As much as I understand some of the nuances of why certain people may be frustrated with Don Miller praying at the DNC, at the end of the day, who cares? A man got up and asked God that things would be well in our nation–and in the name of Jesus. To hyper-analyze every line is ridiculous. If someone prayed that same prayer over a meal, at a Bible study, or in their home church, (anywhere other than the DNC) I doubt that most conservatives would flinch. It was a fine enough prayer. Let’s move on.
View on YouTube.
“On the most basic levels, I desire fullness, and fleshly lusts seduce me by attaching themselves to this basic desire. They exploit the empty spaces in me, and they promise that fulness will be mine if I give in to their demands. When my soul sits empty and is aching for something to fill it, such deceptive promises are extremely difficult to resist.
Consequently, the key to mortifying fleshly lusts is to eliminate the emptiness within me and replace it with fullness; and I accomplish this by feasting on the gospel. Indeed, it is in the gospel that I experience a God who glorifies Himself by filling me with His fullness. . . . This is the God of the gospel, a God who is satisfied with nothing less than my experience of fullness in Him! . . .
Indeed, as I perpetually feast on Christ and all His blessings found in the gospel, I find that my hunger for sin diminishes and the lies of lust simply lose their appeal. Hence, to the degree that I am full, I am free. Eyes do not rove, nor do fleshly lusts rule, when the heart is fat with the love of Jesus!”
- Milton Vincent, A Gospel Primer for Christians (2008), 45-46.
HT: Of First Importance
Had a great time with Dan Cruver up in Louisville and Nashville this last weekend. Micah McCormick was kind enough to host us at the house where he lives. Great group of guys we met there—all attending Southern Seminary. Friday we toured the seminary, enjoyed a Cajun gumbo lunch, interviewed Russell Moore at his office, then headed down to Nashville. Friday night, Dan and I went over to Jackson’s on 21st Ave, where I was able to see my cousin Marilyn briefly. We then went over to Bongo Java and chilled for the evening. Saturday, I met up with Derek and Josh Oakes, a new guy who is helping us, to continue developing our ongoing website project.
After lunch we went over to the home of Kevin and Wendy Twit to interview them about the their experiences in adopting their daughter from China. It was a greatly encouraging time for me, hearing how God works uniquely in each family situation to lead them toward His will. We then joined them for an ice cream party at a park in Brentwood with other Nashville families who have Chinese children. All girls! I had no idea that almost all Chinese adoptions are little girls. Almost no boys available internationally for adoption. I think Dan said that at the orphanage he’d seen in China, there were only four boys and several hundred girls there.
From there, we headed to Grimey’s, a record store above The Basement, a well-known music venue. For dinner, we met up with Jordan Hamlin and Maggie Bolger for Mediterranean food, then went with them to Matthew Perryman Jones’ release show at Exit/In. Amazing show. I overheard a member of the band the next day say that it was probably his best ever. The highlight of the evening was hearing he and his wife cover “The Pearl” by Emmylou Harris. Meghan came up on stage a few lines into the song to support him with background vocals. Stunning.
On Sunday, we attended Midtown Fellowship, then interviewed Randall Goodgame about his upcoming Ethiopian adoption. About 2pm or so, we hit the road back to Greenville. A rewarding and enjoyable weekend of work and learning.
This afternoon I’m heading up to Louisville, KY to shoot an interview tomorrow with Russell Moore, the Dean of Southern Seminary, about adoption. Dan Cruver is organizing a conference for November 1 that will deal with theological adoption and how it relates to adopting orphans. Check out more about the conference here. This week we already had the great opportunity to interview Carl Robbins, pastor of Woodruff Road Presbyterian, as well as Rick Phillips at Second Presbyterian. Hearing their answers to Dan’s questions was a blessing to me, even though I only sat to the side manning the camera.
On Saturday afternoon, we’ll interview Kevin Twit and Matt Odmark in Nashville (both of whom have adopted transracially), then head back to Greenville on Sunday. I hope this project draws attention to the orphan crisis, especially in the Third World and will in some way encourage couples to consider adopting children themselves.
“At issue here is the question: ‘To whom do I belong? To God or to the world?’ Many of my daily preoccupations suggest that I belong more to the world than to God. A little criticism makes me angry, and a little rejection makes me depressed. A little praise raises my spirits, and a little success excites me. It takes very little to raise me up or thrust me down. Often I am like a small boat on the ocean, completely at the mercy of its waves. All the time and energy I spend in keeping some kind of balance and preventing myself from being tipped over and drowning shows that my life is mostly a struggle for survival: not a holy struggle, but an anxious struggle resulting from the mistaken idea that it is the world that defines me.
As long as I keep running about asking: ‘Do you love me? Do you really love me?’ I give all power to the voices of the world and put myself in bondage because the world is filled with ‘ifs.’ The world says: ‘Yes I love you if you are good-looking, intelligent, and wealthy. I love you if you have a good education, a good job, and good connections. I love you if you produce much, sell much, and buy much.’ There are endless ‘ifs’ hidden in the world’s love. These ‘ifs’ enslave me, since it is impossible to respond adequately to all of them. The world’s love is and always be conditional. As long as I keep looking for my true self in the world of conditional love, I will remain ‘hooked’ to the world–trying, failing, and trying again. It is a world that fosters addictions because what it offers cannot satisfy the deepest cravings of my heart.
I am the prodigal son every time I search for unconditional love where it cannot be found. Why do I keep ignoring the place of true love and persist in looking for it elsewhere? Why do I keep leaving home where I am called the child of God, the Beloved of my Father? I am constantly surprised at how I keep taking the gifts God has given me–my health, my intellectual and emotional gifts–and keep using them to impress people, receive affirmation and praise, and compete for rewards, instead of developing them for the glory of God. Yes, I often carry them off to a ‘distant coutnry’ and put them in the service of an exploiting world that does not know their true value. It’s almost as if I want to prove myself and to my world that I do not need God’s love, that I can make a life on my own, that I want to be fully independent. Beneath it all is the great rebellion, the radical ‘No’ to the Father’s love, the unspoken curse: ‘I wish you were dead.’ The prodigal son’s ‘No’ reflects Adam’s original rebellion: his rejection of God in whose lvoe we are created by and by whose love we are sustained. It is the rebellion that places me outside the garden, out of reach of the tree of life. It is the rebellion that makes me dissipate myself in a ‘distant country.’”
-Henri Nouwen
The Return of the Prodigal Son
The other day, while picking up some coffee at the local Bi-Lo grocery store, I spotted an eye-catching package from Ugly Mug Coffee. For their great packaging and solid mission I plan on supporting their coffee in the future. Check them out here.
“A conscience which is not fully enlightened both to the seriousness of its condition before God, and to the grandeur of God’s merciful provision of redemption, will inevitably fall prey to anxiety, pride, sensuality and all other expressions of that unconscious despair which Kierkegaard called “the sickness unto death.” Richard Lovelace
Every problem with sanctification is really just a problem with justification.
Check out Smashing Magazine’s post on 35 Beautiful Album Covers.
HT: Brent Thomas
Check out the cleanly designed new site for Mark Driscoll’s Mars Hill Church in Seattle.
