US Office of Personnel Management Federal Investigative Services

The FBI is investigating me.

So Ive been talking with a few of my friends and its led to some random thoughts.

It's very strange to have a government agency with all of the resources in the world looking into my life. Even though I have nothing to hide from as far as the government is concerned, it is a bit disconcerting to have someone scrutinizing every aspect from every time period in your life.

Now all of a sudden I realize that God can see far beyond anything the FBI could ever research or identify. Its pretty crazy to think how perfect my life seems on paper. My friend Pruett and I often joke about being the All-American boys. I drive a Jeep, am an officer in the Navy, am helping to start a Church, graduated from one of the largest universities in America, blah blah blah... but none of this means anything compared with the definition I get from being a co-heir to the kingdom of Christ.

Not only this, but God can see infinitely far into my life. Into the idols and things that dishonor Him. God can see into the things that I hide even from myself. Things that make me nervous about the FBI should make me a whole lot nervous about God. Except for one thing. The FBI expects to find an all-American boy who is fit for service and leadership in the US Navy; God came to me when I was (and am) broken and lonely, unknowing of everything I was created for and meant to be. God, full of Grace, and infinitely wise as He is, chose me and brought me into His kingdom.

These are things that I cant really articulate completely clearly, but I never realized how big an idol it was in my life to be what it was I thought I needed to be. I, at some level, thought that I could be what God would want me to be in order that He would be happy with me. I pray that God would remove these idols from all of our lives, and that His kingdom would continue to change the world in a way that would allow us to rest in Grace, true Grace that brings us Joy in Christ.

Enjoy it. Learn Joy in the peace and Grace of Christ. Live in it. Share it. That is the Gospel, and the mission that Christ gave us to accomplish. Its not an image we're supposed to live or an argument we're supposed to win, but rather a Sovereign Joy that we are supposed to rest in. I pray that we can.

Gadsby Mondays

1055

Come, ye souls, by sin afflicted,
Bowed with fruitless sorrow down;
By the broken law convicted,
Through the cross behold the crown!
Look to Jesus;
Mercy flows through him alone.

Sweet as home to Pilgrims weary,
Light to newly-opened eyes,
Flowing springs in deserts dreary,
Is the rest the cross supplies;
All who taste it
Shall to rest immortal rise.

Blessed are the eyes that see him;
Blest the ears that hear his voice;
Blessed are the souls that trust him,
And in him alone rejoice;
His commandments
Then become their happy choice.

But to sing the "Rest Remaining,"
Mortal tongues far short must fall;
Heavenly tongues are ever aiming,
But they cannot tell it all;
Faith believes it- Hope expects it
But it overwhelms them all.

(Hebrews 4:3)

This may be my favorite one yet... I thought this would be a good one to post as I enter into my reading week and attempt to recharge. I love the last verse, even in our greatest hopes and expectations, God WILL overwhelm everything we could ever imagine. What a promise...

God Lawsuit update...

For those of you who were entertained by the last post I put up, now there's more.

Apparently the district clerk for the court said that two responses were filed by God.

God apparently told the court (in an official legal document) that since He is above all powers, immune from earthly laws, the court lacks jurisdiction for the case.

God apparently also said "I created man and woman with free will and next to the promise of immortal life, free will is my greatest gift to you,"

One of the filings was apparently filed by someone (or something) outside of our world... "This one miraculously appeared on the counter. It just all of a sudden was here—poof!" said the county clerk.

State Senator Ernie Chambers Sues God...

I found this on the Drudge Report and it was just too good...

Senator is suing God to show the absurdity of the court system and the fact that the court is obligated to hear any case that comes in.

Here are some of the highlights:

"The lawsuit admits God goes by all sorts of alias, names, titles and designations and it also recognizes the fact that the defendant is omnipresent.In the lawsuit, Chambers said he's tried to contact God numerous times."

"Chambers lawsuit, which was filed on Friday in Douglas County Court, seeks a permanent injunction ordering God to cease certain harmful activities and the making of terroristic threats."

"The suit also requests that the court, given the peculiar circumstances of this case, waive personal service. It said that being omniscient, the plaintiff assumes God will have actual knowledge of the action."



I love it.

Gadsby Mondays

768

Come, ye humble sinner-train,
Souls for whom the Lamb was slain,
Cheerful let us raise our voice;
We have reason to rejoice.
Let us sing, with saints in heaven,
Life restored, and sin forgiven;
Glory and eternal laud,
Be to our incarnate God.

Now look up with faith and see
Him that bled for you and me.
Seated on his glorious throne,
Interceding for his own.
What can Christians have to fear,
When they view the Saviour there?
Hell is vanquished, heaven appeased,
God is satisfied and pleased.

Snares and dangers may beset,
For we are but travellers yet.
As the way, indeed, is hard,
May we keep a constant guard.

Neither lifted up with air,
Nor dejected to dispair;
Always keeping Christ in view;
He will bring us safely through.

(Revelation 5:9-10)

WHO DEY???

CLEVELAND THATS WHO....

Happy Birthday to me. Thanks Cleveland, Best way I could have started out my 23rd year.

The definitive list of why fall is absolutely incredible...

1) Ohio State Football
2) Ohio State Tailgating
3) Hot Carmel Apple Cider from Starbucks
4) Hooded Sweatshirts and Shorts and Birkenstock
5) Football
6) Top Down, Windows Down, Heater on full on my Feet
7) Stars
8) Sleeping with it Cold, but still wanting to get up in the morning
9) Ohio State's Campus
10) Color on the trees
11) Birthdays and Thanksgiving
12) Pickup Games of Backyard Football
13) Sleeping through halftime and the third quarters of Pro Games
14) Oktoberfest by Sam Adams
15) Pleasant Evenings
16) Pumpkin Spice Latte
17) Blue sky's, that are somehow different in September and October
18) Playoff Baseball
19) Taking a Blanket with you wherever you go for the evening.
20) Ryan Adams (Maybe not a fall thing for you, but for some of us it is)
21) Counting Crows too
22) And Dispatch
23) Running as far as it takes to clear your head
24) My yearly dive into a CS Lewis book
25) Grilling out
26) Fall Golf
27) Does anyone else miss being excited for School to start?
28) And being able to get a new pair of shoes for the first day of school?
29) Ohio State Football Roadtrips
30) That every city is a little softer in the Fall
31) (More to Come...)

A little review.

This semester I am taking "the History and Theology of the Reformed Tradition" I'm doing my reading for day two of class and thought I would post a couple of interesting definitions of what the reformed tradition is and its impact on history.

This is for all of you who are sick of or confused with the 5 solas of dort and TULIP.

"The Reformation was above all a positive proclamation of the Christian gospel. It never depended negatively upon its opposition, for it was first of all a protest in the sense of making a solemn declaration."

"The protestant reformers thought of themselves as engaged in the reformation of the people of God according to God's Word... According to the popular rhetoric of the market place, when a Lutheran was asked where his church was before Luther, he replied with the question, where was your face before you washed it?"

"At least nine identifiable motifs have significantly shaped the Reformed style of being a Christian:
The Majesty and Praise of God
The Polemic Against Idolatry
The Working Out of the Divine Purposes in History
Ethics and a Life of Holiness
The Life of the Mind as the Service of God
Preaching
The Organized Church and Pastoral Care
The Disciplined Life
Simplicity (or as Calvin puts it, lucid brevity)."

This is, in conjunction with TULIP and the solas (and most importantly the Word of God), really what reformed theology is all about. The ultimate mission of joining God in Him getting His Glory. The reformation is about these nine things as well as representing a million other of God's truths, not just some militant view of the predestination of God. So if you haven't given it a lot of thought, or have been turned off to it in the past; read a book, talk to someone who's passionate about it, or just pray for God to reveal Himself to you. Above all, thirst for a true and deeper knowledge of God. Beat importunately upon the Word, as Luther did, until God reveals Himself to you in a way that changes your life and your heart.

It's another quiet night

Feel the ground against my back,

Count the stars against the black.

Hmmm I miss another Gadsby opportunity and quote Dave Matthews instead. Oh well. The most beautiful thing about being a Jeep owner in Southern Ohio is being able to drive in the late summer with the doors off and the top down in the middle of night and stop abnormally long at stop signs to look up at the stars.

How small am I?!?!? Every little point of light a billion billion miles away, some from stars that are presently dead, we are just to far away to know yet. And then there's the waining crescent moon. Even that is farther away than I can fathom, and yet I become accustomed to these things in my life and forget the sheer magnitude of them.

I stay far too busy in my life and the first thing I lose is my sense of awe. I know everyone has looked at the stars in their lives, its hard not to be amazed, but when was the last time it happened? When was the last time that you zoomed so far out of your life that the universe seemed to envelop you? When the vastness of East to West put you in your place?

And here's the real kicker, Why does that make us feel at ease?

Because there is something infinitely good about things unimaginably bigger than us. When is the last time that you felt, saw, and prayed to God who is big enough to surround all of your problems and distractions and give you comfort.

"But [Jesus] holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens." Hebrews 7:24-26.

"He determines the number of the stars; he gives to all of them their names.
Great is our Lord, and abundant in power; his understanding is beyond measure" Psalm 147:4-5

My other thought was that many of these stars are the same stars and constellations that Luther, Calvin, Bonhoeffer, and Edwards would have looked at. It reminded me of the eternal priesthood of believers that we are a part of in Christ. We will someday feast with all those who are saved, and not only those on our latitude, but Augustine, John of Damascus, Paul, et al who didn't see the stars we look at here, but knew the light of truth that we claim.

God's vastness is an amazing and necessary truth in my life, and when it isn't, things grow appropriately out of proportion.

One more un-theological quote to end the night...

If you've never stared off into the distance, then your life is a shame. ~Counting Crows