After All

[You are after all, a person.]

You are not a paper-writing machine.

You are not a land mass.

You do not always belong indoors.

You do not always belong outdoors.

You can think of original ideas.

You are probably not perfectly normal.

You are not a lone ranger.

You are a reflector of God's image.

If you are in Christ, you are a new creation.

[He is, after all, God.]

Every Knee

Philippians 2:9-11:

For this reason God highly exalted Him
and gave Him the name that is above every name,¹⁰  so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow—of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth—¹¹ 
and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.


That reality of this future event struck me this evening. I just finished the book An American Childhood by Annie Dillard. It was a tidal pool book- full of fascinating things, but quite shallow in comparison to the ocean that is His truth.


In the account of her childhood, Annie recounted her thoughts while in church and said of the rich, not-living-like-Christians congregation: "I knew enough Bible to damn the whole lot of them to hell". 

But she didn't know Jesus as He truly is.

Then I realized: she will see Him. She will bow before Him.

So will Mohamed.

So will Shakespeare.

So will Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens (that may be awkward).

So will Mother Theresa.

So will the Jersey Shore cast.

So will the small and the great.

So will I and the rest of His church.

It will be glorious. He is glorious.

"The Hunger Games": Being brave enough to state the obvious

I'm going to preface this monologue by admitting a few things about myself:

• All the way through high school and up to now, I read a few dumpsters full of books, and some of them legitimately belonged in the garbage. I'm a sinner, and I know how easy it is to keep reading when my conscience tells me a book should be discarded.
• I don't want to be a hater, I'm just concerned and want to deal with this influential book series biblically and examine if it's an edifying read.
• I understand Christian liberty as explained in Romans, but Romans also contains this exhortation, "Be wise as to what is good and innocent as to what is evil."
• I've skimmed all three of the Hunger Games books, and found them to be gripping, well-written novels, but also frightening and concerning. I understand why they're popular, and that frightens me. This is my attempt to explain why I'm not a fan of them, but it is also an exhortation to use the conversations you have about them to proclaim the gospel of Jesus.

The first time I heard about the Hunger Games was last summer, when I was a camp counselor. Two of my fifth grade campers were arguing about Peeta vs. Gale. I only vaguely knew what they were talking about, and was about to tune out when they started talking about graphic deaths in the novel. Their conversation was broken up by an activity, but I was disturbed. I forgot about it until recently, then remembered because I've been hearing so much about the Hunger Games book trilogy, especially with the release of the first movie.


In discussions about the book, someone always defends the contents of the books, and someone else  usually states the obvious: "Little kids kill each other. That's really grotesque." 


Response: "Well, yeah...but it's a political novel. I enjoy the political aspect. And it's fiction, just a story." 


That's true. I looked for politics in the  novel- I looked really hard. As an adult, I found some politics. Even two years ago, I probably would have been more caught up with the shocking violent parts, the love triangle, and the overall out-there flavor of the books, with the political tones as an afterthought.


In the first book I found nakedness discussed pretty often (but it was non-sexual, so that's ok- or is it?), a decent amount of kissing, and what most readers interpreted as  premarital sex in Mockingjay, the last book. Is that good for elementary and middle schoolers? Is it good for high school students? College? Adults? When is sexual immorality (or even a hint of it) ok? I'm not on a high horse standing on a soapbox- I read "Atlas Shrugged" which contains even more sexual immorality- it had a negative effect on me. Sexual immorality is rebellion against God, and it's not good to put inside of our minds. It will have an effect on us, there's no getting around that. Let's be careful what we read, and what we recommend, to younger readers especially.


As for the violence, I found spears sticking out of children, poison, dogs whose eyes were those of the dead tributes (nauseating), and death as a casual affair that doesn't break you, but somehow makes you stronger. Is that what death does to us, or does it hurt us deeply, beyond repair save for redemption in Christ?


Excellent? Or Evil?


Politics: there are some. The depravity of humanity is shown in the Capitol. The lavish lifestyle, the enjoyment of gore is reflective of the real-life gladiatorial games. 


We don't have to ask the question on this one: that's evil.
All this being said, I don't feel as if I can endorse the series: it's not excellent.
But I'm not an isolationist, physically or culturally, and Paul quoted current plays in his sermons to help people understand the gospel. Like almost any book or film, "The Hunger Games" can be used as a conversation starter that can lead to sharing/discussing the gospel of Jesus Christ.


Here's some talking points for your "Hunger Games" conversations. Be bold in sharing the truth. People are hungry, and He is not lacking in good things:

• The hunger the characters experience is actually experienced by real, live people in modern-day North Korea. Check out the book "Escape from Camp 14" to read about the horrors of North Korean concentration camps and the hunger people face there. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/12/books/escape-from-camp-14-by-blaine-harden.html?pagewanted=all

Bring that up, and pray with your friends. If they're people who don't know Jesus, talk about how He isn't ok with that kind of oppression, and is coming back to end it. Talk about the North Korean church and how they cling to Jesus in their distress:http://www.persecutionblog.com/2011/02/powerful-testimony-of-a-north-korean-christian.html 

• Talk about the death in the books- not the violence, the aching pain of death. Talk about the emotional effects death has on us as people. Talk about how death isn't a 'natural process' but a result of our sin. Talk about

Ecclesiastes 7:2
"It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for this is the end of all mankind, and the living [should] take it to heart."


Then share the gospel of Jesus and how He has defeated death and robbed it of its sting. 


Make the most of every opportunity- even conversations about "The Hunger Games". 

Stumbling over Words: Poetry Efforts

An Anthem About Being Alive

Everyone else seems to be taking a stab at poetry they hope will be unique enough to not remind someone of better- classic poetry like Keats or the Beatles. Here's my effort: 
This is not a love poem; it's a life verse:
 An anthem about being alive
[life isn't an irredeemable curse]
 I've heard that some people have a right not to ever see the sun.
 Well, I read poetry by a boy whose life had been shattered, and he said he was thrilled to be alive.
 I'm positive that that the "right to die" is a revolting lie.
Those choices I've made in the garden of my heart- glancing around, sneaking fruit out in my pockets- those never brought life.
All I got from them was strife, screams in a locked bathroom.
 So the "right to choose" [the one we sinned to attain] well, I'm rethinking whether or not that was a gain or a dreadful loss.
 Somebody Who always made the right decisions
 Took a myriad of incisions
 On sinless skin
 That was His choice- crying out in a loud voice for us to be forgiven
of our free will abuse.
So I guess I'm pro-choice when it comes to my Creator's voice.
 What He's spoken I'll do
 That means thinking about you and your soul, whose choices you're gonna follow: will they be His or are you sticking with you?
That's the anthem- I was probably off key
So I'll leave it to the Saviour to compose the rest of the symphony.

It's not me, it's You.

[Unoriginal. Blase.]

Dover paperback of T.S. on the floor and glad that he can voice his frustration with the ordinary in a poem that everyone reads for ENGL 102 in all the universities.

For all that, he wasn't content until he found Jesus. . .rather, until Jesus picked him up from the realm of darkness and melancholy stanzas and brought him to the kingdom of light and epigraphs of praise with endless, flawless poetry following them.

There You are, LORD. I was in my angsty bunker inhaling mustard gas all too willingly.

The air's clearing when You come.

You always do when I intend to copy pre-Jesus T.S. - whether I want You to or not.

Help me want Your presence, O my Saviour.

[New. Vibrant.]

More Spirit-taught lessons...

Things I'm learning recently, by God's grace:

1] Be gentle in speaking truth. Real truth is usually sharp & hard-hitting enough, & doesn't need extra sharpness added to it.

2] Be brief & concise in your speech. Say what needs to be said & speak more Scripture than your own words. Don't fall in love with the sound of your own voice- that'll make it easier to be quick to listen, slow to speak. (James 1:19)

3] Watch out for cynicism. Never know who might be wounded by it.

4] Keep commitments, no matter how difficult it is to do so.

5] Work ahead in school, etc- never regrettable.

6] Actually pray. Don't tell someone you'll pray for them unless you actually will. Better to be silent than to lie.

7] Don't watch the clock when in church, class, or a meeting. Learn to listen & develop a buff attention span.

8] Live fully where you are. Text less, talk to people face-to-face more often.

9]God's grace is greater than any troubles- He disciplines those Whom He loves. Make sure you suffer for doing good, & not for sinning. (1 Peter 2:20)

1 Peter 5:6-11, "Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen."

[Proverbs 31] -- the Spirit's challenge of my cynicism.

So....to all my siblings (especially sisters, likely, but some of this will apply to the brothers as well) ...who's seen those journals with 'Charm is deceptive & beauty is fleeting, but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised'? (usually written in curly font with flowers encircling the words-- see picture)

I sure have. I've gotten a few in gift exchanges & now they live in a dumpster or a landfill somewhere. Ironically, I've never received a journal that had Ecclesiastes 7:26 (one of my life verses) inscribed on it, 'And I find more bitter than death a woman who is a trap, her heart a net, & her hands chains. The one who pleases God will escape her, but the sinner will be captured by her.'

If there was a journal with that written on it, I'd buy it. And give it to my friends. But maybe that's just me.

Anyhow, the point I'm trying to communicate is-- does Proverbs 31 intimidate you even slightly? Asking both sisters & brothers this one, 'cause the first part of P31 is about men, by the ways. King Lemuel's Mama is tellin' him not to spend his strength on women, not to be enslaved to wine, & to fight for the rights of the oppressed. Perhaps it's not accidental that before a passage about how women ought to conduct themselves there's a shout out to the men as well.

Then there's also the cultural difference-- I've heard lots of girls joke around about how when they're wives they're totally gonna be making wool & flax textiles & selling in the marketplace -- very sarcastically & in an offhand way. Part of that perhaps (er, decidedly) comes from the fact that the girls I've heard make those comments (mmkay, confession: I'm one of those girls myself) are single.

I can only wonder if when a single girl who made those comments gets married if all of the sudden she's searching through P31 frantically because she realizes that marriage is actually a job.

(speculating partially, also going off my Mum's counsel & also my sisters)

In any case, I'm fleeing my unholy cynicism towards a chapter that is part of the living & active Word of God, which the Holy Spirit of God wrote (1 Peter 1:20). He wrote it very purposefully, and when viewed in combination with the rest of God's revelation to us, it's a very exquisite passage.

Many many times in the Word God's people are compared to whores, a faithless bride who has wandered away from her husband & sought many lovers. Likewise, each of us, before God called us out of sin, were in darkness, defiling ourselves with our lustful passions (Romans 7:5)

But-- oh, 1 Corinthians 6:11--
"Some of you were like this; but you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God."

Called & chosen by the Father (Ephesians 1:3-5) and justified by Jesus, indwelled by the Spirit, enabled to be righteous.

The Proverbs 31 woman & also the Proverbs 31 man-- people with whom God, their spouses, their children, & the Christians & often even non-believers who interact with them are pleased with-- Word-minded & Word-loving people, are not to be scoffed at, but exemplify the kind of holiness we should desire-- the holiness of those who have been saved by Christ. We can only pursue this holiness by His grace. Always & only by His grace which He grants rich & free to those who humble themselves before Him.

So the next time your Bible study leader gives you a Proverbs 31:30 engraved journal, resist the sarcastic thoughts welling up inside of you-- instead, let it serve as a reminder that the Spirit can make you into a woman whose "works deserve praise at the city gates" (er, or on her Facebook page. Or whatever the modern equivalent of a city gate happens to be.)