The New Year

Let's just say, I'm a little excited about the new year. That's right folks, I'm looking forwards to things. After a blogging hiatus, I'm back, over-caffeinated and under(well technically non)-slept. One of the major developments in my life over the last several months has been the growing depth of involvement with my church in Washington. Just this last week I started up a Biblical Exposition course that is designed for the training of Lay leadership as well as potential seminary students. I had a chance this morning to meet with the instructor of that class, and talk about what God has been and is doing in my life. It seems like at every step, I meet someone who is interested in encouraging me to continue growing and developing as a man of God. So either I have this big neon sign saying 'this guy needs help,' or they are truly invested in training and equipping future generations to be leaders. I am leaning towards the latter.
So about this Biblical Exposition course. After years of hearing people speak highly of my ability to teach, I'm beginning to think of how to apply that to the ministry God to which would lead me. There has been a shift in focus from the idea of passively letting my gifts apply to the situations in which I find myself, to actively seeking to develop those gifts with the intention of serving with them.
anyway, my eyes are gone, but check back. I will be writing more.

Note for the downtrodden and weary

When it seems like you are going through a rough time, I thought I would pass along some encouragement to help you carry on. In Hebrews 10:19-11:2, we find that it is through God's grace, given through Christ's death and resurrection, and God's grace alone that we can "draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful." So we cannot fail Christ if we continue in our pursuit of Him (as Paul reminds us in Philippians 3:12) I love the end of Hebrews 10 where it says, "so do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised... But we are not of thsoe who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved." The so-called Hall of Faith follows this. What is great about the members of the Hall, is that their struggles were real and their mistakes great. I am going through Genesis right now in a Bible study, and time after time, example after example, is of men trying to do things their way, not relying on God's provision, and yet God not only forgives AND blesses them, but does so for no greater reason (and no less reason!!!) than He chooses to. Those who respond properly (by worship and honoring God) share in the blessings, those who do not (by hardening their hearts), find themselves further and further from God's blessings. And then remember how the Hall of Faith is followed, remember to "endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is no disciplined by his father?... No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of RIGHTEOUSNESS and PEACE for those who have been trained by it."
So carry on and let the Spirit continue to work in your heart, to sanctify and consecrate your soul. The Holy Spirit will always reveal our shortcomings because until we are made perfect in Christ, we will always be less than perfect. This is a good thing for us; it allows us to not be content with our level of holiness like the Pharisees but continually pushes us to let Christ work in us to refine us to be more like HIM!!!!
I know that in the past, I have sought to give my life as a perfect sacrifice to God, and since I have never been perfect, I have never felt like what I had to offer was worthy. It was never enough, and never will be holy enough, or righteous enough, BUT what Christ asks for is not 'enough's but instead 'everything's. Give it all and He will make it what He wishes, and that will be far better than anything I can imagine and strive for by my own power. Isaiah 64:6 says "all our righteous acts are like filthy rags." The only true righteousness in what we do is imbued by Christ.
Finally, James writes "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."
You are a firstfruit, chosen and nurtured by your Father! How great is that!

This, That, and the Other Thing

I just realized it had been over a month since I last posted. Some things are going well, others, not so well.
First, the This: Answered prayer. Sometime back in July I talked about Spokane being a time and place to give me the confidence that I could live a life that would point towards Christ. In the months that I've been up here, I have seen the Spirit at work in the life of my roommate, and it feels like I've done nothing but live. I was reading in I Corinthians the other night, and just started laughing to myself when I got to chapter 2. In times past, I would attempt to convince people of the truth of the Bible, logical arguments, carfeully arranged, bulletproof. I cannot think of a time that worked. Paul writes, "My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power." What my roommate has been able to see in my life has been the demonstration of the Spirit in the different manner in which I have been living this year versus two years ago when we were housemates.

Now, the That: Answered prayer. The church community that I have been blessed with here has been great. I know I said it before, but it just keeps getting better. I was thinking on Philippians 4:8-9, and again was convicted about my lack of a gracious and grateful spirit. If I think about the flaws and downfalls of my life and dwell on shortcomings, it is very hard to be joyful and/or thankful. But if I think about how God has blessed me and continues to bless me, I cannot help but be thankful and at peace, knowing God will provide what I need.

The Other Thing: The girls team I helped coach went undefeated. I now have multicolored toenails.

Some more randomness

So, I have a confession. I am Newsboys fan. It is hard to admit, but there it is. Okay, maybe not all of their stuff, but some of it is wonderful. Like this, from The Tide:
"there is courage for the simple man
to the holders of secrets and scars
learning to stand with reaching arms
we'll wait till the very last
no matter what will be
you're always good
always good to me"

Now that that is out of the way. It has been so cool to see God moving in and around me. My roommate and I sat in front of the same couple this week, and picked up our conversations from last week with them. After the service, we sat at the same table as the pastor at the newcomers luncheon, and my roommate had a good conversation with him. The both came out of the same Catholic background, so there was a common understanding. It seemed like a good talk, and meanwhile, I met some pretty neat people. Saturday, the girls team that I help with had a game down in SE Washington, and I probably had one of the more terrifying coaching moments. Our goalkeeper got a pretty good whiplash from a fall, and was a little woozy, but the cobwebs had cleared and she checked out negative for a concussion when I checked her. So I let her stay in the game as per her wishes with her promise that if she got any worse she would let me know, immediately. By halftime, ten minutes later, she couldn't jog off the field without getting dizzy, which she wasn't aware of earlier not having to jog. So, I pulled her, had her lie down, put some ice on her neck and back of the head where she said she had some impact. Well, she got progressively worse to the point where she couldn't sit up, her vision was getting blurred, and she wanted to sleep. In other words, she is screaming concussion symptoms. So the parent (not her dad but a teammates) who drove her to the game took her and me to the hospital to double check that there wasn't anything worse going on. Fortunately, there wasn't, but not fun.

On business news, it will be a busy next 2 weeks for me to see whether the Spider's clinics will take off or not. We have tryout clinics for 2-3 clubs. Very exciting.

Small groups

So, Wednesday night was a meeting of my new church's twentysomethings group. Much more older 20s and up than younger 20s, so that was a different dynamic than I was used to coming out the Z family bible study. I hit it off with one of the guys pretty well, and he invited me to play soccer Thurs. night with some guys from Moody Bible Institute - Spokane. Very cool, and very fun. The other neat aspect of the church is their various "growth groups," which they strongly encourage everyone to attend, are all studying the same thing, and they go through the entire Bible in 6-7 years. They just finished and are restarting with Genesis. So yeah, the tendrils of community are out. Anyways, that has been super encouraging. Cheers.

Life and Times

It's been a while since I last wrote on here, and there is lots to say. First off, I think I have found a church. I attended Faith Bible Church this last Sunday, and plan on attending a twentysomethings group Wed. night (if they are meeting), and there is a newcomer luncheon on this coming Sunday. I know it was only a single sermon impression, but the pastor seemed to be sincere in his desire to apply the scripture to life and to have his congregation do the same. Very cool. So I am jazzed about that. On another note, a major concern of mine in dealing with my soccer "boss" was somewhat assuaged today by our meeting to finalize plans for tomorrow's inroductory clinic to a U12 team. Whereas in our previous meeting the tone was, "THIS is the way it will be, and I will not have your input," today was much more cooperative, and while it still was not my lead and his support, my suggestions were implemented immediately. So we will see how that progresses. Thank you for your prayers on that.

On a different note, I have started reading/sutdying/memorizing II Peter and was struck not only by the powerful language Peter uses to condemn false teachers but also the overall pointedness with which Peter writes. I have spent a little time pondering the over the Greek construction of verses 5-9, trying to decide if the order of qualities is a linear progression, or more a general recommendation. Does anybody have any illuminating thoughts?

It has also been really cool (not even the right word, but it is late and i'm tired) to see how God has been using me in my roommate's life. I was suprised this past week when driving back from soccer he mentioned that he would go to church with me for a couple weeks at least. He liked it well enough that he will go back with me, but he has admitted that he likes Mr. Sikkema's preaching better, at least as far as the quality of the speaker goes. And while he still approaches the gospel message with cynicism, I pray that seeds are planted deep.

Okay, there is more to say, but my eyelashes are getting to heavy for my lids and my fingers keep missing keys. Miss you all.

Desert Wanderings

Okay, so lots of thoughts going so many different directions, maybe some of you, loyal readers, can help me make sense of it all (in other words, help me make sure my head is on straight about this). Reading in I Corinthians 10, intending to follow up on some thoughts from the previous post, it struck me that I might have been paying lip service to these verses for a long time without spending the effort to really get at what they were saying. People, and by that I mean at least myself (I'm a person, and i'm sure someone else has done it, sometime, somewhere), have spouted forth verse 13 as a first line of defense against temptation. It sounds so nice, so simple, to say "No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it." But contextualized and reexamined in light of other passages have given verse 13 a different flavor than a simple God provides a way out mentality. Paul writes this verse as a concluding statement to the trials of the Israelites in the wilderness. Verses 6-10 offer a brief catalog of temptations faced and given into and the fatal consequences. Tempted => Sinned => Died !!! Paul transitions from those points, into his concluding point on temptation, before launching off on a "therefore" in verse 14.
I have always thought of the "way out" in verse 13 as something of a giant neon arrow sign saying, Go this Way, almost a, DANGER, Bridge out ahead type message. But drawing a corellation from the Israelites in the wilderness, I think the message takes a slightly different tone. God's provision for the Israelites was nearly complete, lacking only Christ. They were fed, dressed, protected, and guided to the promised land as well as given the Law by which they were promised success and prosperity. That does not mean that the Israelites were not tempted by their earthly wants, wants which seemed real necessities. Success in resisting these temptations might come from Paul's fixing our eyes on the unseen, Christ's do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink. The example might come from Christ's resistance of the Devil by scripture in Matthew 4 (whence came much of the previous post). But I think a major component to all of these would be the message at the end of Hebrews 4 (a favorite of mine/excuse the starting with a therefore, but...):
"Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let s hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are - yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find GRACE to help us in our time of need."
Grace is the provision, grace is the key, grace is the grease that makes the whole thing tick. Grace allows everything to be permissible (going back to I Corinthians), but seeking to feed the wants a la the Wilderness Israelites, will not be beneficial, and save God's ultimate provision, the blood of Christ shed on the cross and his resurrection, the result is the death mentioned in the examples from history.
Don't feed the flesh, feed the Spirit, discipline yourself for war, and rely on the God's grace for the strength to stand. Sounds like a plan to me.