Hurry up and wait, already!

Bippity...

Wait on the LORD;
Be of good courage,
And He shall strengthen your heart;
Wait, I say, on the LORD!
-Psalm 27:14


boppity...

My soul, wait silently for God alone,
For my expectation is from Him.
-Psalm 62:5


boo.

The LORD is good to those who wait for Him,
To the soul who seeks Him.
-Lamentations 3:25


Bam! 'Nuff said.
Chris... best listen up now!

Overwhelmingly fantastic!!

Wow. When I moved here at the beginning of last year, the pastor of my church was in the middle of an exegesis of the book of Romans.

Well, I just read this sermon that he gave from the year before... and I'm now determined to hit the archives this summer and catch up on all of the pure gold that I missed!

Here are a couple of excerpts if you don't want to read the whole sermon (but I strongly suggest that you do!! It's not that long!):

The reason why people accuse the true gospel of being antinomian (licentious, lawless), is because they are ignorant of the power of the true gospel alone to transform lives. They think they need to add in some law to keep grace from leading people to run wild. But the truth is that preaching grace produces holiness and preaching law does not.
-Mike Shea

Wicked men will drown themselves in the rivers of truth as readily as in the pools of error…Many people think that they ought to guard the gospel, but it is never so safe as when it stands out in its own naked majesty. It needs no covering from us.
-Charles H. Spurgeon

Traversing the Storm

If you ever have experienced, or currently are experiencing, a spiritual storm, then you know how incredibly difficult, lonely, and disorienting it can be. It's as if everything you once knew to be true has somehow slipped into darkness, and away from your sight. What can we possibly do in the midst of times like these?

I would encourage you all to read this great post by one of the members of Desiring God Ministries. I wish I would have read this a few years ago!

Here's a snippet from the end:

If you or a loved one is flying in a storm and despairing, remember your own perceptions, as real as they feel, are not reliable. As one who has tested them in a number of storms I can say with confidence: fly by the instruments God has provided you. They will not prove faulty.

May God bless you all by incredible means... even in the midst of a storm.

I waited patiently for the LORD;
he inclined to me and heard my cry.
He drew me up from the pit of destruction,
out of the miry bog,
and set my feet upon a rock,
making my steps secure.
He put a new song in my mouth,
a song of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear,
and put their trust in the LORD.
-Psalm 40:1-3

2:30 am

I slipped underneath my cold covers at about 12:30 tonight; not really that tired, but determined to get some sleep.

Two hours later, it's quite possible that I'm now even less tired... and that faithful determination is beginning to wear thin. The alarm is set for 7:15, and that's going to come awfully early.

I'm not entirely sure why, but my mind is racing a million miles a minute. It's in one of those misfortunately [sic] active stupors wherein it finds itself too tired to finish a thought before it recklessly storms on to the next one... and the next one... and the next one...

So here I blog now.
Weary as a dog now.

Whoops... there goes my mind again... off to a new thought.

I should probably go catch it before it gets itself into trouble.

Goodnight from Drowsy Town, Illinois. And may peace be with you.

The Reason for Graduate School

I had an epiphany today.

And it only took me a year and a half, fancy that!

What is the purpose of grad school? I used to think that it was to learn more about your field in order to make you more effective in the work that you do. That's what everyone told me, at least.

You know what? It's a bunch of lies!

No, let me reveal to you, from an insider's perspective, the real reason behind the machine known as "graduate studies"... population control.

That's right. It's a filtering process, weeding out some, while leaving others in the pan.

I see only three possible outcomes for someone who is insane enough to actually go through with the masochism of grad school:

1. They survive.
2. They quit.
3. They die... some mentally, others emotionally... most literally.

Those in the first category will get jobs, those in the last two will not. And there aren't that many jobs floating around, last time I checked.

See? Population control.

Okay, enough of that... I'm off to go get less sleep than 0 hours a night... ha!


P.S. Oh, and by the way... I love it!

Give Men Time

Wow, wow, wow... wow.

This blog post is great, and was really good for me to read, I think. I'd like to share it with you only because, even though it seems the author is referring to specific doctrines within the beliefs of Christianity, I think it has a direct extension to the whole of the Gospel, and our commandment to preach it to the world:

"It is easy to be frustrated with people for not being able to see and accept the truth instantly... Instead of those realities being seen for what they are (majestic and glorious) they are often seen through a vision that has been distorted by misrepresentations, and by expectations moulded by caricatures of the real thing."

It's funny that I read this today, because I was just having a discussion on this very topic with a friend last night. The Gospel itself is, in its very nature, offensive to the rebellious hearts of men. Until the scales fall from our shrouded eyes, we won't understand it, we can't understand it. What's more, the world sees misrepresentations of it all around. It would do us good to remember this.

We should remember that it is not our job to convert unbelievers, only to preach to them of the hope, glory, and joy of Christ's atoning sacrifice on a wooden cross. We cannot possibly know what kind of soil will catch the seeds that are planted by means of our proclamation of the Gospel: that is not our work, but the Spirit's. We need only plant, plant, plant, and not be impatient with people if we do not see immediate, direct evidence of the growth of those seeds.

The growth is God's business, not ours. We need but plant, be patient, and pray that God would give growth to the seed.

Preaching Quote Quiz - he said it!

I was hoping for some more responses, but thank you, Peter, for pitching in a guess!

Nope, not Piper... think a little further back in the Church's history...

...actually, to the beginning of the Protestant movement, not to give too big of a hint.

That's right, it was Martin Luther who put such a strong emphasis on the teaching and understanding of doctrines, especially the doctrine of justification by faith alone. It was at the very core of the Gospel for those who believed in a reformation of the merit-based religion of Rome.

But why teach these doctrines, you ask? Isn't that a bit cold? a bit calculating? a bit formulaic?

I don't believe so, no.

Learning, understanding, and preaching solid, Scripturally-sound doctrines is a way of knowing about God.

"But I love God! I don't need to know about Him!"

Hmmm... try that with your spouse or significant other:

"Honey, I love you... but I don't know your birthday, or the color of your eyes, or your favorite song. But I certainly love you, don't I?"

Anyway, I thought it was interesting when I heard it, so I thought I'd throw it up here. Now back to the grind for me...