Friday brought Crystal (the Wife™) severe abdominal pain to her right side, though I was known to mistakenly refer to it as "abominable" pain. I think both descriptors are correct.
Saturday brought her an interminably long visit to the ER with no occurrences of a natural disaster, a hostage situation, a quarantine, or any other jumping-the-shark plot points.
Eight nurses, something like eighteen failed IV attempts, and a CT scan later, a swollen and "angry" (surgeon's words, not mine) appendix was successfully removed from her body and sent to whatever fate is reserved for good appendices gone bad.
Sunday brought home and rest. I hope the rest of the week brings her recovery. Please remember her in your prayers right now.
I wrote this a couple of nights ago as a back-up in case our guest preacher couldn't be there on Sunday or if we had to postpone the Bible class review due to traveling adversely affecting attendance. Neither situation popped up, but I wanted to be prepared.
I put a lot of work into this thing, making the notes and slides in one marathon all-nighter! I'll definitely be using it in the future.
Our world is not always a nice place. We see evidence of violence, sorrow, and hatred everywhere we look. Much of our common history is driven through conflict motivated by religious intolerance, ideological differences, oppression, or wonton cruelty. We are told by many political and even religious leaders to fear the world around us, to distrust those who are different from us, and to suspect anything we don’t understand. We are taught and reinforced to dwell on pain, hatred, and misery.
We live in a world that marginalizes the notion of peace, that chides a loving attitude as naïvety, and that demands conformity rather than embraces understanding. Too often, we laugh at those who would reflect these attitudes. So I want us to consider: what’s so funny ‘bout peace, love and understanding?
In Matthew 1, the New Testament opens with a genealogy establishing the lineage of Christ. Anyone familiar with the Bible knows it is full of genealogies. The first is in Genesis 4, and we have a tendency to gloss over these records. There is even danger that we may view these passages as mere padding or filler.
Think about the individuals contained within those verses – their families, their cultures, their histories. I Peter 1:19 and II Timothy 3:16 both make it clear that God is intentional with scripture. He inspires the writers to record what they do, so this infers a purpose behind every passage – even genealogies.
Who are we? That’s a question for which we need to have an answer before we can share our hope with the world. Jesus, in Mark 8:27, asks His apostles who they think He is. He wants them to think about their perceptions of Him, and what those conclusions imply. We have the same responsibility toward ourselves.
Our family names, occupations, levels of education, genders races – these factors and more provide certain assumptions about us. Beyond these, who are we spiritually? What terms define our spiritual lives to ourselves? How do others perceive us in this regard? Our actions inform others of who we are – our morals, our decisions, our associations, our priorities. These qualities contribute to our character, and our character will determine the reputation we have with others.
One of my rules of music: If you can strip a song down to one singer and one instrument and it can survive, it's probably a well-written song. I'm a particular sucker for acoustic guitars.
I also have to add that the version of this on a Colbert Christmas – while a little tongue-in-cheek – was actually very good. Where else would you see Stephen Colbert, Toby Keith, Willie Nelson, John Legend, Feist, and Elvis Costello all performing together?
Two good sermons by Tim today, but I have to admit that the side of me that leans toward intellectualism (which I worry Christians vilify too much) wants to hear more thoughts regarding sermon number two. What other proofs do you use regarding the inspiration of scripture?
Luke 10:38-42 records Jesus visiting the home of Mary and Martha. Martha is busy doing the work of a hospitable hostess with a large number of people in the house, and she asks Jesus to tell her sister to help with the workload. She receives an unexpected answer, however, when Jesus tells her that Mary is seeking after something more important. Jesus does not negate the importance of hospitality and looking after others’ needs, but he makes a distinction between things that are important and things that are essential.
How do we know the Bible is God's word, and what do we base our assumption on that the Bible is God’s only message to man. Numerous other religions have existed throughout history from various cultures, and many persist today. What gives us faith in the authenticity of the Bible as God’s true message to mankind?
In other news, I got to lead singing twice today. Fun times. Also, Jon Stewart's interview with Mike Huckabee this week was very good – two intelligent men discussing opposing viewpoints on a sensitive topic very respectfully.
Typology. I suspect you know what I mean; if not, I can outline a couple examples. The idea that writings existing hundreds of years before Christ could be accidentally so full of such diverse stories all of which so clearly foreshadow the life, purpose, death and resurrection of Christ is too preposterous to believe. Only alternative: it's all true.
