Honduras Journal

For those who may be interested, here is the journal I took while Eric Sipe and I were in Honduras last week. It’s a bit lengthy, but hey, it’s written by me, so it can’t be that hard to read.

Honduras Trip 2009

Subtitle: The Murphy’s Law Trip

9/21/09            Monday

-       We arrived at the Charlotte Airport at around 8 in the morning, and made our 10AM flight with no trouble. With a slight delay in runway traffic, we took off a little late, but managed to get to Miami with plenty of time to grab a sandwich and make our 1:30PM flight out of the States. We were able to have a lengthy conversation with a man named Israel who is from Chicago, but currently living in Georgia, and was planning on taking a road trip on his days off from Honduras back to Georgia. He gave us some tips about life in Honduras, and we were able to share briefly with him about our plans for our visit. After arriving in San Pedro Sula, we went to the baggage claim to get our bags. Ironically, Eric and I both mentioned that we always expect to get our baggage lost; it seems to help us be prepared for the worst. (Waiting for bags is always the worst part of flying.) Before long, it was evident to us that our preparation would pay off – our bags were left in Miami. We went to the customer service counter, where a girl named Vanessa assured us that our bags were expected on the next flight, arriving at 7:40PM. Reluctantly, we went out to meet Sam Conover, the local missionary that we were visiting, and informed him of our missing baggage. He assured us that it would be no problem to return later in the evening to pick up our bags. We got in his car, and began the short trek to meet his brother-in-law, Carlos, and begin preparation for the services later in the week. Eric asked Sam about the recent Honduran political scene, after which Sam gave us some interesting news. Forty-five minutes before picking us up he had received a call from his wife, Maria, informing him that the former President of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya, recently removed from office by the conservative party for proven illegal activities, had literally just returned to the country. This had of course caused a bit of an uproar with the Honduran community, and shortly after Sam explained this to us, he received a call from Carlos informing him that a curfew was put in place for 4PM that evening. This eliminated the plans to retrieve our luggage that evening, but we figured we would be able to get them the next morning. We wound up having to rush to Sam’s place instead of doing some of the other things we had planned. We arrived at Sam’s house a little after 4, and settled in to our room. Next, we attempted to secure an Internet connection, and with much fervor and prayer, we managed to get on our email accounts and send messages of assurance of safety to our families. After a great dinner, we chatted for a while, watched part of The Lion King with Sam and Maria’s daughters, Aida and Joy, and then began to get ready for bed. Eric and I went to our room to enjoy the air conditioning, and Sam eventually joined us. We wound up chatting for quite a while about ministry, the Honduran political scene, and the now tentative plan for the rest of this week. After that, we went to bed, around 11PM our local time, 9PM Honduran time.

9/22/09            Tuesday

-       We woke up at around 9AM our time, 7AM Honduran time, and felt pretty well rested. Eric got on the phone with Lisa Hansen back at the office and tried to solicit her help with deciphering the location of our luggage and its ETA. After a few calls back and forth, we made our way to the table for a nice breakfast, and chatted for a while with the family. When it came time for showers and cleaning up, Eric went first. There was a phone call, and Sam let me know that Lisa was on the phone. Lisa informed me that the second flight that contained our luggage was in fact cancelled last night before it was able to arrive here in San Pedro Sula, and that all flights were thereby cancelled for Tuesday and Wednesday. Frankly, at this point, we were thinking, “God, what are you doing?” It’s a huge comfort to know that our God is God, and that He does what He desires according to His purpose, for the good of His people and the sake of His glory. At the same time, it would have been nice to know that our luggage that contains our clothes, toiletries, shoes, etc was on the way. I made a couple of calls – one to Kate, and one to my Dad, to inform them of the surrounding political scene and consequential lack of belongings. Kate was naturally a bit worried, but she seemed fine, and I encouraged her to simply pray that God would keep us safe and bring us home soon. Dad was a rock, as usual. Shortly after all this, Eric got on the phone with Lisa and officially gave the word to start looking for a return flight for us as soon as possible. Initially the only option available was another American Airlines flight out of San Pedro Sula Friday afternoon at 2:15PM, but then it looked like a possibility that we would be able to get a flight out Wednesday afternoon with Delta. The option was to fly with Delta from San Pedro Sula to Atlanta to Charlotte, but it turned out that it was going to be $500 apiece. So, we asked Lisa to explore the option of just landing in Atlanta and having someone pick us up. My luggage was accounted for by an American Airlines worker, and said that it would be sent to Charlotte for us to receive upon arrival, instead of trying to ship it down to us. That was a huge blessing to at least know that someone put eyes on our luggage and that it wasn’t halfway to Hong Kong or anything crazy like that. The weirdest thing about this whole thing was that we knew God had done this, and it is by no means a coincidence that we arrived here when we did. We were in fact on the last plane to land in Honduras before this whole fiasco began. Lisa called us back after lunch and informed us that to fly into Atlanta on Wednesday would actually cost over $700 apiece. That combined with the gamble that it would be to even plan on leaving the house tomorrow at all caused Eric to decide to just go with the 2:15PM flight on Friday that we had secured unless something else happened. So, our plan was to stay at the Conovers for another two and a half days, all the while hoping that the curfew would be lifted Tuesday evening or Wednesday so that we could go see some of the areas that Sam had been planning to show us, including his church. We watched a press conference, which was actually in English, and learned some more things about Mel (what the locals use to refer to Manuel Zelaya) and the political scene. We had dinner, chatted some more, and eventually the girls went to bed while we prepared to watch a movie, “The End of the Spear” about Nate Saint and Jim Eliot and their missionary efforts. The movie ended, and while we were getting ready for bed, we learned that our current curfew timeframe had been extended to all of the next day as well, with exceptions made only for “emergencies” as long as one had proof to show to the police. After this, we went to bed.

9/23/09            Wednesday

-       We woke up at about 8:30AM Honduran time, and after some Bible reading, went in to eat some breakfast. During breakfast, the phone rang and Maria went and got it, coming back shortly thereafter to inform us that the curfew that had been re-extended was in fact cut short, allowing a window of opening for 10AM to 5PM. This brought us great hope, since our Friday flight was scheduled for 2:15PM, which was in the time window allowing people to go out and about.  After breakfast, Eric went to go get cleaned up, and just as had happened the day before, the phone rang and it was for Eric, necessitating my taking the call. It was a woman from American Airlines informing us that our Friday flight had been cancelled due to the political situation and that the earliest we could reschedule was for Sunday at the same time. Eric got on the phone for a while after her was available, and did some talking to the American Airlines people. We decided to go out to the local American Airlines office in downtown San Pedro Sula to see if there was some kind of way to claim our American citizenship and get a puddle jumper to take us out of country where there were regular flights coming in and out, and get home. We went, but the office was closed, with no time frame given as to when they would be open. We then checked with a local travel agency, who only assured us that our Sunday ticket would be fine. Then we went to the mall to get some lunch and ate at TGI Fridays. After lunch, we stopped at a department store, Mendell’s, where Eric and I picked up some clothing essentials to last us the next few days – socks, shorts/pants, underwear, shirts, etc. With a few purchased, and Maria’s ability to wash our things for us, we felt that what little we bought would suffice for the time being. Arriving home at a little past 2PM, I checked my email quickly and updated Kate, and then Eric got on to send some updates to HBC and family back home. After that, Eric got on the phone with American Airlines again. There was apparently nothing else to do but wait for Sunday’s flight. Maria had gone out to get some groceries, and shortly after she left she called Sam and asked for some help because the supermarket was crazy, so Eric and I stayed with the girls and took care of them for a while. We watched “The Jungle Book” with them, and shortly after it finished, Sam and Maria got back. It was about 5:30PM, a half hour after the curfew begun again for the day. The curfew was supposed to last until further notice, so we hoped to hear soon about whether the curfew would ever be lifted on Thursday, and if so, what the time frame would be. We had dinner, and afterwards Sam showed us his latest slide presentation that he will be showing churches when they go back to the U.S. in October. After the slide presentation, Maria went in to watch the news, and told us that the curfew was until 6AM, after which it would be lifted. The news had said that things would go back to “normal life”. This was a huge encouragement to us, because now it really seemed like there was a chance that our flight would not be cancelled on Sunday, and Eric even said that he would call A.A. in the morning to see if there was anything coming in on Saturday that we could get on. We chatted for a while and then went to bed.

9/24/09            Thursday

-       In the morning, we ate some breakfast, and then headed out late morning with Sam to take Joy to school and see the place. We visited her school, and met some sweet Honduran folks. We took a look at their chapel, and Sam informed us that we would be participating in the school activities in the morning. At 7:45AM we would be doing the young children’s chapel time, singing and giving our testimonies of salvation. Then we left Joy there and went out to the store to pick up some essentials, then went to see the church and help prepare for the evening service that appeared to be in fact back in the plans. Eric tested out their piano, which was actually in decent shape, and I tested out their acoustics, which were quite good. After that, we went home and had some lunch. After lunch Eric and I went back to our room to chat while Sam took a siesta. As soon as Sam got up from his siesta, we went back out to take Joy to her violin lesson and to stop at the mall to get a couple shirts for Eric and me for the services. After getting a couple of shirts, we stopped at Cinnabon to get some coffee, which I promptly spilled on myself, thoroughly scalding my hands and staining my only pair of jeans. This caused me to have to borrow some of Sam’s jeans after we got home and had a quick leftover supper. Shortly after I sent a quick email off to Kate letting her know that we were in fact on our way to our first service, and excited about it, we left for the church about an hour before the service was to begin. We were just barely a couple hundred yards from the church when Sam got a call from Maria letting him know that the curfew had just been put in place again for 7PM, cancelling our service. We did a 180 and went back home, reminded yet again that our plans in life are never final and that God is always at work, despite the things we have planned. The verses in James 4 came to mind that say, “Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” Clearly at least some of what God was doing was teaching me that I depend completely on His will for the day, and that I am not in control of anything that goes on in life. Usually, it only seems like I have some control, but God was reminding me that He is always in control. This is why Christians should say “Lord willing,…” Eric echoed that this was some of what he was learning from this little experience as well. Maria informed us that in fact only San Pedro Sula was under a curfew Thursday night, and partly because of some riots that took place Wednesday night that led to the burning of some police motorcycles. This was no joke – there was real danger in San Pedro Sula. We settled in for another evening of sitting around/lying around and talking. Then we went out and watched some soccer with Sam and Maria, ate a snack, and chatted a little. We had to get up considerably early in the morning, so we went to bed a bit earlier than usual – about 9:30 Honduras time.

9/25/09            Friday

-       Our day started at 6:30AM, when we woke up and quickly got ready and got some breakfast, then headed out at 7:30AM to Joy’s school for the chapel time. School starts really early in Honduras, in an effort to beat the heat – classes end a little before 2PM. We started our chapel time a little after 7:45AM, and it began with the 1^st thru 6^th graders. Sam introduced us, and then I gave my salvation testimony and sang “Be Thou My Vision” in Spanish and English, with Eric playing in English J. Then Eric gave a brief devotional from Proverbs 3:5-6, proclaiming that life is not about us, but about God and trusting Him to guide our paths, because our own way is sinful. Then we dismissed, and had about 15 minutes before our next group of kids – teens. During that break time, though, we had an opportunity to speak to a ten-year-old American girl named Audrey, who was obviously troubled. She was sweet to us, but it wasn’t long before it became evident that she was struggling with some anger and sadness at being in Honduras with her grandparents, with no friends, and having to learn to speak Spanish. Eric did most of the talking, and was able to encourage her to live for God and not herself, and to take advantage of this opportunity that God had given to her to grow and learn more about him and love other people. She seemed encouraged to have some people willing to speak to her in English and give her some advice, and Eric even said later that maybe God had brought us to Honduras just to encourage her. When it came time for the teen’s devotional time, it was obvious that many of the kids didn’t really care about it, and I was reminded of what it was like to be that age in a Christian school. We did the same thing again, with the exception of no translator for Eric. When I sang, I noticed that there were some kids who really were at that point giving their attention. Eric spoke, and the kids gave good attention. Afterwards, many of the teens just left, but there were a good number who came up to introduce themselves to us – Guillermo, Reynaldo, Carlos, and others whose names I can’t remember. They expressed their thanks for our music and words, and told of their various instruments that they played, including singing. There were two guys who talked about their guitar playing, and I encouraged them to use the guitar as a tool for God’s glory – easy to carry, and able to lead times of singing praise to God. They were taken back at first that I would mention that, but then acknowledged that use of the guitar and their desire to do that. We came back home, and it was only 9AM. After lunch, Eric and I hung out in our room for a while, and then went out for another excursion into San Pedro, including a stop at a department store to meet one of Sam’s members. During this excursion, it began to pour. It died down a bit, and after our visit to the department store we went to look at electric pianos, but made a few stops along the way. Once we got back home, we found out that our service would be cancelled again because of an 8PM curfew. Then we ate some dinner, and during dinner, the power went out because of a gigantic storm which Eric dubbed “The Storm of The Century.” During said storm, we went out into the garage area and watched the cars go by and attempt to navigate through the area right in front of the Conover’s house, which had become a lake because of the drainage area. Several cars broke down in the water, and after a few minutes Eric and I began to think of the power being out and how it would affect our Air Conditioning for that night. Before long, the power came back and everything went back to normal. We finished The Lion King, had some snacks, and turned in for the night.

9/26/09            Saturday

-       We woke up at about 7:30 and got ready to go out to Dunkin’ Donuts to meet with some American missionaries/pastors in the area at 9AM. That lasted till about 11AM, and was a great time of fellowship and learning. We came back home to get the girls, and headed out to take the Conovers out to lunch. They chose to go to Power Chicken, and it was delicious. Then, on our way home, Sam took us on one of his infamous scenic routes, pointing out all the various rich people’s homes in the area. Once we arrived, we learned that there was another curfew for the evening for 6PM, so instead of cancelling the service again, we moved it up to 4PM. Having just returned from our excursion at 2, that gave us little time to prepare for the service. Eric checked with AA to ensure that our flight was still on for tomorrow, and they assured us that it in fact was. God had been gracious and merciful to us the whole time, and we trusted Him to care for us and return us home to our families Sunday in accordance with His will. We left at about 3:30 for the church, and started the service at 4PM. When it came time for me to sing, it became clear quickly that the acoustics were in fact awesome. It was such a joy to sing with God’s people “It Is Well” in a different tongue, and have them join in on the last stanza. Eric preached well, despite the natural difficulties that come with have an interpreter. After the service, we chatted with some folks for a while, and then hastily made our way back home before the 6PM curfew. We checked our mails for what we hoped would be one last time, and then had some dinner. After dinner, we watched some of The Sound of Music, and then Eric and I went to our rooms to prepare to leave and work on some things. Then Sam and Maria called us into their room to officially thank us for coming and give us some tokens and mementoes: a San Pedro Sula t-shirt for Eric, a Honduras license plate and a pocket sized Spanish language help for me, and another Honduras shirt for Kate. I gave the girls some American change that they greatly loved, and Eric and I got ready for bed.

9/27/09            Sunday

-       Sunday was the day we were supposed to leave. We started the Sunday morning worship service at 9AM, and it went until 11AM. After the service was over, there were 3 baptisms. Then, we said our goodbyes to everyone, and Carlos sent us to the airport with his bodyguard, Hector – pretty fancy stuff. We go to the airport a little after noon, and checked in. We were informed immediately that there would be a bit of a delay, a half an hour is what the girl at the check-in counter said initially. Eric asked the girl at the check in counter if there was a chance that we could be “bumped up” to first class. She smiled and said no, and he replied, “I think you probably can. We haven’t had luggage all week.” Some guy nearby heard what Eric said, and said that our names would be put first on the standby list for first class. We went through security, and got some lunch. It turned out that what had initially been a half hour delay went to about a 2 hour delay. The incomprehensible voice came over the intercom a little before 3PM (Honduran time) and said that the AA plane would be landing at about 4:15. This meant another half an hour till we actually took off. We began to wait patiently. About an hour before our flight, we were called up by the same AA lady we spoke to at the check-in counter to get our tickets upgraded. We were in fact going to be in first class. A half hour or so before our flight, I was called up again and informed that we would be missing our connection flight in Miami, and I was given vouchers for a hotel room and meals. Not a terrible deal, really. It would be late when we got back, too, so the opportunity just to go to bed instead of getting home at 2AM the next morning was nice. The plane we were to fly in didn’t in fact get to San Pedro until closer to 4:40, and we didn’t take off till after 5PM. But being in first class made a huge difference. I had never flown first class before, so it was quite an experience. Full meal, tons of legroom, great service – every flight should be that way. We got to Miami at about 9:30PM, and after a while got to our Comfort Inn and Suites – not the nicest one I’ve ever seen, but it would do just fine. We went to bed at a little before midnight, planning to get up at about 6 to make it to our 9AM flight on time after breakfast and looking for Eric’s luggage.

9/28/09            Monday

-       We woke up at 6AM, got our showers, and went downstairs for some complimentary breakfast. After that, we got on our shuttle and headed to the airport. Upon arrival, we went straight to check-in and get our seat assignments. After that, we went to the baggage claim area to check on Eric’s luggage, and the young man at the counter informed us that Eric’s bags had arrived in San Pedro on the 21^st. The problem with that statement was that NO ONE was arriving in San Pedro on the 21^st. We tried to explain that, but all he had in front of him was a screen telling him things, and he was reading what he saw. He told us that our only options at that point were: a.) Check the storage room for unclaimed luggage, and b.) Fill out a claim for his suitcase items so he could be reimbursed. We checked the storage closet, and found nothing. So, unless his luggage had somehow made its way to Charlotte, there was little hope that we would retrieve Eric’s luggage. We made it on to our flight to Charlotte, which was not full, so we moved up to the emergency exit rows, which had far more room for our legs than the other seats on that smaller jet. When we landed, we quickly made our way to baggage to try to retrieve my luggage that had been allegedly waiting for us ever since last Tuesday. We made it to the AA baggage office, but no one was there. We asked around, and apparently someone was not around to do his or her job. I waited at the office while Eric went upstairs to the ticket counter to ask, and just as he left an older looking gentleman who evidently was an AA employee came to the office. I explained whom I was and that we had lost our luggage the week earlier. He glared at me, and said, “You did not lose your luggage.” I replied, “Well, we haven’t had it for a week, so….” at which point he turned without a word and went into the back room and came out with both Eric’s and my luggage. I called Eric and let him know that we had his suitcase, and he came to the office, rejoicing at having his items back in his possession. At that point, all that was left was to get on a shuttle to the long term parking lot, and get in the car, and drive home. What a trip.

Questions prompted by Adoption

J.I. Packer’s discussion on Adoption in “Knowing God” concludes with some questions that the believer should be caused to think through in light of a heightened understanding of the Biblical doctrine of adoption.

- Do I understand my adoption? Do I value it? Do I daily remind myself of my privilege as a child of God?

- Have I sought full assurance of my adoption? Do I daily dwell on the love of God to me?

- Do I treat God as my Father in heaven, loving, honoring, and obeying Him, seeking and welcoming His fellowship, and trying in everything to please Him, as a parent would want his child to do?

- Do I think of Jesus Christ, my Savior and my Lord, as my brother too, bearing to me not only a divine authority but also a divine-human sympathy? Do I think daily how close He is to me, how completely He understands me, and how much, as my kinsman-redeemer, He cares for me?

- Have I learned to hate the things that displease my Father? Am I sensitive to the evil things to which He is sensitive? Do I make a point of avoiding them, lest I grieve Him?

- Do I look forward daily to that great family occasion what the children of God will finally gather in heaven before the throne of God, their FAther, and of the Lamb, their brother and their Lord? Have I felt the thrill of this hope?

- Do I love my Christian brothers and sisters with whom I live day by day, in a way that I shall not be ashamed of when in heaven I think back over it?

- Am I proud of my Father, and of His family, to which by His grace I belong?

- Does the family likeness appear in me? If not, why not?

(taken from page 229 in Knowing God)

Thoughts on Michael Vick

This article pretty much sums up exactly how I feel about this whole Michael Vick issue. I had thought about posting some thoughts of my own, but why do that when I can just copy/paste somebody else’s?

My response to God’s love

If it is true that God loves me as much as he says he does,

1.) Why do I complain, show discontentment, and rebel against circumstances that he brings into my life?

2.) Why am I ever fearful or depressed?

3.) Why do I ever grow cool, half-hearted, and ceremonial in my service to him?

4.) Why is my loyalty ever divided, so that all of my heart is not totally devoted to God?

The grace of God

The grace of God never ceases to amaze me. Not only is his common grace so much more than I deserve, but his specific grace in my life despite my sin is beyond comprehension. Every drop of rain, every ray of sunshine, every nutrient from food, every accident free drive, every loving relationship, every thirst quenching swallow of water, every article of clothing, every dollar in my bank account, every possession I own – all by grace. This all is amazing simply in light of the fact that God is God and I am me. God, in all his glory and holiness, sees fit to give people common grace through simple things like food, shelter, and clothing. But even more amazing to each specific person who has believed in Christ should be the grace that he gives people to fight sin. I fight sin every day, and many times I fail. Yet God is always giving grace.

2 Corinthians 8:9 describes God’s grace this way: “though he was rich, for your sakes he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.” When God came to earth, lived a perfect life, and died a death that everyone else deserved, he “became poor.” Through salvation, by placing faith in this substitutionary sacrifice, we have the opportunity to access the riches of Christ by his grace. After salvation, the fight against sin still rages on, but the same grace of God showed in salvation is showed in giving strength to defeat sin. 2 Corinthians 9:8 says that “God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.” This grace is available to all believers, and what the believer must do to receive it is humble himself. “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6).

What is the reason for this grace? 2 Corinthians 4:15 – “For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.” It’s all for God’s glory and praise. So for the grace that I receive, whether through the rain or a delicious meal or through the Holy Spirit’s work in my heart to help me fight sin, I give praise to God. What a great God!

summer school

At the end of this week, I will have concluded a 2 week 3 credit summer school course on Theories of Counseling, part of the requirements for my M.S. in Biblical Counseling. I’ll not take the time to detail all I’ve learned so far, but I will say that I am greatly thankful for beginning to get a broader picture of where we’ve been and how that’s led to where we are now in Biblical counseling. It’s been a tremendous blessing to be reminded of the sufficiency of God’s Word to deal with all that God sovereignly ordains in the lives of His children.

Our God is great!

Glorifying God in Media

Change doesn’t always feel good, but sometimes it’s necessary.

Kate and I recently “discovered” a TV show called 30 Rock. I have to be honest, it’s pretty funny. It’s a comedy about a NBC TV show and its producers, writers, actors, and other staff. The humor is a bit over the top at times, but that’s pretty much what makes it funny, and we’ve watched several episodes. So there’s a context for you…

Through my recent reading of a book called “Worldliness” with a guys discipleship group I’m a part of, God has been gracious to change my thinking regarding some things. Most notable for me has been the section regarding “What They Say”. Ephesians 5 makes it very clear that there should be “no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude jesting, which are out of place…” (vs. 4). Filthiness is simply referring to any kind of vulgar, lewd, perverted, or off color speech and is “out of place” in the life of a believer. Foolish talk either mocks or blatantly ignores God and his law. Crude joking refers to any kind of humor with sexual overtones; this could be in the form of perverse humor of some kind or just a dirty joke. Each of these things has no place in the life of a believer (assuming of course that believer acknowledges and believes Ephesians 5 is part of God’s revealed Word). The thought that caught my attention is the logical conclusion following this truth: “If we’re forbidden to speak with filthiness and crude sexual humor, we’re equally prohibited from listening to it when we have a choice.” The point is this – if we’re consciously deliberately putting ourselves in a position to be entertained by such speech, we are “out of place.” Commonly heard about a TV show or movie is this: “There’s no sex, there’s just some crude humor.” The reason that participating actively or allowing ourselves to be entertained by such speech is forbidden in Ephesians 5 is because it’s reflective of a heart and attitude characterized by the world, one that disregards God and His Word.

So, when I read this section in my book, and in turn meditated on this passage in Ephesians 5, I was struck with the fact that I had a decision to make right then and there. In this 30 Rock show we’ve been watching, there has been no shortage of dirty jokes, crude sexual humor, or in general lewd vulgar humor, and it’s been somewhat of a predominant comic feature in the show. So, I knew I was either going to decide to not watch it anymore, or ignore what God’s Word was telling me to do. I was also fully aware that this show would not be the only entertainment option that would be affected by this decision. But, here’s the depressing part – I hesitated. I actually wasn’t sure if I wanted to do this. But then, the exciting part – the Holy Spirit was gracious in reminding me of my need to seek God’s glory in everything I do, and that glorifying Christ with my life is a much greater cause than some temporal foolish TV show. If God has revealed in His Word that this kind of speech has no place in the life of a believer, and I call myself a disciple of Jesus Christ, there should be no hesitation but to eliminate it.

This principle of course applies elsewhere in life, but the immediate application for me was media intake that has in it this kind of forbidden speech. That could include movies, TV shows, Youtube, or other internet entertainment sites that have as a dominant feature or characteristic this kind of forbidden speech. Sometimes a movie or TV show has moments of off color humor, and we’re unaware of it coming, but when we are consciously deliberately on purpose allowing ourselves to be entertained by it, there the problem arises. So it’s one thing to unintentionally hear something and be discerning and mature about it, yet quite another to know that a particular show or movie has consistent or repeated off color humor as its dominant feature and consciously choose to turn it on to be entertained and influenced by it. When a moment of decision like this comes, it’s easy to be tempted to think, “But it would be such a huge sacrifice to get rid of _____ in my life!” (insert TV shows like 30 Rock, Friends, or movies like The Hangover, etc) but such a thought is reflective of a heart that is valuing something higher than Christ and His glory.

The good news is that the gospel gives power to God’s children to live life for His glory, and not for themselves. While I may sinfully resist responding to the truth of God’s Word at first, God doesn’t leave us to ourselves, but is gracious to convict us of our sin and through His Spirit give us the ability to turn from sin and live for Him.

Change is good.

Holy Spirit’s work Pt. 2

So, as a refresher, apart from the Holy Spirit’s work, there would be no New Testament, and no gospel at all.

Secondly, Packer says, “Without the Holy Spirit there would be no faith and no new birth – in short, no Christians.” The gospel’s effect is often compared with the concept of light, and in contrast to that “the god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers” (2Cor. 4:4). Blind people do not perceive light, and they are uncapable of responding to it. In John 3, Christ tells Nicodemus that no one can see the kingdom of heaven unless he is born again (vss. 3, 5). He then goes on to explain in verse 11 that people who are stuck in their unbelief do not respond to the conviction of the gospel. So, it would seem that evangelism and preaching/teaching the gospel is a futile excercise given that there is no chance of an unregenerate person responding to the gospel at all. But, The Holy Spirit has been given to the Church to testify of Christ. He revealed Christ to the apostles and inspired their words, and He illumines us even today through the revealed Word of God, convicting us of sin, righteousness, and judgment (Jn. 16:8).

The Spirit is the One Who bears witness of Christ, opening blinded eyes and illumining darkened minds. It is because of this witness solely that people come to faith and repentence when the gospel is preached.

Holy Spirit’s work Pt. 1

As I mentioned, I have been going through a book by Dr. J.I. Packer entitled “Knowing God”. The book in its entirety has been nothing short of life changing, but one section in particular stood out to me recently.

One of the main points Packer makes in his section about the Holy Spirit is that many Christians do not realize fully the role of the Holy Spirit, and its importance in the lives of believers. The first reason he gives for the importance of the Holy Spirit is this: “Without the Holy Spirit there would be no gospel and no New Testament.” When Christ came to earth, he had a group of followers who witnessed His ministry of preaching, teaching, healing, and all around serving. When the time came for Christ to leave earth (following His death, burial, and resurrection), he commissioned His followers to continue His gospel spreading ministry, and make more disciples “to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). It’s interesting to note that these same people were the ones who had repeatedly failed 1.) to understand the reason for Christ’s life and ministry was (evidenced by their arguing with Him about His impending death, burial, and resurrection), 2.) believe in His power (evidenced by their constant lack of faith regardless of everything they had seen Him do), and 3.) be faithful in their own ministry (sleeping while He told them to stay alert, etc). It would seem that these men would be a rather poor choice for the responsibility of teaching all nations about the glories of Christ.

BUT, they would not do this alone. Christ promised them that the Holy Spirit would teach them and aid them in their ministry. “The Counselor…will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you” (Jn. 14:26). The point is, it was only by the work of the Spirit of God that these fallible men, who had failed so many times before, would be successful in spreading the gospel to all nations. And turns out He was right – the Holy Spirit came upon these men, and the gospel was spread to the glory of God. The Holy Spirit taught/reminded/testified the gospel to these disciples, and inspired them to communicate it without error. Thus the gospel, thus the New Testament. Were it not for the Holy Spirit, the New Testament gospel message would not be.

(the second main reason is forthcoming…)

Why do Christians know so little about the Holy Spirit?

It’s a question that I myself don’t have an answer for, I simply know that the question refers to me just as much as the next guy. In J.I. Packer’s “Knowing God“, he discusses the fact that so many Christians, even those who are not very serious about their relationship with God, can easily give an explanation of the work of Christ, who He is, what He did on the cross, and what that means for people, but cannot nearly as simply give a description of the past, present, and future work of the Holy Spirit. Sadly, I have found this to be true in my own life. The work of the Holy Spirit is vital, and believers would do well understand it better. Packer describes two parts to the importance of the third part of the Triune God-Head, and I plan on discussing them both in future posts.