Are You Taking Care of Business?

On Saturday, July 26th, I participated in the funeral of George Todd, a family friend and the father of Angi Hindman, a former member of our congregation. With Angi's permission, the message I gave at the funeral is below.

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Are You Taking Care of Business?

Psalm 116:15

I had the privilege of visiting George and Bev a little over a week ago, on Thursday, July 17th. George was in the hospital then, waiting to undergo the test that eventually told him the cancer had spread into his body. After that time with them, I had left town and upon my return had actually planned to visit with George again this very day. Instead, on Monday it became clear to George and the family that the end was drawing near more quickly than they had anticipated. He requested of his family that I share with you what we had discussed. So I come today as a minister of the Word of God to testify to you what I witnessed in that hospital room and with a sense of being commissioned by George himself to tell you these things. This I consider not only a tremendous privilege, but on this day above all a sacred and solemn duty.

To say George was a businessman is to state the obvious. He was the owner of the S.U.S. Cast Products facility here, and when he took me on a tour a few years ago his clear business sense flowed during our conversation. He spoke of capitalizing on certain markets, ways they had recently been able to save on production costs, and his plans for expanding their operations. Jeff, on that day he told me of how he was looking forward to handing things over to you as his son. Not many men know how to take care of that business in the careful way you would testify that your father went about it. As his obituary notes, George served on different boards in the community, including the Chamber of Commerce, and was a member of the Rotary Club. Yet you did not need to know of these positions to know that with George Todd you were dealing with a businessman. From the first day I met him, being the pastor of his daughter Angi, just his personality alone emanated that here is a no-nonsense, business kind of guy. Though he was a kind man, he was a man who expected no monkey business. He would shoot straight with you and expected the same in return.

And that’s what took place last Thursday. An honest conversation. I asked George a question, and now apparently he wants me to ask it to you (And if George wanted something done, it better get done!) So here's the question: “Are you taking care of business? The most important business?”

To help you in answering that question, look at the front of your bulletin where you will see a verse from Psalm 116. It is verse 15 which says, “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.” If you are not careful, you could quickly read over those words with the quaint sentiment of a Hallmark greeting card. Yet to the thinking man or woman, these words should actually be quite provocative. "What do you mean that the death of a godly one is precious to Lord? Someone we love suffered, at times horribly so, and has been ripped away from us!" Since it says the death of a saint is precious to the Lord, perhaps we might reason that it is speaking of the preciousness of God in receiving a departed spirit into heaven. Yet though there is truth in that, it is not the meaning of the verse. Let me tell you of my conversation with George, as it will help answer our question and open up this verse to us.

In my visits with George, both on the 17th and some weeks prior to that, he was expressing doubts. Though he had professed faith in Christ, and was showing more and more fruit of that to those who knew him, especially in these last years and days, he had regrets over things he had done and things he had left undone. The pain of cancer was there, but a deeper pain was being felt on the accounting sheet of his conscience as he acknowledged failures and shortcomings. He wanted to express himself more clearly in his relationships with friends and family, especially his children and grandchildren, and show fuller expressions of his love than he knew he had time to do. What was he to do with his conscience?

On that Thursday meeting I read to him excerpts from the letters of Samuel Rutherford, a Puritan pastor in Scotland during the 17th century. Rutherford, imprisoned for his faithfulness to Christ, used that time to write letters to his friends. One was to a public official named John Kennedy who had recently escaped shipwreck at sea. Hear part of Rutherford’s counsel to him as he expresses in business languiage what lessons he should draw from his narrow escape:

"Now, in the strength of Jesus dispatch your business; that debt (of death) is not forgiven, but deferred: death has not bidden you farewell, but has only left you for a short season. End your journey before the night come upon you. Have all in readiness against the time that you must sail through that black and impetuous Jordan; and Jesus, Jesus, who knows both those depths and the rocks, and all the coasts, be your pilot. The last tide will not wait you for one moment. If you forget anything, when your sea is full, and your foot in that ship, there is no returning again to fetch it. What you miss in your life to-day, you may amend it to-morrow; for as many suns as God makes to arise upon you, ye have as many new lives; but ye can die but once, and if you mar or spill that business, you cannot come back to mend that piece of work again. No man sins twice in dying ill; as we die but once, so we die but ill or well once. You see how the number of your months is written in God's book; and as one of the Lord's hirelings, ye must work till the shadow of the evening come upon you… Fulfill your course with joy, for we take nothing to the grave with us, but a good or evil conscience."

I told George, using Rutherford's words, that he needed to take care of the business of dying well. As he did not have much time, dwelling on regrets or wishing he could do more was not to be his pursuit now. It was to end his life with a clean conscience, in peace, in a demonstration of trusting Christ through the agony of death. That’s what Bev and the children and grandchildren needed at this time.

But where does the clean conscience come from when you know you have not done all that you should? Listen to Rutherford advise another man whose conscience plagued him:

"Your heart is not the compass Christ sails by. He will give you leave to sing as you please, be he will not dance to your daft tune. It is not referred to you and your thoughts, what Christ will do with the charters between you and him…Your thoughts are no part of the new covenant; your dreams change not Christ. Doubtings are your sins, but they are Christ’s drugs and ingredients that the Physician makes use of for curing your pride…In the passing of your bill and charters, when they went through the Mediator’s great seal, and were concluded, faith’s advice was not sought. Faith has not a vote besides Christ’s merits; blood, blood, dear blood, that came from your Surety’s holy body, makes that sure work."

George understood. He said, “No place for pride anymore, huh?” He knew it was not his business accomplishments nor the ones that were now more important to him - his family accomplishments - that ultimately mattered. It was trusting in Christ’s blood for cleansing. He trusted in the precious blood of Christ to take all those debts off his accounting sheet. He knew that his true business was to make that hospital room where he would die a sanctuary testifying to that truth.

And in the final day, those final hours, with his family at his side, that is what happened. They saw an ill man die well. He died in their very arms, but more importantly, he died in the arms of Christ. When the tide came, when the greatest of all enemies came into that hospital room, when death took their husband and father away, peace, precious peace, was in that room.

Hearing this helps open up our verse, and will help you to see how to answer the question about whether you are taking care of business. For how is the death of a godly one precious in the eyes of the Lord? That word precious means "costly, expensive, highly valued." In the Bible it is a business term used to give value to such things as expensive jewels, costly stones and (George would have liked this) precious metals. When God looks from heaven, and sees one of his godly ones trusting in the blood of Christ that is more precious than silver or gold - for only it can purchase a soul from sin and hell - God himself values that as precious. When a person comes to the end of his life with a diseased body, knowing as George did it would lie here today before us as a shell, and believes the resurrected Christ will raise it one day to be a body immortal and imperishable, that is valuable, weighty, precious in the eyes of the Lord. The God of heaven values faith in His Son above all else.

I stand before you today, at George’s request and as God’s representative, and ask you, “Are you taking care of real business?” Twenty years ago this summer my businessman father died, and now here I am his age at his death. Those years have passed by like the snap of a finger. So will the time that separates you from your funeral. So I ask you, "Will you go to the grave as George did, with a conscience cleansed by Christ's blood?"

"Are you taking care of business?"

Forgiveness in Rwanda

In the first months of our marriage, Miriam and I signed up to support a child through Compassion International, a ministry that with a few dollars each month provides needy children around the world with food, clothing and Christian teaching. I still remember excitedly opening up the packet with Miriam and seeing the picture of a little boy from Rwanda named Hahirwabimera (we nicknamed him "Wabi") that we had been assigned. Compassion personalizes its ministry by sending regular updates, pictures and letters from the child, and assists you in corresponding back. Over the next few years we enjoyed developing the relationship with Wabi and found great joy in seeing his smiling face and reading his cute letters.

Yet this relationship with Wabi came to an abrupt end in 1994.

When Rwandan President Juvénal Habyarimana's plane was shot down leading to his death, the civil unrest and tension that had existed in this country from centuries of tribal tensions exploded. The majority Hutu tribe enacted a genocide against the Tutsi tribe and Hutus who had been unloyal to the president's leadership. In the course of four months roving gangs killed between 800,000 to a million of their neighbors. Think of it - nearly one out of eight Rwandans slain. Because the ministry of Compassion was so disrupted by this violence, we lost all contact with Wabi and do not know today if he perished in the bloodshed.

It was with great interest then that I read a recent review in WORLD magazine of a movie entitled As We Forgive. Director Laura Waters Hinson and narrator Mia Farrow document the fascinating history that is being made even now. The current Rwandan government, still faced with tens of thousands jammed in their prisons waiting court appearances for their part in the genocide, has in the last few years released around 40,000 of those who were not leaders in organizing the violence but who have confessed to murder. They are being sent back to the very neighborhoods they once lived in and being instructed, with the assistance of the church, in seeking reconciliation with the families of the ones they murdered. To demonstrate their remorse, the ex-prisoners are helping rebuild the homes and schools of the communities they had destroyed. According to the website, Hinson's film focuses on two particular women going through the great inner struggle of facing the men who took their loved ones' lives.

I'm intrigued enough that I bought the DVD today. You can see the trailer here. For what greater sign of God's working can there be than forgiveness of this magnitude? The title of course comes from our Lord's Prayer: "Forgive us our trespasses, even as we forgive those who have trespassed against us." Let us also remember what's at stake, for the Lord follows this model prayer with these words of instruction and warning: "If you forgive others for their transgressions, then your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions" (Matthew 6:14-15).

Forgiveness is the key to ending all civil wars, be they the national ones such as Rwanda, the private ones in too many homes, or the ultimate, cosmic one between God and man.

92 Years and Psalm 92

Paul Faris, a founding member of the Sycamore congregation, will celebrate his ninety-second birthday next week. As I reflected on Paul's influence on my own life, I wanted to share it with members of the congregation who might not know Paul but are benefiting from the ministry he continues to have here. I thought perhaps this would encourage others as well.

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Paul was raised as a Covenanter, coming from generations of Farises who have been in the Reformed Presbyterian Church. As his grandson James Faris, pastor of the Southfield RPC, tells it, for at least ten generations in his family line the men have alternated in their vocations between farmers and pastors. James and his grandfather fell in the "pastor" generations, so despite growing up on a farm in Dennison, Kansas, Paul went into pastoral ministry. He graduated from the Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary in 1944. His "official records" indicate that he served three congregations (Quinter RPC and Sterling RPC in Kansas, and the Lisbon RPC in New York) over the more than forty years he was in pastoral ministry. The recognition by the church of his godly testimony and gentle shepherding over the years was seen in him being given an honor unique in the RPCNA - he was chosen as Moderator of Synod not just once but twice.

Yet truly Paul helped pastor a fourth congregation, namely Sycamore Reformed Presbyterian Church. In 1984 Paul retired with his wife Ruth in Flora, Indiana, in order to be near the West Lafayette RPC, his family, and help with a church planting work in Kokomo. In January of 1985 Paul preached and led bi-weekly worship services in the homes of the core families. Providentially, it was in 1985 that Miriam and I moved as newlyweds to West Lafayette so I could do graduate work at Purdue University. One of my memories of those first months worshipping with the West Lafayette church was of this group of people who were there one week and gone the next. I soon learned what they were doing!

However, tragedy struck this work the following year in the Spring of 1986, all in the course of one month. The husband of the family who originally started the work in Kokomo was found to be in adultery (his eventual excommunication took place at my first session meeting as a new intern!). An experienced and gifted church planter, Pastor Bob McCracken, declined a call to come to Kokomo. And Paul's beloved wife Ruth, who had been diagnosed with brain cancer only a few months prior, died. Clearly the Lord had closed the door for the time, and the worship services and work in Kokomo were suspended.

However, Paul, the few other families involved in the Kokomo work (The Dinkledine, Faris, and Parman Families), and the session and congregation of West Lafayette persevered in their vision. Having sent me to seminary, they eventually called me to come back in 1991 and lead the effort here in Kokomo. What I want to testify to in this rememberance is Paul's support of me. He constantly encouraged me with his prayers and comments, occasionally corrected me with a spirit of gentleness, and was always sharing insights through stories, reflections or articles. With the ever present twinkle in his eye and boyish grin on his dignified face, he continued to use his blend of earthy, Spirit-filled wisdom as he preached for us when needed and led Bible studies and classes when called upon. In 1994, when it came time to organize the congregation, despite his status as "retired" he agreed to serve as a ruling elder when the congregation elected him. For over five years he served faithfully, providing a comfort to new members with his maturity and fatherly concern, and especially enriching the three "rookie" elders (Greg, Tom and I) in our knowledge of ministry and the RP Church.

Though he has now lived for several years with his daughter and her family back in Lisbon, New York, who care for him, Paul has kept his membership in our congregation and continues to remain interested and pray faithfully for the Sycamore congregation. The heritage he was given has been passed on, as he has children and grandchildren serving as pastors, elders, deacons, pastor's wives and missionaries. If there is one word that comes to my mind as I think about this beloved saint, it is covenant. The Lord has kept covenant with Paul, and Paul has shown through a long lifetime of service covenant faithfulness to his God. As Psalm 103:17-18 says, "The lovingkindess of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him, and His righteousness to children's children, to those who keep His covenant and remember His precepts to do them" (Psalm 103:17-18).

It is great to know God's promises like these and believe them. Yet for me it has also been such a wonderful blessing and confirmation to see them in the life of Paul Faris.

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Paul also taught me a great deal about the psalms. Cannot help but think of how on his 92nd birthday he fulfills what the 92nd Psalm says of the righteous man, "When old they still bear fruit and flourish fresh and green."

On Compassionate Conservatism

In April I had the privilege of sitting in a meeting where Marvin Olasky, editor of WORLD magazine and author of The Tragedy of American Compassion, met with a dozen or so leaders of inner-city ministries in Indianapolis. He had featured several of these organizations in another of his books, Compassionate Conservatism (see Chapter 3 "Indianapolis: How Government Should Work," especially pages 65-80), which was published in 2000 and has a foreword by our current president when he was still governor of Texas. In essence he was revisiting these ministries, as the presidency of Mr. Bush draws to a close, to evaluate the impact of the compassionate conservative movement on them.

Mr. Olasky told us that the conservative movement has in large part been a failure. He believes it has failed because the approach by the current administration in Washington has been contrary to the core principles they claimed to represent. Rather than using poverty-fighting tax credits or vouchers to decentralize such things as care for the needy and education, more and more government control has been enacted. The lack of the use of the veto by the president has bloated the budget. The war in Iraq has led to an increase in government power. These factors and others have caused compassionate conservatism to be sneered at as empty rhetoric rather than embraced as a good governing philosophy. Mr. Olasky even painfully joked that he may write another book entitled The Tragedy of Compassionate Conservatism.

One of the fascinating facts Mr. Olasky offered to show the impact of government programs on the work of private charities in caring for the poor was a study by Jonathan Gruber on church charity from 1929-1939. He noted that following the great Stock Market Crash of 1929, despite the huge economic hardships the nation faced, there was no decrease in charitable giving. However, later during the New Deal, as federal programs arose to provide relief, the church's charitable giving decreased 30%. Gruber's research substantiates what many would expect. If the government takes over care of the needy, the church will do less and less.

The impact of this is spiritually devastating. As Americans continue to turn from God to men who act as gods, and trust in princes for their piece of the pie rather than the Prince of Peace, the church will find it more and more difficult to capture hearts for the gospel. Especially among the poor with whom we work, we find their dependency on government programs and their immediate looking to a public agency to meet yet another crisis they have encountered make them hardened to Christ. So what are we to do?

Since Jesus Himself has commissioned the church to care for the needy and will judge us accordingly (Matthew 25:31-46), we must by example show true compassion for the poor. The church must never forsake that role. Yet we cannot stop in simply ministering to the poor. The church must not only be found muscling its way to the front lines in the war on poverty, but as we do so we must also, through preaching, praying, persuading and proving to elected officials our resolve, win the war for poverty. The church must become so effective in doing what Christ created it to do, and so able to demolish arguments raised against it, that the government learns it is best to step aside and get out of our way.

For could another reason that compassionate conservatism has failed be that the church has been too conservative with its compassion?

Notable Quotables

Along with around 300 others including our interns Bill and Jason, I attended the Banner of Truth Conference at Messiah College in Grantham, Pennsylvania, last week. The Banner has been publishing Puritan literature for over fifty years now, and offers this conference to minsters, elders and theological students to refresh them, which it did for me. I thought I would offer several of the quote-worthy insights I heard last week that stimulated my heart and mind. Some are from saints of long ago that perhaps I had heard before and rejoiced in their remembrance; others were fresh words from the ministers who spoke at the conference. They are in no particular order.

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I long for love (for Christ) without any coldness.
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Like a calvary officer keeps his blade clean, so God uses a holy minister as a sword.
It is not great talents God blesses, but likeness to Jesus.
A holy minister is an awful weapon in the hand of the Lord.
Robert Murray McCheyne

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Be killing sin or it will be killing you.
John Owen

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A spark starts an entire combustion engine and puts it into motion.
Cannot the Spirit of God, sought in prayer, spark great life in us?
Craig Troxel

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If you need a sign hanging on your forehead saying "Holy to the Lord,"
then there is reason to doubt that he possesses his own sufficient holiness.
Richard Phillips (speaking of the high priest's sinfulness in comparison to Christ's perfection)

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Remember the children.
David Campbell (on preaching to the entire congregation)

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For eight-six years I have served Him and He has never done me wrong as my King.
Shall I now blaspheme Him?
Polycarp (speaking of Christ before his martyrdom)

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Yes, Jesus did say to Peter, "Get behind Me, Satan."
But it could have been worse.
He could have said, "Get behind Me, Peter."
Ian Hamilton

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We are all unbelieving believers.
Thomas Hooker

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Without the anointing of the Spirit, the ministry of the word is as dry as a bone.
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Do not see what you cannot change (in the church).
Iain Murray

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Calvinism is simply Christianity on it knees.
B.B. Warfield

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Fish in a Bowl

Goldie and Boldie were goldfish who lived in a fishbowl. They were happy there - for a while anyway - as their bowl was a nice little place for them to dwell. The blue, white and purple gravel at the bottom was kept bright and clean. They loved darting in and out of the sunken ship that lay on its side in the colored gravel, spending their days pretending they were hiding from sharks in the gaping hole on its side or discovering treasures that lay long hidden. The constant stream of bubbles rising from the boat to the surface above tickled their tummies as they swam through them. Chasing one another round the bowl, gobbling up the regular feedings of the rainbow-colored food that appeared on the surface each day, and floating quietly side-by-side when darkness fell on their world filled their fishbowl days with gladness.

As time went on, as time will do, Goldie began to notice something different about Boldie. Where once he had been eager to have swim races or play fish games all day long, Boldie spent more and more time staring out of the bowl. Though Goldie would occasionally look out of the bowl, such as watching for the owner to drop their food, she was far more content with her fishbowl world. But not Boldie.

Every person who walked through the room or child that ran by Boldie would follow with his goldfish eyes. Where before he would have spent the better part of his day swimming around with Goldie, now he had his little fish lips pressed close to the glass of the fishbowl looking at the other world that existed outside. If the TV was on in the room, he became motionless, hanging in the water gazing at the constantly changing colors on the screen. He began to miss meals, leaving his share of the speckled food floating up above. No matter how hard she tried, Goldie could not get him to play games or to come back into their ship hideout anymore.

Perhaps all of this could have been overlooked if it had not been for the cat.

Boldie's greatest fascination was with the grey-striped cat that visited their bowl each day. Its larger than life face filled the side of the bowl like a close-up of a monster in a horror film. In their younger days whenever they saw the hungry green eyes staring in at them, Goldie and Boldie would flash away behind their ship and wait for it to leave. Goldie still reacted this way, but not Boldie. Indeed, Boldie's response now was utterly strange to her. The listlessness he normally had left when the cat appeared. He would dart excitedly around flashing his tail, seeming to delight as the cat's eyes grew wide with excitement. When the cat would slap a paw against the glass, Goldie, peeking out from behind the ship, would close her eyes in dread. But Boldie's animation only grew, as this caused him to swim in quick circles and blow bubbles.

Yet the cat visits always ended as quickly as they began. When the cat turned and slinked away, Boldie grew still and returned to staring out the glass. No amount of urging or nudging by Goldie could get him to play with her.

One day, during a cat visit, as she spied from behind the ship Goldie saw the unimaginable. As Boldie raced around in front of the cat's huge face, suddenly a giant paw flew into the water, scooped up Boldie, and sent him hurtling out of the bowl. As Goldie raced to the glass of the fishbowl to see what would happen, the next minutes were awful. Boldie flopping on the floor gasping. The cat swatting him around mercilessly. The owner running in yelling loudly. When at one point she even saw Boldie in the mouth of the cat, she raced into the hole of the ship.

A few moments later she heard a plop. Looking up, she saw Boldie had been dropped back into the bowl. As he floated downward, he struggled to swim. Goldie saw the reason why. Running along his left side, from his mouth, across his gill, and back toward his tail, was an ugly, red scratch.

Boldie lived, but was never able to swim straight again. The scratch, though healed, made a scar across his scales that pulled his head on the left side back slightly toward his tail. Yet that scar served a greater purpose. It also pulled his eyes away from the world outside the glass and back to the real one he shared with Goldie.

Right now, as you finish reading this little story, your nose is only inches away from a piece of glass called a computer screen. Think of it as the glass of a fishbowl for a moment. How much has your heart been taken away from the loved ones in your own world because of undue devotion to a world in cyberspace you cannot truly experience? Have you even become excited by devotion to "a monster?" A secret, illicit relationship? Viewing pornography? Playing endless video games? The problem with virtual reality is it actually seems so virtually unreal. So other worldly that it will not harm us. Beware becoming a fish in a bowl.

Biblical Education

On Friday, May 16th, Sycamore Covenant Academy (SCA) held its annual Silent Auction & Fundraising Banquet. Over eighty students, parents, grandparents and friends gathered for a delicious dinner prepared by mothers and served by the students. The evening was punctuated with the fun of making bids on products and services donated by local businesses and even some of the students. We enjoyed the beautiful harmonized singing throughout the night of those who had trained in Mrs. Swinehart's Vocal Skills Class. To remind each other of our vision in our children's education, I gave the following address.

As I speak for a few minutes tonight on the subject I was asked to address, that of Biblical Education, please understand what I mean. By Biblical Education we are not referring to studying the Bible, such as taking classes about the Bible like Bill VanDoodwaard’s New Testament class has done. Rather, we mean pursing the education of our children as God would encourage us to do so in His Word.

In that light, I want to show you a cover picture of home school catalog that will both highlight a precious truth and illustrate a dilemma I face as I speak on this topic. It will highlight a precious truth. Note the title explains the message of the picture: “Education in the Shadow of the Cross.” What’s being communicated by this picture is something with which I wholeheartedly agree. In an age when public schools have banned the teaching of Christianity from them, home schooling families can show how the redemption of the cross, the kingdom of God, is to touch on all aspects of our children’s education. Home schooling helps fulfill the command of Deuteronomy to teach the Word of God diligently to our sons throughout the day.

With our freedoms ever threatened, we do need not only to highlight but declare and defend the right of home education. I defend vigorously from the Scriptures the parents’ God-given right to oversee their child’s education throughout his or her life. I believe families who choose to educate their children at home all the way though high school should be free to do so. I love the heritage that homeschoolers have, embodied on such things as the T-shirts with the faces of Mt. Rushmore that ask the question “What do these presidents all have in common?” followed by the answer “They were all homeschooled.” As one who has overseen the home education of my own children for the past 15 years, who would be counted among the estimated 1.3 million children home educated last year, I am a homeschooling advocate and proponent. As a ministry of the Sycamore RP Church founded six years ago, SCA’s purpose is to supplement and complement the education taking place in home school families.

Yet let me further qualify these statements as I continue to speak to the subject of Biblical Education, for it will lead to the dilemma also illustrated by this picture. In the Reformed Faith, we talk about our core beliefs by using the word Sola. Sola is a Latin word meaning “alone” or “only.” So we believe in Sola Scriptura, or the Scriptures Alone, meaning the Bible alone is the only infallible authority for our faith and life. We believe in Solus Christus, or Christ Alone, for He is the only way of salvation. Or we speak of Sola Fide, “by faith alone,” which means it is by belief in Christ and not by our works that we are justified. Note that the Solas have to be explained carefully to be understood properly. Sola Fide does not mean good works are not present in salvation; rather, good works are a result or product of our salvation instead of the grounds of it.

In light of the purpose for being here tonight, and the topic of “Biblical Education” given me to address, I am going to declare a sola that I do not believe in. This non-sola may be a bit provocative though that is not my purpose, and will have to be explained. I do not believe in what would be called in the Latin Sola Domi Academia, or to use a form of "Pig Latin" so we can all understand Sola Homeschoola. I do not believe that Biblical education is achieved by homeschool alone.

There are those voices in the movement who view home schooling as an exclusive social club. Some would openly advocate Sola Homeschoola, that the only Biblical way to educate is for the parents alone to do it, or would at least speak condescendingly about families who choose to send their children into other venues of education. To be honest, we have had more criticisms about SCA within the home schooling community than from the public school one. Some have indicated that by offering SCA we have abandoned the purity of home schooling.

I believe that this criticism comes because of a failure to see an important element in Biblical education - my topic tonight - by many home educators. This missing belief is the dilemma illustrated by this picture. It seems that something is missing in the picture’s interpretation given by the title, and if I am overreaching at least I am right in saying that something is often missing in the home schooling community’s thinking about education. It can cause even the best home schoolers to fall short of a truly Biblical Education. For let me ask you a question: Where is the shadow of the cross coming from?

You can see that it is from a steeple. The shadow of the cross comes from the church.

You see, the education of our children that the Bible promotes is a parent-controlled and church-nurtured education. For the Biblical support I would offer for this statement, we need go no further than the one story preserved in Scripture from our Savior’s childhood.

Recall at the age of 12 Jesus was taken by His parents Joseph and Mary to Jerusalem at the time of the Passover. This was a common practice among the Jewish youth to prepare them for participating in the Passover the following year. They would be brought before the elders and teachers of Israel and questioned about their faith. Alfred Edersheim tells us in his book The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah that if the priests and elders determined the child showed sufficient maturity and understanding of the faith, he would become a “bar mitzvah,” which means “a son of the commandment.” Bar Mitzvah was not originally just a birthday party for a Jewish adolescent, but a rite in which the youth took upon himself a greater responsibility for his life before God.

Recall from the story that on their way home, Jesus' earthly parents realized He was not with them. After they found him, what question did He raise? “Did you not know I had to be in My Father’s house?” Jesus was coming of age and was maturing into one who had to obey and participate in the life of the synagogue. Not only because his parents had taught Him to do so, but because He believed from the heart that this was now His responsibility. Jesus' soul grew into this sense of responsibility, for He was "increasing in wisdom and knowledge, and in favor with God and men." Incredibly, the Son of God so humbled Himself in the incarnation that He even grew into the sense of His spiritual position and responsibility.

Afterwards, Jesus returned home with them and continued to submit himself to them. His teenage and young adult years were not ones of independency from parents, but an even greater willing submission to them as His responsibilities to the community of faith were expanded. Both His parents and He could no longer see Jesus as one chiefly identified as a member of his carpenter father Joseph’s house. His chief identity was now one who was fully engaged in the work of his heavenly Father’s house. "Did you now know I had to be about My (heavenly) Father's business?"

This occurrence at the age of 12-13 in Jesus’ life matches the timing of the maturing process we see physically in our own children. You parents understand that feeling. One day they are little kids always wanting to sit on your laps and do everything with you; it seems you turn around once and now sitting on your lap no longer has the appeal it once did. I have seen it at SCA. Some of these young people started this year as kids. Then, overnight the boy’s voices seem to be going down an octave (and occasionally up two!), and those giggling girls, suffice to say, have become young women - who still giggle. The physical changes you are seeing in your children is a God-given sign of the work He desires to do in their hearts. In the classical system of education defined by the Trivium, it signaled the movement from the grammar stage to the logic and then quickly on to the rhetorical stage. In other words, the movement from the rote learning of a younger child, to the place where they start using their learning and asking questions, then on to learning how to articulate and defend their knowledge and faith. Parents and friends, this physical change is a God-given sign to you about their spiritual development as well. Your child is to be moving from his or her sole identity being a son or daughter of your house to being known as a son or daughter of the King. “Did you not know I had to be in My Father’s house?”

That is what SCA is designed to help you help them to do. We exist to encourage the important balance of parent-controlled and church-supported (rather than government-mandated) education. Our goal is yours - that your children will be well-grounded disciples of Christ, able to walk in faith in all areas of life. As a father, I know it is difficult to learn to let them go, not into the teenage rebellion so common around us, but even into a life of learning from others, working with others, going on mission trips, etc., where their lives start saying to us, "Mom, Dad, did you not know I had to be about my Father's business?" So whether it is the youth of our congregation or the congregation to which you belong, please know we are working and praying with you that they will be equipped as servants who show the power of that cross symbolized in this picture.

Choosing Our Etymology?

Etymology is the study of a word's development over time. More technically it is defined by Merriam-Webster to be "the history of a linguistic form (as a word) shown by tracing its development since its earliest recorded occurrence in the language where it is found, by tracing its transmission from one language to another." Knowing the influences on a word help us understand its meaning.

Now words can have nuances and in the case of words with multiple meanings must always be defined in their context. For example, our word "bank" has merging etymologies in English, one from Scandinavia meaning the edge of a river and another from French meaning where we place our money. Thus saying "I sat by the bank" can be ambiguous and needs to be interpreted by the context. However, most words have a fairly universal consistency in meaning.

For instance, during this campaign year consider the word "elect." Where did we get that word? Well, it comes to us out of the Middle English from the Latin word electus, a past participle of the verb eligere which means "to select from, to choose." Based on the root of this word, we can all agree, can we not, that someone who has been elected to office has been selected from among all the candidates by the voters? With the word "elect" and "election" used so commonly in our modern democratic state, we should have little argument over what it means, should we? We might disagree over whom should be elected, and may have arguments over the results or procedure of an election, but understanding the meaning or idea of an election we have down pretty well.

Yet there is one context when the meaning of this word seems to change. It's when it is used in the Bible.

Now, most of the time when the words "election" or "choose" are used in the Bible that's not the case. Bible readers will generally agree with its use in examples such as these:

• When Lot "chose for himself all the valley of the Jordan" (Geneis 13:11), no one argues much over the fact that of all the land around him presented to him by Abraham, he selected the best land, that which was like "the garden of the Lord."
• When Jesus said to His disciples in John 15:16 “You did not choose Me but I chose you,” we can agree that He clearly chose the Twelve to follow Him (Luke 6:13).
• From my readings, most Christians have no problem saying that God chose the Jews to be his special people, as Paul says in Acts 13:17, “The God of this people Israel chose our fathers" (see also Deuteronomy 7:6).

You see, we will allow that men choose their leaders, lands, and even their gods, and will argue they have that inalienable right. And when it comes to thinking about God having the right to choose, the Arminians and dispensationalists will agree with Reformed folks and say that God chose Israel from all the nations in the Old Testament. Then why is it that when we come to verses such as Ephesians 1:4, which says about the church that God "chose us in Him (Christ) before the foundation of the world," all of a sudden the meaning of the word "chose" changes?

Rather than believing that God elected those who would be saved before the world was even created, the word "chose" has to be redefined. The common explanation is that God looked down through the passage of time, saw what people would believe in Christ, then chose them based on their decision. Do you get that? They take a passage that clearly states that God chose His people and say that, in effect, it means His people chose God.

This not only undermines the meaning of a word we all should readily understand as seen above, but as theologian John Gerstner once raised it also in essence insults the intelligence of God. In what way? It presents God as decreeing that those who are Christians should be considered Christians.

Be careful of choosing your own etymology. Why not instead marvel over what God is so clearly saying?

And One Came Back!

Like the ever-changing weather of Indiana, these past few weeks surrounding Hope for Eternity have been filled with sun and storm, stillness and strong winds. How so?

• The intense days of getting ready for Hope for Eternity were filled with vigorous inviting, detailed organizing, and passionate praying.
• During April 23-27, we sat spellbound by the faithful preaching of the word as we viewed the thunderstorm and tornado that is God's fiery wrath and the sun and rainbow of heaven.
  
• We quietly thanked the Lord and welcomed the more than 100 visitors we had during the outreach, then spent time before and afterwards praying and also engaging some in intense follow-up discussions.
  
• In the days that have followed further discussions and invitations to a new Bible class and church have ensued.

The question that I have been asked often this week, and indeed drove all the way from Michigan on Saturday night so I could see myself, was "How many visitors who attended Hope for Eternity came back the following week to church?"

The answer is the title of this blog. One began our new Bible class on the main message of the Bible.

You may think this attempt to be brutally honest, especially before those who have prayed and been interested in this outreach, is to announce our disappointment and to invoke sympathy. Certainly if the title could have been "And a Dozen Came Back" or any other higher number we might imagine, we would obviously be thrilled. But one? The question "You went to all that effort and only one came back?" can be seen on the faces that I have told or can almost be heard in your thinking. You may think we are greatly discouraged and, again to be completely forthright, there have been moments of disappointment. Yet the title of this blog is not an embarrassed whisper, but a joyous shout. Hence the exclamation mark.

Why? Three brief reasons.

Well, first of all our true goal was and has been to be faithful. We want to serve both our Lord and the people who came. No peddling of the gospel or manipulative techniques were used. Only the clear and urgent call of the gospel was employed. People who attended were free to decide whether they wanted to return. To have a hope that people will want to receive more is righteous and valid, and it fuels our prayers. But to have an expectation that a guaranteed number would return to any other activities would be to play the part of a salesman rather than a servant.

Secondly, before this event in a children's address I had given each of them a Styrofoam cup with dirt and wildflower seeds already planted in it. They could not readily see the seeds, and as I instructed them to take it home and to water it slightly before putting it in the window sill I asked them, "How do you know the seeds will grow? For that matter, how do you know I did not just give you a cup of dirt?" Of course, the children trusted my word (and the seeds have since sprouted). In the same way, we maintained the Scriptural truth during our preparations beforehand that we would sow seed and water it, but would have to trust the Lord for growth (I Corinthians 3:6-7). We can say we believe this, but does not the true test come when circumstances force us to put our faith into practice? Just as time is necessary for flowers to grow, one week is not enough time to measure the true impact.

Finally, one did come back! Though we are not yet claiming conversion, are not people who lose one coin and find it, shepherds who lose one sheep and recover it, and angels in heaven who observe just one sinner repenting supposed to rejoice (Luke 15)? One came back, so we must rejoice! Our God will not let His word return void. Our God delights to save sinners. Our God brings forth life out of sown seeds. Whether it is the one who came back, someone into whose life we sowed and later another will reap, or any number in any number of ways that come to know Christ as Lord, He will save. The one who came back reminds us of this hope.

Besides, we are taught to rejoice simply because Christ is being preached (Philippians 1:18). And preached He was! We hope soon to make these messages available to a wider audience.

From the Mouths and Pens of Youth

One more reminder of the schedule for Hope for Eternity, which will be held in the sanctuary of Sycamore Reformed Presbyterian Church.

7:00 P.M. Wednesday, April 23
Hell: Thinking the Unthinkable

7:00 P.M. Thursday, April 24
Hell: Biblical Basics

7:00 P.M. Friday, April 25
Hell: Everlasting Destruction

10:30 A.M. Sunday, April 27
Heaven: In the Presence of the Lamb

6:00 P.M. Sunday, April 27
Heaven: Being Made Like Him

And in case you need some encouragement, how about these invitations from some young people in our congregation?

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Listen to this radio ad.
It will air three times a day this week on WWKI.

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Read an editorial published this week
in the school paper, the IUK Correspondent.

Students ask about hope for eternity
By Candace Jones

Finals. Looming finals. Are they really worth all the pain? Every semester we reach the crunch time just when we feel like a week-long nap would be better than big tests. But what if a crazed senior decided to forgo their finals and spend their last week watching reruns of Happy Days. Would it be so bad?

Well it all depends on your level of preparation. If you’ve been making a solid A+ in every class, no problem. But for the rest of us, let’s say for a senior with a GPA of 2.0, the effects could be disastrous. Picture them finding a letter from IU Kokomo, and opening it to realize the truth. Their GPA has dropped below a 2.0, and during their last semester they flunked out of college. Four years (or five, or ten) have passed, and they have nothing to show for all their work.

“Well what a lovely thing to think about right before finals,” you may say. But like it or not, the point is the same-- finals matter. When we aren’t prepared, it shows, and we can flunk out of everything we’ve been working for.

Recently a group of students went around campus and surveyed others on their views of heaven and hell. You may have seen us roving the halls with clipboards, speaking with anyone who would talk to us. The questions were brief, the answers were multiple choice, and we really wanted one thing--their honest opinion. Why did we go to the trouble of asking 100 students about eternity? In short, we were concerned about finals.

For oddly enough, everyone believes that life has its own final too. Atheist or Christian, Muslim or Zenist, everyone has an opinion about what the afterlife is like. When the questions started cranking, the answers would come, and there are certain significant points to note. For instance:

• Nearly three-fourths of the respondents (73 percent) thought that hell was an eternal place of judgment. Some students called it “a ticket for being judged,” or “contrary to what heaven would be,” even “a toilet bowl for all eternity.” But very few (only 4 percent) thought that they personally would be sent to hell when they died. Clearly, for many, flunking this final was out of the question.

• A significant majority (69 percent) believe that we will be judged by God for our behavior in this life. And if judgment has any connection to being in hell, we must find a way to avoid it.

• When asked how someone might get into heaven, the students had something of a variety. Around a quarter attributed it to religious or personal duty, and a sixth were not sure, or said that everyone is going to heaven. The rest, 58 percent, said that one must trust in Jesus Christ to get there. For this majority, then, it’s safe to say that we humans are not A+ students. We have to have help to make it.

And interestingly, the ratio of those who thought they would go to heaven versus those who said they were going to hell was 17-to-1. Is this ratio true to life? Are most of us going to end up in heaven?

The Lord Jesus Christ had a different message; He said expect the ratio to be the other way around, “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it" (Matt 7:13-4 NIV). If so many of us want to go to heaven, why was Christ so sobering? Because we are not preparing for the final.

The survey ended with this question, If what you believed about the next life was wrong, would you want to know? 66 percent said yes. This is important enough to think about right now. But are we really doing anything to prepare for this final? Are our beliefs about eternity right? Are they wrong?

The students who participated in the survey were invited to come to a free series of talks April 23 to 27, called Hope for Eternity. The Sycamore Reformed Presbyterian Church in Kokomo is bringing Edward Donnelly, a special speaker from Ireland, to discuss this very subject. He will give five talks about heaven and hell with follow-up discussion afterward. Everyone is invited to attend. If you have been wondering about eternity, come prepare for the true final, and not flunk out of life.

In the end, the analogy doesn’t wholly fit. In college you could miss some finals and scrape by. You could even flunk out and go on to do great things. But we cannot flunk out of existence and go on. And no one is getting a 4.0 GPA on life. Be prepared for the end, listen with an open mind and heart, come to Hope for Eternity, and find hope to live by, now and forever.

Sycamore Reformed Presbyterian Church is located at 300 E. Mulberry St, Kokomo. For more information call (765) 864-0850 or visit www.hopeforeternity.info.

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This Sunday I found a note scrawled in crayon on my desk saying, "Please use this to help pay for Hope for Eternity advertising." On top was a ten dollar bill. The young people want you to come. Will you?

Heart Ache

Not that I consider my life very dramatic, but last week did have its fill of heart-stopping and heart-wrenching moments:

• An IRS audit for my mother's 2006 taxes saying I owed over $25,000 was sent to me. Whoa! Fortunately, a CPA check over the records revealed they had only counted the gains but not the losses on her investments. Never had I felt so relieved in writing a tax check for "only" $500 after the corrections were made and then hearing the CPA tell me the 2007 return was fine.
• I have stood by the bedside several times of Bill Scott, a member of our church and the first fruits of our Rescue Mission ministry, as his health had diminished to the point he was placed on a ventilator last Wednesday. As he had requested not to be placed longterm on life support, the doctors weaned him from the ventilator this weekend and we prepared for the worse. Yet for the second time in a month the Lord has revived him from the brink of death. He even said last night that "the Lord has resurrected me from the dead." A visit today found him once again joking wryly with the nurses.
• Two former members of the church, both who have been excommunicated previously, are interacting with me and asking about restoration. As they have brought great pain to us, have experienced severe personal providences since leaving the church, and struggle with shame and confusion, I find communicating with them heart-wrenching. I hope for their restoration yet wonder about their sincerity.

So I would be the first to admit this shepherd was feeling a little emotionally drained already. Then came the appointment my heart was truly dreading. I had to meet with Lindsay.

For the past two months our oldest daughter, a freshman at a local university, has been auditioning at four music schools. Last Thursday was decision day, so she, Miriam and I met in my office for the final discussion and prayer. Through His kind providences, the Lord had made it clear to all of us that Geneva College was where He was leading her. She shared the message from a preacher friend and the Scriptures God had used to confirm this direction (most notably Mark 10:29-30) to her mother and me. We granted her permission and affirmed the same sense we had of the Lord's leading. The crying and praying came all at the same time. The thought of not having Lindsay around each day, her sweet spirit and beautiful music missing from our home, is almost too much for her mom and dad to bear.

Yes, we know our children are being raised in order to be sent (Psalm 127). We rejoice in belonging to a church that has such a fine institution as Geneva with faithful congregations in the area who will care for her. We have confidence in God's leading and our daughter. We understand there are much greater pains others endure. I am happy and excited for you, Linds.

Yet that still does not take away this ache in my heart.

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The above painting was posted by permission of the artist, Natalie Thoman. You can view and even place an order for her work here.

Advertising the Gospel

I have been to the conferences that tell you how to market the church, and have seen the efforts by churches in the community to do so. However, beyond informational uses such as a Yellow Page ad, sign in the front, or a webpage, we have not made advertising a big effort of ours during the history of our congregation. I am uneasy with promoting the church, as the marketing efforts that are commonly used by churches appear to practice the oneupmanship that is contrary to our Lord's injunction to be humble and not seek the chief seat. As the Cambridge Declaration states, "In practice, the church is guided, far too often, by the culture. Therapeutic technique, marketing strategies, and the beat of the entertainment world often have far more to say about what the church wants, how it functions and what it offers, than does the Word of God."

But with just over two weeks remaining before our Hope for Eternity Outreach on April 23-27 will be held, as you can see below we are pulling out all the stops in advertising to get the word out. Let me tell you some of the things we are doing, then end by briefly explaining why I believe this is different than marketing the church.

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Ten of us watched Saturday as Robert Jones went "way up in the middle of the air" on a mechanical lift to hang the banner pictured above on the side of our building announcing Hope for Eternity. This banner is designed similarly to the billboards that are now around town.

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4000 copies of the premier edition of our newsletter have almost all been distributed in neighborhoods, workplaces, on campuses, sent via mail, etc. We have also uploaded it online, as we are seeking to combine traditional media with old forms. For instance, we are asking the young people involved in the campus ministry to create an event on Facebook and use their walls to make it known to their friends.

By the way, many have commented on the incredible graphic artwork of our newsletter, billboards, and other pieces of media. Susan Spiegel has given her efforts and talents to producing these high-quality works. Having a talented graphic artist in our midst has been a blessing!

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Our college students surveyed 100 students at IUK using the survey below. One of them will be writing an article for the school paper to publish the results. Even if those who took the survey or read the article do not come to the outreach, we hope they will be stirred into considering what takes place after this life.

1. Which statement best describes what you think about hell?
A) Hell is a place of eternal judgment.
B) Hell is a place where I will have a good time with my friends.
C) Hell does not exist.
D) Hell is a waiting place to some other part of the afterlife.
E) Other: Hell is _______________.

2. If a person wanted to go to heaven, how do you think he could get there?
A) He should try to be a good person.
B) Everyone is going to heaven.
C) All he needs to do is be faithful to his religion.
D) He should trust in Jesus Christ to get there.
E) I’m not sure.

3. How will our actions in this life impact the next? A) Our efforts in this world will help us move to a higher level.
B) We will be judged by God for how we lived our lives.
C) Our good works will outweigh the bad.
D) Since there is no afterlife, our good works just help others now.
E) Other: _______________.

4. What do you think will happen to you when you die?
A) I’ll go to heaven.
B) I’ll go to hell.
C) I’ll no longer exist.
D) I do not know.
E) I do not care.

5. If what you believed about the next life was wrong, would you want to know?
Yes
No

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We have recorded a radio ad done by a young boy in the congregation who has demonstrated a real heart for this outreach. Several times a day during the outreach week it will be airing, with him asking the listeners questions about eternity and inviting them to come.

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I could share other things, but back to the question at hand. Is not all this just a slick marketing campaign by the church? Perhaps some will accuse us of that. Yet I see a vast difference between marketing the church and advertising the gospel. Advertising can be used for self-promotion, but it is better used to serve others by making them aware of what they need. With the opportunity for the community to hear Pastor Ted Donnelly from Ireland preach three times on the topic of hell and twice on heaven, we want to do everything possible to let people know they need to hear these massages.

Afterall, we may not be able to perform signs and wonders as the apostle of old did to draw people to the gospel, but can we not use signs to encourage people to wonder about their eternal destiny?

Help in the Pit

Many thanks to you who have prayed for the situation regarding my mother and sent messages. Though she remains in the deep pit of her depression, God's sustaining graces have been evident to me.

At the risk of blogging too often or too much about this experience, I thought I might offer some key resources the Lord has helped me with through this time. Never did I imagine a few years ago I would spend so much time in psychiatric hospitals or be confronted with decisions about medications and ECT. Yet apparently these decisions are before more and more Americans.

According to the CDC National Center for Health Statistics, adult use of antidepressants almost tripled between the periods of 1988-1994 and 1999-2000, with ten percent of women 18 and older and four percent of men taking them. Americans spend 86 billion dollars annually on antidepressants alone. So it is likely you know someone who is taking common antidepressants such as Prozac or Lexapro, or antipsychotics such as Zyprexa. I am aware of several people who have even had their family doctor, during fairly routine appointments, offer to write a prescription for antidepressants after making some expression regarding their emotional state. Despite the rise in medications and treatments, the number of Americans reported as suffering from depression is also on the rise, with nearly 19 million Americans estimated to have it. So I imagine you are dealing with it in one place or another.

If the only ones you listen to are doctors (particularly psychiatrists), the media, or the patients themselves speaking about medications and treatments, you can begin to think that the use of antidepressants is an exact science. However, that is far from the case. Why not check out the following resources to approach it from a more Biblical perspective?

• Psychobabble - This book by Dr. Richard Ganz, former clinical psychiatrist turned pastor, addresses the modern practice of psychology from both his experience (which is fascinating) and more importantly from the Scriptures.
  
• Spiritual Depression - Though nearly forty years old, this book by Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones, a former medical doctor turned pastor, is a wonderful treatise on dealing with the soul. Since I have blogged on this before, you can go here if you want more of a review.
• Blame It on the Brain? - Dr. Edward Welch, whose doctoral work was on brain physiology, in his books addresses many social ills from the Scriptures while exposing the underlying worldview of secular approaches to counseling. He is always clear and practical.
  
• St. Anne's Public House, an audio/internet magazine addressing cultural issues from a Christian perspective, did an issue on psychiatric drugs that you can listen to here. The interviews with experts are extremely informative and, without being completely "anti-medication," point out the problems with the modern approach to treating mental illness.
• One of the psychiatrists interviewed is Dr. Peter Breggin. Though not a Christian, Dr. Breggin has practiced for over forty years and does not prescribe common medications. His website has many helpful resources and shows the harmful impact of these medications on both the physiology and psychological well-being of people.
  

If you know of others, please feel free to share them.

However, be warned that I reserve the right to delete. Sadly, many in the pit of depression have fallen even further, with the cure becoming worse than the original problem. When dealing with issues of the soul of deeply troubled people, we must take special care not to put stumbling blocks before people.

Love Never Fails

Tending to the situation regarding my mother has kept me from several extracurriculars the past three weeks, of which blogging is one. However, yesterday I was able to bring her back to her assisted living home. Thank you to all who have prayed and/or written, as it has encouraged me. Though my mom remains much the same, she promised not to run away again so we hope that will be the case. A blog is brewing on lessons the Lord is teaching me from this, but I don't have time to pull it together now.

Instead, how about a few nuggets of some of the encouragements and even laughs God has sent our way even in the midst of struggle?

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We are entering into the active phase now of our Hope for Eternity Outreach that will be held the last week of April. Our featured newsletter on the theme of "Heaven & Hell" is at the printers, and we'll be distributing it in neighborhoods over the next few weeks and sending people to it at our website. As you can see in the pictures, two billboards have gone up already that seek to use common questions or misconceptions to create interest, and two more will soon follow. Lord willing, a large banner should hang from the side of our building announcing it this next week. Efforts at community bridging have been encouraging, as a number of families attended a family dinner we hosted last week. We took a step of faith regarding the financing of this outreach, and the Lord has already provided almost all of the extra funding needed. Seeing the Lord answer prayer gives joy as He promised (John 16:24), and we are growing in our longing to see fruit borne. Already this has helped us as a people to be more active in our witnessing.

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Just discovered this morning my son Trevor is now taller than me by half an inch. We had just measured him no more than six weeks ago and that was not the case! Hopefully the extra height will help him as he plays basketball next Monday down at Conseco Fieldhouse for the Indiana Christian Basketball Alliance's all-star game. All I know is that I'll keep pointing out that cross-stitch hanging on his bedroom wall from my Aunt Barbara that used to hang in mine as a boy: "A father is someone you look up to no matter how tall you grow."

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This past Lord's Day we celebrated the resurrection by having the baptism of a young lady from our college ministry whose testimony of transformation we have watched happen over the past months, so that was exciting. Meditating on how Christ was Raised for Our Justification from Romans 4:25 and observing the other sacrament of the Lord's Supper were especially strengthening.

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My good friend Keith Magill sent me an e-mail that addressed me as "Very." Amused, I noted fifteen minutes later he sent an apology, saying his voice technology had heard my name incorrectly. Of course I could not let that go, so I sent him the following:

Deer Teeth,

Know prop phlegm. Eye under sand.

Luvs,

Bear E

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Last Friday night I spoke to the Purdue college ministry of the Lafayette church on love in personal ministry, particularly sharing the lessons God has taught me through the life of Bill Scott. Bill is an elderly member of our church who was a former Rescue Mission resident and a double amputee. He is currently in a hospital in Lafayette, and after hearing about Bill several students went on Saturday and Sunday and sang psalms to him. Bill was actually despondent and had been saying he wanted to die to the nurses on Saturday, but Sunday after these times and some help eating by deacon Jason Camery his spirits have revived. The nurses spoke of how they and other patients were uplifted by the young people's singing, and a visit yesterday found Bill still somewhat disoriented but smiling and interacting more. Love never fails!

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Certainly God's love never fails. Thank you for these reminders, O Lord!

Coming Down from the Mountain

From February 28 through March 1, I attended the annual meeting of our presbytery in Orlando, Florida. Though I must honestly confess that I normally have a fleshly aversion to these all day, dawn-to-dusk-plus meetings, last week's presbytery was an exciting affair. A few highlights:

• Several pastoral candidates preached, and each message was as crisp and clear as the Florida sunshine. Jason Camery, an intern in our congregation, did an outstanding job. It is a joy to see the Lord raising up men for the ministry.
• Many encouraging reports were given from congregations who are seeing the Lord's blessing upon them. Some of our more rural congregations who have gone through periods of dryness are seeing new families and opportunities; three congregations are building or have found better facilities to house their expanding ministries; our two newest works have gifted men establishing them and seeing fruit; even two very old, small works whose future is uncertain were given the careful attention and respect they deserve.
• Dr. Roy Blackwood, founder of the Second RPC of Indianapolis and one whose vision has led to the establishment of churches throughout our presbytery, resigned so that he might give more care to his wife. Friday evening a touching memorial that included a reception and sharing memories of his influence by the presbyters was held. As one of "Roy's Boys," it strengthened me as I was reminded of the privilege of knowing this man whose vision and love have helped me profoundly.
  

As we enter into presbytery, we constitute our meetings in prayer and sing psalms that remind us that Christ is the King of Zion. These meetings by representatives of the church are times spent with Christ on His holy mountain, the New Jerusalem. I could not help but think of how like Peter, James and John on the Mount of Transfiguration, we were allowed to see and share in the glory of Christ during this time.

However, upon my return home, I was also reminded of what happened as soon as the disciples came off the mountain with Christ. They were immediately confronted with the brokenness of this world as a man brought to them a lunatic son who threw himself into fire and water (see Matthew 17:9-20). On Sunday night my mom, whose struggle with depression I have chronicled before (see "On Depression" or "Mourning atop a Blue-Green Hill"), ran away from her assisted living apartment. She is absolutely certain she hears people talking about her, plotting to arrest her for staying in her apartment, and no amount of talking or reassuring her will convince her otherwise. So she keeps a bag packed all the time, and this weekend decided it was time to go. Fortunately some unidentified man saw her walking alongside the road and brought her back in his truck. These last two days have been spent trying to reason with her, working with the staff, making yet another one of the endless adjustments to her medication, and deciding on her future care.

Why share this? Why tell you of how helpless I feel? Why take such a personal matter and make it known? Two reasons. First, to warn you to believe. Having watched my mom descend into the pits of depression over the past twenty years, and having been her chief caretaker the last three, more than ever I believe the ultimate cause of these things is her inability to believe in the gospel. Over and over through those years she has hardened herself to the proper response to God's offer of forgiveness and life, quietly but stubbornly and persistently rejecting what has been offered to her. In turning to pills to deal with the anguish of her soul (even as new research is raising questions over the effectiveness of clinical drugs in treating depression), she abused them and her mind has been so altered that it has become the playground of demons. If you have anyone in your life heading toward this hellhole, warn them to seek the Christ who can take even demoniacs and put them in their right mind.

The other reason? To plead with you to pray. When the disciples asked why they could not drive the demon out of the boy, Jesus rebuked them for the littleness of their faith. He then said with faith as small as a mustard seed, they could say to "this mountain" to move, and it would move, for nothing in Him was now impossible. Could it be that rather than just a simple proverbial statement, the mountain to which Jesus was pointing to was the one they had just come from? Could it be that He was saying the glory they had just witnessed up there, through faith and prayer, is now mobile and would come down to the rest of the earth? So even as I am tempted to give up, might I ask that you pray earnestly that my strength would be renewed and that God's glory would come down?

A Son of Abraham

As I grew up outside of Christ and His church, never venturing beyond the bounds of the South and Midwest, my view of the world was extremely limited and ill-informed even into my young adult years. I knew little of other lands and peoples, relegating them to history books and looking with suspicion at the occasional foreigner who crossed my path. My only exposure to other nations seemed to be quadrennial in nature, where during the Olympics, in my sports-crazed, American ego-centric ways, I would watch television hoping the USA would trounce anyone not wearing red, white and blue. Foreign lands seemed to be just that. Foreign and other-worldly to me. You could have rightly accused me of being xenophobic, but I was so ignorant I would have had no idea what it meant.

Yet this past week the Lord has reminded me again and again that He has not just changed my mind about people from other lands. He has blown it away. For one of the wondrous aspects of salvation is that you immediately become part of the family of God, a family that is nation-encompassing in scope. The believer in Christ becomes a child of Abraham, the father of many nations. The incredible event at Pentecost was not only the number of those saved, but that they were men from "every nation under heaven" (Acts 2:5). An awe is seen in the early church over the way the Lord had brought salvation to the nations of the earth (Acts 11:18). And centuries later little old me, still living in the Midwest but with an eye now that is able to look beyond it, is connected to believers all over the world simply because I belong to Christ's church. For just this past week I was privileged to experience:

• A young lady named Juliann I had known as a girl in the Elkhart congregation sent a letter sharing about her Scriptural translation work in Papau New Guinea.
  
• Several college students in our congregation church shared with me desires about traveling and/or doing mission work in places as diverse as Israel, Mexico and Australia.
• I continue to rejoice in working closely with Bill VanDoodewaard, our pastoral intern from Canada, and learning more about the church there.
  
• Daniel, a young man who grew up in our congregation, was here last week with his wife and new son sharing how they will be leaving for Africa for mission work in the wilderness next month. As I spent some time with my pastor and mentor Dave Long a few days later we spoke of how he will be visiting them in April.
  
• We spent more time planning for our outreach in April when a pastor from Ireland will be here preaching in Kokomo.
• We prayed yet again for the work of the church in Australia, where another son of the congregation lives and a dear friend of mine pastors.
  
• Yesterday Vic Bernales, a seminary student from the Philippines, preached here. Later that night, his family stayed with us and in my office he spoke to our mutual friend Ojie Bicaldo in Davao City in Mindanao over my computer on Skype.

"Tell of His glory among the nations, His wonderful deeds among all the peoples" (Psalm 96:3). What a privilege being a son of Abraham in the age of Christ is!