gravity meets flight

counting the cost

Wed, 14 Mar 2012 23:00:00 -0400

“Nothing of earthly possession is too precious to dispense with if sin is for us the inevitable cost of retention.” [John Murray]

Behind every man should be a funny and theological wife

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 01:36:00 -0500

An exchange between Martin Luther and his wife Katharina: “Once, when Martin was so depressed that none of Kate’s counsel would help, she put on a black dress. Luther noticed it and asked, ‘Are you going to a funeral?’ ‘No,’ Kate replied, ‘but since you act like God is dead, I wanted to join you in your mourning.’ Luther got the message and recovered.”

"Give a gift. Change a life."

Sun, 27 Nov 2011 01:18:54 -0500

Ana and I are in preparations to put together a plan to do Christmas different this year. Last year, instead of buying gifts for one another, we decided to pull our money together and adopt a child through World Vision. This year, we got really excited as we thought about our friends, family and church members experiencing the joy of giving together with us. We will be letting everyone know soon exactly what our goal is this Christmas, because we can’t wait to speak to you about why this is so important to us. We want to make a difference. We want to do something big, and we want to do it together with you. We hope that you will be able to join us this year in this endeavor as we seek to make an impact with what we’ve been blessed with rather than simply receiving more blessings.

what is your life like?

Fri, 23 Sep 2011 00:26:13 -0400

Ray Ortlund: “The worst this life can shove down our throats, but with the nearness of Jesus, is heaven on earth. The best this life can give, but without Jesus, is a living hell.”

starting drawing again: just some doodles during sermons (they...

Thu, 25 Aug 2011 21:34:21 -0400

starting drawing again: just some doodles during sermons (they depict the scripture passage and main point of the sermons) during youth summer retreat

repost of an older blogpost: flirting

Thu, 07 Apr 2011 23:33:18 -0400

This is a repost of a blogpost entitled: ”my thoughts on likealittle.com” from months ago. I may add to this post, or actually finish another post I am currently working on about “bikinis, hip-hugging jeans, sculpted abs, and the gospel.”

There seems no more appropriate time than now to broach the topic of flirting. There is a website that I’ve seen linked to Facebook that allows users to anonymously upload comments about people they see around campus. Before I offer my thoughts on the subject, I am aware that there are many areas in my own life where the Gospel and every-day living don’t meet. Flirting for many people is one of those areas where we struggle to have the Gospel come and meet us and transform us. I have kept everything fairly short, generic, and simple, to allow room for further more fruitful and thoughtful discussions.

We often excuse flirting as harmless and many of us simply accept it as a normal part of our relations with the opposite sex. Attraction is a normal human phenomenon that is not inherently selfish or sinful, to not be attracted to beauty or to people would be inhumane. But flirting is more than mere attraction. Flirting is an outlet for our sinful motives.

Flirting poses these three dangers: it is (1) self-focused, (2) selfish, and (3) and self-pleasing.

1. Self-focused: We are by nature attention seekers. Flirters are attention cravers. By flirting we are satisfying a craving for attention, rather than the responsibility of serving. When we flirt we automatically direct the center of attention on ourselves and define the worth of others on the things we say about them.

2. Selfish: There is no aspect of flirting that builds the other person up in any godly way. You say what you want, do what you want, to hopefully get what you want; and all of this takes place only after objectifying that person as the object of desire. This is inherently selfish and also degrading to turn a brother or sister in Christ as the fulfillment of some sort of selfish desire.

3. Self-pleasing: When you flirt, your highest hope is not that it will be reciprocated, although there is that hope too. The whole enterprise centers on you saying what you want to say so that you, crudely put, are pleasuring yourself. Call it stroking your ego. Call it feeling better about yourself. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter how the other person feels as long as you feel good.

Flirting also poses these peripheral dangers:

Lust: We already do not take lust seriously enough, which is odd considering that Jesus warns us, “But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell.” [Matthew 5:28-29] Flirting doesn’t necessarily we are lusting after someone, but it definitely is playing with fire. It definitely does not help us to fight the lust in our hearts either.

Objectification: Our culture is constantly telling us to go get what you want and do everything it takes to get it. In terms of dating and relationships, the culture is mainly concerned that we find the person who fits the criteria of everything we want in someone. So we all objectify the opposite sex. God is however, more concerned that we become the man or woman He has created us to be. The Bible is more interested in me becoming the right kind of man for my wife, than it is with me finding the right kind of woman. Rather than a list of things we want in someone, we are to have a list of ways in which we can grow so that we may give them things like love, patience, peace, kindness, goodness.

De-masculinization: There are too many boys running around in the bodies of men. Flirting represents everything a man of God should not do. If you are a godly woman or is striving more and more each day to become a woman of God, do not associate any longer with these boys. A godly man is a man of his word, says what he means and means what he says. He does not hide behind selfish comments. He does not merely seek his own good, but he is thoughtful, careful and prayerful in his intentions, actions and words. When a man becomes someone who is hasty, mindless, selfish, he is stripping himself of what God has intended a man to be.

indie-hipster = paying for music?

Wed, 05 Jan 2011 15:09:38 -0500

so i was strolling through some of the $5 mp3 albums on amazon and they have a whole section of “best indie albums of 2010” and it got me thinking, there probably isn’t any data for this, but I think part of the reason why companies and stores make sure they support these “indie” bands is because they know people actually buy these albums, as opposed to some teenage kid going out and torrenting the new justin bieber single. it’s been proven that people who actually care about music and care about the musicians who are trying to make a living doing this will go out and spend their money on it. i think it was radiohead who offered one of their recent albums for what their fans actually thought it was worth to them, and most people actually spent money on the album instead of just downloading it for free. then there’s websites like noisetrade.com, which i hope is making money, because it has some really good artists who literally offer their music for free because it gives them exposure, in the hopes, and i say hopes, because i’ve been guilty of not giving back, but in the hopes that someone will appreciate their music and donate $$ to the artist.

now this isn’t some tirade against piracy which would be easy enough to do, but i think it’s odd that the indie hipster thing to do nowadays is actually pay for music. that somehow it’s become a novel concept that you actually give something to get something. i know indie hipster folks are easy to poke fun at, and yes they lord it over their friends that they know bands that you have never even heard of, but i think for the most part, they’ve paid to earn that stupid and obnoxious right.

Meet Luiz Gustavo Queiro. for Christmas this year Ana and I...

Sat, 25 Dec 2010 23:40:46 -0500

Meet Luiz Gustavo Queiro. for Christmas this year Ana and I decided to take the money we would’ve spent on each other for Christmas gifts, and we embraced the hope of Christmas by giving hope to someone else.

prayer for gloria and madison

Wed, 08 Dec 2010 19:50:31 -0500

mood: seeing every little wrong in other people and being upset that they haven’t changed or worse yet, haven’t even tried to change.

death makes us acutely aware of a sense of the fair and unfair, of right and wrong, and yet the Bible holds out the truth that God is in control, that God loves, that God has a reason for and behind everything that happens.

and when i see brokenness i am not humbled, i am angered. i see the sins of other people and i am angry. the world reacts the same way. the godless world is enraged at the way the world is. why shouldn’t it? yet we all wrestle with this frustrating sense of hopelessness. frustrating because even those who know what Christ has done don’t always fully perceive, nor can they perhaps, that which God and God alone knows and is doing. and as things are being restored, we experience the pains of restoration. we are even more aware of the brokenness. and we are greatly deceived at times.

Christian hope does not reside in the possibility of change and restoration, but it resides in the absolute reality of it. We lose hope because we wonder if things will ever get better. But death is not a cause to lose hope, because in Jesus Christ we have already seen that hope is not only possible, but true.

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” [John 14:27]

my thoughts on likealittle.com

Tue, 07 Dec 2010 14:29:24 -0500

Flirting poses these three dangers: it is (1) self-focused, (2) selfish, and (3) and self-pleasing.

Flirting also poses these peripheral dangers:

"…the human heart is desperately wicked and the human soul subject to self-deception, and this..."

Sat, 30 Oct 2010 00:49:06 -0400

““…the human heart is desperately wicked and the human soul subject to self-deception, and this colors even our highest aspirations. Even the best of intentions mask the mysterious darkness within, which is why we need to be healed also of our best intentions.””

- http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2010/octoberweb-only/52-41.0.html

so awesomely well-done

Thu, 21 Oct 2010 00:52:42 -0400

so awesomely well-done

wider eyes, deeper hearts, expanding kingdom

Wed, 20 Oct 2010 19:24:56 -0400

wider eyes, deeper hearts, expanding kingdom

emptiness

Fri, 15 Oct 2010 17:02:30 -0400

the most important part of any struggle is not simply the conclusion, but the way in which we struggled. some will walk down a rocky path and look forward to nothing but a happy end. others will walk down a rocky path and seek people rather than happiness, trust God rather than self, learn rather than just arrive. and one day they look up and realize, how did i get to the end?

we all just want the future to be happy. we don’t realize that God may have more in store for us than mere happiness. what about a life filled with story after story of blessing in the midst of the storm, of faith in the midst of hopelessness, of help in the midst of despair. what about a life filled up?

first note

Sun, 10 Oct 2010 22:29:11 -0400

i have to read Dr. Ed Welch’s analysis of clinical depression for a class tomorrow, but before I do, i thought i’d take a stab at what depression is often like for me.

could it be possible that depression is a symptom of a self-centered heart? we are familiar with other more commonly correlated symptoms of a self-centered heart like greed, pride, or arrogance, but we really don’t consider depression as one.

some quick observations from today of what fueled my depression:

turning every small weakness into all out insufficiency
refusing to trust in God’s power and God’s sufficiency
finding reasons to justify my anger and frustration
telling myself how nobody understands my situation and struggles
protecting myself from the love and care of others
and when I stopped thinking about myself and thought about how much I wanted to love and serve others, it ALL went away in a moment

was there a connection between my obsession with what went wrong today, with what i could’ve done better, with how much i didn’t want to let any of it go, with how much i wanted to simply sulk in it, with how much i didn’t want others to know this weakness and selfishness in me…was there a connection between all of those things and how depressed i felt today?

what a subtle way our hearts manifests its sinfulness! we often won’t even think to imagine that somewhat exhibits signs of depression because of sin. (we ought to be careful with that statement however)

two challenges:

learn to trust the love of others and open up to them (receive)
stop wanting to love others, and start loving them (give)

Preaching Christ or preaching about Christ? [Ray...

Wed, 06 Oct 2010 21:28:00 -0400

Preaching Christ or preaching about Christ? [Ray Ortlund]

There is a difference between preaching Christ and preaching about Christ. Preaching Christ is presenting him so clearly and directly that the people experience the sermon this way: “It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified” (Galatians 3:1). Preaching about Christ is presenting ideas related to him. It’s a good thing to do. But preaching Christ is more profound, more daring and more helpful.

In Intellectuals, page 31, Paul Johnson wrote of the poet Shelley, “He burned with a fierce love but it was an abstract flame and the poor mortals who came near it were often scorched. He put ideas before people and his life is a testament to how heartless ideas can be.” It is not enough for us preachers to burn with a fierce love. We must burn with a fierce love for Christ the crucified Friend of sinners and for the sinners right there before us who need that Friend. Ideas about Christ can even be heartless. But Christ crucified befriends sinners, and they feel it.

Calvin comments on Galatians 3:1, “Let those who want to discharge the ministry of the gospel aright learn not only to speak and declaim but also to penetrate into consciences, so that men may see Christ crucified and that his blood may flow.” Christ’s blood flowing into the human conscience, setting people free as they sit there listening to the sermon – that is preaching Christ.

One way to test ourselves is to ask, What are the people who hear me preach walking away with? Have they seen Christ himself during this sermon, or have they only interacted with ideas about Christ? As a preacher, I cannot make people engage with him. I wouldn’t want to try. But I can and must preach in such a way that he stands forth as obvious and available to the people right then and there.

i want this shirt! no medium in the blue though...

Wed, 06 Oct 2010 20:49:32 -0400

i want this shirt! no medium in the blue though...

things I knew going in, but still scary to see...

Wed, 06 Oct 2010 17:40:04 -0400

things I knew going in, but still scary to see...

meet maria. she is one of my favoritest people in the world.

Wed, 06 Oct 2010 01:35:56 -0400

meet maria. she is one of my favoritest people in the world.