Ultimate Redemptive Potential

For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is
Jesus Christ. If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly
stones, wood, hay or straw, his work will be shown for what it is, because the
Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will
test the quality of each man's work. If what he has built survives, he will
receive his reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will
be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames. 1
Corinthians 3:11-15

Every Christian has a purpose in God's kingdom. We each have tasks to fulfill, a ministry to invest in, a building to create, people to reach. In the end, God knows the worth of our efforts. He will test the fruits of our character and of our obediance.

If we have no fruit then that's a pretty easy test to fail. If we have fruit but did not have love then that is worthless, as 1 Corinthians 13 says. I remember someone who told me that they sang in the church choir every week while their Monday-to-Saturday life was questionable. They realized that singing in the choir required more than just their voice.

Paul is not saying that we are not Christians and that we do not love God if we have bad fruit. Our salvation is by faith and not by works. However, God still cares about the results of our lives, and it will be shown for what it is. I, for one, do not want to be "as one escaping through the flames." I don't want to just sqeak through my Christian life. I want to reach my ultimate redemptive potential.

Maze Craze

The college and careers group at GTA (called ExStream) is going to a corn maze on Friday October 29, 2004. I think it's this one. It costs between five and seven dollars and we're supposed to meet at GTA at 7:30 pm. Apparently it's not just a corn maze. It's a haunted corn maze, so... BOO!

If anyone older than high school ages wants to come with me then give me a call or e-mail me sometime today. As always, e-mail is best and I will probably respond within a half hour to you. I can give a ride to anyone that needs one.

News & Links

Here's a one chapter excerpt from Yao Ming's new book. It provides a fascinating glimpse into the life of a kid growing up in China in the 1980's and 1990's, including some comments about Mao Tse-tung's Cultural Revolution.

In other news, we found a new kind of ape. Funny how we could miss something that big.

And just 'cause it's cool, there's a new idea about how we could create super-speed spacecraft via magnetic repulsion. It could go to Mars and back in only 90 days. Just point the spacecraft at the planet you want to go to and then shoot it away from earth via magnets on a spacestation. The only trick is that you need another huge magnet at the destination in order to send the spacecraft back.

Leadership: Growth Spurt

I was chatting with my dad this morning and he mentioned this idea to me: Christians don't grow unless they become leaders.

We both agreed that this statement is somewhat simplistic since there are many ways to mature as a Christian. Still, I suggest that Christians will stagnate if they do not become leaders in some fashion. "Leading" does not mean becoming the speaker in front of a large group of people. It just refers to people taking charge and responsibility for the growth of other Christians.

A Christian that remains satisfied with being a follower or just one of the crowd (or being alone away from the crowd) will atrophy. It's surprising how much personal growth we find as we try to help others grow and as we become leaders in some way.

In my own experience, the most explosive period of growth that I have experienced in my life is when I decided to lead the youth worship team at my previous church and to start a cell group in my home. I learned so many things about myself and about others that mere teaching and Bible study would never have revealed to me.

Everyone can be a leader. More than that, the Great Commission expects Christians to do so. (Matthew 28) How else can we expect to "disciple all nations?" If you're reaching out to unsaved people or helping a new Christian grow in Christ, then welcome to leadership. You won't be the same.

Fall Classic

Game 7 of the Boston/New York series and Game 6 of the Houston/St. Louis series were both on Wednesday night. I had a horrible time on Wednesday night trying to keep track of the two games because I had cell group that night. The house I was in didn't have cable TV and none of the local radio stations were broadcasting the game. I loved the ending of the Boston/NewYork series. Biggest Comeback = Biggest Choke. Gotta love those Big Cs.

I'm not so pleased with Houston right now. With Clemens on the mount I predicated he would pitch into the seventh and that they would win game 7. Clemens let me down. Can the guy not win Game 7s?

I'm rooting for Boston to win the World Series against St. Louis but I don't think that they have the talent or the healthy bodies to pull it off. St. Louis in 6. (Jevant has his own prediction here.) I'm still confused by the fact that Schilling is scheduled to pitch again. His ankle was a patchwork as it was last time he pitched and he was bleeding by the time he was done! Granted, his last outing was one of the gutsiest+successful performances I've ever seen, right up there with Jordan scoring 38 during the NBA finals with stomach flu.

And finally, I'm having people over to my house to watch the opening of the World Series on Saturday. Anyone that wants to join us can come to my house after 7:00 pm that evening. Give me a call if you want to but feel free to just show up.

Introspection

I once took a personality test in college. You know the kind, a thousand and one little circles to fill in and we get a nice little summary at the end about who we are. Heh. When I got my results back I scored quite highly on the part about introspection, that aspect in which you spend time thinking about yourself and regularly evaluating yourself.

It struck me as funny that this would be attributable to some component of a person's personality. As a Christian, I've been trained my entire life for introspection. I am continually coming back to God and others to review my thoughts and actions and to repent of my sins. I am continually challenged by God through many ways to mature in Christ and to mature as a person. That's why I write things like my last post.

Re-evaluating our lives shouldn't be some by-product of personality. It shouldn't be something that is forced on us by circumstance or by authority. It shouldn't be something that only happens once every few years.

If we refuse to question ourselves, we remain an enigma. If we do not allow that we might be wrong, then we can never be sure that we are right. If we refuse to change then we still will change, eroding away like a rock under water rather than purifying like silver in the fire.

Re-evaluating My Leadership

As a continuation of the thoughts at the end of my last post, I was asking myself if I was the kind of leader that inspired people. I led a cell group for two and a half years and what did I accomplish? I led a youth worship team for two years but did I let God use me fully?

My central focus was on discipleship and mentoring for much of that time with my cell group. Plenty of good things certainly did come from my group, particularly since it allowed me to develop a friendship with Joel Timmerman, Ariel and Richard early on. Even so, I had three goals when I started: To help other/younger Christians grow, to help people get saved, and to have the guys start their own cell groups or develop mentoring relationships. As I look back on it, I think that I was only partially successful on all three counts.

So, I have various questions to ask myself. Have I inspired those whom I taught and led - or more properly, has God inspired people through me? Do I challenge my friends enough to go for the gold? Have I led non-believers to Christ in the last five years? I can give a partial yes to these questions but I know that God has more for me - and that he has more for each of us - and I just keep trying to follow Him more nearly.

To be clear, I'm not looking for a pat on the back or testimonies. I recognize what God has done through me and with me in the past three years. I'm just re-evaluating my own leadership once again, as I regularly try to do.

Measuring

Rough Draft:
How do we evaluate our church/group/ministry?

http://www.christianitytoday.com/bcl/areas/churchministries/articles/le-1988-002-2.21.html
http://www.ifca.org/Handbook/Local%20Church/LC-Philosophy_of_Ministry.htm

Swearing In

The comment section for one of Abe's recent posts gradually abandoned the main thread and became a discussion about swearing. Fair warning: Don't visit that thread if you mind reading various profanity. Some would debate even that caution because they would say that this thread does not include profane comments or words, according to their own definition of what can be considered profane.

Yesterday, I happened to mention that discussion at the new cell group that I joined this week. The immediate consensus of the majority was that various words and phrases besides explicitely taking the Lord's name in vain are definitely considered swear words. One verse that was quoted to defend this position was Ephesians 4:29 which says, "Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen."

In Abe's cell group (which recently disbanded, may it rest in peace) we discussed this question before as well. The general conclusion in that case was more of a live and let live approach, with people indicating that they may or may not swear but that they try not to impose that principle on others. In this group, we preferred to keep swearing to a minimum but had a difficult time challenging other people if they swore. That was made even trickier because non-Christians would sometimes come and we would sometimes question the desire for clean language versus the desire to reach a non-Christian.

There is another group of 20-something Christian guys that I hang out with periodically and the general consensus there is that swearing is common, funny and should be used as often as anyone likes. In this group the two guys that do not swear (one being me) are definitely the odd men out and only the feeblest attempts are made to curb the amount of swearing heard during an evening. As opposed to the other groups I have found that, in practice, swearing in most forms is regularly encouraged here.

So in just these three groups of Christian young people I find three different approaches and views about swearing. Please feel free to chime in with your own opinion here. So what's my point, besides allowing further discussion about this issue?

I was surprised at how at ease and even happy I felt in my new cell group by simple virtue of the fact that I didn't have to get into large theological and/or philosophical debates to decide how to approach this issue. I could attribute that feeling to the mere fact that I agree with the group and that usually makes a person feel good. More than that, though, I really appreciate the show of Christian principle and real leadership.

In my Christian life, I want to aim for a standard that is higher and better than what this world declares is wise. I do not want to be satisfied with my life as it is, and I do not want to held back in this effort by my own Christian friends. I want Christian friends that will challenge me to go for the gold and not to settle for anything less. It's inspiring! I feel inspired.

Disclaimers: Don't take this as a slam against anyone. I was a part of each of these groups as much as anyone else was, and so I share/shared equally in the responsibility we had to each other. And if you happen to think that all forms of swearing is fine then go ahead, but I disagree with it and I will try to call people on it when they swear around me. As long as we don't beat down anyone with a 2x4 of holy judgement then we'll get along fine.

Shaq and Kobe

Phil Jackson, coach of the three-time champion L.A. Lakers until this past summer, has written a new book that is basically his diary from this past year. It has a lot of interesting comments about Shaq and Kobe over the past year as Kobe dealt with a rape trial in Colorado and the Lakers were eventually beaten by the Detroit Pistons in the NBA Finals.

"He's the toughest guy I've ever had to coach," Jackson said then. "He just doesn't listen."

There were times, Jackson writes, when O'Neal didn't listen, either.

"Ask Shaq to do something and he'll say, `No, I don't want to do that.' But after a little pouting, he will do it. Ask Kobe and he'll say, `OK,' and then he will do whatever he wants." Source

Reminds me of Jesus' parable of two sons from Matthew 21:28-32. The father asked the first son to work in the vineyard one day. The son refused but then later decided to go ahead and work. The father then asked the second son the same thing. The son said that he would but then did not go to work.

Jesus asked which of the sons was obediant and the people in the temple courts answered that it was the first son. Jesus explained that God wants obediance more than a useless but ready answer. He said that the prostitutes and tax collectors will enter the Kingdom of God through faith and repentance while others that have the right words would not because of the lack of real action to repent and follow Christ.

I guess one of the best NBA basketball coaches of all time prefers results to words as well.

The End Is Near?

I had two recent posts that vaguely referred to the end times (hurricanes and ID Chips). I received a fair bit of mockery from both Christians and non-Christians. That was to be expected, of course, but I was a little surprised that some Christians were the ones that laughed the most.

Abe replied with a more general blog post about why he doesn't like eschatology and there were some interesting comments posted afterwards. Not everyone thinks it's weird to talk about the end times.

Recent Blogs

Natalie finally has a new post on her blog.

There was some renewed discussion on Jevant's blog about Governor Arnold's anti-smoking bill for prisons.

As for my own news...
I just applied for membership at GTA, so that should be done within two weeks or so. I'm now on the praise choir and the percussion team at GTA and I start singing on Thanksgiving weekend. I had a UV light installed on Wednesday so I will have drinking water again shortly after having contaminated water for the past four weeks. And with many thanks to Leonard Terry, I now have hot water again at my house after almost 11 days without it. I couldn't have done it without his hours of work. He's my hero.

Space!

SpaceShipOne Captures the X Prize! Commercial space flights to begin in 2007! Link
Updated: Comments from the team. Link

Burned by Downloads

Ooh, I just love that poetic justice. A large number of people that I know are discovering the joys of spyware, adware, trojan horses and the like. These are pieces of software or cookies that are unknowingly downloaded to a person's computer. Sometimes they come from visiting certain web sites, sometimes they piggy-back on other seemingly-legitimate (including freeware) and sometimes they piggy-back on illegitimate software/music/video downloads.

This software has different uses. Sometimes it triggers advertising popups straight from your hard drive at random times. Sometimes it tracks historical info on your computer and reports it to a third-party site later without your permission. Sometimes it brings down your entire computer like a virus would.

Microsoft Monitor is a site that I visit regularly. They are a professional consulting firm and this particular blog reports regularly about all aspects of Microsoft business. This link has an interesting article describing how some grade-schoolers have had some havoc apparently because of seemingly-innocent downloads the children have been making.

I know one or two people that no longer download illegitimate music because of the apparent risk of downloading this kind of stuff. I know my sister accidentally downloaded adware a few months ago while downloading some other legitimate freeware. "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is." "There ain't no such thing as a free lunch."

I do not download music or movies onto my computer to burn so I love this poetic justice - the burners are getting burned.

Disclaimer: It's not a guaranteed problem, so feel free to download "free" stuff at your own risk. Adaware can help clean these things up. And if you disagree and think it's fine to download music or whatnot then go right ahead, don't let me stop you.

Don't Worry: It's Just For Kids, Animals and Employees

"The rights and wrongs of RFID-chipping human beings have been debated since the tracking tags reached the technological mainstream. Now, school authorities in the Japanese city of Osaka have decided the benefits outweigh the disadvantages and will now be chipping children in one primary school." Link

The idea is that they added sensors to around the school entrance. Every child is given a chip, which they carry with them or attach to their backpacks. When the children go in or out past these sensors, their movement is recorded so that school administrators or parents can have an up-to-the-minute display of which children are currently in school.

We already use these kinds of chips to tag animals because the chips are small and can be easily inserted under the loose skin of a dog. More than that, it can be scanned from several feet away so it's easier (and less dangerous) to scan than trying to look at a dog tag.

As this blog says, there are some apparently obvious benefits if this kind of thing helps protect children, especially the youngest children that they're testing this with. But as Joi Ito writes, it can make you want to start wearing tin foil hats to protect yourself. (I read a blog comment somewhere else that said that covering the chips with tin foil blocked them easily.)

Crazy is getting crazier.

Disclaimer: I couldn't find information about how that test case in Osaka is going because most of the links I found were from a flurry or articles all referring to this same news back in July 2004.