log truck

i stumbled upon this video today at work. feel free to watch, but be forewarned that it is an actual sermon and it is around 45-50 minutes long.

i have no idea who this guy is (paul washer), and there's a couple of things he says that i'm not 100% on board with, but he gave an example and i thought it was profound.

he was talking about how the world will know that we are christians and we can't just tell them, because they'll look at our lives and that will tell the truth. at that point we'll either be seen as a follower of Christ, a liar, or a madman.

he said that if he were to show up to work late and say "i'm so sorry i'm late, i had a flat tire and i was changing it and then tripped and fell into the street and a log truck was speeding 110 miles per hour and ran me over, but now i'm here." he will obviously be viewed as either a liar or a madman, because it is impossible to encounter something as large as a log truck and walk away unchanged.

God is much bigger than a log truck, obviously. this is a scary comparison because so much of american evangelicalism is "i believe in God/Jesus and He is Lord." if that's all christianity is, then satan and his minions are christians, too because they believe that He is God (James 2:19).

i pray that fruit would be seen in my life that is not of any merit of my own, but that it would be an overflow of the gospel in my life, and i pray that for everyone who thinks himself/herself a christian.

Christ help us.

The Wims

Brad has gone home to be with Jesus.  Please pray for his wife Jenny and their two children.  You can read the story here.

24

here is the text conversation between myself and my friend matt shoemaker last night:

matt: "24 is baaaaack"
me: "don't ruin anything for me...we're catching up on season 6 this week..."
matt: "jack is gay...oops sorry"

the good

with 2008 in the rearview, here is a list of albums that i simply could not get enough of throughout the past year (and maybe a little more):

counting crows: saturday nights/sunday mornings; recovering the satellites
jars of clay: eleventh hour
the damnwells: air stereo; bastards of the beat
the who: who's next
duran duran: rio
crosby, stills and nash: self titled

there are a few more that i can't think of at the moment, but i'll throw them in there when i get a chance. happy new year.

prayers

i know i don't update this often, and for that i won't apologize. i have no kids, and that seems to be what blogs are mostly about. also i know of no one who reads this.

that being said, for the 1 (maybe 2) person/people who will read this, i would like to ask for you to pray. my brother-in-law's best friend has had a rare form of cancer for some time now and is not doing well at all. i won't go into all the details - if you like you can follow their story here.

this situation has caused an UNBELIEVABLE wave of emotions that have overtaken me as of late. i cry, and cry often. i was in a fantasy football league with brad for a couple of years before i had the chance to meet him at the golf tournament to raise money for his overwhelming medical bills. i'm not close to him in any way, shape or form. i am saddened not just by his story, but by the effect it is having on my brother-in-law, scott. brad is easily his best friend, and it's so hard to see him hurting so much. scott recently accompanied brad to germany on a trip for some experimental treatment and i am so thankful he got to go. i know God blessed that trip with good and bad times - i'm thankful scott was there for both.

i wrestle with a lot of things. why is this happening? why brad? why scott's best friend? and even more so, why not scott? why not me? the truth is, if it is in God's will for some sort of tragedy to strike so close to home, how would i react? i wrestle with this. would i react in the same way the wims are? to give God glory even in the darkest of times - this is the peace that passes all understanding.

far too often i take my life for granted. i have an incredible wife who is committed to doing life with me - the good and the bad, i have a great group of friends i share my life with, i have food/shelter, 2 cars and a dog. living the dream, some would say. more importantly, i take for granted the blood of Christ that covers all of my sin - past, present and future. i take this for granted by forgetting this on a minutely basis.

so, to bring this somewhat full circle, i can see how this situation is glorifying God. if something this undeniably huge for people miles away from me that i've met once can stir my emotions and affections for God's great love, then i HAVE to believe that He is in control of all things and He holds everything together with a word.

again, please be in prayer for brad, his wife jenny, and his two small children zeke and kaelyn. brad is continuing to suffer well, enduring all for the sake of Christ. he is an amazing example to his family and to all who hear their story. please pray and believe that the Lord will heal him. one way or the other, He will heal.

dallas' finest and a sigh of relief

so allison got in a wreck last night. i was about 20 minutes into my trip to fort worth when i got a phone call from her. i answered the phone and she was bawling her eyes out. i immediately gripped the steering wheel and turned off the air conditioner in an attempt to make the cabin of the car as silent as possible. through the several noises i heard, i made out the words "i just got in a wreck."

i failed to mention earlier (failed to mention, intentionally left out, take your pick) that i was driving allison's car because she gets better gas mileage than my suv. which means that she got in a wreck in my car. now, i love my car. it's been a good (for the most part) car to me and i love having it. but at that moment, i literally couldn't have cared less about that pile of metal. even as i turned around and sped toward her, not once did i think "oh no, my car." even as i pulled up to the crash site and walked up to see my car, smashed in on the front right side, i literally felt nothing. it was just not something you'd expect....i mean, don't get me wrong, of course my love for allison and my love for my car are on two opposite wave lengths, but this was almost weird feeling. i guess it goes to show how much God can grow people. honesly at that moment you could've told me that my car was totaled (it very well may be...just haven't heard yet) and i wouldn't have had a care in the world, because i knew allison was ok. not even jarred or anything. Praise the Lord.

as a final thought, i would like to say how impressed i was with the dallas police department. they were incredibly nice and helpful with everything. they were so sweet to allison, just constantly reassuring her that cars can be fixed but people can't be. not really what you'd expect from them, but i'm really glad they handled it the way they did.

prosperous damnation

i finally got around to reading the 2006 TIME article on the prosperity gospel and i was rather intrigued. if you have some time you can read it for the first time or review it here.

one man in particular - let's call him....joel osteen - receives a lot of attention in this article. now let me be very frank - i don't like him. i don't like him as a preacher (doesn't talk about the sacrifice of Christ for the atonement of our sins, aka...THE GOSPEL), i don't like him as a steward (spent $75 million to give the compaq center a western church makeover) and i don't like that he will not submit himself to the scriptures and preach what they say (youtube search for him on larry king sidestepping the question "is Jesus the only way?"). he has a responsibility as a preacher of the gospel of Jesus Christ to teach just that...the gospel of Jesus Christ and he's not doing it. he's teaching how to have your best life now, which is garbage.

the time article mentions something about using God as a means to an end and that scares the hell out of me, because honestly let's look at our lives. how often do we lean upon God solely when we need something? it's so easy then, but we blaspheme and spit in His face when things are great and we don't acknowledge Him.

at church this weekend our pastor spoke on the passage of matthew 25:31-46. it's the parable of the sheep and the goats. what he so brilliantly pointed out was that both the sheep and the goats asked the same question: when did we see You and when did we do/not do these things? now, this is to break the notion that our faith is based on works. the sheep didn't do these things for God's approval/blessing...they did them because of what the gospel had done in their hearts. it wasn't a matter of "how can i live a better life here on earth?"....it was "how can i show Jesus to people for His glory?"

i pray that we would strive to show Christ to the world so that they may rejoice in Him, not in riches that fade away.

(p.s. i in NO WAY condone the website Godtube.com but youtube is blocked at work. regardless, i wanted to include john piper's take on the prosperity gospel. the video is nothing special, just be sure and listen to the audio. i love it.)