O! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war’s desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav’n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: ‘In God is our trust.’
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Happy Independence Day. Today, let’s remember a greater freedom than that we enjoy here in the United States. It is for freedom Christ has set us free.

Is the cross truly the center of our lives?

It’s a question I have been wrestling with ever since I began to study 1 Corinthians. From the very beginning, as Paul addresses the church of Corinth, strikingly similar to the “church of America,” we see his emphasis on one thing — the cross. The Corinthians had been filled with pride, envy, factions, and immorality only a short time after Paul had left them. They believed that even as young Christians they had reached the peak of their Christian experience. Their pride led them to focus on things of this world, their own opinions and tastes, and begin to rebel against Paul’s teaching. But Paul tells them plainly and simply that what is important is the cross — the gospel that saved them.

What struck me when I first began studying was something D.A. Carson mentions in his book The Cross and Christian Ministry.

What would you think if a woman came to work wearing earrings stamped with an image of the mushroom cloud of the atomic bomb dropped over Hiroshima?

What would you think of a church building adorned with a fresco of the massed graves at Auschwitz?

Both visions are grotesque. They are not only intrinsically abhorrent, but they are shocking because of powerful cultural associations. The same sort of shocked horror was associated with “cross” and “crucifixion” in the first century. Apart from the emperor’s explicit sanction, no Roman citizen could be put to death by this means. Crucifixion was reserved for slaves, aliens, barbarians. Many thought it was not something to be talked about in polite company. Quite apart from the wretched torture inflicted on those who were executed by hanging from a cross, the cultural associations conjured up images of evil, corruption, abysmal rejection.

That quote seems to make the statement that God chose the “foolish things of this world to shame the wise” even stronger. I like the new perspective it gives us into what Paul is saying right in the very beginning of 1 Corinthians. It is clear that the cross is not, in the world’s eyes, full of wisdom, nor of strength. It was even more so in the first century.

We run to the cross. It must be the center of our lives, our speech, our actions, and our minds. The cross- the gospel - must guide our daily actions. Many do not understand this teaching, but it is so evident through God’s Word. It saves us, and when we look at the cross and its suffering, we flee from sin. It is the center, it is the story.

From the FRC email June 6th. For those who have read Don’t Waste Your Life by John Piper, the following news is of great importance.

One of America’s greatest stories came to an end yesterday as Jack Lucas, the youngest Marine to be awarded the Medal of Honor, died of cancer. After forging his mother’s signature so he could enlist at age 14, Jack begged his superiors to let him fight. He even “stowed away aboard a Navy ship headed for combat in the Pacific Ocean.” When he explained his situation to the officers on board, they granted his wish of fighting the Japanese. It turned out to be one of the best decisions they could have made. In a trench at Iwo Jima, Jack threw himself on two grenades to protect his squad. When one detonated, he was nearly killed. With hundreds of pieces of shrapnel lodged in every major organ, Jack underwent more than two dozen surgeries–and lived to tell about it. His Medal of Honor notes that his “inspiring action… not only protected his comrades from certain injury or possible death but also enabled them to rout the Japanese patrol and continue the advance.” He died on Thursday after losing his battle with cancer. We remember Jack, as we remember so many soldiers from World War II–with humble gratefulness. President Reagan said it best when he looked out over Omaha Beach and told our veterans, “Strengthened by their courage, heartened by their valor, and borne by their memory, let us continue to stand for the ideals for which they lived and died.”

Other posts that included Jack Lucas are Great Stories…Great Lives, Freedom, Coolness Redefined.

Nothing is essential until you get it and then don’t have it. — Jake Smith

Well, the blog has risen from the dead database crash zone, where for some odd reason blogs and websites may suddenly disappear into the unknown due to the dropping of hostname for a database. Basically, what we did was to simply assign my DB to an alternate address and then edited the wp-config file to reflect that change.

In other words: I email the problem, it got fixed, and the site was back in 30 seconds. Exciting stuff. Wild things always happen to me.

It’s been a busy couple of weeks - and of course since the blog has been down, I’ve been wanting to write, but I can’t. I’ve been writing a lot of other things, and I hope you’ll pray for me as I take on some big projects, along with scholarships and more. A few things have hit me in the past few weeks.

First, we all seem to have the mindset that our name needs to be big in this world to make a difference for the kingdom of God. It simply isn’t so. You don’t have to be Billy Graham to change the world. If God has called you to a place that seems small, you need to be content in that situation - and glorify God through whatever you do. It’s not about your name, it’s about God’s fame and His name being spread through all the world.

Secondly, God’s grace is so abundant. I am constantly returning to the cross and the grace that can be freely received there. It is easy to be depressed by our failings in sin, and to stay that way. We allow our pride to take a hold, and we refuse to humble ourselves before the cross - and we refuse to humbly accept grace. B God is so patient with a sinner like me as I grow more like His son.

I’m looking forward to getting back to blogging, and I’m praying you all are as well.

I was on break, sitting in the corner of the restaurant eating my dinner. The dining room was pretty empty - quiet, calm. I looked up to see a family walking in. Dad, Mom, and three boys. I chuckled to myself as they reminded me of ducks, all in height order. Dad, the tallest. Mom next, then the three others. All in a straight line.

They ordered their food, and sat down a few booths away from me, across the aisle. Two boys on one side, mom and another son on the other. Dad at the head of the table.

I saw another family glance at them, chuckling among themselves. I wasn’t. I was watching what they did next. All of them reverently took off their hats, closed their eyes, and thanked God for their food. The other family starting whispering again. I was convicted.

I totally forgot to thank God for my food! I thought to myself. Okay, well…I just flat out didn’t do it because I just didn’t feel like it.

The family concluded their prayer, returned their hats to their heads, and began eating. I really wanted to walk over and thank them right then and there for their example to me and to others in the restaurant. People may think it’s old and cliche to talk about being a witness by praying in public. I don’t think it is at all. Something was working in my heart right there, and the Holy Spirit was working through this family.

Fast forward to the night after. I’m driving home. The sun is setting, a faint moon can be made out in the blue sky. Music plays quietly the background with the faint sound of tires on the road. I was thinking about that family. What exactly was God trying to tell me? It couldn’t simply be “Tim, you didn’t ask a blessing over your food.” I knew it was much, much deeper than that.

It became pretty obvious to me as I saw that sunset in front of me and I drove towards home. I was ungrateful for what God had given me - I wasn’t thankful to God that I was driving a car I own, I wasn’t thankful for my job, my family, a home to return to, a church family, life, salvation, or the cross. I had been moping around worrying about finishing school, whining about having to work, and complaining about the situations I found myself in. The praying family stopped me dead in my tracks.

Thank goodness God is “kind to ungrateful and evil men.” I was acting just like those evil men described in 2 Timothy 3:2, the men who are “lovers of self…arrogant…ungrateful, unholy…[and] holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power.” Paul tells us to “avoid such men as these.”

I should not act like these sinful men, but instead should give thanks to God for his infinite mercy to me first of all through the gospel. The truth of the cross does not allow for ungratefulness. Secondly, I must thank God for his grace through the Holy Spirit, shown to me daily. Last, I must thank God for common grace - life, sun, rain, oxygen, etc. With these things in mind I should never stop giving thanks to God.

So, it’s not that I broke some rule about praying before my meal. The issue is much deeper than that - things like that can quickly show us a much deeper problem in our lives. My prayer is that none of us will allow ourselves to overlook that truth.

Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, His love endures forever.

I was shocked and stunned by the following message this afternoon.

NASHVILLE, TN…5/21/08… At approximately 5pm on the afternoon of Wednesday May 21st, Maria Sue Chapman, 5 years old and the youngest daughter to Steven and Mary Beth Chapman was struck in the driveway of the Chapman home in Franklin, TN. Maria was rushed to Vanderbilt Childrens Hospital in Nashville, transported by LifeFlight, but died of her injuries there. Maria is one of the close knit family’s six children and one of their three adopted daughters.

I’ve been a fan of Steven Curtis Chapman for 18 years, and like thousands of his fans I have to ask “why?” How can God allow such a tragic accident to occur? The pain is so deep - it’s so deep for so many of his fans. I can only imagine how much deeper it is for Steven, his wife, his kids - and especially for his son. But Steven has answered the question of “why” so clearly in his song, “With Hope,” when he says:

This is not at all how
We thought it was supposed to be
We had so many plans for you
We had so many dreams
And now you’ve gone away
And left us with the memories of your smile
And nothing we can say
And nothing we can do
Can take away the pain
The pain of losing you, but …

We can cry with hope
We can say goodbye with hope
‘Cause we know our goodbye is not the end, oh no
And we can grieve with hope
‘Cause we believe with hope
(There’s a place by God’s grace)
There’s a place where we’ll see your face again
We’ll see your face again

And never have I known
Anything so hard to understand
And never have I questioned more
The wisdom of God’s plan
But through the cloud of tears
I see the Father’s smile and say well done
And I imagine you
Where you wanted most to be
Seeing all your dreams come true
‘Cause now you’re home
And now you’re free, and …

We have this hope as an anchor
‘Cause we believe that everything
God promised us is true, so …

We wait with hope
And we ache with hope
We hold on with hope
We let go with hope

This accident was not at all how it was supposed to be in our finite plan. Yet we know that God is sovereign, and that although the pain is great, this accident was not outside of His control. We can rest assured that “all things work together for the good for those who love God and have been called according to His purpose.” Even through this tragedy, God can be and will be glorified.

I once heard an analogy of a pond that you’ve thrown a pebble into. You see all of the little circles coming from the rock, which represents your view of life. God sees all of the pebbles thrown into that pond by all people and is orchestrating each and every one for His purposes and His ultimate will. For now, we only see through a glass darkly. Someday we will see why God allowed this to happen. For now, we must rest in His arms knowing that His good and perfect will shall be done in due time.

We cry with hope because we know our goodbye is not the end for those who have put their faith in the one, true, good God who is working out His good and perfect plan even amidst such pain and suffering. Our hope is not in this world. It is in Christ, the perfect sacrifice for our imperfections, who has saved us from sin, and has made us perfect before a Holy and Just God.

I don’t know why Maria was so tragically killed in this accident. I wish with all my heart it didn’t happen. Yet I will trust in God during this time. I know the Chapmans will do the same, and I hope that you will continue to pray for them during this terrible time. I’ll end with this note from Jim Houser:

Your prayers are needed for all in the Chapman family. This is a family who has so generously loved and given to so many. Just hours before this close knit family was celebrating the engagement of the oldest daughter Emily Chapman, and were just hours away from a graduation party marking Caleb Chapman’s completion of high school. Now, they are preparing to bury a child who blew out 5 candles on a birthday cake less than 10 days ago. These words are unthinkable to type. And yet we trust in a God who was not surprised by this and because of Jesus I am certain through faith in Him we will see Maria again. - Jim Houser (Manager)

I’m a huge fan of Boundless Magazine, and now, I’m a huge fan of their relatively new podcast, The Boundless Show. It easily makes it into my “top five” podcasts to subscribe to. Their latest episode includes a great interview with Joel Rosenburg.

“What if Jesus is coming back a lot sooner than we all thought?” Rosenberg asks listeners. “Are you ready to see Jesus face to face? Are you living a life of holiness? Are you living a life of spiritual impact? This is the moment we need to get in the game.”

An evangelical Christian from an Orthodox Jewish heritage, Rosenberg was a Washington insider before leaving that fast-paced environment to write books, primarily novels. His success has come in part due to a knack for writing storylines that tend to “come true.” The plot for The Last Jihad, written before 9/11, mirrors that day’s tragic events.

If you have internet, subscribe to this podcast. It’s well worth your time.

I was thinking about just a few people I know whose lives didn’t seem to be going right. Two guys I know were just in a terrible car accident - but they’re alive, and doing remarkably well. Yet for the rest of their lives, they may carry many scars from that accident. I thought of some people I knew through work - they’re in trouble at school, they’re at odds with their parents, they’re wrestling with where they live, their girlfriends or boyfriends, or who they are. Things just don’t seem to be going right for them.

My heart is heavy for them, and I have found myself often wishing that I had spoken to them differently when they told me of their heartaches and trials. I wish that I had spoken to them about the truth that has challenged me over the past few weeks. God is sovereign. God has each of our days planned. He is not caught off guard. He is not unaware of our circumstances. That has given me great comfort - and has brought me much conviction.

First, it has given me great comfort. If I lived in a world where any decision was based on the human will, I would be terrified. Our will is bent only towards sin. If God was unable to control everything, how could I make it through life?

Now Tim, you’re thinking to yourself, are you implying that we don’t have free will to make decisions?

God’s Plan in Salvation

No. I believe we have “free will.” We obviously make choices. However, the will has the freedom to choose whatever it desires. Our will is a slave to sin, so we desire only sin. When it comes to Salvation specifically, I believe that “all human beings desire to flee from God unless and until the Holy Spirit performs a work of regeneration. That regeneration changes our desires so that we will freely repent and be saved.” (1) Additionally, I must agree with R.C. Sproul when he says:

“To be sure, for us to choose Christ, God must change our heart. That is precisely what He does. He changes our heart for us. He gives us a desire for Himself that we otherwise would not have. Then we choose Him out of the desire that is within us. We freely choose Him because we want to choose Him. That is the wonder of His grace.”

Or let’s look at what God’s Word says:

“No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day.” (John 6:44, NIV)

“He went on to say, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled him.” (John 6:65, NIV)

“Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” (John 8:34-36, NIV, emphasis mine)

God’s Plan in Life

That encourages me because for those who have been called, we are called to live worthy of that calling. Our will has been changed. We are no longer slaves to sin. So, when I speak to fellow believers, I can encourage them to endure the suffering they now face. I can encourage them to live “worthy of the calling,” realizing that God does have a plan. I can encourage them that God has not only planned the end, but also the means.

For those who have not yet been called, I need to respond with the gospel. I need to pray that God works in their life, and pray that he can work through me. I want them to see that whatever situation they’re in is within God’s plan. My desire is that it would be part of his plan to call them to salvation.

God’s Plan of Conviction

Secondly, it has brought much conviction in my life. C.J. Mahaney has had a huge impact on my life in a number of ways. I was especially grateful last week as God used him to convict me of my sin of complaining - which has everything to do with what we’re talking about. Essentially, any time I respond to a situation with the words “I see no reason for this,” (2) I question God’s sovereignty. I tell him that I don’t believe that his plan is truly the best plan. I tell him that if I were in charge, I’d do it “oh so differently.”

I wouldn’t place those small, annoying moments in my life - like losing my pen, getting locked out of my car, stubbing my toe, or bleaching my favorite colored shirt. When those things happened, I often respond with “Come on!” or “You’ve got to be kidding me” or my famous line: “oh man!” It could be a sigh, a moan, a groan, or an angry outburst. They’re all telling God that I don’t believe in his plan or in his sovereignty.

And as C.J. pointed out last week, it’s only by grace that God doesn’t respond to our moans and groans with “I see no reason for you!”

That’s convicting to me. I constantly respond by saying “I see no reason for this” or “come on” or “you’ve got to be kidding me.” God isn’t kidding. It’s for real. And someday, we will see the reason. On that glorious day, when we finally see our savior, we will know why even those seemingly small and annoying things were placed in our life. We’ll know why the big things were placed in our life as well. And we will all glory forever in our redeemer. God will be glorified for all eternity.

For some reason, I haven’t been able to figure out how to write about my experiences at Together for the Gospel. I can only speak them verbally. I gained so much, and with 17 free books in my possession (plus the others I bought), I’m continuing to learn. In those few days, I was impacted by how much I didn’t know. I realized that my grip on the gospel was loose - too loose. I learned the great importance of penal substitution, I was hit hard by my total depravity, I was challenged in the area of race, I was convicted of my lack of passion, and I was made aware of my sin of complaining.

I had planned on going over each sermon and talk and writing something on it. Instead of doing that, I just want to return to blogging as a person who has been changed and strengthened in his faith.

I want to encourage you to get a hold of a couple of the T4G talks, particularly R.C. Sproul’s and John MacArthur’s sermons. It doesn’t matter who you are - male, female, teen, adult, called to ministry in the church or called to ministry in the workplace, mom, dad, pastor, writer, or random person stumbling across this blog. I’m certain that I could receive some backup on that statement from many others, particularly one young guy who went with my group last week after an original member couldn’t attend. He told me he was a completely different person. His thinking had changed. A passion for learning was lit in his heart.

I have that same desire for everyone who reads this blog now. I want the gospel to be clearly proclaimed. I want people to have a fire lit in their hearts. My desire is that God can work in you to create kindling that His Holy Spirit can light aflame.