Archive for the ‘Scripture’ Category

Devastated Indeed

Monday, October 19th, 2009

Read in my hometown newspaper today that a person was devastated by crashing his 67 Corvette. Devastated indeed.

I will give you devastation! Try being blind. This is what John Milton is facing in his old age. He writes a poem about it:

“On His Blindness” By John Milton

WHEN I consider how my light is spent
Ere half my days, in this dark world and wide,
And that one talent which is death to hide
Lodged with me useless, though my soul more bent
To serve therewith my Maker, and present
My true account, lest He returning chide,�
Doth God exact day-labour, light denied?
I fondly ask:�But Patience, to prevent
That murmur, soon replies: God doth not need
Either man’s work, or His own gifts, who best
Bear His mild yoke, they serve Him best. His state
Is kingly; thousands at His bidding speed
And post o’er land and ocean without rest:�
They also serve who only stand and wait.

As one of my distance learning students explains, “When Milton lost his sight, he very strongly considered giving up writing poetry. He couldn’t imagine himself still writing. This feeling of utter abandonment is expressed in his poem On His Blindness.” But though he may have felt that way for a while, that emotion was soon changed into a feeling of hope; a wiliness to continue in his calling.” And what is amazing is that Milton wrote his greatest work�“Paradise Lost” when he was blind.

How could he do this? My student says, “If you one reads carefully there are portions of the poem which tell of hope in faraway places, hope that is longed for and not thrown away carelessly. At the words, “They also serve who wait,” Milton shows that he is waiting while serving, for God to show him what to do next. Interestingly enough, another word for wait is hope. In the NIV, Isaiah 40:31 says, “but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles, they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” In the KJV Isaiah 40:31 says, “But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.” Now it is plain that while Milton is waiting, he is also hoping.”

Friend I hope you have that hope in your life! I know I do.

BOWING DOWN AT MOUNT HOREB

Friday, October 16th, 2009

PREPARING FOR THE SAT I

Maturation calls into sharp focus our views of reality, the meaning of life, and other existential concepts. In the book Father Sergius by Leo Tolstoy, the protagonist Augusto Perez shakes his fist at God and asks, “Am I a creature of fiction?” This is the central question haunting modern society. In a way, too, it is the question I hear many young people ask.

In 2009 Western society, we are asking that question at the university.

The first modern university was Halle University, founded in 1694. From the beginning, universities have wrestled with accepting truth as an absolute reality or seeing truth as an objective intellectual quest. The quest, unfortunately, has led us to many dead ends.

The modern university is a hostile environment for most Christians. It appears to be King Belshazzar’s feast (Daniel 5), an undisciplined intellectual orgy of knowledge worship, instead of a time on Mount Horeb, a humble recognition of God’s omnipotence. Moses, at the burning bush (Exodus 3), freely admits his human limits and extolls God’s holy name. Like Moses, present-day Christians must know who they are and who their God is.

Christian students are called to act as if they are on Mount Horeb even if they are in the middle of Belshazzar’s feast. They are called to be salt and light in a hostile environment.

Where do they begin? As far as college admission goes, the Scholastic Assessment Test__SAT I–is a critical first step.

It is important to understand that the SAT I is an aptitude test, not an achievement test (like the Iowa Basics or Stanford Tests or ACT). The SAT II or Subject Area Exams are achievement tests. The SAT I is a math and English test–there is no history, science, or any other subjects on the exam (although students will need these other subject for college admission).

The College Board® claims–and I believe it–that almost 4 out of every 5 American colleges require the SAT I. That is not bad news. Christian students in general, home schooled Christian students in particular, are doing very well on the SAT I. I sensed that this was true when I wrote The SAT and College Preparation Course for the Christian Student (Eugene, Oregon, 1998, 2005, 2009). However, I had no idea how well Christians would do on the SAT I and how important spiritual preparation was to those high scores.

Christians should view preparation for the SAT I as an opportunity to grapple with an important question: Can they become what God is calling them to be? They won’t have the whole answer to this vital question at the end of their SAT preparation, but this can be a first step.

Students usually take the SAT I during the second semester of their junior year or first semester of their senior year. It measures their potential success in college, but it does not necessarily measure their information acquisition and assimilation skills. It has absolutely nothing at all to do with a student’s worth or esteem in God’s eyes.

The math portion and the verbal portion of the SAT are much different from the SAT some of us took several decades ago. There are more analysis questions, vocabulary is understood almost entirely in context, and there will be exercises requiring students to compare two reading passages. They will even have to write in some answers, instead of just picking a letter! There will be no antonyms on the SAT I, but double the number of reading comprehension questions. Finally, students will be allowed to use a calculator to help them with the math portion of the exam.

Vocabulary development is critical. As a matter of fact, I judge that 40 percent of the questions on the verbal portion of the SAT are related to vocabulary. Since analogies will be dropped and vocabulary problems will be increased, there are indications that that percentage will decrease on the 2009 exam. But that does not mean that students should ignore vocabulary development. Therefore, more than ever, it is vital that students learn the Latin/Greek roots of words. Also they should learn to define words in context. It is a waste of time for students to memorize the 500 most frequently used words on the SAT I. A better approach is to read good books (a list is included in the back of The SAT and College Preparation Course for the Christian Student). This is time_consuming and arduous, but I can’t see any better way to learn vocabulary for the SAT. Being fluent in Latin and Greek would help our children show off at the Dunster House in Harvard Yard, but probably not necessary to do well on the SAT as long as they knows their roots. Spelling skills will not increase SAT scores. In conclusion, the best preparation for the SAT I is a rigorous reading program that will both increase vocabulary and reading skills. My 30 years of coaching experience confirms to me that the student who reads more, scores higher. The single best preparation for the SAT I, therefore, is reading a lot of good books. Parenthetically, a classical approach to education, based on reading classics, which includes a whole book, essay-based language arts curriculum will ultimately generate the highest SAT I scores. This approach increases reading and thinking skills that will no doubt increase SAT I scores.

Higher level critical thinking is important to high SAT I scores. The SAT I is a cognitive, developmentally-based exam which assumes that students learn in stages. Bloom’s Taxonomy is frequently a reference resource for cognitive developmental thinking. Bloom’s Taxonomy argues that students learn in six stages. Most of the questions on the SAT I are based on the last three levels: analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. As a matter of fact, unless students are able to function at these higher thinking levels, they are doomed to manifest scores below 1400.

The SAT I will require abundant critical thinking. Therefore, any SAT Preparation Coaching course should be supplemented with a classical-based, critical thinking high school program. Inevitably, for instance, a critical thinking-friendly language arts program will teach literary analysis of whole books. That is a litmus test for higher level thinking. Critical thinking-friendly math programs will offer numerous world problems.

60 percent of the present SAT I is critical reading exercises. That percentage will increase with the exam. In fact, the College Board is renaming the verbal section of the SAT I “Critical Reading Section.” This change in titling shows how serious the College Board folks are about critical reading. The verbal section will no longer include analogies. Instead, short reading passages will be added to existing long reading passages. A new section called the SAT writing section will be added. It will contain multiple-choice grammar questions as well as a written essay. That is good news to most classical-educated students who have spent years studying grammar and writing.

Students do not have to know how to solve quadratic equations to do well on the math portion of the SAT I. Some algebra and basic geometry is helpful, but I have found that the key to high performance on the math portion is the same as it is on the verbal portion: critical thinking and critical reading skills. Thus, best scores come from individuals who think well and read well__even if their math skills are average. The 2005 SAT I math section will not only cover concepts from geometry and elementary algebra, it will contain concepts from Algebra II. The math computation on the SAT I is usually not difficult. What makes the math portion of the SAT I so difficult is that it is presented in a word problem format. Thus strong critical thinking and advanced critical reading skills will increase SAT I math as well as SAT I verbal scores. The addition of Algebra II computations should not alarm good students. Good students, especially good home schooled students, usually have had or are taking Algebra II before or during the junior year when the SAT I should be taken.

The best time to take the SAT I is May or June of one’s junior year. This allows students to retake the SAT I October of their senior year if necessary. Coaching is very helpful if the student implements a long- term program–as advocated in The SAT and College Preparation Course. Without long-term coaching, there is no correlation between the frequency of taking aptitude tests (e.g., SAT I and IQ tests) and increased scores. Therefore, I recommend that students take as many unofficial, old, real (i. e., from the College Board) SAT Is as they can. Students should avoid the high cost of taking stressful official tests at their local high schools and universities. They are much better off if they take practice tests. Practice SAT Is can be obtained by contacting me (www.forsuchatimeasthis.com) or they can be borrowed from some libraries. Remember, there is evidence that a small percentage of colleges average SAT I scores (rather than accept the highest score). Therefore, students should anonymously obtain as many unofficial scores as they can and then take the test one or two times officially.

Finally, my 30 years of coaching remind me how important stress reduction is to high SAT I scores. In fact, in my opinion, it is the most important preparation variable. For Christians, at least, stress reduction is best accomplished by a frequent and rigorous devotional and Bible memorization program.

I am excited about the SAT I. It is tailor-made for Christian believers. Never has an exam so heavily depended on empathic stress reduction and critical thinking. Shorter, leaner, and meaner to most, to Spirit-filled Christians–particularly Christian home schooled students–theSAT I is a gift from God. It is not knowledge that trips up Christian students most of the time. It is the time restrictions and inexperience with test-taking. In my wildest and fondest dreams I could not have created a better test for my brothers and sisters in Christ. With its emphasis on higher math, increased reading passages, writing samples and grammar, the SAT I should generate unprecedented high scores for students who devote themselves to a one-to-three-year discipline of preparation that includes Bible readings, Scripture memorization, critical reading samples, and test-taking strategies.

One final question: why go through all this hassle of preparing for a man-made test? God is in control of our lives, right? Yes, but perhaps He has put this test in front of us, not as an obstacle, but as an opportunity to witness for our Lord. We shall see.

Fear & True Intimacy

Tuesday, October 13th, 2009

These church fathers and mothers knew that they were loved. They moved beyond the fear and rejection of their world and embraced the love of God. Out of that love flowed their genius.

The fire in many of us lies untended. We live in real or imagined fear and rejection. In his famous liturgical play Murder in the Cathedral, T. S. Eliot speaks through a chorus, “We have seen births, deaths, and marriages . . . / In a void apart. We / Are afraid in a fear which we cannot know, / which we cannot face, which none understands (lines 182 – 185).” As fervently as secular authhors such as Kafka, Sartre, Hemingway, and Nietzsche have developed that fear, church fathers and mothers such as Origen, Bonhoeffer, McDonald, and Mother Teresa have stood against that fear. And the church is winning the war!

Because modern people are so afraid, they rarely risk true intimacy. Intimacy cannot thrive in fear. However, as we read the church fathers and mothers – this gathhered inheritance – we sense that there is no fear, but only love, love foor God that nearly takes our breath away! That comely, winsome love draws us first to the author, and then to his or her God! They intensely loved their God and his people. Among these readings and in the lives of these saints, we meet the God celebrated by James Weldon Johnson in his poem “Creation.”

Then God reached out and took the light in His hands,
And God rolled the light around in His hands
Until He made the sun;
And He set that sun a-blazing in the heavens.
And the light that was left from making the sun
God gathered it up in a shining ball
And flung it against the darkness,
Spangling the night with the moon and stars.
Then down between
The darkness and the light
He hurled the world;
And God said, “That’s good!”

This is part of the gathered inheritance, the blessing that belongs to us all! And that’s so good!

Our church fathers and mothers, a cloud of witnesses, draw us into blessedness.

Blessedness is always at risk. The inheritance is at risk. Always! Sarah is apparently barren. And so is Rachel. Abimelech may kill Abraham. The promised people are enslaved in Egypt, and then in Babylon. So our church fathers and mothers wrote in risk, and in hope. They gathered the inheritance for us to cherish, for us to enlarge.

There is a power that wishes to thwart that progress. An apocryphal story circulated around Princeton Theological Seminary, where I once attended, about Professor Bruce Metzger. Professor Metzger is considered to be the most eminent and capable New Testament scholar of the twentieth century. Once, while lecturing in a class called “The Person and Work of Jesus Christ,” Dr. Metzger mentioned that Jesus met Satan in the wilderness – a staatement that drew a snicker from a brave and foolish student. Gently, Dr. Metzger stopped and asked the student why he was laughing.

“Because,” the student replied, “I don’t think there is a devil. Do you?”

“Yes.” Dr. Metzger calmly replied.

“Really?” the confident student asked. “How do you know there really is a devil?”

“Because I have met him,” the imminent Dr. Metzger replied. “Because I have met him.”

It is important to remember that the church fathers and mothers knew the evil one. Satan was real to them, and notwithstanding our modern sophistication, he is as much a reality in our world as he was in theirs. But just as saints of past ages moved ahead in confidence, we can go on unafraid. The great Reformer Martin Luther said it well:

A mighty fortress is our God,
a bulwark never failing.
Our helper he, amid the flood
of mortal ills prevailing,
for still our ancient foe
doth seek to work us woe.
His craft and power are great,
and, armed with cruel hate,
on earth is not his equal.

Did we in our own strength confide,
our striving would be losing,
were not the right Man on our side,
the man of God’s own choosing.
Dost ask who that may be?
Christ Jesus, it is he!
Lord Sabaoth is his name,
from age to age the same.
And he must win the battle.

And though this world, with devils filled,
should threaten to undo us,
we will not fear, for God hath willed
his truth to triumph through us.
The prince of darkness grim,
we tremble not for him.
His rage we can endure,
For lo! his doom is sure.
One little Word shall fell him.

That Word above all earthly powers –
no thanks to them abiddeth.
The Spirit and the gifts are ours,
through him who with us sideth.
Let goods and kindred go,
This mortal life also.
The body they may kill;
God’s truth abideth still.
His kingdom is forever. Amen!

Fear is dissipated by promises; evil is overcome by good. It is all here in these pages. Promises, hope, goodness, and life. A gathered inheritance. We again recognize that the secret things belong “to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever” (Deuteronomy 29:29). A gathered inheritance!

Theologian Paul Tillich wrote, “The lightning illuminates all and then leaves it again in darkness. So faith in God grasps humanity, and we respond in ecstasy. And the darkness is never again the same, . . . but it is still the darkness.”

All of God’s saints – past, present, and future – are flashes of lightning in the sky. And the darknesss is never the same again because the light reveals what life can be in Jesus Christ. “Memory allows possibility,” theologian Walter Brueggemann writes. Ignatius, Nee, Tolstoy, Guyon – they flash across the sky on these pages. A gathereed inheritance. They bring memory. They bring possibility.

FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS

Tuesday, September 29th, 2009

“Who knows, you may have been placed in this place for such a time as this?”–Esther 4:14

In our Scripture reading today the Jewish nation is facing imminent extinction. They stand at the brink of annihilation, genocide. They are the victims of the vitriolic and uncontrolled hatred of one man, Haman, and the whimsical irresponsibility of the foolish king, Ahasuerus.

Today America is facing a crisis. While we no doubt, in spite of Sept. 11, 2001, have political and military hegemony, we have lost the high ground. That is for sure! And our world as we know it is ending. The once sacred cultural icons of this nation no longer satisfy the needs of our people. And God is lifting up a Godly movement of 3-4 million spirit filled leaders . . . What is He trying to say, brothers and sisters?

In the past God used Revivals to bring renewal. I think that in the future He will use movements like the home school movement to bring renewal and revival.

Therefore, we have a responsibility to be Esther to this nation.

The reader wonders, “Where is the calvary? Who will save the good guys this time? Who will part the Red Sea? Where is Moses?”

But there is no Moses, there is no apparent savior. There is only weak Esther. Esther, the queen of Babylon who, hiding her Jewishness, manages to become the most powerful woman in Babylon. But, the most powerful woman in the world is less powerful than the poorest, weakest man, for this is a patrifocal society. It is ruled by men, not women.

But someone must save the nation. Someone must take a stand or every Hebrew man, woman, and child will die. And they will die soon.
Someone must take a stand or the nation will perish.
Esther’s cousin Mordecai comes to warn Esther than she must give up her anonymity and take a stand or they will all perish. All Esther wants to do is slip back into the safety of her role. Who can blame her? But for the sake of the nation, Esther will risk everything to do what is necessary. Though her knees must be shaking, she determines to stare death in the face and stand up for her people. Which is what she does. Unless summoned by her husband, Esther faces certain death by approaching him,for one never approaches an Oriental monarch unsummoned. Especially if one is a lowly woman–even a wife.

Why should she help her relatives and countrymen? What had they done for her lately? No doubt they had scorned her for her fraternization with the enemy. Esther would have known much condemnation and rejection. I doubt that she had any love loss with the Jews. Why should she put herself and her children in jeopardy for people who had no doubt rejected and derided her?

Home schoolers why should we care about the rest of America? What have they done for us lately – except harass and persecute us. ; Why should we rest anything – much less everything – for this nation?

BOKONONISM

Friday, September 25th, 2009

In Cat’s Cradle, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., creates a new religion, Bokononism. The bible of Bokononism is the “Books of Bokonon”, written by Bokonon — a British Episcopalian black from the Carribean island of Tobago whose real name was Lionel Boyd Johnson– as a way to distract the people of San Lorenzo from their unhappy lives. What is important to Bokononists? Not God; just one thing: man. Bokononism is a strange, Post-modern subjective faith that combines nihilistic, and cynical observations about life and God’s will. The supreme act of worship is an intimate act consisting of prolonged physical contact between the naked soles of the feet of two persons, supposed to result in peace and joy between the two communicants.

Hummmm . . .

I see a lot of Bokononists these days. Post-Modern, Post-Christian Bokononist American leadership are asking us to suspend belief. Pastor Clinton C. Gardner, in his book Beyond Belief: Discovering Christianity’s New Paradigm, “raised on Christian fundamentalism, he felt liberated by the grand picture of evolution and the empirical science of the Enlightenment.” Ok Pastor Clinton! Imagine, in 2009 there are people who believe that God really loved us enough that He sent His only Begotten Son to die for our sins! How uncool! And, get this, some of those remnant fundamentalist Christians—who have not yet bowwed down and worshiped at the altar of Bokononism—actually believee that Jesus Christ is the only way, the only truth, the only life. How old fashioned can you get!

Pastor Gardner quotes Edward O. Wilson’s Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge, Wilson’s grand conclusion is that “all tangible phenomena, from the birth of stars to the workings of social institutions, are based on material processes that are ultimately reducible, however long and tortuous the sequences, to the laws of physics.” He envisions the unification of the natural sciences with the social sciences and humanities. As he puts it, “The human condition is the most important frontier of the natural sciences,” and “the material world exposed by the natural sciences is the most important frontier of the social sciences and humanities. The consilience argument can be distilled as follows: the two frontiers are the same.

Can you imagine how much fun it must be to sit through a sermon with Brother Clinton? Wow—Consilience—niceice word. What biblical text would he use? Existentialism and nascent naturalism can be pretty cold bedfellows.

Seriously, though, these peckerwoods are arguing quite eloquently that 1. My fundamentalism is not only irrelevant, it is uncool and rude (what a low blow!). 2. My belief that that the Bible is the inerrant, infallible Word of God is, well, old fashioned. 3. Finally, my belief in a 24 hour creation is likewise dumb.

What can I say? I believe all these things and more. The God I serve is amazing, far more amazing than the God of Brothers Clinton and Edward. And I don’t want to play footsy with anyone! Po te weet.

Morality – Part 2

Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009

Moral decisions are made by:

  • Factual Information Values and Loyalties
  • Mode of Moral Reasoning Biblical Beliefs
  1. Values are manifested in human relationships.
  2. Moral/Faith growth only occurs when there is dissonance.
  3. Goal: unselfish act under authority of the Word of God in relationship with God (see Romans 12).
  4. Risk is involved in moral/faith.
  5. Learning to think critically can accelerate moral/faith development.

Faith=Hebrews 11; Morality=Romans 12.

An Excuse To Be Redeemed

Monday, August 24th, 2009

Friedrich Nietzsche is one of my favorite philosophers. No, I do not agree with him. But I really appreciate that he called the hand of the naturalists. If life is a struggle for existence in which the fittest survive, then strength is the ultimate virtue–to call “strength” a virtue truly was even too radical for the naturalists/evolutionists. But, Neitzsche is right. For the first time, virtue is not connected to knowledge (Plato). Good is what survives, which wins; bad is what gives way and falls (Will Durant). The naturalists were brave enough to reject religion, Nietzsche said, but too cowardly to reject Christian morality.

Nietzsche warned us, though, that with the collapse of Christianity and the rise of nascent naturalism, a totalitarian state was inevitable. We see in the life of Adolf Hitler the dark fulfillment of that prophecy.

The good news, however, is that there is strength in weakness, in Christ. We are crucified with Christ nonetheless we live . . . Gals. 2: 20. Nietzsche got it wrong. Christianity is not an excuse to be powerless but an excuse to be redeemed. Within that theological concept–something that cannot be duplicated philosophically–the believer is more fulfilled that Nietzsche taunted superman.

Out of the Silent Planet

Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009

In Out of the Silent Planet, C.S. Lewis illustrates how humans on planet Earth are corrupted by and corrupt others by evil. To contrast and shed light on the spiritual plaques of Earth, the author created the planet of Malacandra to portray a utopian world where the inhabitants live together in peace instead of in fear and separation. On Earth, human beings have become motivated by selfishness and greed. Satan, the “Bent One,” rules Earth and has corrupted their souls. Because of Earth’s evil, the other planets and spirits in the universe cannot hear the cries from this “silent” planet. In return, humans cannot be healed or feel the love that is available to them from the universe. Sound familiar, Saints? Like the world before Christ our Lord came as a man? (Adapted from http://www.reemcreations.com/literature/planet.html many quotes are verbatim from this Internet site)

Lewis has a rather orthodox view of evil. The planet Mars or “Malacandra,” is an ideal world where the inhabitants coexist in harmony and peace. They are personal friends with their God, Maleldil, and are ruled by Oyarsa, the Great Spirit who protects and watches over them.

Likewise the Malacandra’s beings, the Sorns, Pfifltriggi, and Hrossa, realize their differences but accept and love each other nevertheless: “they can talk to each other, they can cooperate, they have the same ethics” (156). While humans dishonor and compete against each other for their own selfish gains, the beings on Malacandra love even creatures that are harmful to them. “The hnakra is our enemy, but he is also our beloved” (75). The Malacandrans also respect their planet and honor the cycles and balance in nature. “I do not think the forest would be so bright, nor the water so warm, nor love so sweet, if there were no danger in the lakes” (75). They are true ecologists!http://www.reemcreations.com/literature/planet.html

One of the major problems with Earth’s corruption is that humans compete against others in a “survival of the fittest” method. In other words the theist Lewis is critical of naturalism. They will destroy those whom they view as inferior to them. For example, Devine and Weston, the two captors who brought Ransom to Malacandra, think they can take over the planet. Devine and Weston believe they are superior to the ‘primitive’ Malacandrans. “It is in the might of Life herself, that I am prepared without flinching to plant the flag of man on the soil of Malacandra: to march on, step by step, superseding, where necessary, the lower forms of life that we find, claiming planet after planet” (137).
What Devine and Weston do not realize is that they live in fear of death, while the Malacandrans are aware that death is a natural part of life. “One thing we left behind us on the harandra: fear. And with fear, murder and rebellion. The weakest of my people does not fear death” (140). Threatening to kill off the Malacandrans cannot strike fear in their hearts. “It is the Bent One, the Lord of your world, who wastes your lives and befouls them with flying from what you know will overtake you in the end. If you were subjects of Maleldil, you would have peace” (140).

Out of the Silent Planet is a powerful apologetic piece where Lewis powerfully portrays the dangers of modernism and the potentialities of Christianity.

As a River Moves . . .

Monday, July 20th, 2009

As a river moves, so too has society continually rippled along from one mindset to another with a seamless expectation of being more enlightened than the previous generation. Periodically I try to pull ashore and peer into the waters to examine bubbles of ideas as they swish around and over rocky and smooth experiences. Come ashore with me now to look at one particular trickle in mass society’s thought…

Lately there has been a flourish of articles written on our Post-Christian culture. Unarguably America is heading to become a post-western and post-Christian country. With this current has drifted a predictable negative attitude towards Christianity. If you believe in God you’re a hypocritical dope with a theatrical Limbaugh for an uncle.

For those of us who are entering into higher education or the workforce know that you are not entering a secular environment, no, it is flamboyantly anti-Christian. Atheist writer Sam Harris writes “It is perfectly absurd for religious moderates to suggest that a rational human being can believe in God, simply because that belief makes him happy.”

So what do we do as classically educated socially inept homeschoolers? Traveling around the country, a small cry is arising to abandon our culture all together and split for the countryside. There could be a no more devastating occurrence to our culture. Tides like Harris design their actions to purposefully drive a wedge between intellect and faith, “absurd… that a rational human being caan believe in God…”

Paul writes in 2nd Corinthians chapter 2 about being a “pleasant fragrance”. In Paul’s time, Rome had a special fragrance that was burned during their triumphal procession as a medium of announcing victory over their enemies across the city. Our lives are to be the fragrance, the salt and light, the witness of Christ to our culture. It is a battle to fight this attempt at separating intellect and faith. Won not by removing all moral beings but instead by permeating our colleges with individuals who are Christian as well as intellectual leaders.

Paul fought this battle everyday in synagogue after synagogue. Let us enter this world well prepared to be world changers for Christ at no more crucial a time. Refuse to stand on the shores but jump headlong into the rapids, because o ur culture’s salvation in Christ depends upon it.

The Trapeze Artist

Tuesday, July 7th, 2009

I sometimes find our struggle is letting go of yesterday’s blessing in order to have room in our hands to hold tomorrow. Like yourself, I do not know what tomorrow brings, but if our God is still faithful–and we know He is–then tomorrow will hold a bigger blessing as we trust Him to move us from glory unto glory.

I liken this chapter in our lives to the trapeze artist. The truly remarkable displays are when the trapezist has let go of one bar and is flying in mid air, trusting the next bar will be there just in time–not a moment sooner or later.

I think this more biblical example might encourage you. I was leading a bible study through Exodus a few months ago. And as you know, leading a study often does as much for the teacher as the listener. I spent time researching geographical satellite maps and photographs of the real location of Mt Sinai and the real journey Israel took versus the typical ones in many bible maps. Exod 13:17 says, “God did not lead them by the way of the land of the Philistines, even though it was near.” When you look at the geography, this was the shortest distance between Egypt and the promised land. But God did not choose the easy road. Instead He took them through the “scenic route” at the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula.

Then Exod 13:20 says they camped “… at the edge of the wilderness.” After lining up the historic locations in scripture with the photographic maps, the evidence was clear: God led them to a dead end. The wilderness is to the north and the west. The Red Sea is to the east. The only clear path is to the south from which they came. After God had them camp at this dead end–just to let the situation really sink in–He then told them to turn back (14:2), basically retracing their journey to the south. When they did, Pharoah met them head on.

Isn’t it interesting that God put them in a situation where they clearly saw the ends of their means–the edge of the wilderness, the Red Sea, and trapped by the enemy? So it no surprise in 14:11 when Israel is scared and cries out, “Why did you bring us here to die?” Only when they saw the hopelessness of the situation was the stage perfectly set for God to display Himself in miraculous power.

So friend, here’s to watching and waiting for our God to display His mighty hand once again! Indeed, I will pray for you and your family and ask you do the same for me and my family.

In Him,

David