26 Days, 23 Hours, 48 Minutes

Till call day at the writing of this post! I have absolutely NO idea where the Lord of the Church will send me to work in His vineyard. As of this afternoon, Dr. David Peter, director of Placement, informed the class that between the two seminaries there were still approximately 20 candidates in need of a call.
Pray for all the candidates, the churches they will serve, the directors of Placement at both seminaries and the District Presidents involved in the process.

Idol Worshipping

I may be overreacting, but it troubles me when I see all the talk about "idol-worshipping" in American Idol. I know, it's just a singing contest, but when a tween girl is interviewed on the Today show in a segment called "Idol Worshipper," it gives me pause. Are we becoming comfortable with idol worship? Do we even laugh or think it funny to use this title in such a clever way? Have we lost or are we losing the seriousness of that accusation?

Beside the fact that I loathe the show in general, I just think its a bit dangerous to celebrate idol worship.

The Quigmans by Buddy Hickerson, March 27, 2007

Dr. Norman Nagel on the Feast of the Annunciation

From Issues, Etc. March 21, 2006

Dr. Nagel talks about the Annunciation. A great interview if you have about an hour.

A Game about Call Day??

Ok, maybe its not about Call Day, but it's kinda cool. Check out The Call

Lenten Devotional

I wrote the following devotional and prayer for the inter-seminary Lenten devotional project.

Genesis 32:22 The same night he arose and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. 23 He took them and sent them across the stream, and everything else that he had. 24 And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. 25 When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob's hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. 26 Then he said, "Let me go, for the day has broken." But Jacob said, "I will not let you go unless you bless me." 27 And he said to him, "What is your name?" And he said, "Jacob." 28 Then he said, "Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed." 29 Then Jacob asked him, "Please tell me your name." But he said, "Why is it that you ask my name?" And there he blessed him. 30 So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, "For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered." 31 The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip. 32 Therefore to this day the people of Israel do not eat the sinew of the thigh that is on the hip socket, because he touched the socket of Jacob's hip on the sinew of the thigh.

“I will not let you go until you bless me.” Seems like a strange thing to ask a man who is trying to kick your butt. However, this is the main concern of Jacob. He had a thing for being blessed. The frist time he received a blessing by dishonesty and a strange disguise. This time, he would earn his blessing! But, did he know just what he was getting into? This man whom he had wrestled with was no man at all. This realization hit Jacob hard as his hip popped out of joint. He knew that he had seen the face of the Lord, that he had dared to wrestle with God, that he had been spared what should have been an immidiate death. And the only consequences he had to show for it was a limp and a name change: a reminder for generations to come.

This limp was a constant reminder to Jacob, along with his new monicer, that he had wrestled with God. And there, hanging on the cross, a sign of that contining struggle. A struggle that began with our first parents, a struggle that formed a nation, a struggle that ended with a bruised heel and a crushed head. A struggle that would set us free. Not through our own struggle or work, but through the tender mercy of our Lord. Our flesh, the same flesh that Adam had and the same flesh of Israel, still tries in vain to wrestle with God, unaware that its day is done, that is has been washed away like so much filth in our baptism. It is Christ who took it down to the depths. It is Christ who has set us free. Through His struggle and sacrifice on the cross, our lives have been delivered. We have truly seen God face to face! Come now, let us fix our eyes on this Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith, that our lives may be delivered!

+ + +

How we would continue to struggle against Your grace, O Lord of mercy, and yet for us You have opened the floodgates of Your love. Give us penitent and contrite hearts, that we may find rest from this struggling. Fix our eyes on our suffering Savior, that our lives may be delivered through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

TGIS

I have posted comics from Dave Coverly's Speed Bump on here before. This one is great and I pray I always say "TGIS!"

I Got a New Look!

So, I finally changed. I wanted to wait until after Ordination-new vocation, new blog look- but I also wanted to add some stuff and this was the easiest way I knew of to do that.

Good, Bad or Different?

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
-2 Corinthians 5:17

Christians, along with the rest of humanity, are under the delusion that people, things, churches, worship styles, etc., can be broken up into two main groups: good and bad.

How often do we think of our own actions and lives as Christians as either being good or bad? How often to we think of the actions and lives as others as either being good or bad? Now, in truth, there most certainly are things that can be determined and rightly judged from the rule and norm of Scripture as being either good or bad, but can a Christian be good or bad when compared with other Christians or non-Christians?

I would argue that a Christian is neither good or bad in comparison to the world at large. A Christian is something wholly other. A Christian is DIFFERENT. Not different in the way that has come to be embraced by the secular religion of tolerance and blind, vehement inclusionism. Christians are different in that we are not wholly good or wholly bad. We are both and neither, we are totally different from anything else on this earth. We are different creatures in Christ. We live in Christ and have our identity in Him alone. And in losing our identity in His cross and the Holy Waters, we find our true identity in His glorious Resurrection.

Elohim Creating Adam by William Blake

How can this mystery, this holy wonder be perceived as anything but different, even more than different…other-worldly? We truly are new creatures in Christ, even while the old creature clings to us. This is a DIFFERENT thing. This is the beauty of the one true faith. This is life in Christ!

For All You Readers out there

You like to read books? You like to talk about them? Are you a pastor who has a wife or a pastor's wife? You will love this blog put out by the most beautiful blogger in the blogosphere. My wife loves to read and has decided to start blogging about the books she reads. She has some interesting conversation starters over there. Check it out! (And if you are a pastor's wife, I know she would love to get to know you better, seeing as how she will be one in a few months!)

It bears repeating...

One of my first blog posts corrected the erroneous and heretical definition of the beloved and cherished word "Hoosier." As I am a proud Hoosier (having graduated from Indiana University), and as I hope to be returned to that land of milk and corn again, I think it wise to point any readers or "seekers" to the original blog post