Friday, May 29, 2009

Squirrels

Our apartment complex is squirrel central. Over the past few months we've had two interesting run ins with these ridiculous animals. Last fall, I was studying at my desk and I heard a knock on the door. I answered the door and no one was there. I looked down and saw a nut in front of the door, and when I looked down the stairs there was a squirrel sitting at the bottom of the landing. It appeared as if the squirrel knocked on my door to give me a nut. I think what probably happened is that the squirrel carried his nut up the stairs and starting banging on our door to try to open the nut.

Yesterday, Megan walked in the door mid-morning and there was a squirrel sitting on the stove. She naturally flipped out and ran out of the kitchen. Then she got her courage up and went back in, just in time to see the squirrel scamper back through the hole it bit in the screen and jump back on to the roof. It ate a hole in the cereal box and was starting on the plastic bag. It also started eating a hole in the coffee bag. Needless to say, we will be leaving that window closed from now on.

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Return to Eden

I've recently noticed a few passages in the Bible on the theme of the New Creation being a return to Eden. I don't believe that the Bible says that this is true in every sense. For example, those who are a part of the new creation, that is those who are saved in Christ, can never fall away as Adam and Eve did. However, there are still some very clear allusions to Eden in the new creation language in Scripture. Here are two that I've seen recently.

Temple language
1. Genesis 2:10-14 describes a river that flowed out of Eden and split into 4 rivers that basically watered the entire earth.

2. Beginning in Ezekiel 40, Ezekiel receives a vision from the Lord of the future city of God. In chapter 47 he sees the temple, and out of it flows a massive river which gives life to everything that it touches.

3. John 7:38, "Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, 'Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water,'"

4. In the description of the New Jerusalem in Revelation 22, there is a river flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb, giving life to everything in this city. This passage gives one of the clearest indication of a return to Eden. What was lost in the fall was humankind's glad acceptance of their complete dependency on God. In the new creation this rift is restored, demonstrated by centrality of the throne of God in the New Jerusalem and the live giving water which flows from it.

Thorns and Thistles
1. In Genesis 3, after the fall, God curses Adam saying, "cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread."
-Thus, man's work will no longer be a joyful and pleasant endeavor, but will be burdensome
and inefficient.

2. Isaiah 55:10-13. Verse 11 is rather well known:

"(my word) shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose."
Verse 13 shows the connection with the reversal of the fall and the curse with regard to the work of mankind:

"Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress; instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle; and it shall make a name for the LORD, and everlasting sign that shall not be cut off."
Then, connecting this with Hebrews 6:7-8,

"For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned."
The point is this - where the curse brought resistance from the earth to the effort of mankind, the new creation, through Christ, brings forth abiding fruit both in and through new creatures - those who are alive in Christ. The work, of course, is God's. HE sends his word to accomplish its purpose. HE does the work in the hearts of the elect that yields fruit. Moreover, human work produces fruit which will not last, whereas God's work produces fruit that lasts eternally. The 'everlasting sign that shall not be cut off' is the people of God, the new creation. This new Eden, so to speak, will not fall into decay. It will abide forever. Furthermore, the 'new creation work' that we do, particularly sharing the gospel, does not suffer from the curse. It will go forth and accomplish that which God purposes. It is joyful and rewarding, as God intended physical work to be for Adam in the garden.

Sunday, May 24, 2009

Nashville

We're in Nashville this weekend. We planned to do something this weekend at the beginning of the year, just as a time to get away and be together. It's been a lot of fun so far. We went downtown and the Opryland Hotel yesterday. Unfortunately, we forgot the camera, so we only have cell phone pics. These are all from inside the hotel. It's like a huge garden, complete with a river winding throughout. Pretty amazing. The picture of Megan with the horse is clearly the best one.





Friday, May 15, 2009

The difference between the East and the West

In The Missionary Call, David Sills gives an excellent explanation of the difference between how people relate in Eastern cultures compared with Western cultures:

"Every culture uses language for two reasons. One is to communicate information and the other is to maintain relationships. The culture of the United States uses language in this order of priority. Relational, face-to-face cultures of the group-0riented societies of the world operate with an opposite order. Our culture of direct communicators expects honest answers to questions; in fact, our society depends on it. But indirect communication cultures answer with what you want to hear in order to appease and avoid the awkwardness that saying no to a request might cause. The resulting confusion makes the North American missionary seem rude and demanding at times, while he things that people in the new culture are liars who are incapable of telling the truth" (139).

That last sentence described us for at least the first year of our time in China. I really wish I would have read something like this before we went over!

A few photos

Sorry for the very infrequent blog posts. I've been meaning to post these photos for a while. The first set are from our trip to Virginia Beach in March to see my family, taken at Golden Coral. The second set are from Thunder Over Louisville, a yearly event here in Louisville that boasts the nation's largest fireworks display. We went with a few friends and had a great time. The fireworks were impressive, rivaling even the ones we saw on Chinese New Year in Guangzhou two years ago.


This is Christina and Andy, the youngest.

Here's Ian and Tyler (6)

Ian's mom and Mary (9)


Tom and Lucy (4)


There were an insane amount of people out for Thunder.



Ryan, Erin, and Chaun


This was the coolest part - they shot fireworks off the bridge and it looked like the bridge was on fire.

Saturday, May 9, 2009

...Use words only when necessary

(From Justin Taylor's Blog)

"Gospel" means "good news." If so, then *the saying "Preach the gospel at all times; use words if necessary" makes about as much sense as telling a reporter he should broadcast the news but that words are optional.

(*St. Francis of Assisi apparently didn't say this; not sure who said it first.)

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The comments under the original post on JT's blog are worth reading also. Here's my personal opinion, having been involved in ministries that love to quote this saying: Speaking the gospel and living the gospel are inseparable. In America today, speaking the gospel is about the most unpopular thing you can do. Therefore, in ministries, especially relational ministries, I think that people need more encouragement to speak the gospel than they need encouragement to live it out (that is, in ways other than speaking it, which is certainly one way to live it out). For me personally, the result of hearing this saying over and over again was a massive under-emphasis on speaking the gospel.