The Best Gift This Christmas

  The best gift this Christmas is not one that you can wrap up. While we love to give and recieve gifts, maybe there is something more. I for one love Christmas because of- well- everything: the family, the gifts, the snow, the food, the music, the tree, the lights, and the anticipation, but also the profound analogy it resembles for us asking and receiving gifts from God. Like our parents, God may not give us what we want, but will give us what we need. However, Christmas is not just about receiving, but about giving. Should we feel like we have to give give God lots of things?
     In Psalm 40, the Psalmist is seeking in deliverance from his sin by turning to God, and then says, "In sacrifice and offering you have not delighted, but you have given me an open ear. Burnt offering and sin offering you have not required. Then I said, "Behold, I have come; in the scroll of the book it is written of me: I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart." Looking at the story of the Bible, we see that God never wanted empty sacrifices, however expensive or valuable the animal. He did need sacrifices in the Old Testament to shield his wrath from Israel, but he always longed for His people to desire him and obey his law from the heart.
    My brothers and I have often asked my mother what she wants for Christmas. But what she has said on more than one occasion as a response is, "I just want obedient, cheerful boys [sons] who do their chores without being asked." And of course, we often try to overlook her response for two reasons: we can't fulfill her expectations perfectly, and it would be so much easier to just get a gift and not worry about having to watch our actions. But what she wants is an open ear and obedience from a willing heart. I wonder if Christ is asking us the same thing this Christmas?
      Christ came to this earth to pay for our sin and to be that perfect sacrifice God always wanted. He did God's will. Now, with the Holy Spirit in our hearts(John 17:26), we can do His will. Be obedient to the King who wrapped himself in humanity to come and atone for our sin. That is the best gift you can give to God this Christmas.

The Theology of Soccer

         Pele called soccer "A Beautiful Game," and it is beautiful, but for more than just the feeling you get when you score a goal, make a save, or see your favorite star pulling off a bicycle kick. Soccer is a deeply developed game, and thriving on my school's team this year, strategy and philosophy of the game grew in me like an olive tree in Galilee. Looking through the bladder of the soccer ball analogously, perceive with me the truths that have come out of this ancient team sport of kicking a ball.
       The first analogy apparent in the game is that of a body. A team is a group of player that come to play. At the beginning of the season, players for a team gather to practice, and before long, the different players' capacities and preferences become apparent. Some players naturally assume the position of goal-keeper. Others lag in the backfield for the scrimmage and begin to play defense. Then you have those tall, skinny forwards who start high and are scoring goals in minutes. After a practice or two, or at least several practices, you begin to see how some players are very fast, some have good ball-control, and others have powerful kicks or deadly shots; some are new to the game, others have been playing as long as they have been breathing. Regardless, they are all part of the team, and they all are necessary, even subs! Without good kickers, you cannot execute set-plays, without shrewd mid-fielders, the play cannot develop, without solid defenders the team cannot stay-in-the-game, without deceptive forwards goals cannot be scored, and without stalwart, perceptive goalkeepers a defense will likely not stay organized. Without subs, the team cannot stay fresh or have encouragement. Like the church, every gift is necessary. I have struggled with being jealous of the raw talent of forwards in scoring, or in big-kickers in sending perfect balls in free-kicks to their players, but God has given us different gifts not for the betterment of ourselves, but of the whole team, or of the whole church. In realizing my potential, I saw how I shouldn't strive to be the best player in the team, but the best player in my position. I could serve the team best not by being another position, but by being a solid, skilled, precise, intelligent outside-defender. There I thrived.
       This is the wonderful thing about team chemistry: it is training in humility. Some players are better than others. If the school I went to was large and very selective, they would only have the best players. However, due to my school's size, most players have been gladly accepted, and the task has been to successfully incorporate different players of varied skill levels. In doing so, the great have learned how they need to humble themselves to work as a team, and the humble have seen how they can be great by finding a way to serve on the team. Like in the body of Christ, some believers are strong and old in the faith, others are younger, more naive and inexperienced, yet Christ calls us all to serve his church in unity. We all wear the same uniform, and the differences and abilities are looked over, like our sins, strengths and weakness become insignificant in the light of Christ's grace and sufficiency. Read I Corinthians 12.
     An essential element of a soccer team is its coach. There is no team without a coach, and as Proverbs 29:18 says, "Where there is no prophetic vision, the people cast off restraint..." A team needs a a coach to stay strong, motivated focused, and purposeful. The coach is not just a role model and visionary, but more importantly an authority, and I have discovered how our teams effectiveness largely resulted upon our adherence to our coaches commands.
      Obedience is necessary. "Children obey your parents in the Lord for this is right (Eph. 6:1)." For this context, one could say, "Players obey your coach in the Lord, for this is right." My coach would make it sound so simple: if we improved our passing, kept our shape, took less touches, had a better touch on the ball, etc. the game would be easier. We would win! It was true. Often all our pride would get in the way, to our own demise. And with that obedience, it would be more than remembering a simple command, but many commands, formations, strategies, set-plays, and tactics. To implement such aspects into our play, we needed discipline, the discipline of memory, and discipline of turning those ideas into kinetic energy with our muscles. What is the Christian life, but an exercise of discipline and obedience, "[Taking] every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience when your obedience is complete(2 Cor. 10:5-6)?" Christ is our coach, and he knows what is best for us. Will we listen and obey?
      Not only was the discipline of memory important, but the discipline of forgetting is just as crucial. As hard as it could be to remember what coach had instructed us to do, it could be harder still to forget our mistakes and blunders, things like running into one of our own players, stabbing at a striker, and a goal being scored as a result, causing a free-kick near our box, missing easy goals, or getting an unjust yellow-card, blunders that happened throughout this past soccer season in our team. Focusing on my mistakes would often get me angry and cause me to lose my temper or play recklessly. Christ forgives us of our sins, and as he expects us to be obedient, so he also expects us to confess when we sin, and then forget it, as we have his assurance of forgiveness. One of our captains gave us a stirring speech before we went to beat our arch-rival on how God's gives us grace in second chances, second chances so that we learn from our mistakes. The discipline involved in soccer oozes with the things the Christian life embodies. Can us Christians be obedient when it is hard, such as when we are sure our way is better than our wive'fs, our employer's, our brother's, or our friend's? Can we keep our temper when we have a huge blunder, or someone fowls us, and is given no penalty?
       Finally, I behold the principle of empowerment in soccer. Throughout my three years on the soccer team, I have found the value in learning from others, whether it has been spiritual encouragement from other players, or specific instruction in refining my skills. And as others have empowered me, I have strove to empower those, especially younger than me, through encouragement and kind critique.
     Empowerment is one of the pillars of leadership I have learned about in leadership training. To best serve others, you have teach them to serve the other people that will come into their lives. Look at the church! There is a wide variety of participants, some younger, and some older. However, in thirty years, many will be dead, and most of the current staff will not be in leadership positions. How can the church continue to function, but by a faithful mentorship or otherwise investment into younger people from the older, wiser leadership, and a preparation of the young, energetic leadership, for the long, hard days ahead? What better way to persevere a soccer team than by empowering younger players to reach to their God-given potential, and seek to be valuable assets to a team which needs them to endure and prosper?
      Serving on a soccer team at a collegiate level has been a privilege and blessing for me. I have grown in faith, discipline, knowledge of the game, skill, endurance, muscle, social skills, and humility. It isn't about me. It isn't about the strikers who score goals either. It is about the team finding the joy in playing together under the wise leadership of our competent coach. Humility paralyzes a strong man like a TASER. However, it refines him like a furnace to be the effective player than he can be, serving others for the good of of the team. It is a beautiful game, this game of soccer, but it is more beautiful when the church participates in the dance with their maker and coach, this harmony of gifts and talents for the edification of the body of Christ, a sweet aroma to our heavenly father.

Shower Before the Pool?

   This past summer I worked at a camp where we swam daily in a large pool. I liked to shower after the pool, ridding myself of any bacteria, smell of chlorine, and knots in my hair. But now I know I did it wrong. Shower before the pool.
   Lots of Christians are nervous if not afraid of culture (myself included). This is with reasonable cause. Culture is full of sin, lawlessness, and disrespect for God. But as Christians, we don't want that, we can be afraid, and try to avoid interactions with unbelievers and culture. We want to be safe.
   Think of culture as a pool. It starts relatively neutral (if the life-guards have been balancing it with the proper chemicals). However, soon young and old, thin and rotund people storm into the peaceful waters. They spit and pee in the waters. The grease from their skin covers the walls and diving board. Kicking about, the grass from the fields flies off and thickens the bowl-like underground pool.
    Try to ignore the analogous implications of chlorine as a bacteria-fighting agent, and go along with the metaphor. The pool is dirty, and if I swim as a Christian, I become more dirty. Being in a dirty pool makes me dirty. Or does it?
  Like the world when God created it, the pool starts perfect and free of sin. But in came the sin of the multitudes. Well, it started with Adam, but by the time of Noah, God was ready to give the whole earth a shower. And he did. Like a pool whose lifeguards (caretakers ) have abandoned it, so the world lies in-attended.
    The flood is long past, but all men are still sinners (Rom. 5:12), and the world is being condemned (I Cor. 11:32). So the pool (world) is dirty, and if I swim as a Christian, I might become a dirty Christian, and have to wash off. Thus, I would logically choose the shower after the pool. Really though, is the point of being a Christian to avoid sinful/pollutant things and people?
   In Mark 7, Jesus says, "There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him...For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person."
     So you jump into the pool, after a game of barefoot Ultimate and before you could hit the bathroom. You find yourself making life worse, and not being as positive of an influence. You see that you are one of the people who is ruining the purity of the pool for everyone else.
     Take the speck out of your eye, confess your sin to God, get right with your neighbor, evaluate your intentions: shower. When you have purified yourself in God's eyes, dive in. Swim! You may get "dirty," but you won't get dirty really. It is true that "Bad company ruins good morals" (I Cor. 15:33), but you won't compromise your morals and faith if you living are humbly and holily (I think I just made that word up) before God's face.
    There is an old phrase that is to be "in the world but not of it." This comes directly from John 17. In John 17:11, Jesus says, "they are in the world," and in verse 14 he says, "I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world."   So how do we reconcile the two concepts? How do we live in the world but not of it? 
     I think the real question is why are we in the world?  Jesus lists in the verses reasons for the placing of the disciples in the world: Jesus prays for them to be kept in his father's name to be 'one' (17:11), for His joy to be fulfilled in them (17:13), for them to be kept from the evil one (17:15), and to be sanctified (17:17). My favorite verse in this passage, and perhaps in all the New Testament is John 17:15, "I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one." Think about that. Jesus is basically saying to His Father, "Don't take them from the trenches, just protect them from the bullets." We are here to be safe from evil, yet to be refined in Christ, or sanctified so that the world can believe that Jesus is from God (17:21).
    Jesus dove into culture! He hung out with lecherous prostitutes and greedy bankers. But he spent lots of time praying and disciplining as well. God wants us to be holy, but we don't become holy by avoiding sin. We don't remain holy by showering three times a day and staying away from pools, lakes, rivers, spas, and oceans. We must dive in to be holy.
    How do we live a life seeking holiness and perfection? Jesus says in Matthew 5:43ff,
    "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you." Love, as I learned in camp, is an action. It is not passive.
     Jesus is talking in Matthew five about the blessings for good living (Beatitudes), about obeying form the heart, Christ's fulfillment of the law, honesty, mercy and the impartial love to all, exemplified in things such as greeting strangers (5:47). Why does Jesus say this? See verse 48, "You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly father is perfect." Wow! We journey to perfection, or, holiness. through interacting with our neighbors. Get in the pool now.
    Holiness is a status we have in Christ, a process, and a goal. First, it is a status. Peter says in I Peter 2:9, "But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light." We are holy because we are in Christ, and have His righteousness imputed to us (Phil. 3:9).  That is our identity. While holy means "set apart," we aren't set apart to be isolated, we are set apart to stand out, and show God. I Peter 2:12 says "Keep your conduct during Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evil doers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation." We are held to a standard of holiness, but that standard is not to be exercised just in the presence of believers, but also unbelievers ("Gentiles").
    Holiness is also a process. I Peter 1:15 says, "But as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, "You shall be holy, for I am holy." Every day, we work at being holy by honoring God in what we do.
   Finally, holiness is a goal. I Peter 1:5 says, "you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer, spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God though Jesus Christ. Christians together work for the goal of being priests, priests that will offer their lives as service.
    So we don't compromise our holiness by living in the world. On the one hand, Christ sees us as holy, and on the other hand we are pursuing holiness through a life of holiness which of necessity calls us to engage in an unholy world. You have to shovel in the mud until the day when you will be free from sin entirely. Just know that that is who you are, not the one who is dirty, but the one whom Christ has made righteous. 
    The Levites had to bring lambs without blemish (Leviticus 1:3), before they were sacrificed as burnt offerings, "A pleasing aroma to the LORD" (Leviticus 1:17). The lamb had to be clean before it could be effective. Christ was clean for you. "For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified" (Heb. 10:14) 
    Now it is your turn to respond by being a living sacrifice to Christ (Rom 12:1). Look to Christ. Shower, (purify yourselves) and then jump into the pool!

  Be holy not be being safe, but by being a sacrifice.  

   What part of you must die today?

  

Fear in the Darkness

      

   Before the beginning of each week of camp, the other counselors and I receive the medical bios of our groups of campers, containing information from birth date, to parental marital status, to allergies. One of the categories is phobias. A surprising number of parents list some of their children's fears as fear of the dark. I find this frightfully queer for parents to note this, considering that our camp operation hours are from 7 am to 6 pm. Why do we have to be aware of an irrational fear? How can one be terrified of darkness in broad daylight? How can fears be so controlling for campers? How can they be so controlling for me?
   Many nights I walk back from my camp buildings, up the steep hill towards the house where I stay at camp. Lots of night are dark, and most nights when I walk back alone in the black, I feel afraid.
    The path is long (perhaps a quarter mile) and very dark. There are some street lights on the way, and as you pass them, you feel the warmth of the glow, and see the bugs swarm. The glimmer soon fades to gray, and once again the path is bleak. I finally make it up a steep hill and turn into my long, stone-paved drive way, where trees' shadows overhang ominously. Chills crawl up my spine. My imagination, which is always active, besets me.
  Fears come. What was that noise? I can’t see in front of me- is the footing safe? Why isn’t the light from my cellphone brighter? Why am I always alone? How do I know I am not alone? Nevertheless, this summer on one of these nights, words came to me, somewhat like a chant, countering my fears desperately,
   Christ over me, around me, Christ on my left, Christ on my right, Christ in front of me.
   My mind was suddenly bombarded by a reality of not what I did not know, but what I did know. Christ was present with me and is present with me on those walks.  I could think of many prepositions concerning Christ's relationship to me.
  Christ is...above me, over me, around me, after me, at me, through me, below me, beneath me, beside me, between me, behind me, under me, beyond me, by me, among me, for me, and in me.
   Every time I walk up in the dark, and that strange surge of fear clutches me, my lips cry the claim Christ holds to my soul. I find comfort. For, Christ is greater than my fears because more fundamentally than the fears are a part of me, Christ is a part of me.
   Recently I attended the wedding of a friend, and my brother and mother and some friends performed a wonderful Capella song for ceremony, Christ My Lord. The beautifully melodic song began, and to my wonder, it was nothing less than a putting of my heart's cries into music,  with "Christ" and a perfectly placed prepositional phrase for each line,
Christ above me,
Christ beside me,
Christ within me, ever-guiding
Christ behind me,
Christ before,
Christ my love, my light, my Lord...
     How wonderfully appropriate the song was for marriage! My friend and her fiance committed to having Christ with them, when they are afraid or joyful. But I, alone at night, what have I to fear? I suppose the only thing I have to fear is forgetting Christ's presence.
     The darkness may be over me, around me, before me, beside me, or under me, but it is not in me, it is not beyond me, and it is not for me. "The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it" (John 1:5, ESV). The darkness will not consume me. But not everyone is safe from the darkness.

    “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! (Matthew 6:22-23, ESV)" If you are walking in darkness, you will be welcomed to its embrace, not just physically, but spiritually. You have reason to fear.

   My prayer is two-fold. If you are Christ's, if your eye is healthy, if you see life from the correct point of view, may you be assured that "He will never leave you nor forsake you" (Heb. 13:5, ESV). You are in the light, walk in it (Eph. 5:8, ESV). You have nothing to fear.
    If you know not Christ, the light of the world, and the one who is truth, then my prayer for you is to stop walking in darkness. "The way of the wicked is like deep darkness, they do not know over what they stumble" (Prov. 4:19). Turn to Christ, for he is The Way, and there is no other (John 14:6).
     "There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love" (I John 4:18).  Christ's love has driven out fear

Love God.

Fear none.

A Drop in the Ocean

It's just a drop in the ocean,
A change in the weather,
I was praying that you and me might end up together. 
It's like wishing for rain as I stand in the desert, 
But I'm holding you closer than most, 
For you are my heaven.- Ron Pope
   Another song about love graces my ears, a peaceful yet earnest song with a catchy chorus and a decent singer. Here the artist is longing for his lover, and telling her that though the leaves change his love won't, however impossible it may seem. The impossibility is best understood when one considers his analogy, the likeliness of rain in the desert.

    I went to the desert in Israel. There it is. It is dry, it is hot, and it almost never rains.
   The desert tests you. God led Israel into the desert to test their faith. What was his strategy of conquering the promise land? It was having a people wander for forty years, and  then watch their parents perish from disobedience, and doing so for the children to learn the centrality of trusting in God alone for salvation and sustenance. God doesn't want strong people. He wants weak people, people who acknowledge that their throat grows dry when they wander the desert, and people who know that as assuredly as God can provide physical sustenance, so can He also provide spiritual sustenance. Spiritual sustenance actually superceeds physical sustenance.
        When Jesus was tempted by the devil in the Gospels, he was driven into the wilderness pictured above. Like the Israelites, God tested Him. The passage took on new meaning when I visited to Israel and observed that this desert was not the Sahara, where all you see is sand. This is the Judean Wilderness, where all you see is rock. When the devil asked if Jesus would turn "these stones" to bread, he wasn't asking if Jesus could take the one or two stones peeping out of the sand and have a little snack. No, he was tempting Jesus to literally turn this rocky land into mountains and wadis (valleys) of bread, providing so much food, that-frankly, if I was Jesus, I would of done it. Jesus spent forty days without food and was convinced that He only needed God to preserve His life. He countered the devil by saying "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.'"
       In our first day in the desert, our class for our Israel trip focused on God's words from Psalm 23, analyzing it bit by bit. This is a desert Psalm, because it is a shepherd Psalm, and shepherds have always found their home in the desert. I learned that the green pastures referred to in the Psalm are not the lush, endless, humid meadows of New England, but rather the the sprig on the cliff, and the bush in the ravine, the little food that sheep will eat to stay alive as they wander the dry land. God leads us beside this still waters and green pastures to restore us, but they are not necessarily full of excess. Our food is enough to keep us going for the day. The paths of righteousness that God takes us are through the valley of the shadow of death, but He is with us every step. Our hope is not that we are free of problems, but that we have a good shepherd who comforts us, provides for us, keeps us walking, and in the end will welcome us into His house for eternity!
      I learned a lot in Israel, and this one place is just a drop in the ocean of my experiences and the vastness of truth in the Bible. However, this region stuck out to me like the dandelion did to the rhinos and Sid in Ice Age. I always need to trust my savior, even in times of plenty. There, in the desert, I was challenged to accept that Jesus satisfies, more than Snickers (and that is saying something). Psalm 63:5 says, "My soul shall be satisfied with marrow and fatness, and my mouth shall praise You with joyful lips." Jesus can restore my weary soul, not just my cracked lips.
         If you are in a desert, savor the drops of water God gives you. Accept the change of weather. Wish and pray for rain, but be faithful if it doesn't come for some time. Trust Christ more than anything, and look forward to heaven where there will not be the longing of the desert, but the fulfillment of His eternal presence. Follow the good shepherd (John 10:11)!

 

Javier Colon singing "A Drop in the Ocean"

-I prefer his version and voice to Ron Pope's.

The Greatest Thing That I Saw Last Summer

I made the decision seven months ago to work at a Christian Camp in Maryland.  When the time, I packed up, left home, and drove to a warmer place.  There Christians flocked in swarms, like gnats at light poles.  There I served as a day-camp counselor, and had countless positive interactions with children and co-workers.  I would not exchange the experience for anything. 
    Something greater happened.  The staff would meet once a week for a night of worship.  I occasionally went, as this was at night, at the end of a long day (which was every day).  There was one night that I walked down to the old, white Chapel building.  I entered late, and noticed that it was not the usual format of rowed seating.  Instead, cushions and pillows were spread across the ground, and people sat upon them.  The light was low.
   We had a meaningful time of repentance and confession with the opportunity to fight, write, then light our sins on paper, and watch them burn with a flame and turn to ash.  I participated in a similar exercise during training camp for my missions trip, which was a turning point in my life, frankly.  The powerful visual demonstartion was not meaningless, but something greater came.  Morgan, the summer staff coordinator, introduced the next activity, which was a foot washing ceremony.  Slowly people, mostly couples or close friends, rose up and glided over to the small line-up of chairs with bowls of water in front of them.  I looked about nervously, knowing I had not made any friends close enough to be willing to symbolically sacrifice/serve them.  If it was with a guy, it would be akward.  If it was with a girl, it would be suggestive.  Furthermore, I am very self-conscious in worship.  This would be an out-of-order act for me. I closed my eyes and prayed, keeping a solemn composure to fit with the mood of the assembly.
   I eventually looked up and around.  Morgan was kneeling on the ground, holding the foot of his wife who sat on the chair.  I know not what drew my eye in such a mezmerizing manner, but my heart instantly snapped in twain.  I saw an act of selfless love.  What was meaningful was not merely the act, but the manner in which it was accomplished.
     I know little about their past, only that it has been rough.  Morgan said that if he ever met Megan's dad, there would be-I can't remember his words, but imagined Morgan (an ex-football player) beating the living daylights out of a wicked person, or at the very least warding him off with a shotgun.  In a way, Morgan was Megan's savior, or deliverer from her brutal (or at least unjust) past.
    As Morgan bent his knee and washed her feet, emotion simply overcame Megan.  She wept ceaslessly, with head bowed.  She was speechless.  With measured steadiness and care, Morgan washed those delicate feet with his large hands, containing his emotions.  When he was done, the white towel caressed them once more.
   Morgan draped his arms over her and began to whisper into her ear.  I didn't hear the words, but I could conjure them in my mind, "I am doing this because I love you completely and wholly for who you are.  You are my only beloved, and I will treasure you as long as I live.  Do you know that?  Do you trust me?"
   Morgan's graceful head of hair nodded in acknowledgement.  This was too much.  I had tried so hard to behold this miraculous event, but my tears clouded my eyes and I buried my head in my knees. 
   An arm reached around my back and clutched my shoulder.  I heard a girl's voice begin to pray.  I knew her; she was a blessing.  She probably thought I was struggling with sin, while it was just the opposite: I was struggling with grace.  But she prayed honestly and generically for me and my situation.  I blessed her and thanked God.  There is comfort in discovering that others actually care about you. 
 ..............................
   This is the miracle- that God loved me in my unworthiness; he saved us and will make the church his bride (Rev. 19:7).  He said, "I am doing this because I love you completely and wholly for who you are.  You are my only beloved, and I will treasure you as long as I live."  He asks, "Do you know that?  Do you trust me?"  I struggle with sin every day.  I forget who I am.  I forget whose I am. 
     But God has washed my feet.  He has called us friends.  He has gone and left the Holy Spirit to testify to us, be with us, and guide us. 
    For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
(Romans 5:6-8 ESV)

Once again, Tenth Avenue North has a song for this entitled Beloved in Over and Underneath
http://www.godtube.com/watch/?v=JCBF9CNU
Blessings,
Andrew

The Disciplines in Retrospect

The semester is over.  Today I turn in three essays and take my final final exam.  I get in a car, travel East and then take a long train home. I will receive a final grade for this class. I will probably never see some of the people from this class again.  When I return I will have new professors, classes, and classmates, and in the further future, this class will be only a letter on a report card on my transcript.  Will it have made a difference in my life?
   Well you have learned a thing or to about me and probably know that everything I do I believe has purpose.  Of course this class will matter.  The questions are: how? why? For whom?  My professor gave us a list of six reflection questions that help me see how I have responded to the disciplines, and how they might benefit others.  Saddle up, we got some questions to answer.
   1. Foster says spiritual disciplines are not designed to be ends in themselves, but are intended to facilitate a person's journey into grater freedom in living a Christ-like life.  How did your practice of the disciplines this semester (either some in particular or all together) help you grow in your faith in and obedience to God? 
           These disciplines challenged me in many ways to be more intentional in my walk and to glorify God by being active inseeking Him in a variety of ways. 
      One of the ways in which I grew in obedience was through submission.  I had several applications for discipline to my life, but the greatest one was through submistting to my authorities.  I recieved back a paper with a grade with which I was not content.  I struggled to submit to the authority of my teacher.  I did nonetheless, and have resolved the situation by appealing to higher authority, but I have come to realize that I am beholden to some, and that obedience to God means obedience to those whom God places over you. 
    I have also learned obedience through surrender in the discipline of fasting.  I discovered the Biblical mandate for fasting, and had one of my first, full experiences with the discipline.  It was one of the things that I have not had in my life, and that God expects of Christians.
   Perhaps in general God has challenged me to take my relationship with him more seriously through the disciplines collectively.  There are many different ways to worship/experience God, and I have seen the value in each.  Some work better for me; some are very challenging.  I feel like these practices have given my life more direction in how to live a holy life of obedience 
2. What were some of the distractions or hindrances that kept you from practicing or practing to the fullest, the assigned disciplines this semester? What does this show you about yourself? How do you plan to address this area (or these areas of struggle)
   I found that the major barriers to my practice of discipline were my business, silence, my laptop, daydreaming, and sin in general.  First, I found that I was busy.  As reflected in a lot of my posts, I did not thoroughly practice the discipline as would have been ideal. It was difficult for me to remember to do things throughout the week for this class, as opposed to a set assignment.  As often happens in my life, other things got in the way of my focus on God.
  Silence was another barrier to the disciplines.  The day that I practiced a day of total silence, I both loved it and hated it.  I loved it because I felt free from wasting words; I hated it because I was not free from wasting thoughts.  I struggled to control my thought life, especially during this time where I felt almost ruled by my thoughts.     
   Facebook.  It is an icon for the various distractions that are found on the internet.  It used to be a part of my day, every day, sometimes for a lot of the day.  As of today, I have fasted from Facebook for one week.  So here I am applying one of the spiritual disciplines I just learned to correct this area of weakness in my life and find time for  the priorites God has given me and avoid distractions. 
   Daydreaming has been another stumbling block for me in the spiritual disciplines, as it has been in all of my life.  Especially in disciplines like prayer and meditation, I struggled to stay focused on God.
  Finally, the ever-persistent struggle of the Christian with sin has nagged upon my soul, especially during the disciplines.
In failing at the disciplines we practice them.  I feel like I struggled practicing the disciplines for different, but that struggle part of the discipline, not distinct from it, in that in embodying this attitude for a set period of time I could see how it could transform my life, and my short-comings.  As I said in my Worship blog, "Some of these pitfalls can be corrected by a change in scheduling, others go deep into my attitude and heart intentions." 
3. Identify three disciplines you think mesh togetgher well and explain how you see them interrelating. How would you plan to practice them together?
 Three disciplines that mesh well are prayer, fasting, and meditation.  Throughout the Bible, prayer and fasting are found together, and God uses them to accomplish great things.  At the same time, meditation is an act of being filled with God's spirit.  What better time to seek fulfilment than when you are empty, phyiscally, from food, and can nurture your soul's longing with a focus on God?  Sure, being hungry might be a distraction from prayer and meditation, but one can the use the time to practice denying the desires of the flesh, and thus leanrning to chose which longings to satisfy.
      Fasting has various purposes (Whitney 156-170): to strengthen prayer, seek God's guidnace, to express grief, to invoke the presnece of God, to express repentance and return to God, to seek self-humbling, and to show show concern for the work of God.   Fasting also comes in handy in Spiritual warfare and is effective in helping one ward off temptation.  It is a way that we reorder our priorities (Prince, 176) and focus on the kingdom of God.
4. Identify one discipline you would urge a new believer to practice.  How would you ionstruct them ion the discipline? Why do you think thsi disciop;ine is especially well-suited to the formation of a new believer?
 The discipline that I would recommend for a new believer would be fasting.  All of the disciplines are wonderful and important as means to glorify God.  However, for a new believer, fasting is so--well-maybe unappetizing.  That's the point.
   I think a new believer gets a taste of most of the disciplines in some form or another when they start to hang out with Christians, learn about the Christian life, and go to church.  However, fasting is perhaps the most overlooked of the spiritual disciplines.  More importantly, fasting provides a venue in which to practice the other disciplines.  When we are fasting, we are prone to worship the God who provides all things, humbled to confess our sins, calmed to meditate, focused to pray, dedicated to want to study, silenced to listen to God, and humbled to submit to His will.
    Weakness.  When we fast (let's say for the time being from food) we become weak.  Our body is processing less calories, thus making less enegry, thus making us more tired.  We don't have as much strength as a fully fed body.  As Romans says, "For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly"(Romans 5:6 ESV).  We often connect with God best at times of weakness. 
The new believer can experience first-hand the kind of commitment that it takes to be a Christian.  Not that this is legalism, but on the contrary, fasting is a discipline that is hard to fake.  One can pretend or half-heartedly pray or worship (not saying that new Christian would be more prone to this than I am).  Fasting is merely a unique and powerful experience that serves many purposes for the Christian, and lets them behold the power of God in transforming them and answering prayers.
5. Spiritual disciplines fortify believers against some of the universal struggles and weaknesses all Christians have battled against.  Identify and secribe an area of weakness you observe in the Kuyper College student population. What spriual discipline, if corporately practiced, would target this area of weakness and why?
    It is difficult to say what weaknesses the Kuyper College community has, for different habits of living foster different attitudes in people, and different backgrounds of people from different faiths have different priorities.  However, I will audaciously address two areas.
       1. Addictions.  It seems like most people have some kind of addiction or another.  If you bring the topic up in honest (and perhaps private) conversation, you would be surprised what some people would say.  Addictions can be as harmlessly looking as Facebook.  They can be as 'necessary' as overeating.  They can be 'innocent' as gossip.  They can be as 'strong' as pride.  They can be as seductive as lust, as paralyzing as fear, as busy as anxiety, and as forgotten as loneliness.  Two things are true.  We are not alone in our addictions, and we are not justified in our addictions.
         What do we do?  What do I do?  First, I will say what one doesn't do with an addiction-nothing.  Complacency is almost as bad as feeding the addiction.  Two things must take place.  We must turn away from our sin and turn to God.  This begins by recongnizing our sin.
    Logically, the discipline to utilize is confession.  God has given it as the means whereby we acknowledge His power in our lives and give Him our sin.  We cannot bear it, and He has died that we may be free from it. "For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery" (Galatians 5:1 ESV).  Christ has already set us free from sin (John 8:36).  We must however, confess our sin when we fall, expecting forgiveness (I John 1:9).  We need Christ to forgive and cleanse us (see Ps. 51).  One of my favorite lines from a song (among many) is by Tenth Avenue North: "In me, Oh Lord can you create a pure heart because I'm afraid that I just might run back to the things that I hate."  As we struggle in a love-hate relationship with our sin, God has an unconditional love for us (see Ps. 103: 17, Is. 54:8, and Jer. 31:3).  That should be an encouragement.

    2.  Idleness.  I will re-quote one of my favorite quotes from Foster this semester, "Now when I speak of mind pollution I am not thinking only of 'bad' books, films and so on, but of mediocre books and films.  You see unless we set before ourselves a 'habitual vision of greatness' we will surely degenerate" (Foster, 93).  This was cited from the discipline of study.  America is ruled (speaking of addictions) by a spirit of anti-intellectualism, not only in academics, but also in thorough study of the Bible.
     I mean not to mock any of my friends but be blunt.  I have often been criticized for passing-over social events, entertainment, or other distractions for the sake of my schoolwork.  I am called now in my life to be a student!  So is everyone else at grade school, college, or above who is reading this.  That calling is from God.  Our weakness is in that we are not embracing it in heart and soul.  The Bible speaks repeatedly about sloth, especially in Proverbs.  God has called us to work.
    What discipline ought to counter this?  I think study and prayer.  Study should not just characterize our devotional life, but also our interactions, in that we are being intentional and earnest.  We ought to re-evaluate our calling as students in light of Scripture and seek to study how we are living and how that ought to change.
      Second, prayer is important.  If we are dedicated our lives to God and seeking God's will, I know that He will call us to be obedient.   Obedience is holiness, and as we fellowship, we can seek discernment upon how that is manifested.  The monks believed that work and prayer should compliment each other and guide their lives.  They were right.  The two must go together. 
   Corporately, confession would ideally be practiced in small groups or with accountability partners.  Corporately, study could be practiced in Bible Studies (suprise!)

6. What advice would you give to the next class of spiritual formation students at Kuyper College who will be practicing these disciplines? 


     1.  Prepare to be changed.  We never know what change will be like.  I simply advise you to have your heart open and sensitive to God, and to cover the experience with prayer, worship, and humility.  God is so holy, and you must prepare your heart to experience Him in new ways.  I advise you to start a habit of confession as you encounter the disciplines, for God may not fully work in your heart if you appease un-confessed sin or inner resentment.
    2. Put the time into it.  These disciplines will take work, some more than others.  Try to make a plan on how to practice them at the beginning of the week, and do your best to try and follow it.  If you fail, well at least you tried!  Read the chapters in Foster.  Highlight take notes, apply and apply.  This is practical Christian living, not just ideas.  Make it as real, as close, and as frightening as possible. 
   3.  Be patient.  Change comes slowly at time.  Expect God to be reorienting your desires and priorities, but don't be upset if you don't see immediate results.  The Word of God always has the right effect, but not always on our intended terms. Be patient with yourself in growing, be patient with others' growing (or seeming lack therof) and be patient with God.
     4. Put your heart into it.  I can't say what this class or these disciplines will do for you.  I can say that they are changing my life.  I am still processing what I have learned and how I will continue the disciplines.  Nevertheless, I am doing this with an open and sincere heart.  I want to serve God and glorify Him.
                      Take my life and let it be
                    consecrated, Lord, to Thee
   

For the Reader: Thank you for following my blog this semester.  It has been a wonderful journey I have learned much, and I pray you have gleaned a gem or two of truth.  This class is over, as is my obligation to maintain this blog.  However, I have enjoyed blogging, and perhaps I will continue.  I won't yet give a promise of how often, but suffice to say that you will see some posting popping up from time to time.  Feel free to check-in and comment!  I am interested to hear your reactions to these disciplines and my life (or why else would I share it with you?). 
Keep Christ at the center.
Blessings, 
Andrew Johnson