pilgrim in progress

All I Want to Do is Swing All Day

Wed, 21 Dec 2011 18:12:16 -0600

All I Want to Do is Swing All Day

Under 7th (Taken with instagram)

Wed, 21 Dec 2011 18:03:32 -0600

Under 7th (Taken with instagram)

Lives of Repentance

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 14:51:31 -0600

Oh how the church and our communities would be transformed if this were more true of God’s people…

John Frame:

We need more Christians who will lead lives of repentance, for repentance always challenges pride.

If you’re coming to God daily to confess to him how much you have sinned, you will find it hard to pretend that you are holier than everybody else. You’ll find it hard to put on airs, to pose as the perfect Christian.

When others accuse you of sin, you won’t immediately jump to defend yourself, as if of course you could never do wrong and any accusation must be a misunderstanding. Rather, when someone accuses you of sin, you’ll respond by thinking there is a high probability that the accusation is true, and you won’t be embarrassed to say, “Oh, yes, I did do that. And I am terribly sorry. Will you forgive me?”

If we are able to humble ourselves before God, we will be humble before men as well. And the church will be far better if there are more of us who are like that.

Salvation Belongs to the Lord, (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R, 2006), 199, paragraphing added.

[HT: David Mathis]

Suffering in Community and Our Common Responses

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 10:46:28 -0600

In the midst of your struggles do you ever feel like you are all alone? Have you been in a community where someone suffers and not known how to respond? If so, your experience is not out of the ordinary. Saints as old as Job, who some say is the one of the earliest Christian books, have gone through incredible suffering and felt like they have been abandoned by everyone who once loved them. The communities of old have been trying to figure out how to respond since the beginning.

Job describes how his relatives, close friends, guests, maidservants, his personal servant, his wife, his children, all his intimate friends, and those who he has loved have all turned away from him.

From what Job shares some have gone silent. Some look at him strangely. Others can’t stand his sight, while a number of them actively turn against him. This is all in the midst of Job experiencing incredible loss and unimaginable suffering.

This provides us with some helpful commentary on common responses to suffering by both the one suffering and the community of the sufferer:

The Sufferer Often Responds by:

Feeling like God has turned against him, providing no justice and no mercy. God is sovereign and His purposes and timing are often a mystery to us. Believing that God is doing this and He is good takes great faith.
Feeling like he has been abandoned by all who love him. Whether this is true or not it is often a perceived reality for a person suffering to feel like no one around understands and responds appropriately to their condition.
Desperation for help and relief. This desperation can be motivated by desire for God and Him to act or a desire for relief of pain and discomfort with not much thought of the Lord. Job falls in the first category when he writes, “For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God.” (Job 19:25-26 ESV).

The Community of the Sufferer Often Responds with:

Uncertainty. Suffering goes against all that is right and perfect in God’s creation. It is evidence that things are still being redeemed. We do not like to be faced with brokenness and when someone brings suffering into our community our first response is often uncertainty. This uncertainty can lead to deeper processing and prayer and then godly response or it can lead to fear and paralysis and simply ignoring the suffering brother/sister.
Fear. When things are taken out of our hands and we realize that we are not in control then a common response is fear. The suffering of someone in our community reminds everyone of this reality. It forces the community to come to terms with their inabilities, their frailty, their finiteness. When our control and comfort are disturbed we often fear what will come. This is the time to recognize that God is in control of all things and for fear to move towards faith.
Denial. Another common response to the suffering of another is to simply deny that it is really that bad. This gives the community an escape from having to deal with the pain and discomfort of being out of control. It gives them an “out” from having to dive into the messy reality of their suffering friend. This response blindly denies the fact that suffering is real and God ordained for His good purposes, as mysterious and difficult as they might be.
Rejection. Some who cannot stand being out of control of a situation respond by rejecting God’s purposes in the suffering and/or rejecting the person suffering. This rejection can be motivated by false-theological reasons or simply because they do not want to deal with the pain the suffering brings to the community.

The challenging thing with both these responses by the one suffering and their community is that many times neither party is unaware of how they are responding. Much grace, patience, courage and forgiveness is needed. Pray that the Holy Spirit will enable our communities to become places where we respond to suffering in faith and with love together.

"But when the Bible speaks of love, it measures it primarily not by how much you want to receive but..."

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 10:28:31 -0600

“But when the Bible speaks of love, it measures it primarily not by how much you want to receive but by how much you are willing to give of yourself to someone. How much are you willing to lose for the sake of this person? How much of your freedom are you willing to forsake? How much of your precious time, emotion, and resources are you willing to invest in this person?”

- Tim Keller, The Meaning of Marriage (via mikerusch)

Prayer: Gift of Gifts | Valley of Vision

Sun, 11 Dec 2011 16:03:17 -0600

This Christmas at the Austin Stone we are preaching through various prayers from the Valley of Vision. Few books have helped stir my prayers and worship like this one. If you don’t have a copy of these Puritan prayers buy it today, or ask for it for Christmas! The prayer below is the only prayer in the book specific to Christmas - it is called The Gift of Gifts:

O Source of all Good,

What shall I render to Thee for the gift of gifts,
thine own dear Son, begotten, not created,
my Redeemer, proxy, surety, substitute,
his self-emptying incomprehensible,
his infinity of love beyond the heart’s grasp.

Herein is wonder of wonders:
he came below to raise me above,
was born like me that I might become like him.

Herein is love:
when I cannot rise to him he draws near on wings of grace, to raise me to himself.

Herein is power:
when Deity and humanity were infinitely apart
he united them in indissoluble unity, the uncreated and the created.

Herein is wisdom:
when I was undone, with no will to return to him, and no intellect to devise recovery,
he came, God-incarnate, to save me to the uttermost,
as man to die my death,
to shed satisfying blood on my behalf,
to work out a perfect righteousness for me.

O God, take me in spirit to the watchful shepherds and enlarge my mind;
let me hear good tidings of great joy,
and hearing, believe, rejoice, praise, adore
my conscience bathed in an ocean of repose
my eyes uplifted to a reconciled Father;
place me with ox, ass, camel, goat
to look with them upon my Redeemer’s face,
and in him account myself delivered from sin;
let me with Simeon clasp the new-born child to my heart,
embrace him with undying faith,
exulting that he is mine and I am his.

In him thou has given me so much that heaven can give no more.

~The Valley of Vision, The Gift of Gifts, p. 16

God’s Heart For Orphans Conference

Sat, 03 Dec 2011 22:37:44 -0600

God’s Heart For Orphans Conference

All Theology Has Influence

Mon, 19 Sep 2011 23:12:00 -0500

This is a helpful quote on what our theology produces in us. Everyone has a theology, whether they realize it or not. What we believe about the nature and acts of God has a profound impact on our nature and how we act in this world.

“The Puritans made me aware that all theology is also spirituality in the sense that it has an influence… If our theology does not quicken the conscious and soften the heart, it actually hardens both; if it does not encourage the commitment of faith, it reinforces the detachment of unbelief; if it fails to promote humility, it inevitable feeds pride.” ~J.I. Packer, A Quest for Godlines

"As a follower of Christ you are more broken and aware of your selfishness and sin, but you are more..."

Fri, 16 Sep 2011 10:01:05 -0500

““As a follower of Christ you are more broken and aware of your selfishness and sin, but you are more confident and hopeful about God’s acceptance of you all at once.””

- Tim Keller

The Church’s Essence

Thu, 15 Sep 2011 23:10:37 -0500

“Mission” is not something the church does, a part of its total program. No, the church’s essence is missional, for the calling and sending action of God forms its identity. Mission is founded on the mission of God in the world, rather then the churches effort to extend itself.”

(p. 82, Missional Church: A Vision for the Sending of the Church in North America)

Funny faces (Taken with instagram)

Mon, 15 Aug 2011 18:14:47 -0500

Funny faces (Taken with instagram)

There is a myth about community…(via ‘From...

Sat, 13 Aug 2011 14:52:09 -0500

There is a myth about community…(via ‘From Brokenness to Community’ by Jean Vanier, p. 32)

Reclaiming Adoption Study Guide

Thu, 11 Aug 2011 03:16:43 -0500

Reclaiming Adoption Study Guide

Hope for Orphans Institute

Tue, 09 Aug 2011 04:26:21 -0500

Hope for Orphans Institute

An Opportunity to Partner with Chosen Marathon for Adoption

Mon, 08 Aug 2011 05:56:56 -0500

An Opportunity to Partner with Chosen Marathon for Adoption

"We tend to say that because a person has natural ability, he will make a good Christian. It is not a..."

Fri, 05 Aug 2011 16:01:06 -0500

“We tend to say that because a person has natural ability, he will make a good Christian. It is not a matter of our equipment, but a matter of our poverty; not of what we bring with us, but of what God puts into us; not a matter of natural virtues, of strength of character, of knowledge, or of experience— all of that is of no avail in this concern… God’s friendship is with people who know their poverty.”

- Oswald Chambers (via wordshapedlifesongs)

"Jesus came to bring the good news to the poor, not to those who serve the poor."

Fri, 05 Aug 2011 13:14:52 -0500

“Jesus came to bring the good news to the poor, not to those who serve the poor.”

- Jean Vanier, ‘From Brokenness to Community’, p. 20

Register for Together for Adoption National Conference 2011

Fri, 05 Aug 2011 05:11:46 -0500

Listen to Avalanche City’s whole album ‘Our New Life...

Thu, 04 Aug 2011 22:21:19 -0500

Listen to Avalanche City’s whole album ‘Our New Life Above The Ground’ here.

I love this girl!

Thu, 04 Aug 2011 22:11:54 -0500

I love this girl!