Friday, February 26, 2010

Straining to Desire

Matthew 5:6
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be satisfied.

I have this verse written out and hanging on the wall over my desk. I want to be reminded daily that if I desire righteousness I will get it! I want to remember that my desire has to be intense enough that it feels like hunger and thirst. I want to remember that receiving what I hunger and thirst for brings me true joy. I want to remember that my ultimate happiness depends on simply desiring the right things. I want to remember that if I desire the things that God desires for me (like righteousness), he will grant me those things and I won't be disappointed. And most of all, I want to remember that this is the best possible life!

Psalm 37:4
Delight yourself in the LORD,and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Straining and believing with all my heart,

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Athletics and Christianity

Lately I’ve been wondering what to do about my kids and sports.  I sincerely feel torn because I was always involved in sports growing up and enjoyed them, but I’m not sure they were good for my soul.  As a dad, I truly want to consider the positive or negative impact athletics will have on my childrens souls.

It feels weird to even write that last sentence because I know that I may appear weird or fanatical for it.  My temptation is to just start introducing them to sports and signing them up for city teams because it seems like that is what I’m supposed to do as an American parent.  I honestly don’t desire alienation, but I also don’t want to allow something into my family just because it is normal and expected.

I’m just not sure what God thinks about athletics.  This has been bothering me for some time, but especially since I have been the administrator at a small Christian school that participates in a varsity level basketball season.

I have witnessed ridiculous rivalries, parading arrogance, unrestrained anger, aggressive finger-pointing, humiliating words, and lots of tears.  Our teams, coaches and fans usually are not the ones behaving this way, but there have been moments.  Side note:  most of those behaviors listed above have come from adults in the stands or coaches from the bench not from the players, but its easy to see signs of the poor attitudes trickling down to the kids.

What does God think about athletics, really?  I've heard over and over again since high school that God does not mind sports and is actually in favor of them, but how do I really know this?  Maybe he does approve of them, but if he doesn’t, I want to know… even if I’m the only one willing to search it out.


I know that competitive team sports offer many positive lessons to their participants.  The ones that always seem to be mentioned are:  teamwork, diligence, dedication and character.  But are sports the only ways to teach our young people these qualities?  Will my kids truly not learn these things if I don’t involve them in athletics?  And could sports be just another opportunity for me to neglect my calling to train and teach my kids in these ways, trusting a coach and sports program to do it instead?

Also, if sports are so effective at making quality human-beings out of our children, then why is it that 99% of the time the most successful athletes are the last people I want my children looking up to?  I know that there are exceptions to this, but I suspect that athletes like Kurt Warner, Tim Tebow and David Robinson are men of character and integrity despite their involvement in sports, not because of it.

One of my biggest concerns is the tendency for pride to flourish on the sports court, field or arena.  I've seen men totally lose their Christian testimony while participating in sports.  I’m afraid I have done the same thing in the past.  I have often felt that ugly things come out of me while competing in a sport that I never experience in all the other areas of my life.  I know that not all Christian men seem to struggle this way, but there are enough who do to cause me considerable concern.

In my opinion, pride is a more dangerous enemy to my children’s souls than anything else because it is the great granddaddy of every other sin.  Not only that, but in my life I feel pride to be THE HARDEST sin to combat because of its many disguises and its ability to deceive me.

If I view pride the way God does, would I involve my children in an activity that can quickly cause pride to sprout and flourish in their hearts?  Jesus said that when something causes us to sin we should cut it off.  Unfortunately, I like most other men I know, have a pretty hard time imagining cutting sports out of my life and my children’s life- even as I am suspecting that sports could be spiritually detrimental.

That in itself gives me great cause for concern.  Have I unintentionally made athletics an idol?  And if I have, am I willing to crush and burn it?

There is so much more I could write on this topic, but I’m curious what other people think.  Feel free to chime in…


Wednesday, February 10, 2010

The End of Morality

I thought the below video was extremely thought provoking!  Let me know what you think!



Straining to DESIRE righteousness,

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Straining Part 2

Last week at a men's discipleship meeting one of the guys made the following comment:
"I just feel like if I knew for a fact that in one year I would die... I would change everything about my life."

Wow!  His honest statement should resound with us all.  How much of our lives would we change if we knew our days were numbered?

Well, they ARE numbered!  We would all do well to not get too comfortable with this world and these bodies!  Our life here on earth will one day feel like the faintest of dreams while all of eternity bounds over the horizon ahead.

Psalm 39, James 4 and the entire book of Ecclesiastes are just some of the scriptures that plead with us to live like we won't be here long at all.  This is one of the keys to seeing through the veil of this world!  We must not only operate from the awareness that our life on earth is fleeting, but also that when our lives here are done an eternity of reward or punishment opens to us.

If we wake to find ourselves entering eternal reward, then our hearts will thrill to find that each pleasure, adventure, and joy there will be quickly followed by pleasure, adventure or joy that exceeds the previous encounter!  But on the flipside, if we find ourselves entering eternal punishment then our experience will be the constant feeling that the pain and misery is unbearable. In that place, every time we would think it can't get worse we will wail to find it 10 times worse over and over, forever.

One of those two experiences is the destiny of every person you will encounter today.  And for some, their appointed time is sooner than others.  Don't waste a single encounter!  Don't waste a single conversation.  The only way for a person to find eternal reward is through faith in the one true Son of God, Jesus Christ. 

Keep your spiritual eyes open always for opportunities to lead people even one small step closer to Jesus and eternal reward!  And by all means, live like this is not your home!  None of us will be here long.




Friday, February 5, 2010

Eugenics and Down Syndrome Abortion

I recently heard Chuck Colson on the radio talking about the disdain our society shows towards people with disabilities.  He mentioned that medical professionals are pushing more and more pregnant women to take a test that would determine if their unborn baby has Down syndrome.  I know that before we started using a midwife our doctor mentioned that test with each of our pregnancies (though we never felt pressured to use it). 

Then Dr. Colson quoted a statistic that brought tears to my eyes and shook me up for the rest of the evening.  He said that in our country an estimated 90% of pre-screened Down Syndrome pregnancies end in abortion.  Click here to read or listen to the entire commentary.

The implication was made that there are those in the medical community who are glad for this- even to the point that some medical professionals try to persuade their patients to terminate their "unfortunate" pregnancy in subtle ways, without actually telling them to abort.  I have found this implication to be at least partly true in my limited research this morning.
One mother who participated in a study of 3,000 members of five state associations of parents of Down syndrome children reported that when, in 1999, she was told that the baby she was expecting had Down syndrome, a geneticist showed her "a really pitiful video first of people with Down syndrome who were very low tone and lethargic-looking and then proceeded to tell us that our child would never be able to read, write or count change."  (George F. Will, The Washington Post, April 14, 2005)
Even more disturbing and perverse is the idea floating around that the moral and responsible thing to do in such a pregnancy is to abort it.  "Medical ethicist Ronald Green argues that parents have an obligation to avoid 'genetic harm' to their offspring." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Down_syndrome#Screening siting Green, RM (1997). "Parental autonomy and the obligation not to harm one's child genetically". J Law Med Ethics)  And Claire Rayner in an June 27, 1995 article for The Independent states, "The hard facts are that it is costly in terms of human effort, compassion, energy, and finite resources such as money, to care for individuals with handicaps...."

Ironically, Rayner's article was entitled, "ANOTHER VIEW: A duty to choose unselfishly"!  There is nothing unselfsh about killing an unborn baby because his/her genetic makeup and potential disabilities will be costly to the parents!

My heart is grieved over the attitudes of this fallen world.  I can't imagine what God thinks and feels. 

So here's my "Another View":  if God blesses your womb with life (and He doesn't bless everyone that way), then joyfully and lovingly welcome that creation of God into your life no matter what the cost or inconvenience!  The world will not be a worse place because of their life, rather it will be more beautiful!

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Straining to See Through the Veil

My wife's first comment when she saw this new blog was, "I like your title, what does it mean?" 

It is supposed to be description of my life right now...

I don't know about you, but when I try to:
  • see God and His hand and His will around me (John 5:19)
  • fix my mind (and my eyes) on things above (Colossians 3:2)
  • look not at things that are seen but things unseen (2 Corinthians 4:18)
 I end up feeling like I am straining to see through a veil that clouds that type of vision.

Not the kind of veil that totally hides the Lord from those trying to live by the Law, because, "... when one turns to the Lord [Jesus], the veil is removed.... And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. " (2 Corinthians 3:16,18)

The veil I am talking about is the kind that comes from living in a broken world and battling with sinful flesh and enduring the relentless attacks of the enemy.  It is the "mirror" Paul speaks of In 1 Corinthians 13:12; "For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face.  Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known." 

It is the veil between the things of the earth and the things of heaven.

I strain to see through that veil, because I know on the other side I find what really matters.  I strain and I never want to stop, until the day God lifts the veil and I see clearly the things that I have been straining to view and they become mine forever!! 

I can't wait!

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

This Looks Familiar

Here's the deal: I'm pretty good at starting things and pretty bad at finishing them... or even continuing them.
This is probably my fourth attempt at a blog and I begin this one with hesitation. I'd like to say that I will faithfully update, but only time will tell.
I do know I have things to say.
I also know that things happen to me.
So I should have things to write about...

These are the things I don't want:
-I don't want to be a blogging "show off" always trying to impress everyone with my witty ideas and mastery of grammar
-I don't want to present myself as one who knows it all
-I don't want blogging to feed my ego and self-love... they already have plenty of food and I'm trying to throw it all out!

These are the things I want:
-I want a way to keep people (who care) updated about my life
-I want an outlet to wrestle with my own ideas
-I want a roadmap of my faith journey
-I want a chance to see God speak through me and be glorified
-I want a way to be present on the web without using Facebook

Here goes nothing...