Life

My soul is weary.

Agrrrr

Well I tried to post it, but I guess I am too much of a dolt.

Just had to shake my head...

I posted the following in response to, "Why Al Qaeda Supports the Emergent Church

I think it is easy to paint with broad strokes things we disagree with. I understand there is a great deal of confusion about Emergent and the emerging church. Likewise, I understand postmodernism and Postmodernity are equally as difficult to digest.
But, what is the harm in seeking to live as missionaries in a culture that has turned it back on God? Why does acknowledging the cultural shift from modernism to postmodernism require the abandonment of reason, doctrine and absolutes? Is it possible for a body of Christ followers to engage a new breed of people with the teaching of Jesus without being labeled as liberal, relativistic and non-committal?
One of the reasons I am part of a holistic, missional, Christian community is because it seeks to understand how the church today goes about ministering to people who are separated from God. This does not sound unbiblical, because it isn’t. But when we begin to lump all of a certain kind of church together and categorize them based on one or two common factors, we begin to create stereotypes that do not always correspond to reality.
Yes, there are heretical and strange emerging churches, just like there are in every denomination, association and fellowship. However, it is not necessarily the case that every church that labels itself “emerging” will deny moral absolutes, engage in reader response eisegesis, reject science and reason and discard objective truth. There is a huge difference between accepting a philosophical postmodern worldview as true and acknowledging we live in Postmodernity. It is fair and accurate to say there are some emerging worship communities in the world, which are tired not of doctrine, evangelism and discipleship, but are weary of the way the modern church has packaged these core values and presented them to the world. It is with this motivation that I will continue to be a part of my emerging worship community, despite over-generalized, inaccurate and untrue characterizations.

Preach'n Sunday

Psalm 10
¹Why do You stand afar off, O Lord? Why do You hide Yourself in times of trouble? ²In pride the wicked hotly pursue the afflicted; Let them be caught in the plots which they have devised.

³For the wicked boasts of his heart’s desire, And the greedy man curses and spurns the Lord. ⁴The wicked, in the haughtiness of his countenance, does not seek Him. All his thoughts are, “There is no God.” ⁵His ways prosper at all times; Your judgments are on high, out of his sight; As for all his adversaries, he snorts at them. ⁶He says to himself, “I will not be moved; Throughout all generations I will not be in adversity.” ⁷His mouth is full of curses and deceit and oppression; Under his tongue is mischief and wickedness. ⁸He sits in the lurking places of the villages; In the hiding places he kills the innocent; His eyes stealthily watch for the unfortunate. ⁹He lurks in a hiding place as a lion in his lair; He lurks to catch the afflicted; He catches the afflicted when he draws him into his net. ¹⁰He crouches, he bows down, And the unfortunate fall by his mighty ones. ¹¹He says to himself, “God has forgotten; He has hidden His face; He will never see it.”

¹²Arise, O Lord; O God, lift up Your hand. Do not forget the afflicted. ¹³Why has the wicked spurned God? He has said to himself, “You will not require it.” ¹⁴You have seen it, for You have beheld mischief and vexation to take it into Your hand. The unfortunate commits himself to You; You have been the helper of the orphan. ¹⁵Break the arm of the wicked and the evildoer, Seek out his wickedness until You find none.

¹⁶The Lord is King forever and ever; Nations have perished from His land. ¹⁷O Lord, You have heard the desire of the humble; You will strengthen their heart, You will incline Your ear ¹⁸To vindicate the orphan and the oppressed, So that man who is of the earth will no longer cause terror. ^NASB95

Awe Struck

The past couple days I have been hanging out in 1 Timothy trying to zoom out and see the bigger picture of the book. Right off the top Paul leads out with a great rendition of his story. It might be tough to see it, but here it is...

After Paul greets Timothy, he explains why he left Timothy in Ephesus, "to correct the punks who are teaching weird stuff."

Paul goes on to point out what preoccupied these "teachers": myths, genealogies and speculations. He tells Timothy these guys wanted to be teachers of God's law, but they are either ignorant or confused about what they are teaching.

"God's law is good," Paul tells Timothy, "if it is used correctly." The Law is for bad people, really bad people."

Here is where it gets good...

Paul then thanks God for allowing him to service, since Paul was one of these really bad people. As a matter of record, Paul says he was the baddest of the bad and yet the love of Jesus was more then enough to forgive his sin and restore him to purity before God! God saved Paul as an example of his long suffering and patience, so that all unbelievers might find mercy.

What a (lets go old skool here...) testimony of how God works! This chapter is a beautiful picture of what God can do with screwed up people. Jesus saves the lawless, the rebellious, the ungodly, the sinners, the unholy, the profane, those who kill their fathers or mothers, murderers and the immoral, homosexuals, kidnappers, liars and perjurers! Not to mention the squeaky clean, goodie-two-shoes as well!

Once again, I am stuck by God's love and his willing to rescue people who are infested will evil.

Isn't this what sharing our story should be all about? We don't need some crazy story to tell, our own encounter with God is enough to share.

Othropedic Resume

• 1976- broken collar bone
• 1976- cracked skull
• 1977- broken elbow
• 1984- broken ankle
• 1986 to 1989- broken fingers, nose (several times), toes, chipped tooth, knocked unconsciousness.
• 2006- shattered two toes, which had to be amputated.
• 2007- broken elbow (again)
• 2008- ???
  

So that is where they went...

Toe Story