allright, this time i'm really back

Well, after my post a month ago I thought I'd be back to blogging regularly but I ended up working full-time for the furniture store, having some relatives in from Texas and working on figuring out PHP scripting (again, that made my week.)

On thinking about working on the new scripting language I did realize that it was, in fact, very spiritual. I don't mean that php is the language of God, but I do think that the process of learning and thinking I had it, and then realizing I didn't, was deeply spiritual.

There were many times that I tried to write code before I knew what I was doing and it didn't work. I'd click on something and instead of doing what it was supposed to do, it would just sit there. It was discouraging. But I had a goal: to learn php so that the website would be easier to handle in the long run.

Now, take that idea (of working on something very hard and failing time and again but pushing on because of the end result) and put it into your mind for Christ. That's what we do as we seek to know Him and His word better. We study and we think and we act...and many times we fail. But sometimes we succeed and we get pumped that we've figured something out about the character of God or about how we should behave so that Christ is magnified.

So, continue the struggle. I'll be trying to make it work on this end.

-joe

this is in no way spiritual...i think

I just figured out how to use php stuff on the Bailey's Furniture webpage (it's still in development so don't complain when things don't work right.)

I had to write to tell the world, cause it took me a couple of weeks of staring at a computer screen of code to figure it out. But now, instead of copying and pasting countless lines of code I can type a simple statement...and be done. That is awesome.

I feel awesome.

What a good day.

-joe

back to the grindstone

Well, after two barbecues, a pontoon ride (and near sink) and a last meal at Moe & Johnny's, my sister left for Honduras again. The capital city, Tegucigalpa (Tegus for short), is still shut down to airplanes so she had to fly into San Pedro Sula instead.

She landed a couple of hours ago and is heading back to Esuela El Sembrador (which is now 8 hours ago instead of 4.)

Pray for her as she travels and pray for the kids at the school and the missionaries there that God would be glorified in their midst through the spread of the Gospel in Honduras.

-joe

the rbf

For those who missed the most amazing event of the year, the RBF (or Round Barn Festival for those city-slickers who don't know), it was incredible.

My sister has a sweet picture post you should check out.

And if you're wondering why we think the picture with the VFW cannon is so funny, let's just say there was a certain "incident" my dad's senior year of high school that involved a canon, a sheet, a lit up switchboard, the high school, handcuffs and about 12 people.

Don't ask too many questions...the details are a little fuzzy. (But I'll be glad to recount the whole thing to you sometime.)

-joe

simplifying life

I unsubscribed from about 120 blogs today in a small effort to simplify my life.

I've done this in other areas as well. I've stepped back from reading several books at a time to just 2 (ok, 3...but the third one is fiction.)

I've also started going to bed at a reasonable hour in the hope that I'll start getting up earlier. (It has worked a little bit. I'm getting up about a 1/2 hour earlier now.)

The more I simplify the more I'm reminded of how simple life really is.

Get up-trust in God.

Work-trust in God.

Hang out-trust in God.

Go to bed-trust in God.

Plus, with having 120 less subscribtions to read, I can blog more regularly.

-joe

this is jeopardy

I'm a fan of Jeopardy. It has a certain appeal for a lot of folks, despite the fact that most of us have no idea what the answers are...and most of the time we don't have any clue what the clue means. But, we still watch. It amazes us that people know the things that they know.

We are mesmerized by knowledge or the appearance of knowledge. There is no doubt that some of the folks on Jeopardy are some of the smartest people on the planet, but most of the contestants aren't that smart...they've simply memorized tons and tons of random trivia.

As I was watching tonights episode (which is close 18,400; 10,800; and 18,000 heading into the final clue) I couldn't help but think of this sad reality in churches.

Too often we let the person with the most "trivia" knowledge of Christianity be the teacher. They know a ton of stuff about a ton of stuff but many times they know little of Christ and the momentous weight it holds for believers. They can often spend hours talking of little known things in the history of Christianity or in Scripture but can't spend more than a few minutes discussing the implications of the resurrection of Jesus.

Perhaps we'd be wise to choose more foolish teachers. After all, we're told that the cross is foolishness and to avoid myths and speculations (trivia).

I often wonder if at times I look more like a Jeopardy contestant rather than a lover of Jesus when I teach.

Lord, make me a treasurer of the Gospel and a teacher of truth.

-joe

guitarring

I had forgotten how much I enjoy just sitting around strumming my guitar. I spent about an hour the past couple of evenings picking and plucking my way through a bunch of stuff and it was a lot of fun.

One of the benefits of being able to play an instrument (especially guitar...or piano...or banjo...or something of that sort) is that you can play accompaniment for yourself for any tune you know.

Tonight I spent most of the time singing through hymns that I've transcribed for guitar and it was a good time of worship, praising my God for his great salvation.

Find some time to do the same, if you can.

-joe

back on the wagon

Well, it's been nearly a month since I posted anything...but I've gotten my life almost halfway normalized, so I figured it was time to start writing again.

Once of the most difficult things in life is to own up to mistakes, sins and blunders. It is never easy to say "I was wrong" or "I said something that was hurtful and I apologize." Over the past month I've had to own up to a lot of junk. And, man, it has been tough at times.

On the other hand, it is easily one of the best feelings in the world to be free from the weight of unconfessed sins and mistakes. It takes a burden off that is hard to describe. I encourage all to confess freely...it brings freedom.

The other side, which I have found equally difficult, is to accept grace and forgiveness. I always thought confession was the hardest...but it is almost harder to accept forgiveness when you know there is no reason other than grace and love.

Ponder the weight of this in regards to salvation and the tears are sure to flow. You and I have stolen glory from God for years (and we continue to do so daily) and yet he loves us...for the sake of his own love. What an unfathomably great grace he bestowed in his Son, Christ Jesus.

Amen,

-joe

sitting on the cross

It is, without a doubt, the most crucial thing for Christians to meditate on the meaning of Jesus' death on the cross.

For me, there are several things this accomplishes and helps me to know.

The first is that it helps me to see God's working for His glory. He is willing to go the extent of killing His Son to perfect a sinner who has stolen His glory. That is motivation.

Leading from that is the, at times, overwhelming feeling of guilt that comes after joyfully believing in Christ as Savior and then sinning. It is like taking the most magnificent gift in the world and then stabbing the giver, for no good reason.

And then I see the resurrection looming beyond the cross and freedom once again comes back. And this, to me, is the more precious of the graces. To be able after believing and sinning to again say and feel and believe that you are truly forgiven and free. That is something that is difficult but is so important. And it comes because Christ died for each sin on the cross. And it frees us.

I want to know the freedom of the cross seen through the resurrection. May we all know that peace.

back home again

in Indiana. Ah, yes. Back home just in time to catch the beginnings of the Race.

Thanks to everyone who has prayed for me or helped me out in these last weeks. Things will be rocky for awhile yet, but I have faith that somehow God will be magnified in my weakness.

-joe

headin home

Today I'm heading back to my home in Indiana. Thanks for all the prayer and encouragement while I've been out here. I should be back on Sunday afternoon sometime.

-joe

the beauty of the mountains

Two days ago I spent some time hiking around the Absaroka mountains in western Montana. I snow-shoed it with my buddy, Joel. He's a much more avid hiker than I (you'd never guess given my stout appearance...haha) and I'm sure at times he would have loved to hike longer but, thankfully, he slowed and we went at my pace.

I love the mountains. Why? Because there are few places on earth (that I have been)that so encompass the enormity of God than in the mountains. They are huge, they are beautiful, they stir up fear and love, and I long to know them. The same is true of God: he's huge, he's beautiful, he causes fear and love, and I long to know him more.

I wish that each day I could wake and experience the joy of the mountains (not for the joy they cause but for God's.) But I don't want to have to depend on some created thing for a call to worship the greatest thing. Wouldn't it be a great life if each day it was no effort more than to open our eyes and be in love and in awe of our great Savior? O, Lord...let today be the first of those days.

-joe

the Gospel amazes me...and makes me crazy

My sister, who (along with my entire family and many friends) has been a great encouragement during my break with reality, asked me if I had not only known the great forgiveness of the Gospel but also truly accepted it.

Well. It's a hard answer.

I've accepted forgiveness. By that, I mean that I know and believe that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is absolutely true-that belief in Him as Savior and Lord truly saves us from hell and despair and into newness of life with the ability to magnify God.

But, I still struggle with it. Not because I don't believe it but because I do and it is hard to deal with believing it when you know the wickedness of your own heart. The Gospel is such a huge thing and has such an ability to confound the mind that it is difficult at times to understand it...even if you believe it.

How can a good, just, righteous, holy, magnficent, creator God ever love and embrace as His son one like me-or you? It is at that point, realizing the pit of my own heart that the Gospel is the hardest and makes me upset. To know that despite myself that God loves and that is the reality of the Gospel can sometimes be bittersweet because I, by myself, can't love like that. None of us can.

Forgiveness of people (including myself) only comes through an understanding of the forgiveness of God-which results in salvation.

The grace of God truly is amazing...but it still makes me crazy. I cry with the hymnest "Be of sin the double cure, save me from its guilt and power."

-joe

sometimes i just want to go away

Don't you? Aren't there times when the problems in your life (even though they are small) seem to add up to the insurmountable? That if you could, you'd just take what you have and run away and set up a new life?

Well, if you ever catch wind of a Bill Mahoney in your neighborhood and I've come up missing, then there's a good chance that I've done it.

But seriously, sometimes it is very easy to let those soft whispers in your ear about failure morph into thinking that you will never be able to talk of the good news of Jesus. Well, here is some encouragement for you.

Luke 22:31,32

"Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers."

Oh that Jesus would be praying this prayer for me and you. Truly, Satan prowls like a roaring lion but Jesus, in his grace, says this "I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one."

His grace comes and relieves our doubts and fears so that we are restored.

Read Richard Sibbes The Bruised Reed.

-joe