"One Thing Needful"

      May I never suppose I am in Christ unless I am a new creature, never think I am born of the Spirit unless I mind the things of the Spirit, never rest satisfied with professions of belief and outward forms and services, while my heart is not right with Thee.
     May I judge my sincerity in religion by my fear to offend Thee, my concern to know Thy will, my willingness to deny myself.
     May nothing render me forgetful of Thy glory, or turn me aside from Thy commands, or shake my confidence in Thy promises, or offend Thy children.
     Let not my temporal occupations injure my spiritual concerns, or the cares of life make me neglect the one thing needful.
     May I not be inattentive to the design of Thy dealings with me, or insensible under Thy rebukes, or immobile at Thy calls.
      May I learn the holy art of abiding in Thee, or being in the world and not of it, of making everything not only consistent with by conducive to my religion.

- "Sincerity" from Valley of Vision

This semester has been overwhelming.  Between RA responsibilities, working in the admissions department, singing in Evidence, serving in church, and being a full-time seminary student, somehow activities overtook life.  It was bad...I'll just leave it at that.

A number of things helped get life back into proper perspective, but one of them was hiding from campus life in a basement over Fall Break.  There was time to sleep, eat fruits and vegetables, sleep more, read some disappointingly limp fiction, sleep some more, and spend more time than usual in devotions.  The lines from Valley of Vision that were particularly meaningful were, "Let not my temporal occupations injure my spiritual concerns, or the cares of life make me neglect the one thing needful."

The semester had become so full of the "temporal occupations" of memorizing music, various prayer meetings late at night, rushing from meeting to meeting, and squeezing bits of Hebrew homework into cracks in the schedule, that the "one things needful" - resting in Christ's finished work on my behalf - had been pushed out of sight, and when that happens, it is only a matter of time before life falls apart.  

There's still a lot to do.  But I hope that I have learned  not to let "temporal occupations" crowd out the "one thing needful."

One thing have I asked of the Lord,
that will I seek after:

that I may dwell in the house of the Lord

    all the days of my life,

to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord

    and to inquire in His temple.

- Psalm 27:4

The Summer of Weddings

Labor Day indicates the end of the Summer of Weddings, at the beginning of which, I counted ten couples I knew who were getting married.  So here's a post to congratulation them and wish them God's blessings!

Rohn and Bekah

Bekah and I met in sixth grade at VBS, and Rohn and I got to know each other on a CEF missions trip to Boston after a year of having lots of mutual friends.  It's a pleasure to call them CBC neighbors, visit their apartment in Philly Hall, and offer small tips on fighting roaches.  If I do say so myself, my sister Bethany did an excellent job as bridesmaid/train-bearer!  It was a pleasure to play the piano for two such good friends.

Andrew and Renae

Renae and I work together - she taught me everything I know about recruiting students.  It's fun to see Andrew drop into the admissions department a bit more regularly than he used to - and it has nothing to do with registering for classes!  Their marriage ceremony was Christ-centered, highlighting the relationship between Christ and His Church.  My job was to keep the food table full stocked with crackers, cheese, and hummus.

Brent and Elizabeth

Elizabeth and I met at a piano recital in elementary school, and we've been friends since!  It was a pleasure to work with her as her wedding coordinator. The wedding was a lot of fun, from decorating tables for five hundred guests to laughing with the ushers at the back of the auditorium about unity candles.  God's work in Brent and Elizabeth's relationship was a joy to watch.  And, again, my sweet sister was an excellent bridesmaid/mirror-holder.

Alex and Kara

Alex and I attended college together in South Dakota, and after he transferred to Calvary, word came back that he had a girlfriend and she was wonderful.  Reports about Kara were not exaggerated!  Getting to know her through dorm life and church activities has been delightful.  Alex and Kara are very intentional about reaching out and caring for the people God has placed around them.  And since wedding pictures are still coming, here's the happy couple before they were married.

Graham and Jenna

 Graham and Jenna are both great friends from college in South Dakota.  Celebrating their marriage was a mixture of many happy bits, including great music at the ceremony, iced coffee at the reception in the park, a sermon-toast from Mr. G, and, certainly not least, a couple rejoicing in God's sovereign work in their lives.  The ceremony was happily documented by our great friend Clara.  The reception and subsequent after-party were so full of reunions of old friends that we didn't tear ourselves away until 2 in the morning!  FYI, being guest book attendant is one of the greatest jobs in a wedding!

"So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate." - Matthew 19:6

God Made Small Fish

Figaro, my male half-moon betta fish, has lived with me for the last six months.  Neither of these pictures are of him (he would not stay still), but he's virtually identical to both of these.  I am a rather bad fish owner - the whole point of getting a fish as opposed to some other pet was that he would be "low maintenance."  (Actually, there wasn't much option because fish are the only animals allowed in the dorm:)  This afternoon, I googled how I should take care of him and decided change his water more often.
 
Figaro does many interesting things.  As I write, he is playing in his bowl on my desk and has just folded himself in half in a U-shape upside down.  Sometimes, he buries his head in the glass beads at the bottom and stands upside down.  Sometimes, he twitches his fins convulsively and shoots across his bowl.  Often he's after a bit of food that has lodged at the bottom of the bowl.  When I put my finger on his bowl, he comes over and stairs at me, swishing his fins.  Sometimes, he puts his head straight down and dives.


Genesis 1:20-22 says, "And God said, 'Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life...'  And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly...And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas..."  When Figaro flits around his world busily fulfilling the tasks for which God created him, he reminds me of what a wonderful creator God is.  He made such an intricate little fish - a body that is so flexible he can fold himself in half, fins that are so filmy that you can see the tiniest ripple in them, scales that sheen iridescence turquoise or blue depending on the light.  

If you have ever wanted to know more about God's creativity, get a fish and spend time watching it.

In Celebration of Graduation!

Graduation was 2 months ago, so this blog post is overdue, but sufficient to say, I graduated with a Bachelors of Arts in Advanced Biblical Studies.  They actually gave me the paper and let me out without a heresy trial (!!!).  This post is for all my blogging friends (ahem, Liz and Leah:) who have this idea that blog posts must always be accompanied with pictures, which I fail at dreadfully.  However, my friends Clara and Melinda photographically documented the events, so there are plenty of pictures to share.  The celebrations began when Clara and Jemima, Jenna, and Liz visited the weekend before as a pre-graduation treat.  As you can see from the pictures, the dorm became a place of high entertainment...

The week consisted of frantically finishing up Greek exegeticals, learning Mail Merge for a random computer class, enjoying Voltron-Kara-Jenna-Joel-Paul-Liz-Celeste-Bekah-Clara chill time in the cafeteria, supper at Steak-and Shake, running around the Plaza at night, invading Barns and Noble, and consuming a significant amount of coffee.

Several days later, Melinda flew in and joined the group for many adventures, one of which consisted of a pilgrimage to a library.  The library trip had a number of sub-adventures, including the stone structure overlooking Hwy 670, the river, the train tracks, and the airport.  Another sub-adventures was a small theater inside a vault complete with red velvet curtains and a large round door.  Upon reaching the roof of the library, we finished off with a chess game with life-size chess pieces.  We attempted to take creepy stalker pictures on Melinda's camera while she was away, but she returned and we barely had time to look innocent...:)  On Sunday evening we escaped campus between tornado warnings to go eat Indian food.  If you have never experienced 20+ people all enjoying Indian food together, you should arrange to experience it.  Oh, and the food tastes better if you eat it with your fingers!

Graduation was a very exciting day in the life of Celeste Mamie Franklin...not like I had been working towards it for five years or anything.

The two female traditional BAs

Rebekah and her aunt also graduated.

 The time with Melinda wasn't long enough...

Free, happy graduates partying!

Most of the CBI peeps...all looking quite typical.  

The Lord was good, and graduation was just one more expression of that.  There were several times when I wasn't sure if I would get that little piece of paper, and I thank God often for the strength and wisdom He gave to complete the coursework.  SDG

More Philly Hall Adventures!

Since my last post about apartment life, several random things have happened, and it's high time for another series of snapshots.  All these tidbits have to do with appliances of various sorts and sizes.

1. The Stove.  I was sitting in a chair minding my own business after church one evening.  Lelia and Emily (my roommates) were moving stuff our to the car and had left the door open.  Suddenly, I looked up to find the manager of Philly Hall in my living room.  (This is not the usual place to find the Philly manager!)  He and his wife came the rest of the way into the house and informed us that our gas stove was leaking and we needed to move out of the apartment immediately.  (It was nearly eleven o'clock at night.)  They seemed quite concerned about us, called maintenance, and unlocked another apartment for us to move into.  Maintenance turned off all the gas to the stove, opened the windows, and told us that we could stay in the apartment providing that we aired it out.  One difficulty was that we had no way to cook food.  Fortunately, there were enough carrots and oatmeal in the house to sustain life...  The other difficulty was that in the scuffle, the folder with my Hebrew homework got lost and didn't turn up for a week.  It was hiding under a couch cushion...:)

2. The Air Conditioner.  Living on the second floor can be quite warm during the summertime.  Our apartment was short one air conditioner, and it was getting pretty miserable.  After chasing several rabbit trails that were supposed to lead to air conditioners, Lelia and I made a trek to the basement ourselves, braved potential spiders, selected the air conditioning unit closest to the door, and carried it up two flights of stairs to its new home.  Once safely in our apartment, we commenced the delicate task of inserting it into the window.  After several adjustments, the unit was finally fitted into the window, but, alas, the window would not seal properly.  So we kept trying, filling our heads with grand illusions of our home improvement skills.  Finally, the great moment came: we turned the unit on.  And nothing happened.  So we pushed some buttons.  And nothing happened.  So we turned some knobs.  And still nothing happened.  So Lelia cleaned the filter.  We did eventually get air conditioning, but not until our friends Phil and Paul dismantled the unit, pronounced it dead (maybe that's why it had been sitting closest to the door), and brought us a new one from the basement.  Now, the apartment is a cool retreat from the warm outdoors (when I remember to turn it on when I leave for work).

3.  The Stereo.  The stereo system that I'm babysitting for Isaac over the summer has suddenly decided to play the radio instead of whatever music is on my computer.  I decided not to fight with it...

This post may seem a bit dismal, but cheer up!  The one thing I have been successful at is washing the large pile of dishes in the sink!

Want Something to Read?

Ever summer I set goals of books I want to read...and every summer I fail (!).  Not that I don't read anything during the summer, but my reading seems to be lighter; the brain is a bit fried after nine months of classes.  Last summer, the goal was Mortification of Sin, and then the entire summer was spent pulling weeds for the City of Hutchinson.  This summer's project is Life Together by Bonhoeffer, and the entire summer will probably be spent memorizing vocabulary lists.  (Actually, this summer's project was supposed to be Ladd's New Testament Theology, but that was a bit ambitions for a student attempting to learn Hebrew in ten weeks:)  


Since none of these lovely books are likely get read this summer, I am concentrating on finishing one of my favorite devotionals, The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prays and Devotions.  Returning to it this summer has been a great joy!  The authors seem to be able to express my own desires better than I can, and their honest, God-centered view of life is both refreshing and challenging.  If you are interested in something to add to your devotions this summer, you can find it at at http://www.amazon.com or http://www.monergismbooks.com/.


Here is several selections from a prayer that was a blessing to me recently.

Quicken me to call upon Thy name, for my mind is ignorant, my thoughts vagrant, my affections earthly, my heart unbelieving, and only Thy Spirit can help my infirmities.

I approach Thee as Father and Friend, my portion forever, my exceeding joy, my strength of heart.

I believe in Thee as the God of nature, the ordainer of providence, the sender of Jesus my Savior....

May the truth that is in Him illuminate in me all that is dark, establish in me all that is wavering, comfort me in all that is wretched, accomplish in me all that is of Thy goodness, and glorify in me the name of Jesus....

Teach me that Christ cannot be the way if I am the end, that He cannot be Redeemer if I am my own savior, that there can be no true union with Him while the creature has my heart, that faith accepts Him as Redeemer and Lord or not at all.

Philly Hall Adventures!

This summer, I'm sticking around here at school and working in the admissions department and starting seminary classes.  Since students can't stay in the dorm during the summer, I am experiencing independent life in an apartment on campus.  Here are some of the adventures that have filled this last week.

1. Getting all my stuff out of my dorm room, down the hall, down three stories, into the car, across campus, into Philadelphia Hall, up a flight of stairs, into the apartment, and (this part is still in process) into proper places.  Much more difficult than expected…J  Moving Figaro (my fish) was probably the most difficult part.  His was in his little plastic container inside his empty fish bowl, and his ride was rather jostling.  Twice he had a very bad scare, but he seems to have recovered and is devouring all of the fish food I drop into his bowl.

2. Learning to use the gas stove.  After some last minute “the-cafeteria-is-closing-tomorrow!” grocery shopping, I came home with enough vegetables and dairy products to sustain life until I could do proper grocery shopping.  The first evening, after shredding potatoes and carrots, adding ranch, adding an assortment of spices, and dumping the whole concoction into a skillet to cook until tender, I discovered I had never worked a gas stove before.  Fortunately, a helpful neighbor had shared her mad skills…

3. Making the queen size bed here is much more difficult than the twin I’ve slept in all my life.  You have to get up on the bed to smooth the sheets in the corner by the wall and that rumples the sheets on other parts of the mattress, and the process is, well, complicated.

4. Watching the family of Canada geese.  The parental geese keep a close watch over their four waggling, waddling goslings.

5. Supper time is very quiet.  So quiet, in fact, that I can hear myself chewing (that’s probably more detail than you wantedJ).  It doesn’t take long to eat or clean up the meal.  It takes a bit longer to prepare the food.  My window faces the road, so I entertain myself by watching the cars while eating.

6. Listening to R. C. Sproul while cleaning is a happy habit to make.  This past week, he was speaking on about important men in church history.

“To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven:” – Ecclesiastes 3:1

(Not) Understanding Theology

Do you remember times when you studied a Biblical passage and didn’t understand it?  Struggling to know what a passage means until you have a headache (usually above the right eye…).  Flipping through your Bible (or clicking through a computer program) to find cross-references that might clarify the passage.  And then, suddenly, it clicks.  Eureka!  Aha!  (Or whatever exclamation you use to designate a moment of discovery.)  Don’t you love those moments?

Over Easter this year, I noticed a verse from John that described an Aha! moment the disciples had:

“His disciples did not understand these things at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written about Him and that they had done these things to Him” (John 12:16).

Jesus was riding into Jerusalem on a donkey in the Triumphal Entry.  The crowds were waving palm branches and calling out, “Hosanna! ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!’ The King of Israel!”  Jesus was fulfilling the prophecy of Zechariah 9:9 that said, “Fear not, daughter of Zion; Behold, your King is coming, Sitting on a donkey’s colt.”  The disciples were seeing these things, and John notes that they didn’t understand what was happening until after Christ was glorified. 

Can you imagine what their Aha! moment must have been like?  Can you imagine witnessing Christ’s teaching and works, not understanding why Christ died (wasn’t He going to set up a physical kingdom and bring in a Jewish golden age?), and then have Christ’s work click in your mind?  Suddenly, Christ’s mission on earth makes sense!

Of course, I don’t understand everything Christ did in His earthly ministry.  His fulfillment of prophecy, His future role, and how all these things fit together theologically doesn’t make sense in my finite mind.  Trying to explain the infinite God and His plan into a finite theology to be understood by me is a hopeless task.  God is not obligated to explain Himself or His plan to me.  So, ultimately, my responsibility is to study very hard to understand what He has revealed about His plan, obey what I am commanded, and trust that in God’s mind His plan is consistent.

“The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law” (Deuteronomy 29:29).

Theology as Useful Knowledge

While researching for an upcoming project, this quote reminded me of the purpose of studying God's plan: practical love for the God we study. We do not truly know God until we love and obey Him.

"God's self-revelation to us was not made for a primarily intellectual purpose. It is not to be overlooked, of course, that the truly pious mind may through an intellectual contemplation of the divine perfections glorify God. This would be just as truly religious as the intensest occupation of the will in the service of God. But it would not be the full-orbed religion at which, as a whole, revelation aims. It is true, the Gospel teaches that to know God is life eternal. But the concept of 'knowledge' here is not to be understood in its Helenic sense, but in the Shemitic sense. According to the former, 'to know' means to mirror the reality of a thing in one's consciousness. The Shemitic and Biblical idea is to have the reality of something practically interwoven with the inner experience of life. Hence 'to know' can stand in the Biblical idiom for 'to love', 'to single out in love'. Because God desires to be known after this fashion, He has caused His revelation to take place in the milieu of the historical life of a people. The circle of revelation is not a school, but a 'covenant'. To speak of revelation as an 'education' of humanity is a rationalistic and utterly un-scriptural way of speaking. All that God disclosed of Himself has come in response to the practical religious needs of His people as these emerged in the course of history" [emphasis added].

-Geerhardus Vos, Biblical Theology, 8

Holy Week, Pt. 1

Maundy Thursday commemorates the example of servanthood Jesus demonstrated by washing His disciples feet. As the first of the Holy Week celebrations, it reminds us of the purpose of Christ’s coming into the world:

“For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:45)

Here is the account, devotionally paraphrased by Phillips:

Jesus, with the full knowledge that the Father had put everything into his hands and that he had come from God and was going to God, rose from the supper-table, took off his outer clothes, picked up a towel and fastened it round his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to dry them with the towel around his waist. So he came to Simon Peter, who said to him, "Lord, are you going to wash my feet?" "You do not realise now what I am doing," replied Jesus, "but later on you will understand." Then Peter said to him, "You must never wash my feet!" "Unless you let me wash you, Peter," replied Jesus, "you cannot be my true partner." "Then Lord," returned Simon Peter, "please—not just my feet but my hands and my face as well!" "The man who has bathed," returned Jesus, "only needs to wash his feet to be clean all over. And you are clean—though not all of you." (For Jesus knew his betrayer and that is why he said, "though not all of you".) When Jesus had washed their feet and put on his clothes, he sat down again and spoke to them, "Do you realise what I have just done to you? You call me ‘teacher’ and ‘Lord’ and you are quite right, for I am your teacher and your Lord. But if I, your teacher and Lord, have washed your feet, you must be ready to wash one another’s feet. I have given you this as an example so that you may do as I have done. Believe me, the servant is not greater than his master and the messenger is not greater than the man who sent him. Once you have realised these things, you will find your happiness in doing them.

-John 13:3-17

Transplanting

Over spring break, mom and I transplanted tomato plants. Earlier in the spring, mom planted them in baking pans and grew them under a fluorescent light in the cellar. In about a month, it’s time to transplant them from the baking pans to their own little Highland milk pints where they will live until they are big enough to go into the garden in the backyard. This year there were only 23 to transplant – one spring, we raised nearly 200.

Baby tomato plants. These stringy plants wouldn't last long in the Kansas wind, would they?

Transplanting is not a happy time in the life of a tomato plant. You cut up its root system with the sharp spoon you use to dig it out of its baking pan environment and drop it into a paper pint, adding more soil. If you don’t water it within several minutes, the plant wilts because it is stressed.

However, transplanting gives tomato plants more earth for their roots to expand in and strengthens them. Sometimes, tomato plants are transplanted three or four times before going outside so they will be strong enough to withstand the Kansas wind.

Baby tomato plants living inside milk pints.

The reason the plants’ roots were torn up in the transplanting process was so they could eventually go outside and produce tomatoes. When it seems like our roots are being cut out of the comfortable soil around us, it is because God is transplanting us into a place where we can become stronger and bear more fruit for Him.

Bonhoeffer on the Psalms

Today, I began researching for my paper on Dietrich Bonhoeffer's view of Christ. While looking through one of his books, this chapter on the importance of personal and corporate use of the Psalms challenged me.

"Congregational Worship and the Psalms"
from Psalms: the Prayer Book of the Bible

In many churches the Psalms are read or sung every Sunday, or even daily, in succession. These churches have preserved a priceless treasure, for only with daily use does one appropriate this divine prayer book. When read only occasionally, these prayers are too overwhelming in design and power and tend to

turn us back to more palatable fare. But whoever has begun to pray the Psalter seriously and regularly will soon give a vacation to oth er little devotional prayers and say:"Ah, there is not the juice, the strength, the passion, the fire which I find in the Psalter. It tastes too cold and too hard" (Luther).

Therefore, wherever we no longer pray the Psalms in our churches, we must take up the Psalter that much more in our daily morning and evening prayers, reading and praying together at least several Psalms every day so that we succeed in reading through this book a number of times each year, getting into it deeper and deeper. We also ought not to select Psalms at our own discretion, thinking that we know better what we ought to pray than does God himself. To do that is to dishonor the prayer-book of the Bible. In the ancient church it was not unusual to memorize "the entire David." In one of the eastern churches this was a prerequisite for the pastoral office. The church father St. Jerome says that one heard the Psalms being sung in the fields and gardens in his time. The Psalter impregnated the life of early Christianity. Yet more important than all of this is the fact that Jesus died with the words of the Psalter on his lips.

Whenever the Psalter is abandoned, and incomparable treasure vanishes from the Christian church. With its recovery will come unsuspected power.

Personal Devotions

Personal devotions are foundational to a walk with God that changes our lives.

As Bible college students, it's easy to get spiritual nourishment from classes, chapel, church, Sunday School, or small group studies. However, not even the Church can substitute for studying God's Word and knowing God through personal devotions. Sadly, in 2000, Gallup released a study that reported that out of the Christians they polled, only 16% said they read their Bible every day.*

If my personal devotions were my only source of spiritual food, how hungry would I be?

The following clip was both helpful and challenging to me. It gives practical suggestions for Bible school students on personal devotions. Technically, the speaker is applying the message to seminary students, but the same principles work for Bible college students:) Featuring D. A. Carson, it is from the Desiring God blog, January 16, 2012. I hope it is a blessing!

Read the Bible Devotionally — and No Less Critically from Desiring God on Vimeo.

* Gallup, Alec and Wendy W. Simmons, "Six in Ten Americans Read Bible at Least Occasionally," The Gallup Organization, http://www.gallup.com, October 20, 2000.

Of Pianos and Pastries

On Friday evening Bekah, Arely, Un Joo, and I attended a piano recital. After waiting in a line outside the theater in the winter wind, we wound our way through the crowds gathered around the coffee bar and the ushers up to the balcony. (Un Joo isn't in the picture because she took the picture for us after all our attempts at self-portraits failed.)

We enjoying music of Beethoven's 26th Piano Sonata, Brahms 16 Waltzes, 2 Chopin ballades, Schumann's Symphonic Etudes, and an encore by Liszt. We had lovely seats in the front of the balcony looking right down onto the keyboard!

The concert was in a theater - the walls were full of golden scroll-work, highly romanticized silhouettes of people, and, arching over the stage, great heads with gaping mouths. Here you can see the boxes with red velvet curtains. (I don't think they had been dusted recently...the curvy tops of the curtains looked slightly gray-ish...)

Ever wondered what it's like to have those faces watch you for two hours? The mushroom-things are sound-reflectors. (Sshhh, don't tell anyone, but the people-watching fun goes up about 110% in a building packed with music nerds!!!)

The next morning we celebrated Bekah's half-birthday (since her birthday is during the summer) with breakfast at a Swiss pastry shop.

Between hazelnut and and almond pastries, hot chocolate, and the lemons in the drinking water, it was an entertaining breakfast...

...and a wonderful weekend.

Being Happy

There are many things in life that make Celeste happy…

Chillin’ with friends

Going to concerts

Visiting old churches

The Piano

My Sister

Coffee (preferably from Melinda:)

Books

Studying Being “mischievous” (in a good way, of course!)

The happiest time of my life has been these last 4 years of Bible college – friends, experiences, and “Bible college humor,” but the biggest joy has been the joy God gives in studying His Word. Growing up, I knew that studying God’s Word was supposed to bring happiness, but at Bible school, I experienced that happiness more and more.

January begins the final semester of Bible college, and recently I’ve been thinking about things like The Outside World and A Job and Rent, and other related matters which look more pressing then they did two years ago… (All of you college seniors out there can relate to this:) I realized that I was going to leave Bible school and go into the world and live ordinary life away from Bible classes, Greek, and systematic theology lectures. Scripture would still be the important thing, but I wouldn’t be able to study it 8 hours every day. And slowly, my enthusiasm for serving God in the Great Big Outside World seeped away because I was afraid that I wouldn’t be happy out there…

Then, on Friday evening, Valley of Vision reminded me that Things in Life never make people happy:

Thou who art righteous,

Let me not…seek satisfaction in things that perish.

What makes people happy in Bible school? Is it really Bible school or is it the delighting in God that Bible school taught about? If I’m afraid that I won’t be happy out in The World and Working a Normal Job, then I’m being satisfied by things that perish. May Christ be that which gives me happiness, not just Things.

“In Thy presence is fullness of joy; at Thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.” (Ps. 16:11)

Confession and Worship

"I acknowledge and confess that all things come of thee - life, breath, happiness, advancement, sight, touch, hearing, goodness, truth, beauty - all that makes existence amiable.

In the spiritual world also I am dependent entirely upon Thee.

Give me grace to know more of my need of grace; show me my sinfulness that I may willingly confess it; reveal to me my weakness that I may know my strength in Thee.

I thank thee for any sign of penitence; give me more of it; my sins are black and deep, and rise from a stony, proud, self-righteous heart; help me to confess them with mourning , regret, self-loathing, with no pretence to merit or excuse;

I need healing, Good Physician, here is scope for Thee, come and manifest Thy power; I need faith; Thou who hast given it me, maintain, strength, increase it, centre it upon the Saviour's work, upon the majesty of the Father, upon the operations of the Spirit; work it in me now that I may never doubt Thee as the truthful, mighty, faithful God.

Then I can bring my heart to Thee full of love, gratitude, hope, joy.

May I lay at Thy feet these fruits grown in Thy garden, love Thee with a passion that can never cool, believe in Thee with a confidence that never staggers, hope in Thee with an expectation that can never be dim, delight in Thee with a rejoicing that cannot be stifled, glorify Thee with the highest of my powers, burning, blazing, glowing, radiating, as from Thy own glory."

- Valley of Vision

Messiah

This weekend I had the privilege of singing Handel's Messiah again. Growing up, Messiah was often played in our house, but it has been a special joy to sing it several times during the last years. The message of God's glory revealed through Jesus Christ overflows my heart with awe over His splendor. Listen to its message:

"And the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. But who may abide the day of His coming? And who shall stand when He appeareth? For He is a like a refiner's fire. And He shall purify the sons of Levi that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness. Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call His name Emmanuel: God with us. The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light. And they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined. For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulder, and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion: behold thy King cometh unto thee; He is the righteous Savior, and He shall speak peace unto the heathen. Come unto Him all ye that labor and are heavy laden and He will give you rest. Take His yoke upon you and learn of Him, for He is meek and lowly of heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls. His yoke is easy and His burden is light. Hallelujah. [! ed.] Behold, I tell you a mystery: we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. The trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, and hath redeemed us to God by His blood, to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing. Blessing and honor and glory and power be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever. Amen."

This is part of the score to "And the Glory"

Take some time this Christmas to thank God for His glorious gift of salvation, for His easy yoke, and for His rest for your soul. And, while you're at it, set aside some time to listen to Messiah.

Miss Bekah also enjoyed singing

Is Ministry a Job?

This morning in Biblical Worldview class we were discussing a Biblical view of work. The class motivated me to do a bit of study about what Scripture teaches about a person’s view of ministry. Many of us are either in some type of part-time ministry, looking at full-time vocational ministry, or looking forward to ministering as unto the Lord in a “secular” career, so what God says about minsitry is important to us. After all, all of life is really ministry unto the Lord. Ministry may function as a job, but that should never be the mindset of the person in ministry.

Scripture shows both negative and positive example of people’s attitude towards the ministry. The apostle Peter writes about false teaches who “Have forsaken the right way and gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness.” These false teaches fell into Balaam’s sin – using ministry as a way to get money. He sold his prophetic ministry to a heathen king to curse God’s people to get money. Scripture consistently describes false teachers using the ministry to satisfy their greed for money (Jude 11).

The apostle Paul described the mindset of a person in ministry in I Peter 5:1-4; this passage refers specifically to leaders in the church, but the same mindset is to characterize all of God’s servants. “The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed: feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being ensamples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.” God’s servants are to care for His flock willingly and eagerly, not doing it for personal gain, but out of love for God and people. Their job is not a set of tasks lasting from 9-5. It is a mindset of love and service for people flowing from love for God.

John Piper writes in Brothers, We Are Not Professionals, “We are most emphatically not part of a social team sharing goals with other professionals. Our goals are an offense; they are foolishness (I Cor. 1:23). The professionalization of the ministry is a constant threat to the offense of the gospel. It is a threat to the profoundly spiritual nature of our work. I have seen it often: the love of professionalization…kills a man’s belief that he is sent by God to save people from hell and to make them Christ-exalting, spiritual aliens in the world.” (3)

How do I recognize if I’m treating ministry as a job? When the “work” takes priority over the people. When people are an “interruption” to getting the “work” done. (ouch – that one hits close to home) When my motivation in ministry is my own agenda, instead of loving God by loving people. How can I change my attitude towads ministry? By repenting of self-centeredness. By praying that God would give me a love for people. By consciously putting helping people in front of doing jobs.

Birthday Explorations

Celeste had a birthday, and the peeps surprised her - twice, actually:)

The girls decorated creatively on Friday evening, and we enjoyed cake and played Ninja very energetically in the lounge. On Sunday afternoon, Bekah pulled me out of Greek homework; and she, Alisha, Beth, Valerie, and I spent two hours roaming the plaza. We did NOT buy anything, but we enjoyed feeling sophisticated in skirts and high heels, looking at an art gallery, smelling perfumes, and taking the following pictures. Please enjoy your tour.

This nameless gentlemen looked like he needed a good laugh. He is one of my many cousins.

The pictures above and below are taken on the same bridge. It looked out over a river that was still and beautiful (but smelly, I'm sure). I particularly noticed the landscaping on either side of the river: it was well weeded.

After wondering around in heels, we finished up the afternoon with a Skyscraper shake. It looked very large when the waitress brought it out, but the five of us polished it off nicely.

And this is a random shot of Bekah and I last Sunday evening. College does not serve supper on Sunday evening, so we vetoed our traditional peanut-butter-and-jelly-sandwitch-on-store-bought-hamburger-buns in favor of a hot dog and a large tea at Sonic. (She had the hot dog, and I the tea, btw.) Thank you Bekah, for coming and doing the whole College thing with me! Thanks everybody for a great birthday!

Jesus' Love and Icy Pops

Someone showed me Jesus' loves the other day. It was very hot outside, and David, Austin, and I were working on a concrete round about, with cars breathing down our necks and the sunshine magnified by the asphalt and concrete. It was near noon.

A woman and her son crossed the round about toward us. "We're just out sharin' the love of Jesus with you guys!" she said with a bright smile, handing each of us each two frozen icy pops and her church card. We thanked her and the icy pops gave us new energy.

How often do we represent Jesus in by doing little, nice things for people? Sharing a gospel presentation is important, but sometimes it's effective to share Jesus' love in little ways - like icy pops!