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Friday, April 30, 2010

Stuff that Caught My Eye

It's been awhile since I posted some links.  Enjoy a small taste of what has caught my eye:

From the Lausanne Movement.  There is tons of stuff at the Lausanne website.  I really encourage anyone to jump into the stream of conversations regarding this summer's Laussanne Congress in Cape Town, South Africa.
Need to communicate a statistic or other number? 
Books mentioned to me lately (I plan to check out):
Christian and Bored with Jesus? Or non-Christian and tired of the hype about Jesus?
  • A letter addressed to Christian's who are bored and want "Christ plus" something else.   

Thursday, April 29, 2010

What's the value of a diploma?

If you never read Seth Godin's blog or if you have never heard of Seth Godin, then you should read his most recent post. 

He is a person.  He writes books.  He knows marketing.  He influences people.  From his vantage point, he has some interesting things to say about the future of traditional higher education (despite the potentially incorrect/highly unlikely statement about Galileo at Harvard).

I think he makes interesting observations; I think it should make us pause and think about it.  What do you think? 


Related Posts:
Accordance v. the Competition
Who influences you?

Monday, April 26, 2010

Refreshing Reminder of God's Process

Today I was introduced to a new blogger.  With me, that statement is a dime a dozen; however, this new blogger is unique.  Amanda, as her blog title explains, is a new Christian.

She has two blogs.  One in which she wrote while an atheist–– and the new one in which she writes as a former atheist.  Check out her blogs!  She includes quotes, Scripture passages, etc.  As I mentioned above, I think her blog is wonderfully unique.  What's so unique about another blog?  I'll tell you, but I hope you go see for yourself.  The blog's unique characteristic is not that she writes cool quotes or important Bible verses (although she does do that, too), but it appears that she designs her own cartoons to illustrate the quotes or verses she mentions.  Her blog is a cartooned commentary.

I've enjoyed seeing her interpretations.  They are a refreshing reminder of God's process––bringing us from alienation (distance, hostility, separation from Him) to reconciliation (nearness, peace, relationship with Him). 

Lord, thank you for the new life in Amanda!  Amanda, thank you for creatively posting your journey!

Monday, April 19, 2010

Today is.....

Monday.  Monday follows Sunday.  Sunday is for gathering in worship of the Risen Lord, and Sunday is the day Chick-Fil-A is closed.  Therefore, Monday is the day that Chick-fil-A is open!

Below is a video by comedian Tim Hawkins.  He is funny by himself, but I think his comedic songs are funnier.  Here is one about Chick-Fil-A.

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Recent Meditations

I encourage you to read prayers from Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions.  They make great gifts (how I got mine; thanks Marty!) but it would make a great gift for yourself. 

There are numerous prayers, which makes it slippery.  You can't read this book like other books: from cover to cover, one after another.  Well, I suppose one could but I think you would be missing out on huge opportunities for meditating and making these prayers your own prayers.

Here is one I have been meditating on the lately, especially the bold sections (Living by Prayer, p. 266-267):

O God of the open ear,
Teach me to live by prayer as well as by providence,
           for myself, soul, body, children, family, church;
Give me a heart frameable to thy will;
           so might I live in prayer,
           and honour thee,
           being kept from evil, known and unknown.
Help me to see the sin that accompanies all I do,
           and the good I can distil from everything.
Let me know that the work of prayer is to bring my will to thine,
           and that without this it is folly to pray;
When I try to bring thy will to mine it is to command Christ,
           to be above him, and wiser than he:
           this is my sin and pride.
I can only succeed when I pray
          according to thy precept and promise,
          and to be done with as it pleases thee,
          according to thy sovereign will.
When thou commandest me to pray
                 for pardon, peace, brokenness,
          it is because thou wilt give me the thing promised,
                for thy glory,
                as well as for my good.
Help me not only to desire small things
         but with holy boldness to desire great things
                for thy people, for myself,
                that they and I might live to show thy glory.
Teach me
        that it is wisdom for me to pray for all I have,
               out of love, willingly, not of necessity;
        that I may come to thee at any time,
               to lay open my needs acceptably to thee;
        that my great sin lies in my not keeping
               the savour of the ways;
        that the remembrance of this truth is one way
               to the sense of thy presence;
        that there is no wrath like the wrath of being 
               governed by my own lusts for my own ends.

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Living Letters: David Fisk



Please welcome David Fisk to the blog. My wife and I have grown to be good friends with David and his wife over the past year. We are sad that they will soon be leaving upon graduation, especially since we are growing in our friendship; however, we are thankful and excited about what the Lord is doing in their lives. ~PD
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My name is David Fisk and I’m a 4th year Covenant student about to graduate in May. After graduation, my wife and I are moving back to SC to start a new RUF work at Wofford College in Spartanburg, SC.

It’s a very bittersweet feeling having to say goodbye to Covenant. My time here has been the best and the worst time of my life. It has been horrible and incredible at the same time. If I had to sum up my seminary career, it would be this – maturity through brokenness.

In four years, I’ve had two hospitalizations lasting 10 days total, four ER trips, 10 MRI’s, a spinal tap, two epidurals, countless doctor’s visits, even more medications, physical therapy, laparoscopic surgery, and an eight month bout of Depression. Only one semester out of eight did not have some sort of medical crisis. There were times when I cried, times when I was angry at the Lord, and times when I wanted to drop out and go home. However, the Lord used these things as a cauldron of character formation.

In the times of despair, there was one question that continued to come to my mind – God, don’t you care that I’m hurting this much? I mean – God, why is this happening? God, are you even there? Why aren’t you doing anything? Here’s what I did learn. I learned that you don’t always get to know why suffering happens, but the answer to my questions cannot be that God doesn’t care or that He isn’t doing anything about suffering. It took me a long time to begin understanding that the evidence of God’s care for suffering is Jesus. By looking at the life and death of Jesus in order to save us from our sin, we see God’s willingness to take on Himself the pain and suffering of this sinful world. It shows us just how much He does care. God entered time and space and suffering to redeem the brokenness and to restore the relationship He intended to have with His people from the beginning.

Christian maturity looks at how Christ took on the suffering of the world for one reason – to redeem the world and gain us. Tim Keller taught me that understanding this beautiful truth “brings deep consolation and strength to face the brutal realities of life on earth. We can know that God is truly Immanuel – God with us – even in our worst sufferings" (Tim Keller. The Reason for God, p. 31).

I don’t know if I would choose to go down the same path again because of the difficult trials I have been through. But I know that if I did not endure what I endured, I would not cherish Jesus nor have the maturity and perspective to trust in the Lord like I do now. Even after all the pain, I can still know God does care and the proof of Jesus shows me just how much.

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Tomorrow's Post

It has been awhile, but tomorrow will welcome another guest blogger for my segment called Living Letters.  David Fisk, a fellow classmate and soon-to-be graduate, is going to share how the Lord has used his time at Covenant as a way to grow him.

Related Posts:

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Lost Momentum (Better yet, Happy Easter!)

Today was my first day back to class from a four day Easter break. My wife and I went to Georgia to see our families and to celebrate Easter. It was so wonderful to spend time with our families, and living in St. Louis, we take every opportunity that we can get.

At the same time, the gap between writing posts is overwhelming. The blogosphere grows and morphs––the conversation carries off in another direction; someone, who might be interested in reading what you have to say loses interest because of the lack of posts. Information is submitted to the vacuum and forever lost. The pressure to keep up with it all makes me feel like I have completely lost momentum. What traction I had is now slipping away. Might as well start over, right? Jump start a new brand? I do feel the weight, but then I remember reality. No one reads this blog. No one is longing for my next word. Who am I kidding! So there is absolutely no reason try to cover lost ground.

Instead...I say, "Happy Easter!" I hope your time with family was as good as mine. I hope you were mesmerized by the love of God, and shocked at the cost of sending of His Son, and bursting with joy that the tomb is empty! THE FREAKIN' TOMB IS EMPTY!!! THAT IS A HUGE DEAL––NOT JUST ON SUNDAY MORNING, BUT TODAY AT 12:25 PM AS I TYPE THIS AND ABOUT TO GO GRAB SOME LUNCH AND THEN SPEND ALL AFTERNOON READING FOR CLASS REGARDING PSYCHOLOGICAL DISORDERS. THE FREAKING' TOMB IS EMPTY....WHAT DO YOU SAY ABOUT THAT ANXIETY DISORDERS? DEPRESSION? SCHIZOFRENIA? WHAT CAN YOU DO BUT I HOPE AND LONG FOR THE RESURRECTION!