Archive - November 1, 2007

Bungee

November 1, 2007 in My Family with 4 Comments

800px_Macau_tower_1.jpgMy younger daughter, Jamie — a student at Oklahoma Christian University, has been in their study abroad program this semester.  By December 6, she will have spent weeks in China, Japan, New Zealand, and Australia.  She is presently in New Zealand.  The other day she called and said she would be in Hong Kong for four days.  I emailed my friend Eric Yip who lives in Hong Kong.  He sent me a list of some places that she might want to visit in four days.  I thought it was a great list.

 
She called the other day and told me that she had made another stop while she was in Hong Kong.  She went to Macau to bungee jump off the Macau Tower.  Hmmm.  This wasn’t on Eric’s list.  The conversation went something like this on the telephone.

 
"Hey Dad.  I did something yesterday that you won’t believe.  I probably shouldn’t tell you.  I mean — I don’t think you would ever do this."

 
"Okay."

 
"I’m going to tell you.  I bungee jumped off the Macau Tower."

 
"You did?"

 
"Just look online, Dad.  You won’t believe it."

 
She was right.  I couldn’t believe it.  Oh my.  I could just imagine seeing my child fall off this tower.  (By the way, this was her first bungee jump.)  

 
What is going through my head?  I am thinking, "Why?"  She was right of course.  There is no way I am going to free fall from a tower that almost touches the heavens while I depend upon a total stranger to make sure I live through this.  Uhhh — no.  (My apologies in advance to those of you who are into this and who know there is a thrill to this.)

 
There is one good thing about this.

I am thankful that I didn’t know about this until afterward.  :)

 
(Note: Several days after posting this, Jamie left a comment on this post.  Be sure to read it.)

Never Getting Beyond

November 1, 2007 in Jesus with 4 Comments

Tim Keller is a person to whom I pay attention.  He is a good thinker and speaker.  I pay attention to what he writes.  I recently came across the following post.  These are not "microwave" thoughts.  Rather, they need to simmer for a long time.  This is worth thinking about: 

We never “get beyond the gospel” in our Christian life to something
more “advanced.” The gospel is not the first “step” in a “stairway” of
truths, rather, it is more like the “hub” in a “wheel” of truth. The
gospel is not just the A-B-C’s of Christianity, but it is the A to Z of
Christianity. The gospel is not just the minimum required doctrine
necessary to enter the kingdom, but the way we make all progress in the
kingdom.

 
We are not justified by the gospel and then sanctified by obedience but the gospel is the way
we grow (Gal. 3:1-3) and are renewed (Col 1:6). It is the solution to
each problem, the key to each closed door, the power through every
barrier (Rom. 1:16-17).

 
It is very common in the church to think
as follows: “The gospel is for non-Christians. One needs it to be
saved. But once saved, you grow through hard work and obedience.” But
Colossians 1:6 shows that this is a mistake. Both confession and “hard
work” that is not arising from and “in line” with the gospel will not
sanctify you — it will strangle you. All our problems come from a failure
to apply the gospel. Thus when Paul left the Ephesians he committed
them “to the word of his grace, which can build you up” (Acts 20:32).

 
The
main problem, then, in the Christian life is that we have not thought
out the deep implication of the gospel, we have not “used” the gospel
in and on all parts of our life. Richard Lovelace says that most
people’s problems are just a failure to be oriented to the gospel — a
failure to grasp and believe it through and through. Luther says (on
Gal. 2:14), “The truth of the Gospel is the principle article of all
Christian doctrine… Most necessary is it that we know this article
well, teach it to others, and beat it into their heads continually.”
The gospel is not easily comprehended. Paul says that the gospel only
does its renewing work in us as we understand it in all its truth. All
of us, to some degree live around the truth of the gospel but do not
“get” it. So the key to continual and deeper spiritual renewal and
revival is the continual re-discovery of the gospel. A stage
of renewal is always the discovery of a new implication or application
of the gospel — seeing more of its truth. This is true for either an
individual or a church.

 
(originated at Justin Taylor’s Between Two Worlds)