With a Thankful Heart...

     I would be remiss if I did not begin this post with a prayer of thankfulness to my Lord. Father, Lord, and Omnipotent God; you have loved me even when I have neglected to acknowledge your presence. I am guilty, in so many ways, of treating you impersonally and calling you my God when I don't even acknowledge your existence. I am thankful that your love is not contingent upon my thoughts, philosophies, and attentiveness to you. Rather, you sent your son to die for me even when you knew I would be neglectful, wicked, selfish, and impatient. I am undeserving of all that you have given me, but I take every day, every breath, as a sign that you still have plans to use me in these evil days. I can never quite articulate just how grateful I am, but you know my heart. I ask that you instill in me a heart of gratefulness on days that it is not easy to be thankful, and a heart of humility on days that it is. I thank you for the temptations you place in my life to help me remember that I must lean on you for true strength and guidance, and to remind me that there is blessing and growth just beyond that temptation. Lord, I do not write this prayer as a sign of piety, but one of humility because you called me to be faithful, and to preach your Gospel; my limited ability is nothing compared to the movement of your spirit. Truly, let it be!

     These days, as I approach what I would consider to be an "age of ripeness," I am finding myself much more introspective and thoughtful of all the things for which I have to be grateful. I must give a discourse of gratitude to my parents, who found it of utmost importance to grow me in a Christian home and to raise me with a moral aptitude. Also, I have to thank you Mom for taking the time to answer my questions, on that Wednesday in 1992, when I felt the spirit moving me to make a decision for Christ, and to have Him indwell my heart. Ironically enough mom, you were also there when I was struggling with my call to the ministry, and helped me pray through this time, cried with me, and gave me encouragement when I was discourage, I love you. To my dad, I must say that I am grateful to you for teaching me to be a man, maybe not explicitly because words can be flimsy, but you taught me a lot by example, by treating Mom with loving respect, and by being the leader that Greg and I needed. You are the strongest man I have ever known and, though I fail to tell you enough, I love you.

   To my brother, we have not always gotten along (that's just what being a brother is about) but as we have both grown, I have found a friend and mentor in you that I couldn't find anywhere else, because you can see through my BS. I have learned a lot about patience, leadership, and wisdom from you. You've selflessly given of yourself on a number of occasions, and I have failed to tell you how grateful I am to you. Thanks for being a good big brother, and teaching me early about Star Wars and the importance of technology. I love you.

     To my sister-in-law Sarah, you are a wonderful human being! I am grateful for how much you love my brother, and I am grateful for your unquenchable energetic disposition. You have taught me a lot about hard work, and organization (mostly because I am lacking in both of those areas). You have played an integral role in making Elisabeth feel welcomed and comfortable in our family, and I love you for that.

     Elisabeth, I don't have words to truly explain my thankfulness for you. God blessed me with a helpmate in you that I could never have imagined. Already, in the near 6 months that we have been married you have helped me to break down some barriers of pretension that I have held for many years. You have taught me how to love deeper, how to appreciate the oddities of life, and have helped me to appreciate food like never before (I'm never giving up Oreos BTW). You are the sweetest person I know, and deserve to be treated with the utmost delicacy, love and respect; it is likely that I will fail in these areas. But, I promise to you that I will do everything in my power to give you these things, and will rely on God to teach me the rest. I am thankful that you are smarter than me, and continue to stretch my mind, get me out of my own little world, and help me to "stop and smell the roses." You remind me of my grandmother Breckley in certain aspects of your character. I love you with my whole being and am thankful that you are in fact "my favorite."

With a day like today, I have to say thank you to so many people and have so little time to do so. If you are reading this, then know that I am thankful for you more than I could possible express. Here are a few of the people I have to be thankful for, because you have shaped me and my life in a very special form and fashion: Sonny, Kari, Caitlyn, Camryn, Aunt Esther, Uncle John, Johnny, Trisha, Jim (and all those girls), Nic, Cathy, Tony, Kelly, Scott (and your amazing girls), Ken, Amanda, Uncle Steve, Aunt Terry, Dave, Karen, (and your awesome boys), Josh, Oscar, Florence, Craig, Phyllis, Eric, Bill, Dondra, Dave, Kate, Tina, Mike, Tommy, Betty, Margie, Marv, Stacey, Uncle Al, Aunt Peggy, Tony, Rhonda, Jason, and especially my Granfather Harry and Grandmother Doris (you are missed).

I have so much to be thankful for, and can't remember the last time I deserved any of God's goodness. Think. Thank. Love.

The Movement in Context: The Verbs of Your Life

     I have spent a lot of time this semester studying syntax and morphology, learning English grammar in order to learn Greek. Between my Greek and Hermeneutics classes I am sure quickly becoming proficient in understanding where meaning is and where it can be found. My Hermeneutics professor, who wears a bow-tie, says that you have to "dance with the verbs" and in order to help us remember he put on some Michael Bublé and started dancing. He did all this to emphasize our attentiveness to the verbal phrases within a text or passage of text.

     The verse above is from Matthew 25:26, 27, this is a verse we have been working with for a couple of weeks now and will be for the remainder of the semester. If you pay attention to the blue highlighted selection. Now focus on the color boxed words. Those are the parent verbal ideas and they cause the major movement in the text. The yellow highlighted words are words (conjunctions)  on which the verbal ideas hinge. 

 HERE IS MY POINT: 

      I truly believe that God called us to GO and to do His love in action!!!!!!!!! It tells us this at the end of Matthew 28:16-20, but I also think He left us with a manual on how we should go. God showed us how to GO when He presented us with His gospel, throughout you can find thousands of principles by which to live an "in the light" kind of life (1John1:7). Pay attention to the verbs of your life, the goings and comings. What does it say about you, what doesn't it say about you? Where are the verbs of your life taking you? 

      Spiritual growth, spiritual formation, wisdom in the Lord all happen in the verbs of our lives. When you are filling your life with the God honoring, diligent, persevering kind of verbs, God is going to allow His spirit to move through you and overflow into every other part of your life. Try it sincerely, and see what happens! 

Love isn't about Dominion, it's about compassion!

     I have been struggling with ways to become connected to the city of Chicago in a very real way; I have asked God to show me the importance of laboring and working in community with others. I am reminded that God exists in three parts, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; He exists in a community of perfect relationship. I have found that it is also important to remember that I am made in God's image and that I too must exist, worship, learn, lead etc. in a community sort of fashion, as is evidenced in Genesis 1:26 where God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness." But, He continues on to say, "And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”   
 
     My take away from this is that to engage this world, and in my case Chicago, I must participate in a community of believers who sharpen me, challenge me, and encourage me to grow in my faith. But the second part of  Genesis 1:26 was a little puzzling, (here is where my hermeneutics (biblical interpretation) teacher would be proud of me). What Dr. J told us is "don't just pay attention to what is written, but also remember to take into account what isn't."

Here is the point: To me, as God gives man dominion (authority) over the birds of the air, the fish of the sea, the livestock of the earth, and over every creeping thing; He DOES NOT give humankind dominion over each other. Rather, He desires a partnership, a conglomerate of like-minded individuals, a community of believers to complement one another. Ultimately, though, this conglomerate has been created to glorify Him.

Here is my question to you:

 How can this be accomplished in judging our fellow man, going to battle with those we don't agree with, and hating those who take on a different world view?

If there is one thing I have learned from the book of Genesis it is the attribute of Love, that God puts forth over and over again as an imperative part of His communication to all.

I'll leave it in God's inspiration to explain:

1 Corinthians 13:1-3:

If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.  

Got Love? 

LIsten and See: Faith Comes by Hearing

I am learning the importance of context this week. The Old Testament was presented orally because most people of OT times could not read. Therefore, the people of "Bible times," decoded the Bible via their ears, rather than their eyes as do modern Bible readers. It seems that we interpret meaning differently when we hear words compared to when we read them. I am finding the significance in both reading out loud and hearing the Bible read to me. Try it sometime, BibleGateway.com has an awesome assortment of audio resources.

At the moment I am smack-dab in the middle of Genesis, I tell you, hearing Satan speak through another reader in The Garden of Eden, hearing Sodom and Gomorrah being destroyed, and hearing the story of Abraham's complete faith (as he prepares to offer God his son) has come to new meaning for me the past couple of days. 

God Said...

I am learning some really important facets about God, from the "First Testament," in my OT class. This one strikes me in particular. Genesis 1 uses "God Said" 10X. Understanding that Genesis shows us many things about the character of God, it is evident that God wants to communicate, terribly, with his creation. 

What is even more humbling is that the Hebrew word used, in Genesis 1, for God is Elohim or "one supreme deity." It may be old hat for some, but is this not incredibly powerful? Elohim, the sovereign Creator, King, and Judge has a desire to talk with us, to walk with us, and to MAKE within us a new creation.

I urge you, in all the hustle and bustle of talking ABOUT God, don't forget to talk TO God. To ask God, "how am I treating you impersonally today?"

Saved by Grace... Graduation by Works

Figure 1. Required textbooks for Semester 1

     Dr. Jelinek, Vice President and Dean of Moody Theological Seminary and Grad School, has a saying, "If you are studying at MTS you have been saved by grace... but you will only graduate through works." I found this incredibly apropos considering the number of textbooks I had just received a day prior. I am having to come to grips with the fact that my time is going to be spent here, in these books, learning the many foundational practices I will build on over the next few years.

     If you are observant you may have noticed that I left out the most important book(s) of all, my Bible. I did this on purpose, mostly to remind myself that no matter what tools I have, no matter what foundational knowledge I gain, it is all for not without the inspired and inerrant Word of God.

   Above all, I am going to make a concerted effort to remember how easy it is to look at the study of theology as purely academic; even though I serve a highly relational God. While I attempt to work on the head knowledge that comes with an academic career, I have to recall that my walk-- that is my spiritual relationship with the Almighty-- is one that requires time, attention, prayer, and effort.  

So it begins...

Matthew 10:32 says, "So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven,..." It is my hope to acknowledge and share the magnitude and glory of my Savior; the Graceful One who saved me. This blog serves as one, of many forums, in which to do so. I can't promise the posts will be critically acclaimed, but I promise to allow God to change my heart and to document this process. These words will represent a lived experience; they will not represent a well-intentioned person but a servant willing to live the intentions of God.