The Sacred Desk

Tomorrow morning I'll be expositing the twenty-ninth psalm. I came across this psalm in the normal course of devotional reading and was interested in the use of the word "ascribe" in the translation of the first couple of verses. Nature stands as a nearly omnipresent puzzle for any merchant still shopping for the pearl of great value. Who (or what) is the cause, the source, or the author of this unsigned masterpiece of mountainside, meadow, and bay? Nature is an argument. David then proceeds to describe a fierce storm beginning over the sea in the north and sweeping south across the entire country. The voice of the LORD is thunderclaps so loud so as to cause does to go into labor, winds so strong so as to snap proud cedars in two, storms so fierce so as to make tall mountains appear to buck as a wild ox, rain and hail so heavy so as to strip forests bare, and lightning so bright and hot so as to crack the sky in two. Through nature, God speaks to man as man speaks to a dog - in decibel levels, spankings, and strokes. The shout of the thunderclap, the whisper of the snow, the babble of the brook, the roar of the ocean, the song of the whippoorwill, the chant of the cricket all declare "glory" along with the heavenly host. Nature is a language. Finally David finds, in nature, strength and peace. The God of the flood, that great display of nature's power, is his own Father - why should he be afraid? Nature is a monument as well.

Press Conference

When living in Arizona, I began a practice of holding "press conferences" for Chad, Tricia, and the church. As we were sitting around playing Mario Party, driving to Mesa for some late night disc golf, or taking our medicine at the local Sonic - I would say "Hey everybody. Let me have your attention please. I'd like to take this opportunity to declare that I'm officially coming out against fruit-flavored LifeSavers. Thank you." Or something like that. I found this to be an important and helpful way to inform my brothers and sisters about changes in my life and practice. I came out against many things while in Tempe - hot dogs, Third Day, swamp coolers, the state of North Carolina, to name just a few.

I'd like to continue the practice now through Keep The Car Running.

Hey everbody. Let me have your attention please. I'd like to take this opportunity to declare that after much deliberation and weighing of the consequences, I'm officially coming out against sweet tea. Thank you.

I love good quotes

"There are two motives for reading a book: one, that you enjoy it, the other that you can boast about it."
- Bertrand Russell

"I don't want to achieve immortality through my work. I want to achieve it through not dying."
- Woody Allen

This isn't the high ground. . .

"I condemn remarks that are, in any way, viewed as anti-anything."
This was John McCain on ABC's This Week responding to questions about controversial comments made by John Hagee who has endorsed the senator for president.

Good grief - am I going to have to vote for this guy?

Pop Music's Redemption

I adore the Duffy album Rockferry that came out this Tuesday. I haven't enjoyed a record this much since I was in high school - love at first note.

Fun With Phonics. . .

From a George Bernard Shaw joke I read a couple days ago - "ghoti" could be an alternate spelling of what common english word?

The Life and Times. . .

So it's starting to get hot again down here which means I'm starting to get this a lot: "Man John - aren't you uncomfortable in those pants? You must be burning up!"

So I'm like: "Good grief - you don't see people always asking if Indiana Jones is too warm or nagging John Wayne about wearing shorts!"

So they're like: "John, dude, - those are like superheros man."

So I'm like: "Bingo."

So they're like: "Whatever - just don't start wearing Superman's tights alright? If you ever want someone to talk to - my dad knows this guy."

The Sacred Desk

This Sunday I'll be expositing Acts 16:16-24.

Seeing as how there are no more habitable unexplored continents that a persecuted church could set sail for - we best take our sanctification as believers seriously. I see three major fault lines running under America's culture and philosophical constitution that are sure to bring quakes of persecution should God ever visit our church with another great awakening. 1) Spirituality has become a natural resource. 2) Affluency has become a matter of national security. 3) Camelot has no absolute but Camelot. By arguing for "spirituality" to be an end in itself and not merely a means to our own ends - we are sure to raise the ire of those who are losing what they see as a valuable resource (much like the hatred directed to abolitionists who dared humanize the black man making him someone worthy of respect and fellowship instead of something that could be used to advance one's own selfish ends). Further, with our economy now securely built on an unbiblical frame, any great awakening would be sure to create what might be called a "revival recession". Our government has made it very clear that it will exert great force to secure unimpeded prosperity. Finally, our country has become proud and taken credit for the successes of a law and culture based on a biblical absolute. Now that we have decided that the American Way is above and beyond the religious and that we are capably governed by our own common sense - an absolute state is not far off. One absolute won't abide another that stands in judgement of it. Let us all be prepared for the sifting that we indeed are praying for if we are praying for revival.

America Idle

This little essay titled Intemperate Listening is from The Art of Listening by Filson Young and was printed in the 1928 BBC Handbook. The value of its insights can only be matched by the wonder of its improbable publication.

"No one, however leisured his or her life, ought to listen all the time. There would be something excessive and intemperate about such a person. Yet like so many other things, listening to wireless transmissions may become a habit, and a bad habit. Fear that one may be missing something by not listening is one cause; but a more insidious one is the feeling that something is going on somewhere, and that rather than take the trouble to do anything else for oneself, one might as well listen to it. That, of course, is as great an injustice to the art of Broadcasting as it is to the listener himself. It is a misuse of what, properly used, can be a very real boon to the aesthetic life af any household. I would urge listeners to cultivate the art of using their wireless receivers intelligently and artistically, so that the immense care and trouble that are taken in compiling and presenting the programmes shall achieve their true direction and effect."

Georgian's own brand of cabin fever not far off now. . .

"What dreadful hot weather we have!
It keeps me in a continual state of inelegance."

~ Jane Austen

From the greatest state in the Union. . .

The painting which now adorns the frontispiece of KTCR is an original work done by the hand of one Tricia Irving of Tempe, Arizona! Tricia, also known in the fellowship of the Wu as Ghostface Killah, sent it to me for my birthday and I absolutely adore it. Special thanks to my "We build! We fight! Can do!" brother Job for spanning the great chasm that is my technological ineptitude and hanging the painting. Happy Mothers Day from Vermont!

~ Inspektah Dek

Lord willing. . .

I leave tomorrow morning for Massachusetts. I'll be giving the commencement address at my alma mater - the Berkshire Institute for Christian Studies. That an institution like BICS exists at all and that I should be so blessed to have known it as an enrolled student is a wonderful and gracious act of providence. This year marks BICS twentieth anniversary - I earnestly pray it lasts long enough to minister to several more generations. God bless that little house of bread in the Berkshires!

Gleanings from readings. . .

I read in the USA Today recently that in 2006 the amount of unclaimed lottery winnings in the United States totaled over 570 million dollars. "Wowie zowie!" as my niece Lucy Gates would say. But that sum would be seen as a dull penny if put up against the number of blessings unclaimed by Christians.

In Luke 11 Jesus tells the parable of the man who knocks on his neighbor's door at midnight for bread to serve a friend who has just arrived from a long journey. He is refused at first but is persistent and continues to knock until he shakes the man from his sheets and receives the bread he needs. Christ tells this tale in the context of a conversation He's having on the practice of prayer. We are being taught to be as persistent in our entreaties made to our heavenly Father. "And I say to you, ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it shall be opened." (9 - 10) This seems simple enough until Jesus reveals what it is that should cause us to go knocking desperately at the midnight hour: "Now suppose one of you fathers is asked by his son for a fish; he will not give him a snake instead of a fish, will he? Or if he is asked for an egg, he will not give him a scorpion, will he? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?" (11 - 13) The Holy Spirit is what God is promising to provide - in this lies the problem.

In the times I've spent at the altar with people who have come forward after their consciences have been quickened, hearts broken, minds rankled by the preaching of the Word - I've heard many of them cry out to God, earnestly asking Him for self-control, or peace of mind, or love, or joy, or the ability to be faithful. Sadly, many of these people will leave that altar knowing that their prayers didn't get above the chapel ceiling. They earnestly desire the ends but despair of the means. All that they so desperately want in their lives is clearly the fruit of the Spirit. The Israelites couldn't ask for milk and honey in the wilderness when it was promised to them in Canaan and we can't ask for a victorious Christianity in independence when it is promised to us in submission. I can't think of any treasure that we truly want that isn't promised to us through the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Why are we so often terrified of claiming the winnings?