G.K. Chesterton Quotes

For my monthly spiritual retreat last Friday, I decided to take along G.K. Chesterton's book Orthodoxy. I had received it in a one of the Relevant Network kits several months ago (perhaps even a couple of years ago), and decided to make it my companion for the day, along with my Bible and another book written by a friend from my church.

After enjoying several chapters in the book of John, I read more of my friend's book than I intended, so I did not get through Orthodoxy as I had planned. Orthodoxy is a small book, so I thought I could get through it in one day. But then I realized Chesterton wrote this book in 1908, so the language might force me to read slower and more carefully in comprehending Chesterton's points. While that assessment has been correct, I've been amazed at how much I've not only understood, but remembered afterwards. I've found myself laughing at Chesterton's wit, and amazed at his nimble mind. (His body was not as nimble as a 300-400 pound man!)

I've thought several times as I've read "I need to share that!" so here is a collection of some quotes from Orthodoxy:

Concerning the writing of his "philosophy"...
"I will not call it my philosophy; for I did not make it. God and humanity made it; and it made me."

On trying to be original in his own philosophy and theology...
"I did, like all other solemn little boys, try to be in advance of the age. Like them I tried to be some ten minutes in advance of the truth. And I found that I was eighteen hundred years behind it."

"I did try to found a heresy of my own; and when I had put the last touches to it, I discovered that it was orthodoxy."

Concerning beauty and appreciation...
"Oscar Wilde said that sunsets were not valued because we could not pay for sunsets. But Oscar Wilde was wrong; we can pay for sunsets. We can pay for them by not being Oscar Wilde."

Out of a strain of thought on pessimism and optimism...
"About the same time, I read a solemn flippancy by some free thinker [atheist]: he said that a suicide was only the same as a martyr. The open fallacy of this helped to clear the question. Obviously a suicide is the opposite of a martyr. A martyr is a man who cares so much for something outside him, that he forgets his own personal life. A suicide is a man who cares so little for anything outside him, that he wants to see the last of everything. One wants something to begin: the other wants everything to end."

On why Christianity is better suited to aid the world's ills than science or Socialism...
"Christianity, even when watered down, is hot enough to boil all modern society to rags."

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Perhaps I'll have more Chesterton quotes to share before I finish the book (and I probably missed several other really good ones - which is why I should probably learn to underline and highlight books...), but I wanted to at least share these before I forgot.

Playing Catch Up

I've had lots of blog post ideas the past couple of weeks, but haven't carved out the time to sit at my computer and pound them out on my MacBook Pro's keyboard. So here are some random snippets from my mind to share my thoughts and catch my 3 readers up on my life:

• Saw Cloverfield. LOVED it way more than I expected.
• I'm loving the 30-Day Challenge so far!
• I still like snow, but I'm sick of shoveling. I'm allowing God to teach me how to find joy in the monotonously bleached landscape all around and the pain that it brings to my back. I've decided that this winter is going to make me enjoy spring and summer more than ever!
  
• I'm tempted to start a PayPal account to accept donations for a snowblower.
• I'm learning about relativity. We've had probably 50-60 inches of snow this year (don't know the official total). My friend, Leo in Michigan, said on Sunday that they've had over 100 inches of snow so far.
• Relativity #2. My back hurts from shoveling. And yet my pain pales in comparison to the pain many people are feeling in the country of Chad and Northern Illinois.
• I've been out of touch. I didn't learn about the Northern Illinois tragedy until yesterday. Nor did I know about the hubbub over one of Barack's speeches. I have since turned my "scrolling news" screensaver back on.
• I'm still passionately in love with my wife, so I thoroughly enjoyed spoiling her for Valentine's. It's amazing how you can wow someone with a little creativity and little money.
• I don't like talking about budgets - whether home or church. But they are very, very necessary, so I grin and bear it.
• I need to start on Issue 2 of the new young adult newsletter The Connection.
• I'm reading Stripped right now. It's a quick read, and great to see God's grace lived out in the lives of some real humans who've tasted the worst side of life.
• My youngest son, T, is entering a really fun stage of life. Monday night I had him trying to do karate chops and kicks, complete with verbal sound effects.
• I also love the sound of laughter, especially when it comes from my kids.
• And now I'm late for a meeting. Gotta go!
  

Leaving Teeth Marks in the Czech Republic

Long time no blog...

I've been itching to put some of my thoughts into this form of communication to help myself process all that took place during my time in the Czech Republic, and as a way to share what happened at the English Camp with some of you I might not get to talk with otherwise. So to begin, let me start in an unconventional way by talking about the book I took with me.

I knew we had some long stretches of travel, both by plane and train, to reach Hotel Malenovice, the location of the English/Business Camp. Being a bookworm who doesn't get to read as much as he wants, I wanted to take along a good book as a travel companion. I perused the stacks of unread volumes in my office. I knew I needed to pack light, so one book would have to do, but I needed something with some girth to last me the whole trip. I also decided I didn't want something too mentally challenging for travel, not knowing what state I would be in towards the end of the trip (I planned to get very little to no sleep to adjust faster to a different time zone), so something on the lighter side seemed more appropriate for my backpack. Then I saw it - after sitting on my desk for over two years (or was it three?), it was finally time to crack open flashBang by Mark Steele.

I have read articles by Mark before, and I find him to be absolutely hilarious. So I truly looked forward to reading a whole entire tome penned by him. And I was not disappointed. The book had me laughing to the point of tears at places (my teammates had almost as much fun laughing at my laughing...), which opened me up to the deeper points Mark was making. The subtitle of the book is "how i got over myself" and I enjoyed reading Mark's journey from showman for God to child of God. I would find much pleasure in handing this book out to many of the young adults I get to work with because I know they would enjoy the book and learn through it as I did.

But one of the chapter titles did not sit well with me. Each chapter title was intentionally a bit of a paradox, much like the book title itself. Chapter titles such as "slapHAPPY" or "dumbSHOW" didn't make sense until you read the chapter. But even after reading Chapter 2, I didn't like the title "teethMARKS".

Mark talked about how many of us think that love kisses. But Mark argued that true love leaves teethmarks. A kiss only flatters, but doesn't last. Teethmarks, on the other hand, leave an impression that stays with the person. Having a teething 10 month old son, I would argue from personal experience that teethmarks just hurt. :o)

So we arrived in the Czech Republic, enjoyed a day in Prague taking in the amazing sites, travelled by train out east the next day, and made it to the hotel. After a day of preparing for the arrival of the students, camp got started on a Sunday with English testing and getting to know names. I was so amazed how on Sunday these people were just faces with a name, but by Friday these people were friends we hugged goodbye. Here are some of the highlights of the week for me:

• My English class (pictured at the right). We laughed SOOO hard all week long. Man, did we have fun! They were such a great group to work with. I wrote in my journal to LeAnn that this group could take the worst of lesson plans and make the teacher seem like a genius. They had such a desire to learn, they had the most amazing attitudes, and they loved every moment we had together. It was such an honor to me that God would place me with that group. So Lumir, Tadek, Monika, Simona, Basia, Petr, Adam, and Roman - if any of you are reading this: thank you for letting me be your teacher for the week. You helped dispel every fear I had of teaching such high level English students and made it the most fun I've had in a while. And a special thank you to Adam for letting me be his English apprentice (sorry, inside joke there...)
• The change in my English Reading/Conversation Group. While I had fairly fluent English speakers in my 9:00-11:30 am English Grammar class, I had a new-to-English conversation group. It was fun watching and hearing their English improve all week long. But the bigger highlight to me was watching a group of mostly athiests or agnostics have little interest in our reading time on Monday (we would read a section of the Gospels in English each Reading time and answer questions about it to work on reading skills, comprehension, and conversation in English) have tons of interest and honest questions on Thursday and Friday.

There are of course many other highlights, stories, and pictures to share. But let me skip to our debriefing on the Saturday after camp.

After a good breakfast and a few last goodbyes, our team gathered for a time of worship, prayer, reflection, and debriefing about the camp. As our team talked together and shared our experiences, I realized that through our love of our students, time with the campers, and just being ourselves, we had made an impact on the campers and they on us. It wasn't just a kiss that was nice in the moment and faded after the camp ended. We truly had left an impression on the campers - or to use Mark Steele's phrase, teethmarks. Guess I like Mark's chapter title after all...

The Habits and Joy of Holiness

I've been wanting to post this quote for over a week now, but am finally making time to do it...

"[A] definition of habit is 'a behavior pattern aquired by frequent repetition.' This is the principle underlying the fact that the more we sin the more we are inclined to sin. But the converse is also true. The more we say no to sin, the more we are inclined to say no."

(From Chapter 14 "Habits of Holiness" pp. 181-182 in the 25th Anniversary edition of The Pursuit of Holiness by Jerry Bridges, copyright 1978, 1996, 2003)

And then today I read this one in the final chapter...

"Jesus said, 'If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my FAther's commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete' (John 15:10-11). In this statement Jesus links obedience and joy in a cause and effect manner; that is, joy results from obedience. only those who are obedient - who are pursuing holiness as a way of life - will know the joy that comes from God."

(From Chapter 17 "The Joy of Holiness" pp. 207-208 in the 25th Anniversary edition of The Pursuit of Holiness by Jerry Bridges, copyright 1978, 1996, 2003)

Holy Bodies...

Read this hard-hitting "2x4" a couple days ago. Once again it is from Jerry Bridges, this time with help from Michel Quoist and Susannah Wesley...

Our physical bodies and natural appetites were created by God and are not sinful in themselves. Nevertheless, if left uncontrolled, we will find our bodies becoming "instruments of wickedness" rather than "instruments of righteousness" (Romans 6:13). We will be pursuing the "cravings of sinful man" (1 John 2:16) instead of holiness. If we watch ourselves closely, we can see how often we eat and drink just to gratify physical desire; how often we lie in bed in the morning simply because we don't "feel" like getting up when we should; how often we give in to immoral looks and thoughts simply to satisfy the sin-tainted sex drive within us.

Michel Quoist, in his book The Christian Response, says, "If your body makes all the decisions and gives all the orders, and if you obey, the physical can effectively destroy every other dimension of your personality. Your emotional life will be blunted and your spiritual life will be stifled and ultimately will become anemic." Over 200 years ago Susanna Wesley wrote, "Whatever increases the strength and authority of your body over your mind - that thing is sin to you."

How to Know Right from Wrong

Another gem from Jerry Bridges...

Years ago a friend gave me what he called his "Formula: How to Know Right from Wrong." The formula asks four questions based on three verses in 1 Corinthians:

• "'Everything is permissible for me' - but not everything is beneficial" (1 Cor. 6:12). Question 1: Is it helpful - physically, spiritually, and mentally?
• "'Everything is permissible for me' - but I will not be mastered by anything" (1 Cor. 6:12). Question 2: Does it bring me under its power?
• "Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause him to fall" (1 Cor. 8:13). Question 3: Does it hurt others?
• "So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God" (1 Cor. 10:31). Question 4: Does it glorify God?

As simple as this formula may appear, it is powerful in developing conviction - if we are willing to use it. These questions can get rather searching. But they must be asked if we are to pursue holiness as a total way of life.

(from Ch. 9 "Putting Sin to Death" pp. 122-123 in the 25th Anniversary edition of The Pursuit of Holiness by Jerry Bridges copyright 1978, 1996, 2003)

Obedience, Not Victory

From Jerry Bridges again...

God wants us to walk in obedience - not victory. Obedience is oriented toward God; victory is oriented toward self. This may seem to be merely splitting hairs over semantics, but there is a subtle, self-centered attitude at the root of many of our difficulties with sin. Until we face this attitude and deal with it we will not consistently walk in holiness.

This is not to say God doesn't want us to experience victory, but rather to emphasize that victory is a byproduct of obedience. As we concentrate on living an obedient, holy life, we will certainly experience the joy of victory over sin.

(From pp. 22-23 in chapter 1 "Holiness Is For You" in the 25th Anniversary edition of The Pursuit of Holiness by Jerry Bridges, copyright 1978, 1996, 2003)

Farming Holiness

Jerry Bridges writes:

A farmer plows his field, sows the seed, and fertilizes and cultivates - all the while knowing that in the final analysis he is utterly dependent on forces outside of himself. He knows he cannot cause the seed to germinate, nor can he produce the rain and sunshine for growing and harvesting the crop. For a successful harvest, he is dependent on these things from God.

Yet the farmer knows that unless he diligently pursues his responsibilities to plow, plant, fertilize, and cultivate, he cannot expect a harvest at the end of the season. In a sense he is in a partnership with God, and he will reap its benefits only when he has fulfilled his own responsibilities.

Farming is a joint venture between God and the farmer. The farmer cannot do what God must do, and God will not do what the farmer should do.

We can say just as accurately that the pursuit of holiness is a joint venture between God and the Christian. No one can attain any degree of holiness without God working in his life, but just as surely no one will attain it without effort on his own part. God has made it possible for us to walk in holiness. But He has given to us the responsibility of doing the walking; He does not do that for us.

(from pp. 11-12 of the Preface to the 25th Anniversary Edition of The Pursuit of Holiness by Jerry Bridges, copyright 1978, 1996, 2003)

So many books, so little time...

About a year ago, a couple of area pastors came to talk with me about college ministry in Cedar Rapids. Upon entering my office, one of them commented that I needed more bookshelves. He was right - I have books piling up, many of which I know I will never get to. And it's gotten worse since he visited!

I just read a great article over at Church Relevance that said that a new book is published every 30 seconds. I LOVE books, but no matter how hard I try, at that rate I will never be able to read all of the ones I want.

The Church Relevance article gives some great advice on picking what to read as part of your "continuing education". It challenged me to consider more carefully what books I choose to give my time to.

And I encourage you to not be like 58% of the population that never read another book after high school graduation!

Tears and Confession...

I want to cry.

As I woke up to the radio this morning, I heard a news report that Ted Haggard, Sr. Pastor of New Life Church in Colorado Springs, CO and now-former president of the National Association of Evangelicals, was being accused of having a three-year homosexual affair. When I got to my office (after speaking at Isaac Newton Christian Academy's chapel), I headed to the Internet (before it was down for 5 hours today!) to learn more.

One of the first things I saw was an interview with Haggard. He denied knowing the guy, denied ever doing drugs, and claimed he was faithful to his wife. As I watched his eyes and body language, I truly believed he was telling the truth.

But now, just moments ago, I learned that he has admitted that "some of the accusations against him are true".

I am not going to make judgements about Ted or the accuser, Mike Jones, at this time. I've already seen too much of that in the few news articles I've seen so far. But if ANY of it is true, it makes me extremely sad. Sad that Ted would do what he knew was wrong. Sad that Ted lied to the media initially. Sad that Mike Jones chose to reveal this hoping to influence some ballots in Colorado.

But also sad because I know this could be me.

No, I've never had a homosexual affair. Heck, I've never even had a homosexual desire. And I've never had a heterosexual affair either.

But I have thought about a sexual tryst. I've looked too long at a woman on the street and wondered certain things. I know I've had all sorts of sinful thoughts and have been tempted in many ways many times. And if I'm not careful, I, too, could end up temporarily removed from my job while an investigation takes place.

This all comes on top of a book I just started yesterday. The book, Confessions of a Pastor, is gut-wrenchingly honest. I sat in my office earlier this morning with my Executive Pastor, Kim Pagel, looking through the chapter titles and realizing "Yep, I've thought that. Yep, I've struggled with that. Yep, that's me!"

As I read the first couple chapters during my reading time yesterday, I realized I HAVE to let certain people in (first and foremost my wife!) simply so I don't end up in a Ted Haggard situation. I love the Lord, my wife, my kids, my church, and my staff family too much to throw it all away for some momentary "fun" or "release". My pride wants so much to keep people out and maintain a certain persona, but God keeps telling me not to - I will eventually be found out if I try to hide the real me from those who matter most in my life. And besides, I'm not fooling Him a bit!

And so I want to cry. I want to cry tears of pain because of my own sin. I want to shed tears of sadness for Ted and Mike and New Life Church. And I want to release tears of joy that God is gently calling me to the painful-yet-freeing process of confession once again.

Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.
James 5:16a (NIV)

Starving Jesus

Watershed will be hosting the Starving Jesus "40 Days of Nothing" Tour on August 31st at our usual 7:30 pm time. To see the blog about the Cedar Rapids date, click here.

As I have started sharing this announcement with people, I have gotten a few questions. I think the Starving Jesus website can answer most of the questions I've gotten, but some have wondered how in the world Cedar Rapids, of all places, landed a stop on the tour.

First, it's probably because Craig Gross and J.R. Mahon, the guys who authored the book and will be speaking on the tour, are now living in Grand Rapids, MI, and "Grand Rapids" has two words and "Cedar Rapids" has two words and they both have the same second word, and the first word in both city names has 5 letters, 3 of which they hold in common, and this is one horribly long grammatically incorrect sentence, but I digress.

Naw, I doubt that the reason at all, but here's how it did happen.

I have known about the ministry of XXXChurch.com for some time now. I've referred guys struggling with porn-addictions or temptations to their free accountability software. When they put out a Mac version, I immediately downloaded it so I could tell these guys I'm counselling "yeah, my wife and best friend get my accountability emails" so that they would feel like someone else had led the way for them to place such a safety net in their lives. When I downloaded the Mac version, I selected to receive XXXChurch's free newsletter.

One month the newsletter talked about Craig Gross's new book (Craig is the co-founder of XXXChurch). The book was entitled "Starving Jesus". The title was slightly offensive, but I was used to that "line" being walked due to other things I've seen XXXChurch do to engage people in honest conversation about faith, Jesus, sexuality, masturbation, marriage, etc. To promote the book (or more importantly the message within the book), Craig and the co-author J.R. Mahon (a key staff member of XXXChurch) were going on a "40 Days of Nothing" Tour. One of the cities listed was Cedar Rapids.

I was curious, so I emailed to find out where in CR the event was going to be held. Craig emailed me back and said "could you host us?" After a couple of emails back and forth, we nailed down the August 31st date and made Craig and J.R. the official speakers for Watershed's Worship Gathering that night.

So that is the story of how "Starving Jesus" is coming to humble Cedar Rapids. I'm excited that the young adults from Watershed and other area ministries are going to be challenged in this way, and I'm praying for the Holy Spirit to speak to our hearts in an amazing way. I think the other questions you might have (like "Why the title "Starving Jesus?" "Why 40 Days of Nothing?" "Why is Jesus holding a mailbox post?") will be answered by the main Starving Jesus website (well, they probably won't answer the last question, but someone did just ask me that Thursday night when they saw the announcement for the first time).

Pieces of Glass

I found a surprise in my office today. A strange manila envelope was on my desk, clearly with something thicker than just a letter inside.

As I opened it up I was thrilled to find a copy of the soon-to-be released book "Pieces of Glass"! The story contained in its pages is that of my friend, Sarah Kay Ndjerareou. It is a heartbreaking story of the emotional pain Sarah went through as a result of a debilitating skiing accident her fiance suffered.

My wife and I were actually in Cedar Rapids candidating for the position I now hold when the news was shared with the church that Sarah's fiance was critically injured. I remember praying for this injured young man and his fiance whom I did not know.

Over time, I got to meet Sarah and I discovered she was a remarkable young woman. And then to my pleasant surprise, she married my good friend Nate a couple years later. And now she is a published author. Even though Sarah's life-story is still being written, I praise God that the splintered pieces of glass she saw from her life have been used to create a beautiful mosaic. I pray that the family of Sarah's former fiance are seeing some of the same work from God in their lives as well.

To get your own copy of "Pieces of Glass", pre-order it from Amazon or Zondervan. Or support your local Christian bookstore by getting the book after August 1st there.

Sarah has a blog with TONS of pictures of her daughter Sophia (and a couple with Nate as well!). Stop by and tell her "congrats" on the publication of her new book!

And to hear Sarah's story (as told to the Watershed crowd on May 26, 2005) click here. (This is the only place you'll find this link!)

A Polarizing Book (Velvet Elvis)

I finished reading Rob Bell's first book Velvet Elvis a couple days ago. I knew going into the book that it was very polarizing. A quick read through the reviews at Amazon reveals that people either loved or hated the book. (Most good books get that kind of reaction.) Like I said: polarizing.

Personal Polarization
But what I didn't expect was that I would be personally polarized. I can't remember another book that I've had a reaction to like this. I loved the book, and hated it at the same time.

There were times where I found myself thinking "I've thought that all along and have always been afraid to voice it!" and at other times thinking "but if you take Rob's idea further, it opens the door to many dangerous trains of thought". I thought his trampoline and brick wall analogies were brilliant, I found myself completely understanding the Epilogue since I experienced something kind of similar, I was uncomfortable about the discussion about Biblical Interpretation (but I don't want to admit that I think he's right)... as you can see, I'm internally polarized.

And to share yet another personal polarization: I think every Jesus follower should read this book, yet there are some people I don't want to read the book for fear of what their reactions might be (in both directions).

So should you read it? Yes. But don't say I didn't warn you. And don't let it polarize you against me. :o)

Are you a flashbang?

Just heard about a book entitled Flashbang. A flashbang, as the author (Mark Steele) puts it in a side column in the July/August edition of Relevant Magazine, is "a weapon used by our nation's military that is, in fact, not a weapon. It is a grenade that makes the sound of an explosion and creates a blast of light, but does not actually cause any destruction: the flashbang. It looks and sounds like a grenade, but leaves nothing behind."

He goes on to say, "Unfortunately, I used to live a flashbang life. Making a lot of noise and putting on quite a show without leaving any real permanent mark. [My book] is the story of how God changed me so that my faith leaves a stain."

What Kind of Bomb Are You?
I immediately had to make Mark's thought personal (and since you are reading this, I'll include you as well). Are we living "flashbang" lives? We say the right words and do the right things to complete the image we want people to see (mine being a good little Christian boy), but do we have the type of faith and character that when people come into contact with us, we will "leave a stain?"

I don't know about you, but I don't want to be a flashbang Christian. I want this faith that I have been given by God to be authentic, to be real, to be deep, to be genuine. I want to be a person of true character.

But how do we get there? How do we become the kind of follower of Jesus I am talking about? I have some ideas on what the journey should look like, but I don't want to spoil all your exploration fun by giving you a preprinted map warped with my opinions. I'm sure I'll leave a scattered cookie crumb trail throughout my blog, but for now, let me leave it here - "what should the path ahead towards deep faith and Christlike character look like so that we aren't just flashbangs?"

(P.S. The book Uprising I mentioned in my last post is a great place to search for answers to that question. ;o)