Coffee, coffee everywhere, but not a drop to drink!

But godliness with contentment is great gain. (1 Timothy 6:6)

I’m at home sick today for the third day in a row.  Now, Monday is usually my day off anyway, but to spend it sick is no fun.  To make matters worse, I went to make my second cup of coffee this morning, and remembered an important fact: I used the last of my sugar on my first cup.  So, I currently have a pot of warm coffee on a cold day, but I can’t drink any of it.

Isn’t it ironic?  Dontcha think?

But here’s the bright side: my beautiful wife is at the store right now doing the first-of-the-month shopping, and sugar is on the list!  The worst I have to bear is a few hours without sugar.  Let’s imagine the situation was worse, and I hadn’t budgeted my sugar usage to get to the end of the month.  Worst-case scenario, maybe I go a few days without sugar, and that’s if I don’t borrow some from a neighbor.

In the millisecond between realizing I was out of sugar and thus couldn’t have my beloved coffee and the ensuing pity party one might expect from a grown man who has the sickies, a reassuring thought hit me.

At least I’m only out of sugar.

You see, God has been teaching me a lot about thankfulness and contentment in the last couple of years.  He’s been showing me how much I truly have.  No matter how tight things have gotten, my family has not gone hungry.  We’ve had clothes to keep us warm, an amazing home to live in, great health and access to healthcare.  I may have pined away about being without ice cream on a given evening.  My kids may have whined about not having all the action figures they wanted.  But we have never gone without the real necessities.

I mentioned that I’m sick today.  The reason I’m sick is that my whole family has been sick since Wednesday.  One by one, we fell prey to some upper-respiratory villain.  My youngest son was the first.  He got it the worst: fever, throwing up, coughing, the whole thing.  After a few days of monitoring, my wife took him to the doctor.  They gave us some medicine, told us what to watch for, and we’ve been doing so with the whole family since then.  Many of us wouldn’t even think twice about something like this.

When I went to Romania, I met several people who were suffering with illnesses of varying severity who had little to no access to healthcare.  One of the great prayers I heard lifted up among the Țigani people was that God would give them enough branches.  I didn’t understand at first, until I realized that they were asking God to provide them with enough scrap wood to burn to keep their homes warm during the cold winter months.

There are those in other parts of the world – even in our own back yard – who have similar or even worse problems.  There are those who cannot even get clean water to drink, let alone coffee.

So, praise God that I’m out of sugar today.  Thank God that I still have a healthy family, a warm house, and food to eat!  Thank you, God for providing for my needs in such an abundant way that I might be able to be generous to others.  Help me, Lord, to help others.

Especially those who can’t help themselves.

As it is written:

“They have freely scattered their gifts to the poor;
their righteousness endures forever.”

Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. (2 Corinthians 9:9-11)

Rise up and call her blessed!

Psalm 128:1-4

¹ Blessed are all who fear the LORD,
who walk in obedience to him.
² You will eat the fruit of your labor;
blessings and prosperity will be yours.
³ Your wife will be like a fruitful vine
within your house;
your children will be like olive shoots
around your table.
⁴ Yes, this will be the blessing
for the man who fears the LORD.

In an effort to instill in my boys a sense of love and respect for their mother, as well as a sense of security that their mommy and daddy love each other, I will occasionally break out into some kind of spontaneous public display of affection.  For example, I might say “Boys, isn’t your momma beautiful!”  Or if the misses and I are exchanging a quick kiss, I might decide to point it out – “Corbin, Tripp! I’m kissin your momma!”  Since my boys are five and four, they still find this amusing and sweet, brandishing those little smiles of theirs.  I’m sure one day, this same kind of display will elicit different reactions from my boys.

Gross dad!  Yall love each other, we get it!  Cut it out!

So, this morning I was sitting at the breakfast table with the family, and was reminded of something Mark Driscoll pointed out in the parenting section of his book Trial: 8 Witnesses from 1&2 Peter. He quotes the reference in Psalm 128 to wives and children, saying that this comes to his mind every time he sits down at the table to eat.  This morning, I was struck by my wife’s beauty, and decided to engage in some pastoral parenting.  Here’s the rundown:

Me: Tripp, you know what I love?

Tripp: What?

Me: (putting my hand on Keelie’s arm) THIS GIRL!

Tripp: (pointing enthusiastically at his mommy) I love her TOO!

Corbin: (hugging his mommy) MOMMY!

Sometimes we’re loud at the table.

I’m sure all of this made Keelie feel appreciated and loved.  It also made me feel pretty good about my efforts to teach my boys to love and respect their mom.  Like the husband of Proverbs 31:28-29, I want to set the example in my home of praising my wife.  I want my children to grow up treasuring their mother, and aware of all that she does for them.

How about you, husband?  How about you, dad?  Have you told your wife lately how much you love and appreciate her?  Have you told her in front of the kids?  Why not send her an email or text right now?  Why not embarrass your teenagers when you get home tonight by kissing her in front of them?  Compliment her cooking, and ask the kids what they think.

Cherish your wife, and learn all you can about her, and honor her (1 Peter 3:7), and do so in front of the kids.

The Original Dirt Ball

image courtesy of Penny Mathews at sxc.hu/profile/ZoofyTheJi

So, yesterday I mentioned that one of my goals this year was to start a family worship time in my home.  We’re off to a great start so far, and I thought I’d share some of the experience we’ve had so, including what is probably going to go down as the funniest moment at our dinner table in 2011. I’ve wanted to start a family worship time for years, ever since my Marriage and Family course in seminary where my professor taught me about it for the first time.  You see, I didn’t grow up in a church-going home and had never even heard of such a thing as worshiping with your family in your home.  The problem, then, was that I didn’t know how to do a family worship time, so it kinda fell by the wayside.  A few weeks ago, I was listening to a sermon on Mark Driscoll’s podcast and he referenced a book that could be downloaded to accompany his 1&2 Peter series that included questions for use during family devotions.  I downloaded it, and thankfully it included a how-to section starting on page 68.  It seemed like a good pattern, so we’re using it. Now, one major change we made is the reading plan.  Obviously, we don’t attend Mars Hill Church and don’t listen to the sermons as a family, so some of the punch is lost.  I opted instead to use Zondervan’s 180 Day Guided Tour of the Bible.  This gives us a plan to our reading so we don’t sit down to dinner and say “What do you wanna do tonight?” “Oh, I dunno, what do you wanna do tonight?”

I like this plan because it will take us through the highlights of the Bible in six months.  After that, I’ll consider where we want to head next as a family and create a new plan.

Today was day 2 of our new habit, and we’re off to an amazing start.  I started out today, like I’ve done every Sunday for the last year or so, by asking the kids what they learned in Sunday School.  This helps me to know what my boys are learning, review it to help them retain it, and clear up any misunderstandings they may have had.  Then, we moved into our Bible reading for the day, which was Genesis 2.

I read the passage, and then started asking basic questions.

• What did we read about? Adam and Eve
• Where did Adam come from? God created Adam
• What did God make Adam out of? Dust/dirt

Here’s where it got fun.

I made a quick little quip that Adam was a dirtball, and my 5-year old fell apart!  He started laughing one of those laughs that only he can do, and he only laughs this way when he’s been particularly amused.  He laughed like this for a good thirty seconds!  I looked at my wife, and she lost it!  I couldn’t take it anymore, and started laughing hysterically.  Our 4-year old, of course, was already laughing quite loudly.  We all laughed for a couple of minutes, and it was the best fun we’ve had in a long time.

Now, it took some doing to get back to the point, and I was careful not to force it.  In fact, I almost gave up on any more attempts to be serious, but it eventually came back around, with some snickering and smiles sprinkled throughout.  It was great, we had fun and had a lot of biblical conversation as well.  I made the comment to Keelie that this is exactly as it should be, enjoying each other.

What do you do for family worship?  Have you done anything that worked particularly well?  Anything that bombed?  Do you have a fun story to share?  Leave your feedback in the comments below.

Realistic expectations

Image courtesy of wizard909 at sxc.hu/profile/wizard909

I was walking through Wal-mart the other night, and knew it must’ve been near New Year’s Eve.  I’m not talking about seeing aisles of party favors, goofy 2011 sun-glasses, and confetti.  I’m talking about seeing all the home exercise equipment.  Rows of it, stacks of it – all covered with images of ripped guys and yoga-toned girls.  It’s that time again…

I try not to get caught up in the “resolution” cycle of setting dozens of goals everyone (including myself) knows I’ll never reach.  However, I do take the time to reflect on the previous year, and set some goals for the upcoming year.  I don’t mean the “I’m going to go to the gym everyday in 2011″ type of goals.  I mean things like, “I want to improve my prayer life with my wife and kids in 2011.”

With that in mind, I’ve set a few goals, how about you?

Here’s some of mine (the more spiritual ones, obviously.  You probably don’t care about my cholesterol, do you?)

• Read the Bible twice
• Study one Old Testament book in-depth
• Develop a systematic prayer guide for concerns in my church family
• Pray more with my wife and kids
• Start a family worship time in my home

Now like I said, these are realistic expectations that I think I can handle.  These are areas I know I need to grow as a Christian.  How about you?  Have you reflected over the past year and considered where you’ve grown and where you need to grow more?

If you have a desire to make Bible reading a part of 2011 (and I hope you do), check out crewebaptist.com/biblereading for a couple of reading plans I’ve developed over the last year or so.  The plan I’ll be starting out with can be found at the Chronological Bible Blog, and is a one-year plan that takes you through the Bible chronologically, so you get a good sense of the timeline of the Bible.  (I’d recommend this only if you’ve read through the entire Bible before.)  I started tonight, reading the first two days, and will read two days worth each day so as to complete the plan in six months.  When I’m nearing the end of that, I’ll begin looking for another plan that I can use.  I’m considering the M’Cheyne reading plan, but again, sped up to a six month plan.

I hope you’ll spend some time reflecting on what God is doing in your life and take this time when we break out the new calendars to strengthen some spiritual habits.

The Most Ironic Prayer in the Bible

I was listening to a sermon by my old pastor, Lew Bennett, on the FBC Bassett Podcast today.  Pastor Lew mentioned something that I never caught before:

The Most Ironic Prayer in the Bible.

He was preaching on Elijah’s depression from 1 Kings 19.  He mentioned the irony of Elijah’s prayer in vv. 3-5.  Elijah’s depression was so bad that he not only wished he was dead, he actually prayed that God would kill him!  Now, we know that God did not grant his request.  Rather, He encouraged him and gave him many more years of powerful ministry.  But, fast forward a few years to 2 Kings 2.

Enter the irony…

In this well-known scene, Elijah is taken up into God’s presence in a chariot of fire.

So, as it turns out, God did the exact opposite of Elijah’s request.  Elijah prayed to die that day, and in the end, Elijah never died! Now, Pastor Lew’s main point was about winning the bout with depression, and I’d recommend you listen to the sermon.  But this point wouldn’t let me go.

How often do we pray out of desperation and ask God for something that is way off target?  We look at our present situation with our finite vision and knowledge and we cry out to God with some request that is all wrong for us.  God looks at our whole life all at once with His infinite vision and knowledge and gives us what He knows to be best.

You’ve probably heard the old adage about God’s three answers to prayer: yes, no, and maybe.  This is so true!  Sometimes we ask things of God that are all wrong for us.  What if God had granted Elijah’s request that day and killed him?  Think of all the ministry Elijah would’ve missed, the great works of God, and in the end, he would’ve missed escaping death itself!

Brother or sister, do not lose hope in the midst of difficulty.  Do not assume that just because things are bad now, they won’t ever improve.  Know that God’s wisdom far outreaches our own, and He knows what is best for us, even when we’re at our worst.  Pray in faith and hope that God will bring you through the trial, the pain, or the loss.

Do not pray in hopeless desperation, but rather, pray in faith, knowing that God listens and God cares.

Originally at Words of Reason

Keeping the Christ in X-mas

I’ve already seen the first assault on “Xmas” for the holiday season, so I thought I’d take some time to explain a few things about Xmas and keeping Christ at the center of it all.

(Update: This post has quickly generated the most traffic on my site in it’s short history. I know this is because of the hot-button nature of the topic.  Let me preface this post by saying that it is not intended to be arrogant, condescending, or rude. If any part of it appears that way, I apologize because that is not my intent. My point is not actually about history, words and letters, though this article does deal with all three. My true point is to get the attention off the bickering and quibbling about words and phrases so we can all put it back on Jesus, where it belongs this season. Lastly, I humbly submit that much of the harsher statements made in this article are as a result of my own soul-searching, not pointed outward at others. My prayer is that the Church will look inward and repent of it’s own sins of neglect, greed, and pride; then look outward at a broken, fallen world that needs to hear about God’s glory and salvation through Jesus.  Let the Spirit speak where He may.)

“X” is the first letter of “Christ” in Greek (spelled ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ). it was a common abbreviation for “Christ” in the early church, and “XS” and “XOS” (ΧΣ and ΧΟΣ) were common abbreviations for “Christ” in the Greek New Testament .  Using “X” as an abbreviation for “Christ” is an ancient practice of the Church.  Before the cross became the popular Christian symbol it is today, the Chi Rho was the predominant symbol for the faith.  The Chi Rho (pictured above), is a symbol which combines the chi and rho (X and P), which are the first two letters of “Christ” in Greek (ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ).

Writing Xmas is NOT taking Christ out of Christmas.

Taking Christ out of Christmas looks more like people trampling each other for bargains the day after Thanksgiving.  Taking Christ out of Christmas looks more like a December calendar so full of “holiday” events that we neglect the gathering together with other believers to worship Christ.  Taking Christ out of Christmas looks more like going into debt to buy things people don’t need with money you don’t have, while people around the world are starving.

As I’ve said on this blog before, anyone can copy and paste a statement that cries out about “keeping Christ in Christmas.”  I challenge you to actually do so, in more than just your spelling.  How about setting a December schedule that keeps Christ in Christmas?  How about spending money that keeps Christ in Christmas?  How about living a life from January through November that is radically changed by the fact that Christ came to earth, lived a sinless life, died in your place, was buried, and rose again three days later?

Here’s some ideas to keep Christ in Xmas this year:

• Make it a point of being in town for each Sunday in the Advent season in order to gather with brothers and sisters in Christ to worship Him
• When putting out the Nativity scene as you decorate, talk with your kids about what each piece is and what the Bible says about them (Why is Jesus in a manger?  What are the wise men holding?  Why is there a shepherd there?)
• Buy something for a family in need (World Vision’s Gift Catalog is a great place to start here)
• Invite a family who doesn’t go to church to come with you and your family to the Christmas Eve service
• Tell someone about the good news of Christ’s death in our place to save us from sin

Whatever creative ways you come up with, just don’t relegate your faith to a simple bumper sticker declaration or copy and paste confession about keeping Christ in Christmas.  James warned us, “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.”  Don’t complain to Wal-mart that they aren’t keeping Christ in Christmas, they aren’t the church!  If you are a follower of Christ, then it’s up to you to keep Christ at the center of this season.

One last thing: don’t copy and paste this as your status update, just keep the Christ in Xmas with your actions!

(One more update: a friend of mine, Jared, has written a post on this same general topic, but with a much more mission-minded focus. I highly recommend you read his take http://jbyas.com/2011/12/05/why-i-say-xmas/)

Book Review: Misconception

I recently joined the christianaudio Reviewers Program.  My first audiobook was Misconception by Paul & Shannon Morell.  This was an emotional true story of two families and their experience with a fertility clinic mix-up.  It is told in first-person from the perspective of Shannon, whose frozen embryo was implanted into the wrong woman.

This book is in no way a treatise on the human-from-conception view of life, though it touches on the topic.  Instead, this book focuses on the story of two families’ experiences with pregnancy via in vitro fertilization.  It is a narrative, not a defense.

In many ways, this book felt like a catharsis for Shannon; a chance for her to get out all of the penned-up thoughts and emotions from her ordeal.  At times, there were details and stories told that were not essential to the overall timeline of events, but give depth to Shannon’s feelings.   Especially since I experienced this as an audio book, it sometimes felt as though I was on a long phone call with Shannon after asking her, “So what happened with your baby?”  Taken in this vein, and giving an understanding ear, I was absorbed into the story.  I rode the roller coaster with her.

Tavia Gilbert did a fantastic job of narrating, lending full emotion when appropriate, and even sounding as perplexed as Shannon must have felt at times.  I highly recommend this book, especially in audio format, and especially to anyone dealing with fertility issues of any kind, past or present.