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Sunday, March 14 8:34 AM One of our Haven of Rest CDs had this old hymn on it. It blesses and challenges me every time I listen to it. Here are the words:
Did you notice that oh-so-powerful line? "Mercy's door is still ajar." It's still ajar, friends! It's still ajar for the nations of the world. But one day it will CLOSE! That line haunts me. And I doing everything I possibly can to see that the nations believe and obey? "Mercy's door is still ajar." 8:18 AM In case you should have nothing better to do with your time, mosey on over to Lionel Woods' site. There you'll find a magnificently-written post about the bankruptcy of politics. The accounts I read of the recent debates over health care have a strange similarity to those Homer gives Hades -- a place of acute despair. It certainly looks as though an age of tyranny is before us, inasmuch as such large-scale social engineering must inevitably impose tyranny. It produces problems too complex to solve except by bureaucratic "planning," which always leads to more planning, which always means more and more bureaucracy and tyranny. I see no hope in politics whatsoever. The notion that we can "fix" the world through political means is a lie that has fueled the worst kinds of demonic arrogance. Jesus' way is different. It is the way of sacrificial love. And it is the only way. 7:57 AM As a late winter storm, majestic in its fury, passed over the farm, we gathered for supper last night at Bradford Hall.
The Blacks were here ...
... as was Miss Rachael, a friend of ours from the seminary.
Nolan seems to be enjoying life in our kitchen.
And here he is eating. He has discovered that he can hold on to the spoon with his teeth.
What a blast to watch.
And what a great evening! Saturday, March 13 5:16 PM We have a guest for supper tonight. She brought a delicious-looking chocolate cake too. 5:05 PM Team work. That's what farming is all about. I'd hate to think of doing all the farm work by myself, or for Nate to do it all by himself either. For example, we have fenced and cross-fenced all 123 acres of our farm, together. It would have taken a lot longer if Nate had tried to do it by himself. In fact, I doubt that it could have been done by one person. Plus, working together is just plain fun. A good fun. A difficult fun. A fun-that-puts-you-to-bed-tired-but-happy kind of fun. I enjoy it immensely. Nate works me to death, but it keeps me in shape for all the walking we do in Ethiopia. I love it! Below: I'm tossing hay bales to Nate who stacks them in the trailer.
We distribute them for our night feeding.
A few of the happy recipients of all of our team work.
So, let's always remember the importance of team work on a farm. It works in the church too! 2:40 PM This message is for Caleb. Caleb, here's a picture of a really pretty feather I found while Uncle Nathan and I were working down near the creek today.
I believe it once belonged to a turkey. I know you're collecting feathers so I'll save it for you. You can get it when you come to visit Mama B and me on Monday. I hope you like it. I love you bunches. Papa B 2:34 PM How are yall doing on this absolutely gorgeous Saturday afternoon? We've been as busy as beavers here on the farm. Today Nate and I completed a project that had been waiting in the wings for far too long. We took advantage of the break in the rain to finish cross-fencing a 40-acre section of the farm. Now we have two 20-acre sections! Here's Nate building the gate between these sections.
My job as gofer, nail pounder, and, of course, photographer, was very taxing!
All that was left was for us to run one stand of barbed wire along the top of the woven wire fence, and --
-- voilà! Have you ever seen a purdier fence in all youse life? As I type, Nate is moving the bulls into this pasture. No force or coaxing necessary. They just follow him (as in John 10) -- usually!
Becky, meanwhile, has been getting us packed for our trip. Here are some stamps she designed and printed for the Galana clinic.
This is just one of several stamps that will make the operation of the clinic more organized. "BKHC" stands for "Burji Kale Heywot Church," the association of local evangelical churches we work with in this part of Ethiopia.
These SD cards will carry the Bible teaching of J. Vernon McGee to the Burjis and the Gujis in both Amharic and Orominya.
So the good work goes on. How much fun! 8:28 AM In his essay Convoluted Priorities, Jerry Rankin shows that the battle for the Great Commission will be fought on the soil of each local church in the SBC. If the Great Commission does not pose a radical challenge to the status quo in our churches and in the way we are prioritizing our time, resources, and energies, it will be our own fault. I am sure that, while a retooling of our priorities calls for immense patience and love, it does not allow any slacking of effort or prayer. It is not yet clear to me how the renewed emphasis on global missions will be seen in the perspective of history. Yet in my mind, nothing can remove from the Gospel the absolute imperative of equality (2 Cor. 8:13). I am positive that, as long as I have breath in my body, I must continue to call the church in North America to repent of our waste and extravagance. 7:58 AM Today Robyn Blumner sounds the patriotism alarm in a fine essay called Real Patriots Uphold Our Values and cites a delightful story from the American Revolution along the way. A sampler:
My take?
In the final analysis, I concur with President Theodore Roosevelt who said, "Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the President or any other public official save exactly to the degree in which he himself stands by the country." 7:40 AM In my book Paul, Apostle of Weakness, I spend a good deal of time discussing Paul's infamous and puzzling "thorn in the flesh."
We don't know what it was exactly. Some say it was epilepsy. Others believe it had something to do with his eyes. Still others think Paul was referring to his enemies. Perhaps the most widely offered suggestion in Christian history is that Paul suffered from chronic headaches. Today many scholars believe that these headaches were caused by a particularly violent type of malaria that was prevalent in Asia Minor. Sufferers described their headaches as stakes turning round and round in their heads. Thus it is quite possible that Paul's "thorn" (= stake!) was malaria. He had, however, learned to accept it and to view it, not as a burden, but as something through which the grace of God came to him. Yesterday I was asked if I am careful to take my anti-malaria medications when I travel to Ethiopia. The answer, of course, is a very definite YES. But the truth is that medicine is no absolute guarantee that one won't come down with the disease. This will be my first trip back to Ethiopia since my hospitalization with malaria last summer. I am not anxious about it. If I should have a recurrence, so be it. It will be God's will, though certainly not mine. This does not make me a hero. Christians in Ethiopia suffer far worse. Yet frankly I am glad that I am now better able to identify, as least partly, with the malaria sufferers I will encounter in Ethiopia, especially in Alaba where malaria in endemic. Believe me, their pain will not go unnoticed.
7:14
AM
1) The Christian life is shaped and directed by the love of God. 2) The Christian life is a life of love. 3) The Christian life is a life of sacrifice. From his study of the New Testament Barclay concluded that
This is truly the crux of the Christian life. Doctrine must be experienced, and love must be at core of it all. We have been placed on this earth, not to get but to give. This too is my belief, and I hope to make it my way. (Of course, theology is not to be minimized along the way, and I certainly don't agree with many of Barclay's positions. Some say he was a universalist -- a view that I find abhorrent!) Any good biographies you've read lately? 6:57 AM Over at the Poulos Blog, Alex reviews Invitation to the Septuagint, one of the textbooks Bob Cole and I are requiring in our LXX class this fall. I heartily agree with his conclusion:
Friday, March 12 9:22 PM Just read through Ruth in its entirety. What marvelous word plays the book contains. Bethlehem (Place of Food) experiences a famine! Mr. "No Name" shows up in 4:1! I go could on and on. Above all, what a message the book contains: God loves the poor and needy. And He richly rewards people like Boaz who demonstrate steadfast love by helping them. To all those who this very day are sacrificially loving others in the name of Jesus -- may He reward you bountifully for your love! P.S. I love 3:11, where Boaz says to Ruth, "The whole town knows that you are a woman who has strength of character."
Boaz was attracted to a strong woman, and some of us have the privilege of being married to one -- strength of character, strength of conviction, strength of spirit and mind. Can there be a greater blessing? 9:08 PM The Blacks visited us this evening. I'm amazed at how quickly Nolan is growing up. He's now got 8 teeth and more on the way.
I look at his dad and I look at Nolan and I am reminded of that wonderful old saying, "The child is father to the man." There's Nathan, who I remember when he was Nolan's age as if it were yesterday. And then there's Nolan -- at the very beginning of life, in full potential and not yet marred by the passage of time or the assaults of disease and age. What a blessing. What a blessing. 4:28 PM Here's a partial list of churches in Person County, NC (pop. 38,000): And here's a list of churches among the 611,000 people called the Bishnoi of India:
I ask you: Where is the greater need for our time, energy, and financial resources? If we evangelicals are going to reach the unreached peoples of this world, things are going to have to change in our local churches. My advice? If God has indeed called us to take up His cause, we should partner together with whatever other like-minded churches there are in our area who are are willing to catch this vision, call on believers to make radical sacrifices for it to happen, and put together a huge volunteer force to get the job done. Now the glory would go to God instead of our local church or denomination. Now the scales would be balanced between the haves and the have-nots. Now we could stop asking missionary agencies to do what we should be doing. Now we would be supporting the work of the kingdom rather than spending most of our wealth on ourselves. And now God's transnational kingdom would advance. Think about it. And get busy being Great Commission churches. 3:35 PM I invite political activists and social reformers to contemplate the words of Allan Bevere in his latest post called On Why the Culture of Corruption in Washington Will Only Get Worse and then tell me with a straight face that politics has a chance of rescuing us by pursuing reform within the system. Allan writes:
Ah yes, we shall all live happily ever after once we have socialized health care in the United States. Whadya say? We already do?!!?? 3:25 PM Looks like the adoption process in Ethiopia has just gotten longer. 3:13 PM Just back from the UNC Ambulatory Care Center in Chapel Hill. Guess who has a broken toe? Yep. Its her left pinky. The doc's got her all fixed up, though, with a special shoe, just in time for all the trekking she'll be doing in the mountains of Burji. Speaking of Utopia, after our doctor's visit we lunched at the Queen of Sheba, where we became reacquainted with our old friend Friesh who used to operate the Blue Nile restaurant in Durham.
The food, the ambience, the music -- all was wonderful, and we highly recommend you pay it a visit the next time you're in Chapel Hill. For directions and a menu go here. Thank you, Friesh, for a wonderful dining experience. We felt right "at home."
8:24 AM We've just added another essay to our Spanish files. It's by Becky and is called Dios no me hizo para Sufrir (Parte II). Part 3 forthcoming. 7:38 AM Alan Knox has been posting his thoughts about the church meeting, carefully examining the key texts from the book of Acts. And a fine series it is too. His descriptions are often glowing, as well they should be. Passages such as Acts 2:41-47 are not unrealistic ideals, lovely to contemplate but impossible to realize. They describe normal Body health. If our churches do not enjoy the same measure of health, the problem is not in the book of Acts. I have a sneaking suspicion that it will take a major crisis in America for the church to go from abnormal or subnormal to normal. "Nominal" Christianity is an abomination and the sooner we are rid of it the better. 7:34 AM T. C. Robinson writes:
Something is terribly wrong when we invest
in such things as Praise & Worship Seminars
and Conferences and Workshops, and so forth.
Our fellowships don’t need professionals who’ve been to seminars and the like. They just need to release their Spirit-anointing (Eph. 5:18-21). I agree, mostly. I would prefer to begin the discussion in Eph. 5:15, where Paul describes the difference between wise and foolish living. It is the height of folly to think that worship is the purpose of the gathered church. It most certainly is not (see Rom. 12:1-2). I've written more here: Enter to Serve, Depart to Worship. 7:12 AM Once Jesus was in a ship, but with Him were "other little ships" (Mark 4:36).
Today the main ship of the church is Lordship. Once we settle the issue of who's the boss in our churches, all the other little ships will fall into palace -- worship, fellowship, discipleship, and stewardship. But the bottom line is this: God's work must be done in God's way. We American Christians easily get the idea that churches are like civic clubs or community organizations. They are not! We often think that America is a Christian nation. It is not! (This is especially hard for us to get right. Just try removing the American flag from your church building and see what an uproar that would cause.) Christians are members of a holy nation ruled in love by the Lord of the universe. If we don't get this matter of Lordship right, we will certainly fail the test of every other "ship" out there. 7:03 AM Good thoughts on heresy by Eric Carpenter. He writes:
He is right. To be a Christian today we must have the heart of a child and the rind of a rhinoceros. The danger is that along with standing for the truth we will harden our hearts toward people. There are some teachings in the church today that are not to be accepted but rather challenged and (hopefully) corrected. In all of this, however, the serpent's wisdom must be balanced by the innocent of the dove. God grant us balance. Thursday, March 11 8:59 PM Deo volente, in exactly one week Becky will be arriving at Bole Airport in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia!!! I am SO excited for her. (I will arrive a day later as this will save us some money.) You can take the little girl out of Ethiopia, but you can never take Ethiopia out of the little girl.
8:45 PM Becky's watching on old Waltons episode tonight. Me: "That's what I'm becoming in our family -- the old man." (Referring to John Walton's dad affectionately known as "Grandpa"). Becky: "Yes, but you need the stomach to match."
8:27 PM My assistant just pdf-ed me a copy of Jan Lambrecht's article "Paulus vermag alles door de kracht van God; zwakheid en sterkte." Lambrecht is one of my all-time favorite authors.
The article appeared in the Nederlands Theologisch Tijdschrift. Lambrecht summarizes Paul's theology in the latter's own words: Als ik swak ben, dan ben ik sterk. No truer words were ever spoken. God's means of making us strong is by making us weaker and weaker until the divine power alone in seen in our lives. Oh God, break me down until Thy power alone is seen in me! 7:55 PM My time on campus today was a blast. I trust the Holy Spirit was at work too. I had never been to the vet campus before so I helped myself to a little tour before my talk. I felt right at home -- horse stables, chicken houses, hay barns, etc. It is a really huge campus and an expanding one too. I counted at least three new buildings going up on the south campus. At the same time, the student body is fairly small -- only about 80 students in each class. My lecture today was given in a theater style classroom that reminded me of the lecture halls in Basel. I'd say about 50-60 people were present, including a couple of faculty members. The biggest challenge for me was deciding on what to focus on. I chose to hone in on three areas: 1) Are there contradictions in the New Testament? (Apparently so, but each "contradiction" I believe has a plausible explanation that does not require us to surrender belief in the Bible's inspiration. My example came from the temptation narratives in Matthew and Luke.) 2) Was the text of the New Testament corrupted in transmission? (Again, the answer is a qualified yes, but through the art and science of New Testament textual criticism we can reconstruct a text that approximates the original. Of course, I'm not always sure whether the correct reading is printed in the text of my Greek New Testament or in the apparatus, but it's my humble opinion that we haven't lost a single word of the New Testament despite the failures in its transmission. I used Matt. 5:22 as an example of this.) 3) Can we apply insights from secular science to the study of the New Testament documents? (Again, the answer is yes, and I tried to illustrate this by giving a few examples from linguistics and psychology.) I also brought along some books and a couple of essays from my website that I thought vet students might be interested in. The most popular one by far was My Horses, My Teachers. My goal was to get behind the worldview wall that so many university students throw up. Only God knows if I was successful. I will gladly leave the results in His hands! Thank you for your emails, for your prayers, and above all for your love for the lost. I can't wait to do it again! 7:32 PM Isn't You Tube phenomenal? We've already had over 200 views of our Greek DVD clip, and just today we received two more orders, praise be to God! Here's another very brief clip I uploaded to You Tube this evening. It shows a believer in Burji who has just been fitted for reading glasses. Just think -- here's someone who has not been able to read his Bible for years (and Amharic script is teeny tiny), but because of a gift from his brothers and sisters in America he can see the words again and they're not just one big blur. We haven't kept track of exactly how many reading glasses we've distributed in Ethiopia, but it numbers in the thousands. When I look at this clip I think: Who was that individual in America whom the Lord led to drive to Dollar Tree and spend time and effort and money to purchase this pair of non-prescription reading glasses and then send it on to us? We don't know who that person was, but God does. May He bless him or her for it. 3:28 PM Texas rules! 3:20 PM Quick update: 1) Had a great time at NC State! More later. 2) If God is appointing you to help with the rabies treatment, please make your checks payable to Bethel Hill Baptist Church, write "Operation Ethiopia, rabies" in the memo section, and send them to Becky Lynn Black, 2691 White House Rd., Nelson VA 24580. Thank you again! 8:15 AM Ever been bitten by a dog? I have. I was about 8, and the dog left deep teeth marks. Sure glad it wasn't rabid. In Ethiopia, rabies is a huge problem. A rabid dog bite is fatal. Unless.... You can get the whole story in Becky's latest essay posted on our home page. It's called, simply, Rabies. Read it, then ask the Lord Jesus what you might do to help. 7:50 AM In Matt. 28:19-20, Jesus tells us to go deep and wide. We go wide through evangelism and deep through discipleship/edification. Both are commanded, and both are necessary. Today, as you know, I'll be speaking at North Carolina State University's School of Veterinary Medicine.
I'll be talking to a group of disciples who want their friends to become disciples who will make other disciples who in turn will make more -- and the process goes on and on. I am really excited to be among a group of university students again. I spent 9 years studying at Biola University (earning 2 degrees) and 3 years studying at the University of Basel. Before I left Hawaii for California in 1971, I had taken courses at the University of Hawaii. God loves university students! There are a smart bunch who demand significance in their lives. University students are uniquely poised to merge business and ministry for maximum kingdom impact. In Switzerland I once heard Francis Schaeffer say that when you become a Christian you don't have to put your brain in park or neutral. Thinking people can be followers of Jesus! For those of you who are reading this blog right now, thanks for joining me in my journey. I look forward to doing my best to represent the Lord of lords today at NC State but I need your prayers. If you don't mind, send me an email and let me know you're joining my "prayer team" today. Thank you God for giving me a zeal for the Gospel of your Son Jesus Christ! Will you grant me your power and wisdom as I seek to make disciples for your honor today? 7:38 AM Quote of the day:
Read Jesus wept. 7:28 AM I've begun reading Henkel's Kraft in Schwachheit and am loving it. After all, he mentions my Paul, Apostle of Weakness on the very first page! I had to smile, though, when he quotes me as saying (p. 141, n. 103) "the continuous aspect of weakness in Paul's life ist [sic] emphasized." Jawohl!
7:04 AM And the winner is Jason Kees, who correctly identified the book as Ruth. My thanks to all who played! Last night I re-read all four chapters of this superbly-crafted little book in Greek. What wonderful lessons it contains -- grammatically and spiritually! Wednesday, March 10 7:55 PM Quote of the day (Arthur Sido):
7:39 PM It's late and I'm tired but if I don't post this now I might forget tomorrow. Here's a picture of what my office desk looked like this afternoon.
I was sorting through all the books and articles related to weakness that I need to work through before I get down to writing the last chapter of my revised Paul, Apostle of Weakness. I actually counted them too. Thus far Andy Bowden has collected 18 books and 48 journal articles for me to read. Tomorrow evening I plan to go through two of them with a fine toothed comb: Die Starken und die Schwachen in Korinth und Rom by Volker Gäckle, and Kraft in Schwachheit by Ulrich Heckel. The first book has 636 pages, while the second has a mere 390. Excited to see what God is going to teach me through reading these works. 7:20 PM Man, I am so blessed to be able to teach the LXX course with brother Robert Cole this fall. We will be meeting on Wednesdays from 12:30 to 3:20. Hope to see many of you there. Today we decided on the book we will be exegeting in depth from both the Hebrew and Greek texts. It's short, sweet, and one of the best examples of rhetorical artistry in the entire Hebrew Bible. What book am I talking about? Here's a picture of the Greek text.
Care to guess? The first person to write me with the correct answer gets a free copy of Christian Archy. (I love contests!) Students have been asking for this course for a long time. God has truly blessed their prayers. Now my prayer is that the Holy Spirit will use it in all of our lives to make us better interpreters and doers of God's Holy Word! 6:55 PM I got the most wonderful message on my office answering machine today while was I in class. Becky called to say that Chloe had just given birth to 5 puppies and that she (Becky) had been called in to "baby-sit" the pups while Nate and Jess ran a couple of errands. Which meant that I couldn't wait to get home to snap a couple of pix for posterity. Here's one of them for your evening entertainment. I don't think I've ever seen sweeter puppies. Congratulations to the proud mama.
5:58 PM On this day in 1528. 5:53 PM Fellow Greek students: Rod Decker calls our attention to a discount on the Greek New Testament published by the United Bible Societies. Check it out before purchasing yours. 5:50 PM Lee University announces an opening in Theological Ethics. 5:45 PM To answer Andy's question: The reason we don't admit our sins and faults to one another is because a spirit of deep sleep has lulled us into the stupor of a fool's paradise. We therefore treat symptoms rather than the disease. But to treat cancer with temporary palliatives without getting at the cancer is to endanger the victim still more. And pastors? Pastors do not acknowledge their weaknesses and faults because they are afraid of losing either their status or their jobs. The fact is, God uses broken things. He uses broken sod to produce grain, broken grain to produce bread, and broken bread to feed our bodies. King Saul in the Old Testament was never broken and he killed himself. Pharisee Saul in the New Testament was broken and became Paul. 5:40 PM Quote of the day:
Read On Working In 2 Tents. 5:34 PM I've been thinking… The most dangerous tool in Satan's arsenal is distraction. He loves to distract us with things that don't matter. It won't matter in the end of time whether or not we had fancy buildings in which to worship God. It won't matter in the Day of Judgment whether we had impressive programs in our churches. It won't matter one bit when Jesus returns whether or nor we voted for the "right" politicians. The only thing that matters is that we live as good citizens of heaven in a manner that is worthy of the Gospel. This is Paul's word to us in Phil. 1:27. Listen friends, when Paul says "The only thing that matters" he means "The ONLY thing that matters." We ought to ask God to test our hearts to see whether living radically for the Gospel is truly the only thing that matters to us. We need to be cultivating relationships with non-believers in our communities and around the world with a view to introducing them to the most radical, revolutionary Person the world has ever known. Paul perfectly illustrates the point: Here was a man who was totally consumed with the Gospel to the point of giving his life for it. Here was a man who sacrificed all the comforts of his good life in Tarsus to experience suffering because he loved other people more than he loved himself. Here is Paul in his own words:
Wow! Anyone you know ever suffered like that for the Gospel? Listen friends, our world today has 6.4 billion individuals living in 234 geo-political nations with over 16,000 people groups. Of those people groups, more than 6,900 remain least-reached. This simply means they are a people group lacking an indigenous community of believing Christians with adequate numbers and resources to evangelize their own people. This means that 1 in 4 people groups remain without access to the gospel. Here's a partial listing of them. Our Lord Jesus was careful time and again to stress the cost of all-out devotion to Him. Our church rolls are loaded with people who claim to be following Jesus but who have no idea of His priorities for the church. What many churches need is a big farewell party in which we tell this age goodbye. We sing "Content to let the world go by" while wearing ourselves out trying to keep up with it! Well, I have said my goodbye to cheap Christianity. I have said my goodbye to raising up vast edifices of wood, hay, and stubble. I have said my goodbye to a little religion. I have said goodbye to the cheap satisfactions of this world. I am fed up with the husks of swine. The water of Life, the meat of the Word, the manna of Heaven – there is a King's table waiting for the believer, and the supply is inexhaustible. True missionary activity should be the outflow of who we are in Christ. It is one thing to pay God a tip on Sunday morning. It is another thing to submit to His plan and program in uncompromising, unquestioning obedience every day of our lives. John Piper puts it well:
What a time for the church in North America to be drunk with her own amusements and comfort and success when she should be awake and alert to the Lord's commission! His business is our business as Christians. We have no other. There is only one way to handle the problem scripturally and that is to surrender our unsurrendered selves, repent of our ingrownness and self-centeredness, and then get back to being about the Father's business! Students, I challenge you to love Jesus more than anything or anyone else. I challenge you to accomplish great things for the kingdom sacrificially. I challenge you to love the lost more than you love your comfort. There are a good many causes you can get caught up in, but there is only one cause that is worth living and dying for. Rather than blindly going along with the culture and even with the church subculture that is focused on itself, I challenge you to go wide with the Gospel among your friends and to the uttermost parts of the earth. Let’s live for the Cause of all causes! Tuesday, March 9 6:24 AM Are you ready for the answers to yesterday's contest questions? Here they are: 1) Diamond Head 2) Arizona Memorial 3) Royal Hawaiian Hotel 4) Pali Lookout 5) Aloha Tower 6) Kailua (home sweet home) And... The first blogger to get all 6 answers correct is none other than: Thomas Roten Thomas, along with wife Kaitlin, blog here. Thomas just happens to be a SEBTS student (whom I've never met) who lived in Kailua for a time. Congratulations Thomas. Please send me an email today with your choice of book. And thanks to all who played along! |
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