In our world over the past few weeks, a great deal has happened. I’ve said little - and obviously nothing dramatic was lost from any conversation, but I have felt that my stint skipping what Tim Challies calls the spiritual discipline of blogging has taught me quite a few lessons - and hopefully it can teach you one as well.

Disasters

Just take a look at some of the terrible college disasters that have happened over the past few months. Union University was demolished by a tornado, yet what we have seen come of that tragedy is only good. Miraculously, not one student was killed and the national attention placed on Union gave their godly faculty a wonderful opportunity to share the gospel and to show a nation how a Christian responds to tragedy.

Another story is the horrible tragedy at NIU. Five dead plus the shooter. Gayle Dubowski, 20, of Carol Stream; Catalina Garcia, 20, of Cicero; Julianna Gehant, 32, of Mendota; Ryanne Mace, 19, of Carpentersville; and Dan Parmenter, 20, of Elmhurst. All of them, in an sudden instant of shooting rampage, dead — for some reason, they were the victims of Steven Kazmierczak’s attack. It leads us, as usual, to ask “why would God allow such suffering?” It is clear that this is just another example of the depravity of human nature. Yet so many world-views would have us to believe that deep down inside we are innately good. Obviously, a quick look at the newspaper (and obviously not just this tragedy alone), will point us to man’s innate evilness. Only Christianity truly answers this problem of evil.

Politics

On a completely different spectrum, we’re looking at an election year like no other. John McCain certainly does seem poised to win the Republican nomination. I know many of my friends are saying that it’s not over for Mike Huckabee, and I certainly agree, but I do want to point out this link. On the Democratic side, we’re looking at a tight, tight, tight race. All I can say is that I’ve seen that Obamamania has truly hit the nation. It’s amazing - and absolutely frightening. If he wins the nomination, I am predicting his win over John McCain (if he wins the Republican nomination.) That’s very scary.

Still, during these uncertain times, I am resting assured in the sovereignty of God over our nation’s leaders.

Blogging

Again, switching gears just a little bit, a lot has gone on in the blogosphere itself, from bloggers becoming published authors to bloggers making fun of my posts. It really creates an atmosphere, for me, that develops humility in my life.

A great blessing in the blogosphere has been the last few posts from my good friends Alex and Brett Harris. Their latest post on “Starting Small, Aiming Big” was another great reminder to me.

“One of the key principles behind the Rebelution is the balance between “big hard things” and “small hard things.” Big hard things are hard things that are often too big for us to do alone. Small hard things are hard things that don’t pay off immediately — and that are often repetitive and seemingly insignificant.”

In another part of the blogosphere, Tim Challies has finally completed his “hard thing” and has published a book, taken some heat for not having a doctorate in the field, and is still blogging away. I can’t wait to get my copy of The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment. I believe it will be a great blessing to the church.

A few other exciting things going on in the blogosphere include the new blogs of C.J. Mahaney (what a blessing) and the blog Forthright Fixation. Also, another blog added to my blogroll was The Blazing Center. All of them fantastic blogs.

Lastly, I found the following biography of myself to be, well, quite amusing. I’m quite honored to be featured in the “Weird Christian Blog Roundup.” And yes, that’s me at #1 on the list of “weird Christians.” Not every day that happens.

“Agent Tim Online. Tim Sweetman is a 17 year old journalist, blogger and student who lives near Washington DC. He is known as “code name” agent Tim. He was moved to tears by the blessing of not giving away enough of his clothes to charity and thereby having too many shirts and pants to fit in his drawers. He is a true believer who can make mountain of a blessing out of a molehill of a problem.”

Seriously, even I couldn’t help but laugh out loud when I read that. What a great piece of work pointing out what Christians should be - completely different. It doesn’t make sense to the world - the cross truly is “foolishness.”

The Point

Well, I know someone has to be asking, “what’s the point of this somewhat random selection of happenings around the world that most of us knew about?” The answer is this: God is unchanging. He is what theologians call “immutable.” No matter what happens, He and His Word do not change. When the tornado struck, He did not change. When the shooter appeared on that platform and opened fire, He did not change. When Barack Obama won the Potomac Primaries, He did not change. When C.J. Mahaney started a blog, He did not change. When someone made fun of my post, He did not change.

We change - He does not. I take great comfort in knowing this. His promises have not changed. What He has done on the cross has not changed. I am justified before him because of the sacrifice of Christ - he doesn’t change his mind. He has sent His Holy Spirit - He will not change and take that away. The Gospel does not change.

Amid all this chaos is the One Unchanging God. Only through Him can we have peace amidst chaos.

I had trouble closing my dresser drawers this afternoon. I pushed harder on the thick padding of shirts and pants. No movement. It was full - really, really full. I tossed the remaining pieces of clothing from the neatly folded laundry pile back onto my bed.

Now I must interject, it’s not that this dresser drawer is the epitome of disorganization, but rather is was simply so full of clothing that not one more t-shirt was going to fit. And this dresser is not small - it’s a decent size dresser. The drawer I was filling - or rather attempting to fill - was the biggest of the four drawers. That’s when it hit me.

I suddenly recognized the amazing blessing that was sitting before my eyes - I had completely overlooked it. What I saw at the moment was a brief inconvenience that was causing me trauma. Just think about how many millions would love to have my problem. So many parents who would do anything to give their child the gift of having to struggle to fit all of their clothing in a massive dresser. In that moment, I bent over on my dresser and came near to weeping.

I remembered Jesus’ words to those souls who believed that they had the right to enter heaven:

Depart from me, you who are cursed into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.

Oh, but “Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison?” they asked.

The reply is chilling, “I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.”

I need to stop complaining and worrying about what I posses and how I dress. God hit me hard on my issue of pride once again. I was proud of what I look like or what I wore and what I possessed. My humility was false because I was taking pride in my humility. I realized that I needed to stop worrying about a need for money for college. God would provide. If the birds and flowers were taken care of, I would be fine. As that Caedmon’s Call song says, “You know the plans you have for me / and You can’t plan the ends and not plan the means.” I rested assured in the sovereignty of God.

Moreover, I realized that I must see the needs of others, both physically and spiritually. I understood that life is not about me - it’s about God and Him glorified through the salvation of souls and the cross. He cares about humanity, and I must care about humanity as well. I must share not only clothing, but also the gospel. That must be the ultimate goal, yet I must not neglect the act of sharing food, of giving money, of clothing the naked, or nursing the sick. I have been commanded to share these blessings. Does that mean giving away clothing? It certainly points to that and I believe that may very well be an act that comes from this experience.

As a Christian, I knew generosity had not been one of my characteristics. We see that Paul encourages the Corinthians to “see that you also excel in the grace of giving.” It is only by grace that we can give. Now, Paul tells them that he is not “commanding” them, “but I want to test the sincerity of your love by comparing it with the earnestness of others.” Then he hits home: “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for our sakes He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich.” I must follow Christ’s example.

It is clear to me that I’ll never put my laundry away in quite the same way - or see the supposed inconvenience of filling my drawer in the same way. May God always remind us of that overflowing dresser drawer.

The following was published in The Capital on January 17, 2008:

I truly don’t understand the issue presented in the article “Drinking, dirty dancing end Severna
Park dance.” (The Capital, Jan. 15). Aren’t we supposed to tolerate behavior like this? Who exactly defines right and wrong? No one is getting hurt, right? Everyone is having fun, aren’t they? It’s just “how [their] generation dances.” Aren’t we supposed to encourage this kind of behavior (or at least ignore it)? Oh my, and to add to all this the school didn’t give a reason for stopping the dance. You killed all their fun you big meanies!

Or not.

Seriously, what we are seeing here is just one example of a generation that is in a downward spiral. Any sane person knows that it is ridiculous to state that we must tolerate this kind of behavior - but the day is coming when persons will demand that we not only tolerate this kind of behavior but also embrace it. It also brings up the issue of our overly sexualized culture rearing its ugly head at a school dance. These kids are inundated by MTV, magazines, movies, and the internet - all screaming the same message. The response to this? Parents have stopped being parents and have now become friends. They need to grow a backbone and get to work. Schools have turned away from abstinence based curriculum for sexually explicit curriculum that is telling kids their behavior is normal.

It really makes no sense when all these things are being said - the teen years are a time for fun at all costs - and then the fun is stopped and called “inappropriate.” It doesn’t make sense to the kids. Let’s start speaking the truth loud and clear: the parents need to parent and schools need to start rethinking their curriculum before its too late.

–Tim Sweetman

From the Family Research Council email:

Today we celebrate a man who contributed greatly to both this nation and to the world. Dr. Martin Luther King’s non-violent movement against segregation and injustice in the United States has inspired many to follow in his footsteps to fulfill the deeply rooted “dream” he spoke of, “that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.’” There is irony in that Dr. King’s observed birthday today comes the day before the 35th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton, which forcibly legalized abortion in the United States. The legalization of abortion was the culmination of a dream of Planned Parenthood founder and icon Margaret Sanger. In 1939 Ms. Sanger started the “Negro Project.” The aim of the program was to restrict, many believe exterminate, the African-American population, under the pretense of “better health” and “family planning.” By all accounts her efforts have been highly successful. Statistics from the Guttmacher Institute (named after Sanger friend and fellow eugenics advocate Alan Guttmacher) show that African-American women account for 32 percent of those getting abortions nationwide, while they make up just 13 percent of the population. Additionally, 94 percent of all abortuaries are located in metropolitan areas, which generally have high African-American populations. Reverend King’s niece, Alveda King, recognizes this genocide and speaks out valiantly against it. We must all work together to make sure that more future leaders like Dr. King are not exterminated before they are born. It is up to us as a society to decide if the dreams of freedom and equality, or the nightmares of Margaret Sanger, will prevail.

You know, during this time of year I’ve been thinking really hard about all of the images posted around the web of aborted babies. I hate them. They’re sick, tragic, heart-wrenching material that my web filter many times denies as “tastless/gross.” The question is - what place do these kinds of images have in the battle to end abortion? Should people be allowed to post such “vulgar and obscene” material on the web or on their vehicles? I hope to take some time this week to comment further on this issue. For now, we must start doing something.

Update: I found this website that has some quotes directly from Margaret Sanger that helps to clarify the legitimacy of the statements found within the FRC email. Those quotes don’t make it any better.

Cartoon from Faithmouse

Resolved, that I will do whatsoever I think to be most to God’ s glory, and my own good, profit and pleasure, in the whole of my duration, without any consideration of the time, whether now, or never so many myriads of ages hence. Resolved to do whatever I think to be my duty and most for the good and advantage of mankind in general. Resolved to do this, whatever difficulties I meet with, how many soever, and how great soever.

- Always a joy to read on this day.

- Also, you might enjoy this sermon from Spurgeon on New Year’s day. I’m also in the midst of reading “A New Year’s Benediction.“

- In addition, David Powlison has written a great post about New Year’s resolution’s here. and the Rebelution has their post up on their resolutions from 2006.

Can you believe it? It’s 2008!