memorandum from captain random



this article is the oddest piece i have ever read on CT.com. if you often find yourself wondering what ann coulter, doing "the binky" and the ingredients of conejo soup have to do with Christian discipleship, you'll love this article.

if would rather die than have to repeat phrases like "it's time to get your big girl panties on!," "you have boobs" or "y'all pause for menopause" to middle aged southern women one.more.time.

tomorrow i'm heading out to chicago to join mr. simkins for a journey down the world series. be sure to look for us on FOX.* it's your duty judy!

i was oddly intrigued by this cnn puff piece on bob newhart. i especially liked the part where he confessed: "Being a comedian," he writes, "means you are antiauthority at heart." that quote reminded me of dr. david wells' warning that "the most violent thing you can do to an institution, proposition or person is to laugh at it." i often remember that admonition from dr. wells right before i smirk and start ripping.

* i'll be the asshole snapping a rally-towel in a random thunder-stick user's face.

Isaiah 40:28-31

Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.

He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.

Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;

but those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.

the first time i met dr. spencer he described his church as “a wonderful place to be sick in.” he responded to the question on my face by saying, “if i was dying of cancer, pilgrim church is right where i would want to be.” as a progeny of the church growth movement, i had expected dr. spencer to define his church by their vision, numbers or programs. so it surprised me when he defined his church as a source of sweet consolation.

a couple of years ago, i got really hooked on a sermon tape that was produced by leadership magazine. on one side of the tape, john piper preached a rousing sermon on racial reconciliation focusing on 2 corinthians 5 and mlk’s “letter from the birmingham jail” as his primary texts. since i am a son of the south who has wrestled with the demons of racism and learned that the surest sign of salvation is one’s desire for and sacrifices on behalf of reconciliation, i found this sermon incredibly inspiring. on the other side featured a “leadership community” teaching by john ortberg in which he envisioned spiritual growth in terms of the passage i’ve quoted above. pastor ortberg began by admitting that some Christians, especially in an environment like willow creek, truly soar in their faith. these people have a deep and abiding relationship with God, find it easy to invite others into the life of God and are constantly incarnating the faith in powerful ways. other people, he surmised, are running the race of faith and not growing weary. some of these folks are new to the faith and cannot get enough of Jesus’ teachings, others are people who find obedience to the sermon on the mount to be an absolute delight. however, ortberg confessed that there are still others who can barely find the strength to walk in faith. these are people who find it difficult to get out of bed every morning, are constantly afraid of the signs of despair that blight the horizon and can barely find the strength to persevere in the faith. ortberg’s admonition to this latter group was to neither fixate on those who soar or envy of those who run, but to simply keep walking.
keep walking.

today, after nine months of desperate struggle in the midst of a year that has been littered with death and surrendered few signs of life, i am finding it hard to walk. fortunately, much like dr. spencer, i realize that i am in the midst of a community that constantly dispenses sweet consolation, i am blessed with a pixie-like wife who will not let me collapse before the pernicious clouds on the horizon and have friends who do not consider it a burden to carry me along when the situation requires it.

this is not a cry for help but a commendation of a God who graciously empowers soarers, runners and walkers alike and a community that truly cares for its members. truly, i am blessed.

overheard by pixie

Lunch break at a doctor's office is pretty much synonymous with magazine perusal. Today I decided to take a break from "People" and read the cover article in last week's Time Magazine about Barak O'Bama.

I have a hunch that the following quote will be following me around for the next few days quietly disrupting my neatly ordered ideas. Since misery loves company, I shared the quote with Jeff who wanted to subject the whole blogosphere to the misery that is the thinking mind.

"It has not always been the pragmatist, the voice of reason, or the force of compromise, that has created the conditions for liberty," he writes about the antislavery movement of the 19th century. "knowing this, I can't summarily dismiss those possessed of similar certainty today - the antiabortion activist...the animal rights activist who raids a laboratory - no matter how deeply I disagree with their views. I am robbed even of the certainty of uncertainty - for sometimes absolute truths may well be absolute." *

The companion article entitled My Spiritual Journey (did he take IDS 201?) provides some interesting thoughts on the role of community providing a home for ideals, particularly as it led to his conversion to Christianity.

Not all things in life are provided gratis so for these thoughts you will have to do a little reading yourself.

* Bold font in last line added by the Pixie for emphasis.

musing...



the further i walk down this narrow road of faith, the more reticent i become about reducing discipleship to evangelism. i don’t believe the disciple’s sole calling is to seek the conversion of the world. rather, i suspect that our calling is to: holistically follow Jesus, communally proclaim the Kingdom of God and together incarnate Christ’s compassion upon the world.

that being said, i have nothing but respect for many of my brothers and sisters in Christ who are absolutely on fire for evangelism. both the intensity of their focus and their willingness to be made fools for Christ is laudable, and i long to be as passionate about praying for my persecutors or advocating on behalf of the fatherless as they are for sharing the four spiritual laws or hearing their friends and family mutter the “sinner’s prayer.”

although i question (and, honestly, sometimes detest) the methods used and the ends sought by my fellow ee-vangelicals and fundies, and think both the church and the world could benefit from the ecclesia following brian mclaren’s advice to spend a few years apologizing for our sins instead of investing ourselves more fully in apologia, i am jealous of the ee-vangelical fire and, today anyway, find myself lusting for their passion.

i fear this is a weird confession, but i’m going to post it anyway.

go cards.