Problems are for Solving

January 2007: 3108 DEM(driving equivalent miles) traveled. Quite the start to a full year.

January 2008: Zero. Nada. Zip. 31 consecutive nights in my own bed.

We (my wife especially) are praising God for less motion in the beginning of another year.

My friend Seth is working on a role playing game (RPG) that is akin to an improv play called A Flower for Mara. He discusses the “why” of the game here. His post, and Adiel’s, and the discussion that is the context for the “quote from me” in that post, caused me to think about grief and stories.

Grieving is something that for a long time I never really did. Not much, anyway. Some of it is related to how I handle crisis situations. I move forward, the greater the stress the calmer I am. So in a situation where others are sad and grieving, I step up and let them lean on me. And when the crisis is over I collapse, never really taking the time to grieve on my own.

Another part of it is pride. “I can handle it,” I tell myself. “Death is a part of life.” While it is true that death, and someone you know dying, is inevitable: so is grief.

Grief looks different for all of us. Some grieve quietly, some wail and moan as in deep, powerful, physical pain. Some cry, some become quiet. But grief, and some expression of it, is inherently human. It is bound up in the image of God that is in man alone—it is not exclusively human because God grieves. He grieves over our sin. He wept at the tomb of His friend. He groans with His creation is it waits for complete redemption. He speaks in sadness to Saul of Tarsus on the Damascus road.

Like all other aspects of the image of God in mankind, grief is marred by sin. Without Jesus, we grieve without hope. Without Jesus, grief can be consuming and become an idol in itself. Grief is among those emotions that is inherently good (God grieves), but which only exists because of sin. One day there will be no more grief. While these truths are important to remember—they are not the purpose of this post.

What makes me say that A Flower for Mara (AFM) sounds worthwhile is the power of story to help us grieve. Role playing games, at least as Seth designs them, are a group activity of collaborative story telling. We have a family tradition involving story telling in our Night of the Burning Plum celebration that happens each fall on Orange Street. And in those stories that are told are glimpses of the people who tell them. Just as God is reflected in His creation, so are our personalities and quirks and desires and thoughts and feelings reflected when we create. When we create stories, and tell stories, we reflect who we are to those who share the story with us. And (saying this not having “played” AFM) the Mara storyline is a time of reflecting the grief of the participants to one another and for us to see the grieving process in others in the absence of crisis. It is this grief in the absence of crisis that is intriguing to me, because that can only happen in the process of story. When grief hits in “real life” it is because of something devastating—either death or illness or accident intersecting with a life absent of that death or illness or accident immediately prior.

The possibilities are seemingly endless for community in the role playing of AFM. We are able to know one another better. We are able to encourage one another in our “following after God” creativity. We are able to enter into the past and present grief of our brothers and sisters through a “safer” mechanism than the actual crisis. We are able to see (and therefore recognize in the future) how one another grieve. This will make “weeping with those who weep” easier—because we will recognize grief and weeping our friends even when it looks decidedly different than our own grief.

I may have some more to say about this in the future, but these are some initial thoughts to keep the conversation going.

I haven’t posted in a week, so if you haven’t read all the posts on spiritual warfare, do so now here. I’ll get the next post out, which is mostly done, soon.

My parents visited last week and that was really nice. I don’t get to see them very often, so when we do we try to enjoy it. We may see them a little more often now that Allegiant Air has a non-stop from Phoenix to Peoria.

While mom & dad were here, Margary begin walking some. She’s up to 10-15 steps at a time now, and soon will be walking a lot and we’ll find all the stuff we thought we put where she couldn’t get into it.

Theresa took three children to the eye doctor today. Peter, much to his delight, does not need glasses. Elsie’s two broken pair are handled now (yes, she broke both pairs in quick succession–praise God for warranties) and Moriah will be the newest in the house to get the specs on. Like her papa, she is very far-sighted.

No news yet on the major decision, but since I’ve been asked by at least one of the four faithful readers: no, Theresa isn’t expecting (at least as far as we know). More about this when we can talk about it.

Our church switched meeting locations. You can find out more on the church web site. Outgrowing our space is a nice problem to have.

I had my first 30 minute 300+ calorie workout this week. It ought to be regular soon, but I’m glad to finally be feeling like I can handle a decent workout. Haven’t lost much weight–but we’re getting into better habits.

That’s the news from Orange St.

…able to stand against the wiles of the devil. (Ephesians 6:11b)

When I was younger I used to watch a lot of cartoons. I like the road runner. Once, though, WB did some character swapping and the Coyote turned up in a Bugs Bunny cartoon. In this one he talked. He introduced himself as Wle E. Coyote, emphasis on the “E”.

He was supposed to be wily but not as sharp as Bugs. Just like in his attempts against the road runner, he was frustrated at every attempt. Because Bugs Bunny knows how to recognize and anticipate crafty methods.

Our enemy is artful and sly in his methods. Today I want to talk about one of them: conspiracy.

He plans against our welfare. He does not want us to grow.

Consider the following quotes from C.S. Lewis’
The Screwtape Letters (letters #6 and 7):

Do what you will, there is going to be some benevolence, as well as some malice, in your patient’s soul. The great thing is to direct the malice to his immediate neighbours whom he meets every day and to thrust his benevolence out to the remote circumference, to people he does not know. The malice thus becomes wholly real and the benevolence largely imaginary. There is no good at all in inflaming his hatred of Germans if, at the same time, a pernicious habit of charity is growing up between him and his mother, his employer, and the man he meets in the train.

I had not forgotten my promise to consider whether we should make the patient an extreme patriot or an extreme pacifist. All extremes, except extreme devotion to the Enemy, are to be encouraged. Not always, of course, but at this period. Some ages are lukewarm and complacent, and then it is our business to soothe them yet faster asleep. Other ages, of which the present is one, are unbalanced and prone to faction, and it is our business to inflame them.

Whichever he adopts, your main task will be the same. Let him begin by treating the Patriotism or the Pacifism as a part of his religion. Then let him, under the influence of partisan spirit, come to regard it as the most important part. Then quietly and gradually nurse him on to the stage at which the religion becomes merely part of the “cause”, in which Christianity is valued chiefly because of the excellent arguments it can produce in favour of the British war-effort or of Pacifism. The attitude which you want to guard against is that in which temporal affairs are treated primarily as material for obedience. Once you have made the World an end, and faith a means, you have almost won your man, and it makes very little difference what kind of worldly end he is pursuing. Provided that meetings, pamphlets, policies, movements, causes, and crusades, matter more to him than prayers and sacraments and charity, he is ours—and the more “religious” (on those terms) the more securely ours. I could show you a pretty cageful down here.

These are letters from a demon to his apprentice, and the Enemy named is Christ. Christ is our enemy’s Enemy as He is our Friend and General.

The foe, Satan, wants to confuse us and direct us away from our mission. The more passionately he can direct us away from the Commission our General has left for us, the more effective his methods. He loves to stir up differences among us and we are to pursue the unity of His Body in the Spirit of Peace, rather than allowing our differences to divide Christ. Yes, they are there, and many of them are heartfelt and important. But are they more important than the unity of Christ’s Body? May it never be! So, my fellow soldiers do not let spite and passion rise up among us that divide us from one another. We are all fighting in the same war, on the same side if we are Christ’s. If we fail to recognize the wily methods of the Devil, we will fall into his traps.

And I figure it’s the same for my half dozen readers, so I’m holding off the posting of the next in the spiritual warfare series until Monday. At 700 words a pop (though most of them in the next one aren’t my words—they’re a quote from somebody smarter. I know “somebody smarter” doesn’t narrow it down much, but …) I figure you’ll need some time in between the long posts. And so I provide this: a short post!

A few newsy things. First, there’s a link in the sidebar to an index of the current blog post series. That way if you get behind you’ll know where I’ve gone before and what’s comes next.

Next, I’m back on the wagon on going to the gym. I made it to the ‘plex four times this past week, which I think equals the total visits for December. I’m really excited about working out in the mornings instead of the evenings because I’m having energy throughout the day.

Also, there’s some excitement going on in our house. I can’t give any details about it right now, but we’ve got some time-sensitive decisions going on that will greatly impact our time and energies for the next six to eight months. About which more later.

I’m continuing to make updates to the blog, including moving the sidebar around from time to time. I’ve added a photo to my profile, and I’ll put in a plug for the photographer, David Price of Black Olive Photographic. I also added a link to an index on the current series of posts, the first series that has made it past post #2.

So here’s your break from the long posts—there will be another post on spiritual warfare Monday morning.

I added a page you’ll find a link to in the sidebar called Showcase Articles. This is a list of ten articles that I’ve written in the last year or so that are the best (yes, I know that’s a relative term) of my writings. I think the list is too long, so I need your help.

I’ve always referred to myself as a theological parasite, with very little in the way of original thought. As I considered what to put in the list, I had a hard time whittling down examples of typical writing for new readers. As I picked these, a common theme occurred in many of them: most of the posts that I’m most pleased with were inspired by songs (and sometimes writings) of someone else. In this list you’ll find a post inspired by a thought from my wife, a posts inspired by songs from Andrew Peterson, Anthony Hopp, Michael W. Smith, Charlie Peacock, and David. The other major source for blog posts is things that happen in my life that are hard. When things are going extremely well, I need someone to inspire me. When things are hard, words seem to flow more easily. Except when they don’t.

Anyway, to the few readers I still have: which of these posts deserve to be in this list? Which don’t? Is there another post that’s missing that you remember finding helpful or particularly good? I’d prefer the list be shorter, but I’ll whittle it down over time.

You can find the link in the sidebar, or by clicking here.

Series Index

So we’re at war. And we’re to fight the war in the power of Christ’s might.

This begs the question: with whom are we at war? Whom are we fighting? Who’s the enemy?

The next verses in Ephesians 6:

Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
(Ephesians 6:11-12)

Going first to verse 12: “for we wrestle not . . .” That “not” is important. This is not a flesh and blood war. This is a war against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”

[I'm not going to cover all of these in one post—my goal is to give a thorough treatment to this passage in chunks that are under 700 words, preferably shorter. This accomplishes two things. First, it helps my half dozen readers to read without being overwhelmed and second it helps me to learn to be more terse in my writing. This post will be the longest of this section]

The devil. We are to stand and fight against the “wiles of the devil.” The ESV translates this word, “schemes.” The Greek word here is the one from which our English word “methods” is derived. We are to stand against the methods of the devil.

It’s only recently that I’ve realized a tendency I’ve had in the past to minimize the reality of the forces of evil. And many of us err in our assessment of Satan. Some make more of him than is true, almost making him into a co-god who rules apart from God’s sovereign providence, and others (and I have fallen into this camp more often) practically trivialize the efforts of the eventually losing side of darkness. This war is real, and Satan is a real, active, strong enemy.

In that great hymn, A Mighty Fortress is Our God, Martin Luther writes,

For still our ancient foe
doth seek to work us woe;
his craft and power are great,
and armed with cruel hate,
on earth is not his equal.

Luther refers to Satan as our ancient foe. He goes back a long way—further than we know for sure. And his methods, his schemes, are to work for our woe. He wants us to be sad and disorganized and filled with hopelessness. Satan is no lightweight either. Luther correctly describes him as great in craft and power. Remember that craft, when this hymn was originally translated, didn’t refer to knitting and scrapbooking, but to the vocations of craftsmanship like blacksmithing. Certainly many of our modern “crafts” were once crafts in the traditional sense (pottery comes to mind), but in the hymn Luther is referring to Satan’s craftsmanship. Satan has no equal on earth. Luther continues:

Did we in our own strength confide,
our striving would be losing,

We don’t stand a chance against this guy. Our ancient foe has no equal. If we take confidence in our own strength.

were not the right man on our side,
the man of God’s own choosing.
Dost ask who that may be?
Christ Jesus, it is he;
Lord Sabbaoth, his name,
from age to age the same,
and he must win the battle.

And though this world, with devils filled,
should threaten to undo us,
we will not fear, for God hath willed
his truth to triumph through us.
The Prince of Darkness grim,
we tremble not for him;
his rage we can endure,
for lo, his doom is sure;
one little word shall fell him.

Jesus is on our side, so we need not fear. Satan is a real enemy, but his doom is sure. And so we must stand, by faith in Christ, against of the methods of the devil—by putting on the whole armor of God, about which more later.

Douglas Wilson has a good post here (in parable form) about evaluating the media. I find his parables to be among the best of his writings—this one is well done.

On a semi-related note, my wife was laughing the other day about the irony of my writing about the Christian war on the heels of my post about the mistaken IRS letter regarding my fictitious residence in a combat zone.

Yesterday I posted about the glorious war that the Christian has been called to fight. This war doesn’t look like the wars we see, though it is just as difficult and dangerous for the combatants. Lord willing, over the next few days I’m going to write a series of posts based on Ephesians chapter 6, dealing with our fighting of the war.

Paul, having just finished an extensive section on the Christian walk including a description of various parts of the social order (husbands and wives, workers and masters, children and parents) , turns back to the heavenly perspective with which he began in chapter 1. He wants us to see the Christian walk from God’s perspective—as a war. This is the conclusion to his letter to the Ephesians, his final encouragement to them as they walk with the Savior.

Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might.
(Ephesians 6:10)

I don’t usually use the King James, but because of the poetic flow of this section I like the way the KJV puts the passage. The added benefit is that the King James, being older English, has distinctive pronouns for singular and plural that have fallen away in modern usage, giving a clearer picture of the original.

Finally: “because of all that I’ve written so far, I want to end here” so to speak. And the apostle goes with the familial “brethren” calling to attention the family ties that we all share in Christ. This is not intended to exclude the “sisters” of the Ephesian church, but to emphasize the family relationship.

The command? Be strong. But not in your own strength—but in Christ. In the power of the might of the Savior.

So we’re going to fight this war. We must be strong. But we can’t. We need the Lord, and that’s where Paul’s been headed the whole time. All the examples of who we are in Christ and what Christ has done that he expounded in chapters 1-3: that’s to point us to Christ. The commands of chapters 4-6: to point us to Christ. We need Him and can’t do this on our own.

We need the power of His might.

The call is to rise up and stand—to be strong—but only to be strong in Christ. Because our strength fails and His never does. So before we ever take up the weapons of the war, before we get to know our enemy, we must stand up and be strong in Christ, and depend upon Him for everything. So have this attitude as you go to war: be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might.