O dear blogger, will I abandon you? I have yet to decide fully but I'm teetering towards total abandonment. Why would I have you when I constantly ignore you?

Contending in Context

"to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints" (Jude 3)

I just listened to this sermon and really appreciated it. It's long and heavy so be prepared.
http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/MediaPlayer/1833/Audio/

In the last few weeks on campus, I feel like I have contended for all the 9 truths that he talks about that are central to our Christian faith but are being ripped into by the postmodern culture. Is it worth it - to hold tightly to these things? Yes! Am I archaic for doing so? No! Otherwise the good news of Jesus Christ having saved me from my sin is not true. For example, take the authority of the Bible out of the Gospel and you have nothing left. I pray that I have done that in a contextualized way - that is the difficult part. "I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings." (1 Cor.9:22-23)

2 for 1

Two posts in one night? Yup, it's a 2 for 1 deal, get it while it's hot.

I listened to a sermon on the drive home from Waterloo last night which I half enjoyed and half wrestled with. I enjoyed his perspective on the Gospel - the high view of all that God is for us and does for us. He quoted a conversation he had with a woman he was sharing with - she told him that she was scared of all that they had talked about. When asked why, she replied that legalism, or working to become acceptable to God, allowed her to maintain control - like God could only ask so much of her, she was owed something from him and he could only go so far. But grace on the other hand, being acceptable to God because of what he has done for you, was in essence losing control. In grace, God could ask anything of her. Control was no longer hers, anything was fair game. I appreciate this because it is SO TRUE. That is profound. It also flies in the face of what people often view grace as - a license to do as they wish. But a true, deep understanding of grace gives God the go ahead with anything and everything.

What I wrestled with in the sermon was what I think boils down to the "sin of assumption" (to use a "Rod-ism" for those who would know what I'm talking about). He assumes that people are actively sharing the Gospel with others but they are just doing it in a way that is less effective. He says that simply sharing the Gospel "does not work". I will assume his best so I think he was trying to say that we can't just preach it and leave - there needs to be an incarnation of the Gospel in our lives, deeper and broader explanation of all the implications, etc. But at the same time I think it could tend towards stripping the Gospel of it's inerrant power. Sharing the Gospel is powerful, even if you fumble through it. And I think "requiring" people to contextualize and intellectualize the Gospel before they begin sharing it takes evangelism out of the realm of the normal person and leaves it only in the hands of the "experts" which I strongly disagree with.

All this said, of course there needs to be growth in learning how to share the Gospel in a way that is effective, meets people's needs without compromising, and growth in asking penetrating questions. But the question is where do we start? Do we start with learning how to share the Gospel and then growing from there or do we wait until we have it all together and have answered all possible issues and then begin to share. The latter is scary.

Hmm, the English grammar today is stinksville, but you get the idea!

Christmas

I love Christmas. I'm not your typical "Christmas-lover" with the over the top decorations and "giddy with glee" type excitement. But I enjoy the excuse for extra time with favourite people, giving gifts, and feeling like it's completely okay to just chill at home for days. I even enjoy the malls because of the flurry of activity - but if anything would ruin the Christmas spirit its the mall parking lots.

Love It

I love my job. I watched students lug massive amounts of stuff across campus to our weekly meeting room. Others dressed up like "cotton candy" all for a laugh. Others got up in front of their peers to sing, dance, or....rap. All this (and much much more on a daily basis) for the sake of Christ's name being known on campus. I am so thankful for getting to live and work alongside great, great people.

Becoming "Torontonian"

So on Saturday, after starting out with a very "Charlie Brown" artifical Christmas tree, my roommate and I decided to put that one back in its box and go and buy a REAL Christmas tree. Not owning a car, that would mean carrying it home on the subway! The TTC culture still holds true when two girls laughing hysterically and carrying a stinking tree get onto the subway - you still are stoic, look straight ahead, don't move, don't smile, and certainly don't talk. How can you not laugh at that?!? Come on people! I wish I had more than just the "mental picture". But I did feel very Torontonian - everything by public transit.

Caved Again

How can you say 'no' when someone signs you up for facebook? I wrote a blog like this about a year ago when I caved and got a blog and now this. I feel like I'm a techie! (ya right, that will never happen)

10 years

Yesterday I learned that the girls in my 1st year Discipleship Group were born in 1988. I was 10. Make it stop!

Life On Hold

Saturday morning at 8:45am? Why am I blogging? Because I'm frustrated. Woke up determined to go my church's prayer meeting and community service thing this morning. Shoes are on and I'm holding my keys but then the voice of wisdom (her name is Stephanie, my roommate) looks at me and how crooked I am standing and tells me I really shouldn't go if my back is still so bad. Where is the sanity? I'm 27 not 80! I'm frustrated. I was doing so much better yesterday and then why do I wake up like this again this morning?

Relationships over the internet?

Last night I heard a comment from a student, "I felt like I've known her all my life." They had never actually 'met' except through facebook. Call me old-fashioned, or just call me old, but what ever happened to face-to-face communication? How can you really know a person when you don't see their facial expression, their instant response to what you say. How can you know a person when you don't know what their voice sounds like? How can you allow a person to truly know you when you can edit and spell-check all your responses?

About a year ago, I broke down and got a blog. It's not so I can keep in touch with my friends and so they can know what's going on in my life, because I don't often write what I'm actually thinking about (ie. this is not my journal people!). I just enjoy having an avenue to spew some opinions and thoughts really, regardless of who is "listening". If you read my blog, that doesn't mean you 'know' me.

I'm not against communication over email, blogs, facebook, msn, etc. but does that really constitute knowing someone? What happened to actually hanging out together? Going for coffee? Actually physically being with someone is the best way to get to know them. Thanks to all of you who I can do that with, even for some who those times are few and far between because of distance and craziness.

AND yes, it is 3:30pm on a Wednesday and I'm writing on my blog. I'm at home, unable to move except from the floor to the couch because of my back again. Bored and stir crazy in my apartment but so limited in what I can actually do.

The span between life as we intended it and life as it is received is vast. Our true purpose is worked out in that gap. True joy is experienced when we live there, and not in our failed expectations. God is good to me all the time. Jesus Christ is our greatest treasure and nothing other than Him can fulfill our deepest longings.

Some highlights from reading this week

- "Every small triumph of my faith is designed for your refreshment and vice versa" John Piper in a sermon entitled "Resting and Wrestling for the Cause of Christ

- "Howsoever exceeding great and precious God's promises are, their realization, the possibility and condition of that realization, are based on prayer....these promises never brought hope to bloom or fruit to a prayerless heart....Prayer and promises are interdependent. The promise inspires and energizes prayer, but prayer locates the promise, and gives it realization and location." E.M. Bounds from The Possibilities of Prayer

I'm deeply saddened by the stories I hear on a regular basis of women who are seriously struggling now because of things that have happened in their past. Families are a source of great strength but (more?) often of deep hurt. In the last few weeks I've heard stories or fathers who are unavailable or have never told children they are loved. Families who either communicated through silence or yelling, but nothing in between. Drug and alcohol abuse and its repercussions. Conditional love. Abuse. And these women God has placed in my life are broken. How do you help? Why is it not different in Christian families? I thank God for my family, who although far from perfect, have shown great depths in love in a myriad of ways. And although I am screwed up, it's not their fault! I also pray that if one day God blesses me with a family, He will give me grace to live out His love to those I imagine I will love the most.

Hilarious

During a break during our staff meeting on Friday, we listened to this and just about died laughing (btw, I have the funnest staff team ever!). Check it out and listen to the very end, the remix is the best part.
http://shipoffools.com/Signs/blunders/hello_pastor.html

Goodbye to my home of 27 years

This weekend was monumental. We packed up and left the place my family has lived since I was 8 months old. We moved from the house at the back of the property about 6 years ago to this house at the front (which used to be my grandparent's while we were at the back). That move wasn't as big, nor as difficult as this one has been - actually leaving the area altogether. It's hard to imagine not driving down 11th Street anymore, not opening my window to the sound of crickets and the smell of the grape harvest. Not lying on the trampoline or hammock and watching the stars, or having one of our infamous gasoline fueled bonfires that light up the block. Had my last game of frisbee, last swing on the swings, last twirl-till-you-get-dizzy on my brother's back. Suburbia - yuck.

Addicted to Lost

I was a skeptic about the show Lost, even after watching the first 2 episodes but it's official, I'm addicted. J.J. Abrams is brilliant. Props to Kolten for sending me the 2nd season already so I don't miss a beat once I finish season 1 (which shouldn't be too long at this pace). Normally I'm tired at this time of day but I'm in no danger of falling asleep anytime soon.

TV on DVD is better than regular TV anytime and often better than a movie.

Thankful

On the International Day of Prayer today, our Toronto staff team made a list of specific things God has done among us, all reasons to praise Him. It took 5 pages. Need I see more? I have been moved to tears (a couple of those times were during Summit) when I see what God is accomplishing in the lives of our beloved students and on our campuses. If I have never seen the need, power and joy of prayer, may it be so now.