Because I’m in Palm Springs, where the Lord has been gracious to keep me coffee-filled, comfortable, and in a perpetual state of air-conditioning.
PS - We are staying in the hippest hotel I have ever laid eyes on. Below is a picture of our room. Below that is a picture of the GMC mini-bus (circa 1974) they have on-site to get you to the airport. There are also free bikes to ride around town.
Chrissie’s boss is retiring, folding up his business, and keeping a small office (for residuals and such) in his new home in Palm Springs. They packed up the old Santa Monica office yesterday, and today we’re meeting the movers in Palm Springs so Chrissie can help set up his new office and I can go on a frantic search for air conditioning. I’m hoping to find a place to get some good work done while my wife is indisposed with fax machines, calls to Time Warner, and new filing systems.
Things on the docket that I could use some prayer for:
1. The conclusion to the Enjoying God series. I’ve got a lot on my mind that I’d like to put in the concluding sermon this Sunday. I’m noticing, though, that some of the things on my mind aren’t actually happening in my life, which is a recipe for disaster for a preacher (or a Christian, for that matter). I’m hoping to get my thoughts straight, to get some scripture put deeper down into my heart, and to apply that scripture more in the next couple of days.
2. I’m taking an intensive Greek exegesis class on the book of Hebrews starting on Monday. It goes for two weeks, starting at 6am and going until late morning. My professor just emailed the class and said that he was going to “discipline us with scorpions.” I’m not sure what to make of that. But I’m studying hard so that (a) I don’t look like an idiot in class, and (b) I’m actually fluent enough in the Greek to learn the material well and come away knowing more about what God said in the book of Hebrews. Here’s to hoping the second one is more important to me than the first.
3. Next weekend we start our new series on the book of 1 Thessalonians. It’s called “Look Up,” and I’m really excited. I’m hoping to get better acquainted with the whole book in the next couple of days so that I can understand each section better. I’m really, really excited for this next series.
4. After Friday, my wife no longer has a job. I’ve been really grateful that my heart hasn’t worried about how God is going to provide for us in the meantime, but I also know that her getting a job in the near future would be a big blessing.
See everyone Saturday!
From John Piper:
Begin to share your faith. One of the reasons we are not as moved by our own faith as we are is because we almost never talk about it to any unbeliever. It starts to feel like a kind of hothouse thing, and then it starts to have a feeling of unreality about it. And then the powers of entertainment have more sway in our life.
I just read an article about riots in India after a Sikh preacher in a lower caste congregation was attacked and killed by Sikh’s from a higher caste. The article ends like this:
Caste discrimination has been outlawed in India for more than a half century, and a quota system was established with the aim of giving Dalits a fair share of government jobs and places in schools. But their plight remains dire, living in poverty and kept down by ancient prejudice and caste-based politics.
The attackers claimed that the temple they went after was dishonoring their Holy Book, but it seems like that was just an excuse to attack people of a lower caste. It’s heart wrenching to think that there are people who have to fear for their life because they’ve been born into a family of a certain caste.
While discrimination and favoritism have crept into Christian churches as well, we should praise God that, through Christ, believers no longer need to place any hope (or fear) in their social status:
25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, 26 for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise. (Galatians 3:25-29)
When we know Christ, everyone is on equal footing - all sinners, all saved. If there’s anything in your heart that looks down on others for what they look like, how they talk, where they live, who they spend time with, or where they’re from, repent now and stop playing favorites. Christ didn’t play favorites when he saved you.
What a great article by a guy named Glen. I hope this is what Shoreline looks like, as well as my own life. Almost all of it reprinted in below:
[Nice and Christian] aren’t the same you know. But often we forget that. Especially as we try to live in community. I mean, think about it – what helps our Christian communities function?
Surely we get along because we all play nice, right? Empowered by the gospel of course. We have to add that caveat. But now that it’s added we settle down to the real glue for any community: being nice. When people are nice, communities flourish. When people are not nice communities fall apart. This is obvious.
Just look at Colossians 3:12
Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.
Yep. See? Be nice. Be nice and everyone will get along. Cover over all that nastiness with sweetness. Or polite reserve. Or effusive flattery. Whatever you do, don’t be nasty. The minute someone’s nasty, it’s over.
Really?
Well that would be the case if we were a part of any natural community. What did Jesus say? Pagans love those who love them. (Matt 5:46-47). You don’t need the Holy Spirit to do that. You don’t need the supernatural grace of God. You don’t need a new heart of flesh to be nice.
So what’s going to mark supernatural communities?
Look at how Colossians 3 continues…
Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. (Col 3:13)
Natural communities don’t have this. At the first hint of nastiness, natural community fractures. But for Christians nastiness is an opportunity. Here’s where we truly show ourselves to be the people of Jesus. We forgive.
Many people think nastiness ends Christian community. The gospel says nastiness is where Christian community begins.
We must bear with each other. Forgive. Show mercy towards opponents. Die to self. Crucify our own need to prove ourselves. Answer harsh words with gentleness (Prov 15:1). That’s where Christian community begins.
I’m praying for supernatural community in my life and at Shoreline. What annoying person is God calling you to die to yourself for today?
So a banker is in the middle of his office building, and he notices some ducklings on a ledge outside his window. Realizing that they’re going to jump off the ledge to go get water - and that concrete isn’t as soft as beds of leaves - he takes a coffee break so he can catch them as they fall and lead them and their mother to water. You can’t make this stuff up - I can’t embed the video, but take the three minutes to watch a cool story (especially if you’re in an office and wish you could go outside). It helps remind you that enjoying life can be fun, if you look up from your desk long enough to notice.
(HT: Ponder Anew)
My wife, and now Matt Kleinhans, have taken to giving me tiny calendars with a different church sign for every day of the week. Some of them are corny, some of them are heretical, and every once in a while you find some encouragement. Each week I’ll grab something special from one of those categories and share it with you. Occasionally, I’ll make some comments.
Today’s comes from Wednesday, March 18:
If you think meek is weak, try being meek for a week.
Even though this one makes me cringe a bit (”How much wood would a woodchuck chuck….”), the message is one I need to hear. The world defines strength and weakness completely backwards. And there are times I buy into it.
Most of us have been raised with the understanding that strength equals taking charge. The strong man or woman bends life to his or her will. When they want something, they fight for it, and they succeed. When life (or someone else) comes at them hard, they stand their ground and fight for what they want. That’s the story of every hero we’ve ever wanted to be, and it’s the image a lot of us really wish we looked like. We want to be strong.
But that picture of strength is only something you get when you look at it with human eyes. When God looks down, he doesn’t see a strong, mature, man or woman who is a force to be reckoned with. He sees a little child who makes a lot of noise when things don’t happen the way they’d like. The kind of kid that pushes other kids out of the way to get the toy he wants. That little girl that refuses to brush her teeth because she just doesn’t want to, and will stand her ground for her cause. That’s what our version of “strength” looks like to God - because our version of strength is all about fighting for what we want, when we want it.
No one tells a toddler that his tantrums are great shows of strength. He’s fighting a losing battle - losing because, no matter how loud he yells, he’s not going to get his way in the long run, and losing because he’s fighting against parents who know better and are looking out for his best interest. He’s whiny and immature, not strong. It’s not hard to act that way as an adult - do you want your dreams to come true? Take charge, and don’t take no for an answer. Don’t want to get hurt? Do whatever it takes to be the one in control of the situation. Don’t like your circumstances? Wrestle control from anyone else (”you just need to stand up for yourself“) and, if you can’t get it, protest the fact that you deserve your “rights.” Just because you do whatever you want even when it’s hard doesn’t mean you’re strong.
Jesus says the meek will inherit the earth. And that’s a promise that they need, because meek people definitely aren’t in control now. Being meek requires that you give up control of your life. Instead of standing up for your rights, you give up your rights. You serve others, even when they take advantage of you. You love people, even when they end up being your enemies. You get walked all over.
Trust me, it’s easier to rage against that than to embrace it as part of God’s will. It takes a lot more strength to submit to God than to grab for your own control.
That’s why I like this cheesy sign. It’s not really about me. It reminds me that I’ve got a Savior who gave me more grace than I can imagine, all by being “weak,” and in his meekness submitting always to His Father, even unto death on a cross. There’s more strength in that kind of submission than any power on this earth, above it, or below it. And now, I’m called to use that same kind of strength to be meek like Jesus:
Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. -Philippians 2:3-11 (1 Peter 2 is also really, really good)
…is true about West LA. At least the part Tim Keller talks about:
New York city is the greatest place to live. As my wife would say, there would be no better place to live in the whole world as long as you have someone following behind you with a wheelbarrow full of money. What I like about it is its diversity and vitality, but what I don’t like, frankly, is how expensive it is.
(HT: Towers)
6 minutes worth, from a video that’s been making it’s way around the internet:
Turns out Clayton, the kid in the story, actually came out to speak to the high school students at Cornerstone in Simi Valley, Shoreline’s mother church. Wish I could have been there to see that. You can get video of it here.
