Remarks for Friday, January 2, 2003

It's Friday, but Sunday's Coming
I spent last Sunday with my wife's family in Cleburne. I really enjoyed myself worshiping at the Westhill congregation. I find myself rejuvenated when I take a Sunday off. That is good, because now January is shaping up as a busy month for my preaching. This Sunday I will preach what I call my "Here I Raise my Ebenezer" sermon. In case you are not familiar with the story, in I Samuel chapter seven, the writer tells about the Lord coming to the Israelites aid and defeating the army of the Philistines. To commemorate the occasion, Samuel set up a stone to remind the Israelites of when God helped him. Ebenezer means, "stone of help."
Metaphorically, this Sunday we will raise up a stone commemorating how far we have come in 2008 with God's help. I always try to make this a positive sermon and give people encouragement, while finishing up with a challenge for all of us to serve the Lord faithfully in the coming year.

A Profound thought from Another Source
Students in my class at ETCA, as well as members of my church, are familiar with me referencing the name of Donald Miller. He is the one who wrote Blue Like Jazz, which has been so popular with the younger set. Another book that he wrote was called Searching for God Knows What. This is a book on spirituality, and in it, Miller really speaks to me.
One of the things that Miller points out is how we are constantly tempted to reject God or leave him out of our lives. In doing so, we find something is missing and so we seek something else to make us feel special or important or valued.
One example that Miller gives is his realization that he was not cut out for basketball or soccer or tennis, he learned how to play the guitar. But then he became very bored because he realized that what he really wanted was not to play the guitar, but to be a rock star.
To compensate for our lack of relationship with God, we often seek to achieve in some way that causes our peers, or those who we consider to be important, to give us their endorsement. When God leads our picture, we grasp to find meaning in our lives.
Miller's thoughts really resonated with me. I think about how much better my life would be were I to allow God to be the premier fulfiller of my relational needs. And, what if his opinion about my life was the one that I most valued? I think I would have much more self-confidence, much more humility, much less selfish ambition, and much more peace.

A Science Kick
After I finished my doctorate last May, I began to assess what to do next. One of the things I had become aware of was my lack of knowledge in science. Between my boredom with science in high school and college, and then later on, my specialization in biblical text in theology, I became aware of how I needed to have a much better grounding in science. Consequently, over the past few months, I purchased a number of books concerning this subject. Most of them were written on the popular level, because that's what I need in order to understand what the author is saying. I'm telling you, I am way behind.
Fortunately, I have read some books that have really communicated to me. Recently, I began reading Einstein by Walter Isaacson. I've only read about a hundred pages or so, but so far it has been a very good read. What I have been doing is listening to the book read aloud on CD, and then going along and highlighting the written text later. This has been good form. While Isaacson writes in a very understandable way, I find the concepts of physics so complicated that even when they are explained in a simple way, I need to spend time processing the information.
I'll keep you posted.

The Dallas Cowboys
What can I say? This reminds me of the late 1960s when the Cowboys would constantly lose to Cleveland in the playoffs. All of this talent and nothing to show for it. I personally think the greatest problem will only be changed by death. Jerry Jones is a great owner with one exception -- he needs to fire his general manager and he refuses to do so. Until Jerry Jones, the owner, fires Jerry Jones, the general manager, Cowboy fans will always be frustrated.
Now, I am holding out hope that Texas Tech and UT will win their ballgames. Who knows? Maybe the Big 12 can have three teams in the top five, and perhaps, even Oklahoma could win the BCS national championship, while Texas wins the AP national championship. It never hurts to dream!