Wade Hinton

Naked and unashamed

2009-10-14T19:16:00.002-05:00

I had this thought last night while I was bathing my children. One of these days, Jay and or Josie will likely cross a line where they are somewhat ashamed of their nakedness. I can hear it now in the echoes of my own voice and the voices of my sisters growing up. “don’t come in here mom!! I’m naked! (that’s Ne-kid, not nay-kid)

I’m not sure what flipped the switch in me, although I’m glad it switched or else things would be weird, but something definitely switched.

Right now, I’m still cherishing these early years while they are still naked and unashamed. They are so much fun. They enjoy life without any of the entrapments of sexuality, puberty, self-consciousness, etc… I think Jay would gladly take up streaking if we let him. Naked just simply isn’t an issue for him.

In my tangled way of relating things, I thought last night about Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. They were Naked (that’s Nay-kid, not Ne-kid) and they were unashamed. They were completely comfortable in the presence of the creator without any shame, remorse, or regrets. They were in complete fellowship with Him.

As I thought about this further, I thought about what Christ has done for us as believers. He has forgiven us. He has cleansed us. He has restored the fractured relationship that existed between God and man. He has made us righteous!! Even in our sinful fallen state, we can be Naked and unashamed before God. We can come before him with confidence that we are redeemed, that we are accepted, we are His!!! Even in all of our imperfections, weaknesses, insecurities, etc…

So, the question remains for me. Why don’t I? Why am I still so often hiding in the bushes from God, like Adam and Eve did, because I am naked and ashamed?

We all need to be naked before God. Be real with Him. He sees through our “clothes” anyway!

Better things are coming...

2009-04-08T06:41:00.003-05:00

I've really been struggling a lot lately and I have a friend that reminded me yesterday of one of the purposes of struggles in this life.

As CS Lewis wrote about in Mere Christianity, we are never to be fully comfortable in this world. A constant feeling of discontentment with this life (in varying degrees) is a reminder to us that we were not made for this world, but for another. It is that life and that world (the one to come) that we should fix our hopes upon and our attention upon. This will maximize our contentment here and now.

Romans 8:18For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 19For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. 20For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. 23And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 24For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? 25But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.
26Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. 27And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. 28And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. 29For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

Hebrews 12.. Encouraging words.

2009-04-03T07:31:00.001-05:00

5 And have you forgotten the encouraging words God spoke to you as his children? He said, “My child, don’t make light of the Lord’s discipline, and don’t give up when he corrects you. 6 For the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes each one he accepts as his child.” 7 As you endure this divine discipline, remember that God is treating you as his own children. Who ever heard of a child who is never disciplined by its father? 8 If God doesn’t discipline you as he does all of his children, it means that you are illegitimate and are not really his children at all. 9 Since we respected our earthly fathers who disciplined us, shouldn’t we submit even more to the discipline of the Father of our spirits, and live forever? 10 For our earthly fathers disciplined us for a few years, doing the best they knew how. But God’s discipline is always good for us, so that we might share in his holiness. 11 No discipline is enjoyable while it is happening—it’s painful! But afterward there will be a peaceful harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way. 12 So take a new grip with your tired hands and strengthen your weak knees. 13 Mark out a straight path for your feet so that those who are weak and lame will not fall but become strong.

God, be my Source!!

2009-03-27T06:26:00.002-05:00

Psalm 62:5 For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him. 6 He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken. 7 On God rests my salvation and my glory; my mighty rock, my refuge is God.

I long for this kind of trust in God and God alone for EVERYTHING. I get the sense from reading this Psalm that even if the whole world crumbled around David, he really would not be shaken, but would stand confident and complete in God. For crying out loud, when I have a bad day or bad week, I often lose hope.

God, I long for you in this way. Help me to hope in you and nothing else so that even if my world is turned upside down, I will still be at peace in You. Remove this unrest from my soul and replace it with peace and faith.

2009-03-19T06:46:00.001-05:00

Don't forget to love on somebody today!!

Gal 6:9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. 10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.

So Be it!!!

2009-03-18T06:17:00.001-05:00

Romans 15:13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Don't Forget to ask...

2009-03-17T06:50:00.002-05:00

It's amazing how often we need to be reminded of the most basic things in our walks with God! Spend time with God in prayer and in His Word. Spend time with other believers who encourage you and build you up in your faith. Don't worry, God is in control. Etc...

I think I probably have one of the shortest attention spans on the planet. Today's reminder from His Word for me (and anyone for that matter).

If you need something, ASK FOR IT!!

Matthew 6:7 "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? 11 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!

I'd like to think I'm a pretty capable person. I can do pretty much whatever I put my mind to, so I often forget how needy and incapable I am on the grander scale. I HATE HATE HATE to ask others for help. It's like a confession of weakness and I don't like to feel/be weak. Naturally, this prideful independence and self-reliance carries right over into my walk with God too. Shame on me:)

God, we need your help. We need you to pick up our heads and our spirits. We need you to give us our provisions for this day. We need you to help us love our spouses and Children. We need you to strengthen our faith in You. Will you give us today all that we need and remind us that there is NO shame in calling on you for help? Amen!

Confession of Sin

2009-03-16T12:39:00.003-05:00

The scripture assures us that if we confess our sins, that he will forgive us of said sins... SO... Here Goes.

No doubt there is a long is of sins that I could choose from, but I think that my greatest besetting sin isn't lust, greed, pride, or anger. I do struggle frequently with these, but my greatest and most debilitating sin is... You ready?!?

It's Worry!! Hebrews assures us that without faith it is impossible to please God because those who come to God must believe that he is and that he rewards those who seek him.

I have been worried sick the past couple of months about a laundry list of things.. The economy (national, local, and at my address). Getting our house finished and moving in. The health (or lack thereof) of my children recently. Pleasing my customers. What God has for me in the future. BIG stuff for me. I don't ever remember feeling as aimless as I do right now and it kills me.

Anyway, I woke early this morning and headed for Psalm 119 which I've been focusing on the past couple weeks, but I felt steered to the sermon on the Mount, so I went there and reigned in my focus desperately wanting God to speak to me clearly from his word. Well, it leaped of the page...

Matthew 6:25 "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
28"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Can it get any clearer than that? NO!

Why am I worrying? Because my focus is on what's here and now and not on the eternal. My heart is trusting in my own abilities to succeed and not on my Heavenly Father.

God, forgive me for doubting you. Forgive me for my lack of faith. Forgive me for doing what my own son does to me when he doubts my instruction and ability to protect him. Remove this fear from me and make me whole in my faith in YOU. I cry out to you, "I believe! Help my unbelief!"

Amen!

Jay hoola hooping!!

2009-01-20T21:46:00.000-06:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZAeLe2SjCw

2008 in Rearview

2009-01-04T19:41:00.003-06:00

I have to say that 2008 was probably one of the most eventful years of my short life. It started out with a bang. I had an emergency surgery on Jan 11, and a follow-up surgery on February 9 that really strarted the year off on the "wrong" foot so to speak. Since I'm self-employed and was less than a year into starting a new business, it was a struggle for us financially in an already less-than-great financial climate. As a matter of fact, if it hadn't been for some dear friends of ours and many from our church giving us very generous monetary gifts, we wouldn't have made it through that. WOW!! BIG thank you again to Steve and Betsy, Jeff Moore, Hope Praise Team, Mary Moore, and many others that chipped in. I'm still blown away by your generosity! Many others offered to help if we needed it, but we never had to ask for a dime.

There were a couple of really good things that came from this chapter in the year. We learned just how generous and loving our friends are for one. It also paved the way for my new business partner (Hootsie). From about September '07 through the end of the year, I had been working on my own and it wasn't exactly working all that great and it was certainly not much fun. Hoot and I were on a job together during my surgeries. He carried the load while I was down and still split things even steven with me. WOW!! It's been a fabulous working friendship ever since. I think I've found another one of those life-long friends in Hoot, but only time will tell.

Shortly after these events, we decided that it was time for us to move. We put our house up for sale and.... Nothing. We got a few really bad offers that were consistent with the market, but we believed that God was going to do something for us and HE DID. We got top dollar for our house in a buyer's market and we moved in with Sondra's family while we decided what was next. My deciding process seems to be slowing down as I can see old age from here...

In the deciding process, Jay started Kindergarten and boy has that been interesting. His learning is in warp speed and being in the community of 22 other 5 year olds awakened in him some "qualities" that we didn't know he had. He hasn't been in trouble a lot, but suffice it to say that he has been in trouble. Dealing with these issues has really taxed me a lot because I'm having a hard time reading his instruction book;) Regardless, he is blossoming into quite a fine young man. I'm amazed.

Josie turned two this year and the terrible came right along with them... She is a whiz kid. Still very physically and verbally advanced for her age. As a matter of fact, I dictated most of this blog to her as she typed it:) Thanks baby girl! Seriously, she is as bad as she is good and she is absolutely fabulous. Watch out world!

Sondra and I have been married 9 years this year and boy has it been a great ride. I'm still amazed that I've found someone to put up with me and actually like it most of the time.

The 5 month stay with Sondra's family was really a good one with no serious bumps in the road.

It took us quite a while to decide that building a house wasn't the right thing for us to do right now given the incredible deals available in the foreclosure market. So, we started shopping in that market and we found a GREAT house for an even better price. It's quite a bit bigger than we were planning to build and it needs some work, but when all is said and done, we should make a lot of money on this one. I'll post some before and after photos when we get to the after. We should be moving out in 3-4 weeks into our new home.

2007 and 2008 have been the years of change for us. Career changes, new children, church changes, breeched friendships, moving, extended family struggles, financial ups and downs, etc... We are excited to start a new year, in a new home, with a new church family that we are getting to know. It really does feel like all things are new for us and we are facing things with a refreshing optimism that God is moving us out of a drought of sorts and into a time of refreshing and restoration. Whew!!

In spite of all that has happened in 2008, whether good or bad, I am as reassured as ever that God is good and that He cares for his own. Thank you God for 2008!

New House!! Hopefully..

2008-12-16T20:21:00.003-06:00

Sondra and I have put in an offer on a new home (used). We are really excited about this. Our stay at her parent's has been great while we look for the right place to land, but neither of us really thought it would take this long and we are ready to have more than 500 sq. ft. to call our own.

When everything is finalized, I'll do a post so you can see what she looks like before and after we rennovate...

Please pray that all goes well.

Thanks

general update

2008-11-23T13:47:00.002-06:00

Sondra and I have finally settled down at a church (I think). We've been so torn the past two years (can't believe it's been that long) looking for a church family that we really love. We started out this journey wanting to plant a church in this area, but those efforts got stuffed after about 6 months or so. We've bounced around so much leading worship different places that it was difficult to really get plugged in any where. We have landed at Hope Community Church in Olive Branch. We love the pastor and the people and are excited to be in a community where we know that we can serve and be plugged in.

We are still living at my in-laws house. We put in an offer on a foreclosed house in Olive Branch this past week and we should hear something about this offer soon. We've decided to go the foreclosure route instead of building a house because there are so many incredible deals out there in that market.

Jay is doing really well in Kindergarten. He's learning to read write really quickly and he seems to be the smartest little boy that I know. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. Josie is almost 2 (dec 7th). She is talking up a storm and boy can she pitch a fit... She takes that after her mother;) Ironically enough, she's also the smartest two year old girl on the planet.

My business is a little slow right now, but we are surviving. God always seems to provide a little more than we need a little before we need it.

We are headed down to the coast for Thanksgiving at my grandfather's house. I'm excited about getting to see the family down there. The older I get, the more I love the holidays.

Peace!

Is God's love the only one of His attributes we should attempt to show?

2008-11-20T19:09:00.003-06:00

I was reading a friends blog last night and she was posting about a ministry that she participates in to Strip clubs in Baton Rouge, LA. I enjoyed the post very much and this is in no way a challenge or rebuttal to that post.

The post really made me think. I hear a lot in Christian circles about showing the love of God to our world and this is certainly a commanded thing to do and it's an activity that many of us fall woefully short in doing, but is God's love the only of His attributes that we should attempt to communicate and model to the world? I haven't had the time yet to dive into Scripture to research this point, but I'm looking forward to doing so.

I believe that God's chief defining attribute is His Holiness. Everything about Him is something other than what we are. I believe that Scripture would back up by direct and indirect emphasis that Love is perhaps the second most important of His attributes for us to know and understand about Him.

Is God's Love the most important thing that needs to be communicated to our world, or is it His Holiness? Now, I'm not talking about sinlessness when I say His Holiness, even though that is certainly an aspect of His Holiness. I'm talking about His being and His essence being the most incomprehensible and wonderful beauty that even the most pure and sharp minds can't even begin to grasp. He's Awesome!

Holiness, Love, Justice, Grace, Goodness, Mercy, Kindess.... How do we show all that He is? To what extent are we responsible for showing all that He is?

I certainly believe that Love is a good place to start, but as in all things, there is a great danger in trying to encapsulate God into one of His attributes. I'm not suggesting that we should all set out next week to start dispensing Justice, but shouldn't it come into play sometimes? It certainly does if we are parents. If we don't find a careful balance, we may find ourselves loving things that perhaps God hates...

My thoughts on the election and the state of our nation

2008-11-05T15:08:00.002-06:00

OK, Nathan... Here they are.

I'm somewhat saddened, but certainly not dismayed, discouraged, or depressed by the outcome of the election. I KNOW beyond ANY doubt that God is in control of what happened yesterday and He is in control of what will happen tomorrow. There is no reason to fear as a believer. God holds the heart of the king and he turns it which ever way he chooses for His own glory and his own purposes. I wouldn't begin to start to speculate what His purposes may be in any specifics. At least not in print anyway;)

I'm saddened for the unborn because this election result will go a long way in furthering the slaughter. I'm saddened for the homosexual community because what the secular world calls progress related to homosexual issues, the Scriptures calls debauchery. I'm saddened for the poor because further entitlement and handouts is not the solution and will only serve to worsen the problem in the long run. I'm saddened for the rich because they have been stereotyped as the source of most evil in our culture by the left and they will be punished for much hard work and good accomplishments so that the entitlement can continue.

I rejoice for the church though because I know that a much needed purging will most likely result from these election results eventually. There will likely be a polarization of sorts that takes place in the next few years. We need a good dose of persecution and it will come.

The state of our nation? If by "Our", you mean Christians, then we must all be reminded that our citizenship is in heaven. Our nation is eternal. It's intact, unshakable, and it's builder and maker is Jehovah God. If by "Our", you mean Americans, then I think it's an awful mess. All of our problems exist at a grass roots level and the political climate seeks to fix it from the tree tops. It can't be fixed from Washington, but it can be worsened from there. The country is sick with a terminal case of greed and materialism. There is a sizable percentage of the poor that are lazy and sick with entitlement. Wanting something for nothing is one of the worst types of greed. There is a sizable percentage of the wealthy that are riddled with greed as well. They work hard for their money, but only to serve themselves. Greed! All of our economic problems would be solved in this country if greed and materialism were fixed.

Sadly, I fear that the church has a good dose of these diseases too. Christians are greedy and materialistic with the rest of them. We need to repent!! Perhaps, that is one of God's purposes for the hard times that we are facing. Judgment begins with the Church.

What we need to do as Christians in light of these election results is what we should be doing every day of our lives regardless of who is sleeping in the white house. We should pray for our rulers and those in authority over us. We should submit our lives for the Glory of God in humility and all will be well with us even though we perish.

Peace!

Rites of Passage

2008-09-05T13:11:00.004-05:00

I have often imagined what it would be like to be a young boy in the Masai tribe in Africa. Their rite of passage from boyhood to manhood is to go into the bush and kill a lion with a spear. I'm not sure what the stats are on this, but I'd have to guess that sometimes the lion wins. I'd hate to be the young boy that goes into the wild on my quest for recognition as a man and failing because failing this test isn't like getting too low of a score on the ACT to get into nursing school. It's your life!!

From a parent's perspective, what must this experience be like? From childhood, moms and dads know that someday they are going to have to send their son out on this mission in order for him to be an adult member of society. I would think that the life-threatening nature of this trial would be a huge motivation for dad to start prepping his son at an early age. No doubt, he would recount his own experience many times to instill bravery and familiarity. He would be trained well from the youngest of ages how to make, hold, aim, and throw a spear well enough to ensure that he would come home from his foray into the lion's world.

Most cultures throughout antiquity have had rites of passage of some sort that give young men (and in some cases women) permission to call themselves men. It also served as a signal that they were free to make their own decisions, take a wife, and start a family.

What happened to these rites in our culture? I don't think that we should send our sons into the wild to survive attacks from wild beasts because it has no relevance to our culture. The young masai boy has to learn how to kill to protect and provide for his family. A young boy in the African bush can't survive and provide for his family without having this skill. But I do think that some type of rite is VERY important for several reasons.

While there aren't literal lions out there that will destroy our children (well maybe mountain lions JC), there are dangers-o-plenty and there are many skills that are essential for survival. In a life of ease, it's ironically much more difficult to define what these skills are.

Another reason that rites are very important is because in the absence of a defined rite, kids will create their own. In our culture, the rite that is embraced by most "kids" is sexual activity. Once a kid starts being sexually active a mental and physical switch takes place. Young men achieve their first sexual conquest and they give themselves a certificate of manhood. Of course, there are other things like getting high etc. that sometimes fit into this scheme as well. Also, a good vehicle is a means to these ends.

There is nothing much more useless than a boy that has prematurely labeled himself as a man. Hen stuff on a pump handle comes to mind. But, can we fault them for it in the absence of a clearly defined rite of passage for them to cling to? Most children will conform to the system that is laid out for them without much fuss at all if it is a holistic plan that starts at birth and is embraced by the community in which they live.

I believe (even though I'm still not sure what it should look like) that a rite of passage is desperately needed and I believe that the church needs to define what it is for a Christian young man/woman. What should it look like? Catechisms, baptism, confirmations, etc.. have been a part of the faith for some time, but they've lost their importance along the way, I think.

What should a rite of passage look like in the American Christian family of our age? What should a young boy know and be able to do before he earns the rite to call himself a man? Same for girls, I suppose. Even though rites of passage for girls isn't common that I know of, I think it's equally important that they have a defined criteria of what it means to be a woman and no longer a girl.

I'd love to know what others think about this issue...

First Degree Spanking

2008-09-05T12:55:00.002-05:00

Well, Jay got his first note home from the teacher on Wednesday of this week. He was talking in class after multiple warnings and he wouldn't stay in his seat during lunch. I got a phone call from Sondra around 2pm delivering the bad news. Our immediate thought was that we were going to spank him for his bad behavior. So, for the first time in my parenting life, I was faced with the opportunity to think about having to give a spanking for several hours before the spanking was to actually occur. TORTURE!!! I was disappointed with Jay for his behavior, but not angry. Tons of questions... What actually happened? Did the teacher really do all she could to maintain an orderly classroom that aids students in behaving properly? (as a teacher, I know that 'some' responsibility falls into the teacher's hands for the proper behavior of students) Is this the first of many offenses, or just one isolated occurence?

Jay fessed up to his bad behavior (not that there was any chance I would take his word over Mrs Jones who is a friend of our family). I had him grab the spanking spoon from its place and we headed upstairs... Sondra and I had already decided after a brief face-to-face conference that spanking wasn't warranted in this case and I was certainly relieved, but the presence of the spoon seemed to be an effective attention getting device. Jay lost some priviledges that he loves dearly and was warned that he would lose more priviledges if he repeated these behaviors. So far, he has responded well and is really keen on regaining his losses.

I learned several things through this... First Degree (premeditated) spankings are much more difficult to dole out than the heat of the moment Second degree kind. Ironically, I think the premeditated method may be the best way. Another thing that I learned is that this parenting thing never seems to get any easier. Every turn in life opens up new opportunities for learning how to relate to our kids and discipline them properly. The third thing is that I really miss playing Wii with Jay. Next time, I'll ground him from something I don't enjoy as much as he does:)

General Update

2008-08-25T18:59:00.003-05:00

Hello,

It's been a while since I posted just a wassup post on here. Here are some things that are going on in the Hinton world these days.

Sondra and I sold our house about 6 weeks ago and we are living with her parents right now in in Southaven about 5 miles from our old house. We are looking around for lots and hope to have a house started within a couple months, but we're still not completely sure where we are going to move. We will most likely stay pretty close to where we are and hopefully in the same county, but we may move to a neighboring county.

The big hold up is that we're still not sure where God is leading us to worship and we want that to be the biggest deciding factor in where we relocate. We have a few options on the table and one of them is a possible staff position at a church up in TN, so we're keeping our cards close to our chests and praying that God will speak soon.

In the meantime, we are enjoying the company of Sondra's parents. They have a great home and we have the upstairs (about 600 sq ft) to ourselves complete with sleeping areas for both kids, a bath room, and a small sitting area (not that we ever use it). The rent is cheap and the food is always great. The kids absolutely love being here. There's a nice lake in the back yard that occupies nearly all of Jay's time. If he's not fishing, he's talking about fishing, and he's becoming quite the angler (hey JC).

My business is doing pretty good right now in spite of a BAD market for housing. We just picked up another builder that we will be installing floors for, so things are looking good for the coming weeks and months. I am still looking forward to the next ministry assignment because I know that God has gifted me and given me a passion for it, but He is also granting me contentment in the place where I am.

Please pray for us to find the right church home, the right property, and that we would be diligent about serving God in this area.

Have a great day!!

Diversity

2008-08-16T09:59:00.002-05:00

Every morning when I get Jay up for school, we go down to the lake and feed the fish. We really have a great time talking about the fish and all the blessings in nature that God has created for his glory and our enjoyment. It's a great setting to talk about this.

It's really neat to see all the different kinds of fish, all the different kinds of trees with different shapes and colors of leaves, etc... Our God is a diverse and complex God and this diversity is so evident in His creation.

This made me think... The "great philosopher" Bono says... "I believe in the kingdom come when all the colors will bleed into one, bleed into one." I'm not sure where he gets this idea from, and I'm not sure I think it would even be a good thing if it were true.

I personally love the diversity in all of God's creation, including the diversity that exists among human beings. I think that Heaven will have many of the same wonderful diversities that we enjoy here. I can only imagine what the sushi in heaven might taste like:)

It seems to me, and I could be wrong about this, that the push for unity among diversities that has been around for a while is slowly giving way to a push for an irradication of diversities. I'm not sure how to feel about this.

Is it wrong for me to love that I am a WASP from the country-fried south? Is it wrong for me to teach my children to love being a WASP from the country-fried south? I love other cultures, but not as well as I like mine. There is great value that exists in other cultures and I'm certainly not making an evaluation of cultures here, even though I think it is possible to do so. Just that I like mine the best for me and mine. It is, after all, the way God created me and where he created me.

I expect others to love and perpetuate their cultures as well and think that we should only change our cultures as they conflict with God's word. Otherwise, eat, drink, be merry, and enjoy the diversity.

Truth... RIP

2008-08-06T21:29:00.004-05:00

I've been thinking a lot the past couple of weeks about the horrible state of affairs we live in as it relates to the truth. It's certainly no secret that post-modern relativistic thinking has completely infected our culture, and it's becoming less a secret that post-modern relativism has infected the church, so my question is... Where is the crusade for truth.

For the past three decades that I've been a believer and have been active in the church, I have watched crusades ebb and flow and come and go. Crusades for prayer in school and public events. Crusades against the rock music. Crusades against abortion. Crusades for abstinence before marriage. Crusades for adoption. Crusades, Crusades, and more Crusades.

While most of these crusades have some merit and many are battles well-worth fighting, if TRUTH is lost, it will be impossible to win any of these battles. On the other hand, when a crusade for TRUTH is victorious, things will fall into place and Justice will prevail.

The relativisation of truth within the church has made this cry for absolute truth a difficult crusade to champion. The current crusades within the church (even though they are good crusades) are so similar to the secular crusades that it's difficult to tell the difference between the benevolent efforts of the church and the activities of Brangelina and the rest of the politically correct crowd. It's a real eerie harmony for me, because the church has also adopted the "can't we all just get along" mentality of the PC movement along with its other causes. As a result, it's not nice to label lies as what they are and attack heresy and the purveyors of heresies. Those who do this are labeled as mean-spirited, but this must be done in order for Christianity to once again champion the cause of truth.

In the scriptures, as we see God dealing with His people (us) through our ebbs and flows toward him, he always starts by cleaning house and he always uses his people to do the house cleaning. Judgment begins with the house of God. While I sometimes cringe to hear the clarion call for truth and the warnings against heresy that exists in the church, I also rejoice because it gives me great hope and it reminds me that TRUTH WILL PREVAIL. Jesus Christ is the TRUTH. He reigns supreme and he will bring all things into submission. He will use his body, the church, to accomplish this.

If the church will champion the cause for truth first of all and foremost, all these other crusades will be cake-walks. If this generation loses it, then all other efforts are for nothing. It would be neat to look back on this life when it comes to a close and see a great victory for truth. While I will always have hope because of the impending victory, it would be sad to look back on a life lived if the truth appears to be lost.

May God ignite within us all a passion for truth so that we may turn the tides.

My baby boy...

2008-08-06T21:19:00.003-05:00

Well, Jay starts Kindergarten tomorrow. I can't believe that it's here already. If I could turn back time right now, I certainly would.

It just seems like yesterday that I held him in my arms for the first time, fed him for the first time, bathed him for the first time, watched him laugh for the first time, take his first steps, say his first words, catch his first fish, etc.. Now, he's going to school...

I think my greatest fear is whether or not I have properly prepared him for what he is going to experience. Does he have a good foundation and a Christian Theistic World View in a culture that is HORRIBLY hostile toward the CTWV? I can only hope because ready or not, it's here.

God help us to prepare our children to be salt and light in a dark world where it is becoming increasingly more difficult to tell the difference.

Rejoice in the Lord!!

2008-06-18T06:32:00.002-05:00

This is one command that God issues over and over in the Bible that I have great difficulty with. I don't have trouble abstaining from murder, adultery, fornication, idolatry, etc... But, I often find great difficulty rejoicing in the Lord. I worry, doubt, forget, and often find myself on the edge of depression when things don't go the way I see them going. WOW!!

How much freedom exists in rejoicing in Him? How much hope exists in rejoicing in Him?

Lord help me to focus on you and not me... and rejoice!

Psalm 97
1 The LORD reigns, let the earth be glad; let the distant shores rejoice. 2 Clouds and thick darkness surround him; righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne. 3 Fire goes before him and consumes his foes on every side. 4 His lightning lights up the world; the earth sees and trembles. 5 The mountains melt like wax before the LORD, before the Lord of all the earth. 6 The heavens proclaim his righteousness, and all the peoples see his glory. 7 All who worship images are put to shame, those who boast in idols—worship him, all you gods! 8 Zion hears and rejoices and the villages of Judah are glad because of your judgments, O LORD.
9 For you, O LORD, are the Most High over all the earth; you are exalted far above all gods.
10 Let those who love the LORD hate evil, for he guards the lives of his faithful ones and delivers them from the hand of the wicked. 11 Light is shed upon the righteous and joy on the upright in heart. 12 Rejoice in the LORD, you who are righteous, and praise his holy name.

I wept today for a friend I've only met once..

2008-05-22T18:34:00.004-05:00

I'm sure most people found this out before me, but I wept today over the tragedy in Stephen Curtis Chapman's family. SCC has been a hero of mine for 20 years now and his songs have ministered to me so deeply at times that I can't describe. I don't know how many times I've wept tears of worship, joy, and grief while listening to his songs.

For those who don't know... Just hours before his graduation, their oldest son ran over and killed one of their younger children (5 yr old, I believe).

I can't imagine how people bounce back after losing a child. I can't imagine how complicated the process must be when another child is responsible for the loss of the other, and you have the burden of dealing with one loss while parenting a child that is dealing with the worst possible "mistake" that I can imagine making. It's just awful, and I'm crushed for them.

God have mercy! Be gracious and kind today to our brothers and sisters in Christ that are suffering unimaginable grief. Help them Lord, I pray! Amen.

Scalp Awareness Month

2008-05-21T19:54:00.003-05:00

In the Hinton home, our son Jay has become scalp aware. A couple days ago, he pointed to Sondra's part in her hair and asked her what that white line was on her head. So, in true Jay form, he began to point out all the differences in the scalps in our house...

Dad, me and mommy have little scalps and yours is big... My favorite.. Me and mommy's scalps are lines and yours is round:)

Nothing like the honesty of a child.

Watch the ball!

2008-05-10T07:13:00.000-05:00

I help coach Jay's t-ball team during games and it's one of the most challenging things I've ever done. They play 2 innings each game because it takes some of the kids about 5 minutes to actually make contact with the ball and determine which direction they should run while the players in the field play tackle baseball trying to get the ball from each other.

About halfway through the first inning at Tuesday's game, I realized that I had probably said "watch the ball" about 40 times and probably said it 100 times before the game was over. Stop playing in the dirt and watch the ball. Stop kicking each other and watch the ball. It occurred to me that it's the basic fundamental skill in learning to play the game of baseball. You MUST keep your eye on the ball. If you don't, you CAN'T be a good baseball player. It's simply impossible to be good at any aspect of the game without learning to watch the ball, and it's the great baseball players that seem to have the uncanny ability to see the ball almost as if it's in slow motion...

In my thoughts on this subject during the game, my mind went to my faith during the 5 minute at bats toward the bottom of the line-ups;) What is the parallel "skill" in Christianity? What is THE foundational "activity" that will ensure success in our faith and without which we will ultimately founder? Some may say that there is no answer to this question and that any answer would be an oversimplification of the faith, but I believe that there is and that overcomplication of the faith is much more of a problem than oversimplification...

The "skill" that is essential to the Christian faith is... Treasuring Christ above all else! This is the essential activity that causes the rest of the "game" to fall into place. Without it, we're just pretending. Where there is no genuine passion and love for Christ, there is only hollow religious activity that will ultimately end in temporal emptiness and eternal dissapointment.

Watch the ball! Love the Lord your God with all your heart! It really is that "simple";)

Just Checkin in...

2008-05-06T21:26:00.003-05:00

Hello everybody.. Been super busy with work the past couple of weeks, which is a HUGE blessing. We were getting ready to call for reinforcements;)

I've got a few blogs in the works, just no time to finish them.

I'll try to post some photos of the work we've been doing. Lots of pretty wood and tile floors, and I've got a burn rehab that I'm doing too. When it rains, it pours.

Have a great day! Be blessed!

Wade

Hollywood strikes..... Again!

2008-04-29T16:03:00.002-05:00

It’s in the news again today (or maybe yesterday): another child idol behaving in a way that is questionable for a child to behave. This time it’s one that people are saying would never do things like she is doing because her parents are involved, etc...

Are you kidding me!?!?!? Do we really believe as Christians that there is ANYTHING that this culture is producing that is appropriate for our children to embrace in the way that the culture at large is embracing it? Why would we ever expect these things to end any way other than us trying to figure out how we have to explain things to our children? With the numbers the way they are, it seems like it is safe to say that they ALL go bad, and yet we seem to still be amazingly surprised and shocked when they do.

Why does it seem that every teen idol goes bad? The answer to this question is… it’s the only thing our culture and Hollywood is capable of producing. This culture isn’t going to produce a role model that is appropriate for us to put in front of our children to idolize, mimic and aspire to be.

This fact begs an even more difficult question. WHY DO WE CONTINUE TO ALLOW AND EVEN ENCOURAGE OUR KIDS TO DO IT? I don’t know the answer to this question. It’s baffling to me.

Have we forgotten that we are to raise our children in the fear of the Lord? Have we abandoned the Shemah? Do we not recognize the danger? Do we want our children to revere God or this culture (yes, I believe VERY STRONGLY that it’s either/or)? Do we think they can do both? Or, do we just not care? What gives?

This may sound extremely fundamentalist, but I really don’t care. God said, “come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord.” Jesus said we are to be salt and light. We are to be in the world, but not of the world. We are to be in the world and products of the work of the Spirit in our lives, not in the world and a product of the world and this culture.

How do we accomplish this in a spirit of grace and love? As parents and future parents, we need to find out.

Lot, a standard of righteousness!?

2008-04-24T13:39:00.005-05:00

2 Peter 2:7 NLT But God also rescued Lot out of Sodom because he was a righteous man who was sick of the shameful immorality of the wicked people around him. 8 Yes, Lot was a righteous man who was tormented in his soul by the wickedness he saw and heard day after day. 9 So you see, the Lord knows how to rescue godly people from their trials, even while keeping the wicked under punishment until the day of final judgment.

Sandy Wilson at 2PC up in Memphis was dealing with the final judgment in the AMEN bible study this morning (podcast on itunes), and he ran across this verse that has been quite troubling to me in the past, but something stood out to me that I haven't really paid attention to before.

It has troubled me in the past because it says that Lot was a righteous man. REALLY?!? This dude offered his daughters up (sexually) to the sodomites that were trying to molest the angels that had visited him to warn him about the impending doom of the city. Later, he got drunk and slept with the same two daughters and got them pregnant. Righteous?!? This same man chose to live in a town that is perhaps the most notoriously wicked place in the history of the world, and he wouldn't be welcomed in any of our homes or churches acting the way he did. Righteousness... It's a tough label to reconcile for me for Lot.

It leads me to a couple thoughts...

1. Righteousness has more to do with who we are than what we do. The long and short of it is that we are righteous because of who we are and we cannot be made righteous by our activities even though as righteous people we are required to live a certain way. The Bible declares that Lot was righteous; therefore, he was righteous in spite of his sinfulness and not because of his righteous activity. This is obviously true of other notorious righteous folk like King David and the person that you look at in the mirror every day.

2. Lot exhibited righteous activity that exceeds many of ours. The verse above tells us that Lot was grieved by the wickedness that surrounded him. Specifically, the shameful immorality that he saw everyday. There is an alarming trend that exists in the church today. It is a trend toward tolerance and acceptance of sin rather than grieving over it. Lot was grieved by the wickedness that he saw in his world. Are we? I think we've been infected by the spirit of this age and have bought into the lie that to be grieved by wickedness is to be mean-spirited, unloving and ungracious, and it certainly can be. But, there can be no real sense of love and grace if there has been no grievance. Is there any valor in loving those that we embrace? No. True grace and love can ONLY spring into action in the context of a grievance. So, the only way we can be deeply gracious is to be deeply grieved. Same is true for love. Jesus says that the greatest love is a love that would lay down it's life for an enemy. It's easy to "love" what we accept.

Righteousness and God likeness demand that we be grieved by the sin in our world and in ourselves. When we are deeply grieved, then and only then, can we exercise and experience the love and grace of God in the way that he has exercised them toward us.

In the past, I've been very judgmental of Lot and troubled by this verse. Is his sin any worse than mine? Is my hatred of sin as strong as his? How would I fare in Sodom?

My Son Jay

2008-04-19T10:20:00.011-05:00

Some of my out of town friends have not had the priviledge of meeting my baby boy, Jay. He's a wonder-boy. Here are a few things that I really love about him...

1. He's a GREAT baseball player. Very pretty natural swing with great follow-through and bat speed. It wouldn't surprise me to see him play in the majors someday.

2. He's very smart. He's learning to read a little bit these days, and he's already a numbers whiz which really makes me happy. He can count like a madman. It's a very entertaining passtime in the car these days. Last weekend on the way to church we counted to 200. He said the evens and I said the odds. Of course, I'm still working on his favorite number. Right now, he says his favorite number is 8, but Daddy still pays the bills.

3. He never stops asking questions. Sometimes this really drives me nuts, but I think it's a great quality that is going to take him a long way in life.

4. He loves to fish! I can't wait for the adventures we're going to have on the water.

5. He loves his mother! I love watching Sondra and Jay interact. It reminds me of how special the mother/son bond is. Kinda takes me back to my own childhood with my mom.

6. He's really learning to protect his baby sister. We went on a field trip and he just randomly reported to the class that "I protect my baby sister." They're really getting to be buddies these days.

7. He loves to play the drums. His singing is coming along a little bit, but I'm not super optimistic he will follow in Daddy's shoes on that one:) He does have a little rhythm and loves to hit the skins... Go Jay.

8. He loves watching sports with me, especially football and baseball. He'll watch an entire game with me, or at least until I get tired of him asking me how tall everybody is. What gives on this? "How tall are his shoes dad?"

I could go on and on. There's NOTHING like being a dad to a baby boy. James Wade Hinton II is the man! Geaux Jay! I'm pretty sure he's going to be an outstanding man someday in spite of his dear old daddy.

Does legalism have a bad rep?

2008-04-18T17:02:00.001-05:00

I hear the term "legalist" tossed around a good bit in reference to some Bible teachers and I had a conversation related to this with a good friend recently.

I honestly think that true legalism gets everything that it has coming to it and more, but I think that the term is used so loosely that "legalism" gets a bad rep.

Legalism is not any set of rules or prohibitions that Christians should adhere to. After all, there are many commands of scripture that Christians should obey and obey joyfully. Jesus went so far as to say that "if you love me, you WILL KEEP MY COMMANDMENTS." It is precisely this type of verbiage that often gets called legalism in the church today. This is NOT legalism. Christians should fervently adhere to the teachings and commands of Christ and pursue Holiness from a foundation of our love for him which must be based firmly in his love for us. Because he first loved us, we love him and we keep his commandments. Commandments kept in love aren't burdensome and that's why his yoke is easy and his burden is light. It's not easy and light because it's permissive. It's easy and light because its foundation is grace and love.
Scripture is very clear that there are activities that believers can participate in that are displeasing to God and there are activities that believers can participate in that are pleasing to God.

Legalism is any set of rules or prohibitions that Christians MUST adhere to in order to gain entrance into the Kingdom and/or maintain a certain status with God. These types of requirements stand against the clear teachings of scripture that assure us that Salvation is by grace alone through faith alone and not from any of our works. I think the difference is that legalism is usually fear-based and fear-driven rather than love-based. Legalism is geared toward avoiding the wrath of God rather than basking in the Love of God. Because Legalism is fear-driven and activity driven, it usually goes into extra-biblical commands. Do not taste, do not touch, etc... (Col 2) In the fear-driven performance-centered mindset, these extra biblical commands make sense, but as Colossians tells us, these extra-biblical commands lack ANY power in restraining the flesh.

So, believers should be diligent rule-keepers, and we should be diligent about knowing what Christ requires of us, but not out of a sense of fear or from the motivation of SO he will love us. We should be diligent about knowing and following his commands BECAUSE he loves us. There is a HUGE difference between these two approaches. One brings life and freedom, the other will leave us bound and dead.

As a believer, bask in the freedom that is found only in knowing and embracing the love of Christ for his church, and resist anything that is legalistic and man-centered. MOST importantly, learn to discern the difference.

An environmental conundrum

2008-04-15T18:01:00.004-05:00

This is a departure from my normal posts, but I sometimes think that environmentalists have forgotten that human beings are a species in the environment too.

What if the EPA, PETA, or some other green group (I'm pro-environment by the way) discovered that there were human practices that were causing Salmon to reproduce at a much lower rate? O wait, they have and they are on it. What if all of a sudden, the Bee population that is so vital to the pollination of our food crops was at risk and in a serious decline for mysterious reasons? O wait, it is and they are all over it.

So, where is the passion for protecting the human species? Why are bees, salmon, spotted owls, manatees, etc. worth crusading for, but if human life is crusaded for it's right-wing fundamentalism? I know that this isn't a new thought, but it's something that I've been thinking about a lot.

Here are some things that I believe are serious attacks on the Human Species that need to be crusaded against (in no particular order). These are threats to our species that would have environmentalists up in arms if they had even close to the same level of threat against snapping turtles.

1. Abortion
2. The Homosexual agenda
3. Redefinition of the family

I'm sure there are others, but these come to mind as serious threats to the perpetuation and long-term health of our species.

How Tall is God? Part 3 (final installment)

2008-04-13T12:21:00.005-05:00

There was an excellent question raised in the second post related to how we should "choose" our experts. How should we filter through the talking heads to determine who is right and who is wrong in such a way that we aren't just gravitating toward those that are in agreement with what we have already decided is right and true?

I have a set of criteria that I have put together over the years that I think is objective and safe to accomplish the above.

Anyone that I choose to learn from must....

1. Recognize the innerancy, necessity, sufficiency, absolute authority, and holistic nature of the Scriptures. There is an article on this in Wayne Grudem's "Systematic Theology" that is excellent (minus the holistic thing). A correct view of the Scriptures is absolutely necessary. The trend of progressive revelation (from Part 1) would call into question each of these attributes of the scriptures.

2. Believe in the Sovereignty of the triune God in all matters of life. This translates to God-centeredness instead of man-centeredness in conversion and Christian living.

3. Have the correct views on the Person and work of Jesus Christ as taught in Scriptures. Specifically related to person hood, his deity and his sinless life (virgin birth is necessary here). Related to the work of Jesus Christ are his Atoning death without which there is NO hope for redemption, and his Imputed Righteousness without which we can achieve no favorable standing with God by our own efforts.

There are other things that are quite important that aren't on this list, but they generally will follow from these three.

I will read and research many other views and learn good stuff even from people that are border-line heretical, but I choose not to spend a whole lot of money and energy picking out the bones when there are countless experts from which to choose and learn from that are putting out nice boneless cuts of truth.

I'd go as far as to suggest that if your criteria is a new one, or if it's drastically different from this one that it will lead to heresy pretty quickly. The pillars of the faith are tested and true. Stand on them, question of them, and grow in the faith and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

How Tall is God?, Part 2

2008-04-09T21:05:00.001-05:00

From Part 1... In many ways God is far simpler than the scientific fields because he can be known by even the simple minds of children. On the other hand, he truly is vast and immeasurable and far more complex than all of the scientific disciplines combined. So, why would we ever stop asking questions? How could we ever not think that we have WAY more to learn than we have already discovered? Why would we ever stop examining the Scriptures, reading and evaluating the "experts", and listening to great minds teach about him? I think that we have a tendency to get comfortable with where we are, what we know, and we don't really want to be challenged any more. We have God in our little box and that's where we want to keep him.

I have thought about this post a little more and I have decided that the paragraph above could use a little expansion. The reason being that it's important not just to evaluate, but to evaluate properly. There is a right way to study the scriptures and there are right "experts" and there are wrong "experts." So, ultimately, what makes them right and what makes them wrong and how do we determine this?

How can two people read the scriptures and walk away from them with opposing points of view both equally convinced that their views are correct with what they would consider to be sound biblical arguments? The answer to this question is that they are using different methods of studying the scriptures or bringing different agendas to the scriptures. The fancy shmancy theological answer is that they are using different hermeneutics.

A popular hermeneutic in our current Christian climate is a hermeneutic that I call "progressive revelation". I'm not sure if I heard this somewhere or not, or if there is a better label for it, but this one is pretty descriptive of what it is. This hermeneutic is espoused pretty heavily by some teachers in the emergent camps. In a nutshell it is very similar to the way many political liberals interpret the constitution of the US as a living document that has different meaning based on current cultural values. Right to bear arms is one of the victims of this type of interpretation. Freedom of speech is one that is victimized in the opposing direction.

Ordination of homosexuals and devaluation of roles within marriage are a couple of good examples that spring directly from this hermeneutic. To counteract this faulty hermeneutic, we must do a couple of things. First, we must be aware that it exists and that to some degree or another nearly everyone under the age of 40 has been infected by it. Secondly, we must hold on to the time-proven and tested teachings of the faith.

I heard a pastor once tell how he prepared for sermons (sorry can't remember who it was). He said that he would read the book of the Bible that he was going to teach on numerous times and make annotations on the book each time with thoughts and ideas about what the passage was saying. After this process, he would then finally search out the expert opinions of several commentaries on the book. Then, he would do something that I think is very wise. He would throw out any of his ideas about the meanings that weren't present in any of the commentaries that he studied.

Why do I think this is wise? While the fields of Science are expanding fields with new facts being discovered every day, Christianity is established, stable, true, and without the need or possibility of expansion. The church is built on the life, teachings, and sacrificial death of Jesus Christ, and the teachings of the apostles. These truths are all revealed in the Scriptures and contrary to current cultural forces today truth exists can be known.

So, our quest for truth and learning how to discover the truth that already exists should be the motivating force behind our questions. It's not just about asking the questions. It's about asking the right questions of the right people that will lead to the discovery of truth.

How Tall is God?

2008-04-06T21:49:00.006-05:00

This is my inquisitive son, Jay. I don't know if all 4-year-old boys are like him or not, but Jay asks about 1000 questions a day. Sometimes it seems more like 1000 questions a minute:) If we are watching TV, he wants to know who all the people are, who's the biggest, who's the littlest, why are they happy, why are they sad, where are they going? He asks so many questions that he doesn't even watch the show or hear what is going on. When we read a book in the evenings, it's the same scenario. I can hardly get through a sentence without being interupted. Question after question after question after...

One of my favorite questions that he has asked is "How tall is God?" It was difficult to explain to Jay the concept that God has no size and that he is immesurable, but I made a nice effort. Immediately on the heels of my attempted answer came the next logical question, of course. "Dad, how tall is Jesus?" That one was a little easier to answer. I was able to explain to him that Jesus once walked the earth in a human body and that he was probably about 5.5' tall, and that now Jesus is in heaven and we're not real sure how tall he is now, but we'll find out some day.

Kids learn at warp speed because they know that they have a lot to learn and because they are SO inquisitive. As adults, we lose our speed of learning for the antithesis of these reasons. We think we no longer have a lot to learn so we stop asking questions.

I have a Master of Science degree in mathematics and it didn't take me long into the master's program to realize that getting an MS is really just designed to show you that everything you learned in your undergraduate degree was really just barely scratching the surface of the subject. There are worlds of things to be learned and even discovered in every scientific discipline and it doesn't take long to discover this. Every question that gets asked and answered opens up frontiers of new questions that have to be considered.

In many ways God is far simpler than the scientific fields because he can be known by even the simple minds of children. On the other hand, he truly is vast and immeasurable and far more complex than all of the scientific disciplines combined. So, why would we ever stop asking questions? How could we ever not think that we have WAY more to learn than we have already discovered? Why would we ever stop examining the Scriptures, reading and evaluating the "experts", and listening to great minds teach about him? I think that we have a tendency to get comfortable with where we are, what we know, and we don't really want to be challenged any more. We have God in our little box and that's where we want to keep him.

Destroy the Box!!! There's a false god in there.

If Jay stopped asking questions right now, he would stay socially and intellectually 4 yrs old. The same thing is true of many of us spiritually because we have stopped driving ourselves to know more of God and more about God. Question EVERYTHING, especially the foundations of the faith. Don't worry, it's true and it will withstand every question that you can throw at it, but there will be times when you get scared because you will realize that what you've thought, believed, and in same cases even taught others stands on the shaky ground of half-truth and false-hood.

Dig into the Scriptures and make your pastors and mentors shudder to see you coming knowing that you're about to ask them a question that they've never really put a lot of thought into. Make them think that you really believe there is still a vast world of knowledge out there and that the only way to attain it is to ask question after question after question...

I strongly recommend a guy named Ravi Zacharias (http://www.rzim.org/) in areas of apologetics. He has a great podcast on itunes and tons of resources on his website. Check him out and others as well.

How tall is God?

Do we serve God for nothing?

2008-04-05T22:21:00.004-05:00

I enjoy watching the series on the Travel channel that follows the adventures of two English guys named Mark and Olly as they visit primitive tribes and document their journeys. Mark is the adventurer type and Olly is a journalist that has a passion to document these rapidly disappearing cultures. This season's show had them going to the Mek tribe in West Papua. Last season they went to a similar tribe called the Kombai (sp?). PRIMITIVE is the operative word for these people. Grass huts, little or no clothing, very basic tools, etc... Their beliefs are equally primitive. Witch doctors, blood-sucking witches, flying people that eat your flesh called suangis. Strange, far out, unbelievable stuff that they passionately believe in. Oh, and Christianity.

At some point, missionaries came through the area and convinced these people that they should throw away their idols that they once looked to for protection and that they should trust in God to protect them, provide for them, etc. in place of their old idols. This is a great example of what I would call an incomplete conversion. This is perhaps for another post, but I'll touch it here. The church is guilty of flying through, doing a crash course, having a bonfire for the idols, giving them some western clothes and moving on. Jesus spent three years properly preparing a group of 12 men that were already well-versed in Judaism, and we think that a couple months or even a year is enough time to leave people to themselves that have no concept of monotheism and have never heard of Jesus, and have no written language. Incidentally, not a single mention of Jesus in any of the episodes that referenced Christianity. Olly viewed Christianity as a curse upon these people and missionaries as the worst kind of robbers of their beautiful culture.

Christianity for these people had just become another relic or idol that they relied on to make their crops grow and protect them from the vampires and witches. How different are we? Do we worship God because of his beauty and majesty, or do we worship Him because of what we perceive that he has/will do for us?

One of my favorite Pastors/Teachers is a guy named Tim Keller from Redeemer Presbyterian Church of NYC. In a sermon titled "the Betrayers", he briefly deals with the question that Satan posed to God about Job. "Does Job serve you for nothing?" Keller says that this is the key statement to understand what the book of Job is about. God said "yes, he does." Take all his stuff and he will still worship me. God was right:) Job served God for nothing. He didn't serve Him to get something in return or because of all the stuff that he already had. He served God "for nothing."

This is what I am striving for in my life. I want to see and know so much of God that all my agendas for God disappear into the sheer beauty of who He is. I don't want to be a user of God. I want to serve God for nothing! Don't you?

This sermon is worth the $2.50. check it out! http://sermons.redeemer.com/store/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&Product_ID=18602

Hudson Bradford

2008-04-04T22:08:00.007-05:00

I was searching the internet tonight for old friends. From time to time, I google old friends and acquaintances to see where they are, what they are doing, etc. I had a buddy in College that I made fast friends with named Hudson Bradford. He was extremely talented. GREAT guitar player, song-writer, thinker. We spent a lot of time huddled in corners at college parties solving the world's problems.

I've googled him probably half a dozen times since I last saw him in 1998 in Athens, GA without any luck. Tonight I finally got a hit. Actually, it was more like a sledge hammer. I found a transcript for his Funeral Service! There were no details in the funeral service about how he died, but there were some hints that lead me to believe that he committed suicide.

How do people reach the place in their lives where they feel that the only solution is to end it? I'm not being condescending at all. Suicide is a common reality, so it's obviously not very difficult for people to plummet to these depths. Talented, smart, beautiful, successful people end their own lives every day. Hudson was all of these things.

Is it a loss of purpose, hope, faith, joy, love, all of the above? What!?

The worst thing about suicide is the long list of unanswered questions. I'm sad that I will never get to see Hudson again in this life. I'd love to ask him a few.

1000 Baths

2008-04-01T22:10:00.006-05:00

More often than not in the evenings it is usually my responsibility to bathe my two children. Since they were both babies, I found it a lot easier to just get in the bath tub with them, so most evenings around 7:30 or 8:00, we round up the kids and head to the bathtub. I get in the tub and bathe the kids and Sondra gets them out when they are done.

Tonight in the bath (bubble bath) it occurred to me that I have probably at this point in Jay's life (he's 4) given him over 1000 baths. We had a blast in the bubbles tonight because Josie and Jay both discovered that they could make me look like a snowman pretty easily. Jay also discovered that a washcloth wadded tightly and dipped in bubbles looks a lot like a snow ball. So, we had our own little version of a snowball fight in the tub.

My afterthoughts about this experience took me to how many baths have fallen into the mundane, boring, and (sorry to say) burdensome. These days are FLYING by, and yet I waste so many of them. There have probably been 1000 bath times in the tub with Jay. There will probably not be 1000 more with him, and because Josie is a girl, we may not even make it to 1000:(

May God help us all to find joy in the ordinary things with our children and make them extraordinary. How many things will we get to do with our kids 1000 times?

The Ghost and the Darkness

2008-03-30T18:28:00.003-05:00

I had a dream last night that was a lot like the movie, The Ghost and the Darkness. The movie is based on the true story of two man-eating lions that terrorized a railroad crew over the course of several months attacking nearly nightly and terrorizing the workers. All in all, the lions are credited with killing over 100 men before they were finally killed. Interesting movie. I love movies based on historical events.

Anyway, in my dream, I was being hunted by these two lions. They were crazed and thirsty for blood... MINE. I was able to evade the killers throughout my dream right to the end when I finally got cornered behind a glass snack counter with a HUGE lion glaring at me from the other side. Then, I woke up.

As I layed in bed trying to calm myself from the nightmare, the thought that came to my mind was how awful it would be if that dream were true. I'm thankful to live in a part of the world where I don't have to give a second thought to man-eating creatures. The next thought that came to my mind was even more awakening for me than the nightmare.... The dream IS a reality!

I was reminded of this passage of scripture. 1 Peter 5:8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 9 Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. 10And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. 11 To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

It's easy for me to forget that I have an adversary that is seeking to devour me. It's easy for me to coast on in my easy life and forget that I'm at war. Even when times are difficult and my faith is weakened, I sometimes forget that there is a lion lurking and ready to jump in for the kill. Peter tells us here to be Sober-minded and watchful. To resist him and stand firm in our faith. James said the same things... Submit yourself to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

I'm not claiming that this dream was a vision or anything like that, but God sure used it to adjust my perspective on some things going on in my life. I don't think it's a good thing to see a devil behind every bush, but I do think it's a terrible thing to forget that we have an enemy at all. I'm guilty of this at times and I always pay for it. Usually when I do this, I find myself hunkered down somewhere caught off guard and trembling at an enemy that I forgot was there. NOT a fun place to be.

Stay sober-minded and watchful. We will prevail!!

Blessings to you

Ideals or Anchors?

2008-03-25T16:52:00.000-05:00

Do you ever wonder at what point ideals become anchors?

In many ways, our ideals define us. They separate us from the masses and push us in one direction or another throughout our lives. They determine our friends, our families, our careers.

BUT, it seems that at times ideals can become burdensome for people. No job is just right. No church is just right. No potential mate is just right. The kids can't act right. No restaurant prepares the food just right. No school is good enough. Ideals can create "the grass is always greener" mentality if we aren't careful, or even worse, "the grass is never green enough."

I wish at times I could just release my ideals and fit a little better in certain areas. I have found that there are some arenas in which I am able to relax my ideals and achieve great satisfaction with compromise. In other areas a no-compromise-mentality seems to have set in and my ideals have become... Anchors!

This has become particularly true for me in my worship life. I've been in professional ministry for a large portion of my adult life in one way or another. These experiences have shaped my ideals and as of late my ideals have left me quite discontented with what the average American church has become, and I'm frightened by the trends that I see. As a worship leader, I encounter very few worshipers. As a teacher, I encounter very few people that are eager to learn the faith. American Christianity has become so obsessed with doing, that being seems to have fallen by the wayside. "Being" a believer is FAR more important than "doing" Christian things (Mat 7:15-22), and while being will ALWAYS lead to doing, doing CANNOT lead to being (Eph. 2:8-9). So, it makes NO sense to me why today's Christian world puts the lions share of emphasis on "doing" rather than "being". We live in the age of how-to sermons that are only a few words away from being a bad Oprah or Dr. Phil episode. I digress... This is one example of an ideal for me that has anchored me away from contentment in my worship life. Unfortunately, there are others.

What are yours? Did you ever stop to think?

Friendships

2008-03-23T20:41:00.000-05:00

Is there anything more precious than a close friend?

I recently attended a fantasy baseball draft in Nashville in a league that I've been part of for several years now. A little more than half of this league is composed of a group of guys that have been friends for most of their lives. In this setting, I'm definitely on the outside looking in. There is a comradery there that I could never participate in. Not because I'm not a good fit or because the group is exclusive, but rather because what these guys have can ONLY be built by real life and time.

While I am not a part of this group of friends, I do have a group of friends like this. A group of 4 guys that I have laughed with, cried with, rejoiced with, hurt with, travelled with, and fought with over the course of the past 24 years or so (hard to believe!). Life has separated us now and we only touch bases a couple times a year or so, but there is still something there that can't be duplicated in other friendships.

I sometimes try to think of what my life would be like today if these guys weren't a part of it. I shudder when I do because nothing ties me to the past and brings my life together like these friends because they really know me. They know my gifts and abilities because they saw many of them come into being. They know my greatest successes and worst mistakes because they walked with me through them and in many cases contributed to them.

I have other friends that are like this group of guys that aren't connected to that group. They are friends that are a little more active in my life now, and I am most thankful for them, but there is still something missing that only time can create.

I think that success in this life could easily be measured by the number of close friends we may have. Remember the Proverbs tell us that He who has friends must himself be friendly. SO, get out there and open up yourself to the people that you know and see what happens. You can't manufacture a genuine life-long friendship. They are crafted by the happenings of life in the hands of God. He builds them and He sustains them.

Is there anything more precious than a close friend? Well, maybe 2 close friends!