I have hundreds of preaching tapes collected over the years. I have worn out the tape deck of every car I have ever owned listening to them. My collection includes all kind of preachers, including many from my Dad. I have recieved contributions from all over, and refused no preacher. I see it as a historic deposit. I even have an ongoing process of digitizing many of them.
But the truth is between wearing out all tape decks in my possession and my schedule involving less traveling (the timespan of listening to a whole sermon) I have not listened to many in quite a while. But the beauty of technology steps in.

Kim and I got ipods about 6 months or so ago, and we listened to music for months. I had some knowledge and experience with podcasts but had not gotten into them. But recently, I have shopped for podcasts of notable churches/preachers and it has been a very enriching devotional experience. Walking the dogs, driving around town, or working in the yard have taken on a new significance, and has provided an great stage for taking in new ideas.

I have some concern about doing so much multitasking and not devoting time to the single purpose of spiritual growth as should be given. I am not sure what the didgital age means for spiritual disciplines such as solitude (as per Barth), and I hope I am not savving my guilt at not giving enough time to such by listening to podcasts while engaged in other business. But I have been greatly blessed as well as challenged by the experience so far, and am thankful for it.

I have been listening to Keith Green this morning. My wife and I cleaned out a bunch of old files and junk and what not yesterday. These two sentences seem unconnected, but they are not.

I only know keith Green from his music and stories of people just a tad older than me who were alive when he was alive. I came to his music later in life. There are few artist in recent history with the passion and intensity in their ministry than Keith Green. He was singleminded in his work for Christ (please note above that I only know him after his death, yet I am not attempting gloss over any shortcomings others may be aware of that I don't know of).

My wife has listened to him a long time, and still does. She puts his music on in the house often. I don't listen to quite as often, mainly cause I am a happy man, pretty carefree. Keith Green's music has the 2 fold effect of causing me to see with greater clarity the love of God for me and putting me under serious conviction. I begin to see where my shortcomings are in my life, especially my spiritual life- which prompts a thought about intergration: do we have a "spiritual life" vs. "life", but that is for another discussion I guess.

I want to live with a new intensity, passion this year. I want to not just clean out this place I live in as we did yesterday, but I want to put my house in order. I want this year to be more conscious of God in all that I do. My eyes have been dry for a while.

What a melodramatic title. Truth be told I am not dealing with any at athe moment, but I just put a friend on a a plane who is dealing with a load of it.

People interpret adversity in many ways. Some believe it is part of the natural state of things in the fallen world. There are just things to deal with. Others see adversity as something to overcome, a test to pass, a victory to achieve. Still others see it as the chastening of the Lord, thus to be avoided or steered clear from.

I imagine the only wrong answer is that only one of these is right. If I eat some ethnic foods, adversity will soon follow of a certain type. That I would imagine be part of the natural state, and not a test or the correction of the Lord. But the Bible also speaks of two kingdoms who war against one another, thus adversity is to be expected on such a level. I would imagine adversity too is God's instructing for certain situations.

Would Jesus have endured Gethsemene if it was interpreted as chastening. It would seem that he would have changed course if the path he was one reflected a need to change. The adversity of that week had another purpose. I would imagine some things are worth the price, and for others the price is too high to pay. Adversity calls for us to reflect constantly on who we are to be and where we are going- weighing the cost.

The new year comes with mixed emotions. It means football is almost over, though the end of the year has given us some good games. But looking out from this vantage, I am grateful looking out over the new year. I have a wonderful wife, I have a great job, living in a cool city. I am excited about the possibilities of this new year, and all it could hold.

It is weird, now having lived long enough to think of long-term friendship. My friend Mike and I have known each other 10 years or so, and have kept up our friendship through a lot of stuff. He and his family now live in Tyler, TX., and it is rare we get to hang out. Sure we do the electronic stuff and talk all the time, but not too often see each other.

He stopped by Nashville last night and spent the night (and his wife, Angeline and son Sam). They are heading to his parents in Cinci and broke the trip up by hanging out with me and Kim. We went to a basketball game and just talked the whole night. It was very refreshing. We reflected on both the similarities and differences of the paths each of us have chosen since seminary. And talked about football and theology and books and just stuff.

It was a good night.

Ok, so this has been a weird week. The weirdness of it has caused me no small amount of personal reflection, as well as long conversations with several people in my life. Those kinda what does this all mean sort of questions. Oddly, it has really been a very positive and blessed week in my life, and the fact that this is what has caused the consternation is funny. Can't handle playing with the lead I guess.

Anyway, this evening I was headed out the door to meet some friends. They called me to say they would be late because a storm had blown a tree down in the road in front of them. A car ahead of them had been demolished by the falling tree, so they asked me to pray while I waited on them. A few minutes later my friends called to inform me that though his family had been able to escape the car, the driver had been killed by the accident.

I sat there for a few minutes just stunned. Not that I knew this guy or anything, but how bizarre: you're just riding home (or anywhere!) with your family one moment and then your not. I wonder if that guy had any questions about where his life was headed, or if he was doing the right thing, or even what he thought his own future would be like? And in the end, did that matter?

I spend a lot of time in that existential self-conversation type of thing. Analyzing every move I make, or things that are going on around me. But one thing I have neglected in such conversations is the subject of mortality I guess.

Our new home, Nashville. We moved here about a month ago, pastoring a church on the west side of the city. We are excited to be here, and it is a cool thing living in such a big place. Not that its like a very big place, but compared to Cleveland, TN and Rossville, GA, my last 2 stops, it is very big.



This is the house we live in. It is provided by the church we are pastoring, and it is pretty cool. Pretty big by my standards too (a standard of apartments and dormrooms). It is in a quiet neighborhood where we are one of the few under 50 years of age.

This is Layla. She is 8 weeks old. We have had her about 3 weeks. She is adorable about 40% or the time, the othe 60% she is a biting, urinating mess. She is pretty cute, though, so we're gonna keep hear around.

So I went to my family reunion today (biological). And in a way I had another reunion (spiritual) later on that day. Both were really enjoyable. My father's family had not been together in some time, since way before my father passed. It was interesting to see again where I had come from, and hear stories I had heard a thousand time again, but this time only from uncles. My Dad would have told many of them had he been there.

My spiritual family, or at least a part of them, also met up in Nashville (my new home-another post soon about that), Though I have a lengthening history with them, this reunion was all about the future, and what God was doing in all our lives. This was a meeting to celebrate and reflect on new stuff. New passions, new jobs, new opportunities. It was an interesting contrast from being with my Daddy's people, where all there is to talk about is twenty + year old stories, all of which I do treasure.

It is funny how jotting in the date book come together in reflective ways, seeing where I came from in the same day I see some of where I want to be in the future. I miss my Dad, and being with his brothers was kinda hard. So it was good that the day ended with hearing new things, and new directions.

It has been a surprising winter so far here in Cleveland. lovely weather for those of us who do not like the cold. It is not odd for it to be in the low 60s in the mid-day the last couple of weeks. I have been greatly enjoying it. it has been short-sleeves feel during the day and not much more at night.

My apologies for not blogging in some time. The winter does make you retreat into doing only the most needful things. It goads one to self-protection and what not, but I will not succomb to such hereafter. I will attempt to post more regularly this year. That is not exactly a resolution because I don't do those. I think they only set me up for a fall.

I didn't say they wouldn't be rambling posts.

Peace

I was thinking earlier today about the whole issue of theodicy, or the justice of God (which also deals with the problem of evil) when I received a phone call. I was preparing a lecture on the subject over the past week for my class, so I was sorta forced to look at the issue. It was quite disheartening really. The more I look around at stuff, the less I have answers that make sense of it. The way lives around me have turned out were unanticapated to say the least.

About the time I was going to sit down and type this out I received a phone call as I mentioned above. It was my Mom telling me my brother had received early leave from the Army and was home. He had spent the last year in Iraq, and we knew he had returned to the states. We did not expect him for another week, so this came as quite a surprise. So I met up with him at Waffle House, his usual haunt, and proceeded to spend the day with him and my family.

Considering that my reflections on question of theodicy and the problems of this world revovled around so much of the past year, including the absence of my brother in that year was not an insignificant part of that year, I found it ironic that my reflection and his return coincided as they did. The justice of God is incomprehensible, and so much of life is without explaination. But even in inequity there is grace, a grace that ultimately is sufficient.