Worship after Resurrection

During my recent trip to Tanzania I was able to travel and minister with a young man who had, for all practical purposes, tried to kill himself several times.   Living fast and recklessly he had indulged his flesh with abandon.   And several times he almost died.  The fifth time he felt was a game changer.   During the experience he claims that he encountered an angel and that he was given an option whether to return to this life or not.   He opted to return.    

I can't speak to the above claims.  It seems a bit over the top to my natural mind.  However, I can and will attest to what I observed in this young man who at one time almost threw everything away.

John has a look of wonder and delight perpetually written on his face.   He speaks with encouragement and love and any attempts to praise him glance off as the praise seems to merely rebound back at the giver.  There is no pride, no self, no "look at me" attitude evident in his life.   It is all about Christ and not about John.

I love to stand next to John during worship time.  He has this look on his face as if it is the very first time he has encountered the Living God in worship and he is just blown away.   You know for certain, however, that it isn't the first time because you saw him during worship yesterday, and the day before, and he had that exact same look on his face each time.   You know the look: it is a look that says, "If it gets any better than this, I think I'll explode!"   It is a look that expresses, "Jesus is far better than anything I could ever have imagined." And from talking to him, it is a look based firmly on the conviction that he wasted so many years chasing the wind and not craving Christ.  It is a look that says, "Did you just hear what I heard?   Isn't that incredible?   Doesn't that just blow your mind?"

John led our prayer room ministry in the villages.   He didn't know any better than to think that miracles still occur.  He prayed expecting God to heal.  And God did heal.   The lame walked.  The blind saw.  The deaf heard.   A paralyzed mommy held her young child for the first time while tears of joy flowed.   A young boy, six years old, who had never walked or talked, now walks and talks and his dad has given his life to Christ.   The witch doctor in the village had a strong influence, but we saw that influence wane.

To be sure, the experiences above seem too strange to be true.  Our scientific minds can't accommodate such thinking.  So we will rationalize the events away.   I'm writing this in an essay form as soon as I can because I know that I, certainly, will rationalize and spiritualize the events down to nothing in a very short time.  I'll bet that you, too, are trying to think of ways to dismiss the miracles above as mistaken diagnoses, over ambitious thinking, or immature Christian expectations.

But the events above are more consistent with Scripture than our rationalized thinking.   We have not personally had any experiences like those described above so we instead use rationalization to help us make "sense" of Bible texts that seem to say that events like those described above are not abnormal in Kingdom living.

I, however, want my life to be consistent with all of Scripture.  That includes even the miracle parts.  Lord Jesus, help me to trust you and your Word to the degree that I experience the super-natural life you promised.  I don't want to assume a "Your Best Life Now" mentality, but I also don't want to miss one thing that you have for me while I walk this earth.   Help me to savor you with all my heart and to believe you with all my mind and to serve you with all my strength.  And may I never miss what you're up to in and around me because it doesn't fit in the perspective of the natural world.

May I ever have a look of wonder on my face as I encounter the Living Christ in worship.

Dennis (2012)

Written in 2012, reviewed again in 2013, and now again in 2017.  A look back ... and forward.

My life is made up of a succession of days that constitute my opportunity to glorify God.  It will do no good to begrudge the character or nature of these days; rather, I need/want to revel in the unique opportunity those days afford to me in order that I can deliberately and intensely glorify and enjoy God.  This is the moment in all of history which God has entrusted to my stewardship.  Now what will I do with it? 

There's Actually a Name for it?!?

Traffic in large cities has always puzzled me.  How in the world can traffic be going 70 MPH on one end, and 70 MPH on the other end, and with no accidents or other problem, the traffic in between the two is just inching along, if not stopped altogether.   Why?

It has a name.

Matt Perman in his book - What's Best Next: How the Gospel Transforms the Way You Get Things Done, discusses this on page 223.

Researchers have found that whenever most systems — such as airports, freeways, and other such things — exceed about 90 percent capacity, efficiency drops massively. Not just slightly, but massively. This is called the “ringing effect.” The reason is that as a system nears its capacity, the effect of relatively small disturbances is magnified exponentially. This is why traffic slows down at rush hour almost inexplicably. When you think about it, unless there is an accident, there’s almost no reason that traffic should be going slow. And, here’s the thing: you’re right. Or, in other words, there is a reason, but it’s not what you’d expect. The reason traffic is slow is because of the relatively small and otherwise insignificant braking that some guy four miles ahead did — and the person a quarter mile behind him, and half a mile behind him. It’s not that they are slamming on their brakes; under ordinary circumstances, what they are doing would have almost no effect on the f low of traffic. The problem is that once capacity is past about 90 percent, small disturbances have a huge effect. And so traffic slows down, sometimes to a crawl. That’s the ringing effect.

        

You see the ringing effect, for example, when you are trying to schedule a meeting for ten people, and they all have to be there. It’s almost impossible to find a time that works for everyone, resulting in an untold number of emails going back and forth. And then, once everything is figured out, something unexpected comes up for someone and you need to reschedule the meeting again (and then reschedule the other stuff on your plate that is now interfering with the new time). That “rearranging” is the ringing effect. And it takes time away from the productive stuff that you have to do (in this case, times ten). And the effects continue cascading, for as you keep rescheduling, other people involved need to reschedule as well (even if they aren’t part of the group for the original meeting). And on it goes.

I don't know if it helps you, but I feel better now. :)

Core Values

I'm reading Matt Perman's book, "What's Best Next: How the Gospel Transforms the Way You Get Things Done"   It is like "GTD on steroids!" :)

One point he has made several times is regarding "core values" or "core principles."  He says that one way to know whether something is a core value is to ask, "Would I still hold to this even if I was punished for it?"   It really makes me think, "How may of my values would I still retain if holding it would cost something or result in punishment?"

I heartily recommend this book.  I will be reading it again and again I'm sure.

Saturday Sounds!

From Tim Keller’s 2007 Christmas sermon:

The world embraces Christmas in a way it has never embraced Good Friday and Easter. I think the world sees Christmas as being rather affirming — it’s all about peace and goodwill. Isn’t that nice? Actually, the message of Christmas is incredibly confrontational. It says the reason for Christmas is the world’s wisdom has failed.

One of the (many) sermons my dad preached which has stuck with me over the  years had to do with how comfortable we are with Jesus as a baby.   As long as Jesus is the babe of Christmas, in a manger, we don't feel so challenged.  We don't really want to contend with the Jesus of Easter or the Jesus who makes demands on our lives.  We'd rather keep him in a stable - domesticated and safe.

I've been challenged this Advent season to consider a life worthy of the gospel - worthy of our calling (Philippians 1:27).  A life that cannot be understood or explained apart from the gospel.

May we all encounter Christ this Christmas and see the confrontation in terms that far exceed the confrontation of whether a clerk says "Merry Christmas" or not.  May the confrontational message of Christmas engage our hearts and minds this year like never before.

Merry Christmas!

John Piper's Poem - "The Calvinist"

Very much worth listening to.