November 2006

A Day to be Thankful

Posted Wed, 2006-11-22 23:17

Things I am thankful for from the last year:

  • The new or deepened friendships I was blessed with
    • Pastor Eliel
    • Catia
    • Antonio Couto & family and Herique Abeillard & family
    • Chris, Elisa, Jon, Chrissy, Cassie, Daniel, Allegra, Lucas, Wayne, Kyle, and others at my new church home
  • Writing my thesis and completing my M.S.
  • Getting a good job and moving to Colorado
  • My nephew Elijah and getting to visit Sarah and Kevin
  • The apparently successful cancer treatment of my cousin Kara
  • Getting a keyboard
  • Having the opportunity to lead some worship services with the high schoolers and young adults at my church in Porto
  • Elsa's profession of faith in Christ expressed through baptism
  • The way God has pushed me to grow and stretch this year in so many ways
    • through disappointments (Rom. 8:28)
    • through contact with other young people that love Jesus
    • through contact with currents in the larger evangelical church
    • through new and different responsibilities
  • And of course all the blessings that God renews every year, such as my family.

1789: Proclamation of National Thanksgiving

Posted Wed, 2006-11-22 23:11

George Washington

City of New York, October 3, 1789

Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor, and whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me "to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness."

How to change your mind

Posted Fri, 2006-11-17 14:26

How to change your mind, in four simple steps:

  1. Choose a book of the Bible.
  2. Read it in its entirety.
  3. Repeat #2 twenty times.
  4. Repeat this process for all 66 books of the Bible.

I found this method on another the evangelical outpost blog, and it immediately caught my attention. So simple, so hard, yet so easy. The original post recommends starting with smaller books and working up to bigger ones, NT first, then OT.

I think I am going to start! Anyone else??

P.S. The author's advice on How to handle a divorce, a tragedy which I would never wish on anyone, is very funny. At least to my young-single-guy mind. =)

Quotable

Posted Tue, 2006-11-14 19:54

"A Bible that is falling apart usually belongs to someone whose life is not." – Charles Haddon Spurgeon

"Dead guys often make the best mentors." - Mark Driscoll

Satan and Self-Esteem

Posted Sat, 2006-11-11 10:41

Satan is a master at marketing. He will take words that are negative and he will spin them so they are positive and today people think that the only way to have a good life is to have a high self esteem. It's the same sin that got Satan kicked out of heaven, it's the same sin that caused him to declare war on God, it's the same sin that caused him to think that he was equal to God, and it'll do the same thing in your life.

On Ted Haggart, and an encouragement

Posted Sun, 2006-11-05 23:56

I read the letter that Ted Haggard had read to his former church this morning. One thing that struck me was how destructive it was for him to think that he ought to have achieved victory over his besetting sins, and being so ashamed at not experiencing that victory in the measure that he thought he should that he gave up on accountability and in the darkness sin flourished. While there is a clear Biblical expectation that a believer should generally experience victory over sin, I think we must balance that with a Romans 7 understanding that we will never be beyond the reach of sin until our bodies are made new at the resurrection.

Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize. 1 Cor. 9:25-27

I think we can fill any number of very down-and-dirty practical application points in the underlined part. I submit myself to be brutally honest in accountability so that.... I fast and pray against temptation so that... Mark Driscoll has a number of "practical suggestions for fellow Christian leaders, especially young men" on his blog.

So for you my brothers and sisters in the Lord, I echo the prayer of the Apostle Paul and pray that you be strengthened in the Spirit this week to walk close to Jesus in obedience to the Father and that you been keenly aware both of your own natural weakness and of the infinite power of God available to be exercised on your behalf--the same great power that brought our Savior back from the grave.

I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms. Eph. 1:18-20

Updates

Posted Sat, 2006-11-04 11:09

Well, for both of you out there following my posts, here are some updates to catch things up to speed (in the random order that they occur to me):

  • My ankle is doing much better, and while the foot is still swollen, I can tie my shoe and walk normally again. Running is still a bit painful, but fortunately I don't need to run!
  • The facelift of the site is nice, but I'm wondering if anyone actually checks by here much. If it disappeared, would you miss it? Reminds me of Abraham's conversation with God to save Sodom and Gomorrah.... How many readers are necessary to keep from destroying it? 50? 45? 10? 1? Help me out here: What can be done to improve it?
    • More posts?
    • Fewer posts?
    • Thematic posts instead of "personal news" posts?
    • More encouraging posts?
    • More interactivity?
  • I've committed to handling sound at church three out of four Saturdays. The worship leader would probably like it if he had sound at Thursday night rehearsals, too.
  • It seems things are really, really, totally over with Catia. She got upset with me for simply updating the link to her new blog after she moved it, at which point I "figured out" that she would really, seriously rather that I just disappeared from the earth, at least in relation to her. I have been struggling between two extremes: feeling defective and pridefully being angry that she can't see the "truth" of wonderful me. As the Good Book says, "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?" I do hope that someday there can be some level of restoration, but in all honesty I doubt it will ever happen. I'm sure this isn't the ending that God would have liked for the story, but that's the sad reality of the way things work. (If you missed the drama, there are hints in the posts and comments since last March or so, especially here and here, but to really know, you'll have to ask me.)
  • My nephew Elijah is growing well and makes all kinds of happy faces and fun baby squeels. If you haven't been following the photos and even video on Sarah's gallery, you should be! I'll see them next during a brief overlap of time when we'll all be visiting in Iowa after Christmas.
  • I'm really hoping to be able to make a trip to Turkey or Portugal or both next year. I have some ideas about how that could work out, but with limited vacation time, I'm not sure yet what is going to be possible. Last weekend I had time to call my good friend Mehmet Taha in Istanbul and I hope soon to be able to talk to my other good Turkish friend Liyakat. I miss them both and really hope I will be able to visit.

Thanks for putting up with a long and random post! Sometimes I think I post more as a therapeutic exercise than to actually communicate. (I suspect that to be true of many personal blogs....)