I dug this up out of a real old blog post....The Dude Abides....

I watched The Big Lebowski for the first time about a month ago, and the phrase that has stuck with me ever since was"the dude abides". That phrase brought me a lot of peace last week when I was walking through a really tough decision to change careers. As a Christ following movie critic, I believe that when we engage entertainment we should filter it through a receive, redeem, reject biblical filter( I learned this from Cinemagogue ). John the Baptist would abide. He was the son of a temple priest, who would have traditionally followed in his fathers footsteps. Yet, he was called to be obedient to God's call on his life to be a priest on the fringes of society, in the desert eating bugs and honey and preaching repentance.

What would the neighbors think?

Yet, John would abide in God's call on his life.

Society expects him to follow in his fathers footsteps.

Yet, John abides in the footsteps that his Father has set before him.

He would have been a bit of an embarrassment to his family and friends.

Yet, John boldly preached the repentance and love of a Father to his children.
How did John expect to make a living in the desert?

Yet, John would abide in God's providence.

In the movie, there is much that cannot be abided: lust, envy, pornography, pride, arrogance...

 Luke Chapter 3 7-9

 He said therefore to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?  Bear fruits in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, We have Abraham as our father. For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham.  Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.


The dude abides the will of God

I am a Reader.

Since God jerked me from my troff of stupidity, I have slowly become more and more of a reader. It had been a while since I truly finished a book cover to cover, so finishing two books last week was particularly satisfying to me. 

'On the Road' by Jack Kerouac has been my introduction to the Beat Generation. Since digging into the book again I have been combing the web for articles by and about the Beats. Its got me wondering if the Beats, being a generation that grew up in the shadow of WWII  has any lessons for a generation growing up in the shadow of 9/11? The Church in America sure seems to be going through some re-thinking.

Emerging

Neo-Calvin

Relevant

The death of the 'seeker-sensitve' movment adds to my hope though...

'The Road' by Cormac McCarthy left me feeling doubtful if I could read anything other than another Cormac McCarthy novel next! I tried to pick up 'The Shack' but had to put it down, I felt like I was wading through the deep weeds of punctuation and adjectives...

Fear and the nuclear winter

I just finished two books I've been reading. 'The Road" by Cormac McCarthy and 'On the Road" by Jack Kerouac. The later I have been trying to finish for the last three years, I had gotten so disgusted with the choices that the charecters, Sal and Dean were making when I first started the book that I only made it half way through. Three years later I finished the book last friday and boy what a fantastic journey that was, traveling east to west across the north american continent with a final journey to Mexico City.  It was a great intro to the beat poets!

A friend let me borrow his copy of 'The Road' Sunday night and I had it finished by Tuesday afternoon at second brake at work. Great read. Hope, fear and survival in a dark and brooding world. I very much identified with the man in the story. Making his decisions out of the fear of danger or loss. The boy in the story could see the fear and need in other peoples lives and vary much so wanted to reach out to them in spite of his fathers opposition. 

Looking back over this last move that we have made to Medford I wonder if there was some fear in that decision. Trusting only my own reasoning and making decisions quickly. I confess I made many decisions in 08' out of fear and selfishness. I pray that God gives me the courage to repent and trust in him. That I make myself accountable to good men around me. I'm sure that'll take some time to establish, but it must be done. Else I wander the barren land in loneliness.

Crash Landing

So here we are in Medford, like Abram coming up out of Ur into a strange land. How are we to explore this new land. How are we to communicate Christ?

Lord help me to be obedient!

Last night Julie and I had an opportunity to go out on a date for the first time since landing in Medford. We ventured over to the local Barnes and Nobel/Starbucks and spent our hard earned gift card on some caffeinated beverages. I always loved looking through the art/photography and graphic arts section. While Julie spends her time in the food and-or craft sections.

We went to Table Rock Church this morning and boy is it big compared to our Nazarene church in Creswell. Everything about the church was good. Great Sunday School for the kids, a right-on worship band and I liked that they do communion every Sunday. But, it just didn't feel right for us. Maybe if we spent enough time there and got connected into the core group. Maybe, I don't know. But this next week-end we are going to visit our old church New Song, which I am looking forward to.

Define...

This video starts a little slow, but really comes around in the end. My wife and I had the chance to see John Piper at the text and context conference at Mars Hill in Seattle. He has a wonderful way of delivering the Gospel in its simplicity and its entirety at the some time. Blows the mind!

(thanks Mr. Piper and Vitamin Z)

Blood and worship blah blah blah

For the last forty days the church that I attend has been going through a curriculum put out by Pastor Warren called Forty Days of Community, a series I have struggled with. As part of the series I chose to include the bible study God has blessed us with into the small group portion of the Forty Day curriculum. It has been trying to meld the methods and content of Pastor Warren into the culture of our group. Though we have struggled through it and watched the video (some slept through it), and read the devotional (well....), it has proven to be beyond me to reconcile it to the group in a way that I felt content with. To put it bluntly I screwed it up.

Last Wednesday night was our last Forty Day group meeting, and instead of turning the group over to Pastor Warren, I decided to pull the content for that evening from the previous Sunday sermon ( also part of the Forty Day curriculum, and well delivered by our pastor, thanks Stacey) and Mark Driscoll's Vintage Jesus (page 160something). It was the first time that I ever lead a topical Bible Study, though I think it went rather well. Worship is an all encompassing topic. We spent time defining what worship was and wasn't ( we decided that music was only a very small part of it ), and what worship looked like practically in our lives.   

Here are a few of our talking points...

• We are all worshippers Christian or not
• Worship isn't a musical style (thank you Jesus!)
• Worship is holistic and on going
• Without sacrifice or a person or object of glory, worship is not happening
• Worship costs us something (or everything)
  

next stop Colossians!

Puke and Politics

Colossians 1. 3-5

We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hop laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of truth, the gospel...

Colossians 1.19-20

For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

and I ramble....

November 4th was a very exciting day for me. Because it was a day that conservative leaning elements of the Church in America can look back on as a great stepping off point. A victory if you will. An opportunity to divorce ourselves from a political party that has been groping us for far too long. To pack our bags only with the Gospel and go out into the world as the bride of Christ and not the servant of a political party. Hopefully when you cast your vote, it wasn't for an old man from Arizona, or a young upstart from Chicago. But, for the image of the invisible God, the first born of all creation. Who's platform is to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. What could be more important? Nation first? America the hope of the world? Where do you cast your lot?

to this I add, Vote early and Vote daily...

Jesus is my President.