OK, when I start teaching little Thomas Reid to wrestle I might show him this video first thing…with one small comment. Don’t go down like this…too funny.
POC Blog
The random technotheolosophical blogging of Reid S. Monaghan
Matt Chandler
Many of you may be aware of Matt Chandler’s recent brain surgery to remove a tumor found over the Thanksgiving weekend on his right frontal lobe. You may not have been exposed to Matt the man or his view on this unexpected trial in his life. The following video was recorded the week of his surgery just a few days before he went in. It is a different view on life and suffering that comes from faith in Jesus Christ.
Please pray for Matt’s recovery. Updates on the Chandlers can be followed on Facebook here.
Is this my blog?
What is this web site here? Oh, its my personal blog. Man, if I wasn’t very thankful for everything else filling my life I would get depressed seeing the lack of posting around here. I do hope to continue to write here and post from time to time but there are a few other things grabbing my attention today.
- My wife and middle daughter have that crazy flu thing - getting better but I am juggling kids, work and caring for the sick today.
- Jacob’s Well - I love the people of Jacob’s Well and the beginnings here in NJ. There are maybe two or three things which have my attention here…OK, maybe a few more than three.
- Last week I had a great time at the Acts 29 boot camp in Louisville Kentucky. I was able to learn much, spend time with friends, do a seminar with Dr. Gregg Allison on historical theology and church planting and some church planter assessment interviews.
- We also had a fun men’s boot camp on Faith, Finances and Females - we jokingly called it F-University or FU for short. You probably find that title funny or offensive - which one are U?
Anyway, I do love Power of Change and the POCBlog is not dead; just sleeping. Napping a bit awaiting the return of some technotheosophical nonsense. Until then, I bit you adieu.
The Glory is often in the Details...
I was watching this video on an artists work on one of the new Transformers and thought of how much time and attention to detail this guy put in. Anyway, I think our lives are somewhat similar. They are the work of a confluence of artists…the hand of God, the care of friends, the love of a family and our own choices are shading in our character, forming us into one image or another.
And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
Sometimes we are impatient and want our lives to be like a speed action painting when in reality our growth is gradual, many times slower than we like, day by day as God gives grace. Yet if we could watch our life go by at 400X we would see just how profound the work of God upon us really is. We too shall be changed; detail by detail, a little lighting here and a little shading there. By the grace of God we are what we are…and this grace is not without effect.
Thanking God for transformers…the fun guys in cartoons and movies as well as my friends and fam who are being transformed each day. Oh yeah, my son loves Bumblebee, I like Optimus Prime…here is that one as well.
Making the most of the time...
I am teaching a passage on wisdom, time and a Spirit filled life in the gospel on Sunday. I came across this interesting study at the NYTimes on how Americans use their time - very nice use of interactive technology. You need to check this out and see how the average American uses their time. You can look at stuff by age, education level etc.
My question is this - Are you average? How do we want to spend our free time? It has been my opinion for years that way in which we spend our “free” time dictates what sort of life we have and impact we make with others. This is our moment in history - how will we spend our days?
15Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, 16making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. 17Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
Ephesians 5:15-17 (ESV)
Freedom and the 4th...
This weekend people throughout America will celebrate Independence day. Grills will be grilling, fireworks will be firing and people will be enjoying the freedom our nation experiences because of the courage of our fastidious forefathers back in 1776.
So much of our view of freedom in America is conditioned by the idea of throwing off the oppressor or getting rid of the man. After all, the King of England needed to go in the birth of the new nation. Yet I have been intrigued for some time about the Scriptural view of freedom. It certainly involves freedom from certain oppressive enemies (sin, death, demonic powers and hell come to mind), but it also involves freedom to a new dependence upon God and one another.
I have to admit that I can tend towards rebellion and want to live strong, independent and free. Nothing wrong with most of that…well, maybe the rebellion part needs some work. Yet I am reminded by the gospel that God sets us free through Jesus into relationship, into community and into service.
A few passages on freedom for the road:
- John 8:36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
- 2 Corinthians 3:17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
- Galatians 5:1 For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.
- Romans 6:17-23 But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification. For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
This weekend as we thank God for our nation and then let us join together on the 5th of July to give thanks for our unique freedom in the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Oh yeah, to all my patriotic Jesus friends - just remember, Jesus was not an American…so lets hold off on the artwork with Jesus drapped in American flags surrounded by bald eagles and such. Please?
Mawwiage, mawwiage...wove, true wove...
I am waiting for the day that a crazy young couple asks me to mimic that crazy preacher in Princess Bride at the opening of a wedding. Not likely to happen, but I’ll go on record that I am more than willing to oblidge - would be funny.
On a more serious note I love weddings and I love marriage even more - it is God’s gracious gift to men and women as they travel through this world. This weekend I enjoyed doing the wedding of my friends Shaun and Lesley - a great time celebrating the faithfulness of God in our lives and the gracious gift of the marriage covenant.
Later this summer we’ll be looking at Marriage through the great lens of Scripture in Ephesians 5. I look forward to looking at this passage of our holy writings to see the beautiful living metaphor tha is the marriage covenant. In a husband’s sacrificial servant love for his bride and a wife’s joyful submission and love for her husband we get a picture of Christ’s love for his church. Though it is an ancient vision of marriage that many snub arrogant modern noses at, it is a beautiful dance that this much better than “the battle of the sexes” and randomly defined, throw away relationship we see in our culture today.
Anyway, true wove, is from God - not from romantic hearts saying things at a wedding. The show of a wedding quickly fades into the reality of life together in a fallen world. It is then that the love of God, the grace of God and the hope of God is the rock upon which marriage must be found. The type of fare in chick flicks is awesome (yeah, I said it, you got a problem?) but it is vapid and blows away before fickle hormones and the daily torrents of life.
Deepening love is founded on a covenant promise of the soul before God - other things called “Mawwiage” tend to blow away like chaff in the wind. None of our marriages are immune to the challenges of sin, selfishness, vanity, unforgiveness, infidelity and hopelessness. Pray for marriage today - that no matter what others want to do with it - redefine it, slander it, throw it away - we would bring back some old school words to our marriages today: a promise of faithfulness til death do us part.
We are finally back...
Apologies to those who visit the POCBlog via RSS, Google Reader, etc. We have been switching our domain host and it has gone less than smoothly. Thankfully all is now well and all the links, feeds, etc. should be working. If you had trouble getting here via RSS but now can happily see us again, drop me a comment to let me know that everything is working again.
Thanks guys. There has been some flow on the blog while we were away, enjoy the essay on the church and first impressions of Palm Pre.
Holla back
Man words...
My wife and I had an adventure over the years when asking God for a family. We have had numerous miscarriages and disappointments along the way, most of which occurred before our first little girl bounced into our world in September of 2001. After a second baby girl batted her eyes at Daddy in 2003 I felt as if I was meant to be a father of daughters. Knowing several wrestlers and wrestling coaches that God gave all female squads at home (my high school coach and the legendary Dan Gable both came to mind) I deeply suspected that a man child might not be my future. Yet an ultra sound in 2006 changed all that. Well, it was actually a genetic combination at conception that changed it all, but my knowledge became aware of things at the ultra sound - ontology before epistemology…being always preceeds knowing. Thomas Reid Monaghan was born in August of 2006 and struggled a bit in his first weeks of life. After some time in the NICU we brought home a baby boy.
Now that little baby is a two year old whirlwind who is bouncing off the walls left and right. His level of energy and his ability to turn everything into a sword or light saber continues to amaze. I enjoy each of my kids and I enjoy learning how to lead and teach them. I pray about this often, try to pay attention to what is going on in moments with them and try to seek wisdom from God to channel my kids in good directions. Recently, Tommy and I bonded over what I am calling our “man words”
Of course it is quite evident to him that we are both men and that we are different from Mom and his sisters. We are working on potty training and all I have to say is that he knows only Daddy can “shoot dat water.” Anyway, the other day I was praying virtues over him at bed time. Not that he has a clue yet what virtues are, but I was praying man prayers over his little life with some vigor. Three words kept coming to me as I prayed for the little gremlin…Courage, Truth, Valor.
So I decided to make these our “official man words.” So in the midst of an intense sword fight with turkey basters (yeah, seriously) I yelled out three words with some pause in between and with my turkey baster held high. COURAGE! TRUTH! VALOR! The little guy just looked at me curiously, jumped in the air, spun around and shouted a bunch of two year old accented nonsense. It was awesome! But now he knows Daddy and he have something special - we share man words. I will sometimes just drop out a “COURAGE…TRUTH” on him and he’ll smile sheepishly and let loose a “Vawor”
Someday we’ll discuss that a man must have courage to walk in a way that is good and right and true. A man must have courage to face his own inner demons, stand and lead others in a chaotic and challenging world. He will know that it takes humble courage to repent of pride and bow his knee and strength before the God who can save him.
Someday we’ll discuss that courage must lead a man to truth and the one who is truth. He will learn the integrity of his word and to take God at his. He will lean that the truth is painful, must be fought for and he must stand in truth no matter how the winds and waves of history flow.
Finally, someday he would learn to combine courage, virtue and battle in the arena of his peers, his family and his own children. Valor is a lost thing among many men today - I pray it not lost in the Monaghan home team. Valor means to be of worth, strength in mind or spirit that enables a man to encounter danger with firmness. Valor walks through fear in the strength of God and then climbs upon the walls of life to stand for faith, family and friends.
The ancient warrior Joshua once had God speak man words into his life:
Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go. This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”
Joshua 1:6-9
As little Thomas continues to grow, we have lots of work to do with the little guy. Yet the call is clear - Courage, Truth and Valor my son - the fight is before us and God is very near.
Writing elsewhere...
I wanted to ask everyone to pray for me this week as I am developing some resources that are pretty important for the future of Jacob’s Well. I am working on our basic teaching/discipleship resources which all new folk to the church will go through as they become members of our community. It is challenging to know what to include or not include, how deep to go or how to keep it simple…anyway, I have been working on our whole process a bit today and was encouraged…and very humbled. I would appreciate you guys prayers. Here are the pieces of the puzzle I am working on…
- Discovery Lunch - an introduction to Jacob’s Well
- Gospel Class - some central teachings of Christian faith
- Mission Class - living on mission as the church, how we all fit together for his purposes
I also hope to get to a post on the ethical implications of robotic intelligence and terminators…but we’ll see…that may need to wait.
A History of the POCBlog (and How to kill your site on Google)
The Story of the POCBlog
Over the years little Power of Change has grown up a bit. It began as a personal, hand coded site in 1996 where I would put newsletters for our ministry partners when Kasey and I worked with Athletes in Action. I was a recent graduate in Applied Computer Science and liked programming. Believe or not, the web was still new for many people and I wanted to learn the ins and out of HTML. The went through several redesigns but remained primarily a site for friends, supporters and a place to distribute resources to others in ministry.
In 2004, I began simple blog with the free service “Blogger” and I soon found that blogging suited me pretty well. Later on, I merged the Power of Change web site and the POCBlog and two became one. In 2006 I moved to the Movable Type bloggin platform with a re-design done by Mr. Tim Challies with some headers by my good friend Weylon Smith and the blog actually looked good and had some decent functionality for me.
Here are some pics from the Internet Archive for Power of Change.
2005 Blogger Blog
2006 - MovableType 3.2 Site
Finally, this last week I did something rash - I did an unplanned redesign. It had been three years with the old look and I had been wanting to try out Squarespace as I was hearing quite a buzz about the service. Designing a web site takes one of two things - money or time (along with a little know how). I was going to pay someone to do the redesign but I decided to give it a shot on my own with Squarespace. Being a church planter and money still not growing on trees, I also decided to host my doman’s email with Google Apps Standard Edition. Anyway, the redesign went really well and I finally got all my powerofchange email over to Gmail. Yet today, I realized I did not think it through well enough…and I probably killed myself with Google Search.
How to kill yourself on Google
Most people know that the net runs on Google - if you want your site to be read and people to find you, Google is the best place to be known. You can Yahoo or Live Search all you like, but Google is the place you want to be found. I realized this morning, through a fun little conversation, that I probably just shot the POC Blog in the foot…in terms of Googleability. A friend of ours, not a previous reader of the POCBlog, told me this morning that she was googling to find the name of the kinds story book Bible that was endorsed by Tim Keller. She was so excited to tell me she found my review at the very top of her Google search and didn’t even know she was on my site until reading the review. She asked me how that happened, how did my review got to the top of Google. Then I thought for a second, uh oh…all my old site links are likely nuked now that I moved to Squarespace and the new POCBlog design.
You see, your site and pages rise in Google’s algorithm as people read and link to various content on your site. All the links that were well read on the POC Blog, now no longer exist (at least the precise URLs) in the new site. The content is all here still, but Google can no longer see it. So, thankfully, the POCBlog is a hobby to me and not my livelihood. I have never placed an ad on the site and have wanted to keep financial concerns away from my writing.
Yet to show love to other bloggers, a few tips to keep your site pumping in transition.
- Keep your readers informed of your site’s coming changes. Give at least a week’s notice on your current site that a new site is coming. If your RSS feed URL is going to change, let people know this and post the new feed before shutting down the old site. Give time for transition. I gave mine a couple of hours - dumb.
- If possible, keep the blog archive links the same as previous links. This is possible but requires some planning in setting up your new blog software. This is most easily done if going from Blogger Site to Blogger Site, Wordpress to Wordpress, MT to MT etc. I didn’t do this - I imported every entry from the old POCBlog, but the links got structured differently with the Squarespace system. Any site that linked to something you wrote in the past will now be a dead link and will its popularity within Google will be lost. For instance, the ESV Bible Study endorsements page pulled something from the POC Blog and linked to it - that page has a new URL on the new site so that link from the ESV page is “gone.”
Overall, I blog, play with technology and babble about things technotheolosophical because it is fun and it keeps me dialed in with many friends. Hopefully it is of some value to God’s world and Kingdom…after all, here comes a post on “theosis” - oh joy.
Bitterness...
Jonathan Phipps, my former colleague with the Inversion Fellowship just sent out an e-mail with a great quote on bitterness. The quote was from a message by my brother Ray McKelvey, now leading the teaching charge with the upside crew in Nashville. Very strong truth here:
Bitterness is like taking poison and waiting for the other person to die...
I can't tell you how striking, simple and true that statement is...I have seen this first hand. Ponder this well my friends and bring your bitterness to the cross of Christ and let it die - lest your soul languish under its weight.
Princeton Pilgrimage
I am in Princeton a few times a week with our kids school and enjoy connecting with college students and ministry in that campus community. Yet there was one thing I had not done until this past weekend. Some guys from Southern Seminary are looking to plant a church in the Philly metro area and came up to visit this weekend. We had a great time with them talking about the first six months of the JW and things we are learning in the process of church planting. The guys also wanted to visit Princeton so I gladly made the 20 min journey down.
We went to a place that many Christians like to go at Princeton - a cemetary. You see, many theological greats of times past are buried in Princeton. We saw the grave of Jonathan Edwards, one of the leaders of the 18th century great awakening and former president of the college of NJ (Princeton). Yet the grave I paused over most was one, Charles Hodge, professor of systematic theology in the 19th century at Princeton seminary. Though many have turned sour on much of his theological method, I still find his work rigorous, biblical and faithful to historic Christianity...he was a spooky smart guy. For a bit on his theological method see Dr. Paul Helm's excellent treatment of what he sees as unwarranted rubbishing of Hodge's theoloigcal method. Anyway, I had a moment at the grave of Hodge worthy of a pilgrimage...OK, the pictures were staged...but we had fun.
And some well done photographic skills displayed by Brandon Rogers:
A Marriage Meandering
Last week I stepped out of life for 6 days with my bride and friend Kasey Monaghan. The more years I have spent with this woman the more I have come to appreciate her laughter, her heart for adventure, her loyalty, and her compassion for me body and soul. I love that she respects me but does not take me too seriously. I love that she calls me on my junk and loves me in my weakness. I love that she looks cute in a pony tail and plays soccer tenaciously. I love that she can cut our grocery bill in half by diligent efforts and coupon craziness. I love that she likes Sci Fi and Fantasy flicks and will even stay up late with me knowing a tired morning cometh. I love other things as well, but that ain’t your business.
Times away like we had feel too short and I know we are both longing for another week some time ahead where we will be able to dance, laugh, rest and not have the life draining (and life glorious) role of being parents. I am perhaps procrastinating some sermon writing mid day here, but this has been on my heart all week and it has to come out. I wanted to share with you some of the things that have made our almost 13 years of marriage. (Yeah, I don’t care about the number 13…our 7-8 years of marriage were actually our hardest - so no stupidstitioius stuff from me). Some thoughts on being and staying married.
Cultivate Time
So much of life is demanding of our time. This week I realized that I don’t go on vacations for the sake of vacations…I go so that I can rest and then come back and do my work. I love my job, I love my weird hobbies and I love my kids. It can be easy to become utilitarian in marriage. You connect on fixing the crawl space, shopping for dinner, managing household schedules, dealing with problems and taking out the recycling bins. One thing I have enjoyed in the midst of life is cultivating time with Kasey. Time we just spend together. It is tough sometimes because after you get 3 little kids in bed you have no life left in you; but Kase and I have used evenings to dial in together if for only small respites watching BSG on Hulu. I am not perfect, I work hard, I probably do not sign off and turn off enough from my work. But I try to pull away in small ways with my friend - because I love her.
Empower her passions
I love seeing Kasey come alive in various venues. She is a great soccer coach and still a feisty competitor. So I actually love it on Saturday mornings when I can help get her to the fields as a player and a coach. I like to juggle kids for her and take them to practice and game fields to play and be with Mom. My wife is also a very intelligent person giving so much time to shape the next generation of the Monaghan home team. I am anticipating a day when the kids are all in school each day and Kasey can develop whatever talents she desires. She may want to engage a career, she may not. She may want to go back to school, she may not. She may want to spend more time resting. Whatever it may be, I want to be there to help empower.
Listen when she protects you
My wife expresses care for me by telling me when I am tired, asking me many times “should you go to the doctor?” and saying “you need time off.” I don’t resent it; I don’t always listen though. It is a dance we have developed together over the years. If she was not persistent I would be burned out long ago or in a fetal position sucking my thumb from being stressed out. I do listen more than she thinks. I sleep in, or get away, or go to the doctor because of my wife’s protective love. If it were not for her I would have bigger bags under the eyes and probably never see a dentist. My wife can “see me” in ways that I simply cannot see myself…so I listen to her more than anyone because she knows me. To be honest, it is being known that is a true sign of deepening love and friendship. Kasey drives me mad at times, but she knows me; I trust her. Men, listen to your women.
Experience and Live Grace
Our marriage was shaped in the early days by the gracious gift of some friends (thanks Mike and Kim) to send us to a Family Life Marriage Conference. At that gig, I heard a verse that has been in the heart ever since. Ephesians 4:32 reads: Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
The second part of this Scripture encourages us to forgive one another; but any head shrink can tell you he discovered “forgiveness therapy” and put you through some weird exercises. The teaching we have here takes a step further in forgiveness. We are to forgive one another, just as God in Christ forgave you. If you understand you are a jerk, sinner, selfish human being…who needs grace and forgiveness…you will have much more grace for others. If you are “a great person” who everyone else is always screwing over…well, you will have problems loving and being loved. I know God forgives me in Jesus - I also know I need that - so I know I ought forgive others, particularly those who sin close by. Marriage cannot live on the air of self righteousness and accusation, it breathes deeply on grace. Don’t be stupid; say you are sorry, forgive them…then make up. That part is fun you know.
Seek Kindness in Your Hands
The first part of Ephesians 4:32 exhorts us to kindness. If I could give a word to men it is to exhibity kindness towards your wife and children. Men are at times harsh, cutting, attacking creatures - like a bull in a china shop we can tend to wreck things and ask others to pick up the mess. Kindness does not mean weakness, it means your strong hands and shoulders should be full of love not anger and pain. I fail here; I am not always kind. Yet if anything sticks with me more than anything, it is when my wife tells me I am a kind man towards her and my children (particularly my daughters). OK, now I am teary eyed at my freakin keyboard.
Love Her Children
Make Love not War
OK, POCBlog is a PG affair but do pursue one another and make time for one another. Ladies, the men feel really loved when you initiate and come hunting for them. Even if he is tired, he’ll make time. And as I said above, if you have been at war, make up…it is fun. Young couples - don’t wait ten years to try to pay attention to each other. Don’t let this part of your relationship get lost in life’s shuffle. Talk to other couples about this if you are struggling and don’t buy into this culture that says everything has to be some 4th of July fireworks show. Pay attention to one another don’t be selfish.
Laugh, Plan, Get Away
A friend and his wife from one of our stops along life roller bladed by Kasey and me one morning when we were out for a jog in Colorado. He said “a family that plays together stays together.” (Thanks Dusty) Of course, we knew he didn’t mean “pray” though that is certainly a good little rhyme as well. Kasey and I made the decision a while ago that we would try as we could to do vacations with just the two of us. Many, many thanks to our families who have helped make this happen since the kids have come. We have never lived too close to our parents as our mission has moved us out to different places, but they have been wonderful to come to us so we could get out together. Most of the cool stuff we do is Kasey’s idea - I need to initiate more I confess. But I am glad we took swing and waltzing lessons a few years back at a rec center. I was able to swing, dip, two step and fling Kasey around a dance floor last week; I got skillz and Kasey was beautiful - and happy. If you never hear your wife laugh any more, you need to repent and pursue her guys.
Look, I present no utopian marriage. One morning on vacation I was very frustrated because my wife makes silent plans that at times she doesn’t tell me about. Then it encroaches on my plans (which I think I speak about??) and we get frothy. But we listen, we forgive and then we do what she wants - just kidding. I lead our family, but my dance partner is the most important person in my life. I just regret I don’t show her enough, tell her enough, have actions that demonstrate it enough - but I also don’t just have a rookie card in the marriage game. We have some laps now but are still launching out as well. Pray for Kasey and me; and pray for marriage in our culture. It is really dumped on too much. I pray this little bit of ascii text may spit in the wind of a culture that divorces quickly, mocks married life and misses some of life’s deepest blessings along the way.
Kasey, if you read this, thank you for knowing me…all of it.
Reids
Jacob's Well...Slowly Moving Out...
This past week my friend Travis, resident humorist and photographer at Jacob's Well took some pictures at our house gathering. I forget to take pictures so I asked him to snap some shots so we could look back at God's faithfulness. Though we have only been gathering our team and equipping for our mission ahead for six months, God's faithfulness is fun to see in pictures.
Pray for our small band of sojourners who are praying for God to do something special in and through us in the years to come...in NJ and beyond.
Our First Gathering in Fall 08
November 2008
February 2009
Blessings JW peoples, anyone who would like to join us is welcome...
Reid
Desiring God Pastor's Conference
This past week I spent Monday-Wednesday at the Desiring God Conference for Pastors in the great city of Minneapolis, MN. There are some things in the world that are certain, others more difficult to assume. One thing I am convinced of however is that it is COLD in Minnesota in February. After walking a few blocks to an Irish pub in -16 degree wind chill, I quickly learned why Minneapolis has a really cool downtown Skywalk. The building of Minneapolis are networked together by an indoor maze of sidewalks which connect buildings and food courts and offer some generally good walking trails for the worker downtown. Seriously, I thought the inside of my nose was going to get frost bitten just by breathing. Though the outside temperature was far from balmy, the conference was warm and moving.
The theme this year was evangelism, sharing with others the good news of Jesus Christ, with those God places in our paths. Mark Dever from Captial Hill Baptist Church delivered a great series of plenary talks while the secondary speakers knocked it out of the park as well. Matt Chandler, from the Village Church in Texas, exhorted pastors to center their teaching ministry in the gospel, particularly in our age of dumbed down preaching and teaching. Finally, Michael Oh, encouraged pastors and their churches to take more seriously the global mission of the church. Oh is a Korean American who is a missionary to Japan and has a facinating story. I want to hear more from Dr. Oh in the future...his introduction was funny.
Finally, I enjoyed the hang time I got with Garrett Kell, Doug Greene, Chris Wheeler and Greg Joiner - good to see you guys. Thanks for all the gifts you placed into my life this week with your time, your words, prayers and encouragement.
Here are links to all the messages in the order in which they were given - in audio, video and texteo:
Desiring God 2009 Conference for Pastors
February 2, 2009
Mark Dever
A Shepherd and His Unregenerate Sheep
Desiring God 2009 Conference for Pastors
February 3, 2009
Matt Chandler
The Pastor and Evangelism
Desiring God 2009 Conference for Pastors
February 3, 2009
Mark Dever
"I Will Not Be a Velvet-Mouthed Preacher!”
The Life and Ministry of George Whitefield: Living and Preaching as Though God Were Real (Because He Is)
February 3, 2009
John Piper
The Church and Evangelism
Desiring God 2009 Conference for Pastors
February 3, 2009
Mark Dever
Missions as Fasting
The Forsaking of Things Present for the Global Exaltation of Christ
February 4, 2009
Michael Oh
Commending Christ, Q & A
Desiring God 2009 Conference for Pastors
February 4, 2009
Various
Why I love Amateur Wrestling
CD Mock, current wrestling coach at UNC Chapel Hill (my alma matta) had the following to say about wrestling in an online article. It reminded me why I love the sport:
"It is a very difficult sport," states North Carolina wrestling head coach C.D. Mock. "It is not fun. It is not a team sport--nobody wrestles for fun. No one is going to have a pick-up game on Sunday of wrestling. It is a brutal sport. You have two people out there--you are all alone and you have no one to depend on. It is just you; if you don't get it done it does not get done. At the same time you have someone coming against you one-on-one who is trying to ensure you do not get it done. Add to that cutting weight, having to not eat as much as you like and drink as much as you like and pretty much train twice a day, it is tough. We have a code of ethics on the wrestling team and our 12th code is: 'We are different'. To go in that room every day to get beat up and come back the next day takes a rare breed."
We are different...so many people today are uncomfortable with being different. I think wrestlers revel in it a bit (psychology guys go easy on us). We have funny ears, are at times bow legged, some have crooked noses (mine is surely a mess) and we always see life as a bit of a scrap. Yeah, the sport has its meatheads and trouble makers, probably too many, but it also gives discipline, self-control and a work ethic to young guys. It is one of the world's oldest sports and one I pray that PC wimpiness doesn't wipe out all together. The rise of MMA has given many wrestlers a sort of pro-league possibility which may increase interest in the sport.
The bottom line for me is this. Many things have shaped my life - early on it was science and amateur wrestling. I believe God providentially put me in those arenas to make me who I am today. A bit meatheadish, sometimes a trouble maker but hopefully all the better for having gone at it on the mat. Plus, I actually studied a little in college to counter balance some things :)
So to the fraternity of guys out there who have cut the weight, fought the fight, put in time in sweltering hot rooms and been through torturing training sessions...hats off brothers, with all of our flaws, we are different.
Merry Christmas from the POCBlog
(Image re-created from Disney's THE SMALL ONE
HT - Animation Backgrounds)
Splendor
Splendor beyond all imagination
Ruler of every heart and nation
Founder of faith and searcher of minds
Lover and pursuer of all mankind
Forever apart we will not remain
As a baby was born through trial and pain
Darkness does seep in earth's current days
Yet joy and light was sent to fragile hay
To reconcile strangers, to rejoin them as friends
To resurrect hope and bring life again
The strange Christmas story marches onward today
As God brings forth splendor in unmeasured ways
-- December 24th 2008
Merry Christmas friends, foes and fraternizers of the POCBlog. Grace and Peace to you and yours this holiday season,
Reid S. Monaghan
Everything he sends...
I read this quote in a forum digest I received last night. A pastor on the west coast shared a quote from a man named John Newton who died in the early 19th century. He is well known for his hymn Amazing Grace and his investment in the life of men such as William Wilberforce. This quote reminded me of some central truth...
Everything is necessary that he sends. Nothing can be necessary that he withholds
It is a great assurance for the follower of Christ that all that lands in our life, through out lives and comes to our lives has been deemed a necessary part of our transformation. It is hard to live out the calling in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 - 16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
I find it hard to thank God for things which are difficult and painful...even devastating. Yet over the years our family has tried to practical say thank you to God for even the hard things. Around the dinner table our family has found an engaging way to catch up with one another, engage our hearts and follow the teaching of Scripture together. We call it our "family prayer."
First, someone is a note taker – at first it was always me (Dad) but now my oldest daughter takes the roll at times as well. We list all the family members’ names and make two columns by each name. One space is to write down something positive we are thankful for that happened in our day. Something that made you happy, felt like a blessing, made you laugh, smile and feel pretty good about God and life. The other column is for something negative, painful, disappointing…something we typically would not be saying “Thank you God may I have another” about. So we go around the table and share at least one positive deal and one negative deal. We even write stuff down for our two year old, even though he doesn’t have much to say about it at this point. After we finish one of us will weave together and pray a family prayer actually thanking God for ALL OF THIS. “God, thanks for the good, the bad, the ugly. We know these specific things you brought into our lives for your purposes. We thank you that even the hard stuff can work for good in our lives because we are called by you as your children.”
Again, we don’t do this every night but we do it regularly, at least once a week. We are teaching our kids, and reminding ourselves of some great truths. First, God is sovereign over good and evil and works all things together for good for those who love him (Romans 8:28). Second, it reminds us that the bad stuff in life many times shapes us into the image of Jesus as much as the good stuff (usually more). Finally, it unites our family in trust of God and lets us know each others hearts a bit. In fact, I love to hear what pains my kids as it brings my heart to a state of compassion for them. Foster an attitude of honesty, even when what pains or disappoints them is you. I have actually had my girls say “Daddy you not being here for dinner much this week makes me sad.” Hello! What a gift from God, from my daughters to remind me of what is valuable in life. Family prayer is one of our favorite practices in our home and very simple to lead as parents.
Some would see the world as a chaotic stew of random events of human produced triumphs and failures. I tend to see the world as a purposeful arena where God brings about his purposes. In my life, through failures and difficulties, he seems to work the most. Maybe I am just too hard headed to learn any other way.
Grace in Leaves...
Sitting in my backyard today I am watching the wind cascade through the trees causing multicolored leaves to fall like rain to the ground. The back of our house is quite wooded so Actually they are a little more like heavy snowflakes than rain. The weather is not too cold yet so it makes for a great vision to sit outside on the WiFi and work from a rocking chair. In the winds of the fall it is so easy for me to think about the transient nature of life; we are all slowly passing into reality soon to be gone from the scene of the earth. Maybe I am just getting older...or maybe it has been the Lord of the Rings Trilogy that I have been watching again of late, but life feels a bit epic today.
The finality of falling leaves is but temporary as the stripped trees of winter will rise again green come spring. Yet life has an abrubt ending and each day ebbs us forward to this reckoning. As we have started to take the first steps of establishing Jacob's Well I am thinking much about the impact of my own life. Sometimes you feel like you are about to change the world, other days you realize your life doesn't count for much in the grand scheme of things. I think most everyone is realizing these days that life is more than the sum of one's 401(k). Well, maybe we are realizing that our lives had become little more than the sums of money sitting in some virtual account on a computer somewhere. Either way, life is moving, as do markets as does the foliage in Northeastern woodlands.
Long ago philosophers debated whether life was static in being (Parmenides) or was a ever flowing see of change which we are unable to place a finger on (Heraclitus). I think life and perception leads us at times to both conclusions rather than a certainty of fixedness or a chaos of never ending change. I have long thought about how God brings an unchanging constancy to our ever changing lives and world. Is it not a search for the beauty of truth, the order of the cosmos, the one lighthouse of purpose in the world by which we can gain our bearings. We are indeed passing like ships along a great shore, or like sand flowing in an ever changing river. Yet there is one who holds our lives and the changing world in existence and he even knows our very names.
Such a God is not the unmoved god of philosophy, but rather the kind and severe God of the cross of Jesus of Nazareth. He is fixed, unchanging...yet abounding in steadfast love. He is sovereign over time and history yet calls us to live among the falling leaves each day. I have found both joy and solace in seeking him. In calling out to him in trial, in questioning in pain and worshiping him in his strength and beauty.
Long ago, another sojourner of this path had something very relevant to say to us in our uncertain and changing times. These words of ancient wisdom press upon me today.
So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
So the man of the earth will soon pass into the shadows of eternity and the leaves will fall again next year. Yet as spring buds forth the tree into newness, there is the promise of one who brings life anew in the fullness of time.
I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?
This is the most relevant question I know of for all mankind. Therein lies the key to an unfading, unchanging, unfailing hope. It is bound up in the changeless one who can have the living die so that the dead might rise again.