I Learned a Lot This Week

My wife has a friend visiting from out of town, who is in with her almost 16 year old daughter. I have learned a lot this week. I learned that the Jonas Brothers were some DVD that was coming out at Target this past Tuesday. After learning this, I saw the "Brothers" were doing a cover of a Beatles tune, Hello Goodbye, on the Target commercial. (The thought of asking if she knew that was a Beatles song, or if she even knew who the Beatles were crossed my mind and was quickly squelched. A negative answer would have been too depressing). I would have probably seen the commercial without the previous factoid, but it would not have the same impact if I was not under the gentle instruction (and slightly high pitched squealing. It hurt my ears, good thing the dogs were outside) of one excited teenager.

I also learned something else. I didn't care. How about that? Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against these guys. In fact, I know almost nothing about them. They are just not on my radar screen, sorry.

But it did get me to thinking that there is a whole plethora of information out there that I know nothing of and probably care an equal amount about. It is amazing how much we can know about our little circle of life, and how little about so many other circles. I seem to know especially little about those circles being drawn by the generations following me up through the journey of life.

Not knowing all is not bad, it is just survival. You cannot know everything in a burgeoning Information Age. Ironic, isn't it? The more that is available to be known, the more readily accessible it is, the smaller percentage of the sum totality of knowledge we actually hold. With that smaller percentage of total knowledge there seems to be a greater responsibility to focus on your worldview (Christian in the case of mine) and see what information is at there that is in alignment with it and more importantly, cuts against it. Not necessarily to change it, but to defend it intelligently. Not to know what is important to those who follow after us is to run the ever increasing risk of becoming marginalized in the world. You cannot defend a position if you do not know what you are defending it against. And I mean defense (an apologia (απολογία) in the Greek) in the context of giving a reasoned explanation for your position, not just an argument.

While I might need to be very selective as to the circles I plug myself into, I do need to be more aware of what is out there, how it impacts my world and others around me. No conservative Christian bubble for me, however, I do not think I will be travelling in the Jonas Brothers circle any time soon. I am just too square for that circle. But I may go to iTunes and download some Beatles music for my iPod.

If a Blog is posted and is not read by anyone, is it still a Blog?

I admire those who blog on a daily basis; quite frankly, doing it every three days is enough of a challenge for me. Since I began blogging a few months ago, I have struggled with the basic question "Is anyone really interested in what I have to say?" Actually, I asked that question even before I posted my first blog. My struggle: combating the fear of being irrelevant, of wasting other people's time, besides wasting my own.

I can make arguments that a blog should be informative; telling others something about me or my perspective on some slice of the world that I feel may be important to share. I might reach one person with one idea and start them off in a slightly altered direction for their own journey; a blog of benefit to someone on occasion.

I can make the argument that a blog can be therapeutic; letting me give vent to some expressive thought, that, if bottled up with other unvented expressive thoughts, would cause me to burst open one day like an overripe melon. I would scatter a few seeds; in spite of the sound of it, a blog that might occasionally benefit me.

I can make an argument that a blog can be narcissistic; allowing me to revel in, well, to revel in me. Oh boy, can I see that one happening; a blog of use to no one.

I would ask those who blog who bother to take the time to read my blog:

• Do you think anyone is really interested in what you have to say?
  
• Do you really care either way?
  
• If no one was reading it, would you blog anyway?
  

I guess I will continue to seek the good things, and seek to avoid the bad things about blogging.

Disobedience vs. Indifference

Which is worse, to actively disobey God, or to ignore Him? Which is more offensive, to scream in His face or to yawn at Him?

Both, in my opinion, are really, really bad. But hey, that's just me.

Following the way of Jesus, sticking on the narrow road of obedience to His teachings in this fallen world requires faith in Him, trust in His finished work, compliance with His commands. What else should you offer to the Lord of your life?

We know what He has given us, the gift he offered in grace and mercy. Yet off the path we go, time and time again. Yes, we come back (most of the times), yes we are sorry (and we usually mean it), but off we will go again. Acting like the spoiled children we are; acting like it is all about us, not Him. I know I do it more often than I care to admit, I know I keep coming back, only to go off the road into the ditch, again and again. I am thankful for a gracious, merciful, loving and patient God. I think this is a very good way to sum up our sin nature: knowing what He has done, knowing what it cost Him; we will freely choose to go off the road, knowing we can come back. Safe in our Father's hands, safe to act out and know He will forgive us. To me, that powerfully demonstrates our sin nature.

In my mind, it is one thing not to turn to a loving God, to ignore what all creation knows; it can be our decision to ignore the stones crying out as it were. It is another to turn away after the gift has been freely given and accepted. Somehow the second seems worse to me. Taking God for granted just seems worse than disobeying Him in the first place.

I think we are all indifferent to God at points in our life, due to His mercy, grace and patience, I think we all take Him for granted from time to time:

• So I ask you, how indifferent have you been lately?
  
• How does that indifference spill over in to how you lead your life?
  
• What are you going to do to get back on the road?
  

If you do not want to answer me, fine, but answer yourself.

Is Jesus Different?

Is the Jesus of the Bible different from the Jesus of the PC?

What I am really trying to get at is do we perceive things differently depending on the medium we choose to view things through. Let me explain a bit. I chose Jesus because he is the most constant, unchangeable person in my life. He, as deity, was, is and will always be. We learn in Matthew 24:35 that His words will never pass away.

But do we perceive Him differently depending on where it is we look at Him? When I read my NET Bible, I am sitting there looking at a book, the most traditional form of information in my life. But I wonder, do I read words differently on my PC then I do in a book? The reason I ask is that when I do a paper for seminary, I have to print it out and read it on paper before I turn it in. I always find something; a word that passes word check but is used me in the wrong context; some grammar issue, some incomplete or incoherent thought that really looked good on the computer screen. Boy, what was I thinking? (Or what was I looking at?)

Is that just me, is it my generation, or is that people in general? I don't know the answer to that one; I can only speak for myself.

Right now at my disposal I have several print versions of the Bible available to me, select bible books on my iPod, and even more bible versions available over the internet on sites like BibleGateway.com.

I think the nuances I pick up on, the perceptions and those beautiful nuggets I occasionally mine out on my own (very occasionally, like total solar eclipse occasionally) are going to be different depending how I am reading about Jesus. He is the great constant in my life. What is different is how I approach Him as my Savior and the Lord of my life. I think the media I use to read the Bible makes a difference. If it does with Jesus, I cannot imagine how big the impact on how I view everything else is. I do not know if this is good or bad; but it is something to keep in mind.

In my case, the Jesus of the Bible (defined as a traditional hard bound copy) is different from the Jesus of the PC. I can study a multi-faceted deity in a multi-faceted way. Upon reflection, I think that is a good thing.

“Oh, Look at the Shiny New Book!

For the past several years I have been building my library collection. (You see some of it here, at least how it looks in mind). As a seminary student I expect to spend a good deal of time reading over the next few years. I do not mind, I enjoy reading. Actually, I think I do mind, I like reading what and when I, and not someone else, wants. (I did a post on things not actually being about me recently. I guess I should go read it). Here are some books that I have added to a growing list of what I "need" to read.

Must Reads: Books I want to constantly and consistently read:

• The Bible – NET translation
  


• The Bible – NASB translation
  

I like working with two versions of the bible, as I study passages I find it enhances and deepens the study. These are my two favorite. I truly believe you need to be in the Word everyday and I try to do that.

First Reads: Books I want to read in no apparent order if I can find the time (Have you ever seen the class reading lists from a seminary course?):

• Who Moved the Stone? – Frank Morison
  


• Systematic Theology - Lewis Sperry Chafer (yes, all 8 volumes)
  


• Spurgeon's Sermons –Spurgeon (yes, all 10 volumes)
  


• Calvin's Commentaries – Calvin (yes, all 22 volumes)
  


• The Way of the Heart - Henri Nouwen
  


• Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God – J I Packer
  


• They Like Jesus But Not The Church: Insights from Emerging Generations - Dan Kimball
  


• Halftime Changing Your Game Plan from Success to Significance – Bob Buford
  


• The Sky Is Falling: Leaders Lost in Transition - Alan J. Roxburgh
  


• Every Monday Matters: 52 Ways to Make a Difference - Matthew Emerzian
  



• Five Views on Sanctification - Hoekema/McQuilkin/ Walvoord
  


• The Canon of Scripture – Bruce (This one is recommended, not required reading in one of my upcoming courses, so I will probably read it, one way or another)
  

These are books that have been recommended either by someone I know or someone I read. I want to get to these when the seminary reading load is at a lull, if and when that occurs.

Should Reads: Books I have bought in the past and haven't had a chance to read but know I should:

• This is an embarrassing list.
  
• I have a shelf of books, probably two dozen or so, that I bought with every intention of reading but then another book came along that I got interested in first. (Oh, look at the shiny new book; I think I need to read it). Sometimes I bought them in a small cluster, like they were grapes instead of books. I cannot begin to tell you the perils of a Barnes & Noble gift card in the hands of a budding bibliophile. (Oh, look. A store full of shiny books!)
  


• There are too many books to list out. It includes people like Packer, Sproul, Walvoord, Begg, Van Til, Bruce, Lutzer, MacArthur to name a few. And that does not include the Spurgeon, Calvin and Chafer volumes I mentioned above.
  


• I am a mess, literary (or is it literally?) speaking.
  
  

Need Reads: Books I want to reread if I can find the time (After I get through seminary reads, "First Reads" and "Should Reads" above):

• The Way of the Shepherd – Leman/Pentak
  


• Life Together – Dietrich Bonhoeffer
  


• The Cost of Discipleship – Dietrich Bonhoeffer
  


• The Imitation of Christ- Thomas a Kempis
  


• The Confessions – St. Augustine ( I have this in a free audio book, thanks to a great blog; Boomer in the Pew.)
  


• The Pursuit of God – A W Tozer
  


• Romans – Martin Luther
  

These are books I read that I really enjoyed, or think I did but didn't understand them well enough to be sure. On second thought, I might have to look at this category along with the Must Read. (After all, I did name it Need Read).

As you can see, I am going to be busy for a while. This list is not all inclusive or all encompassing, it will probably grow daily. My life in general is not chaotic; it is actually quite calm most of the time. It is just that I cannot seem to keep up with my reading. It says something about me, but I have too much reading to do to research on what that is. I just think I should spend some time praying over need; what I need, how I define need, what are really the necessities of life. Every book I have picked up along the way and have not read I have felt the need to read. Need is not a good word to use in this context. I have work to do.

I am sure you could all recommend truly interesting, informative and entertaining books. I do not think I want you too, because the list has already taken on hydra-like qualities. (Oh, look at the shiny new book).

Reach Out and Stalk Someone

I recently fired up my LinkedIn account and started adding connections. With my connections, and the 2^nd and 3^rd degree connections that allows, my network now has over 234,000 people in it. Are you kidding me? I just got started and already I have a quarter of a million people to feed and care for? I do not know how I will ever keep in touch with all of them. Christmas cards do not seem a viable option. Almost none of them have ever read this blog; almost all of them never will. I have a couple of hundred Facebook friends, and with their friends, I am not sure how big the network of people I can reach, but it is probably quite large. Most of them never have nor ever will read this blog either. I am still not using my Twitter account as it was envisioned to be used, not sure I am hardwired to do so. A Facebook friend and fellow DTS student, John Saddington has also got me looking at JesusTweet and QuietTime.TV. And there is a lot more options, sites and services out there that I have not and will not even try. I need an assistant to handle my social media obligations and responsibilities. I didn't want to work this hard; I was supposed to be retired.

But what I realize is that all of this gives one the unique ability to check, at least superficially, on thousands of lives. Maybe see a few photos, scan a job history, learn likes and dislikes, make a wall post poking my nose into other folks business. In addition, I can parse out snippets of my life in status updates, photos or notes I can write (like this one). For an aging boomer, this is a brave new world. For someone trained as a financial manager, training that stressed the desirability of keeping information private, this is a strange new world.

It also makes me wonder if anyone is watching me. If they are watching my life, I feel sorry them. Should they worry? If they are watching my life, should I care? Social media is a growing and evolving field. I do not think we understand neither all the ramifications, nor all the applications yet. But it is interesting to watch. As long as we all watch and not stalk. I'll have my assistant look into that.

What Do I Want?

Think about whether you want a degree or an education. That statement from my first instructor at DTS resonated off the walls of my brain, echoing in the emptiness of my mind that particular day. What do I want from seminary? I want an education, yes. I want the degree too, as evidence that I got an education I set out to get. But what do I want? If I say that I am attending DTS for personal enrichment, I am making this whole journey all about me.

As noble as the goal of personal enrichment sounds, I think that it can be really quite selfish. I do not want to be a bible blimp, bloated because I feel I am so well educated, so arrogantly knowledgeable in the bible, all of it for my own edification. I can see where a little knowledge can be dangerous; and a lot of knowledge can be fatal. If it makes me lose touch with the people I am called to minister to, it is fatal to me. God will minister to them some other way if I float off like some gasbag, secure in my knowledge and deaf to the needs of others because I am too busy telling them what I know instead of learning what they need.

Although Paul was speaking specifically about food sacrificed to idols, 1 Corinthians 8:1-2 has some hard words about knowledge. Improperly applied, it puffs up and makes us think we know more than we do. When the bible warns you, beware!

What do I want from life? I think that is the question I really should be asking. Immersion in bible studies without a kingdom goal seems kind of pointless. If my studies are only about me, I am going to miss the mark (in the Bible, the Greek word for sin means to miss the mark). If I am grounded in myself, I fail. I need to be grounded in God, his work, His will.

Or else I will get ground up or explode upon impact with the Truth.