November 2, 2007 · 12:02 pm

Identifying Fears: Welch session 1


Ed Welch suggests that we live with so much fear that we may ignore how omnipresent fear actually is throughout our life. Books, media and friends don’t invoke our fear but express the fears we already have. Fear is universal, whether it is the fear of the bogeyman in the closet or the fear of rejection when we get older. Fear is universal.

The most prominent command in Scripture? Do not worry. We should expect that the Bible would have something to say about worry.

Is this command not to fear a holy version of, “Stop it!” No, Welch says it is a pastoral encouragement and comfort and God reserves his most precious and penetrating word to our universal struggle. When you see Jesus repeatedly saying, Do not be afraid (Luke 12) don’t hear it as a nagging or threatening command but a soft and parental reminder of the truth. God is pleased to repeat himself. He, like us, takes deep joy in being trusted.

Is fear sinful? Welch says, “maybe” but that we should rather focus the question on to whom will we turn when we are afraid. We are going to be afraid. That is a fact. But, focus rather on the relationship with God. God has constructed a world based on trust and relationship.

Fear is a relational matter. Many of the treatments ignore this fact and focus solely on the cognitive side. What if we think more relationally about the healthy response to anxiety? Of course, this means the focus is on our relationship with the Sovereign God.

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November 2, 2007 · 10:45 am

Running Scared Opening


The conference is underway. Already had the opportunity to meet up with several friends. The best part of most conferences are these times of reconnection. Also got to meet a reader of this blog, Jason Kovacs and his wife Shawnda, for the first time and share transracial adoption stories.

Tim Lane opened the conference by meditating on Acts 18 where Paul is facing attack from local Jewish officials. Tim connected this situation with a verse in 1 Cor 2:1 where Paul says he came in fear and anxiety and the Lord’s answer in Acts 18 that He will be with him in spite of the real attack that is all around him. Why? Because God has many people there and has a mission.

Do most of us think that God has a mission for us and is with us and will guide us?  

Take away quote: “Fear and anxieties are predictions of the future.” Ed Welch

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October 31, 2007 · 9:55 am

CCEF’s Annual Conference Topic: Anxiety


Starting Friday, CCEF is running its annual conference in Valley Forge, PA. You can click this linkto register or view speakers and breakouts. Several look pretty good. The keynote is by Ed Welch who is releasing his new book on the topic (free to conference registrants). By the way, his picture is on the page link above. Do you think it looks likes he’s trying to scare little children with that attack position? I’ll be there manning the Biblical Seminary booth and possibly live-blogging if the Wi-Fi is free as it was last year. If you are going to be there, come by and say hello.

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October 30, 2007 · 2:17 pm

My apologies to Coffee-mate


Last Spring I revealed the seeming paint properties of coffee-mate. You can read about it here. For months, the splatter drops on my driveway remained strong despite the weather elements and direct spray from a hose. Now a new and seemingly permanent splatter makes me question whether I unfairly singled out this product. This week, my youngest splattered Silk Vanilla Soy Milk drops on the driveway as he took the recycling out to the bin. After 24 hours of flooding rain, the drops are just as bright and visible. Hmmmm.

So today I am experimenting. I am going to splatter 2% milk drops on my driveway and I will report back to you whether those drops last as long as the soy drops. If not, I would like to know what ingredient in the soy milk and coffee-mate accounts for the paint-like quality.

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October 29, 2007 · 9:39 am

Last tomato, first frost, and second WS win


Yesterday, October 28, saw the coming together of several good things that epitomize Fall for me. I got one last ripe tomato off my dying vines, my son and I saw a 6 point buck at close range on a bike ride, we got our first frost of the year finally (I love fall but I also loved not turning on my heat ’til last night), and the Red Sox swept the Rockies. Perfect!

But I must say I’m glad the World Series is over. And here’s 3 reasons why:

3. No more late nights and groggy mornings. I’m sorry I couldn’t share any of the games with my kids. How do you pass on a tradition where the games don’t end before midnight? Crazy!

2. I don’t have to see another Taco Bell or woman running into a car commercial. Annoying!

1. Of course, the number one reason is that my childhood favorite team won and the Yankees didn’t. And the Sox won with the help of the kids and not the stars. Even better.

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October 26, 2007 · 8:56 am

New diagnostic categories for children?


Those who parent or counsel children with emotional troubles recognize how crude our current set of diagnostic categories are at the present time. Kids labeled ADHD, Bi-polar, and ODD all share similar symptoms. They all can be impulsive, easily angered, hyperactive, grandiose, irritable, etc. But a friend of mine sent me some literature from researchers at Johns Hopkins where they are beginning to distinguish differences between some of these children. They present information on a diagnosis they call “Severe Mood Dysregulation” where the presentation of chronic irritability differs from the episodic forms found in Bi-polar Disorder.

Check out these two links for more details if you are interested: http://www.medpagetoday.com/Pediatrics/ADHD-ADD/tb/4978

http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/164/8/1140

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October 24, 2007 · 5:16 am

What if you were known for your moral failures?


On Sunday, our pastor asked this question. What if you are known only for your moral failures; forever known by your sin? Or another way to ask this is who do you “know” only for their moral failings? He mentioned that wikipedia informs us that Monica Lewinsky has recently received a grad degree. But we only know her for some foolish behavior 10 years ago. Likely she will always be known by that. What if all of us were known for our failures? How would we handle that shame?

Our pastor was preaching on Luke 15 and the scandalous account of Jesus hanging out with those known as “sinners”–exploiters of others and sexual sinners. These sheep of his are lost and he spends a disproportionate amount of time with them. The parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin and the lost son reveal that the Kingdom of God is about finding what is lost but rightfully God’s property. He will not rest until he has what is his.

Though Jesus is known to spend time with sinners, he does not not continue to mark them as such but treats them as family and calls them to righteousness.  He erases the permanent markings from our failures and gives us a new identities. With Christ, we are not known by our failings.

Unfortunately, some of us have a hard time letting go of our former identity. All we can see is what we think others know us by. Like Peter, we have a hard time letting him wash our feet.

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October 23, 2007 · 5:49 am

Escape into humor: Who is your favorite author?


Sometimes, you just want to escape the world and enter someone else’s for the moment. Who are your favorite authors when it comes to the humorous escapes?

Pretty much anything by Bill Bryson.  A Walk in the Woods may be his best. When I read that book in bed, I would start snorting and waking my wife.

Peter Mayle’s books on Provence, France. Mayle has a way of describing the earthy people of this region that will cause you to bust a gut.

What are your favorites?

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October 22, 2007 · 11:48 am

Knowing God’s faithfulness in a broken world


Several important people in my circles are experiencing serious, life-threatening, health problems. Within the last year, several acquaintances have died. When you hear or experience one of these events, do you ever question whether God is faithful? Good? Do you find it hard to sing about God’s faithfulness when relationships are broken or breaking down, when health or finances are lost?

When we are young and naive we may come to equate health, wholeness, success, etc. with God’s faithful protection. And in the reverse, when we experience brokenness, sometimes we find it difficult to believe that God is faithful and truly for us. But even in difficult times, most believers can name numerous ways in which we KNOW that God has been faithful in the recent past. So, where does our discomfort with God come from?

I have noticed that the greatest discomfort comes NOT from wondering if God is faithful or if he loves me but from the realization (again and again) that his faithfulness may not produce the outcome that I am looking for. I have expectations–even demands–about how God can best protect me and the people I love from pain. I am tempted to give in to despair, bitterness, even anger when an unspoken expectation is shown to be what it is–an assumption I have placed on God that he may not meet. And I find myself saying to God, “I know you have done (all these good things) but what I really want is _________.”

During a song at church this Sunday, I was reminded (If I were charismatic I would say the Lord spoke to me. But I’m Presbyterian so we use different language :)) that this world would be far more broken if not for the Lord’s power to limit the effects of sin on the world. We would have no measure of physical, emotional, or spiritual health if not for God’s restraint of the Evil One. Things are bad in so many ways but God continually is caring for and sustaining us, even in our poverty, sickness, and broken relationships. We become blind or dulled to his constant caring. When something surprising happens (safety from a near accident, unexpected monetary blessing) we see God’s handiwork.

Lord, help us to see your handiwork in the mundane as well as the extraordinary. 

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October 19, 2007 · 1:48 pm

Baseball vs. Football or Committed marriage vs. affair


I heard this analogy that rings true for me. Baseball is like marriage, it takes massive commitment over time, through thick and thin. Its easy to get in a hole but it is possible to dig out.  Football is like an affair, it is fast-paced, always has a new opportunity for excitement each Sunday. Though I think there is nothing good in real affairs, the analogy rings true. I stayed up last night to watch my team, the Sox, win. It took 150+ games to get here with lots of ups and downs or possibilities of down. Though last night was good, there’s no assurance that it will end well and so the suffering continues. This, of course, is fake suffering. and Manny Ramirez, outfielder for the Sox has it right. It’s just a game and it doesn’t matter. But watch we must.

But it is still fun to cheer nonetheless. And to know my Yankee friends are in turmoil…

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