12 Witnesses

Actually, this would better be titled: The dangers of an uncritical mind. Just a thought.

This has been in the meta for at least a little while, so I have no idea where to attribute it beyond the Cincinnati Enquirer. Nevertheless, enjoy.

The Dangers of Bread— A recent Cincinnati Enquirer headline read, “Smell of baked bread may be health hazard.” The article went on to describe the dangers of the smell of baking bread. The main danger, apparently, is that the organic components of this aroma may break down ozone (I’m not making this stuff up). I was horrified. When are we going to do something about bread-induced global warming? Sure, we attack tobacco companies, but when is the government going to go after Big Bread? Well, I’ve done a little research, and what I’ve discovered should make anyone think twice….

1. More than 98 percent of convicted felons are bread eaters.
2. Fully HALF of all children who grow up in bread-consuming households score below average on standardized tests.
3. In the 18th century, when virtually all bread was baked in the home, the average life expectancy was less than 50 years; infant mortality rates were unacceptably high; many women died in childbirth; and diseases such as typhoid, yellow fever and influenza ravaged whole nations.
4. More than 90 percent of violent crimes are committed within 24 hours of eating bread.
5. Bread is made from a substance called “dough.” It has been proven that as little as one pound of dough can be used to suffocate a mouse. The average American eats more bread than that in one month!
6. Primitive tribal societies that have no bread exhibit a low occurrence of cancer, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s disease and osteoporosis.
7. Bread has been proven to be addictive. Subjects deprived of bread and given only water to eat begged for bread after only two days.
8. Bread is often a “gateway” food item, leading the user to “harder” items such as butter, jelly, peanut butter and even cold cuts.
9. Bread has been proven to absorb water. Since the human body is more than 90 percent water, it follows that eating bread could lead to your body being taken over by this absorptive food product, turning you into a soggy, gooey bread-pudding person.
10. Newborn babies can choke on bread.
11. Bread is baked at temperatures as high as 400 degrees Fahrenheit! That kind of heat can kill an adult in less than one minute.
12. Most American bread eaters are utterly unable to distinguish between significant scientific fact and meaningless statistical babbling.

In light of these frightening statistics, we propose the following bread restrictions:

1. No sale of bread to minors.
2. No advertising of bread within 1000 feet of a school.
3. A 300 percent federal tax on all bread to pay for all the societal ills we might associate with bread.
4. No animal or human images, nor any primary colors (which may appeal to children) may be used to promote bread usage.
5. A $4.2 zillion fine on the three biggest bread manufacturers.

Getting ready for my church’s preliminary trip to Vietnam in just 7 weeks, I got a series of 5 shots yesterday. Several of them are pretty painful, but they are necessary. I even got a flu vaccine, which I never get, because I will be in a plane for the better parts of 1 1/2 days - each way.

Traveling to Asia, I got MMR (Measles, Mumps, Rubella), Tdap (Tetanus, Diphtheria, Pertussis), Twinrix (Hepatitis A & B combo shot), Typhoid and the aforementioned flu shots today. Both arms feel stiff and I am sure to dream that I am a pin cushion tonight. She said to move my arms a lot, as it helps keep them from getting too stiff.

I went to the Tulsa City/County Health Department for my shots, which totaled $121. That’s pretty cheap, actually, though I have two more Twinrix shots to go at $49 per shot.

I also have to get a prescription from a Dr. for malaria. There are three options for this. Doxycycline is an antibiotic that was recommended by the former IMB Missionary who is coordinating our trip through Glocal Ventures. GVI (Glocal Ventures, Inc) is the LLC set up by Northwood Church in Keller to coordinate such mission efforts.

I’ll be letting you know more about our trip to Vietnam in the coming weeks. We leave on a Tuesday, so I will probably update you on Tuesdays from now until the trip. As you can see, I have a theme for these updates:

Vietnam::on God’s heart::my destination

Of course, whenever we discuss our purpose, we realize, it is God’s purpose for us. We go about it because of our love for Him and His desire that people from every tribe, tongue and nation belong to His Kingdom. Also, as I grow closer to Him, my desires become shaped by His desires. Hence, Vietnam is my destination, because it is on the heart of the God I love.

I am getting excited.

Faith Without Borders - WSJ.com

The Wall Street Journal has an interesting article on the impact of globalization and the spread of theology. Curious to me was the impact on Islamic fundamentalists discussed toward the end of the article. Check this quote:

For example, under Shah Reza Pahlavi, Iranians became more westernized as oil riches fostered a middle class. The 1979 coup led by the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini was a fundamentalist, primitive backlash. It held (and still does) that the main engine of globalization, America, is Islam’s arch-enemy. Today, young Iranians increasingly reject the harsh diktats of the theocrats, which supports the idea that the mullahs are fighting a rear-guard action. This makes them no less dangerous. It in fact adds urgency to their war against the “Great Satan.”

The article is certainly not written from a conservative evangelical point of view. Nevertheless, there appear to be some things we might take away from the phenomenon of globalization and use them to advance the Gospel.

Your thoughts?

You can see these and other pictures on my photoblog.

Sun setting in Tulsa.

Same tree, different angle and in b/w.

Been listening to David Crowder Band’s latest, Remedy, and love it. I really enjoy most of the artists associated with Passion and Six Steps Records, but DCB is pretty much my favorite. My son’s favorite, too. Proud Papa. Raising him right.

Anyway, cut 5 is a song called “Never Let Go” and it has been turning my mind over and over again.

We don’t like to say that we let go of God. In our minds, we are committed to Him through thick and thin. It is a false perception.

I let go of God in big and little ways. Little ways like being too busy to give Him time in my day to remake me in the image of His Son. Big ways like choosing to willfully sin. Broken ways, like barely conversing with my God for almost a year after my nephew drowned. You see, I didn’t deny His sovereignty or doubt that He knew what He was doing or deny His Lordship over me or my family. I just didn’t like it. It took me a while to get through it.

In all the times, times of great joy and horrific sorrow, God never let go of me. Perseverance of the Saints is this. I am here, not because I never let go of Him - I do frequently - but because He has never let go of me. Nor will He. No one can snatch me from His hand.

And why not? Because He never changes. Yesterday, today and forever. Alpha and Omega.

Ever Faithful, Ever True…

Through sun and rain, joy and pain, You’re still the same…

You never let go.

What an amazing God. Thankfully, my faith rests on Him, and not me.

Soli Deo Gloria.

The most immediate reaction is often Islam or even atheism. Both of these world views are opposed to the world view of the Evangelical Christian. They are, in fact, violently opposed to our world view. But they are not even close to the greatest enemy that faces any, much less every, Christian.

Allow me, if you will, to construct a small train of deductive logic in order to make the point of this post hit home.

We were created for a relationship with God. Our best possible existence, then, is one in which our relationship with God is all it should be: worshipful, obedient, joyfully existing to serve the one we love. I know. The tendency is to point out that atheism hates that idea - that we are subservient to a “higher being” rather than being the highest being that deserves to do as we wish with our lives. Islam would object that it is not the “right” higher being.

Nevertheless, their objections are nothing to us. They are objections. Are they in the way of evangelizing the world? In a way, you might say that, but that is a view that leaves the responsibility of winning the world to us (as in “us vs. them”) and pretty much leaves God out of the evangelization process. Well, no thanks. This post isn’t about that, but suffice it to say that we have the mission because it is God’s mission. He is in charge of it’s success and failure.

So then, they are objectors to our world view, but beyond that they have no power over us as Christians.

As Christians, our first fulfillment, the thing upon which all else is based, is our personal relationship with God. It drives our passion for evangelism, ministry, worship, fellowship and everything that has anything to do with who we are to be as the children of God.

Therefore, our greatest enemy is that which would take us away from growing in our relationship with God, conforming our lives to His will.

Our greatest enemy is being busy.

I know, huh. Pretty simplistic, right?

Nevertheless. It is having things to do and doing them that keeps me from growing in Christ, which keeps me from worshiping the way I was created to worship; ministering with God’s heart for the needy; fellowshipping with my brothers and sisters in Christ; and, last but certainly not least, having a passion to take the Gospel to the lost.

Therefore, I have a new slogan to help me focus myself:

Of all the things that are expected of me today,

that I expect of myself today,

that I consider doing today…

Nothing is as important to me,

to my family, to my church,

to the world around me or to God

as my spending time alone with Him.

Why is a minister of 20 years in need of such a self taught lesson?

Frankly, most of the ministers I know need to remember this lesson. We are busy meeting the very many expectations placed us by ourselves and others and we start believing our own press. Comments about how meaningful sermons are might cloud our minds into thinking that it was our words that made the difference rather than the Holy Spirit using the Word and the kerygma (proclaimed Gospel) to impact our brothers and sisters.

Besides, what harm can come from us renewing our commitment to make God our first priority, not just in spoken commitment, but in the devotion of our daily lives?

It is time to own up to the final standings of the BFL.

Without furthur ado, here they are (the team highlighted in blue is me: The Ramblin’ Wreckers)

That’s Paul Littleton at the top of the heap: The Emergiants.

What is not seen is that Paul and I played in the first round of the playoffs. My QB, Peyton Manning, had such an incredible first half (48 points, or thereabouts) that they sat him in the second half to protect him for the actual playoffs. Paul beat me by 5.9 points in that round, sending me to the losers’ bracket. I did happen to check the scores of all the teams in the following weeks. I blew them all out across the board in the next two weeks ( I dropped Peyton, since he wasn’t playing and had some receivers and running backs go nuts). Thus, if I had beaten Paul on that day… If I had just had 6 more points… I would have won it all, instead of being champ of the losers’ bracket. Alas. That is why they play the games. Lesson learned. Next time draft Tom Brady. They play the whole game every game in their maniacal pursuit of perfection.

Congrats to Paul, who gets a Starbucks gift card.

Feel free to talk your smack now…

I am. Kind of, I mean. Not a total cynic. I am a bit of a skeptic when it comes to many things. Some atheists would probably scoff at that thought, but that is just that I am skeptical of their lack of faith, while they are skeptical of my faith.

There is nothing wrong with skepticism. It must not dominate your mind, but without it, we would be “blown about by every wind of doctrine,” or have minds “like waves tossed about by the wind.”

Nevertheless, I am more skeptical than most. I was raised by skeptics - really good ones - and that makes me a skeptic of skeptics, a logician of logicians and a critic bred of critics. As to the doubters, flawless. You get the picture.

Now, that is the natural man in me. The Holy Spirit at work in me causes me to become more nurturing, trusting and -gulp- forgiving of those not quite up to my standards. (Yes, skeptics make great legalists…)

Well, He’s working on me anyway.

That is why I roll my eyes at New Year’s Resolutions. “Oh, please!” I say. “If you are all fired up to make these changes in your life, why did you wait? Why not diet in November and December when it might actually help you?” The evidence is also on my side. These things never work out. You will do them for a while and then quit. Gym regulars hate January and February when Resolute Patrons come in, hog the machines and crowd the floor… until they are no longer resolute. It starts thinning at about 6 weeks.

I think most resolutions fail because they are impossible for anyone but the Lord, Jesus, Himself. “I will pray for one hour every day.”

Really?

Now I know people who do that. At times in my life, it has been me. But you don’t just start to do that if you haven’t been growing into it. Why not, “I will pray sincerely every day.” Let it grow into an hour or more.

So I ask you again. Are you a cynic? If so, move on. Nothing else for you to see.

If, however, you are a true believer…

If you have been a little irritated by the post thus far…

If you have made it thus far, but you don’t know quite why…

I offer you my New Year’s Resolutions.

• I am resolved to spend time alone with God every day. Unless absolutely impossible, it will be structured because the best growth I have ever experienced was a structured time and my shrugging off the legalism of it has now become a bit of laziness and the allowing of other things to distract me. It will include introspection, praise, confession, thanksgiving, supplication for my own shortcomings and intercession for the needs of others. Of course, it will also include marinating in the Word of God.

• I am resolved to take the Gospel of Jesus Christ beyond the confines of my personal comfort. This will include, specifically, at least one mission trip to Vietnam, but will also include mission trips to Lowe’s, Starbucks, Subway, the neighborhood in which I live and the neighborhood in which I worship.

• I am resolved to take better care of my body by eating less and exercising more. Specifically, I am going to moderate my calorie intake and walk as often as the weather will cooperate. No fad diets. No weights or treadmills. I will, however, need a new iPod, since my old one has bitten the dust. Think that will work with my wife?

• I am resolved to establish several new relationships that will challenge me in ministry at the church, personal spiritual growth and personal growth that has nothing whatsoever to do with church.

• I am resolved to spend more time with my family. Specifically, I will date my wife more and take my kids out on their own - just me and them. We went to see Alvin and the Chipmunks before Christmas while my wife was still in school. It was awesome and we had a great time.

• I am resolved to be less cynical. I will do everything I can to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit, trust where He leads and question that which stands opposed to His Word. I will allow less sophisticated offerings to God from those who are less experienced and less educated… those not quite as, ahem, perfect as me (tongue firmly in the cheek)… to be just that: imperfect offerings of imperfect children of God. Certainly they are no less appreciated than my precisely crafted offerings with flaws just as glaring to the God who receives them both, even if they are not apparent to me.

Couple of words, pre foto…

The comments section is back up and working. I did lose the comments that were made after December 9, 2007, but that is not too bad. Feel free to go back and say something, if you feel there is something significant. I know that there are some who wanted to comment on the post immediately preceding this one - Leaving the SBC. If the moment has past, no hard feelings.

I have a good line up of posts ready to go for next week, including one on priorities and another on the declaration of the winner in our Fantasy Football League, along with complete standings.

Allright, enough. Here’s a couple of pictures of sunrise (yes, the early morning sun against the horizon time of day) from our 5th story hotel room in OKC. It having been our 15th wedding anniversery, Bonnie and I went away for a couple of days while her Mom kept the kiddos.

You can check out more of my pictures at photoblog.twelvewitnesses.com.