If you are taking your first year of Greek, success isn't complicated. It may be difficult, but it's not complicated. Stop hoping it will be easy. Give up your search for an easy way out. The Lord is giving you an opportunity to grow in faith, in self-discipline, in time-management, and in knowledge. He wants you to trust in his care and rest in his power.
So ...
Go for it!
Does anyone else out there surf? I've been a surfer since I was a kid, and at 72 it's one thing I can still do. Some of my best days at the beach happened in June when I surfed Waikiki with a light wind blowing from the east and the waves just right for riding. I'm now waiting for a swell to arrive at Virginia Beach. I don't care if the waves aren't much over 2 feet. Okay, that's a bit hyperbolic. But beggars can't be too picky. Here's the thing. It takes me over 3 hours to drive to the beach. In traffic. However, if there's even a small chance there are waves in VB this week, I'm going. The truth is, I'm not too bright sometimes. One dumb thing I do is to act impulsively. But I miss the ocean and I will make any excuse to walk in the sand and wax down my board.
All this to say, people should not have to apologize for finding joy in sports. Spectating should not become a substitute for the actual experience. Life should not be experienced second-hand. Surfing is a coming-of-age for the young, a renaissance for the adult, and -- thankfully -- a regeneration for the old.
Thank you, Lord, for the ocean.
J. B. Phillips once wrote a great book with the title Your God Is Too Small. Someone needs to write a book entitled Your Teacher Is Too Boring. Jesus, the greatest teacher who ever lived, was anything but boring. He came to light a fire. Nothing he said was a sleeper.
Find a teacher like that. Passion is one of our greatest foods of the soul. It's an essential human need. Passion relieves boredom because it turns both our head and our heart. For it is our hearts that accept the truth.
Teaching without passion is like a mountain without a summit. It is stupid, boring, and ugly. Truth, however, is always good, true, and beautiful.
Only a live wire can shock you. Find a teacher who's alive.
I was 12 years old when I became aware of just how difficult pastoral ministry can be. I was a member of a Baptist church in Kailua whose pastor was in his early 60s. Even today I have very fond memories of the man. He was a gentle, soft-spoken mainlander who genuinely loved his congregation. Though his messages weren't always interesting, they were always faithful to the Scriptures.
One day he suffered a stroke. It wasn't a major stroke but it did prevent him from clearly articulating his words. Within weeks he was out of a job. My 12-year old brain was uncomprehending. After all, with a little bit of effort, I had no problem understanding his sermons. No matter. He was gone. "We can't understand him" was the reason I was given when I asked why he'd been fired.
J. Oswald Sanders, in his outstanding book Spiritual Leadership, writes: "No one need aspire to leadership in the work of God who is not prepared to pay a price greater than his contemporaries and colleagues are willing to pay. True leadership always exacts a heavy toll, and the more effective the leadership, the higher the price to be paid."
Some of you pastors are paying a high price right now. I want to say that I respect you for that. Thank you for being men of courage and conviction. I regret that you have to deal with people that Paul described in Rom. 16:17 as "causing division and putting obstacles in your way." These things aren't just happening inadvertently. They are being caused deliberately and knowingly. These actions do not come from the Holy Spirit. Nor are they always overt. Usually they are subtle. William Barkley describes a divisive man as someone "who speaks well and acts ill." He leads people astray not by direct attack but by subtlety and subterfuge. Nothing in the church will demoralize you like that. Church becomes hell on earth.
If you're in this situation, ask for help! Don't pretend that you wear a cape and tights. You can't carry the weight of the whole world on your shoulders. Turn to those you trust for prayer and support. You need their companionship and involvement at this time in your life. Admit your weakness and inadequacy. I deeply respect that attitude among the pastors I know. One of the greatest privileges of ministry is having a friend you can unburden on. The enemy of our souls tries to get us to face our trials alone. Don't go there. You'll pay too heavy of a price for going it alone. Accept this time of testing as from the hand of God. The Holy Spirit does not flourish through methods. He flourishes through men -- men of contrition and vulnerability.
My former pastor in Hawaii made a lasting impact on my life. I had never before seen such a clear example of Paul's "strength-in-weakness" theology -- a crucial doctrine I went on to write a book about years later (Paul, Apostle of Weakness). This dependence on God never changes. Opposition is the means by which God grants power to those who rely on him. May that be your blessed privilege today, my pastor friend.
Learning is truly mastered when we are able to explain what we have learned to others. I love trying to tell others why I have become excited about studying a passage of Scripture. This morning is no exception. All I could get through in the Sermon on the Mount today was one verse! Here's how I rendered it:
"How God blesses those who are destitute in spirit, because the kingdom of Heaven belongs to them!"
That done, I feasted at the table of Scripture for an hour. In the process, I was forced to think through at least 3 issues:
1. How to translate "Blessed." Notice I didn't use either "happy" or "fortunate." Writes Stott: "Happiness is a subjective state, whereas Jesus is making an objective judgment about these people." In other words, Jesus is describing, not a subjective feeling, but an objective reality -- that God is blessing them. In Hebrew, we find the very same construction in Psalm 1:1: "Blessed is the man." Here the Hebrew word for "blessed" is plural, which seems to denote fullness and variety. Hence my rendering, "How God blesses ...."
2. Greek has a word for "poor" and another word for "destitute." When I was in college, I was poor but hardly destitute! The latter word is used here. Hence, "How God blesses those who are destitute in spirit."
3. Finally, you might have noticed that I capitalized the word "Heaven." That's because the word seems to be a way of saying the divine name ("God") without actually using that word. Hence, "kingdom of Heaven."
The remainder of my time was letting the truth of this verse begin to seep into my soul. What Jesus is teaching us here is both powerful and timeless. The results of a prideful spirit are absolutely disastrous. A spirit of humility before God is indispensable for life and ministry. There is no substitute!
More coming up!
Hey guys. I've added this exercise to my routine over the past 30 days.
It's called the incline dumbbell waiter curl. It's used to build bicep peaks that rival the Matterhorn. This exercise is awesome because it targets the big head of the biceps. Make sure that the top of the dumbbell stays parallel to the floor. The next time you're looking for some variation in your biceps exercises, try incorporating this variation of the waiter curl into your training. It's a great finisher at the end of your workout.
Have a lovely weekend!
Join Abigail as she takes off and lands for the first time as a solo pilot.
She entered the cockpit as a trainee and left it as a pilot. In 1976, at the age of 24, I taught my first Greek class. I entered the classroom as a student and left it as a professor.
Young person, you were created for greatness. Find God's will for your life and then pursue your dream with everything you have. Don't put God in a box. Don't ever limit him in any way, shape, or form. Set your sights high. You'll never reach higher.
Exactly 12 Fridays ago today I began my fat loss journey. I started off my journey at 240 pounds. Today I weigh 223 pounds. I began with a body fat percentage of 25 percent. Today it is 20 percent. The gym has turned fitness from a boring routine to a simple and easy lifestyle.
No more excuses. You know what you need to do.
Some people will tell you that serious exegesis of the New Testament, including the field of textual criticism, is a subject for the experts only. Shrug them off. You don't need their permission to take your study of the Bible seriously. Don't be ashamed to make time for it and defend that time like your life depends on it. In some ways, it does.
This morning I began a study of Matthew's Sermon on the Mount using these tools:
There's my Greek New Testament. There's my Hebrew New Testament. And there's an English translation. Of course, many other translations are available at my fingertips online. But my main guidestones will be the Greek along with the Hebrew.
Every translation is a commentary because in order to translate the Bible you have to first decide what the source text means, not just what it says. By definition this involves interpretation, and even a "literal" translation of the Bible must do this, even if it involves only the words a translator chooses. Among these translations, I'll give priority of place to the Hebrew since Jesus probably spoke and taught in Hebrew/Judeo-Aramaic. This Semitic influence extends not only to words (amen, korban) but to certain grammatical and syntactical constructions. Delitzsch sought to replicate these nuances in his Hebrew translation, which is fundamentally Biblical Hebrew. His Hebrew Gospels thus allow readers to see the stories and teachings of Jesus in the Gospels through the lens of the Hebrew language.
I've started this study of the Sermon on the Mount not to prepare for lectures on the passage but solely to listen carefully to the text myself. Jesus spoke this sermon to those who were already citizens of his kingdom. The high standards he sets cannot be glibly set aside, as I have done so often. The sermon was written for those who believe that the precepts of Jesus not only can but should be followed.
Matt. 5:1-2 states that Jesus "sat down" and his disciples "came to him" to listen to what he had to say. Then he "opened his mouth" -- a Semitic idiom indicating the solemnity and gravity of what he taught them. (See my study here.) My responsibility now is to assume the posture of one of his talmidim (disciples) who learn the Torah (teaching) from their rav (rabbi).
Eager to get started!
As people age they tend to worry more than they should. They worry about their health. They worry about their kids and grandkids. They worry about their finances. They worry about the future of the nation.
The Greek word for worry is merimnaō.
Interestingly, the word can have both positive and negative connotations depending on the context. For example, in Phil. 2:20, Paul uses the term positively. "I have no one else who worries about you more than Timothy," he says. Here, worry is commendable. It is commendable because it grows out of true concern for others. I imagine this is how you felt if you were the parents of a high schooler in Winder, GA, when you learned that there had been a shooting at the school. That kind of worry would be most understandable. In fact, without such concern I would wonder about your love for your children.
But there's another kind of worry, the kind that has no business being a part of our lives. Paul refers to this kind of worry in Phil. 4:6. Using the very same verb he used earlier to describe Timothy, he now uses it with the negative connotation of unreasonable anxiety or harrowing care. Thus Paul can say to the Philippians, "Don't worry about anything, but pray about everything." He's referring to the kind of worry we all know so well -- the anxiety that strangles us and chokes us and eats away at us.
I wish I were a marvelous model of a man who practices the right kind of worry, but I'm not. The other day I told someone, "I'm worried about you," intending my words to convey the force of "I care about you deeply and I'm so anxious for your wellbeing." But even as I spoke those words, in my heart there was a churning, an "unreasonable anxiety." I had begun to fret about something neither I nor they had any control over.
Maybe this is why Paul immediately brings up the topic of prayer. Because of our anxieties, God says "Bring them to me. Let me handle them. Exchange your worry for my peace." I challenge every one of us to make a habit of doing that regularly. Our worry list should never be longer than our prayer list. They ought to be of equal length. Let each worry be matched by a specific petition to the Supreme Person of the universe who cares about every concern we could ever bring to him.
It was so much fun getting in 4 miles today as part of my fat loss journey.
But guess what? Cardio can get you only so far. Anytime you want to lose fat anywhere on your body, you've got to begin with what you're putting into your mouth, that is, your nutrition. Notice I didn't say "diet." Diets are something you're on temporarily. Nutrition is how you feed your body over the long haul. The simple truth is that if you're eating more calories than your body is burning off, you are not going to burn fat. You've got to be hypocaloric. This doesn't mean you should stop doing slow cardio like walking. I have no doubt that regular walking can help you get rid of your love handles faster. Again, however, if you're consuming more calories than you're burning off, you're not going to burn enough fat to get rid of your belly fat.
Walk, yes, but also watch your nutrition.
Have a great day!
In the mid-1800s, a man lost his job as a customs agent. Brokenhearted, he went home to tell his wife. To his amazement, she said "Great! Now you can write your book!" "Yes," he said, "but what will we live on while I'm busy writing?" Her answer startled him. "Well, I've always known you were a man of genius. I knew that one day you would write an immortal masterpiece. So every week I've saved something out of the money you gave me for housekeeping. Here is enough to last one year."
The amazed husband went to his study and began writing. His name? Nathaniel Hawthorne.
His book? The Scarlet Letter.
It became one of the first mass-produced books in the U.S. and even today is considered a classic work of American literature. Novelist D. H. Lawrence called it the "perfect work of American imagination."
It is my prayer that every time you encounter a setback in life you will remember this story. Don't snatch things out of God's hands. Do what you should do, but be patient. God is not finished with you. His promise is that if you remain faithful to him, you will reap (Gal. 6:9). Another payday is coming.
The videos below are from today's workout. It was a wonderful time. I just wanted to jump online and remind everyone that you don't have to live at the gym to see results. The gym is usually not a huge time investment.
People see someone who's in great shape and automatically assume that the person lives in the weight room, when in reality 3 or 4 workouts per week can build the majority if not all the muscle you're capable of.
Besides the physical benefits, it will improve your general mental health and then carry over and make you more productive for the rest of the day.
Personally, I spend no more than 5 hours a week in the gym. As a result, my health has improved, I sleep better, and I am more motivated to do everything I set out to do. And yes, I'm well on my way to getting the physique I want.
Combine gym workouts with cardio (easy walking, for example) and you'll be at the top of your game in your personal life.
Have a fantastic day!
What a delightful video this is.
It always amazes me that people living on the same border can speak almost two entirely different languages. In Basel, the old-timers could even tell which quarter of the city you lived in by your dialect. You gotta love languages!
This morning my daughter sent me this picture.
She took it 11 years ago today. The original plan was for me to take Becky out for dinner on our 37th anniversary. But her strength just wasn't there. So our daughter prepared dinner for us. She decorated our formal living room like a fancy European restaurant. Then she served us an exquisite Swiss meal, which included some delicious fondue. It was quite a celebration. We had been given the indescribably precious gift of time, and we were going to enjoy it to the max. Even now I'm breathless thinking about the beauty I saw in Becky's eyes that night. I knew I just needed to be grateful, to savor the moment, to revel in the fact that the monsters had stayed in their closets just for an evening while my wife and I settled in for a delectable feast.
Seven weeks later she would be in heaven.
I wish that evening could have lasted forever. Nothing this side of forever will ever be long enough. I'm desperately trying to find words to explain what that evening meant to me. Sitting here at my writing desk, the house quiet all around me, I remember how I felt when such a lavish meal was served by such loving, caring, thoughtful hands. And now, suddenly, that daughter is grown, with a husband and a newborn of her own. There's so much future for us to look forward to together. But I will never forget the night that God took a milestone and shot it through with his unmistakable love through the selfless act of someone Becky loved and who loved her to the end.
Anyway, Happy Anniversary, honey. You loved us well. You will never be forgotten.
Oddly enough, I dreamt about Becky last night. I don't remember the details, but the thought of it is pleasant. I was reminded of one of my favorite songs from the 70s called "Time Passages."
Its theme is how nostalgia sneaks up on you when you least expect it. It grabs you when it's dark and cold and you're all alone. There's a part of ourselves that continually travels back to the past and tries to justify itself by rationalizing that we have something valuable to learn from the past. Of course, the past is never quite the same when you revisit it. Not to mention the fact that you never want to spend your life looking into the rear view mirror. The truth is, the past never goes anywhere. It remains a part of the present. What we left behind is part of our self, who we once used to be. Hence the singer retreats into memory, fantasizing about what he left behind, what was not entirely realized. He remembers the girl he "once used to know." But try as he may, he can't grasp her. "You reach out your hand, but you're all alone." She's gone forever. "Buy me a ticket on the last train home tonight" is his way of saying that although he knows he has to return to his real life, he still wants to linger in his nostalgic past for a while. Finally, after the past has been revisited, he returns to reality, empowered by his new recollections.
People who experience the loss of a spouse experience never-ending pain. They'd rather forget the past and the things associated with that event. Pain, however, has its useful side. It shows us that we still have the ability to feel. It's then that we remember why the pain is so great -- it demonstrates the supreme value and worth of what was lost. We realize that whatever the future holds for us, it will always include the pain (and joys) of the past with it. This backward look is the sign of a healthy soul. Nostalgia doesn't have to be morbid or fatalistic. It's not something to avoid but to embrace. It gives us an opportunity to take fresh inventory of our lives and determine new directions. It makes our tragedies look smaller and God's grace look bigger. So we must be willing to see the value in nostalgia and to receive it as a gift from God.
When Becky died, I lost the world I loved, but God replaced it with another world that I also love. Her death then helped me to clarify my purpose in life now. My dream last night didn't give me an answer to the question of why her death occurred. It did not erase my grief or sorrow. But it did give me a measure of peace. The same God who was with me as a married man is with me as a single man. He was there to welcome Becky into heaven, and he is here to walk with me before he too calls me home.
If you want to get your first pull up, you need to start with the dead hang. You want to get comfortable with holding and supporting your own body weight.
A key thing to look for is to stay as still as possible. Don't be swinging around. Keep your core engaged the entire time you're hanging. When you can work your way up to 30 seconds pretty comfortably, then you can start doing scapula pull ups. More on that later.
As we lament the lost, let us remember that one of the worst days in American history saw some of the bravest acts in American history.
I once heard about a church that never uses the term "missionary." You will never hear, "This Sunday we're having a missionary as our speaker." They use the term "missions partner" instead. Nor do they ever use the term "missions pastor." They call him "pastor of missional living." I love that.
Don't get me wrong. I love and support full time professional missionaries. But every obedient follower of Jesus Christ is in full time missionary service. And we simply can't fulfil the Great Commission if we continue to outsource the work to professionals. They simply don't have the manpower to get the job done.
Just something to consider.
Yesterday in Greek class we discussed the structure and theme of Philippians. We were reminded of the importance of context in biblical interpretation. Without context, we might infer that when Paul writes "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling" (2:12) he's teaching salvation by works. But verse 13 throws a completely different light on the subject.
We also discussed the fact that the theme of Philippians is not joy. Joy is always the byproduct of living for the sake of the gospel. This understanding of Philippians can have a profound effect on our Christian walk. Paul's words should galvanize us into action.
When you're studying a verse of Scripture, always consult its "neighbors." If you find yourself getting lost, climb the "contextual ladder" and get a bird's eye view. You'll be glad you did.
Since we're on the subject of marriage this morning, here's a brief reminder for those of us who are husbands. You are the head of your marriage. Yours is the final responsibility. Let's remember, however, that headship has nothing to do with superiority, intelligence, ability, or force. It doesn't mean you're always right. It's not "I get to tell everyone what to do." With authority always goes responsibility. And your primary responsibility is to your head -- Jesus Christ!
If I failed anywhere in my marriage, it was here. Submission is one of those characteristics that is incredibly hard for a self-sufficient, sure-minded, determined young husband to practice. When I think of the multitude of ways I was selfish in my home, I cringe. Why should Becky have to ask me more than once to do something I should do anyway? Selflessness is offering to help your wife with the dishes before she asks. I could draw out many other illustrations of biblical headship. A husband never suppresses his wife. He never pretends he's better than her. He doesn't refuse to listen to her. Rather, he is the leader -- in thought, in word, in obedience, in helpfulness, in repentance, in example. He may not always be right. But he submits to the Lord Jesus Christ, accepts responsibility for managing his household, communicates total acceptance and unconditional love, and leads with godly authority.
Just a friendly reminder. Have a wonderful day!
Today would have been my 48th wedding anniversary. On this day in 1976, I made one of the best decisions of my life -- and it wasn't just to stuff cake in Becky's mouth.
In the end, God gave us 37 wonderful years of marriage. I don't believe there is any "secret" to a great marriage. But there were at least 7 things that got us through:
A good sense of humor.
Being kind and forgiving toward each other.
Having shared and separate interests.
Being opposites in temperament.
Praying together every day.
Serving the Lord as co-missionaries.
God's mercy and grace.
Don't get me wrong. It wasn't perfect. Lord knows we had our thin times. Still, marriages can persevere with hard work, love, and commitment (to God first, then to each other). Even severe testing is part of God's plan for your marriage. I think Peter Kreeft put it well in his book Jesus Shock (p. 37): "He [Jesus] is not the solution to our problems; He is the giver of our problems. Our problems are His tasks and our opportunities, His teaching and our education, His will and our sanctification. Whether they are as small as a dropped earring or as large as a death or (worse) a divorce, everything is somewhere on that love-line that runs from Him to us." Marriage can diminish us, but it can also expand us. It depends on the choices we make and the grace we receive.
Anyway, just thought I'd share that with you. Even now, I have many moments when I just get overwhelmed by the memories. I hope that never ends.
The Bible is an infinite source of truth. You will never exhaust it. The more you know, the more you realize what you don't know. Every morning during my Bible time, as I dig deep into the word, I am thrilled that I have some knowledge, but I realize that I can never exhaust the meaning of the passage I'm studying. Still, God's desire is that we read, probe, observe, examine, evaluate, and apply the Bible to our lives. The message of the Scriptures must grip us personally. Understanding must lead to obedience. How important it is that we who read God's word do so with a love for its great Author and a willingness to obey what he is saying to us!
Don't believe for a moment that you don't need to be challenged. Each one of us needs a mountain to climb, even it's nothing more than a hill. Why? Because the mountain is a tangible symbol of the need we all have to achieve. Without climbing the mountains in our lives we can never be sure that we have reached our potential in life. Some out-of-the-ordinary task must be taken on in order to increase our confidence that we are not just coasting through life. I think that's one of the reasons I began to run marathons. It was the need to try something I thought myself incapable of. No one who finishes a marathon is the same person that started the race.
I hope there's a mountain of some sort in your life. We all need meaningful goals, don't we?
"Success is the result of small efforts, repeated day in and day out." -- Steve Maraboli.
"It always seems impossible until it's done" -- Nelson Mandela.
"Perseverance is not a long race. It is many short races one after the other." -- Walter Elliot.
"Success is not final; failure is not fatal. It is the courage to continue that counts." -- Winston Churchill.
Have a wonderful day!
A body recomp is something that pretty much happens naturally as you (1) build muscle and (2) eat in a small calorie deficit. Just do the right thing to maximize its effectiveness and that's about it. I would also suggest that you track your progress. Seeing what you're doing on a regular basis is going to help you improve. You should take pictures because just seeing the progress you're making is going to help you stay motivated.
It also gives you a healthy sense of competition with your past self. Just remember that all of this is going to take a lot of time so be patient with yourself. The process of turning your body from fat to lean(er) is a lot of fun. If you're pushing yourself in the gym three days a week and trying to improve your diet, you're going to see results.
Nice surprise today!
After a long day of work in Wake Forest, what should I find when I pull into the farm but the kids filling up my firewood shed.
Thank you! I can't believe how tall Nolan is getting (he's their eldest).
He's only 15. My mind is blown. Just for the fun of it, here's a pic of Nolan's dad when he was his age. We were living in California at the time.
I'm still the tallest, but not for long.
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| Picture by momma farmer. |
You can never get enough of family.
Isn't this great?
In Heb. 13:1-5, there are three "loves."
Each contains the Greek root phil.
1. There's "brotherly love,."
2. There's "stranger love."
3. And there's "money love." (This love is negated, of course.)
Now, the idea of "stranger love" is missed in all New Testament versions except for one. Usually the Greek is rendered something like "show hospitality to strangers" (NIV, NLT, NASB, LSB, NRSV, etc.). However, here's what the ASV of 1901 has:
"Forget not to show love unto strangers."
BINGO!
So here's my rendering of the "three loves":
Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters.
Don't forget to show love to strangers.
Keep your lives free from the love of money.
Isn't the Bible wonderful?
It was so much fun returning to the gym today.
As bad as I am at weight lifting, I keep doing it because I love it. I'm also a little on the competitive side. Well, a lot on the competitive side, especially when I'm competing against myself. Prior to lifting, my physical condition was something akin to downtown Durham -- slowly spreading out while at the same time trying to revitalize its core. I had thus decided I would try strength training. I completely ran out of excuses not to join the Y.
The vast majority of people I've met at the gym have been very nice and encouraging, but there have been a couple of exceptions. One guy would laugh at me when I tried doing assisted pull ups or when I would grunt while doing a very "heavy" (for me) lift. Most of these jerks disappeared after a few months. The people I saw today all welcomed me back to the Y ("What happened to your eye?) and spoke as if they truly missed me. (I missed them to.) I was surprised that, having taken a number of days off, I felt pretty good. I am actually seeing improvement, which is pretty mind-blowing. I enjoy the quiet of an early morning workout after my Bible time. I love the feeling of having done something -- a feeling of accomplishment. It's the same pleasant sensation I get from cleaning my house or finishing a book. I love achieving goals, no matter how small. Researchers have studied this phenomenon and have classified people like me "bootstrappers." I assume that's a Latin word. I'll have to look it up sometime.
Truth is, to gym means that you want to get better at taking care of that old body of yours. Our legacy comes from the ancient Greeks. To paraphrase the oracle at Delphi: Know thy body. Without a doubt, Olympic athletes back then were exemplars of fitness. Their endurance was amazing. That meant adhering to a schedule that made for the best possible you. There is no place in your gym routine for pain or shortness of breath, no place for pushing to the limits. Just work at a comfortable level -- hard enough to make progress but not so hard that you burn out.
I'm so thankful to God that he allowed me to lift today. Exercising has become an accepted method of taking charge of one's life and becoming one's personal best. I know this to be true from experience. Like Thoreau, I am never less lonely than when I am alone working out. My hour and a half in the gym rejuvenates me. It's a time when I can crawl off the treadmill of life and take a step back. Like you and everyone else I know, I need to be challenged. I want to know if I'm a coward or not. I want to see how much effort I can put in and what I can endure. Lifting allows all that and more. And my only opponent is myself.
That's the reason I'm not just sitting around watching the grass grow. I feel like I've never achieved all that I could. There's a race to be run. If your view of life is less than that, you're finished.
If you look closely at this picture you will see a small sliver of my right eye just below the big black scar created by yesterday's chalazion removal.
I am soooooo happy to be able to see again out of both of my eyes, even though I still have a long ways to go before my right eyelid is back to normal. Icing my eye yesterday did a lot to bring the swelling down.
God, this God of miracles, who somehow at the same time is still God even when no miracles are to be seen, simply asks me to trust him. Even in difficulty he will give me one tiny place to stand, one impossibly small foothold when the waters are raging all around me.
He will do the same for you.
Understanding the "moods" in Greek verbs is critical. The indicative mood is the most common mood. It presents the action as an obvious fact. This mood is generally studied before the other moods in Greek such as the subjunctive or the imperative.
Monday's class will be a watershed for us in terms of our study of Greek verbs. With chapter 15 of our grammar, we will have studied the entire indicative mood.
We only have one more morpheme to learn:
I love this language. It has mathematical, architectural precision. It's logic amazes me. It almost makes me giddy.
Monday will be a day of great joy and celebration. Christianity isn't for deadbeats. Not if you take Jesus as our model. True, he wept, but joy was indeed "serious business" for our Lord. I liken studying Greek not to a convention of bleary-eyed salesmen but to a rollicking banquet of wedding guests -- tremendous happiness and joy. Every good gift from God should be received that way.
"Success is not the key to happiness," said Albert Schweitzer. "Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful."
Amen!
A need doesn't demand a call.
Just because you see a need doesn't mean that God is asking you to meet it.
Just because someone asks you to do something for them doesn't mean that you ought to.
Just because people are expecting you to say yes doesn't mean you should.
You can't meet every need.
I love all those tiny little details in Scripture, don't you? This morning, as I was thinking about the closed and open doors in my life, I decided to read Acts 16, where Paul recounts one of his own experiences with closed and open doors.
Suddenly I noticed that little prefix circled below.
How magnificent! The idea isn't just that Timothy went with Paul, or accompanied him, or joined him. The verb Luke uses could be rendered "he went forth with him." The emphasis is on the point from which someone departs. Compare Matt: 13:1: Jesus "went forth from the house." Or Matt 15:21: "Jesus "went forth from there." Or John 13:3: Jesus knew that he had "come forth from God."
Paul didn't want Timothy merely to accompany him and Silas. He knew that in going with them, Timothy would have to also "leave" much. He'd had to leave Derby -- the city of his youth. He'd have to leave his home -- the only one he'd ever known. He'd had to leave his parents. If he was employed, he'd had to leave his source of income.
I suppose we've all had experiences like that. To follow God's guidance, we've had to leave the familiar for the unfamiliar and simply "go forth." When I left Hawaii for Biola in 1971, I was leaving the place I had called home for 19 years. I also knew that when I returned that Christmas it would never again be "home." It's encouraging to know that when we do this we're in good company. Think of Abraham. Or of the disciples when left their nets and followed Jesus. Or young Timothy going along with Paul on his second missionary journey. This passage reminded me that God's the potter and I'm only the clay. He's in charge, I'm not. Where he leads me I must follow.
You can think of it as taking a trip without maps. Or you can think of it as an absolute adventure. Either way, stop holding out. Become a risk taker for God today.
This morning the doctor scraped away at my growth. He even performed surgery from underneath the eyelid. I'd never prayed about a chalazion clamp before. Guess there's a first time for everything.
When it was all over, when I finally had time to stop and think, all that came to me was that this morning my heart was bursting with gratitude for the gifted doctors we have here in Nowhere, VA. Why would such capable professionals stop by this little corner of the world? Generally, there's not much here, except for an aging demographic and hence a real need for not-your-typical-rural-American health care providers. Still, they come, taking the time to invest in this community alongside me. I can't tell you how encouraging that has been. It struck me again -- the extravagance of God's love.
I guess I just want to say a public thank you to whoever's out there.
We look but don't see. We touch but don't feel. We taste but don't savor.
For me, being alive has become almost mystical. The sunlight has become precious. The breeze has become a delight. A new picture of a grandson has become a treasure. My daughter sent me this one today.
The test is simple.
See. Feel. Savor.
Life is too short not to.
When I blog about suffering I do not write about the subject theoretically.
A couple of years ago I had a chalazion removed from my right eyelid. Well, it recently decided to pay a return visit, and with a bang. Two nights ago I went to bed with a medium-sized chalazion in my eyelid. In the morning I awoke to an eye swollen completely shut. I'd post a pic but I'm not that crude. (If you've ever seen Charles Laughton in the old black-and-white movie Hunchback of Notre Dame, you'd get the idea.) My ophthalmologist tells me he can't remove the chalazion until the swelling goes down. Until then, life consists of dexamethasone eye drops, antibiotics, and warm compresses.
As I often do when I'm facing difficulty, this morning I turned to the first chapter of 2 Corinthians. I'm sure you've often done the same thing. Interestingly, the focus is not on how hard life is. It's on how great God is. Ten times in verses 3-7 the word "comfort" appears.
The word conveys the idea of personal care and attention. God is the one who comforts us in and through all of our suffering. The paragraph opens with the words, "Blessed be God." What a great attitude to face difficulty with. God is none other than the "Father of mercies" and the "God of all comfort." I love that little word "all." It covers all of my afflictions and all of yours. God is with us in the midst of all our "whys." He will be there when I commemorate what would have been my 48th wedding anniversary in 7 days. He'll be with us when my family commemorates Becky's passing into eternity 11 years ago this November. As he has done every year since her death, he'll remind us, "I never left. Just lean on me. Just stay near. Let me comfort you."
I love how the Living Bible renders verse 3: "What a wonderful God we have -- he is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the source of every mercy, and the one who is wonderfully comforting and strengthening us in our hardships and trials." Not a word of complaint. Just praise.
I don't know that any of us would grow deeper in our walk with God if it wasn't for these trials we experience. I'll see the doctor again tomorrow. I'm hoping he can excise the monster. Even if he can't, I know that God will continue to use the stuff of ordinary life to expose my weaknesses and to develop my character.
Blessed be God.
Many people think that the lats or chest are the largest muscle in the upper body. In fact, that place of honor goes to the delts. Hence structuring a proper shoulder workout is a key aspect of upper body training. Nothing builds shoulders like a good old-fashioned dumbbell overhead press. It's become a staple in my routine. (From today's workout.)
The shoulder press can be done standing or seated. Both exercises effectively target the front delts.
Happy lifting!
When we lift, we'll want to focus primarily on compound lifts since these target up to 3-4 muscle groups with just one exercise. For example, with something like a pull up -- which is a really great compound lift -- this targets your traps, lats, and back.
If we decided to do 3 different isolation exercises to hit the same parts -- shrugs for the traps, pull downs for the lats, and rows for the back -- that would take 3 exercises and 3 times the amount of time to hit the same areas as the pull up.
This is why pull ups are such an amazing selection for your weight training program as it saves you a ton of time.
Just a friendly suggestion.
There are two great days in everyone's life. The first is the day we were born. And the second is the day we realized why.
Today I'm in Wake Forest for my weekly massage even though the campus is technically closed for Labor Day. Honestly, I can't tell you how eagerly I anticipate returning to the classroom next Monday. It's almost as though I was born for this.
I can recall where it all started. I was a fifth grader at Kainalu Elementary School. On the first day of class, my social studies teacher walked in and said to us, "Cómo está usted?" This was a "light bulb" moment in my young life. Something about that moment changed everything. I couldn't get it out of my head. It kept me up at night. Life was new and exciting. I also recall that the next semester of fifth grade, our teacher began to teach us German. The day I went home and proudly counted to 10 in German is forever embedded in my memory.
I think a good way to describe all of this is serendipity. C. S. Lewis often used this word when he wanted to describe those times in his life when he was "surprised by joy." You see, it was in the fifth grade, though I couldn't fully understand it at the time, that I discovered a passion for languages. You might say the scales fell from my eyes. It was a eureka moment. It was like a wildfire has been sparked in my soul. Teaching Greek turned out to be my life's calling.
Being someone's teacher gives you a unique voice to speak positively in their life. No two days are ever the same. Most of all, I love that light bulb moment in their own lives when they just get it, even when it's taken a while. It doesn't matter whether I'm teaching a brand new Greek student or someone working on their doctorate in New Testament Greek. You focus on the potential you see.
I feel so privileged and blessed to have embarked on the path of language education and so grateful to have met every student along the way. There is no better way to learn about a subject than to teach it. My social studies teacher knew that, and look where it led.
What do you think? Should we supply nouns in English when they aren't in the Greek?
This morning I was reading 1 John 2.
In verse 6 we read, "The one who claims to abide in him ought to walk as he walked." Who is the "he" in "he walked"? Grammatically, the nearest antecedent in Greek is "God." But the reference is definitely to Christ based on John's style and diction (John literally wrote, not "he," but "that one" -- his shorthand for Jesus). Should Bible translators make this clear?
I would say yes. The NIV reads: "must live as Jesus did." The GNT has: "we should live just as Jesus Christ did." The Living Bible prefers: "Anyone whos says he is a Christian should live as Christ did." And I love how The Message renders this verse: "Anyone who claims to be intimate with God ought to live the same kind of life Jesus lived."
We can also note the following translations:
NET: "ought to walk just as Jesus walked."
DHH: "debe vivir como vivió Jesucristo."
HOF: "der soll auch so leben, wie Jesus gelebt hat."
BDS: "doit vivre comme Christ lui-même a vécu."
HWP: "dey gotta do everyting jalike Jesus wen do."
BDG: "dovete ancha vivere come Cristo ha vissuto."
As my Greek 2 class this semester begins to translate the book of 1 John (easy Greek, profound theology), I want them to see that they can know that they know God not only by keeping God's commandments (2:3), not only by "doing his word" (2:4), but by "walking as Jesus walked" (2:6.) Righteous conduct is not enough. Our lives must conform to the example of Christ as well as to his commands.
My friend, the test of obedience is always before us. Our words must be tested by our works. If our conduct contradicts our profession, it proves itself to be false. The failure to pass this test is to stand self-exposed.
Have a wonderful Labor Day!
Here's a prayer I've been praying for my kids and grandkids:
"May this God of peace equip you to do every good thing he wants. And may he work in you through Jesus Christ to do what is pleasing to him."
This is my paraphrase of Heb. 13:21. Incidentally, we don't have to guess what this "service pleasing to God" looks like. It includes what the author mentions in Heb. 12:28-13:19:
These sacrifices, rather than a burnt offering, are what truly please the Lord. My children and grandchildren will carry out his will only as he works within them. His action makes theirs possible!
This afternoon was overcast and perfect for a 4-mile run.
The whole soul is stirred. The Greek philosopher Epictetus told us as much millenia ago: "If anything laborious or pleasant, glorious or inglorious, be presented to you, remember now is the contest, now are the Olympic Games, and they cannot be delayed." The people on the trail today knew that. And we should too.