In India!

Hey everyone...

I just got the ability to go online today and thought I would give you a window into our time here India. It has been a great trip so far and, with one training event down (in Thirukkovilur), we are looking forward to the next one in the next few days. Please check out Jeff's blog to hear about what we have been doing and see a few pictures. Thank you for your prayers!

signing off for a while...

I am heading to India in 36hrs or so and won't be able to post for a while... but don't worry, I'll be back! :)

While I am gone I would appreciate your prayers in a few areas:

First, for my family as I am away... That our four kids would remain healthy and be real help to their mummy. And for Britany... that she would not experience any symptoms while I am away AND that there would be no "surprises".

Second, for safety and health as we travel... with no snags.

Third, that the Word of God would find "good soil" and be very enriching and empowering for all who come to our times of pastoral training. And that God would receive MUCH glory for our time in India.

grace and peace friends.

PS... I will try and send updates on the trip so check back when you can!

spiritual beauty (3)

2 Corinthians 4:5-6

...the glory of God in the face of Jesus...

As an aside to the last couple of posts...

I have often wondered, as a dad, if Jesus' Father in heaven looked down with the same fatherly pride in His eyes as Jesus, a 1 year old (God) child, stumbled across the humble shack of Joesph and Mary?

Did He looked at the boy sitting in the temple asking just the right questions to educated scholars and shake His head in encouraging agreement?

Did He smile as the young man grew in wisdom and stature, turned water to wine, raised the dead, walked on water, with the weary... towards the cross?

I wonder if God the Father, moments before He would turn His eyes away from His beloved Son, gasped at the beauty of the work (of art) that was about to be completed?

And when Jesus arose...

I wonder if the Father stopped all that He was doing...

If He stood with His fiery eyes focused on His only begotten Son...

And clapped His mighty hands in honor, praise and applause at the glory of the masterpiece before Him that was now completed...

And could we hear, if we had been listening, the roars of the oceans and lions saying...

"That's my Son!"

"In HIM I AM is WELL PLEASED!"

so that all creation could hear and see the beauty of the man of sorrows... Jesus... the Son of God.

I know that's what I would do if it were my kids.

spiritual beauty (2)

Psalm 27:4

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.

Isaiah 53:1-3

Who has believed what he has heard from us?
And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
For he grew up before him like a young plant,
and like a root out of dry ground;
he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
and no beauty that we should desire him.
He was despised and rejected by men;
a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;
and as one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

I find the picture above quite striking - dismal chunks of gray asphalt covered in beautiful shapes and scribbles of vibrant colorful chalk. Red, green, blue and yellow applied by the hands of children to the most humble of canvases. This mosaic of color, design and childlike passion is common place for those of us with kids. When she is not chatting, my 5 year old daughter (McKenzie) is one such artist. She is so careful, thoughtful and intentional... often with some of the most random of images and colors - a true creative. If an art teacher or critic were to look at these "masterpieces" they would probably point out their immaturity and simplicity... not me - I think they are amazing. They are beautiful, eclectic, random, colorful and fun BUT, what makes them most valuable to me is the hand that prepared them. You see, I love the hand that prepared them because it is connected to a beautiful little girl whom I think the world of AND would do anything for. She is my little gracie.

I wonder if that isn't where we sometimes get confused with Jesus? As amazing as the works (of art) of Jesus were and the life that He lived was, (like all great masters) does real spiritual beauty come when we start prizing the works because of the artist and not the artist because of his works. Is there a place where beauty becomes defined by the hand of the artist... and we love the works because of the hand it is connected too (whether painful or powerful, majestic or ignoble)? I wonder, is that what it means to REALLY behold "the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (2 Cor. 4:6)... the work of art in the life of the despised and rejected man of sorrows?

spiritual beauty

2 Corinthians 4:5-6

For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

I don't normally take so long to get through books but, as of late, I have been reading way too many books at once! I think this may be the result of having been on a bit of a book-buying "fast" - after Christmas I just started reading everything at once... not a good idea. That being said, I am really enjoying this little book by John Piper called God Is The Gospel. It has had some fantastic quotes in it that I have not been able to stop thinking about. One such quote is from chapter 4. Here Piper is reflecting on the verse from 2 Corinthians when he says (sorry for it's length):

The spiritual beauty of Christ is Christ-in-action - Christ loving, and Christ touching lepers, and Christ blessing children, and healing the crippled, and raising the dead, and commanding demons, and teaching with unrivaled authority, and silencing the skeptics, and rebuking his disciples, and predicting the details of his death, and setting his face like flint toward Jerusalem, and weeping over the city, and silent before accusers, and meekly sovereign over Pilate (... John 19:11), and crucified, and praying for his enemies, and forgiving a thief, and caring for his mother while in agony, and giving up his spirit in death, and rising from the dead - ...(John 10:18). Such is the glory of Christ. (pg 66)

I have recently been struck anew by the difference between a knowledge of the "spiritual beauty" of Jesus and knowing about God. I seldom think about the beauty of God as seen in the face (or life) of Jesus. It seems so much easier to think of God's beauty as I look to His creation and His mighty works but to see it in the life of Christ seems... different. It is not that I don't see Christ's works as amazing, triumphant, powerful, transformational, revolutionary... even breath taking, I just don't often think of them as beautiful. But as I have reflected (and read Piper's reflections) on this passage as it talks about this light shining into our hearts and giving the "light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus" I begin to see the life of Christ with a different set of eyes again... the eyes of the heart (Ephesians 1:18) I guess... glory eyes.

And then I realize why Jesus is at the center of so much art, literature and creative revolutions... His life was beautiful. Horrifically, amazingly, tragically, exceptionally... beautiful.

spiritual beauty (2)

shots

Well, I got my plane tickets a month ago (thank you Dad) for my trip to India with The Berean Way team (Dad, Jeff, me, Wade and Don - not shown). Pretty good price and times.

Raised all my fee's and expense money (thank you E-Free Mission's & friends)... including some extra for those who are ministering full-time in India. Praise God.

My Visa arrived in the mail a couple days ago. (It feels so strange to be getting my visa and still have over a week to go till I have to travel - I am so accustom to the fear of it arriving a day before... hmm, this feels pretty good.)

Now, as I type this, my arm is throbbing from the needle that I got in my arm only moments ago. I am now good for just about any bug for like 25 years... amazing.

All that is left is to finish off my sessions and (as Jeff reminded me) pack my Indian shirt and I am away to India.

I would appreciate your prayers for this trip (even now before we leave). Especially in the areas of:

• God's Word to be proclaimed as He desires through His servants.
• Transformed lives... ours, those we travel with and those whom we speak to.
• Safe transport to and from and back and forth... by air and by auto.
• Unusual resilience to the local stomach bugs... yes, He is Lord even over Delhi Belly!

Thank you for your prayers.

paddling...

Revelation 22:1

Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb...

Last night I took communion with a dozen or so members of the community I am a part of. Though we take communion regularly together as a larger community (RE:hope), once a month we gather to do it in a more personal environment... to look each other in the eyes as we remember Jesus' sacrifice for us. We share scripture, pray and sing together - it feels lonely and intimate all at the same time AND it is personally quite powerful.

As we were praying together, a friend of mine prayed a prayer that, for lack of a better word, "pinched" my heart. It made me take notice and got me thinking about an experience I had a few summers ago. His prayer went something like this... "God forgive us... we paddle around in the edges of what is possible with You... we want to go deeper." As I sat and listened I had this vivid memory of me with my kids floating down a little river in Okotoks Alberta, Canada.

Anyone who has spent anytime in a river knows that there is a significant difference between the water on the edges and the water in the middle. Though all the water may be flowing at relatively the same pace… quantity matters. I remember “rafting” with my two boys on the edge of a small river a little ways from where Britany's parents live. Really it was my boys who were rafting, I was simply crawling along the bottom of the shallow riverbed. As we wandered into the deeper parts of the river it wasn’t long before I too was floating down the river and unable to stop. It wasn't because I had lost my footing (the water was still quite shallow - though I may have, my feet were pretty numb)... no, it was because of the pressure of the water. The river was carrying me along.

I wonder if perhaps life in Christ works the same way. The level of difficulty increases as the speed and vastness of the pressure increases, but when you fall you are carried instead of ship wrecked. In other words, the closer you are to the center of the river the easier it is to stay on course with the river (but the harder it is to stand on your own)…the easier it is to let the river move you (but the harder it is to go where you want)… there is less work that has to be done to stay in the rivers current (but more work to be done to stay a float). It is dangerous business navigating this river (especially with my wife and children), but maybe that’s the way it is supposed to be. Maybe that's what it means to lay down our lives for the sake of Jesus... to surrender.

CRM Lent Devotional

Let me encourage you, if you are considering doing some meditations leading up to Easter, to sign up for the CRM daily Lent Devotional email. You may even recognize one of the authors... :)

for Him (2)

2 Corinthians 5:15

…he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.

"for him"… it is like the words are tucked in between all these big complicated theological and philosophical ideas and yet… they are so simple. So complete. So concrete.

Two Words:

For… intended FOR… used FOR… designated FOR… meant FOR…

Him… Jesus!

He died for us, not just to save us from ourselves, not just to get us into heaven and not even just to empower us to make the world a better place! No, above and beyond all these things, He died that we might live FOR HIM.

In a previous post I asked the question that John Piper posed in his book about being in a heaven without God... maybe the better question for us is; who do we believe we are living this life for right now? Is it for us? Is it for our loved ones? Is it for some amazing cause; world peace, climate change... personal comfort? It isn't that these things are all bad (though we definitely have some of them WAY out of whack) – no, I think these things/relationships ARE life… they are what we mean by living. The question I find myself asking is; what am I doing with them? Am I hoarding them for my own personal glory and gain (and what these things/relationships can do/get for me)? OR am I living and loving for the sake of One who deserves them more than any other… am I living and loving for the One who did not let death stop Him from purchasing our true freedom. Does my life point, like a clearly marked path, in one direction… to One person… One Savior.

I pray that it does.

for Him

2 Corinthians 5:14-15

For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.

What can I say... my friend (Pastor) Brian is on a bit of a role. As I mentioned a week or so ago we are doing a study through the life of David (the true warrior poet) at RE:hope. Once again, I would encourage you to take a listen because the messages have been both challenging and encouraging - which is a good thing when you are preaching! Anyhow, the bulk of the message was dealing with God, priorities and relationships... in about that order, when he moved his focus into keeping the main thing the main thing - similar to my post the other day. He then shared the verse above from 2 Corinthians 5... wow.

Now, I know I have heard/read this verse dozens of times before but I can honestly say that it has never hit me before with the power that it hit me this morning. I think I may have found a new favorite verse... or at least in the top 10. Why you ask? It seems like such an obvious, small, common passage (read over dozens of times) with all this talk about death and a very awkward sentence structure... what makes it so special?

It is in these two simple words...

"for him".

for Him (2)