Anniversary

Today is my parents' wedding anniversary. I think it's 33 years now. I feel like one of the lucky few in my generation who have seen their parents live out a healthy and loving marriage relationship. I have heard them mention that they are the last ones left from the friends of their youth who are still on their first marriage. All of the others have gone through at least one divorce, many more than one. My parents have really set a great example. There have been tough times and they have faced many of the same stresses and demands (and probably more) that others have faced only they remained faithful towards each other and kept going and weathered out the passing storms. And it's not one of those relationships where they're just playing out the string until the game's over. They're still very much in love and have a profound respect for one another. Last winter for instance, my dad would go over to my mom's workplace when she was working evenings to warm up her car and walk her out when her shift was over so that she was safe and could hop into a nice warm car. He still writes her little love notes. They love playing cards together, taking their collie for a walk in the park and playing with their grandchildren (my sister's three kids). What can I say? I'm learning from the best. Thanks mom and dad. I love you!

Keeping In Step With The Spirit

I thought Pastor Bo's sermon on Sunday was very convicting and challenging. He ended by saying:

Finally, the mission of Brandywine Valley Baptist Church is to be followers of Christ, known by their love. What stalks my soul by day and haunts my dreams by night is that Christians in all their global diversity see themselves as the single, social embodiment of Jesus Christ in this world and keep in step with the Spirit, each person according to ability and always growing. The salvation of the world awaits that. BVBC is the only congregation we can do anything about. Let’s do it.There’s something else I don’t want the frailty of this sermon to hide. What we are talking about today is the air without which humanity suffocates. Listen to me! If tomorrow we fixed Social Security and Medicare; if tomorrow the problem of illegal immigrants went away; if tomorrow we found a cheap and universal cure for AIDS – if all this happened, the human condition would still be desperate, if it were not also brought into alignment with spiritual life. The life of God in the soul of man is the air without which humanity suffocates. That’s God’s gift to the world through the Church.

A Certain Danger of I-Pods

So, I went for about an hour walk/hike around the park near my apartment yesterday. In the middle of this, I noticed something was kind of off. It was that I was disconnected from my environment. The birds were noisily chirping and wind was blowing through the tree tops but I wasn't really experiencing it becaus I was listening to my I-pod. I had to turn it off for a few minutes and simply take in the environment around me.

Don't get me wrong; I absolutely love my i-pod. I just realized how much the technology isolates me not only from the people around me but from my natural environment.

Tonight I went for another walk but I left my I-pod at home. The silence helped me to pray and to think through some things that were vaguely floating around undefined in my mind. I think I also noticed the fireflys and Venus much earlier than I otherwise would have.

It's a good blend to enjoy both music and silence.

Book Review: God Is Not Great . . . Is Not Great

I saw a Newsweek review recently on the book God Is Not Great by Christopher Hitchens. I was interested in seeing what a reasoned argument against Christianity and religion in general would have to say so I went to Border's and perused the book. I'm still looking for such an argument. The book is dripping with such arrogance that it is exhausting to try to trudge through, and his arguments have holes in them you could drive a truck through. In Hitchens' black-and-white perspective, secularists can do no evil and religious people can do nothing right. If you want to argue that religious people have done some pretty awful things, I would agree and you have some credibility, but you are also going to need to admit your own mistakes and he showed no willingness to do so. I didn't end up buying the book, not because I was afraid it might convince me but because it was so poorly written it wasn't worth the money. Maybe I'll get it from the library. The Washington Post review by Stephen Prothero listed on the amazon.com site sums it up pretty well.

"Hitchens describes the religious mind as "literal and limited" and the atheistic mind as "ironic and inquiring." Readers with any sense of irony -- and here I do not exclude believers -- will be surprised to see how little inquiring Hitchens has done and how limited and literal is his own ill-prepared reduction of religion. Christopher Hitchens is a brilliant man, and there is no living journalist I more enjoy reading. But I have never encountered a book whose author is so fundamentally unacquainted with its subject."

Not Exactly Warm Fuzzies

This morning's reading from The Imitation of Christ:

And yet, what great matter is it, if you, who are but dust and nothing, subject yourself to a man for God's sake, when I, the Almighty and the Most Highest, who created all things out of nothing, humbly subjected Myself to man for your sake? I became of all men the most humble and the most abject, that you might overcome your pride with my humility. O dust! learn to be obedient. Learn to humble yourself, you earth and clay, and to bow yourself down under the feet of all men . . . What do you have, O vain man, to complain of? What can you answer, foul sinner, to them that upbraid you, you who has so often offended God so many times and deserved hell? But Mine eye spared you, because your soul was precious in My sight; that you might know My love, and ever be thankful for My benefits; also that you might continually give yourself to true subjection and humility, and endure patiently the contempt which belongs to you.

Make Poverty History

I was flipping through the CD jacket of my Switchfoot CD and noticed the reference for one.org There's some good information and resources available there.

Something Positive In Iraq

Here is a story of something positive that is happening in Iraq right now.

Walking With Wilberforce

The recent discovery of forced labor in a Chinese brick kiln is unfortunately just the tip of the iceberg. The most recent US State Dept Trafficking in Person Report cited statistics from the International Labor Organization that "estimates there are 12.3 million people in forced labor, bonded labor, forced child labor, and sexual servitude."


One organization that seems to be taking an effective approach in addressing the issue is Shared Hope International. I ordered a DVD and maybe can have some people over to investigate more when that arrives. There's got to be something we can do.

Storm

Hmmm. Formatting issues there. My other favorite song is:

Storm

How long have I been in this storm?
So overwhelmed by the ocean's shapeless form
Water's getting harder to tread
With these waves crashing over my head

If I could just see you
Everything would be all right
If I'd see you
This darkness would turn to light

And I will walk on water
And you will catch me if I fall
And I will get lost in your eyes
I know everything will be alright
I know everything is alright

I know you didn't bring me out here to drown
So why am I ten feet under and upside down
Barely surviving has become my purpose
Because I'm so used to living underneath the surface

If I could just see you
Everything would be all right
If I'd see you
This darkness would turn to light

And I will walk on water
And you will catch me if I fall
And I will get lost into your eyes
I know everything will be alright
I know everything is alright

Again, the lyrics alone do not capture the fulness of the songs. They are beautiful.

As Good As Advertised

I ran to Wal-Mart on my way to work this morning and picked up the new Lifehouse album, Who We Are. I was not disappointed. It's a very solid disc. If I had to compare it to their previous work, I would say it is something of a cross between their first and third albums. My early favorites are

Broken

The broken clock is a comfort, it helps me sleep tonight
Maybe it can stop tomorrow from stealing all my time
I am here still waiting though I still have my doubts
I am damaged at best, like you've already figured out

I'm falling apart, I'm barely breathing
With a broken heart that's still beating
In the pain there is healing
In your name I find meaning
So I'm holdin' on, I'm holdin' on, I'm holdin' on,
I'm barely holdin' on to you

The broken locks were a warning you got inside my head
I tried my best to be guarded, I'm an open book instead
I still see your reflection inside of my eyes
That are looking for purpose, they're still looking for life

I'm falling apart, I'm barely breathing
With a broken heart that's still beating
In the pain is there healing
In your name I find meaning
So I'm holdin' on, I'm holdin' on, I'm holdin' on,
I'm barely holdin' on to you

I'm hangin' on another day
Just to see what you will throw my way
And I'm hanging on to the words you say
You said that I will be ok

The broken lights on the freeway left me here alone
I may have lost my way now, haven't forgotten my way home

Disapproval of Congress

Remember when I said on November 11, 2006, "As a Republican I have to admit that there is some strategic value to losing the House and possibly Senate to the Democrats. Unlike the Republican Revolution in '94, the incoming class of Democrats do not have an overarching strategic or tactical plan akin to the Contract With America. Many candidates seem to have run on a platform of "at least I'm not George Bush", and it worked to disenchanted voters who had become contemptful of the power grubbing establishment. The thing is, I don't hear how any of them have any meaningful, credible plans to actually fix any problems. I suspect that the sunset provisions on Bush's tax cuts might now be allowed to expire without renewal. Few things give Democrats more ecstasy than raising taxes. So, in a couple years voters will be faced with no greater international leadership, a social security and medicare system that's just as broke, a continued healthcare crisis, conflict and debate over illegal immigration and even more deadlock between the two parties with the only change being higher taxes on the horizon."

I may have been right.

Of The Wonderful Effect Of Divine Love

Okay, so my last few posts have been pretty light and fluffy. But tonight my mind is racing with a thousand worries and concerns, and I am losing the fight to fall asleep. So, I thought it better to get up and revisit something I read yesterday. This is again from Thomas A Kempis' classic, The Imitation of Christ. It is rather long but so rich it deserves the time and attention:

Because I am as yet weak in love, and imperfect in virtue, I have need to be strengthened and comforted by You; visit me often therefore, and instruct me with all holy discipline. Set me free from evil passions, and heal my heart of all inordinate affections; that being inwardly healed and thoroughly cleansed, I may be ready to love, strong to suffer, steady to persevere.

Love is a great thing, yes, altogether a great good; by itself it makes light every thing that is heavy, and it bears evenly all that is uneven. For it carries a burden which is no burden, and makes every thing that is bitter, sweet and tasteful. The noble love of Jesus drives a man to do great things, and stirs him up to be always longing for what is more perfect. Love wills to be on high, and not to be kept back by anything low and mean. Love wills to be free, and estranged from all worldly affection, so that its inward sight may not be hindered; that it may not be entangled by any temporal prosperity, or by any adversity subdued.

Nothing is sweeter than Love, nothing stronger, nothing higher, nothing wider, nothing more pleasant, nothing fuller nor better in Heaven and earth; because Love is born of God and cannot rest but in God, above all created things. A lover flies, runs and rejoices; he is free, and is not holden. He gives all for all, and has all in all because he rests in One Highest above all things, from whom all that is good flows and proceeds. He respects not the gifts but turns himself above all goods unto the Giver.

Love often knows no measure, but is fervent beyond measure. Love feels no burden, thinks nothing of labors, attempts what is above its strength, pleads no excuse of impossibility; for it thinks all things possible for itself and all things lawful. It is therefore strong for all things, and it completes many things and brings them to effect, where he who does not love faints and lies down. Love is watchful, and sleeping slumbers not. Though wearied it is not tired; though pressed, it is not straitened; though alarmed, it is not confounded; but as a lively flame and burning torch, it forces its way upwards and securely passes through all. If any man love, he knows what is the cry of this voice. For it is a loud cry in the ears of God, that ardent affection of the soul when it says, 'My God, my Love, You are all mine, and I am all Yours.'

Enlarge me in Love, that the inward palate of my heart may learn to taste how sweet it is to love, and in Love to be dissolved and to bathe myself. Let me be holden by Love, mounting above my self, through excessive fervor and wonder. Let me sing the song of Love, let me follow You, my Beloved, on high; let my soul spend itself in Your Praise, rejoicing through Love. Let me love You more than myself, nor love myself but for You; and in You all that truly love You, as the law of Love commands, shining out from Yourself.

Love is swift, sincere, kindly-affectioned, pleasant and delightful; brave, patient, faithful, prudent, long-suffering, manly, and never seeking itself. For where a person seeks himself, there he falls from Love.

Love is circumspect, humble and upright; not yielding to softness, or to lightness, nor attending to vain things; it is sober, chaste, firm, quiet and guarded in all the senses.

Love is subject and obedient to its superiors, to itself mean and despised, unto God devout and thankful, trusting and hoping always in Him, even when God is not sweet unto it: for without sorrow none live in love. He that is not prepared to suffer all things, and to stand to the will of his Beloved, is not worthy to be called a lover. A lover ought to embrace willingly all that is hard and bitter, for the sake of his Beloved; nor for things that fall out against one to turn away from Him.

Counting Down the Days

The new Lifehouse CD comes out on Tuesday. I've been looking forward to this for a awhile. I really like their new single, First Time. (I'm not sure what their actual video looks like.)

More Dashboard

I'm really digging the new Dashboard Confessionals song, Stolen. They've got a great sound.

I'm not into superheroes or comic book movies but I saw this on Jeff's blog

You are Lex Luthor

Lex Luthor 51% Riddler 40% Kingpin 39% The Joker 36% Dr. Doom 36% Magneto 34% Apocalypse 34% Venom 33% Juggernaut 32% Dark Phoenix 32% Green Goblin 32% Mystique 24% Catwoman 23% Poison Ivy 18% Two-Face 16% Mr. Freeze 14%

A brilliant businessman on a quest for world domination and the self-proclaimed greatest criminal mind of our time!

Click here to take the Supervillain Personality Quiz

Squirrel Goes On Rampage

This story brings back memories. I bet it was looking for Little Debbie fudge brownies and a Pepsi.

Bumper Sticker of the Day

Last night I saw a sticker that read:

"My dog is smarter than your honor roll student."

Cleveland Sports Futility

Well, the Cleveland Cavaliers lost to the San Antonia Spurs in the NBA Finals last night. If you're keeping score at home, it is now 59 years since a sports franchise from Cleveland has won a championship. Let's recap:

Cleveland Cavaliers: 0 NBA Championships
Cleveland Browns: 0 Super Bowl victories. (Heck, we've never even made it to the Super Bowl)
Cleveland Indians: 2 World Series victories but none since 1948. (Stinkin' Jose Mesa)

So all you Philadelphia fans who whine about not winning a championship since the early '80's can just zip it.

Comedy

It's hard to find good stand up comics. Recently, I have been amused by Christopher Titus. Also see his apology.

Unpredictable Promises?

Since the Kairos retreat I have been thinking about the nature of God's promises. I have to admit this is an area of struggle for me. I think the reason for my struggle is because that which at the surface seems rather simple and straightforward in actuality becomes rather unpredictable, at least in the short term. Sometimes I wrestle with trying to figure out just what exactly can I reasonably expect from God? ("Reasonably expect" are not the best words but they'll have to do for now.)

For instance, I very much believe the promise in Romans 8:28 "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose", but I also have to reconcile that with the fact that in the short term I might very well get my head lopped off (Matt 14:10, Acts 12:2). Or, consider the beautiful promise of restoration demonstrated in Jeremiah's purchase of the field (Jer 32:14-15), and yet Jeremiah likely died in relative obscurity in Egypt while his countrymen were in exile in Babylon.

This sort of thing can really draw out the skeptical contrarian in me. As Everclear once sang, "Promises mean everything when you're little and the world's so big." Well, sometimes it seems like these promises set you up to be let down. The really strange thing is that it's not just a few isolated instances where this occurs. In the famous passage of Hebrews 11 it comments, "All these died in faith without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. (Heb 11:13)" I think this verse underscores that much of correctly understanding God's promises has to do with the time frame involved. At the risk of being sacrilegious, counting on God's promises seems a bit like investing in the stock market. In the short term there can be a lot of volatility and the risks taken aren't quickly rewarded and the corrections are painful to endure. But in the long run it's proven to be the best place to be for your investment.

There's one other sidebar I want to throw there out on the unpredictability of these promises. I think it's actually part of what makes life exciting. I have never liked movies where all of the good guys live and all of the bad guys die. I mean, come on, nothing's ever that easy and it's got to cost you something. To borrow a bit from Elderidge, this is so deeply embedded in our stories. In Braveheart William Wallace dies but ultimately his companions ride to victory. In the Matrix, several of the crew members die but ultimately Neo saves the day. In Tombstone, Virgil Earp is wounded and Morgan Earp is killed but Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday ride out victoriously. And in Scripture, James is beheaded in prison while an angel rescues Peter but ultimately they will both be rewarded. "And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised, because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they should not be made pefect. (Heb 11:39,40)"

Further Reflections On A Sad World

On the way to small group tonight I was listening to a Switchfoot CD, and the following song came on which made me reflect some more on my post from a couple days ago:

Easier Than Love

Sex is currency
She sells cars, she sells magazines
Addictive, bittersweet, clap your hands
with the hopeless nicotines
Everyone's a lost romantic, since our love became a kissing show
Everyone's a Casanova, come and pass me the mistletoe
Everyone's been scared to death of dying here alone
She is easier than love, is easier than life. It's easier to fake and smile and bribe
It's easier to leave. It's easier to lie.
It's harder to face ourselves at night, feeling alone
What have we done, what is the monster we've become
Where is my soul
(Numb)
Sex is industry, the CEO of corporate policy
Skin deep ministry, suburban youth, hail your so called liberty
Every advertising antic our banner waves with a neon glow
War and love become pedantic, we wage love with a mistletoe
Everyone's been scared to death of dying here alone
Sex is easier than love.


I often go back to a statement that Allistair Begg made in a message at Cedarville College: "My generation sang with the Beatles, 'You've got to admit it's getting better, a little better all the time.' But it didn't, did it? The 60's dream has become the 90's nightmare, and what we dreamt about, you now endure."

Dolphin Chat

Dolphins are awesome. Now that they've setup a chatline, I wonder if they'll teach her to text message. ;-)

Blog Link Etiquette

So Becky and I had a brief discussion along the lines of blog link etiquette today. When do you add a friend's blog to your list of links? Do you ask for permission first? When do you remove their link? My general thought on adding one is that if it is a blog you check frequently then it is appropriate to add it. I haven't given much thought to the removal process, but I am considering removing links to people who have not updated their blog within the last six months. You know who you are.

Comment Moderation

A couple days ago a random visitor to my blog submitted a completely inappropriate comment in response to one of my postings. In response to this, I have decided to begin to utilize the "moderate comments" feature to protect the integrity of the blog. I apologize for the inconvenience of failing to see an immediate post.

There's News And Then There Are Nuisances

Why are all of the major news organizations (CNN, NBC, etc.) covering all of the details of the Paris Hilton saga? Look, if I really want to know what is happening in the lives of irrelevant celebrities (and I don't), I'll read a People, or US or National Enquirer or whatever. Of all of the meaningful events that could be reported on, why are they devoting time to this? Obviously there is some sort of sick national interest in this, but the major news networks are not the appropriate medium to communicate this information and feed this interest. The news editors and journalists need to wake up to this and let the celebrity rags cover what is in their territory to do.

Running Mates?

I wonder, if Clinton were to win the Democratic primary, what are the chances she would choose Obama as her running mate? Granted, it's really too early to think about running mates when it's too early to even be worrying about the elections at all, but it would seem to have strong advantages to each of them. She would gain the charm and charisma, a strong Midwest representation, the early and firm stance against Iraq, and the overall sense of freshness and optimism that he offers while he would gain the experience he is lacking by serving as a VP.

Patience Test

Wow, so I was able to enjoy the Phillies game with BC tonight. Note to the local viewing audience: do NOT take I-95 South from Philadelphia during construction. The game finished at 9:45, and I didn't get home until 12:20. Seriously, another 20 minutes, and I would have spent more time on the drive home than actually watching the game. And I didn't even get to see Thome play. I feel for the poor family sitting in the car next to me who had a cargo truck carelessly drift back into them and smash up the front of the car and the young lady who had to figure out how to get back on I-95 North because apparently she was new to the area and was going the wrong way.

Brian, next time let's just order a pizza and watch from your house.

Baseball Note

You can start printing World Series tickets now. The Phillies just signed Jose Mesa.

Charity Navigator

I was reminded of this website again today. I highly recommend it when you are considering contributing to a new organization or perhaps to review one you already sponsor.

Shout Out

There's a new blogger out there. Greetings to Quebecca.

Sad World

I can't help but feel both revulsion and sadness at an article like this. Even the editor doesn't quite seem able to get a firm handle on the situation and its personal and societal implications. It is sad when people are so deceived that they run to wrap themselves in the chains they think will free them.

Lewis, as is so often the case, pegged this situation some 40-50 years ago:

Everyone knows that the sexual appetite, like our other appetites, grows by indulgence. Starving men may think much about food, but so do gluttons . . . perversions of the food appetite are rare. But perversions of the sex instinct are numerous, hard to cure, and frightful. I am sorry to have to go into all these details, but I must. The reason why I must is that you and I, for the last twenty years, have been fed all day long on good solid lies about sex. We have been told, until one is sick of hearing it, that sexual desire is in the same state as any of our other natural desires and that if only we abandon the silly old Victorian idea of hushing it up, everything in the garden will be lovely. It is not true. The moment you look at the facts, and away from the propaganda, you see that it is not. They tell you sex has become a mess because it was hushed up. But for the last twenty years it has not been hushed up. It has been chattered about all day long. Yet it is still a mess. If hushing it up had been the cause of the trouble, ventilation would have set it right. But it has not. I think it is the other way round. I think the human race originally hushed it up because it had become such a mess. Modern people are always saying 'Sex is nothing to be ashamed of.' They may mean two things. They may mean 'There is nothing to be ashamed of in the fact that the human race reproduces itself in a certain way, nor in the fact that it gives pleasure.' If they mean that, they are quite right. Christianity says the same . . . but of course, when people say, 'Sex is nothing to be ashamed of,' they may mean 'the state that into which the sexual instinct has now got is nothing to be ashamed of.' If they mean that, I think they are wrong. I think it is everything to be ashamed of. There is nothing to be ashamed of in enjoying your food: there would be everything to be ashamed of if half the world made food the main interest of their lives and spent their time looking at pictures of food and dribbling and smacking their lips. . . There are people who want to keep our sex instinct inflamed in order to make money out of us. Because, of course, a man with an obsession is a man who has very little sales resistance . . . Poster after poster, film after film, novel after novel, associate the idea of sexual indulgence with the ideas of health, normality, youth, frankness and good humor. Now this association is a lie. Like all powerful lies, it is based on a truth - that sex in itself (apart from the excess and obsessions that have grown round it) is 'normal' and 'healthy' and all the rest. The lie consists in the suggestion that any sexual act to which you are tempted at the moment is also healthy and normal. Now this, on any conceivable view, and quite apart from Christianity, must be nonsense. Surrender to all our desires obviously leads to impotence, disease, jealousies, lies, concealment, and everything that is the reverse of health, good humor, and frankness. For any happiness, even in this world, quite a lot of restraint is going to be necessary. - C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

Men and the Church

A few weeks ago I was flipping through books at Barnes and Noble and came across a book that discussed why there are fewer men in the church and why the church is not appealing to men. I am generally somewhat skeptical of books like this for a few reasons. First, I think a lot of Christian men just need to suck it up and stop looking for excuses, and if they want the church to change then they need to get in there and change it instead of complaining from a distance. For instance, I have seen it stated that one reason men do not like going to church is because women are leading so many of the ministries. Well, gee, do you think maybe one reason they are leading so many of the ministries is because there weren't enough men who were willing to step up and do it when they were asked? That's a pretty self-defeating argument. Secondly, I think a lot of non-Christan men are fully engrossed in the world's view of men and have no intention of leaving their self-absorbed ways and will look for any excuse they can find for avoiding the church and Christ whether it's legitimate or not. And third, I think some people want to bring their own caricature of a man into the church and hold that up as a new ideal.

In briefly flipping through this book though it seemed reasonable and sensible in its approach. I can't recall the exact title but I thought it was by Stephen Arterburn, author of Every Man's Battle. I can't seem to find anything like that under his name though so perhaps it was another book I saw. At any rate, this issue also came up in conversation during the retreat but was unfortunately abbreviated because of scheduled activities. It's something that I am wondering about and feel like I don't have many answers. I hope this will generate some helpful discussion.

There is one area though that I think might deter some men, and that is the way we do musical worship. For instance, consider the lyrics of one of the songs we sang this weekend, Hillsong's Draw Me Close to You:

Draw me close to You
Never let me go
I lay it all down again
To hear You say that I'm Your friend
You are my desire
No one else will do
'Cause nothing else could take Your place
To feel the warmth of Your embrace
Help me find the way
Bring me back to You
You're all I want
You're all I've ever needed
You're all I want
Help me know You are near

Now, there is nothing necessarily wrong with this song (except perhaps that it never actually mentions God, Christ, the Holy Spirit, sin, grace, mercy, forgiveness, redemption, love, etc.), but especially given its airy, sentimental sound, who do you think it's generally going to appeal to more, men or women? And how many songs are very similar to this? Think about it next Sunday. And, it's not even just the lyrics or the music. Have you ever noticed the pictures displayed on the screens? What do they usually display? Flowers and rainbows? A woman with her eyes closed and arms raised with a serene expression on her face? Children playing? Even in the song that displayed a picture of the cross, it was displayed in the middle of a big, red heart. Again, there is nothing necessarily wrong with these things, but who are they going to appeal to more, even at a subconscious level?

I just leafed through a few pages of Why Men Hate Going to Church by David Murrow online. It wasn't enough to get a full impression of the book yet, but he said one thing that I was both shocked and relieved by: most men don't like to sing. I know I don't. I mean I like some worship music, and singing at small group is okay, but I have to admit there are a lot of times I wish I could come in just for the sermon at church and skip all the music. I mean think about it, outside of church, where do you see men casually singing?

If there is anything this world needs it, is more strong men of faith to take a stand. We're in the midst of a spiritual battle, but we're not inviting men into a battle camp. We're inviting them to sing songs about cuddly embraces with pictures of pretty flowers and then we wonder why they're not excited. To use a quote from G.K. Chesterton (admittedly in a different context), "It is constantly assured that when the lion lies down the lamb, the lion becomes lamb-like. But that is brutal annexation and imperialism on the part of the lamb. That is simply the lamb absorbing the lion instead of the lion eating the lamb. The real problem is - can the lion lie down with the lamb and still retain its royal ferocity? That is the problem the Church attempted; that is the miracle she achieved."

More Nuggets From Thomas

My most excellent small group gave me a book that included The Imitation of Christ for my birthday. I first read it some seven years ago and am really enjoying going through it again. Here are a few nuggets that really jumped out to me so far:

"If you know the whole Bible by heart, and the sayings of all the philosophers, what would all that profit you without the love of God, and without his grace?"

"Vanity it is, to wish to live long, and to be careless to live well."

"Who has a harder struggle than he that labors to conquer himself?"

"Be not proud of good works; for the judgments of God are different from the judgments of men and that often offends him which pleases men. If there be any good in you, believe better of others, that so you may preserve humility."

"It is no small matter to dwell in religious communities or in a congregation, to converse therein without complaint, and to persevere therein faithfully unto death. Blessed is he that has there lived well, and ended happily."

"No man safely speaks but he that willingly holds his peace. No man safely rules but he that is willingly in subjection. No man safely commands, but he that has learned well to obey. No man safely rejoices unless he has within himself the witness of a good conscience."