Theology Shapes Perspective on Election

The last couple of days I have been visiting with friends about the the upcoming election. I rest in the fact that GOD'S SOVEREIGNTY WINS! This video will hopefully help you as we all approach this upcoming Tuesday.

1 Samuel 16:1 and the Philadelphia Phillies

The 2008 baseball season is now over with last night's Phillies game 5 win over Tampa to conclude the World Series and give Philly its' first pro sports title since 1983. Up until this point when I hear Philadelphia Phillies I think of:

1. Watching Mitch Williams as a 12 yr. old boy serve up a home run to Joe Carter of the Blue Jays as the Jays won in stunning walk-off fashion in the 1993 World Series.
2. Their mascot - the most ridiculous in sports in my opinion - the Philly Fanatic.
3. Fargo Native Chris Coste - the Phillies back up catcher
4. The home run call of Sportscenter anchor, Steve Berthiaume, which comes from 1 Samuel 16:1. Berthiaume says the following after a Philly player hits a home run: "Fill thine horn with oil....and ggggoooo!"
   

1 Samuel 16:1 says: "The LORD said to Samuel, "How long will you grieve over Saul, since I have rejected him from being kind over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go. I will send you to Jess the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons." (ESV)

Now thinking about this metaphor/analogy....it seems to me that it makes zero sense at all. And if it does make some kind of sense - it seems to me that taking a Biblical concept and using it as a home run call - seems pretty lame.

The context of 1 Samuel 16 is coming off the heals of Saul's reign as King of Israel. Saul disobeyed the Lord and did not follow through with His commands (1 Sam. 15). A new King was going to be anointed (David) and the Lord tells Samuel to "Fill your horn with oil" - the oil being placed in the horn - to carry to David and anoint him as King. The Lord tells Samuel to "Go" and do this. The only connection I can really make here is the horn was looked at as an instrument that communicated power - which a long ball in the Major Leagues is a demonstration of strength and power.

The last thing that seems odd about this analogy is who in the world reads 1 Samuel in the middle of the OT to come up with creative sports calls on ESPN? And if Berthiaume is a Christian and read this in 1 Samuel it seems rather strange that he would use this in such a bizarre way. The media isn't just flat out crazy covering politics - the sports media is right in line and is just as crazy.

How To Measure Success?

Lebron James recently stated that this season for the Cleveland Cavs is either win the NBA championship or bust (or their season is a failure). James has made a statement that hinges on how he measures success. In the church we have this weird, messed up notion of how to measure success as well. This usually is surrounded with NUMBERS. This parallels a corporate mentality and sadly it has crept into the church (along with other cultural examples). How do we look at numbers? We can measure success in terms of

• Attendance (usually a number that someone records)
• Budgets and Giving (a number on a sheet and a number of $$ that comes in each week)
• Staff (a number)
• Year end reports filled with how many came to the outreach? how many kids?, etc.
• Programs - are their a lot of options on the buffet?
  

Other areas where we tend to measure success in the church are

• Style - does the aesthetic appeal to me? Does the worship create an experiential moment for me?
• Prestige - is this where everyone goes? Is this where I can be seen to enhance my reputation?
• Big, Large, and Small - People value large congregations because size is how we measure success. We must not confuse large with successful. Nor for that matter should we equate small with successful.
  

Now, numbers as well as these other areas can be looked at correctly when they point to something much greater such as obedience, grace, and the greatness of Jesus Christ our Lord that has saved us from ourselves. The problem lies in the fact that many of the things I've listed are ends in themselves. May Jesus' church never lie in these things, but lie in the obedience that has been pressed upon the hearts of His people. When obedience is pursued "one anothering" will happen, community will be formed (no matter big or small), and Christ will be glorified.

Piper on Guns

I have a 12 gauge shotgun that I use for hunting. I have never thought about the issue of having guns relating to being a Christian. I think this video helps in gaining a right perspective on having a gun and using/not using it for self-defense.

Vikings Week 7: Sound The Special Teams Alarm Again!

With the birth of a new daughter it seems completely ridiculous for me to devote to much time for this Vikings review write up this week so I will just give you my thoughts on the 48-41 track meet/loss to the Chicago Bears on Sunday. I found Phil Mackey's opening words of his review as quite funny: "You’ve got to give the Vikings credit. They continue to find new ways to lose football games each and every week."

• Special Teams continue to cost the Vikings this season. The two that cost the Vikings 14 points on Sunday didn't come from collective failures (coverage as in the case w/the Reggie Bush debachal), but came from mental miscues from two individuals. Chris Kluwe - no excuse for dropping a perfectly good snap.....and then playing world cup soccer trying to kick the ball again after it was blocked - that looked completely ridiculous. Charles Gordon was trying to prevent getting pinned deep by blocking a Bear player when the ball took a funny hop and hit him in the arm. Gordon was trying to allow the ball to get into the end zone. Conversly, many times you see a punt returner high tail it out of the way of the ball. Gordon was too close and we got burned. Another issue was the good field position that the Bears got in the first half. We had to give up some field position to keep the ball from Devin Hester. I agreed with this decision because Hester could've done to us what Reggie Bush did a couple of weeks ago.
  
• The Vikings scored 41 points and lost. Who would've thunk that this could've happened. Dennis Green is sitting in a rocking chair somewhere saying I've seen that happen before.
• Where is Sidney Rice? I was hoping that he would've emerged as our solid #2 receiver this season. Berrian clearly has established himself as a clear #1 and is starting to deserve and justify all the cash we are paying him. Rice is absent and has been fighting injuries so Bobby Wade and Aundrae Allison continue to be our secondary options and aren't doing too bad of a job.
• Kyle Orton beat us - that does not sound good....and hurts to think about and stomach
• The Vikings leading tackler through week 7 is Cedric Griffin. You may say Wow! Griffin must be playing well. Griffin has been good against the run, but has been picked on all year as the receivers he is covering continually get thrown too. Teams are avoiding Antoine Winfield and throwing at Griffin - which has led to him making tackles many times after 10+ yard gains.

A bye week is needed and this should give the Vikings some time to heal up, refocus mentally, and maybe try out some new punters.

Father of 2: Day 2

The latest pics from the hospital

Baby #2: Joy, Blessing, and Ministry

Today God extended His grace to us with blessing us with another child. Alayna May Moser was born at 10:03 a.m. and weighed in at 8 lbs. 3 oz. The delivery/labor time was a whole 3 hrs. and 3 minute! Quick, fast, and painful at times, but the Lord blessed the whole situation. Shannon is doing well, laughing, and looking great. The pic is from about 10 minutes after birth and Alyna yawned so I thought I better take a photo. Initial reports are that she is a little squeaker(literally) when she sleeps.

The following was taken from John Piper's sermon: Marriage is meant for making Children and as I read it today it reminded me of the calling that Shannon and I have as husband and wife and father and mother. It reminded me that marriage and being parents are in and of themselves minstries that God has entrusted to us. May we honor him with our response.

"The most fundamental task of a mother and father is to show God to the children. Children know their parents before they know God. This is a huge responsibility and should cause every parent to be desperate for God-like transformation. The children will have years of exposure to what the universe is like before they know there is a universe. They will experience the kind of authority there is in the universe and the kind of justice there is in the universe and the kind of love there is in the universe before they meet the God of authority and justice and love who created and rules the universe. Children are absorbing from dad his strength and leadership and protection and justice and love; and they are absorbing from mother her care and nurture and warmth and intimacy and justice and love—and, of course, all these overlap.

And all this is happening before the child knows anything about God, but it is profoundly all about God. Will the child be able to recognize God for who he really is in his authority and love and justice because mom and dad have together shown the child what God is like. The chief task of parenting is to know God for who he is in many attributes and then to live in such a way with our children that we help them see and know God. And, of course, that will involve directing them always to the infallible portrait of God in the Bible.

Finally, God has ordained that both mother and father be involved in raising the children because they are husband and wife before they are mother and father. And what they are as husband and wife is where God wants children to be: As husband and wife, they are a drama of the covenant-keeping love between Christ and the church. That is where God wants children to be. His design is that children grow up watching Christ love the church and watching the church delight in following Christ. His design is that the beauty and strength and wisdom of this covenant relationship be absorbed by the children from the time they are born."

That time from when Alayna was born starts today. Please pray for us as we draw our strength and direction from the Lord in our days ahead as parenting has moved from one to now two.

Vikings Week 6: A Win Is A Win

Bernard Berrian hit the nail on the head with his postgame comments on Sunday when he said, "This game should've been a blowout." The Vikings 12-10 anything-but-thrilling win over the anemic Detroit Lions on Sunday was possibly the most boring 3 hours of my entire week. When you have a 20 month old daughter that loves playing, dancing, and putting together puzzles with you - it isn't too hard to compartmentalize what boring is and what boring isn't. This game goes in the compartment of super boring as well as super frustrating. When you need a questionable pass interference call on a 2nd and 20 in your own territory - you clarly are not playing well offensively. Here are my postives and negatives from week 6.

Positives

1. A Win in the NFL is a Win - Often overlooked in a game like this is the fact that the Detroit Lions are professionals as well and came into Minnesota wanting and probably deserving a win on Sunday. They clawed and scratched anyway they could to put themselves in position to win. The Lions played hard (especially on D) - and in the NFL anytime you get a win like this and keep this positive in the locker room - I'll take it!

2. Berrian 2 stratight - Bernard had the first back-to-back 100 yd. receiving games for the Vikings since 2004.

3. Kevin Williams and J Kleinsasser - Keving Williams led the Vikings on D with 8 tackles and 4 sacks (a total for 6 on the year now). Also Jim Kleinsasser catching a pass and running 34 yards was exciting. Anytime you see a guy that big (272 lbs.) run that far and that fast it is a good thing

4. First Win w/out - I see it as a positive that the 2008 version of the Minnesota Vikings can win a game without a touchdown from CB Antoine Winfield. One of your best defensive players shouldn't be counted on week in and week out to score points.....that's what you pay offensive players for?

Negatives

1. Offense - The Lions defense has been giving up an average of 36.7 points per game coming into Sunday's game. The Vikings offense scored 10 (the D scored the other 2 pts.). If we are going to make any considerable playoff push - we have to put the ball in the end zone. We managed 392 total yds - and that should be enough to win. Turnovers hurt as AP fumbled twice and Gus threw a pick. Overall we need a better performance.

2. E.J. - E.J. Henderson being lost for the season is a huge loss. E.J. was playing at what one commentator called "a Pro Bowl level". Look for the Vikings rushing attack to suffer. We gave up 100 yds. on the ground overall. There were moments of concern as rookie Kevin Smith ran for a 50 yd. run and Rudi Johnson seemed to find some holes at times (but only managed 32 yds.). Look for better running teams to exploit this weekness. E.J.'s replacement David Herron also left the game and was off and on with injury so with limited depth at MLB the run defense could be exploited in the coming weeks.

3. Bobby Wade's Stache - Anyone that saw a close up of Bobby Wade on Sunday would probably agree that Bobby needs to shave that stache.....man that was not a good thing! It makes matters worse when you see the stache amidst a holding call by Wade.

Next week it is off to the Windy City to play the Bears. The Bears will be ready and will be a tough test on the road.....playing a division rival....who is coming off heartbreaking loss to the now rejuvanated Atlanta Falcons (I'm guessing no one cares about Michael Vick anymore). I think this will be a close game and I am leaning towards 3-4 instead of 4-3, but as we saw Sunday who can predict the NFL.

Earth From Above

Check out these spectacular images.

Stay At Home Dads = Wimpy and Unibiblical???

Mark Driscoll recently took a stand for a conviction that he has for him, personally, and for the men of the church he Pastors. I personally love when he reads the question he immediately knows how he will answer and says "This is now the time when most of you will leave"......and lastly the stand that he takes saying "That in this church this is pretty much grounds for church discipline." Check out the video.

Vikings: Week 5 - Thank You Mr. Gramatica

I just finished watching a nerve racking football game that

1. Had me out of my seat on several occassions yelling at the projection screen while having others stare at me (I watched the game amongst about 50 Canadians that couldn't have been anymore apathetic....although I did meet a Viking fan from Ontario and I made his day because I was the first Viking fan that he'd ever met! What a joy for this guy knowing he wasn't the only one out there...)
2. Had me thinking Zygi Wilf would turn into Al Davis and fire Brad Childress if we blew this one.
   
3. Hoping that Gus can play quarterback the rest of the season and remain healthy and not "fuzzy"? and
   
4. Laughing at Gramatica.....when a kicker is that cocky...it is just flat out funny when he stinks it up that bad.
   

The observations of this game came down to a couple of positives and a couple of negatives

• Positive - A. Winfield had the game of his life and overall has to be our MVP this season so far. In our two wins - who has turned the game in the Vikings favor and created momentum for us to be "in" the game and have a fighting chance? That man is #26. Yes he was Johnny on the spot for the blocked FG run back for a TD, but also had some game changing hits on D. Brees. My only thought was that they need to put him in on punt coverage....find someway to get him on the field (more on this issue later).
• Negative - We failed to put a team away when we had 'em down. The Vikes D in the 2nd quarter continually forced the Saints into punts and the Vikes couldn't capatilize and that continued on throughout the third quarter until Reggie had his way.....AP didn't have his best game and the O-Line didn't perform well against a depleted D-Line from New Orleans.
• Positive - Bernard Berrian and Bobby Wade. I really liked what I saw out of these two guys. Again Berrian had a drop, but seriously compared to Troy Williamson this guy is money. 6 catches for 110 yds. and a TD. Perhaps Berrian's 2 biggest plays that won't make the stat sheet are 1) his making sure that the Saints defender didn't intercept a ball thrown at the end of the half to the inside shoulder of Berrian instead of the outside shoulder where we probably would've had a TD and 2) The pass interference call that resulted in a huge gain and set up the game winning field goal. Bobby Wade turned in another solid possession - workman - like night with 8 grabs for 64 yards.
• Negative Negative Negative! - Last time I checked it wasn't a penalty to punt a ball out of bounds....a penalty is only issued on a kick off....and when I watched this game the coaching staff or Chris Kluwe's minds went to La La Land....for a stretch...where Reggie Bush returned 2 punts for TDs and probably should've had another one - except he slipped. Special Teams has been an area I have pleaded for help here the last couple of weeks. When are we going to improve in this area....and wow! did Erin Henderson get lit up on that first punt return for a TD

This game would've stung massively if the Vikes didn't come back and win the game. Gus showed why his veteran presence is so vital right now. Taking hit after hit...he delivered when it counted. T Jack should be taking notes. Next week home against the Motor City Kiddies.

Taking a Breath

It is Saturday and I usually don't blog on Saturday, but I feel the need to communicate the overwhelming load I have off my shoulders. I just completed my 6th lock in (1 for every year in youth ministry). These gatherings are pretty important to our youth ministry in building relationships and provides opportunity for kids to bring their non-saved friends so they can hear about Jesus - Even though tonight when I was going to speak for a short while the Pizza man came 15 minutes early and walked right into the room where I was speaking. All in all it was a good night. I spent some time with a couple dudes from the church on Friday putting together a sequel to last year's rules video. It is silly, pointless, and flat out dumb - I pray that somehow God can glorify Himself through this.

Parents Fighting: Football Team Doesn't Care

Check out this story from Minnesota by Rick Reilly - in which a Football team is making big news even though the parents can't get along and the school may be shutting down after this year

Study Bible!

If you are looking for a new study Bible I highly recommend the new ESV Study Bible put out by Crossway. It drops soon!