Normally, I would use that phrase to talk of my love of all things Razorback, but in this instance it simply means that I am a likely recipient of the H1N1 (swine flu) virus.  I went to the doctor today and tested positive for influenza A, which means it is probably the H1N1 variety here.  This is the second year in a row that I have managed to pick up some big viral deal that has flattened me.  Last year it was the parvovirus B19 adventure in the late summer and now this.  Hopefully this will be a shorter deal.  I already have someone lined up to preach on Sunday morning as I have been strictly admonished to stay at home until I am symptom free for at least 24 hours.  It seems to have hit my two boys as well, but only one of them has had a hard time with it like I have.  We both have asthma, so that explains most of the problem.  I was given a prescription for Tamiflu, along with a few other things, and then discovered that Tamiflu has some “unusual” side effects that are possible (notably hallucinations).  I will take my first dose tonight and hope that I don’t start seeing things.  I have a feeling I won’t be blogging much for a while as I have to put all of my effort into schoolwork first.  I look forward to getting back to some sort of normalcy soon.  In the meantime, I appreciate your prayers for me and the family as we try to get back to full health.

I have gotten a little behind on some of my projects again.  The last couple of weeks have seen me on the road more than normal.  Two weeks ago at this time I was at an exceptional church planting and missions conference in Missoula, MT.  The speaker was a man named Jim Putman who wrote a book about a year or so ago called Church is a Team Sport. I felt a great connection to this pastor and heard a great amount of harmony with my thinking (at one point he basically preached a great part of the sermon I had just preached the day before going).  I have already read the book since returning and I am excited to see how God will use these things in the life of our church here.  I highly recommend the book and I plan to devote a couple of posts in the near future to these topics so I won’t go on about it now.

Last week, we traveled to Rapid City, SD, for the Dakota Baptist Convention.  I have been looking forward to this for quite a while, since it gave us a chance to catch up with lots of good friends from around the Dakotas and especially those in the Black Hills where we had served for 4 years before moving here.  Overall, the convention went very well and I count it a blessing and a priviledge that God has led us to serve here with the wonderful folks in the DBC.

We will be able to spend a few weeks here close to home as I complete my final two classes to finish my Master of Arts in Religion before we finish the year by traveling to Arkansas to visit with family and friends there over the holidays.  All in all, things are going very well.  I am going to catch up on posting sermon audio over at the church’s blog tonight or tomorrow and get some more schoolwork tucked away as well.  Plus I look forward to catching up on my friend’s blogs as well.

I finally got a grade for my paper this week, and now that I am back at home, I have time to post the paper for your perusal.  The topic of the paper is pagan corruptions in the early church.  I hope you get something out of reading it and as always I am open to feedback or suggestions on my work.  If you disagree or would like to discuss it feel free to do so in the comments on this post.  I am well aware that some may dispute my conclusions and I will be happy to interact with someone if they have something of substance to say in the matter.  The link for the PDF file is below.

Pagan Corruptions in the Early Church

I am going to be traveling to a Missional Leadership Conference in Montana tomorrow with the area missionary from our region here in the Dakotas.  This opportunity was presented to me a few weeks ago and I feel strongly that the Lord paved the way for me to go.  Certainly, there have been a few obstacles to overcome in the last week or two, but they have been overcome.  We will be leaving for Missoula, MT tomorrow after church and I will be back on Wednesday sometime.  I am taking my laptop with me, but I don’t know if I will be able to check in much at all.  Blessings to you all out there in the blogosphere.  If you have a moment to stop and pray for me during this time, it is always appreciated and felt.

I am trying to catch up on a dozen things and actually getting most of them.  I have successfully caught up on posting sermon audio for the last five weeks over at the church’s site.  I have an assignment in before the deadline in one of my two classes that are starting this week with another assignment hopefully getting in tonight ahead of schedule as well, and I am getting caught up on blogging and some comments as well.  In that spirit, I am posting the link for a paper from one of my recently completed classes that has been graded.  I am happy to report that I managed to get an A in the class and this paper received an excellent grade as well.  I would love for those who would like to offer comments or feedback on it to feel free and do so in the comments here.  The paper is on understanding the Holy Spirit in the Gospel of John.

Holy Spirit Paper for NBST 596

I also would ask for your prayers this week.  We are expecting my wife to have surgery within the next few days to remove her gall bladder.  It is funny how many people we know who have had this done as well, and the amount of encouragement she has received from our friends and family has been so helpful.  Thanks for your prayers to our Abba on her behalf.  Shalom.

I like paradoxes. I am sure that makes me a little weird, but that doesn’t bother me really. I have all of this free time this week because I am not starting back to class until next Monday, so I thought I would get a lot of blogging done. I got the other computer fixed, so I have the means to get a lot of blogging done. I am trying to rest my poor right arm, which has been overworked typing and mousing at the computer, so I can understand why I haven’t got a lot of blogging done. I still have three weeks of sermons to post at the church site, and I haven’t done that either.

I haven’t made a lot of comments at my friends blogs either.  I am feeling somewhat averse to getting into any more “serious discussions” to contend for some minor point of the faith or major misunderstanding.  I have exhausted plenty of energy in a sporadic dialog with an atheist at another blog about evolution and it just reminds me yet again that so many can have the Truth staring right at them and still not see it.  Frankly it isn’t my job to make them see it either.  And I am learning that slowly but surely.
I have a couple of papers to post here, once they are graded of course. I don’t want them to show up on the web and make my professor think I plagiarized myself.
But why the title for this post? I think it best describes my current state of affairs. I am contented with what God is doing in my life, but I am restless as well. There are things I want to do, and things I want to see done around me in His Kingdom. But the time is not now it seems. Earlier tonight, my sister wrote a new post on her blog. I want to quote a little of it that is relevant to this feeling I have right now:

I am… where I am… because I am… where He has placed me.
I am… who I am… because I am… who He made me.
I am where I am in life… because I am needed… where I am.
I am not stuck, denied, lost or forgotten. God has not witheld, withdrawn, or forsaken.
I am forgiven, fulfilled, and loved.
God is not behind schedule in my life. He is certainly not early. I can be assured He is right on time.
These things will not change, because He will not change.
I am… where I am… because I am… where He has placed me.
And so are you!

I just wanted to thank my sister for her writing and for capturing so well what so many of us need to hear.  Amen.  I will be back to blogging in earnest sometime in the near future, but until then, shalom.

I was doing a little procrastinating while writing my paper tonight (I could call it a study break) and saw that my sister had posted this video on her blog.  This song is simply a wonderful reminder to me of the truth of God’s providence and redemption.  I pray that it encourages you in the same way that it has me.

P.S.  I apologize for my complete absence in the last week or two.  One of our computers here at the house died and I had to convert the laptop over for homeschooling, which has cut into the amount of time I can spend on the computer lately.  Most of my PC time gets devoted to schoolwork these days for that reason.  I plan to be back as soon as I get the part that I need to get the other PC back up and running.  God bless.

Chalk up another point for the Bible in its continuing defeat of the skeptics of its content.  It turns out that archaeologists have found proof of Joseph in Egypt and confirmation of the Pharoah’s dreams as well.  This is a pretty fun read actually and yet another in a long line of “see I told you so’s” that the Bible has had through the ages.  According to the Middle East Media Research Institute, some coins were found buried in a box that contain a picture representation of Joseph along with his Hebrew and Egyptian names and dates when they were minted, which might give us a better idea of when the Exodus occured as well.  There are also proof of the dreams that Joseph interpreted according to the Bible:

“The researcher identified coins from many different periods, including coins that bore special markings identifying them as being from the era of Joseph. Among these, there was one coin that had an inscription on it, and an image of a cow symbolizing Pharaoh’s dream about the seven fat cows and seven lean cows, and the seven green stalks of grain and seven dry stalks of grain. It was found that the inscriptions of this early period were usually simple, since writing was still in its early stages, and consequently there was difficulty in deciphering the writing on these coins. But the research team [managed to] translate [the writing on the coin] by comparing it to the earliest known hieroglyphic texts…

Please understand me when I say that one of the reasons that I believe the Bible is the unflappable credibility it has shown when it comes to the truth.  There is yet to be a discovery that proves the Bible got the facts wrong and the number of people who have tried to claim the Bible was wrong about something only to be found mistaken themselves is truly more than I can remember.  So, I don’t remember the score, but count it Bible (one more) and skeptics (still trying to get one).

This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. (1 John 4:10)

This verse is probably my oldest son’s favorite verse in Scripture.  He memorized it years ago in an AWANA program and has never forgotten it.  Yesterday was a day of reflection for me on the wonder of God’s atonement for our sin.  It is probably the one day that most Jews still observe (see this story for example) regardless of their level of committment otherwise which is interesting.  I also decided to observe the fasting period of Yom Kippur and spent it as a time to focus on the awesome nature of God and the amazing mercy He has shown to me, and I spent time in prayer for those who do not yet know His mercy and atoning sacrifice for the forgiveness of sin.

Hebrews 10 says this so well:

¹For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near. ²Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins? ³But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. ⁴For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.⁵Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said,

“Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired,
but a body have you prepared for me;
⁶in burnt offerings and sin offerings
you have taken no pleasure.
⁷Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God,
as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.’”

The offerings of bulls and goats never accomplished salvation.  They didn’t “buy” forgiveness.  Christ’s sacrifice in their stead was effective because He had done God’s will; which they could never do, and because He was not just a man, for that would have left Him unable to offer Himself for anyone else:

No man can redeem the life of another
or give to God a ransom for him-the ransom for a life is costly,
no payment is ever enough-

that he should live on forever
and not see decay. (Psalm 49:7-9)

Hebrews goes on to explain the uniqueness of Christ’s sacrifice for all men in this way:

¹²But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, ¹³waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. ¹⁴For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.¹⁵And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after saying,
¹⁶ “This is the covenant that I will make with them
after those days, declares the Lord:
I will put my laws on their hearts,
and write them on their minds,”

¹⁷then he adds,

“I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.”

¹⁸Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.

Notice that Christ’s sacrifice didn’t “do away” with the Law.  By the power of the Holy Spirit in us, that Law is now written on our heart when we belong to Him.  In these days leading up to the celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles, a reminder of the day that is coming when the dwelling of God will be with man forever (Revelation 21:3); let us remember the mighty works of God and His mighty power to save and make atonement for us.

Update: Sorry that I haven’t posted anything else lately.  I have been cautiously optimistic that some folks would read the post before I moved on to other stuff and I have been spending too much of my currently limited online time in discussions at another blog or two.  Thus I have had no time for original posts of my own.  I plan to get something posted by the weekend.  In the meantime, if you haven’t gone and watched the funny “news story” about my upcoming “incarceration,” I invite you to do so.  You don’t have to give any money to see it, just follow the link below.

This time it is serious (well sort of serious at least).  I have been nominated and sentenced to do time for the MDA.  In order to get out of jail I have to raise money for my own bail.  Some of you are probably familiar with this fundraiser put on by the Muscular Dystrophy Association.  I have helped with fundraisers for them before when a friend of mine from high school was active in it and one year I ended up spending time in a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle costume.  Anyway, I figured one of my best hopes for raising the bail money that I need is to put out an appeal to those of you who might be inclined to help the MDA or even just have pity on me.  If nothing else, you can get a good laugh from the news story they have put together on the website telling about my incarceration.