October 1st, 2008 Jeff
Has it ever occurred to you that your life is far more fruitful than you are faithful?
Oh, what a happy tension. Clearly, my impact for Christ is not limited to my finite ability nor imperfect obedience.
“What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. ” (1 Cor. 3:5-7)
Posted in Blog, Happy Tensions, deTheos moments, humility | 2 Comments »
September 25th, 2008 Jeff
Or go home without it, for that matter.
What am I talked about? Visa, MasterCard, American Express?
Nope. You can live a whole life without those.
But, you cannot live a second of your life without the Gospel. That is because we need Jesus … always.
The more I talk with church leaders and people, the more I think we have largely missed the Gospel.
We think of it as the starting point, or the diving board (to use my favorite home-grown analogy). We don’t just start at the Good News of Jesus and then move onto maturity in the Christian life focusing on other things. We never, ever, ever outgrow our need for Jesus. He is everything, and whatever keeps you from Him is sin. Period.
Because you need Jesus every second, you need the Gospel every second. He is the one Mediator between God the Father and us sinners, and without Him we would be consumed in an instant.
Yet, how easy is it to leave the Gospel and start related to God on the basis of ___________? (Insert whatever you hope in by default.)
Some of us trust in the fact that we once trusted in Jesus. Like He is a ticket to heaven, and we can simply put Him (or our faith-in-Him) in our pocket to use later. No, no, no. HE is the good news of God’s glorious grace, for in Jesus we get God (1 Peter 3:18 ). Do you want Him?
Note how Paul ended his greatest letter, to the Romans: "Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ…" (Romans 16:25 ).
Who was he writing to? Christians (or at least mostly Christians), who still needed the Gospel daily to be strengthened, encouraged, and to persevere. We need outgrow our need for the Gospel. The Gospel of Jesus is not just for the unsaved. It is for everyone.
How do you get a daily reminder of the Gospel? Do you preach it to yourself? You should. Don’t wait until Sunday. You may not even here it then.
Take the Gospel with you. Don’t ever leave home without it.
Posted in Blog, God-centered, Gospel, Theology, deTheos moments | No Comments »
May 30th, 2008 Jeff
Today I noticed Google has changed their favicon. Their new digs look pretty sweet, I think. The old G was distinct, and this g might just be more versatile.
I’m a fan of favicons since it is one of the easiest way to give a distinct flavor to a site, to "brand" it. In fact, I use them all over my computer, for icons on shortcuts, and have a secret webpage with all my most-used links on it, each with a 32×32px icon.
Here are a few I created and use in various places:
- Kari’s site
- deTheos icon. The trias is an ancient symbol of the Trinity : God the Father, God the Son (Jesus), and God the Spirit, all One yet Three. My life goal is to know, love and enjoy Them as much as possible, and help others do the same.
- Another deTheos version
- My small-time freelance design company, JackDutch Media
- Our local church, Foothills Community Church in Molalla, where I will soon begin serving as Pastoral Intern for Education & Technology. (We’re in discussions and planning on implementing a new and better web presence this Summer)
- The Jackalopes, my fantasy sports mascot for football and now baseball, although I’m not very good. Helps stay connected to friends from college. (A Jackalope is a cross between a jack rabbit and an antelope. "Jack" was my nickname in college, morphed into Jackal sometimes.)
Posted in Blog, deTheos moments | 2 Comments »
February 24th, 2008 Jeff
I caught on fire the morning I asked Kari to marry me. Literally.
It was Monday morning, February 24th, 2003 — five years ago today.
(I encourage all to read Kari’s rendition of it, as she’s a much better story teller than I am!)
Monday was our weekly day off, so the regular plan was to drive over to Kari’s apartment in the morning, picking her up at about 8 o’clock and then head to the gym to work out.
That morning when I picked her up she was uncharacteristically late and slow — she obviously had no idea of the imminent plans I had for us. I told her that some friends needed our help that morning, and since we were dressed in our grubby clothes that would be a good time to do some dirty work.
There was an old fraternity our ministry had begun to use, which was being renovated. Friends of ours, a married couple, lived there during the remodeling, and I told Kari that they needed our help.
The night before I had been so anxious I couldn’t sleep. Had even locked my keys in my car, and that morning my car ran out of gas on the way to pick Kari up. I ran to the gas station and then to the old fraternity to prepare a memorable scene. Lots of candles, an open Bible, some communion elements, a stereo playing some of our favorite songs, and a Lite-Brite. Yep, A Lite-Brite.
With the ring in pocket hidden in my pocket, we arrived at the old fraternity and walked downstairs. Kari was a little curious as to why music was playing in the basement, and then we walked around the corner. She was stunned. A plethora of candles (now she realized why I was in such a hurry earlier), our favorite songs, and the elements of communion. We walked over to the makeshift altar and then I diverted her attention, “What’s that over there?…” She looked over to the previously hidden corner and say the Lite-Brite emblazoned in the darkness, “WILL YOU MARRY ME?”
She turned around and I was on bended knee, ring in hand. She didn’t say a word, but then shrieked Yes! and we hugged (our first kiss would wait until our wedding day). It was a joyous time. We danced to the music, then I read some Scriptures to her about marriage and read the framed letter I had written:
My dearest Karina,
I love and adore you. God has sovereignly placed you in my life. May I ever live to serve you, love you, and put you before myself. You bring the sweetest of all joys into my life, and have caused my personal devotion to our Creator Jesus Christ to be multiplied. God’s amazing grace is so obviously upon you life — it’s contatgios and I desire to be a part of it. He shows me mercy, grace and abundant kindness in you; His favor is make obvious by your abiding presence in my life. May His Holy Spirit always lead us. I would be honored above all other honors to by your loving husband, your servant, and your constant companion. In sickness and in health, for richer for poorer, for all times.
Will you marry me?
(That frame still sits in our bathroom as a reminder of the covenant of marriage and the enabling of God.)
And then the scened heated up. We sat there on the concrete floor leaning against the fireplace mantle, the candles behind us. We were bowed in prayer and then I stopped and yelled, “I’m on fire! I’m on fire!” Indeed I was. My long-sleeve shirt had caught fire from one of the candles and Kari was able to pat the flames out. A nice welt was on my shoulder blade and a 3-inch diameter hole in my shirt. I was on fire for my fiancee!
Why at 8:00am on a Monday morning?
Well, first of all Monday was our day off from college ministry, so I wanted as much time with her that day, especially with her ring on and rejoicing in one another and God’s goodness.
But the better reason is that I wanted Kari to know that I love the real her … no make-up, wearing grubby clothes, and purely herself. She is the one woman I desire and long to share the rest of my life with.
The last five years have been the best of my life!
Posted in Adventures, Blog, Family, Kari, Love, deTheos moments | No Comments »
October 24th, 2007 Jeff
My wise and wonderful wife Kari has written on “Battling Impatience” and how this pertains to the Christian life, and to our life as a family.
The opening:
Literally every battle that we face in our Christian walk is a battle against unbelief. Every battle against unbelief is an attack on our faith in God, which is an attack on His character. The oldest temptation in the world is the temptation to believe this lie: “God is not good. God is keeping something from you that is good. God doesn’t want you to have the best. God is not God.” When Adam and Even sinned in the garden, they believed this lie. They believed that God was somehow keeping them from something good.
And so it is today….
Read the rest…
Posted in Blog, Kari, Sanctification, deTheos moments, godly trajectory | No Comments »
A short article/reflection of mine has been posted at Going to Seminary:
