An Aptly Spoken E-Mail

Just recently I received an e-mail from my dad. I actually see my dad several times each week, so I expected this note to be what our e-mails usually are: business-oriented, work type stuff. Well, it started off that way, but then the man that I've just now started to really understand surprised me. He complimented me. More than that, his tone was such that I actually did a double-take to make sure the note wasn't from my mother (she does stuff like that all the time - no surprises, there...). Indeed, my father had definitely written the e-mail. He used words that were so personal and well, REAL, that they stopped me in my tracks. A thousand people could have written me 10,000 words and they wouldn't have meant as much to me as this one note from my dad.

Now, I don't want to leave the wrong impression - my dad is a great guy. Always has been. He is known and loved by lots of folks. It's just that I think maybe the two of us are changing as life rolls on, and so, considering our history, this e-mail was significant to me.

It affirmed my dad's love and approval - yes, approval - of me. I am nearly 40 years old and frankly, I don't need anybody's approval, thank you very much. But to receive it from my dad was . . . well, more profound than I thought it would be.

It just goes to show that no matter how old we are, our parents are hugely important figures in our lives (for good or ill) and the blessing a parent can give a child is timeless, and always beneficial. So now I have a few more thoughts to chew on when I head out on my motorcycle this week for a few days of solitary refinement.

Image Is Everything

On the topic of redeemed men and women being conformed to the image of Christ, Francis Schaeffer has this to say:

"Wherever one turns one sees mankind, meant to be the image-bearer of God - but what a distorted image! Marred and soiled, often speaking more of the devil than of God. Mankind's morality twisted, mankind's rationality contorted, believing all sorts of strange things, whether it be in the jungles of a primitive society or in the jungles of the modern university. Love, completely distorted. Man, created to be the image of God, to think, to act, to feel, to be rational and moral, to have real significance in the area of rationality and morality and beauty and love - and now look at mankind. The German concentration camps exhibited all this, but 'nice' people exhibit it too. The woman walking the street for her living, yes, but the nice people too. 'In the image of God,' yet how terribly we sometimes reflect that image. Yet God the Father has 'predestinated us to be conformed to the image of his Son,' this Son of God, this marvelous one." Excerpted from The Finished Work of Christ.

Our redemption is, of course, no small thing. Predestination is a powerful doctrine. And sanctification, the process by which we grow in holiness, is perhaps the most amazing. When I look around me at the rest of mankind, when I look inside me at my still far-from-perfected heart, I am amazed: amazed that God should choose me in the first place, and amazed that I've made any progress in holiness at all. Obviously, it is only by the Spirit's help. It's a huge encouragement for me personally.

Marks of True Renewal

A friend of mine (you know who you are) gave me the book Revival and Revivalism as a gift this year, and I'm enjoying it immensely. It's a thorough historical look at revivals in early American history, and it's surprisingly enjoyable to read; one might expect such a book to be rather didactic, but it isn't. It's so refreshing to read of true revivals in our history, and what should be the earmarks of a true revival.

One such "sign" is the absence of denominational boundaries. Here are excerpts from chapter three:

"True revivals rarely remain within denominational boundaries...Being a Christian was seen to be more important than being a Baptist or a Methodist or a Presbyterian...One mark of an outpouring of the Spirit of God is the presence of a stronger catholicity of spirit among believers. Only when churches put adherence to Christ first can the world begin to recognize the real identity of those who bear His Name."

The stories in Revival and Revivalism are refreshing. There is no hype, no gold dust, no craziness or dubious doctrine: only the Spirit of God bringing conviction, redemption and times of refreshing to men and women, young and old.

Eleventh of September

September 11th. After eight years. I still can't bring myself to listen to the rebroadcasts of those radio transmissions, the news reports, the TV documentaries . . . It's just too much.

No doubt Skillet released the video to their new song "Hero" this week on purpose. It's amazing and powerful. In fact, if you like this kind of music (I understand some people actually don't !!!!) go straight to youtube and watch it full screen.

The Road Beckons

New oil, new tires, well-worn gear, and the highway ahead . . .

Later in the month I will start up the Buell and head north to Ashland, Wisconsin for a couple days of solitary refinement.

I'll torque my way through every scenic route in northern Wisconsin and I'll take time to listen to Lake Superior patiently cleansing the shoreline.

I'll be traveling light: rain gear, minimal extra clothing, my Nikon D50, a book and a Bible.

I'll enjoy many quiet hours inside my helmet (and yes, road noise, wind and Buell exhaust notes are quiet according to my definition). I'll remember old songs and pray new prayers.

God willing, I'll return home to my family better rested, more centered, and closer to the kind of man God has called me to be for them.

"Look to the hills, Mat. They are quiet. The storms sweep over them and are gone, and most of man's troubles pass the same way. That is one reason I brought you here, just to learn that. Whenever you feel that things are getting too much for you, go the mountains or the desert - it smooths out the wrinkles in your mind." James Brionne, from "Brionne" by Louis L'Amour

West, Not Left

At 5:30 this morning, I woke up (unintentionally) and began thinking and then blindly writing notes on my hand so I wouldn't forget my thoughts when it came time to crawl out of bed an hour later. I had been dreaming about a friend. In my dream I was giving him directions, strangely enough, to his own house. As I crossed the fuzzy divide between reverie and wakefulness I began to think about how different people give directions.

Some folks are right-left navigators: Go here, take a left, when you get there, go right, and then after this far, take a left. Others are "compass" people: Go east on that street, then head north at the next street, the place you need will be on the west side.

The first method is OK, but the problem is that it only works from one starting point, because right and left are different depending on whether you're heading north or south. That is to say, right and left "change" depending on which direction your nose is pointing.

I like "compass" directions, because even if I make a wrong turn, or head to a location from a different route than the direction-giver, I know that North, South, East and West are still the same.

Alright. So all this is going through my head in the wee hours. Then I think: well, that reminds me somewhat of a Pyromaniac post I read earlier in the week!

People argue about directions all the time; everybody has their own "shortcut". When you're driving to Wal-Mart, the method and route are negotiable. However, when Heaven, Truth and eternity are the goal - there really is only one way. And furthermore, the directions Christians are handing out had better be accurate. The roadmap a preacher presents had better use compass headings that don't change, instead of nebulous instructions such as, "head up that hill, veer left at the windmill, then go a little right at the red barn, and you'll see it up ahead there a-ways." (Post-modern translation: feel good about yourself, form "god" in whatever image suits you, be nice and heaven will be waiting for you...")

People need to hear someone tell them, "Go west", not, "Go left". There's just too much room for error in "go left."

If a preacher, or any Christian, is responsible and wise and compassionate, they won't steer someone else wrong when it comes to directions as important as the True Gospel.

On Paying Attention

I need continual steering input to keep my life between the guardrails. The excerpt below helps keep the road signs in sharp focus.

Preserve me from a false estimate of the whole or a part of my character; may I pay regard to my principles as well as my conduct, my motives as well as my actions.

Help me never to mistake the excitement of my passions for the renewing of the Holy Spirit, never to judge my religion by occasional impressions and impulses, but by my constant and prevailing disposition.

May my heart be right with Thee, and my life as becometh the Gospel. May I maintain a supreme regard to another and better world, and feel and confess myself as stranger and a pilgrim here.

From "True Religion", page 65 of this book (please click the cover for more info):