NT 2020

“We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.” President John F. Kennedy, “Moon Speech,” Rice Stadium, September 1962

As we come to the end of the first month of this decade, I have begun to ponder a question. We all make New Year’s resolutions (well, not everyone, but many do) . . . or maybe “goals” is a better word. I shared mine in a blog entry earlier this month. But have you ever made a New Decade’s resolution? Neither have I.

As I continued to ponder this question, I quickly thought of the above quote by JFK. It’s pretty motivational, isn’t it? The “Moon Speech” got me to thinking that if—and that’s a big if—I were to make a resolution, or goal, for this decade, it would have to be something pretty big. It would have to be challenging, and it would have to be significant. It would be difficult to attain, yet produce lifelong benefits. More “mundane” resolutions like losing twenty pounds or remembering to floss every day wouldn’t cut it.

Over the past few years, I have been increasingly exposed to the idea and practice of memorizing Scripture. In 2009, I took a series of classes where I had to commit a total of six biblical passages to memory, each of which was eight to eleven verses long. In addition, I have done some reading on the topic. In particular, I read recently of a pastor advising other pastors to memorize entire books of the Bible. Is he kidding? Entire books? No way! Yet this seemingly outlandish advice got me to dwell on the subject of Scripture memorization even more.

All this led me to consider the myriad of good reasons for committing Scripture to memory. I will not elaborate on all of them here, as I think many of them are self-evident. Eventually, though, I noticed that my ponderings about Scripture memory were beginning to merge with this idea of a New Decade resolution. Suffice it to say that this confluence of events and ideas has led me to my goal for the new decade. Are you ready? . . .

By the end of this decade, my goal is to memorize the entire New Testament. For short, I will call my goal “NT 2020.”

Yes. I said the entire New Testament. That’s twenty-seven books, from Matthew to Revelation. Two hundred and sixty chapters. Just under 8,000 verses. That’s an average of about 800 memory verses per year.

Now, before you laugh too hard, let me say a few things.

First, I have ten years to complete it. I don’t have to do it all at once. Remember, we didn’t put a man on the moon in 1962 or 1963. We did it in July of 1969.

Second, I have a small head start, in that there are a lot of verses that I have already memorized, or that I am pretty familiar with. This is a result of my seminary study, and five years as a Bible Drill leader at church.

Third, I have a plan. I won’t bore you with all of the details, but I am starting by memorizing “anchor verses” throughout the New Testament, to include the first verse of every chapter, as well as other familiar verses (i.e. John 3:16, Romans 3:23, 1 John 1:9). These verses will be the “frame” upon which the overall memorization can be “built.”

Fourth, think for a moment of the things that you have memorized and perhaps don’t realize it. For instance, in my case, I bet I could recite to you, from memory, right now, the lyrics from at least 500 rock and roll songs from the 60s, 70s, and 80s. Heck, I know the lyrics to at least 150 Beatles songs right off the bat . . . “As I write this letter, send my love to you, remember that I’ll always, be in love with you . . .” (that’s from “P.S. I Love You,” it just came into my head). All I’m saying here is that the entire New Testament may seem like an insurmountable number of words to commit to memory, but in reality, I have probably memorized just as many words in another area of life without really thinking about it. When I view things from this angle, I am encouraged.

Fifth, what if I fail miserably and only get half way there? Well, in that case, I still will have memorized great stretches of the New Testament, which would still be extremely beneficial.

So, you are all cordially invited to my house on January 1, 2020 for “NT 2020,” where I will recite the New Testament for you. That is, until you cry, “Uncle.” Then we’ll just visit and eat a lot of good food together and have a good time. I haven’t decided yet whether or not I’ll leave a tip jar at the door, but I have time yet to work out the details.

What do you think? Am I totally off my rocker? Do you think there is any chance that I could really do this? It seems really, really hard. But then again, as JFK said, sometimes we don’t do things because they are easy, but because they are hard, and in my case, I see that the benefits to my personal spiritual life and teaching ministry would be immense.

To improve, or not to improve, part 3

Let me start today by asking you a question. Why do you love your spouse? Let me share two possible answers that I could give.

First answer: I love my wife because when I get home from work, she cooks dinner—and she is a great cook. She does all of my laundry. She runs the kids here and there, does all of the grocery shopping, and keeps track of everybody’s schedule. Oh, and she cleans the house.

Second answer: I love my wife because she has integrity. She is honest, kind, and truly caring. She loves the Lord very much and sets a positive Christian example for our sons. She is extremely loving, understanding, and forgiving of my many faults. Also, she is very pretty. She is beautiful, both “on the inside and the outside.”

Hopefully you can identify the key difference between the two answers (both of which are true), but I’ll say it anyway. The first answer focuses on what my wife does for me, while the second answer focuses on her virtues or attributes—who she is.

I finished Part 2 of this mini-series by asking how and why a church, or an individual Christian, can and should improve in its/his/her spiritual growth. I’m not going to focus too much on the question of why . . . perhaps I’ll take that up in some future blog entry. Suffice it to say for now that the Bible teaches that we should be growing and maturing in our Christian faith (see Hebrews 5:12 and 2 Peter 3:18 for starters). Instead, I want to focus for a few minutes on the question of how we can and should improve in our Christian lives.

Now, if you’ve read my profile, or my personal story (series of blog entries starting last September), you know that I have a passion for studying and teaching the Bible. So it should be no surprise that my answer to how Christians should improve in their spiritual growth is by studying the Bible. If you want to know who God is, study the Book that tells us all about Him, right? However, there is an important caveat here. You see, there are different approaches that one can take in learning about God by studying the Bible. And two of these approaches parallel the question I asked above.

On the one hand, we can look at all of the wonderful stuff God did for people in the Bible, and apply that to ourselves. I call this the “magic genie” approach. God is our magic genie in a bottle who is there to do a lot of stuff for me (or our church). God is the one who gives me a house, and a car, and a job. God is the one who makes me feel better when I’m sick, or helps my son to get good grades so he can get into a good college. Some of these things are no doubt sincere desires and worthy to be taken before God in prayer. But do you see how it all centers around what God does for me?

On the other hand, we can get to know God more and more intimately by studying what the Bible says about His attributes—who He is. God is holy. He is perfect. He is our creator and sustainer. He is just. He is angry. He is jealous. He is eternal. He is omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient. He is triune.

Do you see how the second approach can lead to a much more substantial and vibrant Christian life? The more we find out about God, the more we want to learn. And the more we learn about Him, the more we love Him. And the more we love Him, the more we want to serve Him. And the more we serve Him, the more glory He receives and the more mature we become as Christians.

And before you know it, the church—individual Christians and the corporate body—is experiencing unbounded spiritual growth. In other words, Little Grove Church is no longer the same today as it was five years ago. To bring my story full circle, you will recall me saying back in Part 1 that my 5k and 10k running times did not improve because I didn’t do the things necessary to experience improvement. Studying the Bible with an eye toward learning more intimately who God is will cause a church to experience spiritual growth and improvement.

In my view, the best way to achieve this is by teaching Christian theology and doctrine. This probably sounds boring to most people. After all, churches are flooded these days with “Bible studies” about parenting, divorce recovery, financial management, you name it. And don’t get me wrong. I think some of these types of studies are legitimate and even necessary. But again, they ultimately focus on what God can do for me, not who God is.

The study of theology and doctrine starts with the question, “Who is God?”, and moves on from there. It introduces, or reintroduces a person to God and sets him or her on the path to knowing and loving Him more and more intimately for who He is. It’s by no means the only answer to the question of how a church can experience spiritual growth and improvement, but it sure is a huge step in the right direction.

To improve, or not to improve, part 2

There is a church in Little Grove, Tennessee, that to most outside observers is a pretty robust, active church. The church has been around for a few decades and most people in the community have heard of the church and its pastor. It has several hundred members. It has a sixty person choir, a praise band, a sizeable youth group, several Sunday School classes, and lots of programs for the children. Oh, and lest we forget, Little Grove Church has “fellowship”—which is code for a seemingly endless stream of events involving the consumption of much food.

Now, is there anything wrong with what is going on at Little Grove church? Maybe yes, maybe no. You see, the thing is, if we were to look at things there five years ago, we would give a very similar description of the church and its ministries. Its membership has not substantially changed since 2005. Neither has the size of the choir or youth group or most Sunday School classes. But looking at the situation in terms of numbers is merely an exercise in bean counting. What is of greater concern is whether the spiritual atmosphere at Little Grove has improved at all in the past five years. Sadly, at Little Grove, and at many churches in America, one year goes by . . . three years go by . . . five years go by . . . and there is often not a lot of discernable spiritual growth or improvement. Why is this?

Well, I think that some of the reasons are similar to those I mentioned last time pertaining to my lack of improvement in running 5k and 10k races. You will recall that I made three observations about myself. First, I have periodic surges in enthusiasm that quickly wane. Second, running just isn’t a high enough priority in my life. And third, the training that I do is inadequate to achieve results that would show marked improvement.

Little Grove Church has periodic surges of enthusiasm. Every summer they have “revival week.” Every so often they have campaigns to invite more people into the choir, or give more in the offering plate. But these initiatives rarely result in lasting or continual improvement.

Also, at Little Grove, though it’s tough to admit, many don’t hold church life and spiritual growth as a real priority in life. Many of the kids have AAU baseball tournaments on Sundays, others stay home from church to work on house projects they didn’t get done on Saturday. And during the week, people are involved in numerous activities—many of them very worthy endeavors—that preclude hard study of the Bible or developing more intimate relationships with other believers. Other priorities tend to crowd out the time that it would take to make great strides in spiritual growth.

In short, like my 5k and 10k races, Little Grove Church does much of the same stuff year after year, and gets the same results. My question is, is this how a church should be? Should a church be content to be the same today as it was five years ago? And by extension, should a Christian be content to be the same today is he or she was five years ago?

As you might guess, my conviction is that of all people, Christians—those who have a real, personal relationship with the God of this entire universe—should not be stagnant in their spiritual growth. This is not to say that there are not hills and valleys in one’s spiritual journey, or times of exponential growth as opposed to relative plateaus. But in general, I think that Christians—individually and corporately as the church—ought to be actively, discernably improving. I should not be the same Christian that I was five years ago. And Little Grove Church should not be the same church that it was five years ago.

At this point, some additional legitimate questions can be raised, such as why I think that these assertions about Christian living are true, and how best to implement them in one’s life (and the life of a church). I will take up these questions and finish up this mini-series in Part 3.

To improve, or not to improve, part 1

Over the past few years, I have run in about a half a dozen races. I do about one or two a year. Most have been 5k runs, and one was a 10k (the Richmond Monument 10k, a very fun experience). I was a runner and wrestler in high school, but after that, my days as an athlete were over. So any running I do now is merely for trying to keep in shape, and to have fun (if you want to read some interesting stories about a real-life amateur athlete, check out http://jimsoccernut.blogspot.com).

One thing I’ve noticed in the races that I’ve run is that my results have not really improved. It’s not a big deal to me, except for the brief period of time at the very end of the race, and for a few weeks thereafter. It is during those times when I think to myself, “I can run faster than this. I can improve my time. Next time I’m going to train harder, and longer. I’ll eat better. I may never reach my high school times, but I’m sure I can shave several minutes off of what I’m doing now.”

But alas, no improvement. Why not? Well, allow me to be brutally honest.

First of all, the initial surge of enthusiasm and increased dedication always wanes. On a few occasions, after a 5k race, I have continued “training” at an elevated level for a few weeks, but my eagerness fades away, usually after two or three weeks. If I could continue that increased level of effort, and continue building over time, there is no doubt in my mind that my performance in races would improve markedly.

Second, and related to the first (and remaining brutally honest), I don’t improve because improvement in my running times just isn’t a high enough priority in my life. And in the final analysis, I’m okay with that. Earlier in my adult life, I wanted to run a marathon someday. But now I’ve revised that goal, and I can honestly say that my goal is never to run one (very achievable, wouldn’t you say?). There are things in my life—family, teaching, church, studies, etc.—that tend to crowd out the time that it would take for me to make great strides in my running.

Third, if I take an honest look at the “training” that I do, it’s pretty underwhelming. I hit the treadmill at work twice a week. More than that is untenable with my current schedule. And while I try to watch what I eat, I’m not nearly as careful as I ought to be. I still indulge in lots of food that a “runner” should not eat, including way too much restaurant meals.

So, here’s the bottom line. I think I could improve my race results if I really wanted to—if I really put my mind to it. But I don’t do the things necessary to improve. Year after year, I run a race, have temporary good intentions, increase my dedication a little bit, and then slowly slip back to where I started. Running does not take a high enough priority in my life to do otherwise.

As a result, year after year, I get the same results.

Now, at this point you might be asking, “Dave, why are you telling us all this about your running? Surely you must be using this as an example to drive to some larger point, right?”

Well, if you asked this, you would be right. I’ll elaborate in “Part 2,” and end today’s entry with a “to be continued . . .”

Fun with squares

Well, I was sick yesterday, and as I was lying in bed trying to get some rest, I started thinking about squares. Don’t ask me why, I just did.

Nevertheless, did you realize that if you start with 0, and continue to add consecutive odd numbers, each sum will be the next square? This is what I mean:

0 = 0 x 0 (0 squared)

0 + 1 = 1 (1 squared)

0 + 1 + 3 = 4 (2 squared)

0 + 1 + 3 + 5 = 9 (3 squared)

0 + 1 + 3 + 5 + 7 = 16 (4 squared)

0 + 1 + 3 + 5 + 7 + 9 = 25 (5 squared)

And so on, and so on.

While contemplating this, I chanced on another observation about squares. That is, the last digit of squares follows a repeating pattern. Let me demonstrate by first listing all the squares from 0 to 20:

0, 1, 4, 9, 16, 25, 36, 49, 64, 81, 100, 121, 144, 169, 196, 225, 256, 289, 324, 361, 400

You will notice that for each group of ten numbers (0-10, 10-20), the last digits follow a symmetrical pattern:

0 to 100 (10 squared): 0, 1, 4, 9, 6, 5, 6, 9, 4, 1, 0

100 to 400 (20 squared): 0, 1, 4, 9, 6, 5, 6, 9, 4, 1, 0

Obviously, this pattern continues forever and ever.

Then, as an alternative to counting sheep, I mentally continued on from 400, adding consecutive odd numbers in my head to derive each successive square: 441, 484, 529, 576, 625, and so on.

This led me to another observation. Just like a pattern exists with the last digit of a square, so also a pattern exists with the last two digits of a square. In this case, the pattern repeats every 50 numbers, and is also symmetrical. Now, instead of listing all the squares from 0 to 50, let me demonstrate by taking just the squares from 20 to 30:

400, 441, 484, 529, 576, 625, 676, 729, 784, 841, 900

Do you see how the last two digits follow a symmetrical pattern centered at 625 (25 squared)?

So even though I didn’t list all the squares, you can pick out any two “symmetrical” numbers between 0 and 50 as a check. Take 12 and 38 for instance. According to this pattern, they should have the same last two digits. And alas, it is so. Twelve squared is 144, and 38 squared is 1444.

Going one step further, since this pattern repeats with each 50 numbers, one can see that 12 squared, 38 squared, 62 squared, and 88 squared all end in “44.” Do you follow?

At this point, my head started to hurt worse than when I laid down. So while I believe that there is probably no end to the fun one could have by thinking about squares, I reluctantly decided to stop for the time being. It’s not the best activity to undertake when you are sick and trying to sleep.

The most important word in the Constitution

“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”

The Preamble to the U.S. Constitution answers three important questions. The first is the “who” question. Who is the ultimate authority behind this document? The answer is “We, the People.” The Constitution does not come to us from fifty-five delegates in Philadelphia from the summer of 1787. It does not come from the Confederation Congress then in existence. It does not come to us from the individual states. It comes from those governed—"We, the People." It is a document from Us, stating how We shall be governed.

The second important question answered by the Preamble is “Why was it written?” In short, it was written “to form a more perfect union.” In the 1780s, our infant nation was on the brink of collapse in the chaotic aftermath of the Revolutionary War. This era saw economic depression and poverty, threats of rebellion among unpaid soldiers, an inability to get British soldiers off of our soil, an almost complete dissolution of the army, and massive dislocation from the war. Something had to be done before this fledgling experiment in liberty and “government by the people” perished before it really got off the ground. Therefore, the Constitution was written to establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, etc.

The third important question is: Who does this document apply to? What people are protected under this document that establishes a more perfect union? Again, the answer is given to us in the Preamble. It is “to ourselves and our Posterity.” But here we come upon a word that might not be immediately familiar. What does Posterity mean? It means those who come after us, future generations . . . those who are not yet born.

So it would appear that the first generation of Americans did not view the Constitution as a selfish means merely to safeguard their own rights, but rather as something that applied to future Americans too. The Constitution would apply to their children in 1820, and their grandchildren in 1850, and their great-grandchildren in 1880, and so on until 2010.

However, if this is true, then it doesn’t stop with us in 2010. If the Constitution applies to us, then mustn’t it also apply to those who come after us? The Constitution applies to Americans born fifty years from now. It applies to Americans born five years from now. And what about Americans who will be born five months from now? Or three months? Or eight months? Does the Constitution apply to them as well? It seems to me that the Constitution applies to an American in its mother’s womb just as much as an American in 1850 or an American in 2050.

Of course, our country has not always been equitable and consistent in affording Constitutional protections. Slaves had no rights for decades, and only began to gain those rights after the horrific Civil War. Women were not afforded the same rights as white men. Indians and other groups have likewise been slighted during our nation’s history. To our credit, though, our nation has, over time, to a large degree, been successful in mending these wrongs and seeking to apply Constitutional rights to all citizens.

We are approaching yet another anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision of 1973 that legalized abortion in the United States. And, as usual, in the coming week we will all see news coverage of protesters on either side of the issue. On the one side of the street, we will see signs that say, “Abortion stops a beating heart” (which is essentially a factual statement). On the other side of the street, we will see signs that say “Keep abortion safe and legal” (This slogan, actually, is a bit problematic. Abortion may or may not be safe for a woman, be it from a physical or emotional standpoint, but I can absolutely guarantee you that abortion is never safe for a fetus.).

People can argue this issue from many sides and many angles. But I am persuaded more and more to ask: What gives our generation the right to decide which of our posterity gets to enjoy the blessings of liberty, and which of our posterity does not? What gives us the right to play fast and loose with the Preamble of our Constitution? Instead of learning from past mistakes and injustices, are we not just repeating them?

January grab bag

As the subtitle of my blog suggests, I write a lot about the various thoughts that I have while driving to work every day. Some days there are some very specific, serious things on my mind, and other days it’s just a veritable smorgasbord of half-baked ideas. Here’s what I mean.

On Wednesday (Jan. 13th), I was twice greeted with “Happy New Year.” The fact that it happened twice struck me as odd because it is the middle of January already. Time is indeed flying. This caused me to ask myself the following question: How long into the new year must we go before we don’t have to say “Happy New Year” anymore? I guess the answer varies, but in most cases I think the greeting kind of fades after about January 5th, when everybody is back to work, school, and the normal routine. One of the instances I experienced on the 13th was at a meeting of individuals who had not met together since early December. This was the first time we were all assembled in the new year. So the “Happy New Year” greeting made sense. But if we had not had our first 2010 meeting until mid-February, would we still have been greeted with a “Happy New Year?” I doubt it. Thus, there must be a cut-off point somewhere.

Speaking of time flying, another thought floated through my mind on the way to work the other day. Do you realize that with the turn of the decade, we are already 1% of the way through the next millennium? I don’t know about you, but I find that to be amazing. One percent may not seem like a lot, but we’re talking about a millennium here. Let me put it this way. If you asked me to make a comparison as to how far into this millennium we are, my guess would be something like a handful of sand along a stretch of beach. After all, a millennium is a thousand years! Before the year 2000, the last change of millennium was during the time of Leif Ericson and before the Battle of Hastings! So, the fact that we are “already” 1% of the way to the year 3000 astounds me.

On my half-hour commute to and from work, I spend about fifteen minutes each way listening to the Bible on CD. After that, I do a lot of radio channel surfing, always looking for a favorite tune. I normally cycle through eight or nine stations, ranging from oldies to rock to contemporary Christian. Occasionally, as I quickly skip from station to station, I’ll experience the strange phenomenon of two stations playing the same song at the same time, or nearly simultaneously (say within a few minutes of each other). That’s kind of weird, because most of these stations have playlists of thousands of songs. Is this coincidence? Perhaps, but in my mind it happens too often to be mere coincidence. My theory is that, like anyone doing any job, disc jockeys periodically get bored, check out what’s going on at the other stations, hear a particular song they like, and decide to slide it right into their own show. That’s just my theory.

A recent coincidence in this vein was when, on three consecutive mornings, I heard Blondie’s “The Tide is High” on my way to work. If you remember this song, I think you’ll agree that it is one of the catchiest tunes ever, and once it gets into your head, it’s hard to get it out. So, there I am on the third day, at work, singing “The Tide is High” all day long. I couldn’t stop. And let me tell you, it’s kind of embarrassing when some fifty-five year old dude who sits in a cubicle just a few feet away hears another grown man singing, “I’m not the kind of girl who gives up just like that.”

I hope everyone enjoys their MLK Day holiday weekend.

Stupid song lyrics – The Call to Boogie

Is it the second Wednesday of the month already? Time flies! Well, time for another episode of “stupid song lyrics.”

Recently, while driving home from work, I heard the 70s disco hit “Boogie Oogie Oogie” by A Taste of Honey. You remember it, don’t you? It was a #1 hit back in 1978. Usually when I hear a disco tune while surfing the radio stations, I continue moving right along. But on this occasion I thought for a moment about the song title, realized it sounded silly, and decided to hear it out. Below are my observations. But first, here are the initial lyrics of the song:

If you're thinkin' you're too cool to boogie,
Boy oh boy have I got news for you.
Everybody here tonight must boogie.
Let me tell ya', you are no exception to the rule.

Get on up, on the floor,
Cuz we're gonna boogie oogie oogie
‘Til you just can't boogie no more.

Let me start by saying, I love these lyrics. I think they are a riot. Let’s examine a few key points, shall we?

First of all, if any of you out there think that you are too cool to boogie, I’d say, well, just who do you think you are? Because, as the song suggests, nobody is too cool to boogie. Nobody. There are no exceptions to the rule. So you might as well drop that smug, holier-than-thou attitude about boogieing. I’m not kidding. It doesn’t matter if you are the richest man alive or the poorest pauper in the city gutter, nobody is exempt. Nobody is above boogieing. If you think you are, you’d better think again.

Second, there is an urgent imperative here. “Everybody here tonight must boogie.” A lot of people miss this point. If a person is present (“here tonight”), and hears the invitation (to boogie), then he or she is responsible to respond. They must boogie. And I’m going to make the bold claim that, by extension, this song invites all of us to obedience in the area of boogieing. We might think that we can hear this song, and then ignore the clarion call to boogie. But if you’ve heard these lyrics, you are accountable to respond appropriately. You can’t really continue to trudge through life thinking that you have a choice in the matter. You must boogie!

And third, once you have humbled yourself and understood you are not too cool to boogie, and after you’ve made the commitment to follow the mandate to boogie, you can’t just do it in a half-hearted fashion. You have to “boogie oogie oogie ‘til you just can’t boogie no more.” It’s as if the mere term “boogie” is not enough to express the strength, endurance, and intensity involved. You can’t just “boogie,” you’ve got to “boogie oogie oogie”—that is, boogie to the point where your physical, mental, and emotional capacities are absolutely spent. You can’t boogie on your own terms. You’ve got to go all out.

I know, I know. I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking, “But Dave, have you considered the sheer exhaustion and anguish you would feel if you boogie oogie oogied ‘til you literally could not boogie no more? Certainly they ask too much!” Well, allow me to offer some advice, and this is from personal boogie experience. Don’t be overwhelmed. Don’t think you have to “boogie oogie oogie ‘til you just can’t boogie no more” the very first time out of the gate. Ease into it. Build your stamina. Like many things in life, it takes time. It may seem daunting, I admit. But with perseverance you can do it. You may not believe it now, but before long, I think you’ll surprise yourself. You really will be boogie oogie oogieing until you just can’t boogie no more.

I need a ruling . . . sneezing fits

I’ve mentioned before that I often find myself preoccupied giving inordinate amounts of thought to relatively minor issues, and that it drives me crazy. If I could just get an official ruling on such matters, life would be so much easier. Take sneezing for example. It is winter. ‘Tis the season for sneezing, and lots of it. Everywhere you go, people have colds. So, consider the following typical situation at work.

Somebody sneezes, so I say “Bless you.” Three seconds later they sneeze again, so I politely say “Bless you” again. Then they sneeze a third time, and so on. At some point, usually about the third or fourth sneeze, I, like most people, feel some unspoken obligation to add in some witty expression of surprise, even though sneezing fits are quite common. Sneezing fits can last for three, four, or five sneezes, or sometimes longer.

My question is, what is the obligation of the “blesser” (the person saying “Bless you”)? Well, first of all, why do we even say “Bless you” in the first place? Yes, I know, it’s because centuries ago people thought that by sneezing a person was expelling evil spirits blah blah blah. I’m asking why we still do it in the 21st century. It makes no sense to me. I know, I know, we do it to be polite, and because that’s the thing that people in our culture say when someone sneezes (except for those who wish to get fancy and pull out the German “Gesundheit”). It still doesn’t really make sense to me.

But getting back to my question, what is my obligation for responding? On the first or second sneeze it’s no big deal, but am I the only person out there who, by the fourth or fifth sneeze is thinking, “Okay, let’s wrap it up there, buddy. Time to move on.”? I’m kidding, because sneezing is an involuntary act that cannot be helped. Nevertheless, at times I do find myself contemplating questions like: Why am I doing this? This makes no sense. And I start feeling pressure to come up with a good one-liner like, “Wow, looks like you got yourself a little bit of a cold there” or “Sounds like somebody didn’t get their swine flu shot, eh?”

So, I’m working on a few strategies.

My first strategy is the “two ‘Bless you’ limit” strategy. For all sneezing fits, after the second sneeze, you are on your own, you will get no more blessings from me. I’m going back to work. This has the advantage of showing concern, yet avoiding excessive redundancy and awkwardness. On the other hand, this strategy runs the risk of being construed as heartless and socially unacceptable, leaving a person precariously unblessed for an undetermined number of sneezes, which could invite any number of harmful consequences. I’ll have to see how it works in practice.

My second strategy is the “wait until they are done” strategy. After a person sneezes, I will not say “Bless you” right away, but wait a few seconds. If it turns into a sneezing fit, I will wait until I am reasonably sure that they are all finished, then give one blanket “Bless you” to cover all of the sneezes in the chain. The main drawback to this strategy is that in a larger group, others are liable to jump in at the beginning, thus obviating the need for me to give the final blessing (and also robbing me of credit for this great plan). On the other hand, if others jump in first, then the blessing is taken care of and I can wash my hands of the whole matter altogether.

If these two strategies fail, I may come up with a new one, or grudgingly revert to the status quo.

At some point I’ll give you an update to let you know how my little experiment is working. In the meantime, which strategy do you think is better?

Ecclesionomy vs. Ephesians, part 2

Herb Brooks, the coach of the 1980 “Miracle on Ice” USA Olympic hockey team, was known for his motivational and sometimes off-the-wall quotes. One of my favorites is when he would tell his team, “You think you can win on talent alone? Gentlemen, you don’t have enough talent to win on talent alone.”

In part 1 of “Ecclesionomy vs. Ephesians,” (Dec. 28th blog entry), I took up the issue of faith vs. works in Christianity. This was a follow-up to a previous (silly) blog where I quoted from the book of “Ecclesionomy” and discussed whether children need to do good works in order to receive presents from Santa Claus, or if they merely need to believe (have faith) in him.

In part 1, I posed the question: If salvation, or going to heaven, is based on good works, then how many good works does it take? Ten per day for the rest of your life? More than the next guy? Remember that the Bible describes God as divine, holy, and perfect—and His standard for us is holiness and perfection. This puts us in a bit of a bind, since the Bible also says that we humans are not perfect (i.e. we are all sinners). If I may paraphrase Herb Brooks: You think you can get to heaven by good works? Ladies and Gentlemen, you can’t do enough good works to make it to heaven on good works.

As discussed, Ephesians 2:8-10 (among other biblical passages) gives us the answer. Verses 8 and 9 say, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.” We are saved by accepting the free gift of God’s grace, and we do so by placing our faith in God. “Faith in God” means believing that God sent His Son, Jesus, to the earth to live a perfect life, pay the penalty for our sins by dying on a cross, and being raised again to life.

That’s all well and good, you might say. But based on that, it sounds like a person can profess to have “faith,” accepting this gift of “grace,” then simply go back to the sofa, eat chips, drink soda, watch reality TV, and never do a good deed for the rest of his or her life. What is the role of good works? Certainly part of Christianity is living a good, moral life, right?

This is where Ephesians 2:10 comes in. It says, “For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” There are three key points here.

First, we are all a special creation of God, His “workmanship.” Thus He has established a relationship with humankind.

Second, we are created anew in Christ Jesus when we place our faith in Him as described previously. Notice that we “do good works” as a result of this experience, not as a prerequisite to earn it.

And third, this is God’s will. God has actually “prepared in advance” for us to do good works.

So, the Christian does good works as a loving response to the loving gift of God’s grace, not as a means to earn God’s favor. We don’t act “well behaved” all year in order to receive “presents.” Rather, we do good deeds because as Christians, we are in effect a brand new person—a “new creation” (see 2 Corinthians 5:17), doing the good works that God has prepared for us to do.

Obviously, this discussion only scratches the surface of the “faith vs. works” question. We could continue all day and look at many other important passages in the Bible, such as the second chapter of James, and as I mentioned, the fifth chapter of 2 Corinthians.

But let me finish by saying this. I think you will agree that there are many religions out there today that have at their root the idea that people have to earn their salvation—that they somehow have to appease or please their deity whom they may or may not know. Folks, that is not the gospel of the Christian faith. If you are trying to earn salvation through good works, you will never, ever get there. Christianity maintains that a person is saved by the grace of a God who we can know, because He created us and has established a relationship with us. What we must do is place our faith in Him.

My New Year’s resolution

Parents and grandparents, be very careful what you say to your children and grandchildren. You never know what little tidbit is going to stick with them and have a big impact on their lives.

For about thirty years, before she passed away in 1989, my grandmother lived by herself—a widow—in a small house on the top of a large hill in the middle of nowhere in Pottstown, Pennsylvania. (The photo you see is Grandmom at my wedding in 1988.) She was a dedicated Christian woman, and a great cook. I have fond memories of spending Thanksgivings at her house with all of my cousins, playing on the hill and eating all of her apple, blackberry, cherry, and other pies. At other times she would spend all day making perogies—a Polish dish that was a family favorite.

On one visit to Grandmom’s house, when I was about twelve, I was snooping around in her living room, and I saw a big book opened up, written in some unrecognizable foreign language. Unbeknownst to me, she was watching me, and noticed my bewilderment at the book. She told me that it was her Slovak Bible. She was born to parents who had come to America from Eastern Europe, so she knew Slovak.

What she said next has stayed with me to this very day. She said that she had read through the Bible each year for thirty-seven years, and this year, for a change of pace, she was reading through the Bible in Slovak.

Now, as a pre-teen, and even in my teenage years, I did not give the comment too much thought. But in my twenties, I began to try to read the Bible all the way through. Every year I made a New Year’s resolution to read my entire Bible-In-A-Year. I think there was one year when I made it to the end of January before quitting. In other years, I don’t think I even made it to January 15th. With each year’s failure, I began to give more and more thought to Grandmom’s incredible testimony. How in the world did she do it? I couldn’t even make it through the Bible once, let alone thirty-seven times.

When I hit my mid-thirties, still failing every year, a significant thought dawned on me. I calculated that when Grandmom told me about her Bible reading, she was about seventy-four years old. “If that’s the case,” I thought, “then she didn’t even make it through the Bible for the first time until she was about thirty-seven!” There was still hope for me!

In 2004, I received one of the best presents I’ve ever gotten. For my birthday, my wife gave me “The Bible on CD.” I started listening to it while commuting to and from work. I figured that if I wasn’t going to read the Bible all the way through, I could at least listen to the whole thing.

Well, guess what? I listened through the entire Bible for four years in a row, 2005 to 2008. It’s not easy, because the Bible is a long book (64 long CDs in the version I own). And there are certainly stretches of the Bible that are difficult to get through. But I have come to two very important realizations. First, once I got through the Bible the first time, doing it again wasn’t nearly as hard. Second, the more I listen to the Bible, the more interesting it becomes. Even many of the “boring” stretches have become a lot more intriguing to me.

Now the bad news. In 2009 I didn’t make it. So, my New Year’s resolution in 2010 is to get back on the wagon and listen to the entire Bible once again. I am very excited about doing so.

Oh, and there’s one more thing. As a seminary student who feels God’s call to teach the Bible vocationally, I am learning Hebrew and Greek, the original languages in which the Bible was written. As such, I will be studying and reading the Bible in those languages for the rest of my life. My eventual goal is to get to a point where, instead of reading or listening to the Bible-in-a-year in English, that I will do so in Hebrew and Greek. Maybe I won’t be able to get there for another twenty years, but that’s my goal.

Impossible, you say? Well, I’ll tell you, sometimes when I feel a little overwhelmed with my biblical studies, or wonder if I will ever master Hebrew and Greek, I’ll think of Grandmom, sitting at the table all by herself up there on top of that hill in Pottstown, faithfully reading her Bible, year in and year out, in English and in Slovak. She probably didn’t think too much of it when she told me about her Bible reading and her Slovak Bible, but it has had in indelible effect on my life, and has been a huge encouragement to me in my journey of learning to be faithful to God’s Word.

Beware of the “resolutionaries”

Well, let me start out by wishing everyone a very Happy New Year. I hope the holidays went well for all. I am very excited about 2010. I think it is going to be a stellar year (I already have a few surprises in mind for the blog). In fact, 2010 has gotten off to a fast start, as I have already set two personal records.

First, as of 2:00 P.M. on January 2nd, all of my outside Christmas lights were taken down, labeled, boxed, and back in storage. (I always label them and write myself a little note to remind myself how I put them up and what I need to buy for next year. Come December, when I reopen the box, I am always appreciative of myself for doing so.) This shatters my previous mark by at least several days. As a bona fide procrastinator, my lights are usually still up by the first full weekend after the holidays, and at times until MLK weekend. Of course at some point I unplug them to avoid the unspoken embarrassment from within the neighborhood. Worse yet, I admit that there have been years when bundled up strands of lights have sat in my garage for a few months before I finally rolled them up and put them away. But this year was a different story.

Second, on Saturday, my boys and I went to the local high school football field to kick some field goals, and I connected from thirty-eight yards, a personal record. My previous best was thirty. I was pretty happy, especially given that I have never formally played as kicker or punter on a team. Nor have I ever played soccer. You know, on television, a thirty-eight yard field goal looks pretty easy. These college and pro kickers normally make these field goals with no problem. But standing out there on a field, it looks kind of far away. I’ll be shooting for forty the next time out. Anyway, I think you will agree that the only possible interpretation of this success is that it is a harbinger of good things to come and indicative that 2010 will be a great year.

I will share my New Year’s resolutions with you soon. In the meantime, I wish you the best in keeping your resolutions. I do recommend, however, that you stay away from the gym for a few days. As you are no doubt aware, the Monday after the holidays is the most crowded day of the year in the workout room. This day is to fitness centers what the Sunday after Thanksgiving is to the nation’s highways. If your New Year’s resolution is to lose weight and work out more often, I think that is great—I would just suggest you start tomorrow, or even next week. On this day several years ago, while I was in the locker room unable to find space to change into my workout clothes, a co-worker warned me to “beware of the resolutionaries.” “Resolutionaries” was his term for those who crowd the gym for a week or so after the holidays, then you never see them again. So, I likewise say to you, beware of the resolutionaries. And don’t be one.

Until next time.