Buster and Maxine

My dog Buster, a Maltese, was put to sleep recently. I have also just read "Marley and Me" so I decided I have to write down at least one funny story.

My mother-in-law, Maxine, staid at our house occasionally. She slept downstairs. Buster used to sleep with us on our bed upstairs. When I awakened on a Saturday morning, Buster would follow me to the kitchen. However, when Maxine was staying downstairs, he would invariably stop at the top of the stairs. He would alternately look at me and then look downstairs. After a few moments, I would say, "Buster, go wake up Grandma!" Buster would rush downstairs at full tilt. I would then hear him running and sliding down the hall. I could easily imagine what happened: Buster jumping on top of Maxine and giving her Maltese kisses. The next thing I would hear, was Maxine making noises like she was bothered and started talking to Buster. I would be laughing while I made coffee.

Unless you think I was cruel to my mother-in-law, my wife said Maxine really enjoyed our Buster alarm clock.

May all our guests feel as welcome as Buster made my mother-in-law in our home.

Samurai saying

I was watching a special on Samurais on the history channel. One adage caught my ear, "After victory, tighten your helmet cords."

King David came to mind when I heard this. He staid home when it was time for kings to go to war. He felt he deserved a break. He was successful. He defeated his enemies. He trained his commanders. He went to his roof top to gaze over Jerusalem and admire his accomplishments, and noticed a bathing Bathseba. He fell, he lusted, he committed adultery, he lied, and he murdered. Although he received forgiveness from God, his family was forever affected by this transgression. After victory, tighten your helmet cords.

Lewis on Liberal Theology

Lewis comments on liberal theology.

All the theology of the liberal type involves at some point -- and often involves throughout--the claim that the real behaviour and purpose and teaching of Christ came very rapidly to be misunderstood and misrepresented by his followers, and he has been recovered or exhumed only by modern scholars. Now long before I became interested in theology I had met this kind of theory elsewhere. The tradition of Jowett still dominated the study of ancient philosophy when I was reading Greats. One was brought up to believe that the real meaning of Plato had been misunderstood by Aristotle and wildly travestied by the neo-Platonists, only to be recovered by the moderns. When recovered, it turned out (most fortunately) that Plato had really all along been an English Hegelian, rather like T. H. Green.

Fernseed and Elephants

And thus, the problem with the current trend of books that corrects our interpretation of Jesus sayings today. These authors distrust the gospel writers who lived with Christ or at least knew people who knew Christ personally. How can we trust them who do their reconstructions using modern interpretive methods, which may go out of date next year?

Samuel and Empty things

Samuel was addressing the nation Israel when he was annointing Saul as king:

And Samuel said to the people, "Do not be afraid; you have done all this evil. Yet do not turn aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart. And do not turn aside after empty things that cannot profit or deliver, for they are empty."

I Samuel 12:20-21 (ESB).

Anything that is not done for the Lord is an empty thing.

Moses and Work II

The power to gain wealth is from the Lord.

Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’ You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day.

(Deut. 9:17-18)(ESV)

I just received a pay raise. I worked hard last year, but I only worked 40-45 hours a week and I had no on-call. The previous year, I was very disappointed in my pay raise. I worked much harder, I was oncall, I was much more frustrated, and I averaged over 50 hours a week. I am not saying I deserved a pay raise because I switched jobs to one I was more suited to, but what I am trying to say is God is in control of promotions and pay raises. We must serve and honor him first by working hard, and let him take care of us.

The Puritans and Scripture

J. I. Packer in his book, A Quest for Godliness, on pages 97-98, relates the following story described to John Howe by Dr. Thomas Goodwin about a preacher, Mr. Rogers of Dedham.

having heard much of Mr. Rogers of Dedham [an early Puritan Boanerges]took a journey...to hear him preach on his lecture day....Mr. Rogers was...on the subject of...the Scriptures. And in that sermon he falls into an expostulation with the people about their neglect of the Bible;...he personates God to the people, telling them,'Well, I have trusted you so long with my Bible; you have slighted it, it lies in such and such houses all covered with dust and cobwebs; you care not to listen to it. Do you use my Bible so? Well, you shall have my Bible no longer.' And he takes up the Bible from his cushion, and seemed as if he were going away with it and carrying it from them; but immediately turns again and personates the people to God, falls down on his knees, cries and pleads most earnestly, 'Lord, whatever thou dost to us, take not thy Bible from us; kill our children, burn our houses, destroy our goods; only spare us thy Bible, only take not away thy Bible.' And then he personates God again to the people: 'Say you so? Well I will try you a while longer; and here is my Bible for you. I will see how you will use it, whether you will love it more...observe it more...practice it more, and live more according to it.' By these actions(as the doctor told me) he put all the congregation into so strange a posture that...the place was a mere Bochim, the people generally...deluged with their own tears; and he told me that he himself, when he got out...was fain to hang a quarter of an hour upon the neck of his horse weeping before he had power to mount; so strange an impression was there upon him, and generally upon the people,upon having been expostulated with for neglect of the Bible.

Things to do in and around Iowa city

This a personal list so I can remember where I can take people when they visit me in Iowa City.

1. Natural History Museum in campus.
2. Old Capitol Museum.
3. University of Iowa Art Museum.
4. Plum Grove Historical Site (1st Governor's House.)
5. Wallace Winery (Herbert Hoover Highway just east of West Branch).
6. Herbert Hoover museum in West Branch.
7. Eat at Amanas. Bill Zubers is good and so is Ox Yoke Inn.
8. Swing of the Quad Cities Baseball in Davenport.
9. Cedar Rapids Kernels.

Moses and Work

In Exodus the work started on the tabenacle. Moses called the people to work based on whom the Spirit has filled with skill.

Then Moses said to the people of Israel, "See, the Lord has called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah; and he ahs filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, with intelligence, with knowledge, and with all craftsmanship, to devise artistic designs to work in gold and silver and bronze," Exodus 35:30-33

And again in Exodus 36:2

And Moses called Bezalel and Oholiab and every craftsman in whose mind the Lord had put skill, everyone whose heart stirred him up to come to do the work. (ESV)

God is a god of quality. God expects good work from his people and good work honors God. Furthermore, the skills of craftsmen and construction are not usually considered skills for worship, but obviously these men in working on the temple, worshipped God. I usually don't advocate vocation, but the way God called and equipped these men for the work, may make me reconsider my views.

James Van Allen and Work

The Des Moines Register honoring Dr. Van Allen after his death in 2006, quoted a colleague:

"His idea of a big time is to go into his labs and just work through the weekend," said one of his associates in the 1980s.

At the memorial service, his colleagues and family indicated that he loved research. He would keep a tight schedule. Monday through Saturday, Dr. Van Allen would leave the house for work at 7:45 a.m. and come home for dinner at 6:30 p.m. He would eat dinner with his family and then go to his office to work the rest of the evening. On Sunday mornings he would cook waffles for his family and then leave to work 1/2 day or more.

I have never met such a discipline man before.

Hawthorne, Work and Angels

Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote about a person who worked and did not experience toil. Phoebe worked as if she was an angel who was not touch by the curse of Adam.

There was a spiritual quality in Phoebe's activity. The life of the long and busy day--spent in occupations that might so easily have taken a squalid and ugly aspect--had been made pleasant, and even lovely, by the spontaneous grace with which these homely duties seemed to bloom out of her character; so that labor, while she dealt with it, had the easy and flexible charm of play. Angels do not toil, but let their good works grow out of them; and so did Phoebe.

The House of the Seven Gables. Chapter 5.

The Prophets and Work

Sometimes, God uses the decrease production relative to amount of toil to get a person's or a people's attention. See Haggai 3:15-17

Now then, consider from this day onward. Before stone was placed upon stone in the temple of the Lord, how did you fare? When one came to a heap of twenty measures, there were but ten. When one came to the wine vat to draw fifty measures, there were but twenty. I struck you and all the products of your toil with blight and mildew and with hail, yet you did not run to me, declares the Lord.

ESV

C. S. Lewis and Work

Leland Ryken writes of Lewis writing about Tyndale.

The wonderful, beautiful integration of Tyndale's world. He utterly denies the medieval distinction between religion and secular life

p. 208 Worldly Saints Ryken footnotes Lewis's English Literature in the Sixteenth Century Excluding Drama

In the same paragraph Ryken writes,

Someone else has said that "the Puritan was determined to make earthly things divine, not by forbidding them, but by infusing them with holines."

Rocket Boys and Work

This is from the The Rocket Boys by Homer H. Hickam Jr. Homer wanted to quit making rockets after an accident in the mine injured his father and killed a friend. He felt guilty because he got his friend in trouble and his father assigned Homer's friend, who was a machinist, to work the "face," the most dangerous part of the mine. Homer just told his chemistry teacher, Miss Riley, he wanted to quit making rockets.

"You've got to put all your hurt and anger aside so you can do your job," Miss Riley said.

There it was, the West Virginia thing--the almighty job I should have known that was coming. Oh, yes, we all had our job to do in this state, breaking our backs to ship our wealth out to the world so we could turn around the next day and do it all over again for next to nothing. "What's my job?" I demanded harshly.

She ignored my tone. "Your job, Sonny is to build your rockets."

"Why?"

"If for no other reason, because it honors you and this school."

I wanted to run from her, tear out of her classroom and keep going, and never look back. "What if I don't like doing my job?" I argued weakly.

She gave me a look that went down to my marrow. "Then and especially then," she said, "you give it everything you've got."

p. 254. Delacorte Press. copyright 1998.

Jesus and Work/Wealth

Jesus made the following assertions in Luke about money.

Luke 16:10-14
Jesus also said to the disciples, "There was a rich man who was informed of accusations that his manager was wasting his assets. So he called the manager in and said to him, 'What is this I hear about you? Turn in the account of your administration, because you can no longer be my manager.' Then the manager said to himself, 'What should I do, since my master is taking my position away from me? I'm not strong enough to dig, and I'm too ashamed to beg. I know what to do so that when I am put out of management, people will welcome me into their homes.' So he contacted his master's debtors one by one. He asked the first, 'How much do you owe my master?' The man replied, 'A hundred measures of olive oil.' The manager said to him, 'Take your bill, sit down quickly, and write fifty.' Then he said to another, 'And how much do you owe?' The second man replied, 'A hundred measures of wheat.' The manager said to him, 'Take your bill, and write eighty.' The master commended the dishonest manager because he acted shrewdly. For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their contemporaries than the people of light. And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by how you use worldly wealth, so that when it runs out you will be welcomed into the eternal homes.

"The one who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and the one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much. If then you haven't been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will entrust you with the true riches? And if you haven't been trustworthy with someone else's property, who will give you your own? No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money."(net bible)

God gives us wealth to test us. The proper use of wealth is to help others.

Milton and Work

Ryken in his book about the Puritans, Wordly Saints quotes Milton's Paradise Lost about work.

Man hath his daily work of body or mind
Appointed, which declares his dignity
And the regard of Heaven on all his ways

bk. 4, lines 618-620.

Ryken goes onto to write,

We can glimpse here the Puritan belief about God as the one who calls people to tasks, about the dignity of work, about how the proper attitude toward the goals of work can transform every task into a sacred activity.

p. 35.Worldly Saints

Joseph and Work

I heard a sermon the other day (08/13/2006) about Joseph and promotions. The preacher, Greg Gilbaugh, draws three principles from Joseph's life concerning promotions.

1. Promotions are in God's control and not your control.


2. God uses waiting to develop character. Notice that Joseph had to wait 2 years before the cupbearer remembered to tell Pharoah about Joseph.


3. God will promote you to fulfill his purposes and not just to satisfy you.

Jesus and Work

Os Guiness in The Call writes about Jesus and his pre-mission work:

In the second century, Christian apologist, Justin Martyr grew up over the hill from Galilee. Interestingly, he notes that the plows made by Joseph and Jesus were still being used widely in his day. How intriguing to think of Jesus' plow rather than his cross -- to wonder what it was that made his plows and yokes last and stand out

In Mark 6, scripture records that people referred to Jesus as being a carpenter.

Mark 6:2–4
And on the Sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astonished, saying, “Where did this man get these things? What is the wisdom given to him? How are such mighty works done by his hands? Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him. And Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor, except in his hometown and among his relatives and in his own household.” (ESV)

The theological premise that physical/manual labor is honoring to God does not depend on the interpretation of Mark 6:3 or trusting Martyr's witness. Several passages support that work can be a form of worship (Colossians 3:6, 23; 1 Corinthians 10:31). God gives the blessing of enjoying the work of one's own hands to his people (Ecclesiastes 5:19-20). However, the fact that Jesus did work with his hands is an intriguing idea to meditate upon and seems to be supported by scripture and the historical witness. The God of all creation chose the profession of carpentry during his time on earth and he did not choose to be a scribe or a rabbi. All that Christ did on earth glorified His Father in heaven (John 17:4). Only God knows fully knows why, but God chose carpentry as the best way to glorify himself in in "pre-mission" period of Christ's life.

Wisdom and Work

I read Proverbs 8:22-31 and since I was rereading "Zen and the Art of the Motorcycle Maintenance. the passage really stood out to me. ZAMM expounds about quality and excellence in life. The Proverbs passage teaches about the origins of Wisdom and how God used wisdom in creation. Proverbs 8:30-31 teaches:

Then I was beside Him, as a master workman; And I was daily His delight, Rejoicing in the world, His earth, having my delight in the sons of men.

The idea of Pirsig's quality/excellence/arete(greek) has some parallels with Wisdom. Both are an ordering principle of reality. The book Your Work Matters to God by Sherman and Hendricks points out about the above scriptural passage that "Rejoicing" can be translated "play." The authors then teach that Christ is Wisdom and that Christ played before God in his creation and Christ played with man. The other options I found for translating "Rejoicing" are "dancing" or "playing an instrument" or "laughing." I don't think Christ is directly referenced in the passage. I think the author personified "Wisdom" for a point. Wisdom is "skill in living." God used wisdom in ordering and designing the universe. Creating is God's work, God did it with Wisdom, and God enjoy creating. Wisdom is skill in the totality of life. Wisdom is ordering our lives around the ordering principle of the universe: glorifying God. Wisdom is working well, playing well, treating others well and serving God well in everything we do. Our relationship with God should transform every aspect our lives into lives of quality. Pirsig thinks doing tasks well will transform the performer. There is truth in that, but only God can transform a life. Once God transforms a life, one can begin a life of wisdom and quality.

One benefit is that our enjoyment in God and our skill in life should translate to joy of life. God enjoys and delights in his creation. Hs is a master craftsman who takes joy in his work. One way to translate the Proverbs passage "While God created the world, God delighted in wisdom as wisdom danced before God while God created the world." Lewis had Aslan sing Narnia into creation. I can see where Lewis gets that imagery now. The joy of Aslan that Lewis expressed in the Narnian creation, God had for the creation of our universe and mankind.

We are made in the image of God. Thus, as we live skillfully, life and work should be a joy for us. I am not saying we will have it easy, but we should endure suffering as Christ endured suffering, "...who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross." Or as book of James exhorts us, "Consider it all joy brethren when you meet trials of various kinds." We can have joy in work in spite of or even because of the suffering.

Spurgeon and Preaching

I read this in C. H. Spurgeon by Dallimore.

During the 1880s a group of American ministers visited England, prompted especially by a desire to hear some of the celebrated preachers of that land

On a Sunday morning they attended the City Temple where Dr. Joseph Parker was the pastor. Some two thousand people filled the building, and Parker's forceful personality dominated the service. His voice was commanding, his language descriptive, his imagination lively, and his manner animated. The sermon was scriptural, the congregation hung upon his words, and the Americans came away saying, "What a wonderful preacher is Joseph Parker!"

In the evening they went to hear Spurgeon at the Metropolitan Tabernacle. The building was much larger than the City Temple, and the congregation was more than twice the size. Spurgeon's voice was much more expressive and moving and his oratory noticably superior. But they soon forgot all about the great building, the immense congregation, and the magnificient voice. They even overlooked their intention to compare the various features of the two preachers,and when the service was over they found themselves saying, "What a wonderful Savior is Jesus Christ!"

May everyone who views our ministry have the same reaction to our ministry. Glorify the Master and not the servant!

Luther and Work

From Luther's "Commentary on Galatians in the declaration section (p. 21):

When I have Christian righteousness reigning in my heart, I descend from heaven as the rain makes fruitful the earth; that is to say, I do good works, how and wheresoever the occasion arises. If I am a minister of the Word, I preach, I comfort the brokenhearted, I administer the sacraments. If I am a householder, I govern my house and family well, and in the fear of God. If Iam a servant, I do
my master's business faithfully.

To conclude, whoever is assuredly persuaded that Christ alone is his righteousness, does not only cheerfully and gladly work well in his vocation, but also submits himself through love the the rulers and to their laws, yea, though they be severe, and, if necessity should require, to all manner of burdens, and to all dangers of the present life, because he knows that this is the will of God, and this obedience please Him.

Thomas a Kempis

Spurgeon in his book "The Treasury of David," commenting on Psalm 1 and meditation quotes Thomas a' Kempis:

I have no rest, but in a nook, with The Book.

Noah and Preaching through Work

II Peter 2:5 reads:

"and if he did not spare the ancient world, but did protect Noah, a herald of
righteousness, along with seven others, when God brought a flood on an ungodly world, "

Look at Genesis 6 and 7. Noah was building an Arc. There is nothing about
him going around being a herald or preaching repentance. Most commentaries point
out it was Noah's obedience to God's command was the preaching. Genesis 6:30
reads "And Noah did all that God commanded him – he did indeed." Noah worked on building a gigantic ark for 120 years. It wasn't close to the water. His evil neighbors witnessed this
folly. Noah worked as a carpenter. He wasn't "in" the ministry. He wasn't a doctor. He wasn't a professional preacher. He simply built an ark. God tells us in Ephesians 6

"6:5 Slaves,9 obey your human masters with fear and trembling, in the sincerity of your heart as to Christ, 6:6 not like those who do their work only when someone is
watching11 – as people-pleasers – but as slaves of Christ doing the
will of God from the heart.12 6:7 Obey with enthusiasm, as though serving the Lord
and not people, 6:8 because you know that each person, whether slave or free, if he does something good, this will be rewarded by the Lord. that the master we serve at work is Christ."

When we are at work we are obeying God or should be obeying God. If we work as God wants us to work, working to please Christ by working hard, lovingly and honestly, we too will be heralds to a fallen world without uttering word.

Noah and Work

One of the earliest references to work is found in Genesis:

5:28 When Lamech had lived one hundred and eighty-two years, he had a son. 5:29
He named him Noah, saying, "This one will bring us comfort from our labor and
from the painful toil of our hands because of the ground that the Lord has
cursed."

Notice that the ground was cursed and not work. God didn't curse work and that work is not a result of the fall. Man was not looking for a way out of work. He was looking to be freed from the painful toil of his hands because the ground was cursed. Because God gave man work, work has instrinsic and extrinsic value . The problem with work after the fall is the toil and labor. Work because of the fall, is toil. It can be monotous and painful. Because we are mortal we get bored and frustrated. We know life is short and we try to imbue life with meaning. We try to give a reason for pain and discomfort. Work alone is not the answer. As it says in Ecclesiastes, the enjoyment of work is a gift of God. However, work without the context of God gives life is meaningless chasing after wind.

Sayers and Work

I read an interesting quote by Dorothy Sayers about work in a not so interesting book by Sherman and Hendricks. The quote is as follows:

In nothing has the church so lost her hold on reality as in her failure to understand and respect the secular vocation. She has allowed work and religion to become separate departments, and is astonished to find that, as a result, the secular work of the world is turned to purely selfish and
destructive ends, and that the greater part of the world's intelligent workers have become irreligious, or at least, uninterested in religion. How can any one remain
interested in a religion which seems to have no concern with nine-tenths of his
life?

(p. 20, Your Work Matters to God)

I hate "The DaVinci Code"

I did enjoy reading The DaVinci Code at a certain level, but the ending just made me angry and ruined the whole book. It had no ending. The book promised revelation and delivered a wimpy self-revelation. The historical facts of The DaVinci Code are even more wimpy. I won't go into details, but the primary revelation of The DaVinci Code is that Jesus and Mary Magdalene had a baby. I saw a special on the Discovery Channel called "The Real DaVinci Code." The special was narrated by Tony Robinson. One of the authors of Holy Blood, Holy Grail was asked if they had any evidence whatsoever that Jesus and Mary had a baby. He said no and then the author asked, "Is it a reasonable supposition to make?" He answered himself and said, "I think it is." The whole conspiracy Dan Brown traces in his book is based on this rather flimsy assumption with no basis in historical fact. None of gospels or gnostic gospels even speak of it. The TV special tried to track down any evidence to support the theories about Templars and the grail that "The DaVinci Code" claimed and found nothing. The narrator just found better historical explanations for the theories the book asserted as fact. The novel is fiction; however, Dan Brown in the preface asserts all descriptions of historical documents and secret societies are accurate. The special gave Dan Brown credit for spinning a good yarn, but dismissed the book as fiction.

Dancing and Spirituality

I don't dance. Once I took a free dancing lesson with my wife in a New Orleans' restaurant. I learned that a database administrator can have no discernable sense of rhythm. However a quote from a really bad movie "The Next Karate Kid" caused me to meditate about the relationship between dance and spirituality. The quote is

Never trust spiritual leader who doesn't dance.

John Piper in his book Desiring God tells a story about John Hyde.

John Hyde, better known as "Praying Hyde," led a life of incredibly intense prayer as a missionary to India at the turn of the century. Some thought him morose. But a story about him reveals the true spirit behind his life of sacrificial prayer. A worldy lady once thought she would have a little fun at Mr.Hyde's expense. So she asked, "Don't you think, Mr. Hyde, that a lady who dances can go to heaven?" He looked at her with a smile and said quietly, "I do not see how a lady can go to heaven unless she dances."

Psalm 149:3a commands Israel to "Let them praise his name with dancing." 2 Samuel 6:19 relates how David was dancing and leaping before the Ark of the Covenant as the Ark was brought into Jerusalem. Michal, his wife and Saul's daughter, thought this dancing was unkingly and despised David for his behavior. David rebuked her. Celebrating the Lord in dance is something not many churches do anymore, but it is to their disgrace that it doesn't happen. A spiritual leader who takes himself so seriously that he can not dance before the Lord, is one that should not be trusted.