Michael Kelley's Blog, page 230
July 11, 2012
gud thing im smart: Why Grammar Still Matters
Today’s post comes from the lovely and illustrious Jana Kelley, who found (on Pinetrest) a great example of why grammar still matters. If you don’t believe it does, then let’s try something together.
Google the following: “how can u” and see what suggestions pop up for finishing your query. They’ll be the following:
- how can u get herpes
- how can u get hiv
- how can u get aids
- how can u get chlamydia
- how can u get mono
- how can u mend a broken heart
- how can u lose weight fast
- how can u get hpv
- get hepatitis c
But change your query to this: “how can an individual”, and look what happens:
- how can an individual impact the course of history
- how can an individual make a difference
- how can an individual affect society
- how can an individual change history
- how can an individual reduce global warming
- how can an individual be supported to reflect on an incident
- how can an individual help to conserve water
- how can an individual influence an organization
- how can an individual buy stock
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got some flash cards to run my 7-year-old through.
July 10, 2012
How Can Something Be “More Than True”?
Several days, ago, I tweeted one of my favorite quotes from G.K. Chesterton: “Fairy tales are more than true; not because they tell us dragons exist, but because they tell us dragons can be beaten.”
It’s a beautiful statement, but one that begs the question a friend of mine raised from a purely philosophical point of view:
“How can something be more than true?”
Valid point. Either something is true, or it isn’t. Case closed.
And yet…
And yet isn’t there something inside you, Christian, that senses that there are things out there that aren’t just true… they’re somehow more than true? Perhaps in the same way that you sense there are things out there that aren’t just real… they’re somehow more than real? There is inside me. And I think there are glimpses throughout Scripture of this “hyper-reality” showing us that there is, in a sense, “hyper-truth.”
Imagine, for a minute, that you were there that day in the upper room after Jesus had been crucified. Jerusalem was ripe with rumors. It seemed everyone was suffering from a good deal of paranoia – the disciples of Jesus, wondering whether the religious and political authorities were coming for them next. Then there was the paranoia of those same leaders who had heard the rumors of a resurrection. The whispers were growing in number. And volume.
And you, in that upper room, don’t know quite what to make of the whole thing. You want the thing to be true – that Jesus is really back – and yet you can’t bring yourself to believe it. And so there you sit. Trembling. Praying. Behind the locked door. When suddenly, there He is in your midst.
Now, trembling Christian, how did He get there? Was it because Jesus was somehow a ghost, and didn’t have material essence to His body? Because Jesus was a spector He could walk right through that solid, material, locked door?
Or is it possible there is another explanation. Maybe Jesus, having been resurrected, was actually more real. More real than ever before. More real than you or I. More real than a silly piece of wood meant to keep people out.
Perhaps it wasn’t Jesus that was ghostly; perhaps in the shadow of the resurrection, everything we know as real suddenly seems like a dream.
Do you dare to believe it? Do you dare to conceive of a realm in which everything is so real that what we currently know as real will seem like a dream? Believe it, Christian – because you’re going there. And so am I.
For this, and He, is so real that He’s more than real. And He’s more than true. Stir up that place in your heart. Let it breathe, and imagine.
July 9, 2012
Behind the Scenes at a McDonald’s Photo Shoot
What?!?!?!
You mean those burgers are air brushed?
I feel betrayed.
July 6, 2012
Fridays Are For One Question
Guys, Andy Griffith died this week. And I am genuinely, truly sad about this. To me, The Andy Griffith Show is one of the best programs that’s ever been on television, and the interaction between Opie and Andy provided some of the most poignant moments on screen. Take this one, for example. It’s the episode where Opie is being bullied at school. Andy’s talk with Opie starts at about 10 minutes in:
It’s great. Stinking great.
So I was hoping we could remember Andy on the blog today:
“What’s your favorite moment from The Andy Griffith Show?”
July 5, 2012
Circumstances Aren’t the Measure of God’s Love
Jana and I have been recently caught up in the PBS drama “Sherlock,” which is a great retelling of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s tales of Sherlock Holmes in a 21st century setting. One of the statements that drives the famous detective summarizes his approach to life, and all his cases: “Once you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.” For Sherlock, this is lived out through the power of observation. There are always clues; small ones, no doubt, but clues nonetheless that eventually lead to a deduction about the nature of the circumstances. It’s deductive reasoning at its finest.
Let me put it another way: The circumstances of a given situation, when analyzed, lead to the greater truth behind the situation. And while that works for Sherlock, it isn’t necessarily as rock solid in the life of the Christian. Because circumstances aren’t the measure of God’s love.
Consider the variety of circumstances Paul presents in Philippians 4:12-13:
I know both how to have little, and I know how to have a lot. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being content – whether well fed or hungry, whether in abundance or in need. I am able to do all things through Him who strengthens me.
Look back over Paul’s life, and you’ll see that he lived in any number of given situations. Sometimes good, many times bad. He knew what it meant to be shipwrecked, beaten, snake-bitten, received, loved, hard at work, abandoned, and supported. His life story reads like a circumstantial elevator, moving up and down, up and down. So if you take the Holmsian methodology and apply it to Paul, then you might come to several reasonable conclusions:
- Paul wasn’t good with money.
- Paul didn’t know how to choose his friends.
- Paul was a bad networker.
- Paul was passionate, but sometimes his passion got the better of his wisdom.
And if you look a little deeper, and begin to weigh his circumstances in light of God, you might come to several more:
- God was sometimes mad at Paul.
- God is incapable of doing anything to ease the pain of his people.
- God doesn’t care about the pain of His people, but rather sees them only as tools for His purposes.
This is when it starts to break down. Because circumstances aren’t the measure of God’s love. The cross is the measure of God’s love. At the cross, God answered once and for all the great depth of His love for His people. He proved it through the death of His Son. That’s why any and every circumstance can’t just be weighed against logical deduction. Every circumstance must be viewed in the massive and overpowering shadow of the cross.
When the questions regarding God’s love and care arise, return to the cross.
When the circumstances seem to rage out of control, return to the cross.
When there seems to be no hope, return to the cross.
This is how much God loved us. Case closed.
July 3, 2012
July 2, 2012
Two Hebrew Guys Named Smith and Brown on the Night of the Passover
This illustration from DA Carson is so uplifting and encouraging to me. Weak faith in a strong object is infinitely better than strong faith in a weak object. And thank God we have a strong object:
(HT: JT)
June 29, 2012
Fridays Are For One Question
A new Pixar movie came out last week. It’s called “Brave,” and it’s being billed as Pixar’s first fairy tale.
To be honest, if Pixar told me they were making a movie of lamp shade I’d want to see it because they make fantastic movies, almost without exception. I pretty much agree with this article, which ranked the Pixar movies from worst to best. Here is their list (with a few comments from me):
13. Cars 2 (admittedly a weak attempt)
12. Cars
11. Brave
10. A Bug’s Life (a tough guy ladybug? genius!)
9. Toy Story 2
8. Finding Nemo (wept)
7. Toy Story 3 (wept near uncontrollably)
6. Monsters Inc. (brilliant idea)
5. Up (wept in the first 10 minutes)
4. Wall-E (made me go on a diet)
3. Ratatouille (never saw the whole thing. had a kid start crying in the middle)
2. Toy Story (another brilliant idea)
1. The Incredibles (incredible)
Here’s today’s animation themed question:
“What is your favorite animated movie of all time?”
June 28, 2012
June 27, 2012
The Shape of Gospel Astonishment in Psalm 24
Thanks, Jared Wilson, for this reflection:
1 The earth is the LORD’s and the fullness thereof,
the world and those who dwell therein,
2for he has founded it upon the seas
and established it upon the rivers.
There is God. He existed before anything existed, for he has always existed and he will always exist. He created everything that exists outside of himself and therefore he owns it all, including mankind.
3 Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD?
And who shall stand in his holy place?
How can we enjoy fellowship with this awfully holy God? Who can justifiably enter his presence? The answer:
4 He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
who does not lift up his soul to what is false
and does not swear deceitfully.
5He will receive blessing from the LORD
and righteousness from the God of his salvation.
6Such is the generation of those who seek him,
who seek the face of the God of Jacob.
Selah
Sigh. I would love to enjoy fellowship with God, to receive his blessing and his righteousness. But I don’t have clean hands and a pure heart, and I have often lifted up my soul to falsehood and have sworn deceitfully. If that’s the standard for acceptance unto God’s favor I can only hang my head in shame and sorrow.
7 Lift up your heads, O gates!
And be lifted up, O ancient doors,
that the King of glory may come in.
What? What do you mean?
8Who is this King of glory?
The LORD, strong and mighty,
the LORD, mighty in battle!
9Lift up your heads, O gates!
And lift them up, O ancient doors,
that the King of glory may come in.
Wait, what? Christ the LORD enters the equation? Well, of course! Of course he can do it! Jesus can abide in his presence, he can receive blessing from the Lord, he has a pure heart and clean hands, he is not false or deceitful in any way, and certainly he has sought the will of the Father at all times. I don’t have to hang my head in shame any more: Christ my righteousness has entered and purchased justification before the holy God for me!
10Who is this King of glory?
The LORD of hosts,
he is the King of glory!
Selah
And hallelujah!
