Jeff Noble's Blog, page 24

2018… you were all over the place

I traditionally write posts in reflection of the previous year. As I’ve been reassessing my blogging lately (seems to happen at the turn of each year), I wonder if personal posts mean anything at all. For family and friends, it’s a glimpse into my perspective on the 365 days that composed this time bracket we will alway refer to as “2018.” For those who don’t know me, why would you care?

2018 was a great year in so many ways, but it ended on a cloud for me – and not the light, airy cloud of a dream fulfilled. It was a dark, thunderstorm cloud that obscures vision. 2018 truly was all over the place.

Let’s sum it all up:

Hokie basketball games
A surprise 50th birthday party at Northstar’s Reserve
Slanket Sermons – when snow prevents our church from meeting, I preach the sermon in a slanket.. in the snow.

[image error]
Redoing our kitchen with butcher block countertops
Got featured on “Humans of Blacksburg” because I’m, well, a human that lives in Blacksburg.
Sooooo many movies. Between me and Aaron Peck, we may have been the ones who crashed MoviePass. I certainly got my money’s worth out of it. I resorted to Sinemia later in the year after MP stopped working. (Use this link to sign up, and I get points!)
We took a trip to Arkansas to hang out on Lake Hamilton with friends from Texas and catch up with other family and friends in Little Rock. I finally got to run on the Big Dam Bridge.
[image error] We followed that up with a fun weekend in the New River Gorge whitewater rafting. (highly recommend the resort there!)
Cornhole.
[image error] I found myself in Istanbul again, walking streets of the Kadikoy district, befriending new people, looking over the city from a Starbucks balcony and learning about the culture from the Asian side of that megacity.
This trip birthed the internationally famous video series Two Guys in Turkey in Twin Beds starring myself and Matt Simpson.
Progress, progress, progress toward our church beginning its building campaign. It was a year of movement, just not dirt movement.. yet, but we did celebrate groundbreaking in August!
Mourned over a Starbucks closing in downtown Blacksburg. Seriously, how does a Starbucks close??
Life accomplishment: I saw the Oscar Meyer Weinermobile and got a picture with it in my hot dog shirt.
Personal retreats – at Mountain Lake Lodge and Crosspointe’s Center for Spiritual Renewal
New cancer battles
Reestablishing myself over my lessers as the undisputed Fantasy Football Champion

Reflections

When a year begins in Cassell Coliseum and ends with cancer, it’s definitely all over the place. It’s a lot like life for you too, I know. We never know when we’ll see a game-winning three-point shot or when we experience surgeries and chemotherapy. In between life’s extremes, we experience new faces and places, rainbows and thunderclouds.

I am deeply introspective. I do believe that “the unexamined life is not worth living.” Paul said it better than Socrates:

“Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith. Examine yourselves.” (2 Corinthians 13.5)

I need moments – regular moments – of reflection and self-study. I want to grow, to be more self-aware. There’s a standard by which I compare myself, and it is that of Jesus. One would think that the perpetual falling-short of measuring up to His example would be depressing and self-defeating. It’s anything but that for me. Presenting myself to Him regularly in prayer breeds thanksgiving and humility. The wonderfully comforting thing about falling short in my walk with Jesus is that He loves me. Radically. Purely. Deeply. Always.

Because I feel completely safe before God, I experience profound inner gratitude. I am free to grow. I am not held back by my failure or smallness.

It defies understanding – that a perfect God would love me/us even though He knows our thoughts and sees our sins. And more than knowing and seeing, He sent His Son to take my sin from me so that there would be no barrier between Him and me. All that He asked in return is for me to trust the means by which He offers me to be saved – placing my faith in Jesus and confessing my imperfections, selfishness, failure, and wrongness to Him.

This divine exchange that occurs by simple faith – I receive salvation and righteousness, and God receives my sin… truly boggles my mind. It is the gospel.

It is reflection upon these truths that keep me grounded and centered on bright days and dark days. When I anchor myself on what is true, I can experience a settled, circumstance-resisting peace.

So thanks, 2018. Your 365 days were all over the place. High points. Low points. International travel. White water. Intimacy and distance. Struggle and endurance. In reality, you are not a “you.” 2018.. is a tangible time-marker. I can’t thank YOU. I can only thank Him. Jesus has been constant as I have been all over the place.

(Visited 36 times, 2 visits today)

The Christian sniper

This will make sooooo many of my readers uncomfortable. Feel free to stop reading now. It’s an entry about Christian leaders being Christian snipers when it comes to their unveiled disdain and dislike of President Trump.

A sniper

A sniper is someone who shoots at someone with intent to kill from a concealed position, most often from a long distance away as to remain undetectable. A Christian sniper is someone who defames, denigrates or seeks to assassinate the character of someone from a long distance away, without taking the chance to assess their target personally and without prior investment in humble, intercessory prayer for the person.

President Trump has been in the crosshairs of so many evangelical’s Twitter accounts, blogs and publications and pulpits.

As far back as September 2015, Russell Moore, president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention wrote an op-ed for the New York TimesentitledHave Evangelicals Who Support Trump Lost Their Values? He said, “Most illogical is his support from evangelicals and other social conservatives. To back Mr. Trump, these voters must repudiate everything they believe.”

Thanks for your judgement of me, Russell. I voted for Trump in the election, and I did not repudiate everything I believe in.

Targeted

I won’t recount President Trump’s successes. They have been astonishing, many, and in some cases, almost against all odds. The President has been busy. Some have argued that his may be the most prolifically productive presidency already.

He has done all this in the middle of a full court press against him at every turn. And it’s not just been one team against him. He has had to fight the media, Hollywood elite, liberal academia, corrupt politicians, lobbyist and a compromised intelligence community. And we’ve seen over and over that Trump’s secular critics are much more vulgar and crude than their target.

His compassion is overlooked. (Yes, there are encouraging stories.) His faults are highlighted. The (very) rare times that someone on the opposing team(s) notice and remark on one of his successes, they are beat quickly and violently into submissive group think by a vulgar culture.

Even Kanye has been the recipient of attack. Whoever thought he’d go MAGA and then quietly bow out of “politics” after the incessant sniping he received. It seems NO ONE who speaks up FOR this President is untargeted.

Shots by Evangelicals

I have been most disturbed by Christian leaders responses (or lack thereof) to President Trump. I have been shocked and watched disbelieving from the sidelines as a parade of celebrity evangelicals have lambasted Trump. In addition, I’ve chafed silently over the spiritual shaming these leaders have given to the church at large. They come across as sanctimonious, not sanctified, and brash, not humble in their tweets, blogs and articles about why President Trump is the embodiment of all that is indecent. They would convince the rest of us supposed unread, uninformed, immature Christians that their prognosis of Trump is just, defensible and even how Jesus Himself would view the President.

These same leaders moaned and groaned under the leadership of President Obama (or didn’t speak out at all) as we saw some precious freedoms fall and culture undergo the most rapid time of morality shift in my lifetime. In his eight years of office..

Marriage was radically redefined.
Discrimination against religious conscience was magnified (think bakers and weddings, Obamacare and contraceptives)
Homosexuality promoted
Christianity seemed to have no defenders while Islam had no critics.

Since Trump has been in office, he has almost fanatically been keeping his campaign promises, and many of them have had a direct benefit and blessing to people of faith.

The Obamacare individual mandate struck down
Appointment of TWO conservative Supreme Court judges (and an entire slate of federal appointments)
Unabashed support for the pro-life movement
Unqualified support for religious freedom

I’m disappointed in Christian leaders who express such disdain for Trump who has supported conservative principles and who, by many accounts, has surrounded himself with Christian leaders and pastors (not the least of which is the vice president). We are ALL uncomfortable with how he communicates. His mud-slinging as off-putting as it is, seems at times a shrewd necessity for a culture saturated in incivility. He did not create crude communication. Rather, his devotion to detrimental diatribes seems to have exposed more than added to the simmering animus in our culture. The voices on the left seem always to be raised in anger, venom, and putridity. I’m embarrassed to admit that there are moments that I’m grateful the President responds with such vehemence. Such isn’t the way of Jesus, of course.Therefore, I cannot revel in the inanity of the incivility. I merely wonder at its necessity. Could the President’s brawling nature be exactly what confounds voices on the left who have bulldozed their way over civil leaders with more temperate tones for years?

I’m disappointed in Christians who wouldn’t speak up when President Obama lent his influence to normalize homosexual marriage and who are ready to vilify Trump when he calls people names on Twitter. I’m disappointed in Christian leaders when Trump-bashing is just as prevalent in their blogs and on their social media accounts as it is in the MSM.

Suddenly it’s “spiritual” to vilify and lambast a leader who is imperfect and at times arrogantly brash? It’s not that the President is above reproach and uncorrectable. It’s simply that I understand our responsibility as Christian leaders to be agents of grace, ambassadors for Christ and people of prayer rather than snipers.

I struggled under the eight years of Obama. I was diligent to guard my blog against outright criticism of him as a person. I felt his character was questionable and his flaws will-hidden behind a carefully cultivated veneer. He was well-protected by his party and the media. He still is. When I wrote, I sought to write about the policies of his that I disagreed with and mourned over. After Obama’s speech to the University of Illinois earlier this fall, the press dutifully (and gleefully) reported his criticisms of Trump. When he spoke out again against Trump the next day, I felt it was unprecedented (in my lifetime) to witness a former president vilifying a sitting president.

I see another trend in Christian circles today. It’s the opposite. It’s direct attack on the President’s character and very little informed commentary on his policies. In fact, I’ve seen several Christian leaders speak out quickly against policy – parroting what the MSM has fed the pubic – only to have to delete or apologize for rash and premature comments when they learn what they repeated wasn’t true or was mischaracterized by the media.

In addition, morale is up in places where our country needed morale to be up: law enforcement at the local level and in our military. Under the Obama administration, local law enforcement felt unsupported and in reality, under siege. A separate Military Times poll found Obama’s popularity at a dismal 15 percent among the military in 2014.

The economy is soaring. Conservative principles are being implemented at every level of government, and one can measure Trump’s impact through:

A soaring economy
Record employment (especially of minorities)
Hopeful peace among the Koreas
The U.S. embassy located in Jerusalem
Renegotiation of treaties and trade deals that had put the U.S. at an unfair advantage, negatively impacting everything from farming to manufacturing
Reducing regulations that were choking efficiency and common sense
Bi-partisan criminal justice reform

As I said before, I voted for Trump. For varied reasons. Many times, I cringe when he tweets and when he speaks. As I said, I cannot vouch for his character. I can say that he seems to give in direct recompense to how he receives. There’s so much corruption and banality in our culture and political structures that I don’t expect Trump to be my pastor. I want him to “get things done.” I do think he’s bribe-proof. How do you bribe a billionaire? How do you offer someone fame/fortune/influence who already has it all? How do special interests woo such a person? They just can’t. He is his own man, for better or worse. And that may be another reason he’s so hated. He is not one of “them.”

I see Trump as a reform agent. He is earnestly and diligently seeking to fulfill campaign promises. He has a vision to “Make America Great Again,” and he is working to accomplish that through the implementation of new policies and the revocation of others that were ill-conceived and damaging. Along the way, his personality and persona are intensely distracting. The man’s a genius at distracting his antagonists (just listen to the incessant whining and vulgarity among cultural elites in the media, academia, Hollywood, and Democrats) so that he can focus on what he wants to do. He certainly doesn’t care about pleasing people.

We need perspective

A sniper must focus completely on his target. They exclude everything around them and pour every bit of concentration into hitting what they’re aiming at. I think this is what we see going on in our culture today as well. The President is the target, and everyone is so focused on vilifying him that they cannot see/hear/read/research/believe other perspectives and viewpoints.

The American public is slowly weening itself off of the MSM as their main source of news and information after the slow realization that they have become the opposition party. Christians must not let the opinions of the world color their responsibilities as prayer warriors.

[image error]

Trump doesn’t make it any easier for himself with his tone and ego. As a showman, I often wonder how much of his bombastic vitriol is a carefully cultivated image. The man gets things done. Let’s take a deep breath and remove our fingers from our social media and blog triggers and use our knees more.

First of all, then, I urge that petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone, for kings and all those who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. This is good, and it pleases God our Savior, who wants everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. (1 Timothy 2.1-4)

(Visited 41 times, 1 visits today)

Top Books I Read in 2018

I use Goodreads to help me keep track of my reading, leave brief reviews and get book recommendations. It’s really a fantasist resource.

I set a goal of reading 25 books this past year after reading 26 in 2017. I thought this year was going to be crazy busy (and it was), so I scaled my expectations for reading back. Little did I know that my reading for 2018 would become a comfort and solace for me in the midst of craziness, and by the end of the evening on December 31 (I finished one last book), I had read 38 books in 2018!

[image error]

 

 

 

When you get set up on Goodreads,  add me as a friend.

Now, on to my top books of 2018:

Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman

Hands down the best book I read this year! I was shocked by that and didn’t expect it to win me over the way it did. When I set it down, I was grieved that I completed it. I wanted more. Though wordy in places, Postman’s analysis of our culture way back in 1986 is spot on and has significant implications for anyone in thought leadership.
Gay Girl, Good God by Jackie Hill Perry

Highly recommended. I really appreciate her pointing out that the gospel is not to make gay people straight but first to lead us all to finding our identity in a love relationship with God through faith in Christ.
Off to Be a Wizard by Scott Meyer

I had this book recommended to me by a couple of friends, and when I finally got around to reading it, it truly delighted me. It’s just a fun, wonderful read, in the vein of Ready, Player One .
The Trellis and the Vine by Colin Marshall & Tony Payne

It’s subtitled “The Ministry Mindset that Changes Everything.” That’s ambitious but not far off. I’ve been thinking deeply about overhauling our church’s discipleship ministry, and this book was an immense encouragement. (I’m not crazy!)
The Hired Man’s Christmas by George Givens

This book was loaned to us by a coworker with the attraction that it was written by a Blacksburg local. It was joyfully touching. A wonderful, warm Christmas read and well worth giving as a gift.
When God Comes to Church by Ray Ortlund

That we do not talk much or pray for revival or manage our lives so that we are ready for it speaks to the sad reality that we may not believe in revival. But God is a God of life, and He *delights* to revive His church. I found myself underlining even the endnotes in this powerful book.

[image error]Honorable Mention

The Triumph of Christianity by Rodney Stark. Stark just can’t quite come to the point of admitting God’s role in the expansion of Christianity. His is a man-centered assessment of Christianity’s growth. Even so, this is a thoroughly interesting and compelling book.
The Impossible Fortress by Jason Rekulak. I stumbled upon this book – the author’s first – and was enchanted immediately with this coming-of-age story set in the 1980s.

Here are some series that I read:

Last year I stumbled on Patrick Rothfuss’ The Name of the Wind , and this year I enjoyed following it up with his second book, The Wise Man’s Fear . It was good though plodding and seemed to begin to stall out. I am eager to read the next installment
2 books in C.S. Lewis Chronicles of Narnia series: The Magician’s Nephew and The Last Battle.
2 books in John Bellairs’ Lewis Barnavelt series. I watched the movie The House with a Clock in its Walls and wanted to read it, and then I also read The Figure in the Shadows . These magical tales about kids are easy reads are are reminiscent of Harry Potter.
I read Vince Flynn’s entry book in the Mitch Rapp series An American Assassin and enjoyed it. I don’t know if I’ll follow it up with further books.
I re-read Rowling’s Harry Potter  The Order of the Phoenix and The Half-Blood Prince and found myself getting choked up all over again.
I re-read A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L’Engle and found myself disappointed in the book (loved it years ago) but not as much as I hated the new movie. I won’t follow it up with her other installments.

Books I Stopped Reading:

I rarely give up on a book. Sometimes I’ll finish out of sheer internal obligation. But this one…

Rome and Jerusalem by Martin Goodman. I’ve been working on this book off and on for four years. It is ponderously boring. History and analysis should not be this unattractive. But that’s not what made be put it down and give it up after reading over 200 pages. I kept getting a gut feeling about his unequivocal assertions, and finally after more reading, just couldn’t square his reasoning and misunderstandings of Jewish biblical culture.

Comparison

[image error]

What about you?!

Which books of these have you read?
Which books were your favorites in 2018?
Which book on the list above are you more likely to read due to interest or recommendation?

(Visited 37 times, 1 visits today)

Top Posts of 2018

[image error]It’s become a tradition on the blog to serve up for you at the turn of the year the posts that were most trafficked over 2018. Here they are:

Cancer hiccups (Nov 15)

This post details the discovery that my wife Carolyn was diagnosed with salivary gland cancer. Since 1992, this is the fourth type of cancer she’s encountered, in nine different episodes.
Go see it: The Greatest Showman (Jan 2)

I’m not a musical lover, but this movie not only surprised me.. it delighted me. Read my review, and why I think there are overtones of the Christian gospel in the movie.
A new wrinkle (Dec 18)

Along the way to treating Carolyn’s salivary gland cancer, a PET scan revealed activity in her abdomen that was diagnosed as lymphoma. Two cancers at once..
A discouraged pastor (Feb 9)

I received a text from a friend who was discouraged and who is also a pastor. It led me to reflect on how difficult it is to serve as a pastor.
Memorable December moments (Dec 18)

December was a crazy month as we embraced new health realities with cancer while at the same time juggled a church schedule and prepared for Christmas – determined to reflect joy.
Remembering the message of Billy Graham (Mar 3)

The passing of this iconic evangelist led me to write my own reflections and tribute to his faithful clinging to the gospel of Jesus.
10 Reasons why you should wholeheartedly support President Trump (May 5)

This post was unashamed click bait in an effort to get feedback on what issues are appropriate for pastors to write about.
Retiring a Giant (Nov 19)

This tribute to the man I learned how to do campus ministry from is well worth the read, and the leadership lessons I gained from David James continue to echo in my own ministry style.
On building a church called Northstar (Aug 18)

Our church is in the middle of building its first ministry center. These reflections on this humbling/scary process, I hope, were encouraging to anyone endeavoring a project beyond their own capabilities.
Nuff said: The Eisenhower Box, porn addiction in the church, Why Dilbert hates goals, Are youth leaving the church? and the Celebrity Pastor Fantasy Draft (Nov 26)

I love when one of my Nuff Said posts is well-read. This one in particular was popular this year.

I’d be really curious about your thoughts. Was there another post in 2018 that captured your imagination or encouraged or provoked you that you don’t see on the list? You can quickly review this year’s posts here to jog your memory.

Personally, I wish these posts had made the Top 10:

Thankful for pardon (Nov 22)
Nuff said: Ode to Stan Lee
How do you pray? (May 26)
Should you delete Facebook? (Apr 23)
Death diapers (March 24)
Tomorrow makes a crummy god (Jan 24)

Take the survey

(Visited 21 times, 3 visits today)

Book Review: Martin Luther: The Man Who Rediscovered God and Changed the World – by Eric Metaxas

Martin Luther: The Man Who Rediscovered God and Changed the World by Eric Metaxas

GoodReads rating: 3 of 5 stars

I’ve heard and often repeated, “Never use a $10 word when a $1 word will do” in relation to writing. This is the first book by this author I’ve read, and it will be my last. His constant use of vocabulary that NO ONE uses is ridiculous and distracting. I read – a lot. But Metaxas writing style actually obscure what he’s writing about.

He obviously did a lot of research on Luther, but I’ll turn to another author to get more in-depth. Metaxas fails to give us a good picture of Luther’s personality that others reveal easily. It doesn’t take much reading about Luther (or of reading Luther’s works themselves) to see how BIG a personality he was. And yet you walk away from this book (and it’s large) knowing more about events you could read about on Wikipedia than you do about Luther himself.

The author takes a paragraph to say what others would in a sentence. The book just seems to dress up the history of Luther with a few scattered stories and rely more on prose and pontificating than on revealing Luther to us.

I’m going to move on to Roland Bainton’s work, Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther.

View my other reviews on Goodreads.

(Visited 23 times, 3 visits today)

Memorable December moments

On Christmas Eve, I usually write a reflective blog post. December 24 is also Carolyn’s birthday, and so we put Christmas on hold for a day and properly celebrate her birthday, making sure it’s not merged with Jesus’.

A new wrinkle

The Cancer Hiccups post was getting long enough to become a novel. This post is part 2 of that post, simply because these hiccups won’t go away. I wrote in the 12/13 update on that post that we’d had “a new wrinkle,” and since this post details our attempts to iron out that new wrinkle (while still battling hiccups), I thought I’d title it that way.

A quick catch-up

If you’re just joining us, here are the Spark Notes:

In September, Carolyn had surgery to remove what we thought was an enlarged lymph node in her jaw that had become painful. We discovered that it was actually a rare, destructive salivary gland cancer. With that news, doctors order a PET scan to determine abnormal activity. In addition to the area of that one salivary gland, the back of her tongue/tonsils and several lymph nodes in her abdomen/groin area showed up as active.

We had known something was up in her abdomen/groin area because for a couple of months prior, she’d been experiencing pain and soreness. Doctors had attributed that to enlarged lymph nodes due to sarcoidosis.

After consultation with doctors here in Blacksburg and at Wake Forest Baptist, Carolyn had a second surgery to make sure all the initial salivary gland cancer was removed. At that time they also took tissue from her tongue/tonsils area to study.

That was last Tuesday. On Thursday, she went in to her local ENT here to have the drain port from the surgery removed. In doing so, her blood pressure dropped dramatically, and an ambulance was called. She was able to go home, but pain in her abdomen and legs erupted and became so severe, we took her to the ER and before we knew it, she had spent two nights in the hospital, just getting her pain under control. A CT scan showed enlarged lymph nodes that were even bigger than the CT scan from October. It was these lymph nodes, pressing against her ureters and kidneys that were causing the pain.

In order to understand what was going on in these nodes, they did a needle biopsy. She was also placed on a high dosage of steroids in order to attempt to reduce the lymph nodes and control the pain. It worked. She was able to return home on Saturday and has been taking it easy since then as she continues to recoup from the surgery and pain incident.

The new wrinkle

This morning we went to her local oncologist, and while she didn’t have the test results back from the needle biopsy, both she and Carolyn were pleased of how the steroids had helped and believed that the lymph nodes were sarcoidosis (we’d been told that by the docs at Wake Forest as well). So we prepared to go to Winston-Salem tomorrow for the next post-surgery consultation and also to catch her docs there up with the incident last week in the hospital.

I was just about to walk into lunch at El Gran Rodeo with our church staff after our weekly meeting when Carolyn called and informed me that her local oncologist had called with preliminary results from the biopsy – non-Hodgkins lymphoma, cancer. She asked me not to say anything at the time, to wait while she gathered her thoughts. It was a surreal lunch and afternoon. In retrospect, I think that’s what caused me to lose in corn hole when we played on our return to the office.

Responding in prayer and praise

Carolyn was home with Sam when she got the phone call. Adelyn and Carolyn’s mom were on a shopping trip. Sam was able to pray over Carolyn an incredible prayer, one that spoke truth, comfort and power. What a blessing to be led spiritually by your son at such a time. It sounds like a Jesus Juke, but amazingly enough, Adelyn had been inspired to write a song last night. I was watching TV in the man cave when she came out and played/sang it for me. I was stunned. Not because it’s so good, but because it is now so fitting to this moment – in so many ways. It is a melody for crying out to God.

After Adelyn and Teresa returned from their shopping trip, Adelyn sat down in front of the fire place, and she played it for Carolyn. I wanted to share it with you

Now before you think we are some kind “super spiritual” family. We are not. We are sooooo normal. Quirky. Strugglers. Scared.  What makes us unique at all is only our rabid confidence that Jesus is who He says He is. He is our Savior.

We are clinging to Him even as we are crying out.

So many are confused about being a Christian. Trusting Jesus is not so that you can go to heaven when you die. That’s the eternal blessing, eternal life. Trusting Jesus is supposed to make life fuller, deeper and more meaningful TODAY. Being a Christian is about enjoying a love relationship with Jesus daily. We suffer. We strain. We stress. We hurt. But that’s what makes Christianity so radically different from every other world religion. It alone addresses the hard reality of this broken world with real answers and real hope.

I wrote in Cancer Hiccups a section called “How to Respond,” and I think it’s worth re-sharing, simply because it’s STILL what we’d ask:

How to respond:

Don’t freak out. We are not. It is what it is, and we are not in control. Our life perspective is centered in the bedrock certainty that God is great, and God is good. That He is love. Nothing can touch us except what He’s appointed. It doesn’t feel good, and we certainly have questions, but since cancer is a reality (again), we are confident that His grace will be sufficient each day.
Speaking of grace… we may have bad days. It’s ok. We’re not perfect. Jesus is. Please don’t hold Jesus responsible for our imperfect responses. Give us grace, and pray that our bad days and shaky moments are few. And don’t be unnerved if/when either of us snips, snaps, gripes or struggles. It’s normal. We are going to lean heavily on strength of Jesus, confident in Him. Any failure to reflect Him is not due to His brightness but our dullness.
Pray. I think that goes without saying. Seriously.

• Pray for Carolyn’s thought life and mind as well as healing.

• Pray for the surgery to not be damaging to facial nerves. This was answered!

We have lived with the craziness of cancer for 27 years. Whoa. You know what has ushered us through these moments? God’s love has been poured through your prayers. He’s real, folks. So pray. I can affirm with great confidence what the apostle Paul says in 2 Corinthians 1.11:“…you join in helping us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gift that came to us through the prayers of many.”
It’s not fun. It’s an interruption. It’s an inconvenience. However, like all of life’s hiccups, it’s an opportunity. There may be some moments of genuine suck along the way. Don’t be alarmed, and don’t get discouraged if we need to be reminded to not be alarmed.

One verse comes to mind during these ridiculous days of fighting cancer on numerous fronts:

Now we have this treasure in clay jars, so that this extraordinary power may be from God and not from us. We are afflicted in every way but not crushed; we are perplexed but not in despair; we are persecuted but not abandoned; we are struck down but not destroyed. We always carry the death of Jesus in our body, so that the life of Jesus may also be displayed in our body. (2 Corinthians 4.7-10)

Watch

What does one do in days like this when you’re hit from all angles? You grab Jesus’ hand, and you get back up. Pray for us to keep getting up. Interestingly, I preached a Christmas message Sunday night entitled Let Others Watch in which I shared that “when God works in our lives, it invites others in to watch, and it moves them to worship as well.” I feel so unworthy to ask anyone to “watch” our lives during these days of turmoil, because I know how imperfectly we attempt to reflect a perfect God. It is also not something fun to watch. But with your prayers, I’m going to say with great humility… pray and watch.. and see for yourself how Jesus deals with wrinkles.

He is just too good to not be praised.

[image error]

Also in Our Cancer Saga

Carolyn was first diagnosed with Hodgkin's Disease in 1991. Since then, it's been a wild, crazy cancer saga.

A Sheep’s Tale


Our Story, a week in October


Health update and uncertainty


Biopsy results…


Today’s stop: surgeon consultation


Doctor update


“As you help us by your prayers”


Where we are


Health latest…


Experiencing intercession


Two birthdays of good news


The chemo word


Surgery today


A little closure…


Chemo hero


Our Story: Miracles


Another opportunity to trust


Round 6 update


A La Carte: Health Update, December Nights kickoff, Saving Change and The First Snow


Final surgery – Round 6: gratitude in busyness


Health update 2014


Denied.


A little down: health update


Miracles in the mailbox


Immeasurably more..


Moving toward knowledge: surgery


Relief…


Cancer hiccups


A new wrinkle

View the entire series

(Visited 659 times, 33 visits today)

“I know him!”

I was at Barnes and Noble on the first day of December. I have a tall table in the corner of the cafe that I consider “my table.” Anytime that someone else happens to snatch it, I’m always bummed. I gazed out the window at the fog swirling around cars in the parking lot and appreciated my steaming cup of coffee and warm blueberry muffin. People were walking quickly from their cars into the warmth of stores to avoid the misty chill.

I typed a few more thoughts from Luke 1 about the birth of John the Baptist in preparation for a message I’d deliver at our church’s first December Nights gathering.

“Hi!”

[image error]The eager friendliness in the voice was matched by the happy glow on Kiera Cass’ face. She had brought her kids to the B&N holiday reading time for the morning. We caught up for a few moments. When she left I pondered how surreal it is to know such a normal, fun person who happens to also be a best-selling author. I wanted to follow her through the bookstore, and when the staff saw her, say, “I know her!”

“Ho ho ho!”

The throaty chuckle preceded the appearance of a man in a red suit. It was Tim, one of the bookstore managers, but he looked a lot like Santa in the outfit. He came over to my table for a brief moment before heading back to delight the kids.

I have an Elf onesy. I was sorely tempted to race to the house, put it on and follow Santa around the store yelling, “I know him! I know him!”

Decembers are special.

Each December 1, I get giddy and a little panicky all at the same time. I’m giddy because this time of year is so very dear to me. Why? Jesus.

Joy to the world, the Lord has come!

Let Earth receive her King.

Let every heart prepare Him room.

I’m panicky because December passes so suddenly. Two years ago, I wrote about how I wanted to “slow down Christmas:”

And so I begin each new December with a renewed determination to slow down Christmas. To drink deeply of each new day in during this month. I want to pause each hour, to notice things and people. I want to embrace and reveal the love of Jesus. Throughout the day.

With each hour’s passing, Christmas is almost here. When I was kid, Christmas couldn’t come soon enough. Now that I’m “older,” it comes too fast.

I love the lights, the symbols, the effervescent joy that we strangers have for one another during this season. We have an extremely divided nation, and yet there’s something about Christmas – something otherworldly – that beckons us all into fraternal fellowship. It shrinks the gaps and blurs our angst.

Jesus hovers.

It seems that during this season, the presence of Jesus literally hovers just over our heads and hearts. His joy is palpable. There’s a sense that life is so much more… meaningful, significant, wonderful.. than what our daily grind allows us to consider.

The music, lights, decorations, images all point up. They hint at something beyond imagining. We love them, but our hearts seem strained to peer behind their curtain to something of… substance.

The books or the music in which we thought the beauty was located will betray us if we trust to them; it was not in them, it only came through them, and what came through them was longing. These things — the beauty, the memory of our own past — are good images of what we really desire; but if they are mistaken for the thing itself, they turn into dumb idols, breaking the hearts of their worshipers. For they are not the thing itself; they are only the scent of a flower we have not found, the echo of the tune we have not heard, news from a country we have never yet visited. (C.S. Lewis,The Weight of Glory, 32)

I looked back at Luke 1. The angel Gabriel told Zachariah that his son to be born would “make ready for the Lord a prepared people.” (Luke 1.17) It seems a bit redundant – “make ready” … “a prepared people.”

And yet, the eternal meets temporal in those words. Jesus was coming into the world, literally. Just a few short months after John’s birth, his younger cousin would experience an ignominious birth. No one was prepared for Him. Rumors surrounded his mom and the pregnancy. God Himself sent angels to urge shepherds to honor His Son at His birthplace.

Jesus slips in.

And so Jesus slipped into creation as a baby, and Christmas began. With His advent, the world order shook. He was the King of kings. The Lord of lords. He would put the prideful in their place. And He would take our sin and put it in its place – on Him. He robbed us of our greatest failures and gave us His greatest gift – Himself.

My Christmas season launched with two pleasant interruptions on a foggy day in Christiansburg. In a way, Jesus interrupted history to launch Christmas. He blesses us with divine interruptions each day if we will look carefully. When I recognize the presence of Jesus this season, I want to scream, “I know Him! I know Him!”

Do you?

(Visited 31 times, 7 visits today)

Nuff said: The Eisenhower Box, porn addiction in the church, Why Dilbert hates goals, Are youth leaving the church? and the Celebrity Pastor Fantasy Draft

Nuff said is a collection of posts/articles from around the web that has drawn my attention in the following ways:

Made me think
Made me wonder
Made me feel

Here’s what I’ve noticed lately:

The Eisenhower box

These simple productivity principles have become such an integral part of my task filter that I don’t realize I am applying them. The hardest thing is to spend extra time delegating projects or tasks when I think I could get it done faster. When they’re not urgent/important, I should give them away and focus on what is.

“Eisenhower had an incredible ability to sustain his productivity not just for weeks or months, but for decades… His most famous productivity strategy is known as the Eisenhower Box and it’s a simple decision-making tool that you can use right now.”

[image error]

Read more here.

Porn addiction in the church

This is an immensely helpful article by Luke Wilkerson on the Covenant Eyes website. The 2018 statistics compiled by CE shares results from a Barna survey conducted in 2014:

64% of self-identified Christian men and 15% of self-identified Christian women view pornography at least once a month (compared to 65% of non-Christian men and 30% of non-Christian women).

In the article, Wilkerson said, “To be clear, the study did not see any relationship between religiosity to the actual use of porn. Christians don’t use porn any more or less than non-Christians (according to this study). Rather, a Christian who watches porn at a certain frequency is far more likely to say he or she is “addicted” than the non-religious person who uses porn at the same frequency.”

Whether someone is “addicted” to porn or not is a confusing argument, but the article helps us understand how to lovingly help and encourage those who may turn to porn for various reasons.

The church must remain clear that pornography is not essentially wrong because it is addictive, but because of its titillating and deceptive message: it rips sexuality from its relational context and presents human beings not as creatures made in God’s image, but as sexual commodities, something to be bought and sold.

I’m thankful for the men of our church who facilitate what they call a “MAN” Group (Men’s Accountability Network) to provide a place of community, honestly, prayer and proactive encouragement.

Dilbert Creator Scott Adams On Why Big Goals Are For Losers

“The biggest problems with goals is that they’re constantly making you feel like a failure.” ~ Scott Adams

If you have succumbed to making endless goals for yourself, this is a must-read. Adams advocates embracing a systems approach to life rather than a goal approach to life. While this may sound like mumbo-jumbo on the outset, think about it.

Are you more motivated by pursuing a goal that you’ve set for yourself/your company, etc.? OR.. are you more motivated by living your daily life, every day, in a way that adds value to what you did the day before? While this could be applied toward moving toward a goal, it’s much more natural for us “ordinaries.”

Dropouts and Disciples: How many students are really leaving the church?

One of the most-used statistics (even though it’s false) goes something like this:

“86% of evangelical youth drop out of church after graduation, never to return.” 

This article by Ed Stetzer exposes that false statistic, but it does encourage the church to be alert and aware as to what’s really happening with its youth. I wrote a blog post reviewing Bradly Wright’s book Christians Are Hate-Filled Hypocrites… and Other Lies You’ve Been Told in which he also exposed this pervasive church myth.

Here are the three takeaway points for churches (and youth ministers):

Disciple, disciple, disciple.
Have a home with committed Christian parents.
Recognize that it takes a church to raise a committed young adult—involve other adults in the discipleship process.

The Celebrity Pastor Fantasy Draft

Last, but not least.. Jon Crist shows us how to do a celebrity pastor fantasy draft (I didn’t make the cut.)

 

As always, leave your comments below! Which article caught your attention most?

Also in Nuff Said


‘Nuff said: Surviving Christmas Shoes, Sexy Christianity, Strange Fire, War on Christians





Nuff said: Extroversion vs Introversion, Are you naked?, Christian resolutions, Recommending books.. and more


Nuff said: Majestic Hotel, smartphones and sleep, church signs, church history, imperialist Christian missionaries


Nuff said: Noah and Tim Tebow, Repenters, Driscoll’s apology, Let it go-please, abortion speech, Urkaine, and help for those who don’t want to raise their hands in worship


Nuff said: Social media help, smart phones and dumb people, ministry to youth on social media


Nuff said: Bad news believers, hashtag diplomacy, silver bullet of discipleship, single and satisfied?, kids sports, Kid President


Nuff said: 10 commitments, the power of definitions, leaving your church well, ways you’re doing Twitter wrong, NO!, and more


Nuff said: Trusting scripture, a Gospel without words, a Trader or a Christian?, Does Powerpoint help?, Be a people person, Selfies Anonymous


Nuff Said: Son of Hamas, Elders as Disciple Makers, Hipster Quitter, Caveats to the #IceBucketChallenge, the new face of the IMB,


‘Nuff Said: Improving Your “Do,” Things to pray for your kids, 20 things you shouldn’t do if you’re over 20, 30 things you may already be doing that impress others, when a cult repents, too much phone? and Star Trek


Nuff said: Fix annoying iOS 8 tidbits, charts!, the world’s largest religion, why working from a coffee shop may not be a good idea


Nuff said: Saving Daylight, the church “stand and greet time,” the iPhone cone, why go to church and more


Nuff said: #1 Bible translations, Cause of Divorce, Donald Miller spirituality, coffee mugs, trusted professions


Nuff said: Cool air, on the wrong side of history, iPhone history, utilitarianism, Gmail helps, a heavenly visit?


Nuff Said: Demise of blog commenting, Small Groups make a BIG difference, Questions for sleepy Christians, & 11 books we lie about reading


Nuff said: A week later with the same-sex ruling


Nuff Said: Why Churches Should Stay Home on Halloween, Photoshop Alternatives, Dumb Ideas About Jesus, The Power of Next, Discipleship DNA, What Ben Carson would do first if elected President


Nuff Said: Bonhoeffer too popular? When $17.38 changes a life.. Churches & communication… The death of cultural Christianity… A college president stands up… Star Wars cast acapella


Nuff said: Impractical Jokers save the day, Watch Pompeii get destroyed, How to deal with crisis, How to reach millennials, Blacksburg Winter Storm aerial footage, 9 reasons the church need to reach college students


Nuff said: Pastor ponderings


Nuff said: A tribute to millennials as college starts again


Nuff Said: Tech companies trumping Trump, Helping authors, Pastors who ignore phone calls, ways for busy moms to be in the Bible, Frankfurter Sandwiches and more


Nuff said: Reaching milennials; Beat the idea, not the person; America runs on clicks; Email in real life


Nuff Said: A porn queen and Christians; a nation of depression; glutton-free churches and more good news from around the net


Nuff said: The Eisenhower Box, porn addiction in the church, Why Dilbert hates goals, Are youth leaving the church? and the Celebrity Pastor Fantasy Draft

View the entire series

(Visited 54 times, 1 visits today)

Thankful for pardon

I love Thanksgiving. The holiday. The restfulness and the chill in the air which allows an early morning fire in the fireplace. It’s an annual family tradition to watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Well, Sam sleeps through it while Carolyn and Adelyn watch it. I use the background noise to write my annual thanksgiving blog.

I love Thanksgiving. The act and the attitude. In last year’s post, I said “You cannot be full of pride and simultaneously full of gratitude.” This day is a built-in corrective to the prevalent cultural mindset of rush, worry, argue, finger-pointing, selfishness and spiritual deaf and deadness.

On Tuesday President Trump pardoned two turkeys, and those turkeys will come to live out the rest of their life just down the street from us. Virginia Tech provides their home: Gobblers Rest.

Isn’t that what we all need? A pardon? A pardon that leads to rest?

And isn’t that exactly what Jesus does? All who believe in Him receive eternal pardon and the promise of perfect rest. Thank goodness. Truly. God is truly and fully good for not holding us accountable for our faults, failures, atrocities, hate,  smallness, rebellion, meanness, spite, depression, seeking worth in everything but Him. He has pardoned us and poured on Jesus the weight of our gross straying and false identities.

I am thankful that pardon in Jesus is a real thing and for being pardoned.

What else am I thankful for?

Life is crazy, fast, confusing and even cancerous these days. Everything feels “in the meantime.” It’s as if I’m not where I belong, and yet, I am prompted to give thanks in the middle of good time AND hard times. And soooo….

5 Things I’m Thankful for

[image error]Socks. I have never been one to even think twice about socks.. even though they come in pairs. However, this past year, I’ve gotten dad socks, Spock socks (complete with pointy ears that stick out) and just this past Sunday, Bigfoot socks. All have been gifts. Socks are also great way to learn to speak Spanish. Just spell them out loud: S-O-C-K-S. “Eso si que es!” (you’re welcome)
Foreign languages. Now that I’ve taught you Spanish, I might as well teach you Australian. If you say “Where are the rise up lights?” at Walmart, you’ll be directed to the aisle with razor blades. If you go to a tattoo parlor and say the letters “PSDS,” they will poke holes in your earlobes. You’re welcome. I was in Istanbul again this past summer, and I truly am thankful for different languages. It’s a humbling reminder that communication takes work. The most gracious thing one can do is learn someone else’s language. It demonstrates that you value them and their culture. Speaking English slower doesn’t do it (as if that will help someone who doesn’t speak it suddenly be able to interpret it).
My mom and dad. They are prayer warriors for me, my church, our family, and others. I’m thinking about them this Thanksgiving morning because they wanted to be with us. My dad and I laugh at each other’s jokes faithfully. I love teasing my mom. There’s nothing more entertaining than listening to one of their 30-second spats. They are real, fun, Jesus-followers, and I’m thankful for them.
Truth-speakers. Last Sunday, I preached on Genesis 15. Verse 6 is the good news of how only faith makes us right with God. “Abram believed God, and He credited it to him as righteousness.” The feedback I received was humbling. However, I think the reality is that when we hear truth – epecially the gospel truth – it moves us. I’ve recently read Gay Girl, Good God by Jackie Hill Perry. She speaks truth fearlessly and graciously. I appreciate how she speaks truth in love and anchors it not to her sensational story but to scriptures. She is relentless about applying the words of the Bible to life, lifestyles, gender, attitudes and ministry.
Billy Graham. “Well done, good and faithful servant.” I wrote about his death this past year. It was a joyful reminder of the indescribable value of a lifetime of commitment to the simple message of hope, faith and love through Jesus Christ alone.
College kids. This will be the last Thanksgiving that we have two kids in college, God willing. Sam will graduate in May. Watching him and Adelyn excel and thrive in college (one has enjoyed the academic side more than the other) as young adults has been a deep encouragement. We’ve loved their friends, their choices and their desire to serve in ministry and church – outside of our own encouragement and influence. Their faith is their faith, and that prompts profound gratitude.

Oh the Places I’ve Been

[image error]From Istanbul to Arkansas, from lakes to mountain tops, this year has identified some special places. I had a man in Istanbul jam his thumbs so deep into my calves that I screamed like a girl during a Turkish bath. And one of my favorite moments in Turkey was an early morning spent just looking out over the city from the second floor of a Starbucks.

We took a trip to Arkansas and met friends from Dallas at Hot Springs. There was also a white-water rafting adventure in the New River Gorge in June and a wedding in the D.C. area in October. I took a personal retreat to Mountain Lake earlier this month that was refreshing and centering.

So Thankful

So what are you thankful for? If your a blogger – new, old or even inactive, let this post stir your own entry to thankfulness and gratitude.

Gratitude is a defiant proclamation to a world inundated in scorn and apathy. When I assume a position of thanksgiving, I am able to announce confidence in God – in the face of cancer, in the middle of political hatred, in circumstances less than ideal. When I find myself in unwanted “in the meantimes,” gratitude helps me refocus and cast my cares (and praises!) upon a God who cares for me.

So share your own thanks… today. Steal a few minutes and post/tweet/say/share what you’re thankful for. Even if it’s for turkeys that weren’t pardoned.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgivings past:

2005: Juanita’s, hot tea, and thee… aaaaah – Introducing the Anti-Blogger and how to blog joyfully
2006: Better late than never… thanksgiving – Five things, four people and five spiritual mile markers
2008: Giving thanks
2009: What a difference a year makes – Our first Thanksgiving in Virginia
2010: The Thanksgiving Chair – a powerful video guaranteed to get you weepy
2011: Very thankful
2013: Thanksgiving 2013 – Five things, Five People and Spiritual Mile Markers
2014: Thanksgiving past – A review of former Thanksgiving and reflections on making the “I’m a Beliemer” viral video for the Razorbacks and touring our college alma mater with our kids
2015: Another thankful year – Two highlights: our medical debt was paid off through a GiveForward campaign initiated by one of Carolyn’s dear friends and our church launched its first building campaign
2016: Choosing Thanksgiving – Thankful for Donald Trump? and.. VT’s new football coach
2017: The humility of Thanksgiving – the leper who turned back

(Visited 17 times, 1 visits today)