The Triune God

"The God we know is the Triune One- the Father, Son and Holy Spirit united together in perfect love. Because God is 'community'- fellowship shared among the Father, Son and Spirit- the creation of humankind in the divine image must be related to humans in fellowship with each other. God's own character can only be mirrored by humans who love after the manner of the perfect love, which lies at the heart of the Triune God." Stanley Grenz

The Blind Side...

The Blind Side is an excellent movie of vital Christianity. It is a true story of a white evangelical couple who pick up a young black man and sincerely love him. This year he is the potential NFL rookie of the year with the Baltimore Ravens. I love sports, but especially when it glorifies my Lord. Just watching the trailer brought me to tears, but Naho and I hope to see it when we are in the States next month.

"Sandra Bullock..., while getting to know the Tuohys during the filming process, found her own preconceived notions about Christians challenged. 'One of my biggest issues has always been people who use their faith and their religion as a banner but don't do the right things, yet still go, 'I'm a good Christian and I go to church and this is the way you should live your life,' said Bullock. 'And I'm like, you know, do not give me a lecture about how to live my life when you go to church every week but I know you are still sneaking around on your wife. And I told Leigh Anne in a live interview, one of my largest concerns getting involved with this project was that whole banner-waving thing because it scares me, and I've had experiences that haven't been great with people like that. I don't buy a lot of people who use that banner as their shield. But she was so open and honest and forthright with me I thought, wow, I've finally met someone who practices but doesn't preach.... I now have faith in those who say they represent a faith.... I finally met people who walk the walk.'"

Sandra, sorry, but it is important to who both 'walk the walk' AND 'talk the talk.' You have though underlined something that we evangelicals need to be aware of.

For the details check out this article on the movie by WORLD Magazine The Blinded Side and another article on the backround of the story again written in WORLD Magazine Family man. Check out the trailer: The Blind Side.

Elementry school 'marathon'

Last Thursday, the 12th, the kids ran in their school marathon. Here Joshua is running his last stretch. Joshua placed 11th in the 4th grade. His shoe came off. Shane placed 3rd. The next day he started 'training.' And Hosahna placed 1oth. I was proud of them all.

Totally different

'If there is social injustice, say there is social injustice. If we need order, say we need order... But do not align yourself as though you are in either of these camps: You are an ally of neither. The church of the Lord Jesus Christ is different from either- totally different.'　Francis Schaeffer

Worship is....

“Worship is the submission of all of our nature to God. It is the quickening of conscience by His holiness, nourishment of mind by His truth, purifying of imagination by His beauty, opening of the heart to His love, and submission of will to His purpose. And all this gathered up in adoration is the greatest of human expressions of which we are capable.” Archbishop William Temple

The Savior... waded through hell itself

‘Fairly often I meet people who say, "I have a personal relationship with a loving God, and yet I don't believe in Jesus Christ at all." Why, I ask? "My God is too loving to pour out infinite suffering on anyone for sin." But this shows a deep misunderstanding of both God and the cross. On the cross, God HIMSELF, incarnated as Jesus, took the punishment. He didn't visit it on a third party, however willing.

So the question becomes: what did it cost your kind of god to love us and embrace us? What did he endure in order to receive us? Where did this god agonize, cry out, and where were his nails and thorns? The only answer is: "I don't think that was necessary." But then ironically, in our effort to make God more loving, we have made him less loving. His love, in the end, needed to take no action. It was sentimentality, not love at all. The worship of a god like this will be at most impersonal, cognitive, and ethical. There will be no joyful self-abandonment, no humble boldness, no constant sense of wonder. We could not sing to him "love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all." Only through the cross could our separation from God be removed, and we will spend all eternity loving and praising God for what he has done (Rev 5:9-14.)

And if Jesus did not experience hell itself for us, then we ourselves are devalued. In Isaiah, we are told, "The results of his suffering he shall see, and shall be satisfied" (Isaiah 53:11). This is a stupendous thought. Jesus suffered infinitely more than any human soul in eternal hell, yet he looks at us and says, "It was worth it." What could make us feel more loved and valued than that? The Savior presented in the gospel waded through hell itself rather than lose us, and no other savior ever depicted has loved us at such a cost.’ Tim Keller

Let their table be made a snare

“’David saith, Let their table be made a snare’. I think the religious situation in this country [England] is mainly to be explained by ‘affluence’, the ‘table’. ‘Never had it so good’, you see, the table is full. Plenty of money in our pockets, plenty of drink, motor-cars… ‘let their table be made a snare’. And off they go in their cars on a Sunday to the seaside or the mountain-top or to play golf or to do this or that – ‘let the table be made…’ The table being made a snare. The very blessing of God is becoming a curse. Poverty is a terrible thing but, you know, affluence is a more dangerous thing in a spiritual sense.” D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones