Our Situation - from Ransomed Heart

Let me say this again: the story of your life is the story of the long and brutal assault on your heart by the one who knows what you could be and fears it. I hope you are beginning to see that more clearly now. Otherwise, much of the Bible will not make sense to you. Much of your life will not make sense to you.

I will go before you and will level the mountains; I will break down gates of bronze and cut through bars of iron. I will give you the treasures of darkness, riches stored in secret places, so that you may know I am the LORD, the God of Israel, who summons you by name. (Isa. 45:2–3)

Doesn’t the language of the Bible sometimes sound . . . overblown? Really now—God is going to level mountains for us? We’d be happy if he just helped us get through the week. What’s all that about breaking down gates of bronze and cutting through bars of iron? I mean, it sounds heroic, but, well, who’s really in need of that? This isn’t ancient Samaria. We’d settle for a parking place at the mall.

If we are in an epic battle, then the language of the Bible fits perfectly. Things are not what they seem. We are at war. That war is against your heart, your glory. Once more, look at Isaiah 61:1:

He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners.

(Waking the Dead , 149–50)

(www.ransomedheart.org)

Resolved by the grace of God

The 2009 crystal ball of the Times Square will fall in a little over twenty- four hours, and American citizens will say good bye to 2008 and ring in 2009. When we welcome the new year with party and fun, we also make personal resolutions to achieve in 2009.

I pledge to lose 15 pounds... I hope I will be able to eat less chocolate... I intend on developing a better relationship with my co-workers.

Don't get me wrong here - most of the resolutions we create are well-intentioned. It is great for people to establish a year-long manifestos to aim for, but is it biblical to make resolutions? In other words, does the Bible encourage us to make our own resolutions?

While reading Tabletalk, a publication of Ligonier Ministries and R.C. Sproul (a year-long subscription gift for Christmas from my parents), Burk Parsons does a super-b job of examining the theology of making resolutions and whether it is biblical-based. I was reminded (and surprised) with the references he provide in his essay.

Let's look at Daniel: "But Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king's foods or with the wine that he drank." (Daniel 1:8)

And Joseph: "And her [Mary's] husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly." (Matthew 1:19)

Even Paul made many resolutions (1 Corinthians 10:14-32; Colossians 3:12-17), but I'll cite one here from 2 Thessalonians 1:11-12: "To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ." 

Bottom line: the Bible not only gives us permission to make resolutions, but also gives us several examples of various godly men who resolved to live for Him in a particular manner for a particular reason.

Jonathan Edwards, a famous Puritan pastor and philosopher who lived during the eighteenth century in colonial America, made seventy resolutions in his so-called "Resolutions," and his work was commenced with a simple introduction:

Being sensible that I am unable to do anything without God's help, I do humbly entreat him by his grace to enable me to keep these resolutions, so far as they are agreeable to his will, for Christ's sake.

Jonathan Edwards' simplicity impresses me because at a mere age of nineteen (only a few years younger than me), he already knew his weaknesses (do we?) and the destructive nature of his sins, so he made a simple resolution to glorify God and pursue holiness; we should draw from his example to make our own resolutions. First, he had to be reasonable when he makes his resolutions. Second, he needed God's help in keeping his resolutions because he was weak. Third, he had to humble himself and recognize that he cannot do it alone. Finally, his resolutions must be made for Christ's sake (or within God's will) so that He may be glorified. In essence, he is a young man pursuing the heart of God, and wants to glorify Him through every word, deed, and thought he makes - which includes his resolutions.

May we learn from Jonathan Edwards' simple words filled with wisdom on resolution-making for 2009 and beyond!

Advisory Team of the Deaf Teen Ministry Affinity Network

I got an e-mail message tonight at 6:00 pm from Bob Ayres  (www.bobayres.com), a respected colleague of mine involved with Deaf Teen Ministry, inviting me to join the Advisory Team of the Deaf Teen Ministry Affinity Network of the National Network of Youth Ministries. I was humbled that the existing Advisory team and Bob would want me to be a part of their group. As a result, I've decided that I would accept his invitation.

Read the message below if you are interested. I will be adding the link to the Deaf Teen Ministry Affinity Network - check that out!

*~*

Dear Bruce,

On behalf of Chad Entinger, Bob Rhoads, Jeremy Simons, and myself, we would like to extend an invitation to you to join the Advisory Team of the Deaf Teen Ministry Affinity Network of the National Network of Youth Ministries.

You can see the existing members under “About Network” at www.deafministry.org

Due to the nature of this network, there is little work responsibility attached to this role outside of providing advice and feedback. It will not be a burden on top of your already busy schedule. The importance of the Advisory Team is primarily for showing members that the Affinity Network represents a number of ministries and not just a single ministry.

Each member of the team has approved this request and we all hope you will join us. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns. We are honored to serve Christ beside you.

Blessings,

Bob Ayres

NNYM Network Coordinator

Deaf Teen Ministry Affinity Network

Model for Deaf ministry music videos

I saw this great music video from D-PAN (Deaf Performing Arts Network), and a question emerged: how are we doing with videos to reach our Deaf teenagers? I think this type of artistic quality - impressive, I must admit - would help Deaf youth ministries to be more creative with their outreach videos and make it more appealing for teenagers. All we need to do is find someone skilled in Videography...

Although the website is a little too liberal for my taste, Project Readon is the first website I found that offers a great idea to use along with videos for the Deaf: captions. By producing quality music videos and adding captions, I believe our teenagers will be able to obtain the Gospel message in yet another way that may prove to be effective.

The YouTube video below is the version without any captions; the link will connect you to Project Readon to view the captioned version.

Link to captioned versionof the music video: Project Readon

Prayer for the USA

Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask your forgiveness and to seek your direction and guidance.

We know Your Word says, 'Woe to those who call evil good,' but that is exactly what we have done.  We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values. We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery. We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare.  We have killed our unborn and called it choice. We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable.  We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self esteem.  We have abused power and called it politics. We have coveted our neighbor's possessions and called it ambition.  We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression.  We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment. 

Search us, Oh God, and know our hearts today; cleanse us from every sin and Set us free. Amen!

~Billy Graham

Hood Finals Week Completed!

The past week went by like a whirlwind.

And it was also tough. Really tough.

This was my last week of my semester at Hood College, and it means one thing: final exams (my college buddies know what it means at Hood). I took the following classes along with their respective course numbers:

- ECON 328 - Labor Economics

- ECON 305 - Principles of Macroeconomics

- PSY 208 - Psychology of Adolescence (awesome class!)

- MGMT 402 - Business Finance

Except for PSY 208, all of my classes' finals were ridiculously long and hard. I took my exams from Tuesday through Friday, and I basically sacrificed my previous weekend solely to studies. The third floor of Beneficial-Hudson Library has become my second home - I think I have spent approximately 40 to 50 hours studying there this week alone. I gave up my time, sleep, and energy for the sake of finishing well this semester. At times, I felt like quitting, but knowing that the end was approaching, I pressed forward to do my best.

I'm glad to report to you this: I think I did well on all of my exams, especially in my mind-blowing hard class (MGMT 402).

I'm feeling jovial now! One more semester, then hello, World!

More Fun Christmas Facts!

The first printed reference to Christmas trees appeared in Germany in 1531.

The poem commonly referred to as "The Night Before Christmas" was originally titled "A Visit From Saint Nicholas." This poem was written by Clement Moore for his children and some guests, one of whom anonymously sent the poem to a New York newspaper for publication.

The popular Christmas song "Jingle Bells" was composed in 1857 by James Pierpont, and was originally called "One-Horse Open Sleigh."

The real St. Nicholas lived in Turkey, where he was bishop of the town of Myra, in the early 4th century. It was the Dutch who first made him into a Christmas gift-giver, and Dutch settlers brought him to America where his name eventually became the familiar Santa Claus.

Jesus Christ, son of Mary, was born in a cave, not in a wooden stable. Caves were used to keep animals in because of the intense heat. A large church is now built over the cave, and people can go down inside the cave. The carpenters of Jesus' day were really stone cutters. Wood was not used as widely as it is today. So whenever you see a Christmas nativity scene with a wooden stable -- that's the "American" version, not the Biblical one.

Originally, Christmas decorations were home-made paper flowers, or apples, biscuits, and sweets. The earliest decorations to be bought came from Nuremburg in Germany, a city famous for the manufacture of toys. Lauscha in Germany is famous for its glass ornaments. In 1880, America discovered Lauscha and F.W. Woolworth went there and bought a few glass Christmas tree ornaments. Within a day he had sold out so next year he bought more and within a week they, too, had sold. The year after that be bought 200,000 Lauscha ornaments. During the First World War supplies of ornaments from Lauscha ceased, so American manufacturers began to make their own ornaments, developing new techniques that allowed them to turn out as many ornaments in a minute as could be made in a whole day at Lauscha.”

Pearls Before Breakfast

I ran across this fascinating story of an acclaimed violist named John Bell who played in DC Metro at L'Enfant Plaza for free - all a part of an experiment by Washington Post to see if anyone appreciates music in midst of a rush hour traffic. Although this story is a bit long and is written like a novel, this is worth the read. Here's the link:

John Bell's performance at L'Enfant Plaza

This story reminded me of how people acted two thousand years ago during Christmas when Jesus - Israel's long-awaited Messiah - arrived as an infant. Only few people noticed; many probably walked past the stable because they were too busy. May we not become too busy and walk by Jesus' birthday without pausing and admiring the arrival of our King!

Fun Christmas Facts

Since Christmas is approaching, I thought I would get you into the spirit of Christmas. I will be posting a few fun Christmas facts from now and then to help you see different meanings within symbolisms and how Christmas has evolved over the history. Enjoy!

“The "Twelve Days of Christmas" was originally written to help Catholic children, in England, remember different articles of faith during the persecution by Protestant Monarchs. The "true love" represented God, and the gifts all different ideas:

The "Partridge in a pear tree" was Christ.
2 Turtle Doves = The Old and New Testaments
3 French Hens = Faith, Hope and Charity-- the Theological Virtues
4 Calling Birds = the Four Gospels and/or the Four Evangelists
5 Golden Rings = The first Five Books of the Old Testament, the "Pentateuch", which relays the history of man's fall from grace.
6 Geese A-laying = the six days of Creation
7 Swans A-swimming = the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, the seven sacraments
8 Maids A-milking = the eight beatitudes
9 Ladies Dancing = the nine Fruits of the Holy Spirit
10 Lords A-leaping = the ten commandments
11 Pipers Piping = the eleven faithful apostles
12 Drummers Drumming = the twelve points of doctrine in the Apostle's Creed

The best selling Christmas trees are Scotch pine, Douglas fir, Noble fir, Fraser fir, Virginia pine, Balsam fir and white pine.

The Christmas turkey first appeared on English tables in the 16th century, but didn't immediately replace the traditional fare of goose, beef or boar's head in the rich households.

The custom of singing Christmas carols is very old - the earliest English collection was published in 1521.

The first Christmas card was created in England on December 9, 1842.

New York City's Empire State Building's world famous tower lights are turned off every night at midnight with the exception of New Year's Eve, New Year's Day, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and St. Patrick's Day, when they are illuminated until 3 a.m.”