Elementary…My Dear Watson

If you’re in College, Seminary, or even Post-Graduate studies there are always times when you just don’t want to keep going. “Why should I finish this diagramming assignment.” Or, “I just don’t want to fail another test.” What do you do when you just aren’t motivated to continue on?

1) Keep your eye on the prize. Focus on that ministry, or that terminal degree. You started out with a goal in mind, sometimes you just need a reminder of that goal.

2) Suck it up and be a man. This may sound harsh at first, but be honest, how many times have you just been lazy? How often do you just need to give yourself a good kick in the pants?

3) Trust God. If this is really the ministry preparation track that God has called you to, then He is the only one who can give you the grace you need. Part of that grace is the motivation. Remember who it is that you’re serving. If that doesn’t motivate you, nothing will.

A new way to do Missional in surburbia.

Read the whole thing here.

You want to know why we listen to Piper? Because his words are crafted. As a potter crafts a vessel, as a painter crafts a portrait, as an author crafts a tome, he crafts a sermon. His words are direct, his metaphor vivid, his phrasing eloquent. You want to know why we listen to Piper? Because the man speaks as if the very God of the universe were examining his words for their accuracy, for their clarity, and for their simplicity. We listen to Piper because his words are not only bread for a starving soul, they are a sumptuous banquet for a prodigal son: complete with all the trimmings sufficient to satisfy both; the cultured connoisseur and the simplest child. That is why I listen to Piper.

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill attended a reception during a speaking tour in Canada, and found himself seated next to a stiff-necked Methodist bishop. It was still early in the day, but the host knew Churchill liked his whiskey, so a young waitress appeared with a tray of glasses. She offered one to Churchill, which he of course took, the other guests also graciously accepted, but then she came to the Methodist bishop. The bishop pulled himself up to his full height, and with a very spiritual sounding voice said: “Young lady, I’d rather commit adultery than drink whiskey.”

Churchill immediately called the girl back. “Come back, young lady; I didn’t know we had a choice.”

For a Monday morning, this made me laugh. Still, I think this article by Phil Cooke, “Having ‘Good Intentions’ Doesn’t Mean We’re Engaging the Culture Well” has some drastic implications for today’s Christian.

To be quite frank, I have found myself in many situations where, like Churchill, I didn’t know we had a choice.

HT: Phil Cooke

I don’t mean to post so much today, but things keep hitting me, and I can’t help but share. While on a trip to Israel, I met some people from a different background than myself. GREAT opportunity! If the only people you interact with agree with you, you’re probably not thinking a lot. One guy had logos or patches on his shirt and bags that said “Love Wins.” That’s it. Love Wins. While searching for that sticker, I came across this blog. Love Wins. Can I endorse everything this ministry says, does, produces? Of course not! That’s not the point. The point is, I came across this post here.

If this doesn’t make you cry out to God, either your heart’s busted or your god isn’t there (intentionally not capitalized).

When I met them several years ago, they were homeless. She had delivered five children, all of whom had been taken by the state. He was a crackhead living off her food stamps, who made spending money by turning tricks for the white-collar types that cruise the homeless camps looking for sex.

He has several kids by different women. She has a two pack a day habit. They had a baby together – his family was fostering that kid for the state while they “got things under control”. Then they found out she was pregnant. Again.

Luckily (!) about this time, they were on a city bus that hit a car. As a result, they got a small settlement. They paid a year’s worth of rent on a place infested with fleas & roaches & moved in just in time for her to deliver the baby. The state let her keep this one.

They still had no money, no job. They had food stamps & whatever church they were stringing along for help that week. He was still turning tricks & she was selling her food stamps and WIC allotment. Apparently, the state was impressed by their industry & let them have custody of their other child, who is now three. The last time I was over there, the kid was watching a VHS tape of New Jack City & eating a cold hot dog while a roach ran across his foot.

Last week, I get a phone call the day before I go out of town. He ran off with the neighbor, with whom he has been having an affair. The neighbor is HIV positive. And the lease on the apartment runs out at the end of August.

Her mental health caseworker & I talked to her for hours, encouraging her to file for child support & get a restraining order. She said she will. While I am out of town, he moves back in with her. And why not – it’s almost time to get food stamps again. It’s hard to blame her – the thought of being alone with two kids has her terrified.

Loving these people is not easy for me. It is easy for me to say that they are where they are because of the choices they have made, or their moral failures, or whatever. But if I only love people who are lovable – well, even terrorists do that.

My Evangelical friends complain I don’t talk enough about my faith in these letters. Well, understand that the only thing that keeps me answering the phone when she calls is my belief that she is valuable to the God I profess to believe in. And the only reason I am not filled with total despair for those babies is the assurance found in the ancient prayer that one day it will be “on earth as it is in heaven.”

Luke 7:47 – “For this reason I say to you, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little.”

HT: Love Wins Ministries

This is the first of (hopefully) many posts with updates for my Israel trip. Let’s just start out by saying that this Trip has been AMAZING! (Is it too early to sign up for next year? Probably not! Live The Land)

Since wifi is spotty here at best, it’s best to just 1) follow on Twitter jwats287 , 2) check out the Tour Blog , or 3) if you’re my friend on facebook, check there for iPhone photo updates that I’m posting along the way.

HI-LIGHTS include:

• Masada
• Dead Sea
• Ein Gedi
• Qumran
• The Sea of Galilee

Be sure to check back for more updates! Or get info on the afore-mentioned media.

Shalom!

Amazon Prime: The basis for any student’s back to school shopping. With free two-day shipping, textbook buying becomes a breeze. Previously, this would cost someone $79 dollars a year. Fortunately, Amazon has recently offered a free year of Amazon Prime to students with a valid .edu address. Go check it out!

“And it is a documented fact that schools that go soft on the biblical languages sooner or later go soft on orthodoxy. Part of the reason is that the professors can no longer be held in check. Students can’t call them on the carpet for their exegesis, since the students have never learned how to exegete (an activity that, technically speaking, can only be done in the original language of the document).”

Leaving an environment where any criticism or questioning was most often viewed as negative, I find this perspective very interesting. It is not only a student’s right, but a student’s duty to “call them on the carpet for their exegesis.”

I must wonder if that applies to chapel speakers as well?

Read the whole post here: Is the Bible That Big of a Mystery?