1 pack of peppermint Tums,
3 gallons of caffenated coffee,
2 Red Bulls,
15 hours of sleep in 3 days, AND
4 nauseous, stress-induced stomach aches later...

...and I'm finally done with my marathon term projects (that is, until this weekend when I begin work on my next round of papers).

If you're considering enrolling in graduate school...maybe think of reconsidering :-)

Haven't had much time to post lately...graduate school has a funny way of beating you into submission and taking you hostage at the conclusion of each semester. Anyway, here's a few things I've heard/read in the past day that continue to ring in my ear...

"Take God at His word, take a deep breath, and get moving. Damn the consequences: He's sovereign." -Found on a blog comment; I took the liberty to add a bit of gusto to it.

"I woke up this morning; I didn't deserve to. But for grace..." -From one of our high school senior's response to a text message that a youth leader sent to him asking, "How have you experienced the Gospel today?" -I love it! Raw, real, and unpolished.

"The Lord makes it hard not to stand in awe of what He does and yet I still doubt. Pray that I will stand in awe of the work He is doing and continue to rely on Him." -From Jordan on Lagniappe's blog, expressing a deep-seated need we all have.

Anyone else think Yoplait Blueberry yogurt tastes like SPF 15 suntan lotion? The similarity is uncanny.

A concise definition of evangelism:

"We are not sent to get galley-slaves for the oars, or a bear to the stake: but He sends us to woo you as spouses, to marry you to Christ." -- Walter Cradock

I think a conversation I had the other morning is beginning to hatch into a small epiphany. Nothing really new or insightful...just a firmer grasp on a truth I'd always taken for granted. It has to do with the extent and reach of the Gospel; that is, God's grace is transforming more than just our souls and our minds. He's redeeming our bodies as well. Anyway, there's a lot to unpack here...so here's my elementary attempt at beginning that process.

In and of itself, the body isn't bad. After he created man, for the first time in the creation account God qualifies the goodness of what he had made by saying it is "very good". David recognized the goodness of God's handiwork and he sang, "I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made." In a world surrounded by death, it's ironic that these fearfully and wonderfully made bodies were not designed to experience it. Death, in a very real sense, is an unnatural phenomenon. Only when sin entered the picture did physical and spiritual death enter. Only after their rebellion were Adam and Eve condemned to be returned to the dust from which they were created. Because both our bodies and souls were slayed by the Fall, each of us stands in desperate need of both bodily and spiritual resurrection.

Which is why it is of eternal significance that Christ's finished work has purchased and redeemed both our soul and our body . He experienced death and abandonment both physically and spiritually. And His resurrection in body and spirt guarantees our spiritual and bodily resurrection. In his commentary on Romans, John Stott writes, "Christ's resurrection is the pledge and pattern of ours."

He redeemed our souls at Calvary. He will redeem our bodies when He comes in final victory. In the mean time though, we experience the consequences of the fall in very real ways. Our bodies are bound to decay, disease, and exhaustion. As Martin Lloyd Jones says, "The moment we enter into this world and begin to live, we also begin to die. Your first breath is one of the last you will ever take...the principle of decay, leading to death, is in every one of us."

But Paul declares a radical reality at Romans 8: 11. He says, "If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you." Stott records Bishop Handley Moule's reaction to this verse: "Wonderful is this deep characteristic of Scripture: its Gospel for the body. In Christ, the body is seen to be something far different from the mere clog, or prison, or chrysalis, of the soul. It is its destined implement, may we not say its mighty wings in prospect, for the life of glory."

Stott himself continues, "Resurrection includes transformation, the raising and changing of our body into a new and glorious vehicle for our personality, and its liberation from all frailty, disease, pain, decay, and death. It is not that the spirit is to be freed from the body--as many, under the influence of the Greek way of thinking, have held--but rather that the Spirit will give life to the body" (227).

This is beautiful...and I think it would take a lifetime to really begin unpacking all of the implications. God's transforming love penetrates everything... literally everything...from our soul to our sense of humor, from our intellect to our self image, from our desires to our fingernails. Such is the perfect potency of the Redeemer's blood; everything He touches He restores to the way it was in Eden. So nothing in me or you falls outside the bounds of His restoration and redemption--Nothing! How radical would our living be if we dared to believe even a mustard seed's worth of this truth? Soli Deo Gloria!

...You've gotta read these two things.

1) Lagniappe Church's Blog: If you're having any trouble seeing Christ's Reign on the move in miraculous and unbelievable strokes, take a look at what God is doing on the front lines of His Kingdom. I think Jean Larroux and the gang down there on the Gulf coast must feel like a cup placed at the base of a water tower when the spigot is opened. God's grace is definitely being metted out in tremendous liberality! Please keep them and their work in your prayers.

2) Pslam 116: This is amazing. I've never noticed it before tonight.

Not to us, O LORD, not to us
but to Your Name be the glory,
because of your love and faithfulness.
-Psalm 115: 1

"Providence is nothing more than God's goodness in action. Goodness is the bud of which providence is the flower, or goodness is the seed of which providence is the harvest." -- Charles Spurgeon

I reckon you should expect an interesting day when you begin it at the county dump. I cleaned out a friend's garage this morning and had to make a trip over there get to rid of all the junk. Upon reaching the landfill's entrance, I almost crashed trying to take a picture of this sign. Ummmm...I'm gonna let you draw your own conclusions about the official who OK'd this decision.



Moving on to creepy sighting number two: Af first glance, I thought the local Mafia had just dropped their garbage off. I figure that as of about 12pm this afternoon, there's an extremely irritated guy wandering around Athens looking for his [now MIA] prosthetic leg.



Finally, I wanted to share this last picture with you...it made me extra-thankful for my ever-vigilant government officials...always going that extra mile to ensure the safety of their citizens. How thoughtful of them to install this handy reminder. I can't confirm this, but I think the other side of the sign reads, "DO NOT EAT GARBAGE".

...a night alone at a streetside coffee shop. No schoolwork (since I made the executive decision to put it off till tomorrow), no worries (pressing worries, at least), no interruptions (save the throngs of drunk co-eds passing by my table giving me the eye), no place I'd rather be, and no hesitations in saying I think John Bunyan and I would have gotten along great had we been contemporaries. God is good; tonight and always! 

You know it's been a good day when you send it off with close friends and an hour of impromptu hymn-singin'. There's something uniquely pacifying in singing one of those old hymns that plows deep through your heart...that could have been written right out of your own struggles.

If you haven't read the lyrics to these hymns lately, take a gander.

Rock of Ages (Agustus Toplady, 1776); Jesus Paid It All (Elvina Hall, 1865); Near the Cross (Fanny Crosby, 1869); There is a Fountain Filled with Blood (William Cowper, 1772)

The other night's errands contained a most dreadful task: picking out a birthday card (for another man). I spent a good 10 minutes reading every last card in the "From Son to Dad" category. The problem isn't that I don't know what I want to say or that I have a hard time articulating my love in words. On the contrary, I know exactly what I want his card to convey. It's just that I very seldom find a birthday card that comes anywhere close to communicating what I want to say or how I want to say it. I don't think I'm being too picky; or am I? I would (and do) settle for just about anything even remotely close to my desired sentiments. But it's gotten to the point now that I've resigned myself to writing a letter on a plain piece of stationary.

And here's a handy news flash: the "Christian cards" with all their pastoral scenes of happy meadow flowers and majestic mountains aren't much better. Consumerism's mark on Christian cards is disturbingly overt. Whoever writes them is good at what they do, though. If you're not careful they'll tug your sappy heartstrings all the way to the checkout counter...sometimes with a tear in your eye (although I won't confirm if this has ever happened to me).

Since I'm ranting...let me throw this in. Next time you peruse the Christian card category, take note of how many cards that quote Scripture employ the almighty ellipses (...). A lot of these cards will quote several different verses plucked from all over the Bible and then will proceed to chop them in half, take them out of context, and present them in the "The Message" translation. By the time the card-writer is done arranging the Scripture collage, he's created some Baal-like god...who worships the card's recipient and is enamored with how special and perfect the person is.

Those cards nauseate me. I'm in the market for something a little more real, a card that attributes credit to the only Person to whom credit is due. So maybe what I'm looking for is a Puritan card*; or something that rings in my ear like one of Wesley's hymns. So until I find a card flavored with humility and seasoned with thanksgiving, I'll keep looking*. And who knows, maybe these cards will look a little more like a plain piece of stationary with a Psalm scribbled on the top. I'm just not convinced I can trust Hallmark to conjure up a Christ-exalting birthday card*.

;) NOTE to Reader: Please note sarcasm at appropriate points (*)

"Beware that you are not swallowed up in books! An ounce of love is worth a pound of knowledge." John Wesley

I encountered a familiar struggle this morning: trying to remember why it is I even pray. You know the feeling?...when you're praying but at the same time wondering if there's any eternal consequence to what you're doing? But something was different about this morning. Accounts of my Lord leaving the crowds behind and secluding Himself in private prayer captured my attention.

I'm struck by how hungry Jesus was for fellowship with His Father. How sweet those encounters must have been! How jealously Christ guarded these divine appointments from other worldly distractions! Compelled by utter necessity and a deep longing, "Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed" (Luke 5:16). If our Redeemer daily left the crowds and ran to the throne of Grace to worship and petition and wrestle and wait...what are the implications to our living?

I think Scripture makes clear to us that God is most glorified when belief births action...when dependence upon the Lord becomes more than a theological proposition and begins to look like a desperate, child-like reliance upon a God who declares that He is faithful. Thus, when Jesus went off to pray in seclusion, He was doing so much more than simply offering an example for his disciples. He prayed because He was commanded to, because He longed to, because he needed to...because His Spirit reveled in humble submission at Abba's feet.

As I consider the wonder of Christ while I type this...I remember that His wounds bought my access to the Mercy Seat, He is my Advocate in Heaven...actively mediating my prayers. Surely, "As the deer panteth for the water, so my soul longeth after you, O God" (Psalm 42:1). As for today, I yearn for communion with the only One who knows me perfectly...who loves me perfectly...who delights in me for His Name's sake. And when sin hardens my heart and stifles the song in my soul, I will by grace repent and believe my Shepherd's voice: "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you" (Hebrews 13:5).