The Gospel Reminds Me

"When I see persons who are materially poor, I instantly feel a kinship with them, for they are physically what I was spiritually when my heart was closed to Christ. Perhaps some of them are in their condition because of sin, but so was I. Perhaps they are unkind when I try to help them; but I, too, have been spiteful to God when He has sought to help me. Perhaps they are thankless and been abuse the kindness I show them, but how many time have I been thankless and used what God has given me to serve selfish ends?

Perhaps a poverty stricken person will be blessed and changed as a result of some kindness I show him. If so, God be praised for His grace through me. But if the person walks away unchanged by my kindness, then I still rejoice over the opportunity to love as God loves. Perhaps the person will repent in time; but for now, my heart is chastened and made wiser by the tangible depiction of what I myself have done to God on numerous occasions.

The gospel reminds me daily of the spiritual poverty into which I was born and also of the staggering generosity of Christ towards me. Such reminders instill in me both a felt connection to the poor and a desire to show them the same generosity that have been lavished on me. When ministering to the poor with these motivations, I not only preach the gospel to them through word and deed, but I reenact the gospel to my own benefit as well."

(A Gospel Primer for Christians, by Milton Vincent. Pages 38-39.)

Doing things right in the Matters of the Heart

John Ensor introduces us great examples of Biblical manhood and womanhood in his book Doing Things Right in the Matters of the Heart. The objective of the book is to "provide a winsomely radical alternative to the prevailing ideas, almost absolute doctrines, that guide out current thinking about manhood and womanhood and define our actions and expectations when pursuing matters of the heart."

In the first section he deals with what the heart of manhood and womanhood is according to the Bible... In Ensor's words "What does it mean to be a man and not a woman? What is distinctively meaningful about being a woman and not a man? What marks the mature man? What does it mean to be, dare I say a godly man? What marks the mature and godly woman and makes her attractive and fulfilled How do we complement and fit together?" The second section he lays out the ways to answer these questions. The book is written for both genders which helped me to not only know female roles but also to learn what the godly male role is to look like and understand that a bit better how they work together.

I want to share what is one of my favorite quotes from the book. It is is reference to the man initiating and the woman responding.

"I was speaking with a small circle of college students, Christian brother in their mid-twenties mostly. One of them expressed the problem squarely. "I don't like to ask until I see all the right signals that she is going to say yes.

My response? "Coward! You are the man."

By this I meant to say that being a man means something distinctive.

Brothers, it falls to us to be the initial risk takers in matter of the heart. Headship means being the one to go ahead and ask.

It is ours as men to suffer the embarrassment of rejection if need be. It is our role to initiate. It is hers to respond with a signal of reception or rejection. Get to it merrily.

We are the hunters. They are the quarry. It is for men to strike out into the forest and look. It is for women to crack the twigs and stir the leaves so we know were to find them." (p. 91-92)

Palatable sins

This was a bit thought provoking...how to make sin sound better...from the blog of Abraham Piper

Struggle: Christianese for "giving into sin, but then feeling guilty"

We’re not porn-addicts; we “struggle with lust.”

We’re not arrogant; we “struggle with pride.”

With a simple cliché our sins become palatable.

Back to the grind

I can't say how many times I have opened the dashboard of my blog in an attempt to write something in the past week and a half, but have come away with nothing written or nothing anyone else would want to read. So here I am again...

I'm back in Lakeshore from my extended vacation, which was great. It is great to be back though. While I was on vacation, of course after I left Wisconsin, my sister gave birth to her baby girl Kailey. The baby was a couple months early and weighed in at a whopping 2 lb 12oz. She'll be two weeks old tomorrow. Both mom and baby are doing well, though it will be a long recovery. Kailey's my first niece, so I am totally excited.

We are gearing up for this summer in Lakeshore. This week begins a very busy summer (somewhere around 1500 volunteers in a matter of 2 months!) Lord willing we will be finishing several house and starting several more!

I've officially been approved and have begun my service as a US/C2 missionary. Lord willing, this will extend my stay in Lakeshore until June of 2010. I never would have thought my first summer here would have turned into 4 years, but I am sure happy the Lord has placed me in Lakeshore.

Oh...and my house was begun to be wired! one step closer!

Vacation pt 3

It Tuesday afternoon, I think...I haven't been sure of what day it's been for about two weeks. I am currently in Louisville, KY where the New Attitude Conference took place. Things wrapped up today around 1:00 pm after CJ Mahaney spoke on the doctrine of adoption. The conference has taken up the last four days and has been amazing. The amount of teaching we took in was incredible...Four days filled sermons from Josh Harris, Mark Dever, Al Mohler, CJ Mahaney, Eric Simmons, and John Piper. I know I will planning to relisten to most of the messages to take in things that I missed, which can all be found on the New Attitude website. I'm heading back to Lakeshore tomorrow and I'm looking forward to applying some of the things I learned at the conference and getting back into the swing of things.

Vacation pt. 2 - the smell of lilacs

This week has been pretty great. I made it to Platteville yesterday to surprise my mom - it was fun...As far as I know she had no idea I was coming. Prior to arriving in Platteville I stopped to see my pregnant sister. I also got to spend a couple hours with my pastor, his wife, and son.
This morning I got my moped out and took a spin around town to look at what all has changed. Then I went for a walk in a favorite park of mine on my college campus. I went to visit a few of the places I spent hours in prayer and scripture. It was even more beautiful than I remember.



One of my favorite spots, a place I rode bike and hiked was now guarded by barbed wire fence. Maybe due to the old railroad bridge that was falling apart for the last several years.
And maybe one of the things that I have been looking forward to the most is the smell of the lilacs blooming in the spring.