Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Crazy Love
So, I am reading the book, "Crazy Love," by Francis Chan. Someone told me this is a woman's book. Well, I am telling you this is not a woman's book. In fact, when you read this book and assess your commitment to Christ as Francis Chan asks you to, you will probably realize that, like me, compared to the commitment Christ calls us to, we are all like little girls.
I don't write this to hammer anyone but to let you know how weak our commitment is. I actually find myself reading this book with my jaw dropped at just how much I continue to live by the world's standards and not by Christ's standards. Do you want to be challenged? Do you want to take an honest assessment of your life against the life Christ calls us to live? Are you ready for a raw picture of how soft we are on the things that really matter to God? If your answer is yes, then read this book.
If, on the other hand, you are content with hoping you are "just Christian enough" to get you into heaven, then don't read this book.
There are many excellent and encouraging Christian books on the market. "Crazy Love," however, is a book that can and should change your life . . . and that includes your eternal life.
Saturday, May 26, 2012
Be Anxious for Nothing
Interesting week with you, God. Hotel has been oversold for two weeks and this would typically be a high-stress situation for me. Usually my stomach would be tied in knots from the time I discovered this situation. But, you have been instructing me to trust that you have all of my problems in hand. Many messages have been posted on Facebook and elsewhere about this very subject, that I should not worry about anything but know that you are in control. I have just let go of my worry and placed this situation in your hands, just as you have said I should. Yesterday I even wanted to check the inventory, but Holy Spirit told me not to, to just trust that you have it in hand. And, I did just that. As of an hour ago we were only over by one room.
Ah, but, we have 29 more requests for rooms with two double beds than we have rooms with two double beds. I am trusting You in this, Lord. You have proved Yourself faithful time and time again. This MOD shift, which by all accounts should be full of stress, I claim to be full of peace because you, God, are in control.
On another note, I want to thank you for bringing me back to playing music. Last night it seemed that I was going to be on my own. I had determined to go to the Gottgetgon Folk Festival and to bring a guitar to join in the jam. My nature screamed that I should not do it because I would embarrass myself, but Your Spirit kept encouraging me that I can and should play with other people as much as possible. You keep telling me that the deep desire in my heart to Worship You through music is no mistake and I need to pursue growing in this regard. Then, I get the calls from Randy and Clyde that they want to play. I admit that I was in a struggle about what to do. I kind of had myself set to try something new and different. I felt, though, that Your Spirit was leading me to join Clyde, Randy and Anna where the music would be Worship and not worldly, so I went to join them. What a blessing it was! Lord, I love singing Your praises. Thank you that Your heart is blessed whether I am praising You alone in my basement, with the jam fellowship or among Your body on Sunday morning. And, I have to say that there truly is healing for me in Praise and Worship music.
Father, God, I thank You for Your deep love, Your mercy, Your compassion and Your patience.
Thursday, April 26, 2012
God is Closer Than You Think
I have just completed a Life Group based on John Ortberg's excellent book, "God is Closer Than You Think." First, I want to thank the members if the group for an enjoyable and enlightening time. It seems to me the subject of this book is one that is greatly on God's heart right now. The subject is living in His presence all the time. Actually, I know this is a deep concern of God's all of the time. He wants to be with us and to be involved in our lives every moment of every day. This is not an issue of control but it is because He wants the very best for us all of the time, and He knows that the best for us comes when we are conncted to Him. This subject is actually covered in several books. I recommend Ortberg's book because I am currently very familiar with it. However, I am also reading Gregory Boyd's book on the same subject. I have also read Brother Lawrence's book, "Practicing His Presence." There are others, so I am confident that, like me, you may find one or more that speak to you.
To give you a starting point, I want to share the ten fundamentals of living a life with God from Ortberg's book. On their own these truths offer excellent guidance, but each is explained in detail in the book:
Foundational Truths of My Life With God
God is always present and active in my life, whether or not I see him.
Coming to recognize and experience God's presence is learned behavior; I can cultivate it.
My task is to meet God in this moment.
I am always tempted to live "outside" this moment. When I do that, I lose my sense of God's presence.
Sometimes God seems far away for reasons I do not understand. Those moments, too, are opportunities to learn.
Whenever I fail, I can always start again right away.
No one knows the full extent to which a human being can experience God's presence.
My desire for God ebbs and flows, but his desire for me is constant.
Every thought carries a "spiritual charge" that moves me a little closer to or a little farther from God.
Every aspect of my life -- work, relationships, hobbies, errands -- is of immense and genuine interest to God.
Straining and trying too hard do not help.
God bless you,
Rob
Monday, January 24, 2011
e-Reader Wars
I bought a Kobo reader because it was the most economical reader, and since I wasn't sure how I would like this I wanted to make to lowest investment. I have discovered two drawbacks to the Kobo. One is that there is no back light, so you need a clip-on light if you don't want to disturb your spouse when you are reading in bed. My wife actually came up with an ingenious solution. She got one of those LED lights with an elastic strap for your head. The light actually sits on your forehead and it has four different brightness settings. You can also change the angle to get the best illumination of your subject. I still prefer a nice table lamp, and have yet to buy a clip-on light, but the "headlight" does the job.
The other minor annoyance is that is does not have a highlighting feature. I am big on highlighting my books, so it remains to be seen if this will be a long-term deterrent.
Now, onto the real reason I decided to write about this. The retail wars over the e-reader market. Once again, a new and exciting technology is being bogged down in corporate greed. Unfortunately the book retailers and electronics companies who have jumped into this market have decided that they must attempt to have their reader control the whole environment. They have done this by putting DRM protection on their e-books. They claim this is to protect copyrighted material. I think the truth is to force you to buy your books from them if you have their reader. What I mean is that if you buy an e-book from Amazon it can only be read on a Kindle. The same goes for SONY and Barnes & Noble. They will all tell you that you are welcome to download their software to your PC or laptop for free. Then you can read your books. The problem is I already have a PC and a laptop. I bought an e-reader so that my books would be more portable, so putting their software on my laptop really defeats the purpose. At least for me it does.
Now, here is the good news for my friend who are Christians. You can buy books from Christianbooks.com that are DRM-free. That means you can download them and put them on any e-reader you already own. Perhaps more exciting is that you can loan the book to a friend. This second point is not extremely important to me, but it is nice to know it's there. I believe in directly supporting the author and publisher of a good book by purchasing a copy myself. I am so pleased that it is a Christian retailer that is leading the way to open this technology. This approach will encourage e-reader technology growth far more than proprietary wrangling to keep a customer locked into your environment. Bravo to Christianbooks.com.
Sunday, January 02, 2011
Harry Potter is not any kind of Christian
According to Tumminio, she sees Harry Potter "as a seeker in a world where Christianity is not the vocabulary. I see him best as a seeker trying to live a life of faith in the same way a Christian seeker tries to live a life grace.” She then goes on to say that Christians have not been fair to Harry Potter, and that she is shocked that so many Christians who a critical of the series have not even read the books.
To be sure, Ms. Tumminio has the credentials to write a compelling book on this subject. She considers herself an Episcopal Christian, and has two Masters in Religion from Yale University's divinity school. So, I am sure her book is a good scholarly work.
Unfortunately, her basic premise is just wrong. Perhaps Harry Potter does learn to love people as he grows through the series. It may also be true that he seeks to do the right thing throughout the series, proving that he grows in morality. However, while these traits do line up with Christian motivations, they do not make Harry Potter a good Christian, nor do these themes make the Harry Potter books good reading for Christians of any age.
A Christian believes in Jesus Christ as the Messiah, the savior of all humanity, who took on human form, lived among us for a brief time, was crucified so that our sins may be forgiven and now has returned to live with our Father God in heaven. Jesus opened the way for us to have a personal relationship with God, but that is only possible through faith in Jesus. It is through that faith and through our relationship with Jesus that we desire to love other people and to live in a just a righteous way.
Neither Harry Potter, nor the author, J.K. Rowling, profess faith in Jesus Christ. J.K. Rowling does not suggest ever that her stories are an allegory for God's work in the world. In fact, Rowling has insisted that the main theme of the Harry Potter series is death. If she were a Christian, her main theme would be just the opposite. Her creations have been compared to The Lord of The Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia. However, both Tolkien and Lewis were followers of Christ who stated clearly that their books were Biblical allegories.
It is not my desire to condemn J.K. Rowling, nor the Harry Potter books, nor those who read them. Not even the Christians who read them. I have seen a number of young people in my own church carrying the books (even reading them during the Pastor's word!). However, the definition of a Christian begins with believing in Christ. The only proof that Ms. Tumminio has for her thesis is if she can point to Harry Potter's profession of faith in Christ in the books, or J.K. Rowling's statement that she was writing books that are designed to tell the story of Jesus Christ in a new and creative manner.
Labels: Christian, Danielle Timminio, God, God and Harry Potter, Harry Potter
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
The Christmas Jar
Our Pastor challenged us this year to step up to the challenge of the Christmas Jar. Our church supplied the jars, and we started collecting loose change in September. Our goal was to have a full jar by December 19. On that day we were to bring our jars to church, where we would pray over them and attach a small card that stated simply that this gift is to show the recipient that God loves them and to wish them a Merry Christmas.
The project took more effort than I expected. I use a debit card for most purchases now, so I had to actually change my mode of operation in order to generate the change necessary. As we approached the deadline, I was a bit short and I began to consider different strategies for filling my jar to the brim. We keep a large water jar that the family collectively fills throughout the year. Last year we used that money toward putting a sidecar on my motorcycle, so my special needs son and I can ride around together. There certainly was enough there to finish the job. But this was my personal project, and I did not feel that was the right answer.
As I pondered this question, Holy Spirit said this to me one day, "Don't worry about whether or not the jar is full. I will see to it that the amount in the jar on December 19 is the right amount." From that moment I stopped thinking about the jar needing to be filled, but any change that I had in my pocket at the end of the day was gladly deposited in the Mason jar. I came to relish the hiss as vacuum released each time I opened the jar.
Finally, December 19 arrived. That morning was already electric with excitement. We had performed our Christmas Program to a full house on Friday and our Pastor was so excited by it that he was giving us the opportunity to do it again Sunday morning.
It was cold at 7:45 a.m. As I drove to the church I saw a man walking along Route 50. At first I thought maybe it was someone from my church, but I quickly realized it was not. The thermometer on my dashboard read 14 degrees. This was no place for someone to be walking at that time of the morning in this cold weather. I pulled over.
He told me he was walking home from work! The distance was at least 11 miles. He said that he would normally take the bus, but on Sunday mornings it doesn't run until 10.00. As we talked about how cold it was outside he said that a year ago he was living in Virginia Beach . I asked what he was doing in Virginia Beach and he said he had gone there with a woman. When I asked what had brought him back to the frozen north he said the woman had thrown him and his 12 year-old daughter out about three months ago and he came home to Ballston Spa.
He asked if I was going to work. I told him no, I was on my way to church and I pointed it out as we passed Abundant Life. He said that I could drop him off, I didn't have to take him all the way. I said I was glad to do it.
When I did drop him off, I reached for the Christmas Jar and handed it to him (even though I knew we were supposed to bring them to church and pray over them first). I said, "This is for you, so that you know that God loves you. Merry Christmas." He hugged the jar tightly against his chest and said with excitement, "Thanks! Thank you!" As he got out of the car I wished him Merry Christmas again. As he was walking away he stopped, turned around, waved and mouthed the words, "Thank you" again, with a big smile on his face.
As I drove away I marveled at how quickly and easily God brought someone into my path who was truly in need of the money and, perhaps more important, was in need of some encouragement.
We don't have to wait until next Christmas to collect a Christmas jar. There are many people who need a blessing and some encouragement throughout the year. They may need the money and the additional message that God loves them may penetrate their heart. Or, they may be more in need of the message that God loves them. After all, we all do need the love of God, and he does desire that everyone would know him and would invite him into their lives.
So, I invite you. Collect your spare change. Be a messenger of God's love to someone in 2011. It may just change their life, and your life, too.
God bless you in 2011!
Monday, December 27, 2010
The first to preach the Good News
One of my favorite portions of the Christmas story in the Bible is the account of the shepherds in Luke 2:8-20. This story is rich just on its very surface. An angel appearing to the shepherds, then a multitude of angels appearing. Singing praise songs. Now, there is a worship session I would like to attend! I always hear the Hallelujah Chorus in my mind's ear when I read this scene. Tidings of great joy. Peace and goodwill. This story includes the heart of the Christmas message, and the promise of the life God desires for us to live, what life is like when we live in His kingdom.
But there is another aspect of this story that often gets lost in the grandeur of the immediate message.
The shepherds are the first New Testament preachers of the Good News!
16 They hurried to the village and found Mary and Joseph. And there was the baby, lying in the manger. 17 After seeing him, the shepherds told everyone what had happened and what the angel had said to them about this child. 18 All who heard the shepherds’ story were astonished,
(Luke 2:16-18, New Living Translation)
Let's stop and think for a moment who these shepherds were. They were considered some of the lowest characters in Jewish society. They didn't own the sheep they were watching over. They were hired hands who spent most of their time separated from the rest of society and mostly among other shepherds. They were considered story tellers and liars, and could not even testify in a court of law.
And yet, these were the very men to whom God chose reveal the birth of His son. They acted on this astonishing news without hesitating. And, once they had seen for themselves, they immediately reported everything to anyone who would listen.
Why did God choose them?
Some time later Jesus would tell his disciples that it was God's pleasure to reveal his wisdom to "little children."
Did God choose them because they had nothing to lose? No pride of station in life that would stop them from telling everything just as they had experienced it?
What about us? A new year is about to begin. I don't know about you, but I would like to continue the tradition that those shepherds started 2,000 years ago.
