Gospel For Life

I'd like to direct you to my friend Eric Durso's blog to check out the series he is blogging about called Gospel For Life. So far, it's been helpful and clear and I highly recommend it to you as food for thought or as resource.

Why Give?

This video is desperately needed in the American Church to wake us up from our American apathy:



HT: The Resurgence

The Not-As-Old Age-Old Story

The title isn't referring to the "old, old story,/How a Savior came from glory," but to the seemingly eternal debate between Calvinism and Arminianism. So often it's not put in those terms, but involves vitriol and disgust over terms like "free will," "predestination," "election," "prevenient grace" and the like.

I've declared myself to be a Calvinist many times and mainly read books and listen to sermons by Calvinists. And however much I believed in reading and listening to those I disagree with, I haven't practiced that very consistently. Okay, so not really at all!

That is going to change and part of the way I am endeavoring to change by reading Arminian Theology by Roger E. Olson. I'm only on page 30, but so far it has already been helpful to read the views of someone on the other side of this intramural debate. I think that Roger Olson is a brother in Christ and loves God with all his heart. His tone is irenic, but he is not willing to become a doormat for Calvinists either. I appreciate that very much.

I'm also reading Radical by David Platt. It's currently ranked #27 on all of amazon.com! The book's subtitle is "taking back your faith from the American Dream," an apropo title to worry this reader who grew up in a wealthy Los Angeles suburb. I love David Platt's preaching and listen to his podcast religiously. I would already encourage to pick up this book and read it. It's fairly amazing/amusing to me that a book about a young man who downsized his house and regularly calls people to give most of their money away has made it on the New York Times Bestseller List.

Have a good weekend!

Growth Spurt

Alice has been going through another growth spurt over the last several days. Today it seems like she's really heavy. I think yesterday she felt heavy, but today she feels particularly heavy. Weird how she grows so much in such a short time. Her next doctor appointment is Tuesday so we'll find out how much she's gained since her two month check up. In the meantime, here is a picture of Alice today at work :-)

Russell Moore on Glenn Beck

Here's a quick link to an article that I found very helpful. I'm pretty sure lots of evangelicals give Glenn Beck's Mormonism a pass simply because he doesn't like President Obama. Russell Moore's insights are always penetrating and valuable in an age of manipulative soundbites.

Here's a taste:

It’s sad to see so many Christians confusing Mormon politics or American nationalism with the gospel of Jesus Christ. But, don’t get me wrong, I’m not pessimistic. Jesus will build his church, and he will build it on the gospel. He doesn’t need American Christianity to do it. Vibrant, loving, orthodox Christianity will flourish, perhaps among the poor of Haiti or the persecuted of Sudan or the outlawed of China, but it will flourish.

Some things

Well, it's Friday of my first week back in school and there's a few things to update y'all on.

Tonight is the final night of the summer softball season. We get to play twice: at 8:00pm and 9:15pm. The later game is against Bloodline, a team made up of a large extended family in our church (along with some friends) and our rivals. I'm really looking forward to it. This is my fourth summer playing softball with the men from our church. I love it because I get to play a sport (which doesn't happen much anymore), but more than that, I love it because I get to know people in the church that I wouldn't get to know any other way. Also, our games have tons of fans in the bleachers because bunches of people from the church come and watch our games, which just adds to the fun.

In other exciting news, our friends the Rehrers are in the process of adopting a little girl from Africa! That's really exciting and something Amy and I have tossed around as an idea for the future. It will be fun and informative to see them go through this process.

Some people have been waiting - with bated breath no doubt - to hear about why I shaved my head. In fact, I believe my mom's exact word was "yuck." Thanks mom. Anyway, two weeks ago I was trying to hustle so I could get to church in time for our weekly staff meeting. I needed to shave and my sideburns were also getting a little long, so I decided to pull out the hair clippers and give the burns a little trim. However, in my rush, I forgot to put a guard on the clippers! So when I whooshed upwards with the clippers, my sideburns did not get trimmed, they got shaved! Not only that, but I went past the sideburns.

I called Amy and told her what happened. I said that I thought I would have to shave my head. She said not to. I took a picture with my phone and then sent it to Amy. She said I should shave my head! That's the story.

New Sneakers

Remember when you were little and you got a new pair of sneakers and really believed you could run faster and jump higher? I used to wear my new sneakers (or shoes) to bed at night before wearing them outside because I was so excited about the new-ness.

That's how I feel today.

Alice has been sleeping "through the night" since she was 5 weeks old, but that really only means she slept for 4-5 hours at a time, which was wonderful in comparison to only 2, but not quite enough for mommy to function on a day to day basis. For the past week or so, she's been sleeping 8-10 hours at night, allowing mommy to now have a full week (minus one night) of being well rested.

The sun is brighter, the breeze is sweeter and the Lord has perfect timing!

Palm Springs and a New School Year

Sunday through Tuesday, Amy, Alice and I were in Palm Springs with Pastor Ron and Susie and their three kids: Mark, Jeffrey and Alicia. As you'd expect, it was hotter than hot, averaging about 110 degrees while we were there. We stayed in a two-bedroom condo that a generous person in our church let us stay in for fairly cheap. The air conditioning was cranked up (down?) the whole time we were there, making for an almost 40 degree difference between the outside and inside temperatures during the hottest part of the day. We took several pictures and videos, which you can view here.

This coming Wednesday marks the beginning of my fifth semester at Talbot. I'm taking Apologetics, Biblical Leadership & Management, and Exegesis in Acts and the Epistles. Yep, that last mouthful is my last required Greek class! That means two things: 1) People now will (mistakenly!) expect me to be proficient in biblical Greek, and 2)I can begin taking Hebrew in the spring!

Last night I checked online to see if any of my professors had posted syllabi and was ridiculously excited to see my Apologetics syllabus up. My professor, Garrett DeWeese, not only posted the syllabus, but also all the supplementary reading, the first day of class' powerpoint slides, and other miscellaneous links and resources. Besides the last day of class, I think the first day of class is my favorite day of the semester!

Today I have Alice until 11ish and then a church friend will be watching her. She's getting big, but especially growing long. Here's a video for you to enjoy!

Blog, Interrupted

So I was going to blog today about the 30 Days of Prayer for the Muslim World that started today. However, the inimitable Justin Taylor covered it well at his blog. I'm praying that God uses this next month to transform my own heart in my attitudes, understanding and love for Muslim people.

As long I'm linking, see what Dr. Mohler has to say about Prop. 8 being overturned last week. As always, expect insightful analysis.

Daddy-Daughter Day the Fourth!

Today was another Daddy-Daughter Day, and a pretty successful one methinks. Of course, when your almost-three month old daughter is wearing her Cal onesie (thanks Grandma!), it's automatically a great start!

Alice slept really well and we had some good play time before and after her meals. In the afternoon, she guzzled almost seven ounces of milk and then slept for almost three hours. This allowed me to read a bunch today and with school coming in two weeks, this was very much appreciated.

Go here to see more pics!