Quotable

Today I started reading the biography of William and Catherine Booth, founders of the Salvation Army. Here's a quotable that appears at the beginning of the forward. I had to post this because it's so timely for where I am in my life.

"A vision without a task makes a visionary;
A task without a vision makes for drudgery;
A task wedded to a vision makes a missionary."
-LEONARD RAVENHILL

That's in the Bible?

Tasha's sister and her family live just north of Washington, D.C. We're here for a few days celebrating Christmas with them. Tasha's parents flew in from Colorado Springs to be here as well. Tasha's brother, a student at Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando, and his wife are on their way. It's been awesome so far. Simply craziness - 3 toddlers and a kindergartner running around like maniacs - cartoons and movies going 24/7 - cheerios all over the kitchen floor - plastic swords swinging - well, you get the picture. But we love it.

These kids love stories. They love kids' books and movies. Cars has been a big hit this week. Big kids, like moms and dads, love stories too. Stories connect with the emotions of human beings. That's why when a preacher is rambling on about some abstract weirdness he loses his audience. But as soon as he begins to tell a story, his audience tunes back in. They reconnect.

Stories do that. Stories reach us on a level that abstract ideas cannot penetrate. And I think that's because the whole redemptive plan of God is one big story. Creation - the Fall - Christ's sacrifice to redeem us - His return someday. And somehow we fit in that story. Our lives are a part of God's story.

Jesus understood that stories connect with people. So, he taught in parables. But I realized something today as I was reading through Ezekiel that hadn't dawned on me before. God taught in parables before Jesus ever did. And He used his prophets as a mouthpiece for his parables.

I read one of God's parables this morning that was really convicting. It's one of those graphic stories that make you say, "Wow, that's in the Bible?" There's a lot of those. Especially in the Old Testament.

Alex, my six year old nephew, is reading stories from the Old Testament each night with his Mom out of the new Children's Adventure Bible he got for Christmas. One thing you should know about Alex is that he loves anything to do with Army men, battles, swords, or killing. Well, the other night they began to read through the book of Judges. To Alex's utter amazement and joy, he realized that Judges is full of the violent yet heroic stories that move his heart so much. The kind of stories that the average children's Sunday School teacher would gloss over.

So, I read one of them this morning, that did more than make me blush or squirm. It convicted me. It took root in my heart. And I want to write it out in detail so you can feel what I felt. But be forewarned of it's graphic nature. This is how God felt when his bride, Israel, left him for another man. Or other men, I should say. I tried to read it by imagining myself as the guilty party, because I know how my heart is. I know how my heart is bent toward sin and how it strays from God, my firstlove.

Ezekiel 16 (The Message)

1-3 God's Message came to me: "Son of man, confront Jerusalem with her outrageous violations. Say this: 'The Message of God, the Master, to Jerusalem: You were born and bred among Canaanites. Your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite.

4-5 "'On the day you were born your umbilical cord was not cut, you weren't bathed and cleaned up, you weren't rubbed with salt, you weren't wrapped in a baby blanket. No one cared a fig for you. No one did one thing to care for you tenderly in these ways. You were thrown out into a vacant lot and left there, dirty and unwashed—a newborn nobody wanted.

6-7 "'And then I came by. I saw you all miserable and bloody. Yes, I said to you, lying there helpless and filthy, "Live! Grow up like a plant in the field!" And you did. You grew up. You grew tall and matured as a woman, full-breasted, with flowing hair. But you were naked and vulnerable, fragile and exposed.

8-14 "'I came by again and saw you, saw that you were ready for love and a lover. I took care of you, dressed you and protected you. I promised you my love and entered the covenant of marriage with you. I, God, the Master, gave my word. You became mine. I gave you a good bath, washing off all that old blood, and anointed you with aromatic oils. I dressed you in a colorful gown and put leather sandals on your feet. I gave you linen blouses and a fashionable wardrobe of expensive clothing. I adorned you with jewelry: I placed bracelets on your wrists, fitted you out with a necklace, emerald rings, sapphire earrings, and a diamond tiara. You were provided with everything precious and beautiful: with exquisite clothes and elegant food, garnished with honey and oil. You were absolutely stunning. You were a queen! You became world-famous, a legendary beauty brought to perfection by my adornments. Decree of God, the Master.

15-16 "'But your beauty went to your head and you became a common whore, grabbing anyone coming down the street and taking him into your bed. You took your fine dresses and made "tents" of them, using them as brothels in which you practiced your trade. This kind of thing should never happen, never.

What a Sick Soul!

17-19 "'And then you took all that fine jewelry I gave you, my gold and my silver, and made pornographic images of them for your brothels. You decorated your beds with fashionable silks and cottons, and perfumed them with my aromatic oils and incense. And then you set out the wonderful foods I provided—the fresh breads and fruits, with fine herbs and spices, which were my gifts to you—and you served them as delicacies in your whorehouses. That's what happened, says God, the Master.

25-27 "'And then you went international with your whoring. You fornicated with the Egyptians, seeking them out in their sex orgies. The more promiscuous you became, the angrier I got. Finally, I intervened, reduced your borders and turned you over to the rapacity of your enemies. Even the Philistine women—can you believe it?—were shocked at your sluttish life.

28-29 "'You went on to fornicate with the Assyrians. Your appetite was insatiable. But still you weren't satisfied. You took on the Babylonians, a country of businessmen, and still you weren't satisfied.

30-31 "'What a sick soul! Doing all this stuff—the champion whore! You built your bold brothels at every major intersection, opened up your whorehouses in every neighborhood, but you were different from regular whores in that you wouldn't accept a fee.

Two Words: Solidarity and fidelity. Two words that have reattached themselves to my heart and have undergone a rebirth of meaning to me as I applied this passage to my own life.

Yep, that's in the Bible!

Official Site

Well, it's finally here: joshandtashavia.com
We're stoked about it. This new direction and ministry that the Lord is leading our family is going to be amazing!! Thanks to all of you who have been praying for us as we make this leap. And a big thanks to Smooth Web Development for the excellent work on the site. Let's keep moving forward!

Pure Volume

Hey, we're officially Pure Volume members. You can check out all of our songs and download many of them for free. Merry Christmas to all, and to all good listening.

The Godliest Man I Know

There's a man I know who walks with Jesus closer than anyone else I know.
Here's a quick laundry list of why I know that:

This man was a pastor for 13 years who consistently preached the Bible as God's infallible Word and lived out what he preached at home. For him, there was no disconnect from the pulpit to the home.

After pastoring, this man began a worldwide ministry which continues to this day reaching thousands of souls for Christ around the world each year.

This man spends hours a day in constant communication with the Lord, journaling his thoughts and prayers to His loving Father.

This man devours God's Word with the passion of someone dying of starvation. It is his lifesource. He eats and breathes the Word of God.

This man carefully weighs his every thought, word and action as one ever-aware of a watching Heavenly Father who is involved in the intimate details of such mundane activities of life such as eating, breathing, talking and listening.

This man loves his family more than his own life. He would die for his family. Truly.
He loves his wife. He adores and honors her as Christ loves His own bride.
He loves his children. He supports them in life-changing decisions like careers and marriages.
And he walks with them through not-so huge problems like pimples and hair color.
And if his family is mistreated or attacked, this man has the backbone of a stegasaurus to stand up for them with no regard for his own reputation.

This man walks consistently in the humility of Christ. He embodies Philippians 2:5-11. Never have I heard him boast of personal accomplishments or successses. Never have I heard him respond in anger, jealousy, or pride toward any person or situation. Never have I heard him react to negative situations in a negative way.

This man takes seriously the commission of Christ to reach the world. If cars never existed and there were no living soul within a 100-mile radius, he would share his faith with a tree. If there were no trees around, he would share with the grass, or hills. If he still had no success, he would put on his running shoes and begin the 100-mile journey. He is passionate about taking as many people to heaven with him as he can.

This man is my best friend.

This man is my hero.

This man is my dad.

Under the Tree

I've never written a Christmas song until now. And I've especially even more never written a Christmas song for my wife until now (long days necessitate bad grammar). So, here's a first. And another first. It's called Under the Tree. Enjoy! Let me know what you think. Merry Christmas!

Pleasantries Aside

It’s probably happened to you. You sit down for a meal at a nice restaurant and order your food. As you tell your server what you would like, you point to the picture of the delicious looking delicacy while you simultaneously tell him or her the name of the special treat. However, what you don't realize is, the title of your meal does not correspond to the picture that you see. You’ve misaligned the two. It’s happened to me numerous times. And when the food finally comes, you think, “This is no where near what I ordered. It looks nothing like the picture.”

I think the Christian life is like this many times. We have this picture in our minds of what we think it should look like. We get this image in our heads of the road that we want to be on. And when our order is brought out, it looks nothing like what we imagined. So, we’re faced with two options when we’re served this meal. 1. Eat it – brace ourselves like a man, and go down the road that the Lord has sovereignly laid before us; 2. Try to return it – but we can’t. And in trying to do so, we miss out on all that the Lord has for us on this road.

I’ve written a song about this called Pleasantries Aside. I just posted it on our myspace. The chorus is taken from Jeremiah 41:6. Background: Who? The remnant of Israel that was left after the Babylonians came in and ushered most of them up to Babylon. What? They tell Jeremiah to intercede for them to the Lord and get His direction. In so doing, here’s what they say:

“Whether it is pleasant or unpleasant, we will obey the voice of the Lord our God to whom we are sending you so that it may go well with us.”

Sure sounds sincere. But just a few verses later, we find our remnant arguing with Jeremiah about what the Lord told them to do. So, they decide they don’t like the road that the Lord is leading them down. And they try to return it. But they can’t. So, they just go on living in sin, doubt, rejection, and fear.

The verse of the song says:

“You caught me by surprise. When I opened up my eyes, You were standing there. But my mind went straight to ‘fair’. Cause it’s not the road I chose, but I guess I’m not the one who knows.”

If we could just stop for one minute and not focus on our situation, but focus on the God of our situation, we’ll see that He’s been there all along. And it’s not about fairness as we measure it, it’s about God’s sovereign hand moving and working in our lives to bring us down the road that He has marked out. Or to bring us a meal that we didn’t know we ordered. Either one.

Silver Buffaloes

We think Zeke might be getting his first tooth. Areyna said her first prayer the other day ("Jeejuh, ruv roo"). Translation: "Jesus, I love you." Zeke is starting to jump a little bit in his Johnny Jumper, rather than just sit there. Rainy is learning a few Spanish words and officially knows more Spanish than me and Tasha put together. It's not hard for me to rejoice over my kids when they accomplish these kinds of things. It's pretty easy actually. It comes naturally, I think, to take great joy in our kids when they accomplish great things.

But it gets harder when these things happen: When Zeke screams and cries the entire six-hour trip from Charlotte to Roanoke the night before Thanksgiving. When Rainy has an all-out meltdown because her parents refuse to allow her bear to accompany them into a department store because if they were to lose him they'd be screwed. When Zeke projectile vomits on his dad who's freshly dressed and ready to walk out the door. When Rainy fights tooth and nail refusing to eat her dinner, thinking that the kitchen floor would enjoy it more.

I can continue to love my kids even when they resemble the spawn of Satan. I love them no matter what. But to rejoice over them after they've acted like they belong in a circus freak show is another matter. I mean, are you kidding me? I don't take joy in their lunacy. But God does.

I'm reading through the book of Jeremiah right now and I was convicted this morning as I read of the delight that God takes in His children - even after they'd acted like complete idiots. Worse than that - after they'd flipped Him the bird and worshiped foreign gods, sacrificing their children in the fire to the god Molech. That's depravity! But God said in Jeremiah 32:41, "I will rejoice over them to do what is good to them, and I will plant them faithfully in this land with all My mind and heart."

Unbelievable! You should read the whole passage to feel the weight of these words juxtoposed with the hellacious actions of God's people, Israel. It's not like God's children had just graduated with honors from college. They didn't just win the Nobel Peace Prize. They didn't receive the Silver Buffalo award for noteworthy and extraordinary service. They had done nothing worthy of praise. They had done nothing worthy of rejoicing. Yet, God said that He was rejoicing over them to do what is good to them. To me, that's incomprehensible. To me, they deserve God's wrath (which they did get, by the way. Read the passage). But, His wrath is a means to an end - to bring us back to the place where He can rejoice over us.

But we are programmed to think differently.

We reward excellence. We reward perfection. We rejoice over accomplishments. But not God.

He rejoices over imperfect children. He takes joy in flawed people. He smiles over joyless souls. He wraps His love around hateful beings. He plants faithfully in the land faithless and rootless creatures made in His image. And He does it with all of His mind and heart.

Hmm... maybe I have some work to do in rejoicing over my own children.

Despise Apathy

This image is on our desktop right now. Everytime I sit down to the computer and jerk the mouse to wake it up, this image bursts into my sight creating this overwhelming sense of joy and happiness. Sadness has to flee when I see my boy smiling ear to ear at me. I love my kids. I love my wife. They keep me going.

Sure I find my purpose and my reason in Christ. But my wife and my kids give clarity and direction to that purpose.

Is it scary, knowing that they look up to me as their leader, as their spiritual guide? Absolutely! Does it make me want to cower in fear, afraid that I may mess up or make a mistake that my kids might emulate? Of course. But do I stop pushing forward because I might fail? No. So, what if I step out in courage to be a leader and a provider for my family and it ends in failure? Here's what I learned from Gary Thomas, a godly dad and writer, in Sacred Parenting:

"Courage doesn't always get rewarded with success . . . For the sake of the kingdom, we have to despise apathy more than we fear failure. I don't know of a single activist who hasn't embarassed himself or herself by at least one instance of a serious lack of judgment or restraint. But their occasional failure looks glorious compared to the deafening silence of the masses who, out of fear, never leave their spiritual beds."

That's what I plan to do. Despise apathy more than I fear failure. Get out of my spiritual bed every morning. Do something.

We can't sit around. As parents, as employees, as godly men and women in a depraved culture, we must not be afraid to move forward even if it means the occasional failure. And I'm thankful that in that propulsion, my family helps to bring clarity.