The Blunderblog

http://boxofficemojo.com/weekend/chart/

2011-10-04T23:08:00.001-04:00

http://boxofficemojo.com/weekend/chart/

Courageous was number 4 for the weekend in total money, but smashed the competition in average $$ per theater. At just 1161 theaters, that was a third less than the top money making movie. Courageous was in half the theaters than Lion King 3D, yet made just .7 million less. This movie is truly a commercial success!

Why You Must See Courageous

2011-10-03T00:03:00.004-04:00

It really is a great movie.
We need to financially support the Christian Independent filmmaking movement. The world needs to see that Fireproof was not just a "one hit wonder." Movies are arguably perhaps the most active culture drivers in the U.S. Let's make sure that these movies are successful financially. Don't wait for the DVD on this one!
The message is powerful and needed - Fathers need to take the responsibility to lead their families, to be spiritual leaders, and to bring up the next generation to maturity.
The scene where the main character and the guy he hires are confused about who each other is and why they are together is worth the price of admission alone. I also loved the "I love you" lines on the phone - priceless!

Be advised - it is a tear-jerker. You will literally laugh and cry. Dads - don't do anything else this weekend - take your kids to see Courageous. Be prepared to spend more money afterwards, though, because the movie convicted me that I needed to take my boys to Chick-Fil-A afterward. (Or maybe it was that I was hungry, and subtlety motivated by the movie - the other "bust-up" laughing scene was where the guy orders a CFA meal in spanish in the police car. What a funny scene! Would that be "product placement?")

Support MBC video

2011-09-28T16:38:00.001-04:00

Here is my latest video - I made this to encourage everyone in our Maranatha Bible Camp family to continue to support MBC. Hopefully churches will show this for their "Treat the Camp" Sundays. I recognize that it will be nearly impossible to get a 7 minute video shown in any Sunday morning church service (unfortunately), so I did make a 3.5 minute version, that I have aptly named the "Too Short Version."

This video had all kinds of challenges and opportunities for growth and learning.

Equipment/software - I used the trial version of Sony Vegas 11 on the kids HP laptop (my computer does not have the "horsepower" to do such things, sadly). Other than making a short experimenting video, I had not used Vegas before, and was relatively satisfied. I still have a lot to learn about it. Using Sony DVD Architect was a challenge, because just simply clicking the "Make movie" button to render a DVD directly to Sony DVD Architect won't render audio correctly. Go figure that Sony's video editor and DVD authoring program won't play nice. It can be done, but not by the simple one button click. Another challenge was that my Panasonic DV camera had bitten the proverbial dust just days before we began working on this. (It actually had smoke coming out of it!). I was very thankful to Penny for letting me borrow her Panasonic DV camera, but we had to charge the battery every 20 minutes or so of shooting. So, considering that I used trial software and had to borrow the kid's computer and a camera, I was pleased in general with the result.

Content - I have never made a "documentary" feel video of any kind, but I thought that this might be the best combination of explaining how important MBC is and showing summer highlights. I wrote a basic script of what I wanted to say, and then talked through it with my team of helpful "Critics" (Jenette and the four older kids, all of whom love to argue and pick things apart!) Their input was very helpful. Then I began the arduous task of sorting out video content from all the various sources. There was DV from my own camera (RIP) this last summer (all shot only in June before I broke my leg). There was quite a bit of good video from HS1, JH1, and JR1 (again, June camps) because Phil Weece had spent a lot of time shooting. And then there were many clips taken mostly from camper's and volunteer's digital cameras on our camp hard drive. Some of the clips were horrible, poorly shot, and useless but a few were pretty good. This was the biggest challenge of making this video, and now is the time for me to repeat the thing I have said to myself the last four summers in a row:

"Next year, I am going to get great video shot all summer at every session of camp of lots of happy campers and adults doing fun and meaningful things with one camera that has a consistent look, quality, and format. If I don't do that, once again, I will go bananas trying to make highlight videos."

Shooting - all the highlight video was already shot, but we did the interview parts here at my home office. Jonathan set up two of our lamps from the house so that there was light on the background, (which was actually a blue bedsheet hanging on the wall) and light on my face. I thought he did a brilliant (HA!) job setting up the lighting and I honestly did not even think about setting up lights the way he did. He said that he had those lighting ideas after he watched "Divided" and noticed how lighting was set during interviews. I was very impressed with his vision for the lighting. We also experimented with a "Franken-microphone" thing that somehow ended up working with the borrowed camera. Jonathan ran the camera and Jordan was the self appointed "director" and franken-microphone pointer. She was actually very helpful by insisting that I do each section several times. I think the end result was much better because she gently pushed me to make it better.

Other - The background music was provided by Announcing the Apocalypse (That's Joel, with Jason and Jonathan). I thought it was pretty awesome and added the right feel to the video.

My thoughts on the Movie "Divided"

2011-09-14T19:08:00.004-04:00

At the risk of offending many dear friends involved in ministry, I would like to encourage anyone involved with Church ministry at all to watch this film. It is online free for a limited time, so please go ahead and watch it. I would love to hear what others think about this.

The premise of the movie is that traditional youth ministry has the potential danger of dividing families away from each other. The solution, according to the film, is to have families together in worship and in Bible teaching instead of segregated by age or life stage.

While I think that solution by itself is limited, the larger goal is to have the church take up the responsibility to challenge parents to be the spiritual leaders and disciplers of their children.

We keep asking ourselves why kids are leaving Christ and the Church, but we haven't gained any ground against the world.

I think the Church needs to ask and address this question: are we truly holding onto the next generation by what we are doing, or do we need to do something different? While I would not agree with the movie that the Bible states definitively and undeniably that age segregation in the Church is wrong, (book, chapter, verse?) I do see that in many churches, the family is just as fragmented as in the world.

I don't know any Church or any youth minister that would say that the Bible is unclear about who is supposed to be the spiritual leader in a child's life. However, by our practices, maybe we communicate things that we don't mean to.

For example, most churches have a "youth group" time, and an adult Sunday School or small group time, but how often do churches have a dedicated "family" teaching time when youth and adults are experiencing the same thing at the same time in the same place? Unfortunately for many churches, that never happens. What does that teach the family? The kids? Is the family really gaining spiritual ground against worldliness? If not, why?

Is it possible that the media (or methodology) actually becomes the message?

Maybe if youth ministries spent more effort training parents to spiritually mentor their children, they would be more effective. I don't agree with the movie that we should do away with traditional youth ministry, but I do think that we should make it so much more family centered.

Please watch this and encourage Church leaders to watch this. We need to stop fooling around and start winning back the Church's youth for Christ.

Seven Days Later

2011-07-20T02:08:00.003-04:00

Seven days later I am feeling at least enough oomph to type. Here's what happened.

Tuesday, July 12 8:30 AM

I go out to the zip line area at the ATV to raise the termination cable on the North line. I was trying to slow down the rate that people were coming in on that line. As I was finishing, the other guys came down in the truck and Jeff backed the truck right up within a foot or two on the East side of the tree, thinking that I might need to stand on the truck bed to finish what I was doing with the zip line cable.

Tuesday, July 12 9:35 AM

The first group of High School campers arrive to get ready for some zip line fun. We get them harnessed up and they are ready to go.

Tuesday, July 12 9:45 AM

With the students ready to go, the hop into the back of the truck for the short ride up the hill. At that moment, Jeff got into the drivers seat, and I stepped behind the truck, between the truck and the tree. I was starting to tell the students that they should not walk under the zip line when they walk back up hill. I was also thinking that I should move, because where I was was not safe. Jeff started to go, but the truck rolled backwards just a few inches - enough to pin both of my legs just above the ankles to the tree, but (at the time I thought) not enough to hurt me. I guess I screamed, and some of the kids in the back of the truck laughed at me, thinking I was being silly. As soon as the truck went forward, the pain hit me and I instantly fell, watching my lower right leg kind of dangle. I knew then that it was broken.

Tuesday, July 12 9:50 AM

The first person I remember coming to me was Jeff, though I know there were others there. I told him my leg was broken and I wanted to make sure he knew that it was my fault. I shouldn't have stepped between the truck and the tree, and Jeff didn't even know I was there. (In fact I told my boys later that if I had seen them there I would have yelled at them to get out of there because surely they would know better than to place themselves in such a dangerous place.) Nathan Martin was right there as well, and he actually told me details of the story that I didn't remember. Jan Garbet was one of the adult volunteers who was nearby, heard me scream, and came running.

As a trauma nurse and paramedic, Jan took control immediately. After a bit of arguing with her about calling an ambulance, I prevailed and they began developing a plan to stabilize my leg and take me to the hospital. What followed was maybe 30 minutes or so of writhing in pain, while they splinted my leg. There were so many focused, professional, caring people right there. Of course Penny was there. I think Nathan or maybe Kevin Klein were the first of several people who began praying for me. Andrew Stout came and began praying. Blake and Kenan were there holding my hands as I was groaning and struggling. My boys were there, watching this whole thing. I'm not sure what they were thinking, but they were right there.

I knew that I had lost control of many, many things that morning when I was asking for water, but Jan wouldn't let me have any because she was concerned that I might be going to surgery soon. That was a horrible moment. Besides pain, I was horribly thirsty all day.

As I was laying there, I couldn't help but think of the Scripture in Phillipians 4 that says,

"don't be anxious about anything, but in everything with prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus."

I realized that I needed to be thankful. Thankful for the pain, for the caring helpers, for the ants that were crawling on me, for everything.

Tuesday, July 12 10:30 ish.

They had run to get the camp backboard, but after they secured me to the board, and tucked in an inflatable frog to help stabilize my leg, they lifted me into the van. Jan was holding my foot in place, checking that I had good circulation, while Nathan drove. It was an agonizing drive, even though Nathan was very careful, I experienced every hill and curve in a new a special way. I heard Jan tell Nathan to drive into the ambulance entrance at Cox South. I had unbuckled my chest strap on the backboard because I was having a hard time breathing.

Tuesday, July 12 11:08 AM (that was the time stamped on my hospital bracelet)

The first thing that happened at the hospital was that a Paramedic opened the door to the van, took a quick look at me and yelled, "who did this?" That was not very encouraging. I guess he saw the backboard and assumed I had a back or neck injury or something. After Jan fussed at him for a moment, he backed off. They took me into the trauma room and immediately began to check my vitals, and start an IV. They gave me morphine, which helped a lot, but messed with my head and made me a little goofy. I was sure that the ceiling was moving, and I said that a couple of times, but no one seemed to pay any attention.

Jenette arrived soon after and she began answering their many, many questions. I was truly befuddled by the array of questions and I don't think I could have answered them. All the while, of course, the ceiling was still moving, and I said again to Jenette, "the ceiling is moving." She looked up, smiled at me and said, "yes it is." I thought she was serious, so that even freaked me out more.

They resplinted my leg, which was the most painful thing that happened at the hospital. I gripped Jenette's hand so hard. It reminded me of her gripping my hand when she birthed a baby. I had felt that hard, strong grip many times and it was familiar to me, but this time, we had switched roles.

The next thing I knew, they wheeled me into another room, but when the released the brake on the bed the entire bed shuddered and the sound made me jump and panic. "Oh, sorry about that" was the response from the guy moving the bed! They plopped me onto another bed and ran me through the CAT scan machine - a really freaky experience as well.

I guess I will write more later.

Unless you change and become like little children...

2011-06-20T00:41:00.002-04:00

What does Jesus mean when he says in Matthew 18:2,

Unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven...

I think that kids don't have all the hang ups that adults have. They aren't busy looking around at what others are doing and what others might think of them. They naturally trust those who take care of them. They won't trust perfectly, but they really don't have any choice. Kids are always being toted around wherever their parents go, so they are always willing just to go. Little Josie wants to go with me every time. She doesn't know or care where I am going or what I am doing, she just wants to go. Because children don't have a big picture of how bad and awful the world really is, they innocently thing that everyone is "nice."

So the complete trust in God is what we really need that is like a child, but the context of those verses in Matt 18 is really important. The disciples ask a question - who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven - I think they are really asking, "which of us is the greatest?" In Jesus' classic style he doesn't answer their question but gives them a better thing to think about. A small child is never in her wildest dreams going to think she is the greatest at anything. She may fuss and scream for her way, but she does that because she knows she small and insignificant next to the "big people" around her. I think the heart of Jesus' response is that we are never, ever, going to be great in God's kingdom by thinking we are big and bad.

The economy of God is that in Him and through childlike faith and trust in Him alone, the weak and powerless can do anything that God wants to do. We have to change from the big, bad, proud men & women that we are and become weak and helpless, fulling falling on his strong arms to hold us up.

It's been said that Christians are weak because they use their faith as a crutch to lean on in hard times. (like Everitt McGill in the O Brother Where Art Thou movie said, mocking his friends being baptized, "Hard times flush the chumps." He also said, "Baptism - you two are dummer than a bag o' hammers.")

The truth is that faith is not just a crutch. It is a stretcher, and only when we fall completely on it face down helpless before God can we really be a worshiper.

Bloggy on my wayward son

2011-06-19T23:43:00.004-04:00

Too busy to blog, so that's usually when I come up with something profound. I realized that there is a whole plethora of things to blog about, but I have been too busy with camp stuff to get to it. Here's what I have been thinking about and doing:

The 2011 Camp Season - and all its blessings and difficulties. Zip lines are going great. Leading worship for kid's camps is an awesome, incredible privilege. Keeping a close watch for hazards and difficulties keeps me ever vigilant. I have some incredible helpers this summer, some of whom were sick or gone this last weekend, so I missed them even more. I can't help but be amazed at what has happened the last two weeks.

I am guessing we have done over 400 zip line rides in the last two weeks. This week I need to finish preparing the ground for Nathan Smith to bring his horses here for JH1.

While up on the zip line platform on Friday morning, launching multitudes of delighted 2nd-4th graders down the lines, (hundreds of yards from the highway) I heard a terrible squeal of tires and then the unmistakable sound of loud crunching metal. I and everyone around me knew we had just heard a vehicle crashing on the road. Since I was up on the platform launching campers I knew I could not leave, but I saw people literally running to help, not knowing what they would find. In the Lord's providence, we had at the camp (for demonstration purposes) a highway patrolman, and a life flight helicopter, as well as several firemen and emt's.

It was a hard moment for me to not run down and see what was going on, but all those folks were professionals who dealt with the crash and the poor driver instantly. How often would that happen out on the back roads of rural Missouri? I was so blessed to know that there are so many wonderful, capable, professional, caring people who are volunteers at this camp.

I am also so impressed with my three sons. They have done so much hard work these last few weeks to get ready for camp and to get the camp season started. All three were high school campers for HS1, and then they started working again. Jason got sick, and Jonathan stepped up and did many things that he did not plan to do, including playing the drums while I led worship. Truly those three young men are a blessing to me and to the camp. Few people realize how valuable they are to this ministry.

I am so thankful for my brother in law Jeff working here this summer. What an amazing man, hard worker, faithful servant, and all around fun guy to be with.

How great it has been to see Blake growing up some as he has taken the role of lifeguard - more police work than anything.

And all the others - Adam, Kenan, and the girls, they have all done great. The kitchen serving thing is the best we have ever done it. At this point, I think I can honestly say that now at the beginning of my 5th summer doing this, I am beginning to finally feel like I actually know what I am doing. I don't always get it all done, but I know what I am supposed to be doing.

What amazing teaching and preaching I have heard. I haven't been able to hear them all, but they have been outstanding. These last few days, we have had Matt Proctor teaching the 2nd - 4th grade camp. Here is a Bible college president teaching little kids, and doing a much better job than many children's ministers and teachers I have heard over the years.

I am glad to be serving the Church by making the Church better by helping the Church extend its ministry.

Excited to see what tomorrow brings.

jc

Bring me your tired, your weary, your filthy....cell phones.

2011-01-20T17:05:00.002-05:00

MBC wants to ask YOU to donate old cell phones! This effort is simple, easy, and it's a win for everyone!

You clear out the old phones sitting around in your sock drawer.
Ask your cousin/mom/grandma/next door neighbor to do the same.
Send in the phones to MBC or give them to your church youth leaders.
MBC sends them in.
MBC receives a check.
MBC buys new furniture for our canteen area!
Campers at camp this summer say "Wow, that is cool! You mean I don't have to sit on rusty metal chairs anymore at canteen?"
Guys/gals in oversea countries get refurbished phones.
Your sock drawer is no longer plagued with useless junk.
God is honored and glorified at MBC!

Why you should encourage students to come to Yourlife 2.11

2011-01-11T16:27:00.003-05:00

Yourlife 2.11 is an event hosted here at Maranatha Bible Camp. It is put on by area Campus Ministries for High School Seniors and Juniors. It might be the most unique and the most important event we have at MBC - although all our events are unique and important.

First of all, I have never heard of any other event quite like this anywhere. So for the youth worker wanting something fresh for their students, this is it. It is led by Campus ministry leaders and the students. Real interaction and leadership happens from those who are "in the trenches" to those who are getting ready to step into that arena.

Second, it is really important. There is arguably no more dangerous time in a person's spiritual life than the young adult years - right out of high school and thrust into the chaos and unbridled freedom and lack of accountability that is found on the college campus.

Yourlife 2.11 is all about challenging students to think through those issue before the day they face them. It's about realizing that campus ministry should be their first thought in going off to college, not their last.

My question to anyone reading this is, if you have not encouraged someone to go, why not? it might be one of the best things you could do for that young person.

Finally, these guys that do campus ministry are truly the front line of this battle for the next generation. Anything and everything should be done to support them.

Things that I've never done before.

2010-12-26T00:59:00.003-05:00

Keep saying that I need to list all the things that I have never done before that I am doing. Definitely keeps me learning and growing. The most recent list.

Had the ninth baby. (for those who are playing at home, that is the fourth home birth, the sixth girl)
Preached 3 Sundays in a row.
Preached about economic crisis.
Preached about Revelation.
Built a zipline.
Bought a chevy.
Disassembled a carport
Instructed the boys to completely clean out the van (meaning, I didn't have to do any of it!)
Installed Carpet Squares at the Retreat Center Basement
Installed Drop Ceiling at the Retreat Center basement
and (Will do this next week)...Will ski on snowblades.

Sermon Player -

2010-10-26T02:57:00.002-04:00

Just a glimpse in to what we have been up to....

2010-03-30T02:51:00.004-04:00

Camp Ministry life has it's seasons of busyness - and the last few weeks have been one of the busier seasons. Many Church ministry people are really busy leading up to Easter. We are looking forward to Easter weekend so we can have a little breather! Here are some of the many things that we have been doing in the last 5 -6 weeks. (Not just me, but Penny as well)

Finished up the process of remodeling the Multi-Purpose building Kitchen.
Continued work on completing the Retreat Center basement!
Hosted YOURLIFE 2.0 – Led and taught by six area campus ministries – challenging High School students to continue their walk with Christ as they head to college.
Hosted THE SANDWICH for Jr. High Students. What a great, challenging retreat for the students who came!
Sunday Church visits by Penny and Jim included Southland, Oswego, Fir Road, College Heights, Christ's Church of Oronogo, and Carl Junction Christian - doing everything from Children’s Church to preaching.
Set up displays and handed out information at the Preaching Teaching Convention at OCC and the SMCEF meeting at Son Rise Christian in Marshfield.
Hosted three marriage retreats at the Retreat Center.
Hosted over 100 people staying at the Retreat Center and Camp Buildings for a whole week. These great folks, from Wichita, were involved in a national Homeschool Basketball tournament in Springfield. What a privilege to have them stay here at MBC!
Worked with SIX different volunteer work groups – from Countryside Christian (Nixa), College Heights Christian School (two groups of 50 each day!), Central City Christian, FCC Kimberling City, and Glendale Christian in Springfield). WOW!
Planning and preparing for our next great event: JR. BASH for Grade School kids! Check out the website for info!
In addition, we have mailed out summer camp information to all of our mailing list and distributed Church packets to nearly every Church in our database!

I'm tired now!

jc

The Nasty Message of Revelation 11

2010-03-07T22:08:00.004-05:00

I heard perhaps one of the best sermons I have ever heard at the Preaching Teaching Convention at Ozark Christian College. The sermon, by Jeff Walling, is available for purchase as a download at http://catapes.com/viewresults.cfm?cid=143 for $5. He is a very visual preacher, so the audio won't be quite as impacting as watching it. I bought the DVD at the convention and brought it home to share with my kids.

The reason I thought this message was so well done is that it accomplishes the important but difficult elements of outstanding preaching. First of all, it taught the text really well. So much preaching these days is about the text or around the text, but not in and of the text. Second, it was convicting, and filled with application. And third, it was completely engaging. Jeff Walling has a way of keeping your attention like few guys can. And he did it within a reasonable time frame. Preaching is difficult. Preaching and being Biblical is very difficult. Preaching, being Biblical, and pounding home conviction and application is extremely difficult. To do all that and to be interesting and funny is near impossible. If you can accomplish all that and be done in your allotted time, its nothing short of a miracle.

He started in Revelation 10 with the idea that once the truth is unveiled to you, you can't unknow it. The idea of eating the little scroll in Revelation 10 is the ingestion of the Word - God's truth being such a part of us, that we can't separate ourselves from it. But it turns sour - there is bad news with the good news. Some people won't believe God's truth. Those people choose to not follow Him, and their judgment is brought upon them - another theme of Revelation. That's the sour, sick feeling in your stomach. That is the message that the modern emergent church doesn't want to follow or teach. Some people will burn forever in hell. That may be the most politically incorrect thing you could possibly say these days.

Heard any sermons about the truth and the doctrine of hell? Why not? Because it is a hard, hard message to stomach.

In Revelation 11 the two witnesses appear. They are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth (vs 4). Because Revelation already called the Church the lampstands earlier, (See Rev. 1:20), we know that John is talking about the Church. There are two because of the Old Testament imagery of the necessity of at least two witnesses. Jesus sent his disciples two by two. The Church is you, and the Church is me. There are two of them, but they act as one.

There are images there of Moses and Elijah - witnesses for God who brought the unwavering message of God -"I am God and there is no other."

They had a message of judgment for those who did not honor God and a message of blessing for those who did. That did not change between Old Testament witnesses and New Testament witnesses. Those who wanted to listen and hear did hear and those who didn't want to hear didn't hear it. Fire coming from their mouths represents this message - (and forget the wacky Left Behind books that picture these guys as human fire breathing dragons - that's totally bizarre!) The Church throughout the centuries is the two witnesses.

The nasty part, and the part that makes me ask lots of questions starts in verse 7:

⁷Now when they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up from the Abyss will attack them, and overpower and kill them. ⁸Their bodies will lie in the street of the great city, which is figuratively called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified. ⁹For three and a half days men from every people, tribe, language and nation will gaze on their bodies and refuse them burial. ¹⁰The inhabitants of the earth will gloat over them and will celebrate by sending each other gifts, because these two prophets had tormented those who live on the earth.
¹¹But after the three and a half days a breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and terror struck those who saw them. ¹²Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, "Come up here." And they went up to heaven in a cloud, while their enemies looked on.

There is enough in this section to blog about for a month, so let's start at verse 7. "When they had finished their testimony..." So, exactly when would that be? When is the Church done testifying about Christ? When is she done preaching the gospel? Or carrying the good news to the ends of the earth? I think it is pretty clear here that it is the end! Verse 12 sounds very much like 1 Thessalonians 4:17. Someone might say here, "hey, wait a second...uh, where is the Lord?" How about verse 12 - the voice from heaven.

Side note - in case you are wondering why the end is here in the middle of Revelation - that's because the end is all through Revelation - imagine the same story being told multiple times in different ways with a focus on different things. If you try to force Revelation to be a linear, chronological thing, then it will be horribly confusing and totally misrepresented, in my humble opinion. There are many parallel passages within Revelation. I need to do a blog post just on that concept.

So, the implication here is that at the time of the end, the Church will experience an unprecedented persecution. We really don't have much connection to that in the American Church, but believers all over the world have been dealing with this for many, many years. So, I believe, that we need to be ready for severe, overwhelming persecution. We need to teach our children to be ready and willing to sacrifice everything for Christ. To give up what we can't keep in order to gain what we can't lose, to paraphrase Jim Eliot.

The reason for this timing is also in verse 7, which is a parallel verse with Revelation 20:1-3. At the end, immediately before Christ comes again, Satan is allowed almost completely free reign for a very short time - "he is filled with fury because he knows that his time is short." (Rev. 12:12). Satan will overpower, attack, and seemingly destroy the Church - why then? Because the Church has finished its testimony.

Another side note here - Christian, have you reached that place? Have you finished your time of testimony about the Lord? (You haven't, because if you had, you would be dead, and dead people don't read blogs.) If we aren't dead yet, then God still has a purpose for us here to bring Him glory and to testify to his greatness. Why do we waste so much time with completely worthless pursuits? (Speaking to myself here.) Maybe we don't believe these verses? Maybe we don't believe what we are supposed to be testifying about? Maybe the world has distracted us so much that we have forgotten that we are here to give glory to God and testimony about Him?

Now, back to our program: Verse 9 says for three and half days, people will gloat, send each other gifts, refuse the dead bodies burial, and generally have a party because the Church is dead and gone. It seems that Satan has won, but God always has the final word and the victory, and you see that clearly in verse 11.

Revelation is a book of victory for the Christ follower. Even death can't be defeated! People often think of these great battles between God and Satan - Armageddon and all that. There's no great final battle - Jesus comes, flicks Satan and the worldly system into the fires of hell and it's all over. The final victory is assured. I'm not worried about that.

What I am dwelling on is this: am I prepared for the nastiness that will happen before that final victory? Do I have the courage and conviction to testify to the awesomeness of Christ until the time that the testimony is finished? And then, will I be ready to face the trials that will surely come? How many of my children will be prepared for that day? How many people who are in my areas of influence know how important it is to be ready for trials and persecution?

We have done the Church a great disservice by calling them to be ready ONLY for the second coming of Christ. I used to think of that day as being this "great, gettin' up morning" when we would see the sky crack open and the hear the trumpet blast as we were ending our leisurely breakfast. Revelation 11 is a little more "nasty" than that. We need to encourage each other to be ready not only for Christ's second coming, but for the suffering and persecution that, I believe, will surely come before the second coming.

I wonder why we can't just end our testimony and go to heaven? Why the little nasty interlude with Satan running amuck?

I guess it is because God won't get as much glory that way. And that is what it is all about. There is a billboard in Springfield advertising a car dealership that says, "It's all about you!" That might sound good in advertising, but that won't play well at the time of the end.

Comments are definitely welcome. Let's encourage each other to be the witness for Christ that we need to be.

The Shredder's Thoughts About Life and The Universe

2010-03-05T02:35:00.001-05:00

The Shredder's Thoughts About Life and The Universe

Thoughts about Christian music from my wise and discerning son.

jc

Fuel Taxes Must Rise, Harvard Researchers Say - Dot Earth Blog - NYTimes.com

2010-03-05T01:16:00.001-05:00

Fuel Taxes Must Rise, Harvard Researchers Say - Dot Earth Blog - NYTimes.com

Here's what we will get with progressive Energy policies: $7 a gallon gas! Lookin' forward to that!

Trouble ahead for the Church?

2010-03-05T00:17:00.009-05:00

It's hard not to be a little skeptical and a little jaded about things that are happening in our country and in the Church right now. As I become older and see more and listen to more voices, I am becoming more convinced that there are a series of issues that will face our future as the Church. You can chalk me up to just being a wacky conspiracy theorist, and that's fine, but I have always tried to be a student of the culture and have always tried to humbly share my ideas with anyone who is willing to listen. So, if you are willing, fasten your seatbelts and see what you think about my prophetic voice. I'm not attempting to be prophetic in the sense that I have had a special revelation from God that has shown me what will take place. I am however, trying to be prophetic in the sense of looking around and remembering history and trying to share my opinions about what is coming, especially as it relates to the church.

1. The coming economic catastrophe.

As much as I hate to even talk about this, I think that the future has a collapse of the economy coming. First of all, the government (both Republicans and Democrats) is working toward an economic collapse, whether because of sheer incompetence & stupidity or because of intentional design of something they think might be better. I tend to think the latter, but that doesn't really matter. The point is that they are spending our childrens' futures like a bunch of drunk sailors at port. This plan is an old strategy that has been in place since the 60's with progressives. So, if very conservative thinking people don't retake the control of the government, (which is possible but unlikely) our economy is toast. I could go on and on here, but there are others who are much smarter than me that are raising the alarms on this. Click here for one article about the "Clowerd-Piven Strategy."

See my next post to read an article suggesting that $7 per gallon gas is a real possibility if the progressive energy policies are enacted.

In concert with this for the Church, the baby boomers are starting to retire (another part of the strain on the government because of Social Security - more benefits are being paid out than revenue is being taken in). Already some Christian financial planners have begun to notice that more boomers will be living on fixed incomes, and they will not be supporting Churches and Christian organizations like they have in the past, because most charitable giving is given out of disposable income. Will the younger generations support the work of Churches and missionaries (and humble church camps!)? I hope so, but I am afraid that many churches will not survive the next 20 - 40 years. Especially when you consider that in order to sustain the government's progressive programs, the tax burden will increase and the cost of goods and services will necessarily rise (like gas being potentially $7 a gallon - how's that going to affect the Sunday offering?)

Click here to see Barna Research about church giving.

2. The dearth of Godly leaders

We are losing young people to the world at a rate of approximately 66%, based on research done by George Barna, among others. Combine that with that fact that less children are being born into Christian families than in previous years. (You need to see the very interesting video about this called Demographic Winter - and it's follow up, Demographic Bomb - http://www.demographicwinter.com/index.html). Even though the US population is growing significantly, the growth is only being propped up by immigration. The fact is, there will be few Christian leaders for the Church in 40 years. What are we doing right now to raise up a generation of solid, Biblically minded leaders and teachers?

3. The Worldview war is being lost.

While I see many people trying to win the hearts and minds of their own children for Christ, I see many more who are not. Again, check out the Barna Research on this subject. If you care at all about the future of the Church, consider this chilling quote from the Barna article linked to above:

The research data showed that one pattern emerged loud and clear: young adults rarely possess a biblical worldview. The current study found that less than one-half of one percent of adults in the Mosaic generation – i.e., those aged 18 to 23 – have a biblical worldview, compared to about one out of every nine older adults.

Wow - all I can say is wow. Read it again. Let it sink in. That is one in 200. 5 of 1000. We are not reaching the next generation like we should be. We are one generation from literally being post-Christian America. One in nine adults is not a lot, but one half of one percent? That is simply not sustainable.

What do we need to do about it?

We need to pray and trust God for his supply and his support. We need to pray that Godly leaders will be leading our country. Maybe God will use these things to shake us into fully trusting Him instead of trusting the government or anything else. Ultimately, God is sovereign, and these things may be even the beginning of end times persecutions and troubles for the believers that the Bible teaches is surely to come.

We need to work toward raising a new Generation of Godly leaders. We need to fully support Bible colleges, campus ministries, and church related youth work (and outstanding Church camps!) that lead toward the goal of well trained, next generation Biblically minded leaders who can preach, teach, admonish, and be willing to suffer for Christ in the coming years. We need to especially grasp the young adults and college age people and hold on to them! If you are not supporting these organizations financially and with your prayers, would you be willing to change that today?

We need to challenge parents to lead their own families to the strong, unshakable belief in the truth of God's Word. We have forgotten how to disciple our own children. We have forgotten how to love children. We have forgotten what a blessing children are. We have forgotten that nothing in this world is more important that passing on a Biblical worldview to our children. I want to challenge anyone reading this (including myself), that if any earthly pursuit is more important to you than leading your family to Christ, then repentance is needed. God is so faithful, and he will help to lead us and guide us and we fully submit our lives and our families to Him.

I don't expect to ever be in the majority. I fully expect to be weird. Think what you want, I'm already over the top. I don't care what people think about me when I am dead and gone, but I do want to leave a legacy of faithfulness, fear and love for God, and Biblical minded children to live on, glorifying God and living fully in the joy and abundance that only He can provide. If I can help you or encourage you in any way in these things, please let me know and I will try my best to help you.

jc

My Latest Read - Already Gone

2010-02-27T18:32:00.003-05:00

We really need to be paying attention to the message of this book. This book caught my eye while I was browsing in the bookstore at the AIG Creation Museum. It caught my eye, because the girl on the book cover has that same look in her eyes that I have seen in the faces of too many kids that I have tried to teach and challenge with the gospel.

Her eyes are shouting, "get away from me. I don't need you, I don't need the church, and I don't need God."

This is an interesting book to me because it is based on research done that suggests that the 66% of teens who leave the church in their college years are not leaving once they get to college, but they are "already gone" in their middle school and high school years. Once they get to college, they are just finalizing their decision by walking out the door.

I have been concerned for a long time about the problem of poorly developed Biblical worldview thinking in our youth, and how the church is not able to keep up in the battle for their hearts and minds. You need to read this.

Eco-Terrorist Paul Watson of Sea Shepherds Responds to ‘The Mysterious Islands’ Press Release’ - Vision Forum Ministries

2010-01-26T23:40:00.001-05:00

Eco-Terrorist Paul Watson of Sea Shepherds Responds to ‘The Mysterious Islands’ Press Release’ - Vision Forum Ministries

This is an interesting article - a combination of blog by Douglas Phillips, producer of the Mysterious Islands DVD, (a DVD which I bought, but have still not seen yet!) a press release about the DVD, and commentary by Paul Watson - the Sea Shepherd guy. Kind of brings out my point about the point being harder to get in my last post. This guy will never get the point as long as his hatred for God and anything remotely Godly is so deep. We need to pray for this guy.

The Point is getting Harder to Get

2010-01-26T01:05:00.004-05:00

Life is all about getting the point. The point is that God made you to honor him and make his glory more known in your own life, in the life of your family, and in the lives of others around you. The Point is that God loves you so much that He sent His son Jesus to die on the Cross for your rebellion. The Point is that you can have a restored relationship with God through Jesus!

Sometimes I have thought that the point was getting harder to make because of our culture. People don't want to hear the truth of the gospel. I refocused on memorizing 2 Timothy today. It says that the time will come when people will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. I think that time has come and even gone perhaps. People don't even need the teachers anymore - they can go and find what their itching ears want to hear on the internet for themselves.

But today I guess I am rethinking all this. Maybe the problem now is not that the Point is getting harder to make, but that the Point is getting harder to get. Proverbs says "therefore get wisdom, and in all your getting, get understanding (KJV)." The problem is that people don't want to get the Point. They have believed the lies so much that they think that the Point is pointless, and therefore pointless to get.

Going through the Creation Museum was a great experience, and the point was made repeatedly there that unless people start at the point of accepting the truth of God's Word, they won't catch on to the rest of the important message that God has for them.

I certainly agree with that, but perhaps there is another question to ask: why? Why are kids growing up in Church but missing the Point? Why are Church attendance numbers growing but Christ follower numbers are declining? Why is the Media winning the culture war?

Maybe it's because the Point is getting harder to get. It's not because it's not available - it is certainly available. It's getting harder to get because we have not learned the ability to get it. Surely I am not the only one who has noticed the glazed look in people's eyes as we try to teach them basic truths of God's Word.

Let's face it. The Pants on the Ground video (American Idol thing) is more influential than God's truth in our culture! (I'm not saying anything negative about the video itself - I'm just asserting comparatively, that it is more influential!) Does that bother us? Are we so deep in the cultural sea that we don't even notice - Like asking a fish what water is like?

The point is getting harder to get because very few people are like Timothy, of whom Paul said, "But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, ¹⁵and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus." - 2 Tim 3:14-15

How it grieves me that people who grow up in the church and in Christian families are not wise for Salvation through faith in Christ Jesus because they have not known the Scriptures from infancy.

I guess I am asking more questions here than giving answers. Paul said in 2 Timothy 3: ¹But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. ²People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, ³without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, ⁴treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— ⁵having a form of godliness but denying its power.

Is it a stretch to say that this passage means that the Point is getting harder to get? I think we have more than arrived at this terrible prophetic picture.

Whatever you are doing, it is not more important than teaching your children to love God and to get His Wisdom. Talking to myself here.

Worldview Matters with Brannon Howse - January 8th, 2010

2010-01-12T01:24:00.000-05:00

Worldview Matters with Brannon Howse - January 8th, 2010

I want to encourage everyone to listen to this broadcast. (Click on the link above.) Truly excellent, and a reminder of the curses to come on our nation as we turn more away from God and our foundation.

Listen well.

jc

Two Dancing Blessings

2010-01-08T21:56:00.001-05:00

Not manly, I know, to use the word "cute" a lot, but hey, it is what it is.

Two of my little blessings dancing.

Brit Hume to Tiger Woods: Turn to Christianity to Find Recovery and Be a Great Example to the World

2010-01-07T10:56:00.002-05:00

Brit Hume to Tiger Woods: Turn to Christianity to Find Recovery and Be a Great Example to the World

Wow - it doesn't get much better than this.

Another Bird Video at Winter Park

2009-12-29T19:22:00.003-05:00

This video is pretty amazing. These jays would eat right out of my hand!

Fun with the Local Winter Park Wildlife

2009-12-29T19:12:00.003-05:00

The local jay population was very glad when we dropped by for lunch. They were not afraid at all. We counted 4 birds. They seemed to prefer granola bars over bread!

Josie Sledding Video

2009-12-26T14:45:00.004-05:00

Fun in the Snow

2009-12-26T14:31:00.005-05:00

Why So Called Christmas Music Drives me Insane

2009-12-23T23:21:00.003-05:00

Before you think that I am bah humbug scrooge kind of thing, hang with me for a moment. I am all about music that celebrates and exalts Christ, and singing about His amazing birth is certainly worthwhile. Scripture says that we should speak to one another with "psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs..." So I am all for that kind of thing, which is truly and purely "Christmas Music."

But then, there is the other stuff.

A few Sundays ago, I was driving to church - the Christian music station has a thing called Sunday morning Praise - with worship songs. I usually enjoy it. However, I had to shut it off with a "you have got to be kidding me" when they played "Here Comes Santa Clause" by Elvis (He pronounces it "Sanny Clause".)

So, if anyone is reading this, consider the following. Non Christ-centered "Christmas music" has just a few themes:

First of all, It's winter. These are the blatantly non Christmas songs, because they are more about meteorology than theology. This is the "Walking in a Winter Wonderland," "Sleigh Ride," "Let it Snow," and the remarkably rediculous "Frosty the Snowman." If people want to sing about winter, that's fine. It's better than most of the trash out there in popular music, but call it winter music, not Christmas music.

Second, there is the Christmas Chronology songs. Those are the songs that croon over and over the difficult and complicated fact that "It's Christmas Time." - i.e. Silver Bells and that horrid Band Aid song "Do they know it's Christmas time?" (Well, they obviously do, if they listen to western popular Christmas music. The '80s need to apologize for it's contributions at times.) Perhaps the worst Christmas song ever was the Paul McCartney's musical disaster about having a wonderful Christmas time. (So antithetical - how could you have a wonderful Christmas time if you have to listen to it?) Do we really need songs that tell us that it's Christmas Time? It's the closest that music gets to singing the calendar.

Third - there is the string of breakups, and dumping of boyfriends and girlfriends that seems to happen most often at Christmas time, if you judge it by the sheer number of these songs. Elvis sang "Santa Bring My Baby Back to Me." At least it's kinda catchy.

Fourth - the bizarre category. Santa Baby? Santa's Beard? Grandma Got Ran Over by a Reindeer? 'Nuff said.

Fifth - Superstition, mythology and absolute falsehoods. No Virginia, there is not a Santa Clause, and you would be better to learn about the real life of Saint Nicholas (Veggie Tales did a great job with this on their new Christmas show." Among the worst of the worst:

From Santa Clause is Coming to Town. "He sees you when you're sleeping. He knows when you're awake. He knows if you've been bad or good, so be good for goodness' sake" Call me Scrooge - but that is as anti-Christian as it gets. Anything that is in opposition to the grace of God is a bad deal, and the idea of being good to get stuff from Santa - the god like minor deity who is a very cheap substitute for the real God - is a mockery of the Cross of Christ.
From Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas: "Through the years, we all will be together, if the Fates allow..." What the heck are fates anyway? This song is more unChristian than many songs on popular radio. The "Fates" is equal to chance or luck, which in reality is nothing. I am better off putting my trust and hope in this couch I'm sitting on than the "Fates." At least the couch is a real thing.

And so it goes. I am not opposed to songs that tell a story or that even just plain silly, but even those songs have to be rooted at some level of truth. I know what some might say - they're just traditional Christmas songs, and I shouldn't try to overanalyze them. I understand that, but that's kind of like saying, "Wrong ideas are ok if they are in traditional things that bring us warm fuzzies."

Wrong ideas are still wrong.

There is some traditional Christmas music sung by Burl Ives or Frank Sinatra or Burl Sinatra or whoever that I just don't like the style and the music, but that's really not the most important thing. The important thing is that music leads the heart and mind to embrace beliefs.

I don't let my kids play any of the "guitar hero" or "rock band" games because I don't want the worldview of the songs to be in my kids hearts and minds. Music has a way of doing that, and doing it very well. I remember all too well songs that I listened to in my youth that were filled with wrong, ungodly ideas, and I believed the wrong ideas because I loved the songs. Why would I want to glorify worldly and wrong ideas just because it is in "traditional" music?

Finally, just to be clear, I am not saying that all traditional, non Christ-centered Christmas music is filled with wrong, ungodly ideas, but it's about intentionally glorifying God in every aspect of life. If we can't keep Christ front and center in every way at Christmas, then when can we?

I played music on my keyboard many years ago for a business Christmas party in Joplin. I played every Christmas Carol I knew, but the big shot of the party griped because I wasn't playing "Christmas Music." He said that because I hadn't played "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" or "Jingle Bells."

It was one of those "You've got to be kidding me moments." As a student of the culture, I learned a lot and grew up that day. I don't want that culture to be the culture that my family is saturated with.

If I'm wrong - let me know - I am open to anyone's thoughts.

Are You Too Familiar With Jesus?

2009-12-23T10:12:00.003-05:00

^{Mark 6:4}Jesus said to them, "Only in his hometown, among his relatives and in his own house is a prophet without honor." ⁵He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. ⁶And he was amazed at their lack of faith.

Mark Moore made some comments on this passage that went something like this. If you want to impress Jesus, how are you going to do it? Are you going to create a fabulous painting that will impress the one who created the universe? Are you going to do some amazing feat or stunt that would wow Jesus? He raised from the dead - it doesn't get any better than that! It is a difficult thing to amaze Jesus, but the gospels record that it happened twice.

Jesus was amazed by the faith of the centurion - who asked Jesus to just say the word and his servant would be healed. It also happened here in Mark 6 - Jesus was amazed at the lack of faith of those in his hometown of Nazareth. Interesting - all the things that we do to try to impress Jesus, and Jesus is amazed by great faith and no faith at all. Why were the people of Nazareth so faithless?

When Jesus came with his disciples to Nazareth, he went to the synagogue and began to teach. At first it seems that the hometown crowd is impressed - verse 2 says that "many who heard him were amazed." But their amazement, like that of Jesus, was a negative amazement - they were scoffing at Jesus as they asked a series of five questions:

"Where did this man get these things?"
"What's this wisdom that has been given him, that he even does miracles!"
"Isn't this the carpenter?"
"Isn't this Mary's son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon?"
"Aren't his sisters here with us?"

So, the quick and easy answers to those five questions are: God, God's, yes, yes, yes. I guess they really weren't looking for answers. These five questions reveal their thoughts about Jesus:

He's just a man - a common man. There is nothing special about him. He's just the carpenter, and that's all.
Since we know him and his family, we know all there is to know.
A person is defined completely by his family connections - we know them, and there is nothing special about them, either.

So, the end of verse three says that they took offense at him. The Young's Literal Translation says "and they were being stumbled at him." Meaning, they were continually offended by Jesus - offense added to offense.

So the equation here is familiarity minus faith equals offense. They were offended that this carpenter had come back home as a Rabbi.

And that offense and lack of faith had consequences. Verse 5 says that he could not do many miracles except to heal a few people. Jesus is God - why would he not be able to do miracles? Well, it's not a lack of power on Jesus' part, but a lack of willingness on the people's part. In chapter 5, Jairus went to Jesus. The bleeding woman desperately clawed through the crowd to get to Jesus. In Nazareth, only a couple of people came to Jesus in faith, and only they received the blessing.

The application here is are you too familiar with Jesus? Do you see him as another aspect of your life or the source of your life? Do the stories and teaching of the New Testament seem common and dry? I think it is easy at times to think of them as "merely" stories, like the people of Nazareth saw Jesus as "merely" a carpenter.

I think this is one reason why so many young people fall away from a relationship with Christ. They have been taught the stories all their lives at church. They know the stories, but they don't have a relationship with the author. They study Acts, but not Romans. I have seen the rolling eyes and the heavy sighs from many young people that communicate loud and clear "we've heard this before."

Maybe if you are too familiar with Jesus, then you don't fear him enough. Maybe there is no faith - just familiarity with the stories.

Don't miss the opportunity to be blessed and healed by Jesus because of a lack of faith.

Are You Desperate for Jesus?

2009-12-17T09:57:00.005-05:00

Jesus concludes his triple header of amazing miracles in Mark 5 with a "two-fer" - the healing of Jairus' daughter and the healing of the bleeding woman.

While the miracles themselves are amazing, I am very impressed by the tenacity and the desperation of Jairus and this woman. Jairus, who was an important guy as a synagogue leader, sought Jesus out among the crowd and fell at Jesus' feet, asking for help for his sick and dying little girl. This touches me as a father. There is perhaps nothing more scary than having your own little child be deathly ill. I can only remember feeling that way once with our kids - when Jordan was a baby - she was breathing so weird and pained that we took her to the hospital.

Having 8 kids, you would think we have made many trips to the ER, but we really haven't. I can only remember three times.

I can only imagine that Jairus was (as an experienced leader of people) was essentially bulldozing through the crowd. What a crowd it must have been! Jesus - the ultimate people magnet -was making his way through the area and Jairus must have been pushing people out of the way - desperate to make a path. Jairus certainly had a level of faith. His level of faith was for the here and now - the desperation of a focused goal - an important, but temporary gain. His desperation was similar to the reason why a football team does better on it's goal line defense than on the other 99 yards of the field. It was crunch time. It's do or die. It's all about blazing a highway through the crush of humanity so that my daughter will live.

Get Jesus to the girl. Get Jesus to the girl. Stay focused on the goal. Everyone else in this crowd is unimportant - surely people must see that.

I can relate to this guy - I can be so task oriented that I forget that reality is not so cut and dry. I have at times been so focused on getting the family to church on time (so we can worship God) that I have missed the true needs of my wife and children. But yet it seems so right and holy and isn't drive and determination supposed to be a good thing?

The trouble is for Jairus, and for the rest of us, is that Jesus is more concerned for His glory than our goals. It's like the scene in Evan Almighty where the congressman guy is confronted by God - God wants Evan to build an ark, just like Noah. Evan whines to God and complains, "but building an ark is not in my plans!" I love God's response - he just laughs - and that is Biblical, too (Psalm 2:1-6). God wants our obedient hearts, not our self-focused plans.

Jesus has other things in mind. While poor Jairus, as desperate as he is, is only focused on one thing - "get Jesus to the girl, get Jesus to the girl," he does not realize who Jesus is and how incredibly adept He is at multi-tasking. Could it be that Mark is writing this sequence in such a way as to say, "calming the storm was impressive, and casting out demons is incredible, but Jesus can also heal the sick and raise the dead at the same time."

We don't know much about this woman who touched Jesus in the crowd (5:27), but there are a few things we do know about her:

Her problem was bleeding - for 12 years
She had suffered greatly
Doctors could not heal her
She spent all she had for her health care
Her illness had become much worse

There are also a few things that we can make good guesses on based on her condition and the culture of the time:

Her "bleeding" most likely meant vaginal bleeding
Her condition would make her smelly and unclean (literally and ceremonially)
Most likely, she was alone and uncared for by a husband or family
She could not enter the temple, or have children
She might have had to yell "unclean" to everyone as she approached
Anyone she touched would have been unclean as well - perhaps that is why she only wanted to touch Jesus' clothes - so his clothes could be changed and he would still be clean.
As an unclean, childless, sick woman, she would have been a rejected and worthless person to society
She was most likely very weak and was near death.

So this is the shape she is in as she claws through the crowd. She also had faith in Jesus, but her faith was at a little different level. Her faith brought her to Jesus, to the point that she thought that even touching Jesus' clothes would heal her.

Jairus was busy dragging Jesus to his house, but this woman was busy dragging herself to Jesus. Both had faith, but the actions born out of their faith showed the depth of that faith.

When she touched Jesus and she was healed, I can only imagine her joy - yet her fear at the same time - Jesus knew what happened of course, but he asks the question "Who touched my clothes?" Perhaps he was giving her an opportunity to come - opening the door, so to speak. When she comes, he blesses her. While this incredible drama is unfolding, and near conclusion, the word comes that Jairus' daughter has died.

Then Jesus has the opportunity to grow Jairus' faith. Jesus said, "Don't be afraid; just believe." Jesus wouldn't let a little thing like death stop him from magnifying his glory and growing faith in the heart of a father.

Jairus had failed in his mission. He had not been able to get Jesus to the girl - he was a failure as a father. He couldn't protect her and provide for her enough. As a dad, I say, "been there, done that." I love my children and I want the best for them, but I can only do so much. I can't protect them in every situation. Sooner or later, they will walk out the door. I will have to give away my daughters to be married to some guy who won't be as good as me! Instead of trying to bring Jesus to my house, I need to be bringing my house to Jesus!

I can't imagine what they must have thought when Jesus brought them into the death chamber, took the girl's hand, and told her to get up. If it would have been me, I would have even been more desperate for Jesus.

Joy Daisy's Birthday Gift

2009-12-11T11:51:00.003-05:00

For Joy's birthday, she wanted me to build her a house for her little animals (It started out as a dog house, but ended but housing horses as well.)

I used cabinet rail as the "fence" around the "yard," which is a 2 X 2 1/4 inch birch plywood. The house is made from 1/4 inch and 3/8 inch poplar craft project wood.

Joy and the girls painted the fence and the yard, and the little flowers on the house.

I have never made anything like this before. I sure learned a lot!

Are You Amazed by Jesus?

2009-12-08T08:45:00.005-05:00

^{Matthew 5:5}Night and day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry out and cut himself with stones.

There is so much that is just creepy about this story - the demon possessed guy (Matthew records that there were two of them), alone in the graveyard, screaming at Jesus. Pigs dying. People rejecting Jesus because of their fear. Here is another story that examines the fear of God - except that these people, told Jesus to leave. The disciples at the end of chapter 4 "feared a great fear" and responded with amazed worship. These pig herders (obviously not Jewish, but Greek) were afraid and responded with amazed rejection.

I think that Mark, in his fast paced, bang, bang, bang style, is demonstrating the power of Jesus at the end of chapter 4 and in chapter 5. Jesus has power over all nature - he calms the storm. Jesus has power over the spirit world -he rebukes and redirects the demons out of this guy. And later in chapter 5 - Jesus has power over sickness and death - he heals the woman and raises the little girl from death. In case anyone was confused about who Jesus is, he has the same power that God has! The response of people in each situation was basically the same: fear and amazement:

^4:41 They were terrified and asked each other, "Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!"

^5:15 When they came to Jesus, they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons, sitting there, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid.

^5:20 So the man went away and began to tell in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed.

^5:33 Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth.

^5:42Immediately the girl stood up and walked around (she was twelve years old). At this they were completely astonished.

Before I go on, I just want to say that I think that one of the reasons why Christianity is so dull and dry these days is because we have lost our fear and amazement of Jesus.

Jesus raised the dead! Oh, that's nice. I saw that in the Terminator movie.

Jesus cast all the demons into a herd of pigs! Oh, that's not nice that Jesus killed all those pigs.

Jesus calmed the storm! We can easily explain that by looking at the meteorologic data.

We are so used to science and data and the movies that there is little that impresses us anymore. Maybe that is one reason why people love to go see movies with incredible special effects and grand visual elements. Maybe people are looking for a way to be amazed - to be impressed.

But these things are just false realities - Computer animation can make it look like dogs and cats can talk, but God could truly make a donkey talk. If you want to talk about fear and amazement, here is something that is truly amazing - the complete and instant life transformation that happens to this poor guy.

My favorite verse in this story has always been verse 5. "Night and day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry out and cut himself with stones." People don't usually talk about the flowery and beautiful language of the NIV, but I love the way this verse is written - there is so much description in those few words. Think of all the ways this man was described here:

He never had any rest (Night and day)
He lived with death (among the tombs)
He was completely alone (in the hills)
He was in constant pain & agony (he would cry out)
No one ever heard his cries (in the hills)
He wanted to die (cut himself)
He abused and hated himself (cut himself)
He had nothing (with stones)

There are more descriptions in the other verses and in the other accounts in Matthew and Luke - but isn't that one verse enough to describe how alone, destitute and pain ridden he was?

But Jesus did heal him, and he was completely transformed - that amazes me. Jesus told him, "Go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you." Can you imagine a more zealous evangelist? What would they say? I wonder how they responded? Did his mother cry? Did he have a wife or children?

One thing that we do know (verse 20) is that he told everyone in the areas about Jesus and his deliverance, and the people were amazed.

I hope that you too, today are absolutely amazed by Jesus.

Are You Terrified by Jesus?

2009-12-04T08:59:00.003-05:00

⁴¹They were terrified and asked each other, "Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!" Mark 4:41

It is easy to imagine many things in this scene - the boat, the storm, the wind and waves. When Jenette and I took our then 1 year old Joel to California, we somehow ended up talking with a guy who volunteered to take us on his sailboat. We had never been on a sailboat before, and didn't quite know what we were getting into.

The first problem we experienced when we got to the marina was that the guy only had adult size horse collar life jackets. Being the safe and responsible parents that we were, we had but one choice - hold Joel down and put this gigantic thing around his neck. It truly was bigger than he was, and looking back now, I wonder if it would have helped at all if he went in the drink. Well, that put him in one of those screaming, pitching a fit, "I'm gonna die" moments that all little kids occasionally torture their parents with.

Once we got under way, we quickly realized that Joel had more reasons to scream, because the ocean was choppy and rough. The sailboat guy didn't seem to be too concerned, but we thought we were riding a wild horse instead of a sailboat. Joel was so completely and utterly freaked out that Jenette took him into the little cabin so at least the sailboat guy could concentrate on the rough waters without the toddler sonic blast. The sea became progressively more rough and the wind was amazing. I thought more than once that the whole boat was just going to be blown over into the waves. It was a perfectly miserable, frightening experience.

And it was the experience of the disciples. The Sea of Galilee is known for its fierce and fast approaching storms. They didn't know that on this particular day, a storm would come upon them quickly and without warning. But, its important to remember who commissioned this trip. Jesus was the one who said "let's go over to the other side." (Mark 4:35). I can't help but wonder if there was already a breeze in the air, or if the fisherman disciples cast nervous looks at each other.

These fishermen perhaps had seen these storms before and knew there wasn't much to do except to hold on and to pray. I think the interaction between the disciples and Jesus is really interesting here. First, they wake him up and said, "Teacher, don't you care if we drown?" or perhaps in other words, "quit sleeping because now is perfect time to panic!"

Jesus wakes up, speaks to the wind and waves "Quiet. Be still." And then to his disciples: "Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?" (Vs. 40)

Verse 41 says their response - "they were terrified!" Or as the KJV says so beautifully, "they feared exceedingly." Or how about the Young's Literal Translation that says "they feared a great fear."

How crazy is that? This story is a lesson in fear management. "Afraid" in verse 40 is about being timid or chicken. The "feared exceedingly" word in verse 41 is about sheer terror. One might say that these poor guys were more afraid after the storm was calmed than while it was raging! I studied the first Apologetics Press lesson (posted earlier in the blog) with the kids this week - it is about the "Cause and Effect" argument for the reality of God - that there has to be a cause for the universe to happen, and that cause has to be before and greater than the effect.

These guys saw this cause and effect thing first hand - and it literally put the fear of God in them. I think that is why Jesus had them make the trip, because they needed to fear God more than they needed anything else. And then to make the association of fearing Jesus as God himself - I'm just sure their mouths were left hanging open.

What about you - do you need to fear Jesus more? I think too often we think of Jesus only as the sweet hippie looking guy who carries lambs on his shoulders and plays with little children. He's more than that though - as gentle as a lamb, but as fierce as a lion.

"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline." Proverbs 1:7

Mark 4:26-29 Outline

2009-12-03T09:13:00.000-05:00

We can learn how God's Kingdom grows by considering these paradoxes:

Introduction:

What is God's Kingdom? It is first of all the reign of God over everything. Second, it is the reign of God in the individual. In the New Testament, the Kingdom is also about Jesus coming to reign. Christians debate whether Jesus' Kingdom was established fully when he died and rose again, or if the kingdom won't be fully established until He comes again.

In these parables, the seed is the Word of God, and thus, the place where the Kingdom growth begins. Kingdom growth in the Bible is filled with paradoxes.

1. The sower is not the grower. Mark 4:26-29
2. The smallest seed becomes the largest plant. Mark 4:31-32

A seed dies in order to give life. (See John 12:24)

Apologetics Press - Home Study Courses

2009-12-01T09:45:00.000-05:00

Apologetics Press - Home Study Courses

Looks like some good stuff. I have not seen all the lessons yet, although I liked the one on the sinners prayer (down at the bottom).

jc

Mark 4:26-29

2009-12-01T08:11:00.005-05:00

²⁶He also said, "This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. ²⁷Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. ²⁸All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. ²⁹As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come."

This parable is the only parable that is recorded by Mark alone. It's almost a part 2 of the sower parable - for the seed is surely the Word of God. The focus on this parable is not on the how receptive people are, but on the growth of God's kingdom, and here's the big news flash: you and I are not needed to make it grow.

Are you kidding me? I, who have worked in Christian ministry for all my adult life? The Churches I have worked at, and now the Camp - won't they crumble into ruins if I am not there doing my part? How can God grow His Kingdom without me? Well, pretty easily.

What is more powerful and unstoppable than growth? Sure, a plant can die if it does not get the proper nutrients, but if it is alive, it is growing. I looked back at my blog here from a while back and read some of my postings about my "extreme gardening" project behind our house. I started last fall (2008)- taking down the "Roman Barricade" as Jenette called it - dismantling the huge pile of logs and ice storm debris so that we can have something close to a yard back there. After I did so much work last fall and winter, clearing and cutting and removing a million rose vines, the spring and summer happened. I got busy with camp, and the roses popped up again, and the weeds grew more happily than ever. The Spring of 2009 was the first in three years that we did not have a major late killing freeze, so everything grew, well, like weeds.

It seems just yesterday that I had three baby boys. Now I have three young men. (and some young ladies as well!) - Growth is amazing and unstoppable, and it all comes from God. Night and day, whether I sleep or get up, the Kingdom of God is growing, just like the seed, and I don't know how it works. It seems to me that these days are destined to have the Kingdom diminish - because of the evil that has run amuck and how our country's leaders are trying to lead us further and further away from God. But it just this type of situation that Kingdom advancement has always been seen in the Bible and in history. What is more powerful than the growth of God's Kingdom?

I visited an interesting town last Sunday. I went to the Christian Church in Liberal, MO to share with the Church the exciting things that God is doing here at MBC. (And, this is a great little Church! We loved being there!)

Liberal, Missouri was founded as a town that was to being with God, churches, Christians, Jesus, and (oddly enough) without saloons. See this article for more information. It was supposed to be a "freethinking" society, without all the messy difficulties of religion. It didn't take long for the town to be in utter chaos, for Christian missionaries to seize the opportunities afforded by the chaos, and for God's Kingdom to advance in this small town. What is more unstoppable than the growth of God's Kingdom?

Even though the preaching of the gospel was crucial to the life of Liberal, MO (and to every other group of people on the planet), the point of the parable is that God is going to grow His Kingdom - if one person is disobedient in the call, God will use another. Verse 28 points out the way that the seed grows - "All by itself." The Word of God, planted in the hearts of people is like that seed that has a way of growing all by itself.

Paul talked about this same idea in 1 Corinthians 3:1-9. People were arguing about who was their spiritual leader and "father." Some said it was Paul. Others said it was Apollos (a NT missionary). Paul said, "I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow." (1 Corinthians 3:6)

Finally, there is an end in sight - there will be a harvest, and it won't be the weeds that are harvested (as we see in other parables) - it will be the grain that is producing fruit. What is the fruit of the Kingdom of God? How about love, joy, peace, patience, etc... (I can say them much faster than I can type them). Not only will God grow His Kingdom with or without us, but He will do the harvesting.

So, to all my friends involved in ministry, here is my encouragement. Fear God, not the people in the congregation. It's His Kingdom - His power behind the growth - His holiness - and His harvest. Is no one being baptized at your church? Are the disciples falling away? Maybe it's because church leaders are aligning themselves with the world more than with God.

Why would God want to grow a baby Christian in a worldly, loveless, passionless, Pharisaical, lukewarm church?

Isaiah 55:10-12

¹⁰ As the rain and the snow
come down from heaven,
and do not return to it
without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
¹¹ so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.

Mark 4:21-23

2009-11-30T07:50:00.003-05:00

²¹He said to them, "Do you bring in a lamp to put it under a bowl or a bed? Instead, don't you put it on its stand? ²²For whatever is hidden is meant to be disclosed, and whatever is concealed is meant to be brought out into the open. ²³If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear."

The principle of sin exposure demonstrates to me that God is more interested in His glory than in our dignity. Mark carries these words in the context of the "seed" parables in Mark 3. It is sandwiched between the parable of the sower and the parables of the growing seed and the mustard seed. In this context, it seems to me that Jesus is saying that a life confronted with the word of God (the seed) becomes exposed.

It's like the Word is a spotlight on the heart, revealing it for what it truly is. In Mark, this seems to be descriptive of the power of the Word to expose the heart. In Luke 12:1-3, Luke ties this to the exposure of hypocrisy in the Pharisees. In Matthew 10:26-27 these words are placed in the context of Jesus' sending out of the twelve - there it is like an encouragement - don't be afraid, all the hidden motivations will be exposed.

I wonder also if Jesus is referring back to the confrontation of David by the prophet Nathan - 2 Samuel 12:12 "You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel." The hypocrisy of David was blown away in this confrontation. The holiness of God has a way of shattering foolish thinking, if we take the time to listen.

It doesn't matter what you do or where you do it, you can be sure that your sin is a stinking reality in the face of God. To all you guys who think that no one knows what you look at on the internet or about the magazines you have stashed out on the top shelf in the garage, here's the truth: not only does God know and grieve over your sin, but Jesus paid the price on the cross for that sin. There was no hiding the cross - the ugly hideousness of evil was fully revealed on the cross.

And beside that, God will find a way to expose your sin and glorify Himself. I played a little game with Joy, Jewel, and Jenna on Saturday. I hid several little bottles around the camp that contained a dollar each (in dimes - I was trying to get rid of all the loose change I have!). I gave them each a turn and said they needed to go find the treasure, and I would tell them "hot" or "cold" depending on how close they were. Jewel and Joy Daisy picked up the trail really easily, but little Jenna had more trouble with it. The reason is that she didn't want to listen to me about which direction was "hot" or "cold." Instead, she just wanted to blunder about and (I guess) try to find the dollar completely on her own.

Once I (well, actually, her sisters,) convinced her that she needed to listen to me, she started to do better and found the treasure. I think this is why God exposes our sin - because God is trying to lead us to the true treasure - Himself! If we have hidden sin, we will act just like Adam and Eve, naked and ashamed and busy trying to cover themselves up with fig leaves, thinking that they were clever enough to hide from God. Sin exposure is a Bible principle from the very first pages.

I have been praying that I would fear God more and thus grow in God's Wisdom. The principle of sin exposure leads me to fear God more. When I worked at Oakwood Christian Church in Enid, OK (seems like a lifetime ago now!), in a momentary fit of insanity, the church leaders allowed the youth group to paint the youth room. (I think that Eric Keller - must have been part of that painting group!) They painted an amazing mural on one wall, but did very random, almost graffiti stuff on the other walls.

There was a bathroom in this room because the room was also used occasionally for little kids. In the bathroom on the wall facing the toilet, (along with a dorky looking smily face, there was painted in bright, happy colors, "Smile, God is watching you." If you fear God, then there's only one way to smile when you think about that, and that is smiling in the blessings of obedience.

⁸For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light ⁹(for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) ¹⁰and find out what pleases the Lord. ¹¹Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. ¹²For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. ¹³But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, ¹⁴for it is light that makes everything visible. This is why it is said:
"Wake up, O sleeper,
rise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you."
Ephesians 5:8-13

Sabbath days

2009-08-11T21:25:00.002-04:00

Ok, so it's been a few days since I have blogged, so if anyone thinks I fell off the edge of the planet for a while, I am proclaiming my return to the blunderblog. Blogging is something that I greatly enjoy - it's somewhat therapeutic - but I kind of have to be in a certain mode to blog. That mode is usually reflective and many times somewhat melancholy - I guess that's why many of my postings are deep and usually dark. At least, I think so, but I haven't gone back and read everything I have written in the last few years recently, either.

So I am sitting here watching a printer spit out 2000 camp newsletters, thinking about this, that, and the other thing, so it is a splendid time to blog.

First of all, the summer camp sessions were finished over a week ago, but I had the opportunity to represent the camp at two different VBS programs. One in the morning in Springfield, and one in the evening in Joplin. Even though it was a hectic and tiring week, I greatly enjoyed being a part of both VBS's. At the Northside VBS, they asked me to be a part of a lesson where I was Pharoah and all the kids were the plagues. I think they greatly enjoyed abusing Pharoah.

As for summer camp, it was another awesome experience. I like camp because all the adults who come (for the most part) are there because they want to be there. They are willing to serve and to show God's love to the campers and to others. I don't know the official number yet, but I am guessing that there were around 500 adults throughout the summer. When they come and volunteer at the camp, and they serve God and invest themselves in the kids, you truly get to see the best of the Church. It is amazing what God's people can do when they are willing servants.

Church people spend too much time majoring in the minors, and too much time minoring in the majors. I would like to call all my Christian friends and family - anyone who is listening, to get rid of all the petty bickering and whining and griping that is so destructive, and to be servants in their churches.

I have been convicted recently that I need to do more than I am doing to advance God's Kingdom and to help others understand God's truth. I have already begun part of that journey as I am teaching for a few weeks to the youth group on Sunday nights.

I am also going to attempt a new direction with leading a small group - I'll write more about that another time, but that is also part of my conviction.

These days after camp is over for the summer are always a hard transition for me. I am eager to get back into a routine, but I am bummed out that the excited, eager servants of God are all gone for now from the camp.

But I can see the big picture better than I could the last few years. In many ways, I feel like every day serving at MBC is better than the day before. Like Penny said, we know we are growing because we have a new set of better problems. I am actually looking forward to the fall and winter, because I can see a better vision this year of my role in my family, the camp, and the church.

Although I have enjoyed several Sabbath days or rest throughout the summer, the days that I have advanced God's kingdom the most are the days that give me the most energy.

I turned 40 last week - and I feel like I am just beginning. I guess that's a good thing!

jc

Finishing the Race

2009-06-01T02:36:00.001-04:00

Been too busy to blog - but hopefully once camp starts, I will be less busy. I have been flying through a long check list of things to get ready for camp. I hope to be done with all that by Wednesday this week, but we'll see.

I'll try to blog more this week sometime.

Now that I got Jenette her new little 'puter, maybe she will read my blog more!

jc

When People Are Big and God is Small

2009-05-11T01:22:00.010-04:00

I mentioned in a previous post something about the book When People are Big and God is Small by Ed Welch. I wasn't actively reading it at the time, but the title sure impressed me.

Now I am reading it, and have decided to study it with the 5 older J's. I would encourage anyone and everyone to read this and especially to share it with their children (at least older kids.)

Some of the things I have been learning and thinking about based on this book are as follows:

EVERYONE struggles with issues of "fear of people" or peer pressure, or whatever it is called. Those who deny it are fooling themselves or too proud to acknowledge it.

My children all struggle with this in different ways - the boys different from the girls, and each of them different from each other. In our environment living here at the camp and homeschooling, this shows up in several key areas: their relationships with people from other churches (camp people) and their relationships with friends at our own church that they want to try to stay connected with. We had a really great conversation last week, and all of them shared how they struggle with this. I challenged them to remember that everyone deals with this and we need to treat all people with love, honor, and respect because of it.

I also thought of the many young people that I have tried to minister to and mentor over the years (most of them, quite unsuccessfully). Many of them were so busy needing people that they forgot that they needed God more.

Many of those young people at the time said that they loved God. But as I look back on it, they may have "loved" God by feeling a connection to the righteousness of God or the Church, but I don't think they "feared" God. In fact, they, just as I did at that age, had everything backwards. They emotionally "loved" God (or said they did), and feared people, instead of fearing God and loving people. Obviously we need to "love" God. But the Biblical idea of loving God by obeying God (Read 1 John) is different than the cultural idea of "love," which is all about how someone feels.

The book makes an emphasis on the fact that our sinful nature causes us to need people to determine our worth and fill us. The more that we need people, the more that we become a prisoner to them. I remember being at the age that my boys are right now, and how much I needed to fit in. I needed to wear the right clothes. I needed to listen to the right music. I needed to act like, think like, talk like and look like everyone else, so there wouldn't be any "handle" for anyone to grab and exploit. If I could just meld into the crowd, I would be safe. I didn't realize that I was making myself into a safe prisoner in a cage locked up and secured by the thoughts I thought people thought about me.

Oh, how I desperately, pitifully needed the approval of everyone! I needed approval from my friends and my parents and my brothers and my youth minister and everyone else (and they frequently had conflicting ideas about who I needed to be). I jumped through a lot of hoops to do all that - so many hoops that I forgot that I needed to need God first and foremost!

I really think that many Christians, (including myself in the past) don't really want to fear, need or trust God. Sure, we want fire insurance, but in the nitty gritty of life, do I trust God enough to choose to follow him instead of the crowd? Would I be like the three brave young guys in Daniel who refused to bow down to the idol? Or would I be more like all the other good people around them who were bowing down, justifying themselves the entire time? Do I need God more than I need my life?

If I need people, then I am in bondage to them. However, if I love people, and make the active but difficult choice to not need them or fear them, then I can treat others the way that God wants me to. I could never admonish someone I feared, and the Scripture says that we are to admonish one another. How could I share with anyone what they "need" the most - the gospel message, with all it's offense regarding our sinfulness - if I am crippled by the fear of what people think about me?

How can a leader lead in fear of people? How can a Christian teach others if he is afraid of what people think? How can I be a direct influence for Christ if I am afraid that people will think that I am an idiot? How can a dad lead his children to grow to be godly adults if he is afraid that his kids won't like him if he applies godly correction? How can a camp manager effective manage things if he is always afraid that someone won't like something?

I guess one of the applications of all this for me is this: If you are in my sphere of influence, I am going to love you more and fear you less. I am going to obey and follow God to the best of my ability. I am not going to worry about what you think of me. I am not going to try to impress you. I want to serve you and encourage you, but I don't need you to serve or encourage me.

I won't long for a pat on the back, an "atta-boy" or gushing praise. I am not going to need your kind words to bolster my view of myself. I will listen to you, but I don't need you to listen to me. I humbly ask for direction, correction, and admonishment, and I won't punish you for doing it.

God has already declared in His Word that I am His child, and that is enough for me. Who could add anything to that anyway? As a prince of the King, I am going to do my best to serve and love all those that God puts in my path.

The Biblical view of Modesty (to the chagrin of Christian beauty queens)

2009-04-25T01:18:00.008-04:00

This video just had me flabbergasted for all kinds of reasons. At the great risk of letting a rambling rant erupt here, allow me to humbly analyze the wacky, inconsistent values of America.

First up, who in their right mind is shocked that this poor girl didn't win because she gave an answer in support of traditional marriage? Have we not realized that the media is firmly in control by those who shun traditional Christian values and that those who speak out otherwise are going to be put into their place? Now, I didn't (and wouldn't) watch this silly beauty pageant, but doesn't the very fact that young women dress up in next to nothing bathing suits and bop around the stage like they are posing for Playboy shout out that traditional Christian values are meaningless in this event?

And along that line (ooh, this might rock someone's boat out there) - I greatly admire Sean Hannity, but I had to laugh out loud when he said to her, regarding the pageant, that the pageant is supposed to be about outward beauty and inward beauty! Are you kidding me? Come on, Sean, if that were the case, wouldn't we have at least a few pudgy ladies involved? I think that is one of the most ridiculous things I have ever heard. You could almost see him backpedaling as he was saying that. Mr. Hannity is very intelligent and usually shows tremendous discernment. But, come on! These gals don't put on the evening gown and the skimpy swimsuit to show off their inward beauty.

I don't want to judge this young lady's heart or intentions, but the Scripture tells us repeatedly that we can and should judge the actions of people around us to see if we should be following that influence. That is something that we should be doing all the time.

(Even the "Do not judge or you too will be judged" passage in Matthew 7 is clothed in the context of seeing what hypocritical religious leaders are doing and not imitating those ungodly actions. The point of the passage is not "don't judge anyone at all," but, "look at your own heart first"- you must remove the plank from your own eye before you try to help your brother remove the speck from his eye.)

So, in order to encourage the Church in this public forum, let me humbly try to get the speck out of this sister's eye as I get rid of the plank in my own.

I have a real problem with this young lady saying she wants to be "Biblical" and stand on her principles about traditional marriage, but doesn't seem to have any issues with strutting around the stage mostly naked. (And, though I did not watch the pageant, there is enough of her swimsuit walk on the Hannity clip to determine that she absolutely was strutting. - This was a sexually provocative walk that screamed "I am woman, look at my hot bod.")

I know that some will think I'm an idiot, moron, or sexual deviant for thinking these things - oh well.

What about being Biblical in that wearing clothes is a necessary result of sin? Adam and Eve were clothed by God himself after they sinned in order to cover their shameful nakedness. Isn't that enough Scripture alone to give us the theology of modesty?

Or how about being Biblical about what true beauty is? 1 Peter 3:3-4 - to women - "Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight."

Or how about being Biblical about not causing a Christian brother to stumble into lustful sin? (See 1 Corinthians 8:8-13) Jesus said that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. (Matt. 5:28) Does she think that the old geezers sitting on their couches at home in Peoria have godly thoughts in their hearts as she goes about the stage? Does she really think the boys in Buffalo are thanking Jesus for what they are seeing? Has this young lady been fooled or is she naive? Maybe a little of both? I really don't know.

I would not have watched this pageant because I know the sinful tendencies of my own heart. (This is the part where I am yanking the plank out of my own eye.) I would not let my sons watch the pageant because I want to train them to "flee the evil desires of youth" - 2 Timothy 2:22. I would not let my daughters watch the pageant because I don't want them to ever think that this type of demonstration of women is ever a good thing. We don't call it pornography, but that's what it is!

How sorrowful and sad that a seemingly nice Christian girl has set before the already confused Christian girls in our culture that you can be Biblical and immodest at the same time. Light and darkness intermingle perfectly! What a deal! You can be a friend of the world and a friend of God at the same time! (James 4:4)

Should we wonder why Christianity in America is so messed up?

There's a reason that we wouldn't let this young lady wear her swimsuit to the Maranatha Bible Camp pool, and it has a whole lot to do with the fact that all the young guys (and many of the old ones) who were checking her out wouldn't be thinkin' about Jesus. Biblical modesty is just as important a principle as Biblical marriage, and they in fact are literally "in bed" together. Just as a fire has it's right, safe place and context when it is in the fireplace, sexuality (which is created by God and is a pure, wonderful thing) has it's right, safe place and context in marriage, and only in marriage.

Actions really do speak louder than words, and it is hard for me to accept that this young woman has a truly Biblical view of marriage because of her "actions" on that stage.

Proverbs 6 & 7 talks about the young man who is lured into sexual sin by a woman who is dressed like a prostitute, and who can "captivate you with her eyes." Is this not what is happening in this so called "beauty pageant?" Isn't the idea that the girl who can wow the judges the most wins the crown? And how does she wow them? With her beautiful body - and to a lesser extent, with her words. That we award a prize for that and put it on TV demonstrates our desire as a country to go against God's standards.

The Biblical principle of modesty, based on the above Scriptures, is that people should not draw undue attention to the fleshly, sexual aspect of their bodies outside of the context of marriage.

Finally, this video clip bothered me for two more reasons. First, Miss California encouraged young people to "follow your heart and stay true to yourself." I think I know what she meant by that, but that is an incredibly unbiblical statement. King David was following his heart and being true to himself when he lusted after and took Bathsheba. Our hearts are wicked. We need to lead our hearts to the cross of Christ, not follow our hearts. We are liars (Romans 3:4) and only God is true all the time. We need to be true to God, not ourselves. Maybe that statement is just the overused, lame thing that is always said at beauty pageants and high school graduations, but it still deserves at least a jab of discernment.

And also, does anyone else beside me find it amazing that this has resulted in a controversy? Why would we expect anything less? Do those that find it controversial think that this is some form of "persecution?" I don't know that for sure, but I would challenge anyone who thinks that this is persecution to ask Christian preachers in India "what do you think Christian persecution is?" Or what about Christians in China or in Muslim countries who sacrifice everything to follow Christ? Maybe we think of it as persecution, because we have no idea what persecution really is.

Another controvery erupted recently when President Obama said that American was not "a Christian nation." Again, why the controversy? Didn't we already know that? Didn't we jettison God out of the public arena a long time ago? Several presidents in the last 20 years or so have been Christian, but has that played out in the court rulings? In the public schools? We can tell people to follow their hearts at high school graduations, but we can't tell them to follow Jesus. Are we not a "post-Christian" nation? Don't we need Christian missionaries to come here and set us on the right track of following King Jesus?

In my last post, a commenter asked when I think our country began to get off track. I think it was when we as a country decided that the Word of God no longer had any place whatsover in guiding our country and our public policy. Our Constitution framers used Biblical principles to create a government that would give religious freedom to all people. In the last 100 years or so, we have drifted further and further from that anchor point. Now it is taboo to talk about the Bible or Christ in any public discourse.

While I hope that we will continue to enjoy the freedoms we have in this country, I don't expect them to last, because people who hate Jesus hate His Word and His Church. I pray that I and my family will be faithful and ready for those challenges.

Am I wrong? Challenge me. Sharpen my truth in the truth of God's Word. Help me refine a correct, Biblical view of modesty and what that means practically. While people have many different views on how modesty should actually be lived out in our world, my prayer is that all Christians would use His Word as our guide and not our own opinions and lame ideas.

So, that's the end of my humble rant. Comments are greatly appreciated.

jc

All the Many Things I Have Been Dwelling On

2009-04-09T23:25:00.002-04:00

Well, it has been a few weeks since I have blogged, but here's the run down on the many things I have been working on and thinking about:

1. The Arizona Missions Trip.

All the effort was well worth it. I thoroughly enjoyed spending the week with high school students. I was the driver for the "Girl Van"- (as opposed to the "Man Van"). I got quite an education into "girl world" from those young ladies. They didn't always realize that I was listening, and most of the time I wasn't, but it helped me understand a little bit about where my girls might be in a few years. I will be prepared! Not all of those girls are completely boy crazy, but the fellas were definitely the chief topic of conversation.

These girls are also very techno-savvy. It wasn't so long ago that technogadgets were solely the playground of guys. These girls were mostly very diligent workers and were delighted to be with and play with the kids at the Indian reservation. We did a lot of very hard, demanding, physical labor. Most of the guys seemed to jump right in and take the work in stride, but the girls had to work hard to work hard, and I was encouraged that for the most part, they did that.

I was impressed at the patience and Godly compassion that the couple (Gene & Sherry) had for the kids that they worked with every day on the Reservation. What an incredible example of shining the Light of the gospel in a dark world.

2. Dead Vans.

So after we wrecked our old Ford, the camp let us have the old Chevy van. That was great, but last Sunday, the motor blew, so we were back to square one. In just a few short days, I figured out that it would be crazy expensive to install a rebuilt motor. It seems like such a waste to junk a vehicle that otherwise works. It is difficult to make decisions about things that I know are going to fall apart at a later time anyway. I guess the choice is, do I put money into this vehicle that is going to fall apart soon, or do I put money into that vehicle that is going to fall apart later? Even Amish people who use horses know that their horse is going to die sometime.

So, I spent a little more money to buy a van that will fall apart later, and interestingly, as soon as my brother got the van and my parents went to go pick it up, he noticed that the radiator needs to be replaced. Oh well.

3. And Dead Computers

Our home computer died of multiple organ failure - I guess you could say the brain and the heart were fried. So, I need to figure out how much money to spend on a new computer that will fall apart and die later. (oh, and the camp office computer had a hard drive go south on us - hopefully that has been fixed.)

4. Big Government.

I just can't believe that the government has gone so crazy spending money. This is truly alarming, and I am encouraged by all the "Tea Parties" that are coming up on Tax Day. I am praying that our country will not descend into complete godlessness, led by the secular progressives who have the power of the country.

5. And Bad Government (Godless Government)

I had the great privilege of speaking at the Christian Campus House in Springfield last week. I was asked to talked about Micah chapters 4 & 5. In order to get the historical perspective, I studied the kings of Micah's time. Micah prophesied during the time of three kings of Judah - Joram, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. Ahaz was a bad king who led his country into idolatry. He even shut up the temple of God and used the articles of the temple to set up altars to idols. Ahaz also called on the king of Assyria for help when he got in trouble, and it only brought more trouble, as the Assyrians soon put Jerusalem under seige.

I couldn't help but think about where our country is now - and I think that the obvious testimony of Scripture is, "as the leaders go, so goes the country." And when God's people are not led properly, God does not like that. In Micah 5, we see that God will raise up a leader - the Messiah, who will shepherd His people and give them peace and security. He himself will be our peace. If you are reading this, and you think that you can put your hope in our government to help you do anything, or to provide peace in the world, please remember the lessons of Scripture. I think that our countries leaders right now would appeal to the king of Assyria if we were under seige, instead of calling on God.

2 Timothy 2 says "avoid godless chatter, because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly." Sound familiar?

6. It's getting down to Camp crunch time

I have been getting more busy as we get closer to camp. We are now less than two months away. I am scheduled at different churches every Sunday between now and June except for Easter and Mother's Day. I am humbled by the great numbers of people who love the camp and are excited to get their kids involved. I am wanting to do as much work as I can to encourage as many people as I can to come to camp. I am working on a working list of everything that needs to be done in the next two months. It is exciting, and I can't wait. I am praying earnestly for 2000 campers.

7. Our hope is in Heaven

Last night, I was studying 1 Thessalonians 4 with the kids - I love the simplicity of the explanation in this passage of what will happen when Christ comes again. Will all the crazy nonsense that is passed around about the return of Christ, I wish that people would simply read this passage and, as it says, "encourage one another with these words."

So, allow me to encourage you - Christ himself will come down from heaven with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. The dead in Christ will rise first, and after that happens, the believers and followers in Christ who are alive will be caught up with the arisen dead in Christ, and we together will meet the Lord in the air.

So all the things that we worry about so much and that we put so much of our time and energy into will be completely worthless that day. (In fact, all that stuff is going to burn) The only thing that will really matter on that day is our love for our Lord and how many people we have led to that love.

8. With this post, I have beat my number of posts for all last year!

Endure hardship like a good soldier of Christ

2009-03-19T23:05:00.004-04:00

This has been an incredible week here at the camp. The high school youth group from Crossroads Christian Church in Grand Prairie, TX has been here. They were scheduled to go to Mexico for their spring break missions trip, but had to go somewhere else because of all the violence going on down there.

They ended up here because, I believe, God is blessing this camp. As we talked to their group leader, Matt Cameron, we all saw that God had his leading on the group coming to MBC.

One of the major projects that they did was to extend the basketball court - a project that needed to happen for our camper's safety on the BB Court, but was just not going to happen because we didn't have anyone willing to do it. When we first talked to Matt and showed him around the camp, he wanted to know if there was concrete work to be done!

Matt and his group were willing, and they worked hard on the basketball court and many other things.

Let me try to list the things that they did:

Painted five retreat center rooms
Extended the concrete all the way around the basketball court
Painted the entire inside of the Mark Dorm (Left side)
Cleaned windows and blinds in Mark and Luke
Completed the framing for the Retreat Center basement laundry room & meeting room
Cleaned up the burn piles at both entrances
Moved the pile of broken cement rocks from behind the Retreat Center
Painted the bathroom shower area of Mark dorm (right side)
Raked up massive piles of leaves and burned them
Cleared out areas of the camp that had downed trees and limbs
Hauled piles upon piles of tree limbs out to the south property
Finished clearing the white pine trail
Raked leaves around 7 shelters and cleared brush around them
Moved rocks and cut logs from area in front of Penny's house
Cleaned the MPB kitchen
Painted the ball shed & constructed shelves for balls.
And several other "here and there" things

I am thrilled that this group has chosen to spend their time and energy and money on MBC. I figure that they accomplished almost 1,000 man-hours (and woman-hours!) of work. At just minimum wage, that is worth well over $7,000 worth of work.

I kept mighty busy running around trying to keep them all going. I enjoyed hanging out with Charles, who desperately wanted to chop down a tree. I gave him my axe, and he got after it. I encouraged him that, just as an axe needs to be sharpened in order to be an effective tool, his spiritual life was important to keep "sharp" through the study of the Word and through fellowship with believers. I hope and pray that he will remember the lesson.

I am pretty tired, but I feel like this was a desperately needed boost to getting us toward where we need to be for this summer. Now is the time to endure, and finish the work of preparation. I keep praying that God would lead 2000 campers to come to us this summer. I want the camp to be ready for every single one.

On the third day (Wednesday), I encouraged the group I was working with on the trail clearing that they were doing a great job, but they needed to continue and endure until the end of their time working. I reminded them of the Scripture in 2 Timothy 2 that says to "Endure hardship like a good soldier of Christ Jesus." Many of these young adults were delightful, diligent, and almost cheery about the hard work they were doing. I didn't want to slack off or give in to weariness, because they were being such a good example to me. What better reasons are there to do hard work than to glorify God and to keep up with diligent young people who are working their rears off to glorify God?

Next week, I am off to our Church's youth group missions trip to American Indian Christian Mission in Show Low, Arizona. I pray that I can be as diligent and faithful as the Crossroads Christian people were.

The Theology of Fear

2009-03-15T23:14:00.003-04:00

I was actually able to go to Glendale this morning for church. Jeff did a great sermon today about fear, based on this verse:

Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Matthew 10:28

So this is a timely message, with so much fear running amuck in people's hearts and minds. The economy creates fear - the woeful government creates fear, what doesn't in this day and age? I fear for my children's future - not that they have to have lots of money and stuff, but they are going to become adults in a very ungodly world that is bordering on the national socialism that created so much fear in so many parts of the world in the last century.

I was interested in one of Jeff's key points, that one way to fear God and God alone is to give your reputation to God. Allow Him to be bigger and more awe-inspiring than those around you. Jenette has a book that she has been reading called "When People are Big and God is Small." (By Ed Welch, if I remember right.) I haven't read much of the book, but I love the title. I know I have spent a lot of my waking hours thinking about how to impress people and how to keep up with those around me. I have feared people more than I have feared God. Or, at least, I at times have entrusted myself more to the judgment of others rather than the judgment of God.

Through Christ, God judges me as righteous - His precious child. "Whom then shall I fear?" asks the song.

I made some notes to myself as I listened to the sermon. When I give God my reputation, I need to not only give over my fear of what others think about me, but I also need to give over my fear of offending people when I do what is right. It seems kind of stupid to be worried about offending people by doing what is right, but I worry about that. In fact, I think I fear people worrying about me more than I fear what they think about me.

I need to do what is right - live by the conviction that I am following God to the best of my ability. I need to project nothing to others but humble submission to God. I have occasionally had criticism for some of the decisions that I have made for our family. But not only do I not have to explain myself to anyone, I don't have have to fear their offense.

I gave up a long time ago trying to be "cool" enough to fit "in" to any kind of group. I need to finish that by giving up trying to walk on eggshells around those who are easily offended.

So, just to open a can of worms here, there are many (at least some) who think that we are dumber than a bag of hammers to have eight children - and not just to have eight children, but to not actively practice birth control. I have my story on that, but I will keep that between Jenette and I and the Lord. Those who have been critical have been hurtful because of what they meant to me.

I spent a lot of days worrying that other people would worry about us. That has been a foolish venture. The fact is that the Scripture says that children are a blessing from God. Why would I not want to have God's blessings? And why would anyone be offended by that? I don't know. I posted another blog post several months ago about the football player who had "John 3:16" on his eye black. People were offended by that - greatly offended by the love of God. Why? I guess because people's hearts are hard.

So, this is one small area among so many that I have feared people more than I have feared God. One of my favorite parts of Psalm 34 is verse 7:

The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them.

I like that a lot - I want the angel of the Lord to be encamped around me. The petty opinions of people will seem pretty small in comparison to that.

Two years old, with a license to drive.

2009-03-07T13:57:00.002-05:00

It hardly seems possible that Josie could already be driving. She turned two today, and there she is in all her glory, driving (or at least being pushed in) her big birthday present, a little plastic car, while holding her little glow bear.

The camp is an outstanding place for these young ones to grow and play. Even though there was a retreat going on at the retreat center, (usually the Retreat Center parking lot is where the kids ride around) yesterday we came down to the circle drive to let Josie truck along on her new ride. Since it can be pushed, there was even some minor squabbles about who would be able to push her and for how long. I was thoroughly impressed that Jason was able to ripstick and push her at the same time. This Saturday was certainly a lot better than last Saturday!

Her new wheels gave me an appreciation for the nice freshness of a brand new car, especially since it was a $36 dollar brand new car, which is probably the only brand new car I will ever buy. I have been thinking about cars and vans and the sort since last Saturday, when our beloved Ford van met it's demise at the base of a rather stout electric pole.

I was impressed at how quickly our insurance company jumped on our claim, and after the value was assessed and a check issue for our loss, it made me realize what a great deal we had found when we bought the van over three years ago.

Since it was such a great bargain, I toyed with the idea of getting the van fixed - maybe it wouldn't be perfect, but it wasn't perfect to start with. Maybe if I could get it to a body shop for an estimate, or have my brother look at it, or salvage it myself and keep the extra money...all the possibilities.

But then I started thinking about the realities. How much would I have to spend just to have it towed to a shop for an estimate? Then, if I didn't like the estimate, how much would it cost to have it towed to another shop, then another? Even if I liked the estimate, how long would it take? Would the insurance company even insure it after they had declared it a total loss? Would the front end ever be the same again? Surely the engine block itself was destroyed by the impact - the frame was twisted and broken and absolutely fried - what was I thinking?

This didn't go on very long before I realized that I would just be better off starting over with a different vehicle - this ole Ford was done, and destined for the scrap pile. After all the Scripture says:

"What is twisted cannot be straightened; what is lacking cannot be counted." Ecclesiastes 1:15

Well, there you go. "what is twisted cannot be straightened." Hmm, that's not what the body shop phone book ads say.

I couldn't help but think about this in light of my little two year old and her new car. In fact, it brought to light one of my great struggles that I have faced over the years in my ministry to youth. I spent a lot of time with students who were messed up in their view of life and truth. To think that I could try to "straighten" that out for them in a few hours was maddening and insane. Their twistedness began long before I met them.

The greatest "twisting" that anyone faces ever is truth twisting - not the crunching of metal and fiberglass in a car accident, although that can be truly devastating. The twisting of truth in a person's life stays twisted - only the Lord can straighten that out, and that through many years of readjusting our worldview though the leadership of the Holy Spirit in the life of a Christian. The truth will remain twisted in the life of one who refuses to listen to God's truth.

At my high school, the principal would give a long speech over the school intercom at the beginning of every semester. I don't remember any of it other than the refrain of "no note, no change," which had something to do with changing classes. Only with a note of permission to change from parents (or was it teachers?) could a student go to the office and request a class change. The principal would say this "no note, no change" thing at least a dozen times each time he gave this speech, and it was a common thing for us to joke about.

The refrain of the Bible is "no truth, no change." If you listen to the father of lies, you will speak his language and lies will be your native tongue. Jesus said in John 8

⁴³Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. ⁴⁴You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. ⁴⁵Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me!

Like my poor old Ford, what is twisted cannot be straightened. When a child grows up with twisted truth, listening to lies, speaking lies, living lies, and believing lies, that child becomes an adult whose native language is falsehood, and he doesn't even know it.

What I want for little Josie, (and all the 8 J's ) is that truth - God's truth, is always front and center for her. It's her North Star - her Polaris. It's her point of reference. I want God's Word to be my kid's default setting - their basic assumption about life - their native tongue. Of course they all have a sinful nature - sin's twisting is evident in their young lives. But if there is no point of reference - no Polaris, no unshakable absolute truth, then that twisting will continue unabated.

At two years old, Josie's heart is a lot like her new car - not perfect, but clean. She will become the product of her influences, just like every other child in the world. If she is immersed in the flood of the lies of our culture, and that is the dominating influence in her life, she will grow up with lies as her native language - but that's not going to happen on my watch.

My job as a Christian father is to help establish a Biblical worldview in my children - not just tell them a bunch of unrelated Bible facts. I don't care if they win Bible trivia games, I want them to follow after God's heart. Like the Ford van, it is better to start with a correct and true frame than to try to straighten what has been twisted.

I could spend a lot of time and energy later on in their lives running around trying to straighten them out, or I could be busting my rear right now to make sure that I am doing everything I can do to give them a proper understanding of God's truth, so that they can make the choice to accept that or reject it as they become adults. I will let them choose, and I will pray that they will choose wisely.

My theory is - if their framework is right and they understand the reality of what they might be rejecting, I think they will choose to follow and obey God. Doesn't the Scripture say the same thing in Proverbs?

Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it. Proverbs 22:6

God, help me to build your truth as the true and right framework into each of the 8 J's.

Another picture of the carcass

2009-02-28T13:30:00.001-05:00

The Death of the Ford Van

2009-02-28T10:06:00.002-05:00

Jenette accidently found a telephone pole the hard way this morning. She was being careful on the snowy road, but she slipped off anyway. Life is rough sometimes. She walked away with a busted lip and a very distraught spirit. God took care of her, so I am very thankful. This has been a hard day.

Lessons in the Night Sky

2009-02-28T01:16:00.004-05:00

"Don't be deceived, my dear brothers. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all He created." James 1:16-18

Jenette and I had our date today - we went to a workshop at a local tree nursery about growing fruit trees. We are looking forward to starting our journey with fruit trees. Our family can easily eat an entire case of apples in just one week, so a little family orchard is something we are wanting to get established. We are still wrestling with where and how to plant the trees - we essentially live on a classic Missouri glade, with little but rocks beneath the ground's surface.

While it is freezing cold tonight, just two days ago it was quite balmy. We took the opportunity to do some stargazing on Wednesday night. It was truly a perfect night - no wind, just a little cool, and a clear, moonless night. In fact, it was warm enough that we could hear spring peepers starting to sing their song for the first time this year. Hopefully all those little frogs won't freeze to death tonight.

One of the great things about living here at the camp is that there is a great place to observe the night sky - away from city lights and open enough to see the whole sky. It's on the south property, away from all the lights, out on the open glade that is only used as a cow pasture for right now.

We saw Orion so clearly - and Pleades as clear as I have ever seen. Canis Major (the Big Dog) is one that I have never noticed before, but we saw that one, as well as Cassiopeia and Ursa Major (and Minor) - We pointed out the North Star (Polaris), Sirius, and Venus - so bright that it dominated the sky. The Milky Way was bright and obvious - especially after we had been out there for an hour or so. Joel is our family's official science teacher (by popular vote and by expert status), so I let him do most of the instruction. The kids wanted to quote Psalm 19, so we did that. It was a beautiful night. To sit and consider the glories of the night sky is something that many people never do - yet it just shouts out the power of God and the smallness of people.

Joel told me a quote he read in a book or heard somewhere - that if you put three grains of sand into a cathedral, that the sand in the cathedral would be more dense in filling up the cathedral's space than all the known stars filling up the space of the universe. Of course the assumption there is that the universe has some limited, known space, which is little more than just a random guess by so called scientists.

We have a little book about space and stars that someone gave us, and it begins like this: "In the beginning, there was nothing..." Obviously, without any reference point or reality or truth, everything else in the book is questionable. Without Polaris being fixed in space as we look at it, it wouldn't have guided sailors and adventurers all over the world for hundreds - even thousands of years. Without a point of reference, there is no reality or truth to live by. The book might has well have started, "in the beginning, giant pink bunnies played basketball with plastic mannequin heads." Because if one ridiculous nonsense statement could be made, the option is left open for many others.

If I don't fix my life and the lives of my children on the one reference point - the reality of God and His interaction with us in His Word, then my children can and will believe anything about the world, themselves, and their interaction with God. Is it any wonder that our culture is so twisted, when we haven't pointed the next generation to their spiritual North Star?

Our culture is more like the thinking of a toddler, instead of being "mature and complete," as it says in James. One of the delightful things that happened the other night was that Josie found something and lovingly gave it to Jenette. (Well, actually, she threw it at Jenette). Josie has this fondness for finding random things and giving them to people. Sometimes, she throws it when she is trying to give it to us. She is always very excited about giving something to someone, so she almost squeals in happiness: "Hee, mommy," (or daddy, or whoever.) "Hee" in Josie-ese is translated into English as "Here."

So, out there in the dark, looking at the stars, Josie finds something, and being the very helpful little girl that she is, says "Hee, Mommy!" and tosses this thing at Jenette. Jenette is somewhat startled and dismayed to find that Josie had thrown a cowpie at her. After we turned on the flashlights to find the flung dung, Jenette's panic subsided when she realized that it was a fairly dry pie.

All the other kids and I were thankful that Josie had chosen her mother to endow with such a glorious gift.

Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you

2009-02-25T01:15:00.007-05:00

I have been memorizing 2 Timothy and studying it in the light of my role as a parent. I think that application is valid in the sense that Timothy was a young leader of a Church - a local family of God that most likely got along like many families do. Those who are immature (like my little girls) are constantly bickering because of their selfishness, and those who are older and wiser (my now four budding young adults) have to exercise great patience with the little squirts and great discernment in their interaction with the wider world. Paul spoke to Timothy as a father to a son - the letter is almost like an impassioned plea for Timothy to stay the course - to endure as a Godly leader.

So, in the sense of application, I take it that way as well - I need to stay the course -to endure hardship, to remain faithful in the ministry and duty of teaching and training my own children to be Godly adults. I think that parents too many times forget that we are not supposed to be "raising children," but we are to be training our children to be godly adults.

"...and of this gospel I was appointed a herald, and an apostle, and a teacher," Paul says in 2 Timothy 1:11. I think that defines my role as a father - I need to be a herald - an announcer and proclaimer of warnings and blessings, in advance of the coming King. I need to be an apostle - a communicator of a specific message directed to my kids - that they are sinners and they need to humbly offer their lives to the Lord. I need to be a teacher - to explain to them what the Scripture means to the best of my ability. It was the lack of guidance in these key areas that led the Israelites to falter - because they didn't pass it down to the next generation.

It's interesting that many key Bible leaders did not pass down their faithfulness to God to the next generation. We are only one generation away from complete Biblical ignorance.

So, I am trying to take my role seriously. Trying to tackle this with the kids, we did a study last night about understanding the Scripture. I think my lesson went a little long, as they were kind of getting squirrelly toward the end, but that's how it goes sometimes. It has helped greatly since we have been putting Josie in bed before our Bible Study. She is the reigning "Queen of Squirrelly" and the class clown at age 23 months.

Anyway, I reminded them that three questions we should always ask when approaching the Bible are:

1. What does it say?
2. What is the author's intended meaning (AIM)?
3. How do I put this into practice in my own life?

Or, another simple way to put it is, read it, understand it, and apply it. We have been digging in to James - helping them read, understand, and challenging them to apply it. Even through the squirrellyness - (is that at word?) - we have had some great discussions.

Does Christ-likeness just ooze into a young person's life? Obviously not, as I have simply observed eight children as they grow through all their issues. In fact, it is exactly the opposite, as UN-Christ-likeness actually oozes out of a young person's heart because our hearts, even as small children, are hardened against righteousness. I have thought many times before that someone might call me a "one point Calvinist," because I do think we are evil, and completely prone to sin.

If that evil is not trained out of the child, it will take root in his little life and become a monster.

Paul says in 2 Timothy 1:13-14 -

"What you heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus. Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you. Guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit, who lives in us."

I think Paul is talking about the Salvation that God gives us (if you look at the context), but again, I am thinking about being a godly herald, apostle, and teacher to my children in applying these verses. Is it not equally true that I need to be keeping as the pattern of right teaching what God says in his Word? And I need to be guarding this thing that has been entrusted to me - the spiritual health and guidance of my children - it has been entrusted to me, and to me alone, with the help of my wonderful wife.

Fathers, what are we waiting for? The reason this generation is morally bankrupt and Biblically ignorant is because we have become too friendly with the world. We spend more time and energy pursuing our careers and our pleasures than seeking God and teaching His Word. We have ignored Moses' warnings to not forget God's commands. We have ignored Moses' call for fathers to teach their children diligently who God is and how we need to live for him. Even in the Christians homeschooling movement, it is primarily led by women - moms who teach their kids.

Where are the parenting Elijahs? - Fathers who will call out this generation and cause a ruckus by asking "How long are you going to waver between the two sides of the fence? Who are you going to serve?"

I hope that some day, when I croak, my kids will remember that a relationship with God and the diligent knowing, understanding, and applying of God's Word was more important for me to pass on to them than anything else.

If you are a dad, reading this, then I encourage you to obey the Scripture and make a concerted effort to teach your children who God is and how to live for Him by giving them the Word! That's what I want to do, what I am trying to do, and I ask any godly man to help me stay at it by keeping me accountable.

My Latest Read

2009-02-25T01:10:00.003-05:00

What a fascinating book. This is a trilogy of three books, Black, Red, and White. This trilogy will challenge you to consider the love of our Savior in a wonderful way. I had thought before that C.S. Lewis had done fiction about the redemptive work of Christ in a way that no one else could. Dekker has an "edgier" work here for sure, but he demonstrates God's great love and wisdom here in a powerful way.

Be warned, though, it's hard to put down!

jc

Out on the wild frontier

2009-02-19T14:39:00.001-05:00

We went for a hike today at Talbot Conservation Area. Josie wouldn't cooperate for this picture, but we all had a good time in general!

Bill Gothard - General Teachings/Activities

2009-02-17T23:30:00.001-05:00

Bill Gothard - General Teachings/Activities

It looks like good ole' Bill Gothard is still around, preaching a lot of nonsense. Unfortunately, Gothard has a lot of good in his teaching, with a focus on marriage and parenting. This is unfortunate because many Christians are following his "system" instead of following Christ. My main concern and problem with the Duggar book is that they talk about the Gothard homeschooling material. I have been familiar with Gothard stuff for a long time, and it seems that little of it has changed. Read the article that I have linked to for a good review. It is scary to think that this teaching has had such influence.

Here's another link to a good Gothard review.

The brother in humble circumstances & other things.

2009-02-17T01:57:00.004-05:00

Things I have been thinking about:

1. James 1 (I finally finished memorizing James)

James 1 says that the brother in humble circumstances ought to take pride in his high position, but the one who is rich should take pride in his low position, because he will pass away like a wild flower.

It is amazing sometimes to think about the amazing depth and cultural relevance that just one small verse of Scripture can bring. Our family studied this verse tonight (Jenette had to take the two little ones out - they were howling like monkeys). Kids can think about such deep things when they are challenged to. Jason said that it was interesting that rich people are compared to a wild flower - not a flower in a garden that is cared for and is constantly tended to. I couldn't help but think of all the so called beautiful, and famous and popular people who bring so much attention to themselves by the fame, beauty, power or whatever. But each of them are nothing but a wild flower that will pass away even while they go about their business.

But James also says that God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. At the risk of being too "flowery," I would rather be a dandylion in God's garden than a daffodil in the world's ways.

As I look around and listen to the news about the government spending money it doesn't have to do things it shouldn't do, I also can't help but think that our country is very much like that wild flower. Maybe it used to be within God's garden - tended and cared for, but the forces of worldly freedom and worldly thinking have moved the flower out into the wild places of the world. Sadly, I think that sometime in the future, the blossom will fall and the beauty will be destroyed.

I have been studying Deuteronomy, and there is a constant call to the Israelite nations to either obey God and continue with God's blessing, or forget God and fall under curses. Not only have we forgotten God, but it seems like our country's leaders have gone past all wisdom and have gone straight to outright foolishness.

God, help me to continue to be a "brother in humble circumstances." I want to inherit the kingdom He promised to those who love Him.

2. More "extreme gardening."

My project to actually have a back yard for the kids has been moving along - we actually can get to the creek now, and after another day out there, I think the kids will actually be able to get in the creek without fighting through a million rose vines. We have found the perfect tree for a tree house, although it is still in the uncleared area. We also transplanted six small pine trees from a forested area of the camp to our front yard.

3. Prayer for the Camp

I am praying that MBC will be blessed because of my efforts - like Joseph, whom God blessed because of his faithfulness. I am praying for 2000 campers and 200 decisions.

4. Being the Spiritual mentor and teacher that I need to be for the 8 J's

We have changed some of our routines to help make this work better. I am making progress in this area. I think this is an area that got kind of lost (at least in the regular practice) in our coming to work at MBC transition. After spending several hours praying the other day one of the conservation areas nearby (I'm glad there weren't any hunters there!) - I have seen the importance of getting this back into regular practice.

Fireproof Movie

2009-02-14T23:53:00.003-05:00

What a great movie. I have not been too excited about movies recently, because there is so much garbage in them, but this was a real winner. Made by the same guys as Facing the Giants, this one was so much better. I liked that this movie demonstrated the sin of selfishness in all it's ugliness. Our culture is just so full of people like the couple they portray in this movie. I think the writers and directors did a great job of creating characters that people could identify with.
If you haven't seen it yet, you need to.

Duggars Book

2009-02-14T23:36:00.002-05:00

My latest read - another great example about how God uses ordinary but faithful people to bring glory to Him. Everyone asks us if we have seen this family on TV - of course, only having 8 kids makes our family look, well, small in comparison. This book was a bit of a family history - I guess I would have liked to see it go a little deeper, but I liked the overview. I would really like to meet Jim Bob Duggar some day - just to talk about life and the importance of obedience. This family has taken lots of hits - lots of negative stuff. It's amazing how much vitriol one Godly family can produce. And isn't it great that the Discovery Channel is the one sending out their message? I pray that I will have the faith and obedience of Mr. Duggar.

2009-02-14T15:45:00.001-05:00

Well, today was another day of "extreme gardening," as I like to call it. We pushed back toward the creek just a bit more today, cut up several more huge trees, and burned lots and lots and lots of thorns. I got a brush blade for the camp weedeater and it made the going really easy with those rose vines. Jenna enjoyed sitting on the log stacks. You can see Joel and Jon in the background working on burning rose vines. Our back yard has come a long way. We still have a long way to go.

A great book for Teens by Teens

2009-02-11T15:39:00.002-05:00

I really liked this book - it blows away the cultural myth and expectations of that dreaded animal "the teenager." Joel liked this book too. I think he could relate to much of this book, being the oldest of eight and being in a family living and working at Camp.

I would encourage not just youth, but parents as well to read this. Here is a quote from the authors:

Most people don’t expect you to understand what we’re going to tell you in this book. And even if you understand, they don’t expect you to care. And even if you care, they don’t expect you to do anything about it. And even if you do something about it, they don’t expect it to last. We do. – Alex and Brett

I hope to see more in the future from these young writers.

jc

Eric's Blogosphere: The Economy & Our Opportunity

2009-02-11T15:32:00.000-05:00

Eric's Blogosphere: The Economy & Our Opportunity

From the mind of my great friend, Eric Keller.

I think this is well said. Churches that are nervous about going out of business in this recession should be asking themselves if they are truly following God's plan for their Church. Is it possible that God will use this time of economic trouble to weed out Churches that are not faithful to Him and His Word?

Has anyone noticed that the Church of today is so unlike the New Testament Church that we don't even recognize it anymore?

jc

Fun with a box

2009-02-05T20:19:00.001-05:00

North Carolina Ice Fishing

2009-01-21T17:48:00.002-05:00

Well, it was supposed to be fly fishing, but it might as well have been ice fishing. The trout were as sluggish as my children are on a very cold day. But I enjoyed being out there.

Tim Tebow and John 3:16

2009-01-09T12:33:00.000-05:00

Tim Tebow and John 3:16

John 3:16 -- Latest Bible Verse to Be Featured On Tim Tebow's Eye Black - NCAA Football FanHouse

2009-01-09T12:32:00.000-05:00

John 3:16 -- Latest Bible Verse to Be Featured On Tim Tebow's Eye Black - NCAA Football FanHouse

BCS Aftermath and John 3:16

2009-01-09T12:22:00.005-05:00

So the biggest suprise of the BCS championship game was not that OU lost. Disappointing, but not suprising. It was not that Florida won. It was not that both defenses played very well. It was not that my little girls had fun spreading popcorn all over the TV room. It was not that my mom made sure all my kids had an OU shirt for Christmas. It wasn't even that Tim Tebow wore "John 3:16" on his eye black.

It was that people freaked out about it.

My first reaction - three words -"Get over it." But then I started thinking more about it.

I was very interested to find that google hot trends had "john 3:16" at a medium level Friday morning that peaked just after the game ended.
Of course some people didn't make that big a deal about it - but how amazing that Tebow's eye black made the google hot trends light up. I guess it was that people thought is was a big deal is what surprised me.

One blog post (from a site I won't link to) said that his eye black caused "an unholy controversy."

Yep - just little ol' John 3:16 - how controversial is God's love? Maybe Tim should have put Romans 1:27 on his eye black. Boy, that would have caused some real excitement. Then, google hot trends would have had it as "volcanic" and not just "medium."

How often does John 3:16 show up on Google hot trends? That may never, ever happen again. Although Tebow spanked my team, I am amazed that God could use something as small and insignificant as Tebow's eye black to cause people to search for the Bible verse.

I can certainly handle another Sooner big game loss if it magnifies God's Glory.

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. 1 Corinthians 1:18

After Christmas - they all have OU shirts

2009-01-08T20:41:00.002-05:00

My Winter Park Ski Buddies

2008-12-31T13:25:00.002-05:00

Winter Park, CO

2008-12-28T15:11:00.002-05:00

Jason & Jon in Limon, CO

2008-12-27T10:33:00.003-05:00

Josie on Christmas

2008-12-25T14:50:00.001-05:00

Merry Christmas!

Random Wierd Picture

2008-12-20T10:15:00.002-05:00

Plastic Death heads fall into line - Is this what CPR instructors have nightmares about?

MBC Calendar - Experiment

2008-12-19T14:46:00.000-05:00

Christian Worldview Network - Brannon Howse - Is Bernard Madoff Running the Federal Government?

2008-12-19T12:24:00.000-05:00

Christian Worldview Network - Brannon Howse - Is Bernard Madoff Running the Federal Government?

This article makes an interesting point - that having congress lecture automakers about poor management, decline into debt, and ridiculous spending practices is a little like having the fox lecture the chickens about their lax security policies.

The Name of the Lord is a strong tower. The righteous run to it, and the are safe. Proverbs 18:10

College Without Compromise

2008-12-18T13:58:00.004-05:00

I am very thankful to the authors of this fine book. The foreward by RC Sproul Jr. resounded with me - that many homeschoolers have fumbled when asked about the "college" thing - including myself.

I truthfully had not wanted to think about college for my kids, because I thought we could never afford it and I was not excited about sending my kids off to an environment that I knew would be negative for them.

I read this book and Accelerated Distance Learning at the same time (I bought them both from Global Learning Strategies.)

While the ADL book was very practical, and overwhelming at times, this book helped me see the big picture of a homeschool family using these principles to see their students through college - and it was more specific in it's practicality. While ADL exploded my vision of my kid's education, CWC refined it. Where were these books 20 years ago?

All the years of youth ministry I spent agonizing about the students I loved and cared for (and attempted to teach and disciple for the Lord) as they spritually withered away at college are bitter memories for me. I will be giving this book as a gift to all those I care about.

What a blessing it is that not only homeschool students but anyone can now receive a great education for a reasonable price in the best way possible - at home at your own pace.

I recommend this book to anyone!

What some others have said about the book:

http://servenclan.blogspot.com/2006/01/spotlight-college-without-compromise.html

http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/missouri/135726/

Random posting about this that and the other thing

2008-12-18T11:39:00.008-05:00

This is what I have been thinking about/praying about/studying/ and generally being obsessed with lately:

1. College for my children.

Two great books have held my attention lately:

Accelerated Distance Learning & College without Compromise

Click here to see these books at my Google Books library

I suppose it is beyond the scope of this blog to state how amazing these books are - I have written short reviews at the google site.

I had been really struggling with the whole idea of college for the 8 J's - too much money, too many bad influences, too much wasted time, too much opportunity to do all the wrong things.

Since I have read these books, I have learned that there are opportunities to get a degree in and learn the kinds of computery things that Joel is interested in - in an affordable, distance learning system. Everyone needs to get these books and read them.

2. It's the economy, stupid.

Living at and working for a non-profit Christian camp is an interesting adventure. While the government seems to be having a wild spending party right before complete bankruptcy (bailing out this and that and the other thing with money they don't have), it seems like the proverbial light is at the end of the tunnel. The only problem is that the light is a freight train barreling towards us. Here is what I am resolved to do.

Get out of debt. If anyone has followed my blog at all (Maybe my wife and Janet Stephens - thank you both) in the last few years, you know that I have said this before, but it is getting down to crunch time.

Be wise in spending and investing. Below is a link to an interesting article. (disclaimer - I certainly do not agree with everything the Christian Worldview Network says) http://www.christianworldviewnetwork.com/article.php /4354/Brannon-Howse/By-Gary-Kah Perhaps if more people would take this guys simple advice (get out of debt, save, invest in hard assets, buy some land and learn how to live/survive without the gov't) -we might all be better off with or without an economic crisis.
Learn more about how to live and survive independently - After making our "Great Transitions" to the camp over the last several years, we were able to finally reestablish our garden this last summer with some success - we need to do more and learn more.

While I am not scared- because I trust in the Lord - I am greatly concerned how this coming economy is going to cause great harm - with the potential of causing our nation to make even worse decisions than it has.

3. 2 Timothy 3 & 4

I have never read these before in light of family life - I had always thought of them strictly as a church life kind of thing. Read it - thinking about your family, kids, roles of parents, teaching them, etc. "How from infancy you have known the holy Scripture, which is able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus." As I memorize Scripture, it immerses me into the thinking and the process of understanding God's truth. Someone said that you can learn God's words by reading the Bible, but that you can learn God's thoughts by memorizing the Bible. That is so true.

4. Woeful Bible teaching and interpretation

I won't go into it too much on this public blog, but my older sons had an interesting Bible class experience (not at our home church - at a different church) - I am sick to death of churches who use secular psychology as a form of teaching -whenever I get to write one of my rants on the blog I will talk about this more.

See my latest sermon posted below for my humble attempt to address this. There has to be some solid answers - people should not be allowed to teach Church classes (especially JH & SH) who simply don't know their way around the Bible. Maybe there is a way to train people better. I guess the problem is that they don't know they need to be trained. I learned so well at Bible College, and I am thankful for that ministry, but Bible college is so expensive now that it is out of reach. I need to look into their distance learning options on interpretation!

5. Chain saw chains don't mix well with rocks.

I should have taken a before and after picture (well, after has still not occured), but I have been working through the "Roman Barricade" (as Jenette called it) behind our house. When the house was built, all the trees were just pushed up in a 60 yard long pile. I have been dismantling that pile, log by log, so that a friend can come and level it out for us. I have already done in several brain new chains by getting them into the rocks mixed up with the rootwads and piles.

In case you didn't know it about me - I am one of those "chainsaw guys" that loves cutting up trees. I even made a little bench for the girls with my chainsaw. Maybe I'll start doing chainsaw art.

6. Poop and pee are common daily central themes of life at our house.

Jenette is working on potty training both Jenna and Josie - it has been, well interesting. She bought them both potty chairs - they're pretty cute sitting together. Jenna has been doing pretty well. Josie, not so much. But hey, she's only one.

7. Thankfulness

I am so thankful to God, for my wife and children, for being able to work here at the camp, for the camp directors being so faithful and flexible, for the wonderful house they decided to build for us, for being able to see my family (especially my grandparents) again, for being able to learn about new educational options for the 8J's and for this, that, and the other thing.

jc

Another Sermon at Oakwood Christian

2008-12-17T13:23:00.002-05:00

I guess that is maybe the third sermon I have done at Oakwood this year. This one is "The Sufficiency of Scripture" - and although delivered most imperfectly, is truly one of the dear passions of my heart.

Click on the title link above - then go down to Sunday, Nov. 30, 2008. There is even an outline there.

I am working on reestablishing the wireless internet at the camp so that we can better access it at our house - then maybe more blogging will occur!

jc

My Job Description I created in XMind

2008-12-17T13:16:00.002-05:00

Why the Election Results Don't Bother Me

2008-11-06T01:21:00.002-05:00

1. God is ultimately in charge.
2. This is not my home. Heaven is.
3. I think it will help conservatives re-assess their message and messengers.
4. It gives us more reason to not put our trust in politicians to save us.
5. See #1.

Online Sermon

2008-11-05T23:32:00.002-05:00

Here's a link to a sermon I preached at Oakwood Christian Church back in September. It was quite a reunion for us to be there, and it was such a blessing to hang out with Eric Keller as he has become the preaching minister there.

This sermon was my take on the legacy of Oakwood Christian Church, but it also is hopefully a good discussion of the purpose and legacy of any Bible teaching and believing Church.

Click on the title link above and go down to 9-23-08.

Vlog 5-16-08

2008-05-19T02:02:00.001-04:00

2008 Promo Video

2008-05-14T19:44:00.008-04:00

Self Portrait Holding the camera at arm's length

2008-01-23T23:39:00.001-05:00

Silly Baby and Dad

2008-01-23T23:32:00.001-05:00

Good looking woman in front of a NC waterfall!

2008-01-23T23:26:00.001-05:00

More NC Pictures

2008-01-23T23:15:00.001-05:00

Critters that greeted us at the Billy Graham Training Center

2008-01-21T23:15:00.001-05:00

Hiking in Great Smoky Mountains Nat'l Park

2008-01-21T23:04:00.000-05:00

Happy but Heavy Baby!

What an incredible frozen waterfall! This picture does not nearly do it justice! You can just barely see the top of Josie's head - she was asleep!

Sermon Online

2008-01-21T22:48:00.000-05:00

Here is a link to a sermon online I preached at Oakwood Christian Church in December. It is a Christmas sermon, but I think it is a message that should be heard anytime. Check it out if you want. Click on the above link, (the above posting title)then go down to December 23, 2007.

Dad and sons

2007-12-31T23:20:00.001-05:00

More art!

2007-12-31T23:18:00.001-05:00

Bathroom sign

2007-12-31T23:15:00.001-05:00

Jason's fork art!

2007-12-31T23:09:00.001-05:00

Joel eating

2007-12-31T23:02:00.001-05:00

Joel and Jason

2007-12-31T22:59:00.001-05:00

Jason on the slopes!

2007-12-31T22:56:00.001-05:00

Jason asleep on the bus

2007-12-31T22:50:00.000-05:00

Jewel

2007-12-22T14:09:00.001-05:00

Jewel at Grandma's for Christmas

Jewel at Lowe's

2007-12-22T13:55:00.001-05:00

I've been experimenting with posting pictures from my phone to blogger.

Here's one!

Joy Daisy

2007-12-22T13:40:00.001-05:00

More phone pictures!

Fear Not the Compass | Christianity Today Movies

2007-12-19T11:02:00.000-05:00

Fear Not the Compass | Christianity Today Movies

I like this article a lot. Click on the link above or on the title. The main thing that troubled me about the Golden Compass movie was how many emails that I received that sounded like the Antichrist had arisen and was jumping out of movie screens everywhere.

I love the first line of this article: "Should Christians be afraid of The Golden Compass? Mercy, no. Let's not be afraid. Discerning, yes. But not afraid."

For all those who think that the movie should be boycotted, that is fine, but please don't tell anyone. Have Christians not learned anything in the past 25 years of media "badness?" When was the last time that a Christian "boycott" ever resulted in anything but more hype and interest in the thing being boycotted? Let's not be afraid. Discerning, yes. But not afraid.

Of course Christians should not be a part of worldly things - that is the command of Scripture. You can't be a friend of the world and a friend of God, according to the book of James. So that means that you will have to "boycott" certain things or movies or music or places or words or thoughts or actions. But the minute 3 million emails go out advertising the "boycott," or the minute that the Facebook friends list gets 30 invites to the "boycott The Golden Compass Group," it changes from the personal choice (Maybe shared by friends and family) to advertising.

I have to admit, I was out of the loop on this one, and I hadn't heard about it before. As soon as I heard about it, I wanted to find out more. I would like to think that I have some wisdom and Christian discernment, but I know that many people who received those messages don't have much discernment. They may want to go see the movie even more because of the negative publicity about it.

Besides all that - it sounds like The Golden Compass has been a dud at the box office. They are talking about not making the sequels, which is a good thing. They are now talking about making The Hobbit, which is also a good thing. Check out this link about The Hobbit Movie.

Now don't get me wrong - from what I know about the Golden Compass, I won't go see it, and I wouldn't let my kids see it, nor would I let them see 98% if the movies that are available to see.

So rest easy, The Golden Compass is yet another minor pathetic hiccup in the constant attempts to erode the Christian message and the Word of God. It has already failed, just like all the others. So, smile, praise God for His almighty power, and go forth, sharing boldly the Word of life. Some will listen, some will scoff, some may want to kill you, but hey, with God on your side, it's all good.

My prayer for anyone who reads this, my friends, family, and Christian brothers and sisters all over the world is this...

"...I want you to be wise about what is good, and innocent about what is evil" Romans 16:19

I am now getting off the soapbox.

jc

Duck Tape brand Duct Tape and More! Duck Products Home

2007-12-17T20:10:00.000-05:00

Duck Tape brand Duct Tape and More! Duck Products Home

The picture of the couple who made duct tape outfits for the prom is priceless. They even won a scholarship!

jc

Girls Birthday Special Time

2007-12-15T15:45:00.001-05:00

These happy little girls are dressed up for the Dixie Stampede. This was a special birthday thing that we did for Joy and Jewel's Birthday with Jordan coming along. This was a blast - everything that little girls like. Horses, pretty girls in pretty dresses, lots of animals, singing, dancing, and even more horses. You can't see it in the background of this picture, but there is a horse there that the girls are standing in front of. They liked the food, but they didn't care about eating with just their fingers. We had a great time!

jc

The Word "Maranatha"

2007-12-14T09:48:00.001-05:00

I was doing a little research into the word "Maranatha," and I found out I was partly right about what I thought about it and partly wrong. Many people ask me what "Maranatha" means, and I have always told them that it was a Greek word found at the end of Revelation that means "Lord, Come." Well, I guess having one thing right out of three is not that great, so I am setting the record straight. "Maranatha" is Aramaic, not Greek. It is found only at the end of 1 Corinthians, not Revelation (See 1 Corinthians 16:22). (To my credit, the Greek equivalent of "Maranatha" is found at the end of Revelation, so I guess that part of my answer was at least good enough to pass a small amount of scrutiny.) The part I was correct about was that it means "Come, O Lord."

1 Cor. 16:22 is translated in the NIV as "If anyone does not love the Lord-a curse be on him. Come, O Lord!" However the KJV doesn't translate the last two words - "If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha."

To quote from the Wiki (see Link above):

The phrase seems to have been used as a greeting between Early Christians, and it is probably in this way that it was used by the Apostle Paul. However, the preceding word is the curse "anathema", and because the original texts of the Greek New Testament contained no punctuation at all, or indeed any word or sentence separation, early readers took the two words together and construed the passage as, "If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha". It was therefore believed that "anathema maranatha" must be some exceptionally severe kind of curse. The phrase was in use in this sense at least by the 7th Century, when Pope Silverius pronounced anyone who deceives a bishop as "anathema maranatha" (see the Catholic Encyclopedia article referenced below). One possible understanding of this is that the offender would be excluded from communion with the Church until the return of Christ, tying the punishment to the term Maranatha. John Wesley in his Notes on the Bible comments that, "It seems to have been customary with the Jews of that age, when they had pronounced any man an Anathema, to add the Syriac expression, Maran - atha, that is, "The Lord cometh;" namely, to execute vengeance upon him." The negative understanding of maranatha began to die out by the late 19th Century; Jamiesen, Fausset and Brown's commentary of 1871 separates Maranatha from anathema in the same way as modern scholars.

So, there is some debate about whether the early use of this word was used only as a greeting or whether it was used in the process of Church discipline. Either way, it is little wonder that this Word is "Greek" to our culture today. First of all, the culture, including many people in our churches are Biblically illiterate. They don't know how to study the Bible and apply it to their own lives. Even Church leaders think the only way to "study" the Bible is to get the class in a circle, read a verse, and then ask everyone, "What does this mean to you?" Is it any wonder that our Churches are so messed up and have such a lack of discernment? Is it any wonder that the Spiritual growth and maturity of adults in Churches (not to mention youth) is so woeful? If any verse could mean anything to anyone, then by that logic, "Maranatha" could mean magnetic monkeys driving BMW's.

Second, the idea that there might be an "Anathema" attached to the "Maranatha" is almost considered a hate crime. Maranatha is certainly a word filled with hope in the coming of the Lord, but like so many Biblical truths, it is hope with an edge. The phrase "Come, O Lord" is wonderful if you are looking forward to His return, but if you live for yourself and choose to reject God's plan for your life, then you are not going to be praying "Maranatha." In fact, "Anathema" would be a better word for you.

Now, I am not suggesting that we rename the camp "Anathema Maranatha Bible Camp" - that would indeed be a mouthful. (I can imagine the telemarketers just trying to say that name.) But we, and all of God's Churches that truly want to follow Him, need to give the full message - there are blesssings for those who love and obey the Lord, and curses for those who don't. That's the hard truth. I choose blessings!

jc