If I were actually a good writer I’d be able to ink out a brief narrative tying together the events of the Christmas season. As it is, I do much better with the bullet-point mentality.

Oldest daughter(A7) participated in Advent for the first time at church. Her elementary school class(1st thru 6th at our church) did the 3rd Sunday and the kids all read scripture. I promise, she read as well as the older kids - it’s not just Daddy talking.

My Mom’s biopsy came back negative - praise God.

I have one year until the big 4-0 and thought I could avoid it until then. But no, getting older came a little early. I now have glasses.

A bit more painful - Jenn had two of her wisdom teeth out today and goes back next week for the other two. Her mom is graciously keeping the kids until tomorrow but I don’t know what we’ll do next week.

I got Jenn jewelery for Christmas. She got me a basketball goal. I definitely got the better end of the deal.

The girls got a big doll-house to share and some other things for each of them individually. S2 likes balls, cars, and Elmo - which coincidentally is what the theme of many of his presents was.

Got to spend an evening with Jlove and Reon. We discussed goings on at our church(their former church, since they moved) and how we see things progressing in the future. Other topics included the Emerging Church, how we need more “messy Christianity”, and the tendency towards performance-based events used to draw people in to the church. I’m sure I’m missing something so you guys chime in.

All in all, a very good Christmas.

This text speaks

of the birth of a child,

not the revolutionary deed

of a stong man,

or the breath-taking discovery

of a sage,

or the pious deed

of a saint.

It truly boggles the mind:

The birth of a child

is to bring about the great transformation of all things,

is to bring salvation and

redemption to all of humanity.

(HT : Painting Baseboards)

So the other day at Bible Study, I heard a lecture on the “rich young ruler” from Mark 10…

17And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 18And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. 19You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’” 20And he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.” 21And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” 22Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

Several things I had heard before were discussed, and then the friend of mine who was lecturing asked two questions: Why was this guy so concerned with where the line is? Why do we always want to know where the line is?

Those questions stuck with me because when I’m honest with myself, I know that part of me lives for the line. You know, the self-serving fallen part that’s in me. The part that asks, “What’s the least I can do and still be ‘in’?” The part that wants black and white answers to each and every question. The part that wants to be noticed (and honored) when I put my left toe over the line, when the slightest part of me does something that is, for once, not self-seeking. The legalistic part that wants to compare my faith against the faith of others. The part that feels as if I must do something, anything, to earn His grace and I desperately need to know if I’m doing enough.

And there it is. The underlying assumption that there exists a point at which I - at which anyone - can do “enough.” Christ’s work at the cross is enough. Period. It’s already been done. Anything I can come up with to offer Him is only mine to give because He first gave it to me. Ultimately, what He desires of me is to faith in Him alone, throw myself entirely over the line (after all, it exists only in my mind), and fall into the waiting arms of Jesus. Paul says it better than I ever could:

4Such confidence as this is ours through Christ before God. 5Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. 6He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
~2 Cor. 3:5-6

In a previous post, I referenced a t-shirt that had the slogan “LIFE WOULD BE SO EASY IF EVERYONE READ THE MANUAL”. I appreciate those who commented on that post and I finally want to get around to evaluating/correcting some of the assumptions behind that slogan. See what you think and then feel free to add your own thoughts in the comment section…

Life is not supposed to be easy - The hardships and struggles in life are there because God wants them to be. He planned it that way. He wants us to be molded and shaped in a certain way and to find our need met in Him. In the end, scriptures do not provide a way out of hardship but point a way through it.

The Bible is not a manual - The Bible was not, is not, and never will be a “manual” for curing what ails ya. We want steps to follow to have a good marriage, solid finances, and well-behaved kids so we plug the right search phrase into our handy Bible software and get our list of things we need to do speedy-quick. Only we forgot that those so-called principles we are now trying to follow cannot be divorced from the Gospel of Christ. In fact, doing so can only produce an empty moralism which insulates against the need for Christ.

We don’t always get the results we want - When you get into the mindset of “following the manual” it’s easy to fall into a mechanistic way of dealing with life. This goes beyond expecting things to be “easy”. If we do the right spiritual disciplines we expect spiritual blessings. If we “train” our kids right we expect they won’t leave the church. Put your quarter in - out comes your candy bar. But doing step A is no guarantee that result B will come about. In fact, to think so belies a superficial understanding of Christianity entails. Sure, there are benefits but not of the type that guarantee your comfort or a specified outcome.

That was a little bit of a rant so thanks for listening. Comments and additions welcome.

I was catching up on some long overdue blogtime and came across a link to a site called Dadlabs.com on katiekind’s site. Oh. My. Gosh. I laughed out loud at some of their stuff. Especially this video in which they take on the Thirty Second Breast Pump Challenge. If you click around a little you’ll see that they have a humorous take on some issues that are sometimes taken a little too seriously. Thanks, katiekind for a great giggle!

If you’re ever going to read an article that I link to, read this one - An Everlasting Life. I can’t even summarize it well enough to do it justice so I’ll give you just a taste :

Some people have known hell. Dachau. Buchanwald. Treblinka. Kampuchea. The Armenian Genocide. The Gulag. Sometimes I get a flat tire, get a tooth filled, have a check that bounces, or get a sinus infection. I suppose that’s a kind of suffering. And I do sit through academic committee meetings—that’s a kind of hell. Ever the pessimist, I sometimes feel as if society is falling apart, that hell is about to break out around us. What’s holding it back? God. His Spirit. His Church. “And the gates of Hell shall not prevail. . .” It was hard having a baby who was going to die. But when Mary was born it wasn’t hell, in fact, it was more like a taste of the Cross, of heaven and hell mixed together—to be drunk down, bitter and sweet at the same time. Can you drink from the same cup as I drink? Yes, we can, Lord. How, I don’t know. For it was he who descended into hell, not us; and it was he who bore our sins; and it was he who bore the brokenness of all the broken babies.

Jenn’s been asking what I want for Christmas….

“…Running in the hydrogen mode, the BMW Hydrogen 7 essentially emits nothing but water vapour. Hydrogen technology dramatically reduces emissions generated by personal transport and, in particular, minimizes the emission of CO2.

With all the comforts and amenities of a non-hydrogen BMW 7 Series, the BMW Hydrogen 7 is powered by a 191 kW twelve-cylinder engine that accelerates from 0–100 km/h in 9.5 seconds. Top speed is limited electronically to 230 km/h.

The BMW Hydrogen 7 also features a dual-mode power unit – controlled at the touch of a button – that can switch quickly and conveniently from hydrogen to conventional premium grade unleaded.

The car’s dual-mode drive provides a hydrogen mode cruising range of more than 200 kilometres, with another 500 kilometres in petrol mode.”

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