Time Travel Tuesday #9
This week is one of my all-time favorites: it's Baby Tricia sporting an awesome mohawk!



And although we're only in the 9th week of this Time Travel Tuesday adventure through my family's history, I went ahead and set up a page where all of the TTT pics will be archived in one location. You can check it out by clicking here!

What do you look for in a church? Ted Kluck [Why We're Not Emergent, 64] offers some compelling insight into the process he and his wife used when finding a church for their family, and it raises some interesting points:

I wasn’t looking for the guys with the biggest projections screens, the coolest ‘gathering place,’ or the best film discussions. I was looking for a theology and a body that I could give my life to and entrust with my children.   The reason I love Christianity and the Bible is that I think they are really the only things in this world that don’t need to be periodically ‘repainted’ or reframed.

Picking which church to attend is a highly important decision, and it should be based more on doctrine and practice than decor and presentation. What good it is to attend a church with the latest technology if it's devoid of the Gospel? Is it better to find a preacher who is entertaining or one who is faithful in preaching the Word?

That's not to say that a theologically sound church can't have modern facilities or that a preacher who is solid in his exposition can't also have an engaging delivery. The point is: if you had to choose between the two, what matters most to you? Would you pick what you want, or what you need?

One other note: Nick and Ashley's wedding was yesterday! Everything went wonderfully, and I'm very happy for both of them! Of course, Ethan was there -- in a suit! He had a good time and seemed to enjoy showing off for all the people (naturally!). We got home pretty late last night, so no pictures are on the computer yet, but trust me: they're coming soon! 

Speaking the Word With Boldness
After being arrested and warned to no longer teach about Jesus Christ, in Acts 4:29 the apostles make this prayer: "And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness."
 
Why should we share our faith?
Of course, the immediate answer is usually because we are commanded to. That's true (see Mt 28:16-20; 2 Cor 5:16-21; 1 Pt 3:15-16; etc), but why are we commanded to? In other words, what is the reason behind the command? Why does God want His people to tell others about Christ? Here are three reasons:

1. It glorifies God. As we obediently tell others of who Christ is and what He has done, we are literally proclaiming the most God-glorifying event in the universe. God's name is magnified in and through Christ's death and resurrection (see Jn 17:4-5; Phil 2:8-11) and we give proper glory to Him as we obey His command and share the story of the Gospel.

2. It helps us grow in grace and knowledge. Another benefit of sharing our faith is that it helps us come to a deeper understanding of it ourselves. In order to communicate it to others, we have to think about what it is we're trying to express to them. According to Scripture, the proclaiming of Christ is one of the ways God matures us in Him (see Philemon 1:6; 1 Jn 1:1-4).

3. It is a means by which God brings the Gospel to the lost. No one has ever been saved simply because someone told them about Christ. We know that only God saves, as He draws people to Himself through the Holy Spirit (see Jn 3:3-8; Eph 2:8-10). Yet God, in His sovereignty, has determined that one of the means by which people will be drawn to Him is as the Gospel is shared by His people. In that sense, there should be an urgency in sharing Christ with others who -- apart from Him -- are destined for an eternity of God's wrath against sin.

Why don't we share Christ more?
I would imagine that most Christians are not only in agreement with everything that was just said, but that most could come up with that list on their own. We all know that we are supposed to share Christ's Gospel with others. So why don't we? I think there are at least three main reasons:

1. Failure to truly grasp the significance of Christ. Most of us (myself included) are quick to talk about sports, entertainment, politics, current events -- but not Christ. On the one hand, it's because learning about Christ is harder than absorbing a football game or music video. But the real issue is one of priority. Our actions tell us that we prefer these other things to Christ, and that means we don't have a strong enough appreciation and understanding of what God has done for us through His Son. We must refuse to treat the Gospel so lightly!

2. Fear of what it will cost us. Many people say they don't share their faith because they don't know what to say, or they are afraid that they will mess up and malign the Gospel. In most cases, those are just excuses that mask the real issue. People aren't mainly afraid that the message will be rejected, they are afraid that they will be rejected. Or thought of differently by their co-workers or classmates. Tragically, we often value our own reputation or social acceptance more than the name of Christ.

3. Foolish choices have compromised our credibility. There are times when our mouths are shut by our own sinful lifestyles. No Christian is perfect, but some of us live in a manner so inconsistent with Christ that if we begin to speak of Him, we know that our own sinfulness will be the first thing brought up. So we remain silent because our actions have drown out our words before we have even said them.

How can we share Christ more genuinely and consistently?
Here are some ways to get started:

1. Repent of any sinful fear or foolishness. Confess all of the weak excuses or poor choices that have hindered you as God's ambassador. Turn away from them and turn to God in faith.

2. Pray for boldness to speak the Word. The apostles in Acts 4:29 were in the face of very real threats of imprisonment, torture, and death, but they didn't ask God for deliverance or protection -- they asked to speak of Christ with boldness. Is that a prayer you can make?

3. Do it. There will always be nervousness, and butterflies in your stomach, and voices of doubt in your mind as you begin to share your faith. Ignore those and do what God would have you to do. Let the words of Christ Himself comfort and encourage you: "...do not be anxious about how you should defend yourself or what you should say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say." [Luke 12:11-12]

Go out today, and in the name and power of Christ, speak the Word with boldness.

Time Travel Tuesday #8
Here's a shot of (from L to R) Mike, Jason, me, and Seth from Huber's Farm back in October 2007. I know it wasn't that long ago, but with Mike and Seth already living overseas, it feels like it's been a while since everyone was together. And I know they're hard to see, but those were some ginormous pumpkins on that cart behind us!     



FYI: I know there hasn't been any new book reviews for a couple of weeks, but I can explain. I'm reading The Count of Monte Cristo (unabridged), which weighs in at 1400+ pages! I've got 700 read already, but that means I'm only halfway done. I'm sure that many of you anxiously await new book reviews (anyone? anyone?) and more will be coming soon! In the meantime, you can read any of my 76-word reviews on 144 other books here.

A very common question people have is about the difference between the Catholic church and Protestant religions (like Baptist, Methodist, etc.). This week's quote comes from Ray Galea [Nothing In My Hand I Bring, 62], a man who was raised Catholic and then later converted to Protestantism after serious study and examination of Scripture. Here's how he breaks down the major difference between the two:

Put simply, the Catholic view is that justification is a process, beginning with baptism and continuing throughout our lives, by which God acts to forgive us and then with our cooperation change us by his Spirit to become more righteous and acceptable to himself. He makes us righteous, infusing justice and righteousness into us over time, with our own efforts and good works, and the sacraments of the church, playing key roles in how this happens.   Thus, when we arrive on Judgment Day, the basis upon which God will judge us is in part what Christ did on our behalf to take away our sins, but also whether we have become sufficiently righteous in our own character to be worthy of salvation.   By contrast, Protestants point to what the Bible says very clearly in numerous places about justification – that justification is an event not a process. It’s a once-off declaration by God that the sinner is cleared of all guilt, and is thus completely blameless and righteous in his sight because of – and only because of – the sacrifice of Christ on his behalf.   According to the Bible, when God justifies us, he doesn’t do it gradually by infusing righteousness into us; he declares us righteous when we put our faith in Christ.

As you can tell, this is a very serious distinction. A proper understanding of what the Bible teaches on the idea of justification (being made innocent in God's eyes) is perhaps the most important aspect of the Gospel. Can I, in any way, make myself more righteous in God's eyes? Or am I entirely dependent on righteousness from someone else? That's the question. Fortunately, it's one the Bible answers, so I encourage you to seek the truth in its pages.

In other news. the Louisville Cardinals lost their third game in a row against the Kentucky Wildcats (although this year's 31-27 game was much more competitive than last year's 27-2 blowout). But I'm not really bringing it up to discuss football. So what's the point of this?

Last year, we dressed Ethan up in some Cardinal gear for game day and snapped a few pictures. So, when we put a UofL jersey on him yesterday, Tricia came up with the idea that we should take another picture of him on the couch and compare. Turns out Ethan wasn't too happy about the idea, but we were able to get a shot or two in before he tried to escape. So here's the difference a year makes:

 

It's a Boy!!!
That's right! Tricia and I are expecting Baby #2, and we had our first ultrasound yesterday (at 19 weeks) and we were able to find out that we're having another boy! This means Ethan will have a baby brother next February! (And we get to start feeding in the middle of the night again!) Here's some of the ultrasound pictures, including the "it's a boy!" shot:    



The doctor told us that everything checks out fine at this stage of the baby's development: heart has four chambers, brain measures good, etc. The heartbeat was strong at 138bpm, and the due date is still set for February 10, 2010.

And we do have a name picked out already, but we've decided not to share that information with anyone until the new guy's here. And although it will be hard not to slip up, I think we can pull it off. Really, it's partly because we want to make the birth announcement a bit more exciting, and partly because we don't want to hear everyone else's opinion of the name beforehand. On the other hand, an unexpected side-effect of this is that Tricia is getting to have a lot of fun throwing out some fake names on her blog. Now, those are some unique names...

Time Travel Tuesday #7
Check out Tricia from back in the day at Christmas. That's her brother John on the left. They both look ready to be finished with taking pictures and to start tearing into presents -- can you blame them? John's facial expression cracks me up, but look how cute Tricia is!!    



And do you remember what you were doing one year ago this week? If you live in Louisville, chances are you were doing it without electricity, since nearly the entire city was blacked out due to the effects of Hurricane Ike. We were without power for 82 hours and 45 minutes, and once the juice came back on, I blogged about out adventures, which you can check out here.

The countdown of my 20 favorite hymns continues this week, and we (finally) crack the top 10, which means we are more than halfway there! You can read #10 below, and see the first half of the countdown here:  

I’d rather have Jesus than silver or gold; I’d rather be His than have riches untold; I’d rather have Jesus than houses or lands; I’d rather be led by His nail-pierced hand Than to be the king of a vast domain, Or be held in sin’s dread sway; I’d rather have Jesus than anything This world affords today. I’d rather have Jesus than men’s applause; I’d rather be faithful to His dear cause; I’d rather have Jesus than worldwide fame; I’d rather be true to His holy name He’s fairer than lilies of rarest bloom; He’s sweeter than honey from out the comb; He’s all that my hungering spirit needs; I’d rather have Jesus and let Him lead

Jesus is greater than sin. We often understand that statement in terms of power, meaning that Christ has conquered sin. We know that from His conception the Holy Spirit overshadowed him, that "the child born will be called holy" [Luke 1:35], or set apart. He was not born 'in Adam' as the rest of humanity is, therefore Christ was not “held in sin’s dread sway,” captive to the curse of eternal death [see Romans 6:23]. Throughout His life, Jesus never committed any personal sin of His own. He remained innocent before God. Because of this, Jesus was able to offer His perfectly obedient life as an acceptable sacrifice for our lives of sin. As “His nail-pierced hand” hung with the rest of Him from the cross, Jesus was bearing the Father’s righteous wrath against our rebellion. In doing so, Jesus "disarmed" [Colossians 2:15] sin and death and made it possible for God to forgive us and adopt us into His family. So Jesus is more powerful than sin.  But the idea that Jesus is greater than sin also refers to pleasure. In other words, the joy we already have in Christ surpasses any kind of gratification or temporary satisfaction we might get from giving into temptation. Jesus is better than sin. This is why a person can legitimately say that they would rather have Jesus that “silver or gold” and “houses or lands”: those things are quick, fleeting, and temporary. It's why Moses chose "rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin" [Hebrews 11:25]. Christ is eternal. What He provides will far outlast “riches untold.” Even the kings of “vast domains” must one day vacate their thrones, either by death or by force. Think of the world's largest empires: Egypt, Babylon, Persia, Greek, Roman...today those empires are no more. There are no kings, no thrones, and no kingdoms. At the height of their power, each empire thought itself invincible, yet they have all been reduced to ruins and remembrance. This is why we are so thankful to God, who has provided an eternal "kingdom that cannot be shaken" [Hebrews 12:28]. All who are in Christ will share in His forever reign! So, how much do you desire Christ? Is Jesus merely something you cling to out of religious idealism or family pressure? Is Christ only good enough to help you navigate tricky dilemmas or make sense of the cultural morass? Have you relegated Christ to a position of spiritual advisor or faith guru? It must not be so. We must not think so little of Christ that we only rely on Him when we reach the end of our own self-sufficiency. And we must not think Christ so little that He is unaware of our foolish attempts to take matters into our own hands. "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given" [Matthew 28:18] to Christ, along with the "name that is above every name" [Philippians 2:9] -- Lord. Jesus Christ, then, is King of Kings and Lord of Lords! He is more valuable than anything else in all creation. He is more valuable than your life, your spouse, your children, your career, your dreams, your goals, and all that you think you need. Nothing is all creation compares to Christ. Can we truly say that in comparison to Christ "I am dead to all the globe, and all the globe is dead to me." Is that how much you desire Him? What would you rather have?

Apart from Christ, we all seek to be our own Lord. This is blatantly obvious in the lives of those who rebel completely against morality and holiness, but there is a subtle way in which it is true for those who have the outward appearance of righteousness. That's what Timothy Keller [The Reason for God, 177] speaks about in this week's quote: 

Sin and evil are self-centeredness and pride that lead to oppression against others, but there are two forms of this. One form is being very bad and breaking all the rules, and the other form is being very good and keeping all the rules and becoming self-righteous. There are two ways to be your own Savior and Lord. If you are avoiding sin and living morally so that God will have to bless and save you, then ironically, you may be looking to Jesus as a teacher, model, and helper but you are avoiding him as Savior. You are trusting in your own goodness rather than in Jesus for your standing with God. You are trying to save yourself by following Jesus.

Take a few moments and examine your own heart and motives -- if you claim to follow Jesus, why do you do so? Is it because you have trusted Him completely and submitted to His Lordship, or are you just part of the Christ Fan Club, hoping to get some brownie points for sticking with His people? Only Jesus saves.

Also, if you can, please pray for me today. The pastor of Rockford Lane Baptist Church is on vacation, so I'm preaching for him in both the morning and evening services over there. Here's what's on the docket for today:

AM Service
Glory, Glory, What's It To Ya?
Why God's Glory Must Be Valued Above All Else
2 Corinthians 3:4-18

PM Service:
If Hope Floats, You're Sunk
True Hope Is An Anchor, Not a Buoy
Hebrews 6:13-20

On another note, Tricia, Ethan, and I went to the Louisville Zoo yesterday. It's amazing to see how much more Ethan notices the animals. He definitely still watches the people, but he was big on the giraffe, the hippopotamus (which was swimming underwater), and the gorillas. Of course, he still gets the most excited for the fish, since he can get right up on the glass and watch them swim. It was a fun way to spend the afternoon!

Time Travel Tuesday #6
Here's a classic of me and my bros from back in 1983. I'm on the left in the Bears shirt (still hadn't figured out the right football team), with Luke on the right and John in the middle. This picture sat on my dad's desk at work for many years...   



I also wanted to mention how nice it was to have a long weekend with Tricia and Ethan! We spent Saturday shopping, Sunday doing the usual church stuff, and yesterday we (among other things) washed the cars...with help from Ethan! He not only played in the water, he even picked up the rag and tried to help us wipe off the dirt on the car! He's a lot of fun to watch in action, and he absolutely loves being outside.

We also took advantage of the Chick-Fil-A promo yesterday: wear any sports team's logo and get a free chicken sandwich! That's right: free chicken! Who's going to pass that up? Not us! So we all donned some UofL apparel and enjoyed some free chicken for lunch. (And Chick-Fil-A was so nice that they gave us three free sandwiches since Ethan was wearing his Cards gear as well!)

Have you ever heard someone say "I don't need to go to church or read the Bible in order to worship God" or something similar? Maybe you've even said it yourself? This week's quote, from a book called Worldliness [edited by C. J. Mahaney, 152], speaks to that very issue:

Knowledge of God gained exclusively from observation of the natural world will always be partial at best, and it can never impart a saving knowledge of God. We need the particular revelation of Scripture to disclose the saving purposes of God in the gospel, as well as to confirm, clarify, and correct our perceptions of the natural world.

So if you're debating whether or not to get up and go to church this morning, do yourself a favor and go to a church that preaches and teaches plainly from the Word of God. Salvation can only be found in Christ, and Christ is revealed to us most clearly in Scripture, so (as they say) you do the math!

Of course, if you aren't sure where a church like that might be (and you are in the Louisville area), you can head on over to Parkwood! I'm preaching this morning, and we're in part 6 of a 7-part series called Blueprints for Building the Church. This week's message is entitled "Ready to Know Right From Wrong" and comes from Ephesians 4:14.

We're also celebrating the Lord's Supper today, and we're going to spend a bit of time explaining what it is, why we participate in it, and what we're supposed to take away from it, so if you've ever wondered about that stuff, this is your chance to learn! See you there!

 Here's the latest in the Rabbit Report:

The baby bunny stayed in the corner all day Tuesday. Before we went inside Tuesday night, I took some of the grass from the original nest and put it next to the bunny. I figured he could use it to make a spot a bit more comfortable than the landscaping rocks he was lying on, and that it might also help the momma bunny sniff him out if/when she came to feed him.

Wednesday morning, the bunny was gone. Of course, given what happened on Monday to the other two, I was worried that a stray dog or cat had found the bunny and killed it. But a search of the yard (and a little further in either direction) was clear. So although I can't be sure, my guess is that the bunny was finally able to fend for himself and hopped off to freedom.

It's amazing how quickly I took an interest in this baby bunnies. I think it has a lot to do with how little and fragile they look: clearly they can't take care of themselves at that stage, and since I disturbed their nest (albeit inadvertently) I guess I felt like I needed to try and keep an eye on them. I was saddened to find the two that had died, but I'm hopeful that the last bunny is out there terrorizing somebody's carrot patch right now!

Time Travel Tuesday #5
Nothing says "welcome to September" like a picture of the Easter Bunny! I'm not sure when this shot was taken, but it was sometime in the late 1990s, shortly after I started working at Parkwood. Bonus points for anyone who can correctly identify who was in that bunny suit!   



Speaking of bunnies...you might remember the nest of baby rabbits I found while cutting the grass last Saturday. Well, we took Ethan over to see them and let him squat down and look at them. He even reached in and pet one -- very gently! He seemed to like them, and he even walked back over to that part of the yard over and over again to look for them.

Sunday afternoon, when I was walking out the front door, something caught my eye. I looked down, and one of the baby rabbits was sitting on our porch! He was right up against the doorway, underneath where our side window runs the length of the door. Tricia picked him up (after chasing him around for a while!) and she put him back in the nest with the others. We could only see three bunnies, but we weren't sure if the others were burrowed deeper or already out of the nest.

We checked the nest again Sunday night, and all seemed fine. Tricia and I even looked out the window before we went to bed to see if we could spot the momma bunny, but no luck.

Monday morning, however, things took a very sad turn.
When I went to see how the bunnies were doing, the nest was empty. At first I hoped that they'd grown enough to be on their own, but when I looked in our neighbors' yard, I saw two of the bunnies, already dead.

They didn't appear to be victims of an animal attack, and they didn't seem to be malnourished.
So I don't know what caused them to leave the nest -- maybe momma didn't come back that morning, or maybe something scared them. Maybe it was time to leave the nest but they weren't strong enough to survive alone.

Later that day, as Ethan and I were walking, I noticed something up against the corner of the house in our landscaping -- it was one of the bunnies! I was able to snap a picture of him, and as you can see, he's still a pretty tiny little guy. I did some more research online, and from what I could find, it seems that once their eyes are opened and their ears are sticking up, they are supposed to be on their own. He looks closer to that, but I don't think he's quite there yet.

As the sun got higher in the sky, the bunny started running out of shadow to lie in. I noticed he was turning around and trying to get closer to the wall to stay in the shadow (either to keep cool or hide better, I suppose). I didn't want anything bad to happen to this little guy, so I took a lid from a plastic storage container and propped it up against the house to keep him in the shade.


That seemed to work, and as of this morning, he was still there. I don't have any idea if the mother came back to feed him (I think he's still close enough to the original nest that she could find him), but I hope so. From what I read, there's really nothing you can feed them that will substitute for their mother's milk at this age. I feel sad for this little guy, especially considering what happened to his nestmates, and I'm hoping he pulls through. Of course, I'll keep you updated...