to Scripture and respectful to the magistrates. His body was buried in a shallow grave where it was later dug up and torn apart by wild animals.

I thank God for de Bres’ example of courage and steadfastness. Here is another man “of whom the world was not worthy” (Heb. 11:38). I’m thankful too for the Belgic Confession. And whenever I read this heartwrenching and inspiring letter, I’m thankful he wrote to his wife in prison.

Long Overdue

It's been a while since I updated what I've been up to. I honestly haven't had time to update this too much, but I have today off of work and so I am without excuse.

[A couple weeks ago, we (my job) took the after school program kids to a corn maze. These are two of the leaders (Joe and Cody) and one of the students.]

[Also, in the not too distant past, I went with some friends to the Denver Nuggets' season opener. We literally sat in the furthest possible seats in the whole arena.]

[For Halloween, a bunch of us went to the Meese concert. It was a costume party of sorts and all the Meese guys dressed up like "Thriller" zombies. One guy in the crowd wore a legit "Balloon Boy" hat and passed it up to the front for Pat to wear during one of the songs. He did. After the show we went back to the Meese's house and hung out with all the bands who played that night: Meese, Ludo, The Northern Way, and Ha Ha Tonka.]

[The following day was Sunday and so I went to church. After the service we walked up the street to the local community center because 5 people were getting baptized that day. We all stood around the swimming pool and sang and listened to the people's testimonies. After the baptisms a bunch of us went out for lunch and then ended up hanging out at a coffee shop until 6 o'clock. Great day.]

[This pic is out of order, but thse are some friends of mine who went to the Friday night show - Megan, Alyssa, and Ashley. They are part of the newly established Monday night "Dinner and a Movie" tradition.]

[The next weekend Churchill played a couple shows...including their biggest one yet! They played with these bands on Friday night at the Marquis: The Rouge, The Still City, and Snake Rattle Rattle Snake; and with these bands on Saturday night at Everyday Joe's in Ft. Collins: Andrea Ball and SHEL.]

I had to post this one because it's Ashley talking to our friend, Emily, on the phone while cooking the chicken for Monday night "Dinner and a Movie." It's crazy all the connections I have with people in Denver - a lot of mutual friends.]

So that about wraps up what I've been up to of late. I've been working on taking more pictures so as to have something to post.

Today I'm going to spend the rest of the day reading for class and doing some generic apartment supplies shopping. Tonight Churchill is playing 2 songs live on the local news and so I'm gonna watch that. Hopefully I can find the video online later and post it. Ummm...Saturday night I'm going to a Colorado Avalanche game with some friends and helping out with a local food drive (or something like that). That should be fun. That's about it. Have a great rest of the week. Happy Veterans' Day!

Churchill "Miles"

A new song by my roommates' band. The quality isn't great, but I was in the back of the room at the merch table and was filming with my digital camera. Once again, the blog format chops off part of the video. Click the video to watch it on YouTube, along with a couple other songs from the evening.

Africa and the Prosperity (Non) Gospel

Very Disturbing

The Prosperity Gospel from The Global Conversation on Vimeo.

Excerpts from a Book (pt. 1)

"The David/Goliath story is a great children's story because it conveys an important meaning. It's not an obvious meaning, but all children must learn it if they're going to make it in the world.

But once we've learned the story and assimilated the meaning that goes with it, the story isn't over and done with. Learning stories isn't the same as learning the multiplication tables. Once we've learned that three times four equals twelve, we've learned it and that's that. It's a fact that doesn't change. The data is stored in our memory for ready access. But stories don't stay put; they grow and deepen. The meaning doesn't exactly change, but it matures. Having learned the meaning of love, for instance, we don't for a moment suppose that we've passed that course and can now go on to other things, deciding perhaps to sign up next for computer science.

No. We keep on telling stories, the same old ones, over and over and over again, in away quite different from saying the multiplication tables over and over again. The stories keep releasing new insight in new situations. As we bring new experience and insight to the story, the story gathers that enrichment in and gives it back to us in fresh form.

And so it turns out that the David/Goliath story is as important for adults as it ever was for children. One of the great impoverishments of many adult lives is the absence of children's stories, whether read or told or listened to."

Leap Over a Wall: Earthy Spirituality for Everyday Christians - Eugene Peterson

First US Official to Resign Over Afgan War

The war is painful for everybody involved, including the leaders.

Here is the last paragraph from Matthew Hoh's resignation letter:

I realize the emotion and tone of my letter and ask you to excuse any ill temper. I trust you understand the nature of this war and the sacrifices made by so many thousands of families who have been separated from loved ones deployed in defense of our Nation and whose homes bear the fractures, upheavals and scars of multiple and compounded deployments. Thousands of our men and women have returned home with physical and mental wounds, some that will never heal or will only worsen with time. The dead return only in bodily form to be received by families who must be reassured their dead have sacrificed for a purpose worthy of futures lost, love vanished, and promised dreams unkept. I have lost confidence such assurances can anymore be made. As such, I submit my resignation.

Sincerely,

Matthew P. Hoh

Senior Civilian Representative

Zabul Province, Afghanistan

Let Loose Your Inner Nerd

5 rational realities that science cannot account for. The nerd side of me loved watching this clip of one nerd getting absolutely OWNED by the other nerd. Check out the look on the dude's face after each point at 1:42, 2:11, and 2:22.

1. Logical and mathematical truths

2. Metaphysical truths

3. Ethical beliefs about statements of value

4. Aesthetic judgments

5. Science itself

Put that in your pipe and smoke it.

Tim Keller @ Google

If the other Tim Keller post intrigued you, here is a lecture given by Tim Keller which includes a question and answer time regarding his New York Times best seller The Reason for God. The video is lengthy but well worthy your time if you watch the whole thing.

Tim Keller's New Book

My next series of posts will include various articles, videos, and who knows what else that I have found helpful, interesting, and who knows what else over the past few weeks. Here's a video of Tim Keller introducing some thoughts about his new book Counterfeit Gods: The Empty Promises of Money, Sex, and Power and the Only Hope that Matters.

Here's My Week in 60 Seconds

[This weekend I went to a Black and White costume party.]

[We totally didn't plan this, but there were 3 "Mormons missionaries" there. I lost my name tag somewhere in the Safeway parking lot during the photo scavenger hunt.]

Sunday night I went to a "Slam Poetry" thingamajig down the street with some new church friends. I learned that the audience is supposed to raise their right hand when the poet has 10 seconds remaining and that the polite way to encourage a poet who is struggling to remember his or her words is to snap your fingers.

I'm doing homework each night this week. Friday night and Saturday morning I'm attending membership classes for Providence and then on Saturday night I'm going to the Meese show. I have to go shower now and then go to work.

One in a Million Flu Shot Reaction

Picking Up Steam

[Mutemath]

This past week was pretty packed full of excitement. Wednesday night, Mike, Aaron, and I went to a Mutemath show at the Ogden Theater downtown. Here is a video I took of their hit song "Typical."

I spent much of my work week last week training for my CDL test tomorrow morning. Having my CDL will allow me to drive a school bus for work to help transport students.

If you haven't had your head buried a hole this weekend, you've probably heard news about the "balloon kid." Yup, that's Colorado for you. The family involved in the "hoax" as it's now being called lives about an hour north of Denver.

In recent reading, I was directed to this article online. It's written by one of my favorite song writers, Jon Foreman, and addresses the craziness of America and our heroic treatment of celebrities who are anything but heroic. Here is a paragraph from the article.

Let's face it. Mother Teresa doesn't look that good in a negligee. And Team Hoyt won't sell beer commercials to the networks. But when the ball players and the supermodels end up in rehab, we end up asking esoteric questions about what makes a hero. In the movies the good looking actor who gets the girl is easy to point to. But after he gets the girl, then the house, and then a few kids and then a divorce and then another girl. Then what? After all of the special effects are gone, we're left with an aging mortal who looks a bit awkward on the talk shows. Perhaps we've set our goals too low. Or perhaps we've got it backwards. (read more)

Friday night Mike, Greg, and I attended an all-night (10 p.m. - 6 a.m.) prayer meeting at church. We attended the 10 p.m. - 2 a.m. shift. I was later told that 50% of the church participated in the event. That's great participation for an event like that. These prayer nights occur quarterly at Cornerstone. We spent time singing together, praying together, praying alone, discussing Scripture, and distributing care packages to the homeless people in the community.

Church has continued to make me uncomfortable, in a good way. There has been a steady increase in homeless people attending the church. As one raised in a comfortable setting, this is an unusual experience for me. In fact, one guy has been sleeping in his car outside the church for weeks and that's how he learned of Providence Bible Church. Another guy parked his shopping cart in front of the church today and attended the service. It challenges me to see our pastor put his arm around a first-time visitor homeless guy after hearing him share a testimony about how he has had AIDS for 23 years (as a result of a life of sex, drugs, and rock and roll) and pray for him in front of the congregation.

After church, a group of us walked to the 16th Street Mall downtown for lunch. I met a lot of new people today and am looking forward to attending membership classes at the end of the month and possibly getting involved in the music ministry.

That should be enough for now.

P.S. Hawkeyes are 7-0 and Churchill is recording 2 music videos for Comcast on Tuesday.

Jesus in "The Washington Post"

No 'Best Case' Way to Present God, but Many False Ways

Q: What makes the best 'case for God' to a skeptic or non-believer, an open-minded seeker, and to a person of faith and Why?

Answer
Jesus.

Christianity is not first and foremost about a sacred place to pilgrimage to, a philosophical system to ponder, a moral code to live, a religious tradition to honor, or an impersonal god to experience. Rather, Christianity is about a person who claimed to be the only God and said he would prove his unprecedented claim by living without sin, dying for sinners, and conquering death through resurrection.

So, as Christians, our aim is not to convince people of some god in general, but to introduce them to Jesus in particular. And since he created us with the ability to communicate, think, love, and experience, Christians have always valued using every means by which the truth and love of Jesus can be revealed.

Helpful to this end is using the evidence for a personal Creator who handcrafted our world for human life by explaining the principles of intelligent design and such things as the fine-tuning argument and the argument for irreducible complexity. These show that our world is a gift to be enjoyed worshipfully and stewarded wisely.

It is also important that people learn to understand how God speaks uniquely and authoritatively through the Bible. Acts that can aid in this include giving away Bibles (along with helpful Christian books) as gifts for people to simply read, bringing people to church to listen to the Bible preached, inviting people to small groups and classes to ask their questions about the Bible, and recommending good podcasts that would bring the Bible into the daily rhythm of their commutes, exercise workouts, and the like.

On a more practical level, acts of truly selfless compassion--done not for fame, notoriety, or to merit God's approval, but done out of love for someone--help to reveal a small measure of God's loving, merciful, compassionate nature. In a world where people use one another far more frequently than they love one another, these kinds of acts can be signs pointing to the God who is altogether good. As one example, in our church filled mainly with young people, we have put much effort into weeping with and serving the hundreds and hundreds of victims of molestation and rape.

Thus, informing the mind about Scripture, explaining the world and our place in it under God, and extending a hand of loving compassion all help to give people a framework by which to interpret their life experiences. They can begin to see that God has made them, wants to speak with them, and desires restored relationship with them, relationship that otherwise remains broken through sin.

While each of these ways of informing someone's understanding is important, none is alone sufficient. That is because what they leave us with is knowledge about God by revealing what he has done (creation), how he communicates (the Bible), and what he seeks (relationship). But we still do not enjoy that relationship.

This leads us to Jesus.

Christianity has always held, based upon the teachings of Jesus and the prophets of the Old Testament and apostles of the New Testament, that in Jesus, the Creator has entered into creation on a rescue mission for the restoring of relationship, in fulfillment of Scripture. For making the three most unprecedented claims in the history of the world--that he was without sin as the only God and the only path to salvation--Jesus was treated without compassion. He was lied about, arrested, falsely tried, beaten, whipped beyond recognition, nailed to a cross, and lifted up for a crowd to mock, jeer, and spit upon. Jesus our Creator then, with bloodied lips, spoke the word "forgive" for his murderers. Jesus died to pay the penalty for sin as the greatest act of compassion the world has or will ever

witness; the Creator died for his creation, to make enemies friends.

Three days later, Jesus rose, conquering sin and death and vindicating his claims. Subsequently, if Jesus is dead, so is Christianity. If Jesus is alive, so is Christianity. And so while there is no "best case" for presenting God, there are false ways of presenting God: as anyone in addition to or other than Jesus Christ. As Christians, our goal is never to lie to people by only telling them what they want to hear, or manipulating them to feel what they want to feel. Instead, we want to respect them enough to tell them the truth, and love them enough to do so in a way that is compassionate. We care more about the truth and the love than having the "best case." We believe that there is power in the truth about Jesus that can unleash new life in people as they agree with the truth about him.

- article by Pastor Mark Driscoll

A Helpful Interview

This interview provides helpful advice for progressing on one's personal walk with Christ.

A Lazy Sunday Afternoon

So this past week contained a little bit of everything. I filled in teaching some morning ESL classes at work. It was a lot of fun but a little trickier at times because I normally teach an advanced class and these morning classes were beginner level. That means that many of the students speak little to no English. Nevertheless, I had a great time and would happily teach the classes again.

One semi-funny moment was teaching the students to clearly pronounce the "r" in the word "party" as to not confuse it with the word "potty." It was kind of a you-had-to-be-there moment but I explained to the students what "potty" meant on the board by drawing a picture of a toilet. As the students recognized what I was drawing, they started laughing and realized that the student had told me that she and her family went to the potty together over the weekend.

I wrote my paper for class this week and turned it in yesterday. That's the first paper I've had to write in almost 2 years. Crazy MLA format, takes a while to remember how to site all your sources and such. If I get a good enough grade on the paper, maybe I'll post it on here for those interested in reading it. It deals with gender equality and headship in marriage. Not the least bit controversial.

Friday night I came home from work only to get invited to go to a Manchester Orchestra concert. I've never really listened to the band before, but figured sure, why not. Mike, Aaron, and I made the trek up to the University of Colorado for the show but the tickets sold out (they were only available at the door) when we were 7 people from the front on the line. Rats. If only we hadn't wandered around campus looking for the venue we would have gotten in. We ended up meeting up with Greg at a Starbucks and headed over to Aaron's house to chill.

Yesterday afternoon I did laundry and watched Fair Fight - a documentary about the filming of The Fray's newest album. Last night was a house warming party at the Meese's. Greg, Joe, Nate, and I made a killer fire pit* in the back yard. It was fun hanging out with a bunch of new people. I was gonna take a few pictures at the party to post but I forgot my camera at Aaron's Friday night because I had also intended to take some pictures at the concert. 0/2.

This whole upcoming week at work I'm taking classes to officially get my air brakes CDL so I can drive the Goals school bus. Twill be exhilarating, I'm sure.

*The fire pit was a large cement flower pot that we put some logs in. We found out later that you're not supposed (read: it's illegal)to have fires within city limits. Oops.

This blog has not been abandoned, I've just been very busy of late. I'll update this on Sunday -- hopefully.

You've Got to be Kidding Me

It's stuff that this that makes Christians easy targets.

Officially Settled In

This week was pretty routine with work being during the day and ESL (I have about 15 students), wing night, and homework happening during the evenings. Churchill played a show Friday night and I went to that. Yesterday I read all day and then went to a church dinner in in the evening. Today I'm finishing my homework and keeping a periodic eye on the football scores.

My classes have been a lot of work and a lot of fun. As a class we are comparing the Greek account of the origin of the gods and a trilogy about murder, conspiracy, family, and justice with the Pentateuch (Genesis - Deuteronomy) and Joshua. Two things I've learned is that I tend to read my own ideas into Bible stories and that it takes a long time to read through Genesis. Seriously, it's a really long book. We have three weeks left before taking a week off and beginning the next 8 week course.

For work on Thursday and Friday I attended a training seminar on teaching abstinence. My understanding is that I'll have some opportunities to teach this periodically in various schools in our school district. The class was very informative and helpful and I even made a few new friends in the class.

Oh, and the Iowa Hawkeyes are 4-0 and that makes me happy.

Church this morning was 2 1/2 hours long. No Sunday school. Just the main service. 2 1/2 hours. But it was great. Testimonies took about 45 minutes and the sermon was great. What I like about the church is that it's full of new believers with really messy pasts (some people's lives are still a mess) who have been radically changed by the gospel. The testimonies I've heard in the past two days include testimonies from multiple single moms, at least one homeless guy, a husband and wife who have left everything for the gospel and found out they are now losing their house, a former prostitute and stripper, a church elder, a guy who recently finished a 20 year prison sentence, and many others. The church is less now a year old and has about 175 attendees. I'm really looking forward to the mens' prayer breakfast this upcoming Saturday morning and since the church is four blocks away, I can just walk to it.

That's enough for now. I'll try and have some pictures for my next post. Without all my awesome students around, I don't have as many opportunities to take pictures.

The Coolest Thing I've Ever Seen

Cops, Robbers, and the DMV

Current Listening: "Home" by Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros (I am listening to the first song I've ever heard by them for the first time.)

I'm currently on a slight break from work...I have to go back at 4:30 and work till 10:00. Tonight is "chill night" which is basically a hang out time for the students since they don't have school tomorrow. There will be video games and board games and food and who knows what else.

So here's some random stuff from the week so far. Sunday afternoon I helped the Meese's move into their new place. Sunday night I watched the Packer's game with Tyler because we are both big Green Bay Packer fans.

Monday was work and then homework.

Tuesday was work and then wing night. **Story time: Last week none of the crew went to Wing Stop because we threw a surprise party for Tim's birthday. This might have worked out for our own safety though, because that night Wing Stop got robbed and the girl who works Tuesday nights got pistol-whipped in the head. I wonder if it looked suspicious that the one night we don't go, the place got robbed. It probably also looked bad that this week we ignorantly all dressed up like bank robbers for wing night. False...but the place really did get robbed and we weren't there to make any citizen arrests.

Random thought: is there an Air Bud movie where he is a cop and arrest criminals? If not, there should be.

** Second story time: This week at wing night a certain someone (not me) attempted to climb up the side of Aaron's minivan and in the process accidently smashed in his side window. Oops.

Yesterday some guys from work and I went out to lunch for all-you-can-eat wings at Buffalo Wild Wings. I ate 24. Then today for lunch the staff went out for employee lunch to, you guessed it, Buffalo Wild Wings. I'm glad I love wings and potato wedges.

I spent the first hour of my break today on the phone trying to sort out my car registration. I literally got transferred enough times to enough new places and people that I went full circle all the way back to the first place I had called. Somebody needs to do something about better educating the Denver Motor Vehicles people. Every person said something like, "I'm not sure, I think you need to talk to these people." After at least 7-8 transfers I ended up speaking to a police sergeant who was like, "How did you end up talking to me about this?"

Now it's time for me to go back to work to learn about the wonders of teaching ESL. Classes officially begin next week. I'm really looking forward to it.

Hasta luego.

Denver. One Month After Arrival.

This week was fun. Monday I went to Greg's house to grill out for Labor Day. Tuesday and Wednesday consisted of work and homework. Thursday was another full day of work and then a non-official Churchill show at night. My roommate, Mike, was at Lake Ann for the weekend leading music for a ladies' retreat so some friends got together and played a gig originally booked for Churchill.

[L to R: Nate Meese, Tiffany Meese, Tim Bruns, Joe Richmond, Tyler Rima]

Work has been a lot of fun. I have enjoyed getting to know my co-workers and getting to work with the students in the after-school program has been great. So far we have done skits and played a game of Jeopardy to teach the rules, worked on homework with the students, spent time playing basketball and such for free time, and went to a skating rink on Friday. One of the students who I have helped a lot during homework time drew these pictures for me.

[The picture on the left was intended to be a "funny" picture and the one on the right started out as serious, and then she added pig tails and earrings.]

During my first month in Denver, I have made a lot of new friends, moved into a great apartment, gotten a great job, and found a new church (I'll post more on in when I get a chance) where I think I'm going to attend full-time. Sounds like a good month to me. God has really been good.

Now, if only the Packers would get their act together and stop losing to the Bears (It's currently CHI 12 - GB 10! As soon as the game is over I have to spend time reading for class.

Farewell.

The Inevitable

So here it is folks - the dreaded "I worked all week and did homework at night but found time to go buy some kitchen towels and set of pots and pans" post. Really, if my life this week was a TV show, I doubt that even Lifetime would have picked it up.

I don't even really have exciting news about work. Don't get me wrong, I am excited to have a job and have enjoyed it thus far, but I spent the week in lesson plan meetings, studying a driving manual for 4 hours in order to get my CDL, and watching 4 hours of "Love and Logic" (a dvd of a woman lecturing on a particular disciplinary philosophy). That, my friends, is nothing to write home about.

I spent my Friday night at home reading for class (but the book was really good so I didn't mind). I arose at the early hour of 8:45 this morning with the intention of going out to breakfast with Mike and Greg, but that fell through and turned into Mike and me tag teaming the cooking duties and making us some killer sausage, egg, and cheese McMuffins.

See, I told you the week was exciting. If your heart can handle the excitement, please read on to hear about Mike and I going to a bike shop, buying some supplies, and then coming home and replacing the flat tires that each of us had on our bikes.

So after breakfast, Mike and I went to a bike shop, bought some supplies, and then came home and replaced the flat tires that each of us had on our bikes.

**Warning: upcoming blood reference**

During the process, we had our bikes propped upside down on their seats and handlebars. Consequently, Mike's kick-stand was protruding from his bike and I bent over to pick something up and dinged my forehead on it - drawing blood and leaving a small gash on my forehead.

Moments like that make you really think about the important things of life, you know? Like "Do I have a up to date will?" "What's my stance on cosmetic surgery should this gash cause small children to cry and pretty women to run away?" "Could I sue Mike? It was his kickstand." Seriously, the important things of life.

Most recently, I went shopping for for pots and pans and some other dishes and some kitchen towels today. I had no clue what I was looking for, so I texted my friend Em and, upon her advice, I think I got some decent stuff. I also bought a small floor rug for the apartment, but I don't know if it matches. In fact, I'm pretty sure it doesn't. I'll check with Mike when he gets off work.

Cheers, folks. Greg just got here!

The Weekend

Current Listening: The Swell Season

I believe I left you all last time with the promise of me attending my first Churchill show shortly thereafter. Well folk, don't call me a prophet, but I did indeed attend said Churchill show.

The opening gig was this guy named Ian Cooke who was rated #1 act in Denver this past year. He does some pretty cool stuff with his cello and I talked with him afterward for a while and he's a really nice guy. Here's a relatively blurry image of Ian playing and singing....

[Ian Cooke]

...and a video of him playing live from his solo dvd. *Due to the format of the blog, the video is kinda chopped off on the side. My apologies.*

Here is a picture of Churchill owning the stage. They brought out the biggest crowd of any of the four acts and got asked by a few attendees, including Ian Cooke, about booking some future gigs. Nice.

[L to R: Tyler, Bethany, Mike, Amy, and Tim]

[And because he wasn't in the last picture ... dummer, Joe Richmond everybody!]

So that was Thursday night. The last two days have been spent reading and hanging out with friends here and there. I should find out tomorrow if I get the delivery job I interviewed for last Wednesday.

Now it's time to drink some hot tea and read. Cheers.

P.S. Having a roommate who works at Starbucks is incredibly practical. We have essential unlimited free coffee and tea in the apartment. And a french press. Oh ya.

Meese: Forward Motion

This is a video posted online today of my new friends from the band Meese performing their song Forward Motion while on tour with The Fray this summer.

Meese - 'Forward Motion' - Director Rod Blackhurst from Rod Blackhurst on Vimeo.

My Week: Structured Numerically (A.k.a. Home Alone and Temporarily Sick of Homework)

#1 I didn't go to the Rockies game last Friday. I helped Greg and his brother-in-law roof their house instead. I helped out Friday night, all day Saturday (which happened to be 100 degrees - the hottest day of the year), and for about an hour and a half Sunday afternoon.

[I have an idea.]

#2 Sunday night I went to an official Churchill show at a church called "Bloom." For those with more of a church background, you'll understand what I mean when I say that Bloom leans toward the emergent side of things. A lot. For those who have no clue what I'm talking about, I'll just say that the guides of the spiritual community of Bloom were really nice and hip and that the wine, cheese, and fruit bar was a nice compliment to the evening's art show/music and poetry open mic. Also, singing in the dark while standing in a semi-circle around the cranking loud band was also pretty cool, and I learned new songs about the earth and having Jesus' blood flow through my body.

[Michael Gungor (banjo) and friends playing some tunes after the art show.]

I don't say all that to bust on the place, I just find it hilarious when all the stereotyping jokes I've ever heard all come true in one place. On a positive, slightly more serious note, the dangling light bulbs aesthetic was cool looking and most of the art would look sweet in my apartment (the notable exception being the the paper mache decapitated pig head) and I did enjoy eating free cheese and crackers and fruit (Wine? No thanks. Sweet tea? Yes, please.) and the worship band was really good (a couple of the guys in the band come to Wing Stop with us on Tuesday nights) and I appreciated getting one of the band's cd's for free just for filling out a guest card and the people I met were very friendly and the "talk" given was a solid "theology of creativity."

[Churchill]

Oh ya, but I went to Bloom for a Churchill show. Churchill was asked to play an acoustic concert while people walked around and looked at the art.

#3 After the Churchill show, some friends came back to our kickin' apartment to hang out for a while and eat the worst Little Caesar's pizza and Crazy Bread I've ever had in my life (Note to self: Hot N' Ready pizzas purchased 30 minutes before closing time fail to live up to either of aforementioned advertised qualities.). I did get the Crazy Bread for free though so it was totally worth it.

#4 Monday was uneventful, as was Tuesday (the exception being Wing Stop, but it's dishonest to write down "We all hung out and talked for a couple hours." and still promote your blog as either worthwhile or engaging reading).

#5 I had a job interview this morning. I'll find out tomorrow if I am offered the job I interviewed for last week, and I should find out Friday afternoon if I am offered the job I interviewed for this morning.

#6 Tomorrow night is my first official, full-band Churchill show I get to go to (Bloom was minus the drummer and bassist). They will be rocking the Larimer Lounge at 10:00. Come if you can.

My Exciting Life

[Hello from Apartment 203!]

Once again, I have procrastinated in updating this blog. I believe I left you off last time with my drive out to Colorado. There hasn't been a ton of exciting stuff that has happened out here...yet.

I spend my first few days staying in Mike and Tim's apartment while I waiting for our application for the new apartment to go through. In the meantime, I filled out job applications and Mike, Ryan, Tyler and I went to Eldorado Park one day. We hiked for a few miles and took some good, Colorado-ish pictures. Then we drove home.

[701 28th St. Denver, CO 80205. Our unit is in the middle on the middle level.]

Around that time, our application went through and Tyler and I moved into the new apartment. (Mike is moving in too, but not till the end of the month). A couple days later I found some sweet furniture on Craigslist (see, I told you my life here has been exciting!). Then I applied for more jobs. Then I did homework for the first time in a year and a half. Then I applied for more jobs. Oh ya, and Tuesday nights are "wing night" at Wing Stop so I've gone there a couple times now with the crew (a bunch of Mike's friends).

[Some of the Craigslist furniture. I bought it from a guy who is

moving back to Michigan to go to law school.]

I was also greeted to the state with a big bear hug full of expensive general maintenance car repairs. I felt like a champ calling a couple places and having them fight back and forth in order to provide the best quality at the lowest price and thereby getting my business. Now my car is in full working order.

Some friends from Iowa were in town for a wedding and brought my bike out for me. I hadn't ridden my bike in years but I've been riding it around lately. It's fun. And healthy. And cheaper than paying for gas.

Yo! Speaking of cheap stuff, 2% milk out here is like $1.50 a gallon! That's so cool.

I had a job interview yesterday (Thursday). I haven't found out if I got the job, but it's the best lead I have so far so I'm praying it works out. It's for a social-worker type position. I'll give more details if I get the job.

This afternoon I'm going to help my buddy Greg do some roofin' at his sister's house. The sun is out and the weather is warm, so it should be fun.

Tonight I might be going to a Colorado Rockies game (Gerty, that's baseball). After spending a year trying to be a Tiger's fan (Go Cubs!), I now get the opportunity to pretend to cheer for the Rockies. Don't get me wrong, I loved going to the Tiger's games each and every time I went, but I didn't know a thing about the Tigers until I moved to Detroit. Too bad Cecil Fielder was hurt all season, I would have loved to see him play.

Ok, homework time. Peace out, America!

Better Late Than Never

I finally have a few minutes to update this here blog. My farewell time at Cornerstone was incredible (with the exception of a certain “whipped cream bowl to the face” incident). I am very grateful for every moment I was able to spend with my friends at Cornerstone.

My parents came out for the farewell weekend and stayed until Wednesday morning. We spent Monday packing up the remainder of my belongings from the Rudd’s house and cleaning out my office. Believe it or not, we were able to fit everything into my Civic and the trunk and back seat of my parents’ Buick.

On Tuesday my parents and I went on the tour of the Ford plant in Dearborne. The tour was pretty fascinating and included my first experience with a 3D theatre. We sat in a room on swivel chairs with screens on all sides of us. During the video, the action would happen in all directions and even the temperature in the room would heat up during the boiler room scenes! Like I said, it was pretty fascinating.

My parents and I also met a guy (read: Ford Nut) who was touring the plant for the first time while he was in town on business. Guess where he was from. You guessed it, Denver, Colorado. We (read: He) chatted for a while about the new Ford Raptor truck and then gave me his business card. I’m gonna give him a call one of these days just to let him know I have officially arrived in Denver and have every intention of taking over the whole city.

After leaving Detroit on Wednesday I stopped by Perry, MI to visit my friends Bob and Charissa Karr. They got married last summer. I was in their wedding. I wore a tux. A black one. I think I look good in black. At least I did last summer.

Thursday morning I arrived in Grand Rapids for my friend Eric’s wedding. It was also Jessica’s wedding, but I don’t know her as well so I will here refer to it simply as Eric’s wedding. A bunch of us in the wedding party played badminton, went tubing, and jumped on the diving boards on a floating dock out on the lake. It, the dock, was covered in bird poo. I think they should put a fake owl out there to war against the lesser birds.

Thursday night was the bachelor party. My friend, and Eric’s best man, Mike, had made a video that gave Eric various challenges to accomplish in order to pass the over threshold into manhood land. Some of the activities included drinking 12 Mountain Dews over the course of the night, swimming a lap in a public fountain, and taking a dip in a stranger’s pool.

On Friday the wedding party guys went golfing. Most of us stunk, but it was a great time of male bonding. Friday night was the wedding rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. It was fun seeing Eric and Jessica’s friends from across the country have a great time hanging out together like old friends. One girl, Bethany, was nuts. She straight up barehanded her entire piece of cake into her mouth in an effort to win her self-initiated, “Let’s see who can eat their dessert the fastest!” contest. I think she started laughing so hard that she didn’t even win...although I’m not sure she had any competitors to begin with.

The wedding was great on Saturday. We did the wedding thing and then went for a ride in a limo to get pictures taken downtown and then got back in the limo to ride to the golf course for more pictures and the reception. Each of the couples in the wedding party got a golf cart to drive around in to the various photo locations. It’s a good thing the golf carts didn’t go very fast and that we were held financially responsible for any damages done to the carts or else there would have been a greater degree of mayhem than what actually occured (Read: Zach intentionally went full speed through every puddle and mud hole on the course).

Sunday morning Mike, his brother Ryan, our friend Greg, and myself hopped in Greg and my cars and drove to Iowa stopping overnight as my house on our way to Colorado.

For sake of length, this post has assumed the status of: To Be Continued.