General News

Project Management Source has a list of pop business productivity wisdom entitled Lessons from Project Management: 101 ways to organize your lifecomplete with a reference to "ZEN" - my how we love ZEN in just about everything today.  Some of this is good advice, most is the commons sense, blah, blah, blah that sells many books and lacks serious reflection.

Calculate your Miles Per Dollar - you know how many miles per gallon you get in your ride...now you can see how many miles you get for every George Washington in your wallet. I get about 9 miles per dollar...so it costs me about $1.96 round trip to my office each day.

Technology 

Is there a new evil empire brewing?  Google CEO Eric Schmidt joins Apple's board.  I had one friend tell me they were boycotting apple because they are becoming "the man" - this indeed looks more likely now that "the man" of Internet searching and page ranking has joined the board. 

The Old Evil Empire (you know Microsoft) has just released their first "release candidate" of Windows Vista.  Oooo can't wait.  Actually, with our next PC purchase we will be choosing between the Old and New evil empires...what to do? 

"The way to fight lust is to feed faith with the precious and magnificent promise that the pure in heart will see, face to face, the all-satisfying God of glory."

John Piper Future Grace, pg. 338

An all satisfying desire will expel lesser and base affections.  Fill your soul with a vision of the living God and the darkness of your own soul will be lifted by the light of his face. 

Usually I counsel young guys in a threefold fashion in dealing with these demons...

1. See what empty and cracked cisterns of your soul you are trying to fill.  Usually dudes get into porno when they are lonely, empty, longing for intimacy, weary, stressed out.  See what the sources are that are cracking the soul.
   
2. Cut the sewage pipes.  Bottom line is that you need to cut the avenues of junk into your life.  One guy told me he didn't have the cash to get his internet connection filtered.  I told him he had two options a) find the cash b) cut of his internet all together.  The money did surface
3. Discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness (1 Timothy 4:7).  We need to walk with God in the means of grace he has given us.  We need to see him in Scripture, commune with him in prayer, worship together with his people, seek solitude alone, participate in the Lord's supper, and fill our souls with an all satisfying vision of Jesus.

9Marks Ministries has a great grouping of articles about the Emerging Church, its influences, and practices. 

I highly recommend the following:

THE EMERGING CHURCH
An Emerging Church Primer
by Justin Taylor

Pastor's and Theologian's Forum on the Emerging Church

The Emerging Consequences of Whose Ideas?

Book Reviews: The Radical Reformission & Confessions of a Reformission Rev
by Mark Driscoll
Reviewed by Mike McKinley

Book Review: Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith
by Rob Bell
Reviewed by Greg Gilbert

A while back I wrote my reflections on being stupid coming out of Proverbs 12:1.  Now Bob Kauflin at Worship Matters has commented on the same passage and his own experience.

HT - Theologica 

 

 When I heard Mark Driscoll talk about the huge commentary that he wrote on the book of Genesis along with the sermons, etc. I had my suspicions about how the brother was getting it all done.  Now, it is clear - I assumed he was injected with genetically engineered Charles Hadden Spurgeon DNA, but I was wrong.  He has been theo-doping.  See the expose at Challies.com
 
Now feeling the temptation to take to theo-doping myself, I have resolved to remain faithful and rely only on the Holy Ghost, sleepless nights, lots of reading, a hope and a prayer.  So far I don't have a 100 page commentary on Genesis, but I did just crank out a 7 page (single spaced mind you) dilly on Philippians.  All clean, no roids...Take that to the house!

Also, Driscoll is a good sport, seeing his comment on Challies' post.  Thanks guys, too much fun to be had in the theologically driven blog world... 

Keep throwing the strikes guys...

I just read this over at the Desiring God National Conference Blog. 

“I don’t know when I adopted it, but my motto is ‘Speakers come from Radio Shack; I come to Preach!’ I believe that our unwillingness to use the term ‘preacher’ today is due to the fact that preaching has fallen out of favor. Our culture has sayings such as, ‘don’t preach to me.’ ‘Preach’ has become a bad word. Nevertheless, that is exactly what preachers are called to do. We do not merely ’speak’ or ‘dialogue’ with people, we preach the Word (2 Timothy 4:2).”

I like Voide Bauchman.

A Brief Introduction to the Book of Philippians
Complete PDF of this paper
Introductory Audio Message (MP3)

Jean Jacques Rousseau once wrote that “man is born free, but everywhere he is in chains.”¹ We would suggest that we are born in chains but have yet to truly understand how to live free. The book of Philippians was written by a person whose freedom had been stripped from him by the government of his day. Yet while under house arrest in the city of Rome, Paul, an early Christian leader, writes rejoicing as a free man. How do mission, contentment and joy flow out from someone living in chains? We will be focusing on this question by traveling together into the ancient letter of Philippians, a book which oozes wisdom for living together in the mission of God.

We are going to take a walk through the book and it would be helpful to get the proverbial lay of the land before launching out. This short, well maybe it is not so short, paper will serve as a broader introduction to the book for those geeks who are interested. With any letter of the New Testament some really important background information can really help us understand what is going on. So let’s look at this letter, known to us as the Letter to the Philippians, by investigating a few of the major issues surrounding the book.

Where is Philippi and Who Lived There?

I remember when I first became a follower of Jesus I was a bit weirded out by some of the books in the Bible. The names of these books seemed really strange and I wasn’t sure if I just missed out on the proper Christian decoder ring to figure out what these titles meant. Then a friend helped me out with the titles of some of the New Testament books whose names I just didn’t get. He told me that many of the New Testament books were letters to new Christians who lived in certain cities. First Corinthians would be much like titling a letter to believers in Nashville, First Nashvillians. That turned on the light for me. Philippians therefore is a letter written to a people in the ancient city of Philippi, so as we begin it is probably going to help us out to know a bit about that place and its cultural history. 

Ancient Philippi was located in an area which was known as Macedonia, in what is now modern day Greece. The name of the city derives from Phillip II, King of Macedonia, who established the city in 356 B.C.² Many of us may be unfamiliar with Phillip II, but most will easily recognize the name of his son Alexander the Great. The city of Philippi was strategically located near Mount Pangaeus and its gold mines³ along an ancient trade route known as the Egnatian Way. This trade route connected ancient Rome with its provinces in the east. It was a city on a fertile plane about ten miles inland from the influential port of Neapolis⁴. In the book of Acts the city is described as a leading city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony (Acts 16:12) so its renown and influence were well known in the New Testament era. Its description as a Roman colony is of some importance, so we’ll briefly touch on what that means.

Philippi became a place of dispute during several Roman civil wars. First, it was the site of the battle between two coalitions in 42 BC. One led by Octavian and Marc Antony the other led by Brutus and Cassius, the assassins of Julius Caesar. Upon the victory by Octavian/Antony, Philippi was founded as a Roman military colony.⁵ Octavian, later to become Caesar Augustus, populated the city with his own victorious military leaders and ex-soldiers establishing it as a city with strong Roman allegiances. A colony of Rome was much different than an area simply ruled and administered by the empire. A colony’s inhabitants were official citizens of the empire and their government was modeled after that of the Rome itself. The important thing we need to know is that Philippi was very Roman in culture and identity, it would be seen by its people as an extension of Rome. She and her people shared Roman laws, customs, and religion and were extremely proud of this reality. They were a people who were culturally entrenched and culturally satisfied. We see this quite prominently in Acts 16:20,21:

And when they had brought them to the magistrates, they said, “These men are Jews, and they are disturbing our city. They advocate customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to accept or practice.”

These were a people with long established cultural norms who saw the faith of Christ’s followers as antagonistic to their very way of life. This is the soil in which the church at Philippi was birthed. It was a good place for church planting; a good place to start some sanctified trouble for the sake of the gospel. And there was a man on the scene that was intent on doing just that.

Continue reading "Prison Break - Mission and Contentment Under Arrest - The Book of Philippians" »

The other night I was watching Ever After, a Cinderella movie, with my wife.  And yes, men, when my wife said she wanted to watch "Ever After" I said yes, with a full track record of confirmed masculinity. 

In the movie a little girl is given a book from her Father.  The title of the book was Utopia, a work by Thomas More.  The idea of the word Utopia is to create a perfect world, a heaven on earth sort of scheme.   Now, such thinking is universal to all cultures--this world is flawed and we need to create a better world.  Utopia schemes and fix the world diagnoses have wrought all sorts of horrors on the earth...that study will be saved for another day.  Yet while watching the movie I paused the film and began to talk to my wife.  Of course she just looooves, to stop a movie from my philosophical ramblings.  I thought, how do we get this concept of "a perfect world" - nobody has ever seen one.  This of course led my thoughts to the topic of epistemology.  I know you are thinking - watching a Cinderella movie of course leads to epistemology, what else would you be thinking about!!! Right.  But here me out.

If one is an empiricist in her view of knowledge she believes that there is no knowledge that exists in the mind which does not first pass through the senses.  In the other words, if we do not sniff, touch, taste, see, hear it - the mind has no raw data from which to build knowledge.  This of course brings up a problem when talking about Utopia.  How does one get the idea of a "perfect" world into ones mind from sense data in the world.  No one has ever seen, touched, tasted, sniffed, or heard "perfect" in this world.  All we see is a matter of degrees - that there is bad, good, and better.  For the empiricist, one can only infer, from degrees of goodness or badness in things, that there must be a perfect.  However, he is speaking of something he has no knowledge of - that of course IF empiricism is correct.

However, what if there IS a perfect, there is a perfect world, a source of perfection which is not currently observable to the senses but is present in the mind by which we know this world is NOT perfect.  We just somehow know that there exists "the perfect" - this knowledge is given to us.  Now, I meet all sorts of people who would subscribe to the proverb "Nobody is perfect" or "I am not perfect" - for years now I always ask a follow up question.  How do you know that "you are not" unless there is someone/something which is.  It seems like an empty comparison that is quite meaningless unless there is that which that is perfect.  If there are flaws in persons, things, or even this world (after all it is NOT utopia), then there is something, yes I would say someone which we and this world fall short of. 

The existence of the knowledge that this world is broken demonstrates to me that it falls short of a perfection.   The knowledge of this perfection must find its ground in someone/something - I find this a compelling confirmation that indeed, there is a God...who in himself is the source of all perfections from which we fall short. 

Romans 3:23

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God - Read all of Romans 3

Romans 8:20-25

For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. 23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.  Read all of Romans 8

And yes, someday, the children of God will live happily ever after...and that ain't no fairy tale pipe dream. 

One can run into excellent cultural analysis in the most suprising of places. I recently encountered two which deal with how we as Americans are raising our children. The first is a witty comentary by Joel Stein aptly titled Elmo Is an Evildoer - Los Angeles Times

Being an American parent of preschoolers I must readily confess that we have a few items of Elmo junk in the various toy boxes, closets and nooks of our house.  But the reality is, when watches Elmo (we have one DVD) what emerges is pretty silly.   Stein does a great job in looking at how the most incarnations of the Seasame Street TV franchise are reflecting the values we have in our day.  Seasame Street is no longer dominated by Oscar, Big Bird, and Bert teaching kids lessons of friendship and responsibility, but rather a dumping batch of blabbering self obession which makes little kids center their lives on "ME, ME, ME."  Believe me, the kiddos need no help in being self-centered creatures, sin secures this situation in their lives quite easily without any help from Elmo.   Stein makes some really pithy observations about the fare offered today once someone tells you how to get to Seasme Street.  I'll highlight a few:

The lesson they teach — in opposition to Oscar, Big Bird, Grover or Bert — is that bland neediness gets you stuff much more easily than character. We are breeding a nation of Anna Nicole Smiths.

I am not the only one who hates Elmo. Vernon Chatman and John Lee, the creators of MTV2's dark "Sesame Street" parody, "Wonder Showzen," think the evil red one is destroying the show.

"Elmo doesn't grow. People show him something and he laughs. He doesn't learn a lesson," says Lee. "It's the exact opposite of what old 'Sesame Street' used to do. Elmo has been learning the same lesson his whole life, which is that Elmo likes Elmo."

Is it any surprise that a culture whose gods are self-esteem, self-realization, self-actualization, self-help, self-worth, etc. would put before its children a little self-obsessed red puppet that loves to talk about himself in the third person?  Recently while staying in a hotel while our son was in the NICU, I caught a show called My Super Sweet 16 which was about a spoiled rich girl and her indulgent sixteen year old birthday party.  It seemed all this girl could think about was how I look, how jealous everyone is of ME, how she better get what she wants, and how she is to be the center of all things.  Elmo would be proud.  He lives in the same universe where the Sun about which all is to orbit is the self.  Stein finishes his article about the little red Sesame demon with the following:

I desperately don't want the show to go away, so I know they can't afford to run the "Elmo accidentally drank bleach and died" episode. Instead, they need to simply take Elmo and his buddies and give them their own hourlong show for the idiot spawn. Then put Luis, Gordon and the cool Muppets on their own half-hour "Classic Sesame" for the kids who will one day actually contribute to our society.

Whichever of the two shows you watched would serve as a convenient litmus test for the rest of your life. "Which 'Sesame Street' did you watch?" will be code on college applications, Internet dating and job applications. Blue and red states will be divided not by presidential choices, but by Grover and Elmo.

If we can't save all the kids, let's at least save the ones who can master speaking in first-person. The rest we'll use for reality TV stars. 

I think I just saw one of those reality TV kids celebrate her 16th birthday...I'll pray for the kids to be old school Sesame and leave Elmo's self-love world behind.  A firm reading of Philippians 2 would do the kiddos well - count others more significant than yourselves, and don't talk about yourself in the third person.

Over the past few months a few of the papers I have written have gone up on The Resurgence. My page is here.  Warning - some of the papers are geek material...

Gary Shavey, another former Athletes in Action staff dude is leading the resurgence and it has been fun reconnecting with Gary around the Resurgence vision. On that vision, I think it is pretty cool stuff:

means to rise again, or to surge back into vibrancy. We believe that the gospel of Jesus Christ must resurge in every generation to meet the needs of people and their continually changing cultures.

Missional means that we believe Jesus Christ is on a mission to seek and save people, change their lives, and transform their cultures. Because of this we believe that Christians, Christian organizations, and Christian churches exist to join Jesus on His mission by immersing themselves in whatever culture Jesus has placed them.

Theology means that we believe that personal and cultural transformation is only possible by meeting the living Jesus Christ of the Bible through His gospel. Because of this we believe that culturally accessible mission also requires biblically faithful theology.

Cooperative means that we believe a team of missional theologians working together as friends and peers, sharing ideas, and correcting errors is the best way for learning to occur. Because of this we are a network of various Christian leaders, ministries, churches, and networks seeking to work together in providing the most culturally effective and biblically faithful missional theology.

There is a really fun missional, theologically driven, Jesus team forming in pockets all over this land.  I think it is a good place to stand. 

A friend sent this to me today regarding Pilgrim's Progress:

Reid, I was looking at your website today. Wanted you to know about a great book that is an abridged version for kids of Pilgrims Progress. It is called Dangerous Journey, by Oliver Hunken.  It is grafted from the original text and the illustrations are stunning and really help kids much younger appreciate the story.  I read this book to my kids so many times we destroyed the book.  My 23 year old asked me to read out loud last weekend.  Anyway, thought you might enjoy this if you haven’t seen it before.

Putting this one in the Amazon shopping cart today.

With each of our kids I have written (well, more like orally made up) lullabies to sing while holding them as little babies.  It has been part of being a Dad for me.  I have found making up songs to teach the girls a fun endeavor as well, but that is another story.

Well, Thomas' (Tommy Reid) first Lullaby just came out in the last couple of days. 

Verse 1 

Tommy Reid, We Love to Sing
To Sing of His Beauty, In Ev---rything
To Sing of the the Glories of the Great I AM
To Tell His Great Story Throughout the Land 

Verse 2 

Tommy Reid, We Love to Sing
To Sing of His Greatness, In Ev---rything
To Sing of the Passion of the the Living Lamb
To Bring His Compassion to Every Man 

[Repeat...Often for a very long time]

Thomas is doing much better now and I am currently fathering a multi-site family for the next month.  We are one family, meeting in two locations, thanks to the friendly chickenpox. 

To God be the Glory in Little Thomas' Life, May he be used greatly in this world...

Technology - Some interesting screen shots of User Interfaces on personal computers from 1984 to the present.  The Mac worshippers and PC protagonists will love this walk through the past.  You can find the screens here.

Current Mac OS

Next Version of Windows

On Science - The brain control agents are at it again in the UK.  This time they control blind-folded humans through a maze by monkeying with the people's brains.  Hooray! Link here.

Technology -  Firefox is still gaining ground on Internet Explorer and is a solid #2 in the web browser world.  Complete story here...if you have not used Firefox, you should check it out.  Very worthy of the switch.  Article on E-week.com

Every now and again you just run across something very useful on the web.  Many of you are aware of John Bunyan's classic, the Pilgrim's Progress.  Many find it a bit unwieldy to read and stay away.  Others find abridged versions which gut much of the content...might there be a better way?

I have recently found a few resources that are very helpful in jumping on the Pilgrim Road with Christian out through yonder wicket gate.

First, every now and then you run across fantastic entries on Wikipedia.  Some of course, you have to be careful with, others are just dandy.  In reading about about Pilgrim's Progress, I found this delightful Wiki about Bunyan's bountiful book. 

The page is complete with a concise plot summary and a thorough listing of all the characters.  It is amazing to see all the characters in the work; mind you that these flew from the mind of a Bible soaked man languishing in Bedford Jail (pictured to the right).  Also, the wonderful (and not so wonderful) places visited by Christian are listed out and described for the curious reader.  This page can serve as a great appendix for the reader who wants to follow the narrow road through Pilgrim's Progress while learning the message found therein. 

Second, I had wanted to read this story to Kayla (almost 5 now) for some time but knew she might need to get a few years past 4 to understand it all.  However I found a great solution.  There is an excellent unabridged audio book version available from Blackstone Audio presented by audible.com. The narrator is Robert Whitfield and he does a crazy good job.  He uses different voices and accents for different characters making the listening task a joy.  Kayla and I have been listening when we ride together in my car.  We stop it to discuss the imagery the characters, why the are presented a certain way, etc.  Too much fun for Daddy and Daughter.  It is availble for $31.95, I bought mine from the iTunes Music Store and find it well worth every penny.

Finally, LibriVox (a web site that provides free audiobooks from the public domain.) has an excellent Pilgrim's Progress Page featuring another audio version of the book (free) and several links to the full text of the book online.  I recommend the Whitfield reading (see right above), but if the budget is too tight for the 32 bucks, this is a good free option.  Downloads in MP3 and OGG.

There is a reason this work is the 2nd most translated in history behind the Bible - it is strong sauce for the soul who is on his way to the heavenly city.

Get it, read it, listen to it.  Strong medicine for our spazzed out, media jumpy age.

I have been thinking whether it be right to begin to write (sorry about that little right/write thing there - it was an accident) again while our boy has been struggling.  The more I prayed about it and talked to Kasey, the more I realize how much I need to continue to walk in the callings on my life...especially in the midst of difficulty.  For the very things I believe so deeply make it possible to persevere in the rivers of travail. 

So, I will begin to post again here tonight.  First perhaps with just mentioning some web sites, then on to a few posts I want to get to.  One particular one on a Psychology Today article on how we are raising a bunch of wimpy kids.   Tommy, we are raising to be a theologian/warrior/humble/servant/strong man of God.  One who will weep with the broken, bind the wounds of the weak, and punch the wicked man in the mouth who tries to mess with his sisters.

Unless something has changed in the last few hours, Thomas will transition out of the NICU this evening to a regular postpartum hospital room with Kasey.  We will spend the night there with him and then, God willing, we will leave the hospital in the morning and bringing Kasey and Thomas to their tempoary quarters for the coming month.

Kasey and I are weary yet thankful and God has revealed much to us in these days. I am realizing that I need to be disciplined now about sleep and rest. My body is breaking down a bit with headaches today…

Kasey is doing as well as can be expected - she is focusing on her health and caring for the baby.  We are utilizing video to send messages back and forth from her to the kids and the kids to their Momma. 

As to Power of Change Blog, I will be resuming more regular blogging here in the next few days.   Thanks guys for all your encouraging notes.

There have been several friends who have sent on passages of Scripture to us overnight. I wanted to share them here:

Who is like the wise?
And who knows the interpretation of a thing?
A man's wisdom makes his face shine,
and the hardness of his face is changed

Continue Reading Ecclesiastes 8

1 How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
2 How long must I take counsel in my soul
and have sorrow in my heart all the day?
How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?

3 Consider and answer me, O Lord my God;
light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death,
4 lest my enemy say, “I have prevailed over him,”
lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken.

5 But I have trusted in your steadfast love;
my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.
6 I will sing to the Lord,
because he has dealt bountifully with me.

Psalm 13 

6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, 9 obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

Continue Reading 1 Peter 1

7 “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord,
whose trust is the Lord.
8 He is like a tree planted by water,
that sends out its roots by the stream,
and does not fear when heat comes,
for its leaves remain green,
and is not anxious in the year of drought,
for it does not cease to bear fruit.”

 

Continue Reading Jeremiah 17

As we approach a transition in this season of our family I have had some time to reflect driving back and forth between our house in Franklin and the hospital in downtown Nashville. Little Thomas is expected to come out of the NICU and be released here in the next day or two. We give thanks and praise to God for sustaining him, walking him through his valleys, and giving Mom and Dad strength for each twist and turn.

One of the new pastors on our staff at the church gave me some great advice today in how to pray. Oh Lord, give me new feet for the paths you are calling me to walk ahead. Amen, these are unexpected paths, we could not have planned this course, but the one who determined the steps will now give us the feet necessary for the journey. For this we are thankful and can rest.

I think the most interesting question we have been asked over the last few days has been, “How are you doing?” Most of the time my honest answer would be ”I don’t really know.” So much has raced in the mind over in such a short season and the emotions have both sustained us, given us strength during a hairy schedule, and drained us to no end. I don’t know how I am doing but my heart and mind is quite full of thoughts and reflections. I guess I’ll throw them up here a bit.

A Mixed Bag of Thoughts and Feelings:

• I have not asked the question “Why” once during this time – I thought I might, but it just did not come across the radar. I think I realize that I really don’t have enough electrochemical meat between the ears to understand anyway and I do not believe in a random universe. In other words, God knows why, he was not asleep, he is not asleep, he is leading us and that is enough for the why question. For his glory and good pleasure this has been wrought – and I pray I am not full of it when saying that.
• We have cried a bunch – in joy, in sadness, in pain, in confusion, in shear disbelief when we heard the words “chicken pox.” I remember leaving a friend a voice mail then hanging up and screaming in the car from a deep place in the soul. Driving north on 65 I just was in a state of confused angst. What to do? What does this mean? Am I overreacting to all this? Why am I so afraid? Will this child die? I don’t want this God – I need my wife and kids to be together with me.
• I have laughed a bit and the shear weirdness of our circumstances. I really felt a wink from God when I prayed, “Lord, only you could have designed these strange turning of events”
• I have acknowledged afresh the reality of this world. It is fallen. It is painful. It is not the way it is supposed to be. Great goods and treasures abound; they have names and little precious faces. Yet the destiny of all is to succumb to this strange alien of death. Whether at age 85 or 5 days, this is the terminal to which we all arrive. Viruses which cause fever and sores on the body of a 2 and a half year old can proved deadly to a premature newborn. I have thought again in both harsh terms – “this just sucks” to more somber words “Oh Lord, how long?” I have tried to keep in my mind the words of the Scriptures describing Jesus as a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. Indeed, our God relates, understands, yes he entered this world of pain. Indeed, we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses.
• I learn much watching my children. Yesterday Kayla (almost 5) and I drove downtown to see Mom and Thomas while we left Ky at home with newly discovered chickenpox. When we arrived at the hotel where Kasey was staying the cell phone rang. It was Kase – I cannot be near any of the children so not to expose her or baby to the chickenpox virus. I literally was in the hallway of the hotel and we were having this discussion on our cell phones. I opened the door to give her a visual affirmation that this will be OK and Kayla stood on my leg weeping…just wanting to go hug her Momma. She knew what was happening and in a way she understood while not understanding. I saw so much of the human condition in her tears and quivering lips. We understand what this world is, but we do not have understanding. We run from this reality, we place our hands over our eyes and plug our ears to the reality. We drink a few bears, buy a bunch of stuff, get the right job, the right schools, the right neighborhoods, the right, blah, blah blah. All the while we refuse to acknowledge that there is something wrong, deeply wrong when we are separately from the one we desire, when cannot hug the one we so desperately need, even God.
• My children are a great comfort from God. After we realized we were in Kasey’s hotel but had to stay away, Kayla and I went exploring while Mom went on to the hospital. We talked about hydraulics and counterweights as we watched the mechanism of two elevators traverse up and down, up and down. We were fascinated together and it was a calming thing. Thanks God for elevators with their moving parts exposed. We snuggled on a small couch and then watch some PBS kids in the hotel lobby. She was patient while I made phone calls and then we got in the car to drive home. I spoke with a good friend in the car who spoke with strong manly compassion for me as a brother – I began to weep - I cast my hand towards the back seat and felt a strong and tiny grip. It will be OK Daddy, I love you so much. Yes, it will. Thank you Jesus for little Kayla. She won my heart years ago, my passion for her, our passion for life together, deepens. I place her too in the Fathers hand. I don’t know the span of her years, I would love to do her wedding, all the future days are uncertain. But today I am thankful to know this little princess, who skipped into my life almost five years ago.
• I have realized my weakness. I am floundering like a fish to focus my soul amidst all the daily happenings. I have read the Bible on my own initiative only once in the last few days. Not that I am a legalist about these things – far from it. But I wish I had carved more time out to just sit before the Lord. Yet even in this I have seen God’s goodness. An Aunt and Uncle sent a passage from Isaiah which has been food for my meditation. A friend from Virginia today sent a passage from Romans and encouraged me to take some time in the passage. I will do so shortly…the hunger is strong, I need to sit down to eat.
• My wife is my dearest pearl and I love her ever more deeply today. I have watched a women’s courage that exceeds anything I have seen in my life; more than even fictional accounts in books or in movies. Yes guys, even more than William Wallace. I have seen her weep with compassion and concern for our struggling son. I have seen her tirelessly pump, feed, and learn from nurses and doctors. I have seen her humbly receive help from others and avail herself to be ministered to. I have seen her laugh at my dumb jokes and wink at me as we walk another trail of tears together. Together…I love that we have been in this together. We often joke about who needs to die first; it must be me…I will be a ship set adrift in a hurricane without Kasey. Love has deepened in ten years – I praise her at the city gates…
• Finally, we have seen the beauty of the bride of Christ, his precious church. We cannot say thank enough to all the people both local and around the world who have sent in timely words of grace, prayed countless – real praying people prayers, are lining up to help us gain our feet to walk through the next six weeks with a split family. Thank you to those of the body of Christ, thank you for your sensitivity to our compassionate servant King, thank you for caring about our family. I would name many names here but in doing so I would inappropriately leave someone out. So, you know who you are, big high fives and chest bumps guys – you are incredible friends!

Well, I am a bit bummed that I have to wear rubber gloves and excessive gowning to go near the NICU. Not being able to have Thomas nuzzle up next to me is a bit of a downer…yet this reminds me that I have been able to hug, snuggle, and read with a chickenpoxed beauty named Kylene Jordan today. Due to the fact she was vaccinated (another thing to be thankful for) her case with the pox is mild. Her spirit is high; I am looking forward to more one on one time with her in the days ahead.

It looks like Thomas will leave the hospital in the next day or so, then the next days begin. Pray that Kasey will continue to find peace and courage and not to be overwhelmed by what could happen. We need his help to walk by faith.

Thanks again, and goodnight and I don’t believe in luck (sorry for the Murrow joke)

I sit by myself tonight with a troubled soul. Little Thomas’ progress has been good, we had seen much to be encouraged by today. About four hours ago things got very complicated. I went home to grab Kayla and Kylene to bring them up for a time with Momma and their baby brother. When Ky woke up from her nap we realized that she had broken out in chicken pox. What we thought had been a few bug bites had grown and the reality became evident. Our pediatrician confirmed it and we all just about puked at all the implications.

First, Ky and Kayla both were in the NICU with Thomas, both had touched his fingers. They had both been scrubbed thoroughly before entrance, but it brings fear to our hearts to think that the virus may have come into contact with the baby. What is a traumatic and itchy experience for little kids can be of the utmost severity to even a healthy newborn. So we are praying, weeping, and begging God that the damnable virus did not contact Thomas’ weak body. He has been isolated in the NICU as a precaution to protect the other babies. This is our deepest concern that Tommy come to health and then not have this pox. Please, please pray.

Second, Kasey has been instructed to not go near our children for the next 5-6 weeks. The virus’ incubation period is 10-28 days so we must wait for 28 days after Kylene’s outbreak clears to see if Kayla comes down with it. Thomas and Kasey will stay out of the home for this time period. This breaks our heart for the girls, for Mom. Once Thomas clears his own issues and makes it out of the NICU we will be looking for a small apartment, mother-in-law suite for Kasey and Thomas to stay which is close to our home. I will be traveling back and forth between the two parts of our family serving their needs (please pray I will have the strength and passion to love deeply in all places). We are thankful that our ministry is full of young people without kids, many of whom have already had the chicken pox. We are in need of your help Inversion; we are thankful for your hearts and hands.

We never anticipated these events when we went into labor on Thursday…first Thomas’ struggle and now this convergence of events. We do rest and trust in the knowledge that this is own who knows all we are experiencing and is walking with us, yes, even leading us on every path. We know that his presence is going with and before us and he will provide the grace and mercy and help in our time of need. We know that he is working all these things for his good purposes and for our growth – we know that he is to be seen and savored through all of these things. Our emotions are raw; we can barely hold back tears in the strangest places.

We feel so loved and supported by so many friends; we do not even know yet what we even need and so many are offering support. We are overwhelmed and a bit in shock, but we do know that we have not walked in the valley of the shadow to the extent that others have…we certainly know our God went through much more on our behalf when Christ endured his cross. We rest upon him, though our vision is in a fog.

• Pray for Kasey – she is very tired, emotionally drained and she is so needed by Thomas
• Pray for Ky – she is going through chicken pox without her Momma
• Pray for Kayla – she is old enough to understand all that is happening and overheard my conversations on all of this…her reply was tearful – I don’t want to be apart from Momma for a month
• Pray for my Mom – she is manning the home front for us this week
• Pray for me – I am spread thin and weary – but feel his strength
• Pray for those who need Jesus and how we may bring the gospel of the suffering Son of God to ears in pain and spiritual lostness.

Apologies for the humor and the cheesy 1980s music - I was helping Kasey to laugh when seeing Tommy with his shades on...

All systems are almost a go with little Thomas - System 1) Respirtory - Check System 2) Digestion - Check System 3) Liver processing of bilirubin - working on it...

I just returned from the NICU where we were with Thomas.  His bilirubin level was high this morning and his color, which the doctor described as looking like a pumpkin, corresponded.  For about 24 hrs he will be put under the lamps to adjust the levels.  By this time we hope his liver will be processing fine.  Mom is still very concerned but we are doing well and trying to enjoy one another and the time we have with Tommy in the NICU. 

Mom and baby are bonding well and Thomas is showing that he has a huge appetite.  I may treat him to a nice steak dinner here soon via his Momma.  Kasey is tired and I am hoping to take her to a nice dinner here very soon. 

The interesting conversations continue with the staff of the NICU.  Yesterday I was discussing microevolution and macroevolution and the possibility of an historic Adam and Eve with one of the nurses.  She seemed taken aback that one can have a keen interest in science yet still believe in the Adam (hebrew for "man") and Eve narrative from Genesis.  The time has been good but I feel I am beginning to drift spiritually a bit due to the schedule and circumstances.  Please pray for Kasey and I that we have some down time to read the Scriptures and find some solitude in the coming days. 

By the grace of God, it is looking like we may be able to go home sometime late Tuesday or early Wednesday. 

One more video for the road, again, it has a goofy daddy's voice on it...

Today was a much better day for our new son. Kasey and I went to the NICU this morning praying that we would see much progress in Thomas' condition. Today at 11am the doctors fed him 1/2 oz of glucose water to see if his stomach would begin to hold down and process fluids. He did very well with the water so he was given a small amount of Kasey's milk at 2pm. Again, he did quite well and seemed to enjoy eating. At 5pm we went in to see if Kasey could feed him; he took to her right away and was able to eat quite a bit. We were so thrilled to see him be able to begin to eat. His bowels still are moving very slow; the next 24 hours should give the doctors time to see if all his systems are coming online together and working well.

 If all goes well we should be able to take him home in a few days. He will be tested for his bilirubin levels in the morning as he has developed some jaundice. This is not serious, but it may require him to go to the tanning beds for a couple of days.

We are so thankful for his progress and look forward to spending time with him tomorrow. The doctors have explained that his systems were just slow to come on after he exited the womb. First, his respiratory system struggled to come on and then his digestion. It is amazing to think how these circumstances would have gone 200 years ago before the development of modern neonatal care. We are thankful for the providence and grace of God to place little Thomas in such capable hands. Over the next few days we will be back and forth to the NICU to feed the baby and I will shuttle between hospital and home to spend time with our girls.

Thanks again for all of your prayers and encouragement - this has been some of the longest days of our lives, but today our spirits were greatly lifted. Our little dude has fought his way out of this hole and we pray he will be ready to go meet the rest of his family very soon.

Soli Deo Gloria

Some of our family sent this to us today from the prophet Isaiah.

¹⁰  Behold, the Lord God comes with might,

          and his arm rules for him;

     behold, his reward is with him,

          and his recompense before him.

¹¹  He will tend his flock like a shepherd;

          he will gather the lambs in his arms;

     he will carry them in his bosom,

          and gently lead those that are with young.

 

Isaiah 40:10-11 ESV

After a long night of struggling to grasp enough air, Thomas made great progress in stabilizing his breathing by Friday morning. After sixteen hours of separation, baby and Momma finally were able to be together. On Friday he was mostly sleeping and very listless, not moving or crying. We tried to feed him, but he simply was not up to it. After several hours he began to vomit some green stuff and his stomach appeared swollen. The nurses came to look at him and he was examined by a neonatologist. The doctor felt the abdomen was a big concern so they admitted him to the Neonatal ICU around 6:30pm Friday evening. At this point they wanted to do some blood work, test for bacterial infection, and x-ray his abdomen and bowels to see if there were any structural problems. Additionally, they started him on antibiotics as a preventative measure and begin to feed him intravenously.

As of Saturday morning his white blood cells look normal which is a good sign that there is not a bacterial infection. He has been able to go to the bathroom a bit and the prognosis is that he may just have a bowel obstruction which needs to pass. The doctors will not let him go until he is able to eat. He still has some bile discharge coming up through a tube in his mouth; the tube prevents the problems of vomiting. He has a small (well, large actually) unrelated problem in that his scrotum is fully full of fluid. To be honest, I just thought he was just a bit well endowed as a little man, but apparently it is a condition. This is not uncommon and his body will absorb the fluid over time or a small surgery will be necessary.

Right now he is not out of the woods completely but he is making good progress. We are praying that he will be able to have his bowel cleared, there is no bacterial infection, he will be able to gain strength and be able to begin eating.

Mom is doing well and is pumping milk for the feasts ahead; she has been a brave lady through labor, delivery (her third completely natural), recovery, and all the waves which have been cresting and crashing about for the last 48 hours. We were able to get some decent rest last night which was an answer of prayer. Kasey will be discharged from the hospital Sunday morning yet it looks like Thomas may stay another day. I am praying about getting us a hotel room a block or so away and then splitting time between home with the girls and here with Kasey for the next few days.

I do feel that God is being honored in all of this. I was able to share my testimony with the neonatal doctor; an outstanding doctor who was intrigued that I studied applied science/physics in college and now do my thing as a pastor. Additionally, one of the neonatal nurses is a believer. I think we were an encouragement to her as I had brief discussion with her about talking about God with agnostics, skeptics, and antagonistic intellectuals.

So we have spent some time in a neonatal ICU with 1 and 2 lb babies all around and where our own little precious one is struggling. I have thought to myself how both the glory of God and the tragedy of the fall were strongly on display in such a place. This is a place of the glory and struggle of life and the beauty of human creations. At the same time it is a place of sorrow, hardship and fighting death here outside of the garden. I thought to myself how fertile the grounds are here for both faith and skepticism, the prayerful, open heart towards the Father and the clenched fist of anger. It has been clear in our hearts that God is in control; he has brought this about for his name's sake. He loves Thomas infinitely more than any of us. We stand firm in the knowledge that through God's good pleasure he can come out of this strong.

Kasey and I have enjoyed some slow time together, thanking God for life and breath, the gift of marriage, and the goodness of God is giving us a little boy to love. More than anything we are trying not overreact or be given to an uninformed imagination of things which could be wrong. The doctors do not seem overly concerned, yet they are showing caution. We neither want to be naive nor make a bigger deal of things than need be. We ask your prayers and thank you for all the encouragement so many have given to our family.

This is about as sad of a look at cultural state of affairs in some parts of our country. This article is from the Times in London commenting on a brutal murder which took place in 2004 after a dispute over an X-box.

We need to pray for the next generation in our country, labor to love those in our lives, and connect with the broken about us.

Here is the link: Xbox thrill killers must be executed, say jurors - World - Times Online

Saw this song in an e-mail written by a friend - a great reminder as we look at our lives today. 

When this passing world is done,
When has sunk yon glaring sun,
When we stand with Christ in glory,
Looking o'er life's finished story,
Then, Lord, shall I fully know,
Not till then, how much I owe.

When I stand before the throne,
Dressed in beauty not my own,
When I see thee as thou art,
Love thee with unsinning heart,
Then, Lord, shall I fully know,
Not till then, how much I owe.

Chosen not for good in me,
Wakened up from wrath to flee,
Hidden in the Saviour's side,
By the Spirit sanctified,
Teach me, Lord, on earth to show,
By my love, how much I owe.

- Robert Murray McCheyne

It is still today, and that day, the coming day, which matter as we live Coram Deo - ever before the face of God.

General News - In further weirdness on the "marriage front" - you need to check this out. Last year I read about a French woman who married her snake.  Now all of this is getting a formal presence.  At least in the weird worlds of cyberspace. MarryYourPet - The pet and people wedding specialists

This quote is a classic:

On this website we often refer to pets as 'he'. We want you to know that we're not sexist, girl pets are great. We're just lazy typists.

Gee, I was worried they were sexist...actually, you are marrying your stinking pets!!! I think being sexist is the least of the problem.  Now, if you hold that "marriage" is socially constructed without definition by God...how they heck can you argue against marrying your dog?  One simply cannot.  I hope and pray that we do not continue to stoop into such lunacy.

Technology - Speaking of weird weddings.  Check out this wedding of some techno-Swedes.  Interactive Wedding Clothes

The Church - Andrée Seu has a great article over at World about churches that plant other churches as part of their DNA.  The title says it all to me: Slouching toward the comfort zone: Do our churches want to be Acts Normal or American normal?  Here is the link - WORLD Magazine | Weekly News, Christian Views

In cases where criminal activity happens among Chrisitan clergy and leaders public authorities should and must be brought in.  No crime is to be hidden when the law has been broken (see Romans 13). 

In the case of petty squabbles, political infighting and power struggles...it is to our shame that this is paraded in the streets of the world.  An aquintance sent me this article today - it breaks the heart to see...

We appeal to our brothers to settle their affairs in humility for the good of the gospel, for the sake of our Lord's name.  Let not his name be blasphemed because of us...

6:1 When one of you has a grievance against another, does he dare go to law before the unrighteous instead of the saints? 2 Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases? 3 Do you not know that we are to judge angels? How much more, then, matters pertaining to this life! 4 So if you have such cases, why do you lay them before those who have no standing in the church? 5 I say this to your shame. Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to settle a dispute between the brothers, 6 but brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers? 7 To have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for you. Why not rather suffer wrong? Why not rather be defrauded? 8 But you yourselves wrong and defraud—even your own brothers!

ESV Bible Online: Passage: 1 Corinthians 6