Echoes and Stars

1. The older I get the more I appreciate the hard passages in the Bible. Some are hard because they confront my failures. Some are hard because they challenge the culture I imbibe. And some are just hard plain to understand. All of those get more comforting as I grow older because they are reminders God is not only unlike me but unlike everybody else.

2. I wish I had included a chapter in my book on “Vocational Shame.” I talked about this phenomenon in Sunday School and maybe I shouldn’t have been shocked at how many people deal with this but I was. So if you do, you aren’t alone. If  Paul is right in Roman 6 and we are dead to sin because we are united to Jesus. Therefore death no longer has dominion over us because it has no dominion over him. Death is the ultimate effect of sin. And so if the ultimate effect of sin can no longer rule us then neither can all the effects such as “Vocational Shame.”

3. The other day I was thinking about why financially successful, famous people so often end up taking on a cause. You rarely hear about them giving themselves to a cause on the way to being famous and wealthy but once they are, then their fame becomes a platform. My guess? The thing they longed for wasn’t enough. Money, fame, respect, sex, drugs – none of it fit the bill. But doing something bigger than themselves gets them closer to filling the hole. I also assume, it’s the reason guys like Cobain and Cornell take their lives. This isn’t to say Christians can’t get there too. They can. And they fly into the arms of the One with 10,000 charms.

4. Chris Stapleron’s new album is wonderful if you’re looking for songs that sound like the waning summer heat and the moon punching through a hazy evening.

5. I look forward to pizza the same way you look forward to vacation.

6. The New Testament writers wrote and advised the church as if the most important stuff in their lives was happening in the churches and not in the halls of governmental powers.

7. Part of the glory of baseball is how it hums constantly in the background throughout most of the year.

8. You know, I’ve always thought it was weird when people were being applauded and they responded by saying it “humbled” them. I always thought it would conceit me. But I think I kinda get it now. Not because I get applauded a lot but because of my Sunday School class. Far from giving me a big head, it scares me a little nearly every week that all these people come to hear me teach. Okay, actually it freaks me out if I stop and think about it. The weight of that is humbling. Pastors know what I mean.

9. My front yard, which everyone sees, looks terrible. Dead grass. Dirt patches. Terrible. But my backyard? Lush green. This too is part of my sanctification.

10. I have a really good marriage. Songs like the one below are a good reminder of why.