My Reading List

Here's a short reading list of books that have all been a huge benefit to me recently in my walk with Christ. In parentheses is my basic summary. Check them out.

-Chasing Daylight by Erwin McManus (Making every moment count)
-Shepherding a Child's Heart by Tedd Tripp (Parenting begins with the heart)
-I Am Not But I Know I Am by Louie Giglio (Our identity in Christ)
-Celebrating the Wrath of God by Jim McGuiggan (Pain and Suffering vs. A God of Love)
-In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day by Mark Batterson (Sometimes your opportunities are situations you normally run from)
-The Circle Trilogy by Ted Dekker (Kick-butt awesome novels in the vein of C. S. Lewis)
-Visioneering by Andy Stanley (Getting a God-ordained vision for your life)

Happy Reading!

Dress Your Horse

"A horse is prepared for the day of battle, but victory comes from the Lord" (Proverbs 21:30).

This verse has been mulling around in my mind for almost a week now. I'll tell you why.

At our church, our staff strives for perfection. And WE MAKE NO APOLOGIES FOR IT. We want the weekend worship experience to be so phenomenal that people leave thinking that they just met with God at a U2 concert. And we prepare, and we rehearse, and we prepare and we rehearse some more. Because we think God deserves our best.

But I think, in Christian circles in general, there's always one bad nugget that comes with the value meal of our humanity- and that's the tendency to make this "striving for excellence" the end in itself. Without warning, all our preparation can become the all-consuming passion. Our pursuit of excellence becomes the pursuit of our heart. And the final goal is the performance itself. See, this is backwards. But I think it often goes unrealized. Instead, the all-consuming passion must be the God to whom deserves our excellence, and the pursuit of our heart must be to pursue Him, and the final goal must be -- Him. And I think our church understands this. And I think that's why this verse resonates with me so much.

We are in a battle. We're in a battle for the souls of men and women who are on their way to an eternity in Hell. We're in a battle for the minds of our students who think that being a Christian is being like Jessica Simpson. God help us. So, we've got to suit up. We've got to get our horse ready for battle. So, we dress him. And we dress him nice. And we dress him with the stinkin' best armor that we've got. Because he's not just any old horse. He's a horse riding in God's army. He's a freakin' stallion that will strike fear into the enemy and muster courage among his comrades.

We dress him and then we, what? Do our best? Fight more and talk less? Get out there and just swing at something? No. We prepare our horse, and then we get out of the way. We get out of the way and let God have His victory. Because the victory belongs to Him. I think Christians forget that.

This morning I was teaching a 1st grade class, and I decided to try one of those random question polls on them that usually elicit funny responses. I wasn't disappointed. So I asked them, "What comes to your mind when you hear the word 'victory'?" Caroline, who is 6, said, "I don't know why but it makes me think of sometime later." Hmm... While I was still wondering what came earlier, I asked Seth, who is also 6. He said, "You're strong!" I was grateful. Erin, who qualified her age by an extra six months, said, "I think of life when I hear that." Diego, wanting to be done with me quickly and to get back to his math game, said, "Me too." Interesting answers from 6 year olds.

You know what victory is? It's at the end of the day knowing that the Gospel was preached, lives were radically altered for eternity's sake, Jesus was lifted up, the devil was straight kicked in the jaw, and the unbeliever among us left saying, "Wow! Surely God is in their midst!" (1 Corinthians 14:23-25)

So, let's dress our horse and get out of God's path of victory.

In Jesus' Name, Meow

"It's not in my job description." We've all heard this quoted in movies and in real life. I've noticed in my short one and a half years of parenting, this phrase has all too often become a mantra shouted from the rooftops. "I don't do diapers with raisins or corn!" "I don't do 3 am!" "It's not in my job description to do ________." Fill in the blank. But I'm learning. I'm slow, but I'm trying. This morning, such an instance reared it's head.

One of the many things that Christian marriage and family classes and books fail to tell you is that during your personal Bible study and time with God, you will be interrupted on a frequent basis. NO exceptions. As I was drinking my coffee this morning and trying to spend time with the Lord, Areyna decided that she needed some of my time as well. She lets me know this by dropping subtle hints. She climbs on me like she's scaling Mt. Everest, and apparently my face makes for a great foothold.

As I'm making out about every fourth word of Colossians 4, straining to see through Areyna's extremities, I finally catch the hint. So, I put down my books and crawl down to her level in her play corner in the living room. She climbs in my lap and proceeds to hand me her A-Z animal book, declaring "meow" every time I turn the page.

It's then that I begin to explain to her that daddy has more important things to do like exegeting Colossians 4 so that I can learn how to be a better father to her.

No, of course I didn't do that. I looked into her beautiful eyes and thought to myself, "This is it. This is time with God. This simple act of playing and communicating with my daughter on her level is a means to access with God that no hermeneutics class can teach you."

Amazing! I found fellowship with Christ by reading animal books to my daughter. I love being a father and I love being a follower of Christ.

Nice Landscaping vs. Real Human Beings

Last week I came across an article on Foxnews.com about a "baptist" woman who says "God hates fags." My blood began to boil as I read and then watched the video archive. She ranted to Hannity and Combs about how God caused 911 because his judgment was being poured out on America for its consent to homosexuality. I was stunned to watch her sit there and twist Scripture and fashion God into a giant emotionless mass of uncontrollable wrath (I'm holding my tongue so I don't sound like her).

This whole week I've sat on it, wondering what to do with it. Then, last night I read chapter 19, "The God Who Loves Without Limits" in Celebrating the Wrath of God by Jim McGuiggan. He nailed it.

Warning: This may get lengthy because it's so poignant. He said,

"Ironically, those who have made a stone-hearted God in their own image have a theology similar to Nietzsche's philosophy (the death of God and the "superhuman") . . . Those who read their Bible, obsessed with the sins and failures of others, can only gravitate to the darker passages. Stringing them together like beads on a string, they distort the grand drift of Scripture."

He continues,

"Human sinfulness obliterates, for them, the wonder of humans; it obliterates the astonishing nature of a man or woman, a boy or girl. People who have made God in their image ooh and aah over a lovely landscape and turn up their noses at a human who doesn't share their theology. . . They miss the fact that God really does love sinners. God doesn't love people because we're good; he loves people because he made us. But it isn't true that he loves simply because we exist. We exist because he loves us."

Wow. God forbid that I should ever see Him more in a manicured lawn than I do in a beautiful human being who is made and fashioned in His very likeness and image. Saved or unsaved. Gay or straight. Obese or fit. Does God love sinners? Absolutely. Does He hate sin? Absolutely. Are those two notions contradictory? Absolutely NOT.

A few years ago in my college chapel, the speaker actually interpreted the parable of the prodigal son as praising the son who remained home with his father. With much enthusiasm, he prodded my colleagues by exulting, "Let's hear it for the son who stayed home!"

He missed the point. God rejoices when one sinner repents. He loves sinners. He hates sin. There's no contradiction.

I'm In

26 Now the mighty men of the armies were Asahel the brother of Joab, Elhanan the son of Dodo of Bethlehem, . . . 46 Eliel the Mahavite and Jeribai and Joshaviah, the sons of Elnaam.

1 Chronicles 11:26, 46

Sweet!

Climbing Ant Hills

I love being a dad. When I got home today I found my sweet little family outside in the backyard playing in the sandbox. Well, they weren't all in the sandbox. Tasha was reading and watching Rainy play in the sandbox. But it would have been funny to see Tasha in the sandbox, seeing as it is barely big enough for Areyna. Anyway, once Rainy had had her fill of sand (literally, because she enjoys eating it) we proceeded to play the hill game. To bring you into our circle, the hill game is simply a game where Areyna climbs to the top of the hill in our backyard (although it resembles more of an anthill on steroids) and then proceeds to run down it with arms flailing and mouth open into the arms of her waiting dad at the bottom. From there, the two contestants embrace and the game begins all over again until little Rainy collapses from exhaustion, if her dad hasn't already collapsed first.

Not from exhaustion, but rather from maintaing a squatting position for long periods of time, wherein the knee joints begin screaming for 10 bottles of glucosamine.

Moving on. During one of her hikes to the top, Areyna became unsurprisingly distracted. She heard the neighbor's dog barking. See, because her little 18 month old mind has not learned the art of tuning out unwanted noises, whenever there is a dog barking within a 30-mile radius, she takes notice. She then begins to indulge the unsuspecting dog in conversation.

Such was the scenario today. She found the barking dog far more interesting than her loving dad with arms held ridiculously wide for incredulous amounts of time waiting at the bottom of Mt. Speed Bump. But for little Rainy, another game was beginning at the top.

And in that moment, the Lord spoke to me.

He said, "Josh, why is it that many of the times that I stand with open arms waiting to embrace you and enjoy life together, you run off, discard the romance, and follow the noises and distractions in your messed-up world. Why do you run away, as if the game is somewhere else? Why do you run, as if life is happening somewhere else? Why do you run when all I want to do is hold you and embrace you and encourage you in your climb to the top of the next mountain? And celebrate with you in your sprint down again into my arms."

"Could you not put off those distractions for one minute and run back into my arms? Could you not keep your eyes on me throughout this journey that, at times, contains struggles that seem bigger than they are? It's an ant hill for crying out loud. I made it. I made you. I want to embrace you." And so I patiently called for Rainy. And she ran to me again. And we hugged.
And we did it all over again.

You can learn alot from kids. I love being a dad.