For All Who Would Use Their Minds And Hearts

Every once in a while, within nature, I will come across something so breathtakingly simple and beautiful that I can only interpret it as a gift of grace from God the Father.  A brilliant red maple laying on the ground, burning like a flame among the other faded and fallen leaves.  A small ripple in a rocky stream, catching and flinging the sunlight every which way.  A solitary mockingbird joyfully singing in anticipation of the dawn in the darkness outside my window.  All of these things are little love notes from God the Father who, since the creation of the world, has generously splashed evidence of His "invisible qualities-- His eternal power and divine nature" across the world He has made (Romans 1:20). 

I can't, in good conscience, call myself a conservationalist of any sort, but I do long for other people to see and experience the majesty, power, and loving care of the Creator evident in creation.  I want the love notes to remain uncluttered with crushed beer cans and candy bar wrappers.  I want there to be someplace, somewhere, where I can still hear the "rivers clap their hands and the mountains sing together for joy to the Lord" (Psalm 98:8) without the clatter of car engines.

I think Horace M. Albright, the first director of the National Park Service, would agree-- here's a snippet of his eloquent farewell letter that resonates with me: 

"Oppose with all your strength and power all proposals to penetrate your wilderness regions with motorways and other symbols of modern mechanization.  Keep large sections of primitive country free from the influence of destructive civilization.  Keep these bits of primitive America for those who seek peace and rest in the silent places; keep them for the hardy climbers of the crags and peaks; keep them for the horseman and the pack train; keep them for the scientist and the student of nature; keep them for all who would use their minds and hearts to know what God has created.  Remember, once opened, they can never be wholly restored to primeval charm and grandeur."

Recommended and Free

From time to time, when I find something that encourages or challenges me, I'll try to make it a point to pass it on in this blog, with the hope that it encourages or challenges you, as well.  Today's recommendation comes with the added bonus of being absolutely free.
I downloaded Josh Garrel's album, Love & War & the Sea In Between several months ago, and few days have gone by that I have not listened to some snippet of it.  It is both musically and lyrically deep.
Garrells finds some fresh analogies for the Christian life, ranging from the haunting image of a white owl floating through a dark wood guided by instinct, or the shipwrecked sailor Ulysses bravely manning his faltering vessel through storms and reefs on his way home to his true love.  The song "Resistance" recognizes the difficulty and the importance of standing for Christ in a world that denies Him, while "Revelator" worshipfully recounts the powerful picture of Christ in the book of Revelation.  Garrels slips comfortably in and out of folk, rock, and hip-hop stylings, forging songs that are beautiful within each genre.  My guess is that you'll be encouraged by the album and enjoy it thoroughly-- but even if you don't, you're not out any money!
You can download it for free here:
www.noisetrade.com/joshgarrels

Long John Silver's: A Cautionary Tale

I’ve noticed a trend in my life.  Every six months or so, I happen to be driving by a Long John Silver’s fast food restaurant, and I think to myself, “Hey, fried fish sounds good.”  Immediately, an epic battle begins in my mind.  The rational part of my brain kicks in and says, “Josh, eating fried fish from a fast food restaurant never ends well--it never tastes as good as you think it will, and within minutes of your last bite, you inevitably develop a nausea that will long outlast any pleasure you get from eating it.”  I know this is true, but the physical appetite part of me, counters with, “but think of the beauty of all that grease, think of how quickly and smoothly it slides down your gullet, think of the immediate satisfaction you will receive.”

So I get it.  I pull through the drive-through and order a combo meal:  one piece of fish, one piece of chicken some fries, two hush, puppies, and, of course, some fried batter crispies.  The fish and the chicken are somehow indistinguishable from each other in both taste and texture, the hush puppies and French fries are over-fried and taste stale.  I burn through several napkins wiping grease off my fingers between bites, and by the end, I can’t even touch the batter crispies for fear that I will vomit.  The nausea has set in and will stay with me for the rest of the night.

I think of Paul, in Romans chapter 7: “ I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.  For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep doing.”

Maybe someday, I’ll learn that the part of me that demands immediate gratification is a habitual liar.  The things it promises are never delivered, and the consequences of obeying it are always unpleasant.  Score one for the Bible.  It turns out again that the Word of God holds true when it speaks about these things.  Perhaps I won’t be so easily deceived next time.  Hey, look!—a Long John Silver’s restaurant!  That actually sounds pretty good . . .

Puddleglum

My daughters and I just finished reading through The Silver Chair, the fourth installment of C.S. Lewis' celebrated Chronicles of Narnia.  This is the second time we have read through the series as a family, and the eighth or ninth time I have read through the series as an individual.  There are still paragraphs that cause me to blink back my tears and force me to steady my voice because of their beauty and truth.

As a child, I was introduced in a very real way to the love and power of God as I entered the land of Narnia in my imagination and met its lion-king, Aslan.  I was profoundly impacted by the truths I read and a seed of faith was planted in me at an early age through the Chronicles.  Now, I get to watch my own children with their wide-eyed wonder as chapter by chapter we explore Narnia.  I get to see the same seed of faith taking root in them, and I pray that by knowing the fictional character of Aslan in their imagination, they might better know the true person of Christ in reality.

One of my daughter's favorite Narnian characters is the hilariously pessimistic Marsh-Wiggle (a lanky froggish creature of Lewis' invention) named Puddleglum that we meet in The Silver Chair.  Although he takes an overly serious view of life, Puddleglum is often the clearest voice of reason and faith to his traveling companions, and it is he that ultimately saves their party from one of its gravest dangers.  When they become trapped in a dismal underground kingdom ruled by a diabolical witch, the Narnians are nearly convinced by the witch's clever arguments.  With logic that mirrors that of many cynics and critics of Christianity, she proposes that the dark claustrophobic cavern they are now in is the only true reality-- that everything else is simply wishful thinking.  There is no sun, no wind, no Aslan ruling over Narnia-- all of these things are merely the products of their childish imaginations.  It is Puddleglum who finally breaks the spell by saying, "If what you are saying is right, then we are just four babies playing games.  But isn't is strange that four babies can make up a play world that licks your real world hollow.  So I am going to stick by my play world.  I'm on Aslan's side even if there isn't any Aslan to lead it.  I'm going to live like a Narnian even if there isn't such a place as Narnia."

Amen, Puddleglum.  Me too.

The Telegraph of Narcissus

In 2009, there was a brief hubbub about NBA player Shaquille O'Neal using the popular social media platform Twitter to "tweet" updates on himself during half-time.  Fans loved it, but his coach feared it would steal his focus on the game.  During the ensuing debates, one commentator called electronic media such as Twitter, Facebook, and Blogger the "Telegraph of Narcissus" indicating that these forms of communication betray a gross sense of self-obsession among those who use them.  I made a mental note of the commentator's term because I wholeheartedly agreed with him at the time.  That was nearly two years ago.  Today, before logging onto this Blogger page, I checked both my Facebook and Twitter account.  The times, they are a changin'.

In Philippians 2:3, Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit encourages us to "do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves."  In other words, as the people of God, we are not to be self-focused, but humble, allowing the needs of others to be served and promoted before our own.  Paul goes on to show how Jesus Christ himself lived this way and set the bar high for us, his followers.

This gave me some pause in my sudden interest in using social media.  Was I giving into "vain conceit"?  Was I subscribing to the "telegraph of Narcissus" that I had so vehemently criticized formerly.  Was I completely overthinking the whole thing?  Is there a good chance that not a single person in the world would even care what conclusion I came to on the matter?  (I'm sure the answer is yes, to the last two questions, at least).

After thinking through it, I found, in my own situation, several reasons to use social media (this blog in particular)

1.  It is an opportunity to "become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some." (I Corinthians 9:22).  If there is a chance that someone might get a glimpse of Christ and the gospel of grace through a blog or a tweet or a facebook post, then it is worth making the effort.  There are countless people in the world who would not come to Centerpoint Community Church and hear Bible teaching, but they just might skim a blog out of curiosity.

2.  It is an opportunity for me to grow in my gifts and so serve others better.  I beleive that I have been given the role of being a teacher in the Body of Christ.  The ability to faithfully and effectively communicate the deep truths of God's Word has been graciously given to me by the Holy Spirit who gives each beleiver their own wonderful role or gift for the purpose of building up the Church.  I beleive that while the gift is supernatural and given by grace alone, that we have the opportunity to "fan into flame" the gifts that God gives us by using and practicing them (2 Timothy 1:6).  I can practice being a better communicator of truth by honing my written communication skills here.  My prayer is that this will result ultimately in more people understanding God's Word.

3.  It is an opportunity for me to get to know other people better by opening myself up a little.  I pray that those who know me a little would be able to see my heart (and see Christ there in my heart) and so know me a little better as I share thoughts and news, and bits of random and useless trivia.  And I pray that those who do not know me might see Christ in me, somehow, and be drawn to Him through something that is blogged or tweeted or posted on facebook. 

I hope I have not bored you entirely with this introductory blog.  If nothing else, I hope it was slightly more thoughtful than Shaq's controversial half-time tweet, which (if you care to know) was "shhhhhh."
Signing off of the Telegraph of Narcissus,
-Pastor Josh