Christianity 101 | Ain't Complicated

God Has a Whole Universe to Run

God has a whole universe to run, and just imagine the trillions of details He has to dovetail in order to make things turn out according to His plan. It would be lunacy for me to begrudge an interrupted slumber when I have no idea of the carefully positioned dominoes involved here. And besides all the cosmic reasons why I was awakened early—which started my day earlier, which got me on the road earlier, which caused me to meet an entirely difference set of people and circumstances all day long and into infinity—there are the personal reasons God means just for me.

It occurs to me that God may simply have allowed the perplexingly untimely phone call to test my heart, to see whether I will trust Him when I am baffled “The LORD your God is testing you, to know whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul”— Deuteronomy 13:3. Sometimes He gives us these opportunities to exercise a muscular faith in the face of a sheer unknown—when there is no explanation but that God is God. And I believe He likes to hear us say the words—out loud and before the angels—”Lord, no matter what happens, I will trust in You.”

Those are the closing paragraphs of Andrée Seu’s Incident at Motel 6 over at WorldMagBlog.

It’s short. And it blessed me.

It might do that for you as well.

Boasting: The Smartness of Refraining

Do you hate pride?

This is a bit of counsel I have learned the value of. It is not smart to slip into your conversation little boasts about yourself—the college you went to, the degrees you earned, the plum positions you held. First of all, it sounds proud and diminishes you ever so slightly in the eyes of the other person. Secondly, it sets a trap for your own feet, because eventually (think about it), if you develop a relationship with the person you are speaking to, he or she will find out your true measure. If you have presented yourself too highly, your fall in his esteem will be the worse.

If, on the other hand, you have wisely refrained from boasting, your new friend will be continually delighted with pleasant discoveries about you, which will be all the more pleasing to him because you did not brag at all.

That is so true, Andrée Seu. Thank you!

PS: Click her name to read the full piece. It’s short.

One Dark, Drizzly Night….

Our two boys (26 and 16) were mowing.

In the dark.

By flashlights.

Racing the rain.

And already in the mist.

Neighbor (53?) heard their mowers.

Investigated.

Returned with his weedeater.

To trim around the headstones.

For they were mowing our church cemetery.

“For all the law is fulfilled in one word,
even in this;
Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.”
–Galatians 5:14

(Thank you, SteveH!)

Urie Sharp: Perspectives on Suffering

The morning of October 10 (2010), Bro. Urie preached at our church.

I just uploaded ten tracks containing that message:

I’m sorry I don’t know how to combine them all into a single mp3 file. (If you want to tell me how to do it, please do!)

Andrée Seu and Glenn Beck

Not to exaggerate, but reading Andrée Seu’s latest article felt a bit like a punch in the gut. She is one of my favorite writers at World Magazine. She writes with skill, grace, wisdom, and spiritual insight.

But now she is saying that she is convinced Glenn Beck is “a new creation in Christ,” even though he is a practicing and believing Mormon.

It’s tragic that she would believe this, write this, and that World would publish it.

A few short thoughts in response.

Up to that point, I agree with Justin Taylor.

And for all that I know, I agree with him after that point. But I haven’t read all that he wrote regarding Andrée Seu’s Tragic Mistake on the Gospel of Glenn Beck.

Orphan Boys…and I?

No. I’m too old. I’m too poor. I’m too overwhelmed.

But this still tugs:

Most orphans are adopted into a family as infants. But what becomes of the orphans who are not so fortunate to be adopted? What happens to those who begin to fall through the cracks of the system?

It’s no secret that Russian orphans who do not have a forever family almost always struggle in adulthood. According to Buckner International, kids who go through the entire system and leave the orphanage at age 17 often end up involved in drugs, prostitution, and crime right away. Estimates show that almost 10 percent of these orphans commit suicide within the first three years after leaving an orphanage.

[…]

Older orphan boys from Russia are the most desperate for homes right now. For whatever reason, boys are less likely to be adopted in general than girls, and this is especially the case as they get older. But it is no less imperative for these boys to find homes than it is for girls.

Source: Adoption crisis: Russian boys need homes

That Sword in Your Head

Or is it a Swiss Army knife?

The writer of Proverbs describes an unwise person as “one who speaks like the piercings of a sword” (12:18). Our tongues can be like a multi-bladed Swiss Army knife when it comes to the variety of ways that we cut and destroy each other.

Unhealthy attitudes of anger, irritation, frustration, and impatience — even disappointment, stress, guilt, and insecurity — all contribute to our damaging speech. And as we cut with our words, we wound and divide friendships and relationships. It’s no wonder that the infamous list of seven things that are an abomination to the Lord includes anyone who “sows discord among brethren” (Prov. 6:16-19).

How do we stay off that list?

Since I didn’t write this, I shouldn’t just quote the whole thing, should I?

Here’s the rest: Cutting Remarks. Please read it.