It’s crunch time. The renovation work on our home is almost complete, which is exciting but also means that now there’s a long list of things I need to finish to get our rooms back in order and everything up and running again.

It’s crunch time. Our adoption process is almost complete, which is very exciting but also means that there’s a long list of things we need to do to be ready to travel to China and bring our daughter home and then adjust to life with a new member of the family.

It’s crunch time. And I’m tired.

Whenever crunch time hits, sleep is the first thing to go. Therefore the book I’ve been reading lately, called The Rest of God: Restoring Your Soul by Restoring Sabbath, has been just a bit convicting. Or, actually…very convicting.

As I was reading it (while waiting in a long line at the Chinese Consulate, to submit our applications for travel visas to China), in between nodding off and then making sure my number hadn’t been called yet (because it’s crunch time, and I’m tired), here’s a quote that grabbed my sleepy attention:

The tricky thing about Sabbath, though, is it’s a form of rest unlike sleep. Sleep is so needed that, defied too long, our bodies inevitably, even violently, force the issue. Sleep eventually waylays all fugitives. It catches you and has its way with you.

Sabbath won’t do that. Resisted, it backs off. Spurned, it flees. It’s easy to skirt or defy Sabbath, to manufacture cheap substitutes in its place—and to do all that, initially, without noticeable damage, and sometimes, briefly, with admirable results. It’s easy, in other words, to spend most of your life breaking Sabbath and never figure out that this is part of the reason your work’s unsatisfying, your friendships patchy, your leisure threadbare, your vacations exhausting.

We simply haven’t taken time. We’ve not been still long enough, often enough, to know ourselves, our friends, our family. Our God. Indeed, the worst hallucination busyness conjures is the conviction that I am God. All depends on me. How will the right things happen at the right time if I’m not pushing and pulling and watching and worrying?

Sabbath-keeping requires two orientations. One is Godward. The other is timeward. To keep Sabbath well—as both a day and an attitude—we have to think clearly about God and freshly about time. We likely, at some level, need to change our minds about both. Unless we trust God’s sovereignty, we won’t dare risk Sabbath. And unless we receive time as abundance and gift, not as ration and burden, we’ll never develop a capacity to savor Sabbath.

Mark Buchanan, The Rest of God, © 2006 Thomas Nelson, pages 61-62.

Ouch! Is that how big I see myself? Is that how small my view of God is? Yes, there’s a place for pouring myself out in sacrifice and service for God or others (more on that in another blog entry), but even in those circumstances I have to stop at some point, and stopping at any time forces me to trust that God is the Sovereign Orchestrator of all (and I am not).

How much better it would be to build into my life a regular rhythm of stopping—not only at the point of sheer exhaustion or a collapse of health—but regularly (maybe even once a week…wouldn’t that be a novel idea!). And how much better that stopping and resting would be if it was not merely a legalistic Christian duty I must perform but instead was a joyful, restful acknowledgement of God’s bigness and goodness and graciousness.

Enough said. I’m going to take a nap… =)

In Him,

Pastor Dan

A few weeks ago, I finished reading Catching Fire, the second book in The Hunger Games trilogy. In addition to being a gripping, fast-moving story, it has also been a very thought-provoking source of discussion with my wife and our teenage daughter.

One thing I’ve been thinking about in response to the story is what a difference an eternal perspective makes for us as Christians. The worldview of the story does not include God or eternity, therefore death is greatly feared. When you have a government that maintains control and order by exerting their power with brutality, then their biggest weapon is fear. If you don’t want to die, you better stay in line with their orders and rules. And when God is not in the picture and this life is all you have, then that fear of death is indeed a powerful weapon (which is what we see in the Hunger Games stories).

But when God IS in the picture, and when we see death not as the end of our best life, but as the beginning of Real Life that is unhindered by sin and sickness and time and separation from God, then that immobilizing weapon of fear is totally diffused. The worst that man can do to me (kill me) is the best thing that could happen to me (enter the presence of God for eternity). If that is how I see life, then no government—no matter how brutal—can control me by fear.

There are glimpses of that freedom in the Hunger Games stories, where characters rise above the fear out of love for one another and sacrifice even their lives. But in the stories those acts of sacrificial love are tragic—it’s the end. But in the Great Story above all other stories, the Main Character sacrifices Himself for those He loves, even unto death, but it is not tragic but glorious, because death is not the end but rather death is defeated and He lives again. And because of that Great Story, we who trust in Him have great hope as well, that death is not the end of our story, and therefore we need not be bound by fear.

The Hunger Games trilogy is disturbing because it presents a picture of what could happen—or perhaps what is already beginning to happen—in this country. And that is disturbing to us because we greatly value our freedoms and our comforts here. Yet many of our brothers and sisters in Christ around the world are daily facing the very things depicted in these stories, and though we don’t seek that kind of persecution and suffering, we must be prepared for it with a right perspective—an eternal perspective, with God at the center.

There is a famous quote from Tertullian which says “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.” If you know anything of the history of Christianity in places like China or the jungles of Ecuador, you know that is certainly the truth—the Church spread rapidly because of those who were martyred (not in spite of their martyrdom). And it makes me wonder whether the comfortableness and lack of persecution that we face here in America is why our Christian lives and our churches are so stagnant and lacking in vitality. We pray for revival. We pray for growth. But could it be that the growth we long for will only come when we are in desperate straits like the people in the Districts of Panem (or like our brothers and sisters in North Korea or Iran)? Like Pastor Daniel Eng preached from Revelation 3:17 a few weeks ago, when we in our comfort and wealth think we have all we need, then we do not depend on the One we most deeply need. So what will it take to bring us to a place of desperate dependence on Christ alone?

We may not yet be faced with persecution that forces us to choose between death and obedience to Christ, but we are faced with daily decisions to die to ourselves (by playing with our toddler on the floor rather than relaxing on the couch in front of the TV, or by genuinely listening to our coworker’s difficulties rather than brushing her off so we can finish our work), with daily decisions to crucify our flesh (by choosing to forgive a friend rather than hold a grudge, or by engaging in solitude rather than constant activity, or by intentionally not purchasing the latest electronic gadget), and with daily decisions to love and serve sacrificially (by doing the dishes so your wife can rest, by inviting a lonely neighbor over to your home, or by using vacation days to go on a mission trip). And we are also faced with larger decisions of whether our income is merely going toward comfort and pleasure for ourselves or toward providing a home for an orphan or caring for a widow or sending a missionary to Japan. Or decisions of whether to let go of our own dreams in order to adopt a little autistic boy into our family or to release our young adult to live among HIV children in Africa or to sell our home and go live out Christ’s love in the inner city. Those are the decisions that force us to depend on Christ and to look with joyful anticipation toward eternity and Life with Him, so that we are not too easily enthralled by the “mud pies” of our comfortable existence here.

How is your view of eternity shaping your response to all that goes on around you?

In Him,

Pastor Dan

I think the biggest reason why we don’t parent our children in Godly ways is the frantic pace at which we live our lives. It isn’t lack of knowledge or lack of resources or lack of skill, it is essentially a lack of time. It takes time to lead our children in family devotions. It takes time to gather them to pray. It takes time to plan for a family retreat. It takes time to teach them the Gospel in every little situation that comes up. It takes time to listen to their hearts. It takes time to pray for their hearts. It takes time to think through the areas they need to grow in. It takes time. It takes time. It takes time.

But time is something we don’t have. So we settle for yelling or lecturing or shame simply because it produces some immediate response. We know that it’s not best, but we honestly can’t imagine how in the world we would ever come up with the time needed to parent in a different way.

So if anything you learn about parenting (whether from the Parenting Conference in April 2012 or from a book you read or a friend you talk to) is going to take root in your life and family, the first thing that is required is that youcreate space for it. If you try to simply add one more thing on top of everything else you’re doing, it will not work. You must create space. Multi-tasking may work for tasks, but not for relationships. You must carve out unhurried time in order to parent well.This is a simple enough concept, but the difficulty lies in carrying it out. There is no easy formula for creating space. And it certainly won’t happen by default. You must be intentional…and ruthless. Intentional in setting goals and breaking them up into increments and then keeping them as a priority. And ruthless in eliminating not only the meaningless time-wasters, but also the good-but-not-as-important responsibilities and commitments. This means being ruthless in saying “no” to many good opportunities that arise also, even ministry opportunities.

Discipling the hearts of our children is a tremendous responsibility and privilege that God has given us. There are many other voices and influences clamoring for the attention of our children. There are many other factors that are shaping their lives. Will we rise to the challenge to be their primary teacher? Will we take up the calling to train the hearts of our children in the truths and ways of Scripture? Will we make the Gospel the central component in our parenting? Or, will we settle for merely keeping their behavior in line and making sure they get into a good school—and let the godless culture around us squeeze them into its mold?

Take a moment right now, before you rush off to the next thing on your schedule or list, and ask God what He is calling you to do in response to this. Is there something in your regular schedule that you could let go of in order to create space for training your children in the truths of the Gospel? Is there something in the kid’s schedule that could be eliminated in order to open up time for them to relate with God? What do you need to communicate to your spouse in order to begin planning intentionally how to teach your children? Take a minute or two to think about that and ask God what He wants for you to do.

In Him,

Pastor Dan

There are two disciplines that I feel are foundational to parenting our children in the truths and ways of Scripture: 1) Keep the Gospel central, and 2) Work hard at creating space. 

Our job as Christian parents is NOT primarily to ensure that we have good, well-behaved kids who grow up to get good, well-paying jobs so that they can have good, well-stocked homes and enjoy a happy life. That is NOT our primary job (nor is it even our secondary job). Rather, our primary job as Christian parents is to proclaim and live out the Gospel to our children, and to help them connect every area of life to God’s sovereign work of grace seen in the Gospel. That is not only our biggest task, but in that we also have the greatest hope for the well-being of our children.

In order to keep the Gospel central in the lives of our children, though, we must be allowing the Gospel to become more and more central in our own hearts and lives. Which means that we must know and believe the Gospel, not just as a set of propositions that we intellectually acknowledged at some point in the past when we became a Christian, but as the foundational source of change in our lives which brings us deeper into joyful relationship with God.

When we begin to see our total inability to know God or please God on our own, because of our rebellious sinful hearts that naturally turn away from God, then we begin to realize what a tremendously gracious thing God has done in sending Jesus to die in our place and bear the wrath of God that we deserved! Likewise, when we begin to see that our children’s basic problem is notlow self-esteem or attention-deficit or peer pressure, but rather is rooted in their sinful heart that tries to make life work apart from God, then we realize that what they primarily need is a Savior who can change that sinful self-absorbed heart into a righteous God-focused heart.

We cannot cause our children to believe or receive the Gospel, but what we can do is faithfully teach them the Gospel and constantly pray for God’s mercy to transform their hearts. So how do we do that? What does that look like? Here’s a few concrete examples of what that might look like in parenting…and of course these are all “hypothetical”—it just so happens that I have a toddler and a teen and a pre-teen in my home right now. =)

You call your toddler to come to the dinner table. He says OK but continues playing with his toys. You feel angry that he isn’t obeying right away. You could just shame him or punish him in a way that ensures that next time his behavior will be different. OR, if you want to make the Gospel central in his heart, you take the time to explain to him that his disobedience is sin and that because of his sin Jesus had to die. Then you help him confess his sin, you remind him of God’s forgiveness, and you instruct him in the importance—and joy—of obedience. This is not a long, angry lecture aimed at conforming his behavior to your will; it is a short, gracious reminder aimed at conforming his heart to God’s will.

Another example: It’s Sunday morning—your teenage daughter is still in the bathroom and you should have been in the car leaving for church 5 minutes ago. You can feel your temperature rising as you pace back and forth with clenched teeth and begin composing in your mind a guilt-inducing lecture on the importance of timeliness. If the Gospel is going to be central in this situation, then first you have to allow the Gospel to penetrate your own heart and remind you that there is something larger here than just being late to church. Then let the desperation that you feel turn into a prayer for God’s grace to hold your tongue and wait for a time that is more conducive to a heart-to-heart talk. Make space to talk with her that afternoon, then, listening first, then gently helping her to see the implications of her actions on others around her. Point to Jesus as her example—and her strength—to sacrifice self-interest for the sake of others (whether that means getting up earlier so that she can be ready to go on time, or choosing to spend less time on her outward appearance so that her heart can worship God more deeply).

One more example: Your pre-teen son is typically very compliant and well-behaved, and as a middle child is very good at “flying under the radar” and avoiding trouble. There may not be an obvious situation that needs to be addressed, but if the Gospel is going to be central in your parenting of him, then you need to pray that his heart isn’t led astray into a self-righteous independence from God. And you need to watch for opportunities to draw out his heart, so that he can see that even well-behaved boys have to fight against the sin in their hearts, and even “good little boys” have to trust God to change their hearts. Help him to see that it’s not his obedience that makes him a child of God, but it is Jesus’ obedience to His Father that made him a child of God.

So the Gospel must be central in all our parenting, because our primary task as Christian parents is to help our children see Christ in all of life, so that they would love Him and trust Him and follow Him all the days of their lives.

(The 2nd part of this entry will be posted later.  In Him, Pastor Dan)

I love woodworking. That’s the one hobby that I spend any significant time on. My grandpa can fix or build anything, and as a kid I used to follow him around and “help” whenever he was working on a project. Now, God has blessed me with a little workshop in my garage, and I enjoy building custom furniture for our home and for others.

Some tools (like my table saw) are my favorite ones to use. Other tools (like my tape measure or my power drill/driver) I use for just about every project I build. But there are a few tools I own which I’ve only used a couple times, but they are indispensable because when I need to use them, nothing else will do the job. One of those indispensable tools is called a BoWrench (pictured here), and it’s used as a lever to straighten and hold long deck boards in place as they’re fastened to the joists.

God has many tools that He uses to bring change & transformation in the hearts of His children. God’s Word is a powerful tool to change our hearts. Corporate worship is a tool God uses to draw our hearts to Him. Community—life with one another—is an effective tool in God’s toolbox, that He uses to shape us more into His image. Prayer, solitude, accountability, service…there are all kinds of tools that God uses to form us. But there is one tool He uses that I believe is indispensable, not because He uses it for everything, but because when He uses it, it accomplishes what no other tool can accomplish. That tool is suffering.

In 2 Corinthians 1:8-11, the apostle Paul is describing some severe affliction that he underwent, which caused him to feel hopeless and to despair of life itself. Though I may not have experienced similar circumstances as Paul, I certainly have experienced that same feeling of intense pressure and being “stuck” with no options and no way out. That is the kind of suffering Paul is talking about.

But what he says next is huge. He says that the suffering happened so that they would rely not on themselves but on God. The suffering was not random or pointless—in fact, the implication is that God actually brought the suffering as a tool to produce some needed change in their hearts. The suffering was to make them—persuade them, convince them, even force them—to rely on God, and that was a very GOOD thing. So even though the suffering was not comfortable or easy, it was good, because it brought about good transformation in their hearts.

If we’ve been a Christian for any length of time, we know that we’re supposed to rely on God. We know we were made to live in intimate relationship with God. We know that life works best when we do rely on God. But the reality is…we don’t do it. Until, of course, suffering comes along and we are flat on our faces (sometimes literally) crying out to God saying “I can’t do this!” “I can’t love this person the way You want me to love her (or him).” “How am I supposed to tell my little children the diagnosis my doctor just gave me?!” “How am I going to provide for my family?” And it’s in that place of desperation and pain that we move from merely knowing we should rely on God to actually relying on Him. When we are on our face before God saying “I cannot do this!” we are NOT relying on ourselves. When we are alone crying on our bed at 2 in the morning, and all we can say is “God help me!” we ARE relying on God. Suffering forces us to rely on Him because we have nothing left in ourselves to rely on. Suffering convinces us that we cannot make it on our own, and therefore we move from intellectual acknowledgement of our need to rely on God to actual experience of relying on Him. And that is a very good thing.

So whether it’s little everyday pressures and problems, or whether it’s big life-altering circumstances, I am beginning to realize that suffering is not something to immediately run away from or constantly try to avoid, because maybe God is using that suffering as His indispensable tool to bring change in my heart that would not happen in any other way. Our God is good. Our God is gracious. And our God is sovereign. No suffering we go through is random or pointless, but is under the control of our strong and faithful Father, so we can trust that when He uses suffering as a tool in our lives, it is always for our good. Therefore we can say with the Apostle Paul, “we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” (Rom 5:3-5)

In Him,

Pastor Dan