Problems are for Solving

Last week I posted a note about a new album that I’ve been burning up. Not really burning up (though doesn’t that conjure up two entirely antithetical images? And wow–did I just use antithetical in an actual blog post?) literally of course, but listening to a lot.

In the fourth song, Hymn, Anthony pens the line:

Rise up o Church
And grab the sword
Stand up and fight
This glorious war

The whole verse that contains this line is fantastic. I can’t get all the words down for sure and I’m too lazy to run get the jacket and look and see if they’re there (I think they are), but the line just inspires me.

Rise up Church! Grab the spirit’s sword! Fight! We’ve been called to a glorious war!

And a war it is.

I’ve known those who are angry at the Church. Those who think she’s become the whore of Babylon or just filled with false teachers and so not only can but ought to be avoided.

But Jesus builds the Church. And He is. She is far from perfect, but she is His Church. And she is at war.

War conjures up many images for me, but the one that is conjured up right now is of a rag tag group of men fighting to save their homes from an oppressive invader. They didn’t ask for the fight and they don’t want to fight, and they would much rather be home living in peace. These men probably wouldn’t be friends in most situations. They come from different social strata and have varying educations and opposing opinions in a broad spectrum of topics. They probably would argue tooth and nail about all kinds of matters and would generally avoid being around one another.

Except for the pesky war. Because of this war, these men who wouldn’t be friends in a normal, peaceful situation become a band of brothers who are willing to die for one another. Because of the war, the unfriendly become life long friends. Because of the war, they learn to get along and in fact grow in love and devotion to one another, trusting their lives into each others’ hands.

And so to those of you who claim Christ’s Name as that alone in which you find your salvation I say this:

You’re at war.

And because you’re at war you need to tend to your weapons and your fellow soldier’s in this army of rag tag people that you often don’t like and that you’d rather were someplace else. Why? Because they’re not the enemy. They’re the ones that will watch your back when you’re asleep and who will engage against the foe for your sake, whether they agree with you about secondary and tertiary matters. So stop fighting in the camp, and take up the weapons that the Commander has given and fight the glorious war. I’ve got your back, even if I disagree with you. If you’re in the General’s Army, you’re my friend. Army, navy, baptist, presbyterian, whatever the label–if you’re Christ’s, I’ll watch your back.

Received in yesterday’s mail an envelope from the IRS:

Dear Taxpayer:

Our records show you and/or your spouse entered into a combat zone during 2004. To provide you with the special provisions and protection of the combat deferment, your account needs to correctly show the time served.

Huh?

Nuff said.

My friend Anthony wrote, recorded, and produced and album that I can’t currently get enough of. I really like it, and though my descriptive skills still reside in my 4th grade vocabulary, it is a great album.

Gabrielle wrote a review about it here. I agree with pretty much everything she said, and would add that the heart and soul of a man who loves Jesus is evident in every song. Having known Anthony for a long time, I can speak of his love for Christ and know that he longs to honor Jesus in his music. He has done just that.

You can get a copy shipped to you from cdbaby now.

If you’re familiar with “Christian art” you’re aware that often it’s not as good as what it really ought to be, like somebody will buy it just because we’re Christians. In the circle I travel in, that’s annoying. We’ll say “it’s pretty good for a Christian movie” or some such thing.

Anthony is among those artists who have produced music that is good in its own right, bringing his first-fruits as a public offering to Jesus. So if you want to hear some great music, click on the links and listen for yourself. Then buy 1 or 12 copies for yourself and your best friend. And imagine … 12 Anthony Hopps drumming for your true love on the 12th day of Christmas that’s right around the corner!

Ok, so I sound a little over the top. But take a listen on line and you’ll agree this is a fantastic CD.

“Jesus come and give me family.”

From: Doug Wilson’s blog.

Some people who know me will be surprised I’m linking to Wilson, and some who don’t know me as well will wonder why in the world I would link to Wilson.

This is a short post–read it! And after you do, visit The Shepherd’s Crook or another adoption ministry and give a year end gift to help others bring children into Christian families. And the family that Jesus gives some child in need just might be yours.

…we will see you soon if the Lord wills.

Today a truck pulls away from Hopedale filled with the belongings of the Evans family. They are moving to Tennessee as the Lord calls Bryan and his family to a different ministry. We will sorely miss them, in so many ways, but we will see them as often as we can. Thankfully they’ll be visiting family and such here at least a couple of times each year and we’ll see them then, and we plan to go down for their baby’s baptism in August and to visit on our way to Arkansas in May.

A couple of weeks ago we took them to a Peoria Rivermen game at the Civic Center. Home town boys won 5-0! Here are a few pictures from the game:

The zamboni between periods (above) as Samuel Logan (below) watches eagerly:

Continue Reading »

It has been a full and sometimes difficult year, and we are thankful to have made it through to this lovely time where we can celebrate our Savior’s birth and rest from our labors, or at least my labors in my vocation.

Jesus has come to bring light and life into a world filled with darkness and death. May He bring both to each of you!

We have finally come to the point where we have Christmas traditions that we hold tight as a family:
**Christmas eve (last night) we enjoy a traditional Swedish Christmas dinner with the Ben-Ezra family in their home.
**Each year we purchase a Christmas tree late, so that it will last through the 12 days of Christmas, including Steven-mas and Gabrielle-mas.
**We decorate the tree together. I put on the star last as we sing As With Gladness Men of Old.
**We have the traditional NOEL vs. LEON battle held on the mantle in the burnt plum room.
**We have Christmas morning together with presents
**Christmas brunch including the Ben-Ezras and anyone else who was invited in a given year, including biscuits and gravy and kringle pastries (this year we made our own!)
**Reading the story of Stephen the martyr and singing Good King Wenceslas on the 26th. (there are others, I’m sure, but I’m not remembering them at the moment)

Whatever your family traditions, join in celebrating the love, light, life and peace that Jesus has brought into the world today and every day–and may His love capture your heart and life so that you celebrate as one of His saved souls.

O come let us adore Him
Christ the Lord!

Merry Christmas from our house to all of yours!

I’m not the handiest guy around. Ok, it’s much worse than that. I’m not very handy at all. My dad can fix almost anything, but at the age where he was working on projects around the house and I should have been helping in such a way as to 1) encourage him 2) actually be of some help and 3) learn some of what he knows I was a) swimming b) watching way too much TV and c) just not really wanting to spend time with my dad.

Now I regret that time, but I can’t go back and fix it. My dad and I have a great relationship now, but it took years of growth in my life for me to finally treat him with respect and such. Now we genuinely enjoy being around each other–but he’s in Arizona. Not too much help on the daily household projects.

Thankfully, my wife is patient. She’s willing to wait without nagging at all for most of the things that need to be done around here until I can find someone who knows how to do it to come help.

Occasionally a job comes up that I can do myself. Saturday, I picked up a new cordless phone. The last one broke a couple of weeks ago and it means that Theresa can’t talk on the phone without being tied to the kitchen wall. I asked her–would you like the cordless phone mounted in the kitchen and the corded phone someplace else? She said yes, and I put two screws in the wall (yes, it took three tries to get them spaced properly and in a spot where the phone didn’t jiggle) and now the phone is mounted:

My wife will enjoy having the answering machine a bit closer to life and the charger accessible more easily from where she spends her time.

Oh–and I fixed the picture thing so it’s not so big. On this and the dishwasher post. My wife helped me. She knows HTML.

Paul Tripp Ministries: Psalm 27: Safe

I am safe,
not because of
money
or power,
or position,
or intellect,
or who I know,
or where I live.
I am safe because of the glorious mystery of
grace.
I am safe because of the presence of
boundless love.

Read the rest here.

Christ, Not Feelings « Of First Importance
If you seek the Lord Jesus Christ and find him there is no need to worry about your happiness and your joy. He is our joy and our happiness, even as He is our peace. He is life, He is everything.

This was an encouraging note from Dr. Lloyd-Jones for me today when I really needed it.

HT: David Coyer

Paul Tripp Ministries: Psalm 27: Singleness of Focus

Do you live with singleness of focus? Is your life shaped, structured, and directed by the pursuit of one glorious, fulfilling, heart-satisfying thing? Or is your life a picture of a constantly changing narrative of fickle affections careening from one hope to the next?

You see, you don’t live by instinct. Your life is directed by the thoughts and motives of your heart.

Read the rest here.