A.D.I.D.A.B.B.Q.

Currently Reading: The Right Doctrine from the Wrong Text by several different theologians
Currently Hearing: Eingya by Helios
Currently Feeling: Intense Muscle Soreness and Fatigue by My Increased Workout Regimen as of Late

It's t-t-t-time for a light, catch-you-up-to-date-on-all-things-Brandon-post...

First of all, if you can't tell by the title, All Day I Dream About BBQ. It's just too true to even make sense at this point.
BBQ.H.B.M.N.M.F. (BBQ Has Become My New Mexican Food) - Ok, I will stop now.

I am also listening to a band that you need to do yourself a favor and hear. If you have a soul and half of a working set of anvils and stirrups (they are parts in your ear), then you will feel an immediate connection when you hear this CD. It has already become my new album for the Fall (not the biblical Fall, the season. My album for the biblical Fall would probably be anything by Weird Al Yankovich, because he, if nothing else, is proof of the folly of mankind).

The book I am reading discusses the use of the Old Testament by the New Testament authors. It handles issues like reasons the authors could interpret the Old Testament in the ways they did and why they did so, if the authors were faithful to the intentions of the Old Testament authors, and several other juicy items up for debate. I love when you have a question about something in the Bible and you find a book that addresses the thoughts you are pondering.

I move to California in roughly two weeks, but before that I am headed to Alabama to see some family and enjoy the beach for a short time. Wish me luck.

Un. Be. Leave. A. Bull.

Please click this link to read an absolutely incredible story over at The New York Times.

Wow.

God, help us.

The Great Tension

It seems like with so many things in the Christian faith, there is a tension that just seems to rest over everything - a difficult balance that, if not properly understood, can lead many people to unhealthy extremes or cause them to abandon valuable tenets of the faith completely.

Think about it.

Love and Justice.
Grace and Discipline.
Sovereignty and Freedom.
Imago Dei and Depravity.


It's the "already-not yet" tension that plays out in everything we believe and do.

I was reading Orthodoxy by G.K. Chesterton this morning when I came across a quote that got all these thoughts brewing. He describes it well:

"We have said that we must be fond of this world, even in order to change it. We now add that we must be fond of another world... in order to have something to change it to" (p. 102).

Paul says:

"For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account." Philippians 1:21-24 ESV

Let's pray that the Holy Spirit helps us to maintain that delicate balance that allows us to joyfully expect and emulate that time when all things will be made new and we see Christ in His fully glory.

Your Piper Fix

John Piper's "Happy Confession of Having No Merit"

posted over at Desiring God.

This is my confession:

I was born into a believing family through no merit of my own at all.

I was given a mind to think and a heart to feel through no merit of my own at all.

I was brought into the hearing of the gospel through no merit of my own at all.

My rebellion was subdued, my hardness removed, my blindness overcome, and my deadness awakened through no merit of my own at all.

Thus I became a believer in Christ through no merit of my own at all.

And so I am an heir of God with Christ through no merit of my own at all.

Now when I put forward effort to please the Lord who bought me, this is to me no merit at all, because

...it is not I, but the grace of God that is with me. (1 Corinthians 15:10)

...God is working in me that which is pleasing in his sight. (Hebrews 13:21)

...he fulfills every resolve for good by his power. (2 Thessalonians 1:11)

And therefore there is no ground for boasting in myself, but only in God’s mighty grace.

Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord. (1 Corinthians 1:31)

Half Snake, Half Cat...

Run for your life.
Cat python on the loose...

Cat in jacket sleeve @ Yahoo! Video