June 28th, 2008 Jeff
Celebrating 5 glorious years of marriage
Five years ago today Kari Zyp and I exchanged vows, and then I got to kiss the love of my life for the very first time. What an amazing time it has been, my Sauce. We’ve had our adventures: moving 7 times, living in two states, both following the call to seminary as students, raising Dutch, continuing to serve our Lord Jesus Christ, and being able to know, love and enjoy Him oh so much more because of one another.
Sauce, I love you! I told you back then that I want to plunge the depths of who you are, and that passion has not and will not fade. You are cherished and loved!
Because 5 is not enough to convey how much my Sauce is worth (well, nor is 55!) …
- She loves Jesus
- She loves me
- She was created to be a wonderful Mommy and is more than our boy Dutch (and baby #2 on the way) could ask for
- She thinks
- When someone asks if I can share my wisdom with them, I respond, "No, I’m not sharing my wife."
- She is my best wisdom
- She searches and swims in the deep things of God
- She realizes that our pursuit of joy and God’s passion for His glory are not at odds — He is our Joy!
- Her identity is not wrapped up in what she does
- She is "in Christ" and walking in the Spirit in all of life
- She loathes the separation of the Sacred and the Secular
- She’s not afraid to say "No" to many good things
- Her words drip with wisdom and grace
- She waited for me, and gave me a second chance, even when I broke her heart 6.5 years ago
- She does something once, right, and then moves on
- She enjoys reading as the greatest form of entertainment
- She doesn’t waste words
- She is a woman of exceptional character
- She is so consistent and faithful that I often say I feel rebuked yet encouraged trying to catch up
- She has many young women "caught up in her wake"
- She loves to solve issues quickly with grace-filled resolutions
- She is God-centered in all her ways
- She is a far better djembe player than she will admit
- She is graceful and dancing, and patient with her clumsy husband
- She perseveres always
- She loves when I lead spiritually (yet is so strong in Christ that it seems like she doesn’t require my initiative)
- She’s willing to think and feel with God in the fullness of her being, all the appropriate emotions (as found in the Psalms)
- She’s quick to forgive
- She’s coached me through a few somewhat humiliating yet totally humorous public situations
- She likes it when I call her good nicknames and returns the favor (my Sauce!)
- She is a devoted friend
- She recycles
- She’s is an ever-grateful daughter to her parents
- She’s willing to do crazy thinks like live with them for over a year (this past year)
- She puts up with me, and the quirks I’ve managed to pass down to the Dutcher
- A better wife none could ever find
- She makes each day of marriage better than the previous
- She still has the joy and perspective of a newly marred bride, mingled with the wisdom of a mature woman beyond her years
- People of all ages listen to her (and ought to)
- She is a giver not a taker
- She makes me want to eat vegetables
- She is the greatest chef I’ve ever met (sorry Mom, you set the bar high!)
- She can turn nothing into something absolutely delicious
- She holds her finger below her nose in just a certain way while deep in thought
- She loves to take walks together
- She makes me happy
- More than that, she makes me holy
- She journeyed with me and lived in the windowless cave
- She never stops working and serving
- All of her hobbies are completely constructive and others-directed
- She is not a consumer
- She somehow manages every penny we have and stretches them every month
- She’s always up to mischief
- She lets me interrupt her
- Being with her is like being all by myself, only better
(Had to cut off quite a few just to keep the list short.)
Happy anniversary my Saucy Sauce!
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June 17th, 2008 Jeff
Thank you to all who wished me a happy 30th. Finally my age matches these graying hairs, and perhaps the big three-oh will have some built-in credibility to match. (Somehow being only 29 is way different than being a mature 30 in some people’s eyes when it comes to pastoring — the difference between being in one’s twenties and thirties.)
The life of one of my heroes, the late Robert Murray McCheyne, was cut short at only 29 years. (Well, he’s more alive than any of us these days, in the presence of Jesus.) At my age, I think about him and others like Henry Scougal quite a bit (he died at 28 years young). They accomplished so much for Christ in such a little time, yet did not find their identity in what they did. Here’s one of McCheyne’s most classic quotes:
"I trust you will have a pleasant and profitable time in Germany. I know you will apply hard to German; but do not forget the culture of the inner man — I mean of the heart . How diligently the cavalry officer keeps his sabre clean and sharp; every stain he rubs off with the greatest care. Remember you are God’s sword, His instrument — I trust a chosen vessel unto Him to bear His name. In a great measure, according to the purity and perfections of the instrument, will be the success. It is not great talents God blesses so much as great likeness to Jesus. A holy minister is an awful weapon in the hand of God. "
– Robert Murray McCheyne, letter to Rev. Dan Edwards on holiness and success, October 2, 1840. Memoirs of McCheyne , edited by Andrew A. Bonar (Chicago: Moody, 1947), p. 95. (Many thanks to my pastor friend Gene who gave me this treasured book four years ago for my birthday.)
He also had some advice for seminary students like me:
"Do get on with your studies. Remember you are now forming the character of your future ministry in great measure, if God spare you. If you acquire slovenly or sleepy habits of study now, you will never get the better of it. Do everything in its own time. Do everything in earnest; if it is worth doing, then do it with all your might. Above all, keep much in the presence of God. Never see the face of man until you have seen His face who is our light, our all . Pray for others; pray for your teachers and fellow students." (Letter from 1840, Memoirs of McCheyne , p. xvi)
We’ll take that to heart. Thank you Jesus for thirty years of earthly faithfulness to me, and an eternal relationship, unconditional, unchanging, which cannot be broken.
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May 26th, 2008 Jeff
"All of us get completely covered, from head to toe to teeth, in the dust of the cradle of civilization."
- First Lieutenant Ted Janis, platoon leader of 3rd Platoon, Angel Company, 3rd Battalion, 187 Infantry Regiment of 3rd Brigade Rakkasans, 101st Airborne Division
One of the best sports stories I’ve ever read: Infantry Hoops In Iraq
Remember our troops and happy Memorial Day
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May 11th, 2008 Jeff
My Love,
You are the best mother ever and the joy of our home. Dutch can take a nap in peace right now because of your untiring labor of love. God’s grace is evident in every facet of your character and personality. Thank you for pouring out your life for us.
Happy Mother’s Day!
"But we were gentle among you, like a nursing mother taking care of her own children. So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us." [1 Thess. 2:7-8]
Posted in Blog, Family, Holidays, Kari | 2 Comments »
March 22nd, 2008 Jeff
How great the Father’s love for us, how vast beyond all measure. His love and just wrath mingled in the greatest event in history, the death and resurrection of Jesus the Christ, the Son of God.
This is what God did in Christ:
But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by His blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in His divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show His righteousness at the present time, so that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
[Romans 3:21-26]
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March 20th, 2008 Jeff
Last year at this time Matt Perman of Desiring God gave a short list of various readings related to Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday, those two coming together as one in “The Greatest Event in History.”
I agree. Furthermore, I don’t think I would be breathing right now if Christ hadn’t tasted death and risen again. And would have no hope, eternal or temporal.
God did not spare His own Son but intentionally and freely gave Him up for the salvation of His people. He bids us come and experience His love. This weekend, may more people trust in Christ and experience God as the fountain of all joy and the source of all love.
—
Here are some recommended resources on the death and resurrection of Christ.
On the death of Christ:
On the resurrection of Christ:
On the resurrection of believers:
See also the sermon occasions “Good Friday” and “Easter Sunday,” and the topics “Jesus Christ,” “the Death of Christ,” “the Resurrection of Christ,” and “Glorification.”
Posted in Blog, God-centered, Gospel, History, Holidays, Jesus, Reading, Theology, Web | No Comments »
March 19th, 2008 Jeff
“Jesus was dead, and I mean really dead, on a cross, but He’s not anymore.”
That’s the description given by a 3-yr-old to his neighbors about why he was so excited by Easter. Read more…
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December 25th, 2007 Jeff
Merry Christmas to all. I am continually challenged to consider the great humility and love our great God and Creator revealed to us in sending Himself, His Son, to be born a baby, live a sinless life, give Himself as a sacrifice for our sins, and rise again to declare His victory. One cannot possibly go overboard in considering the worth of Jesus!
In considering Jesus’ Incarnation (God became flesh) and Advent (His first coming) I’ll point you to read and meditate on four short reflections from the staff of Desiring God.
Four parts on the Incarnation:
- Advent and the Incarnation
- Jesus Is Fully Human
- What Is the Hypostatic Union?
- The Virgin Birth
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December 12th, 2007 Jeff
Kari has a reflection on Christmas and the birth of our son almost a year ago, and how that reminds her of when God became a Man, the baby Jesus. Read her reflection on her site.
Posted in Blog, Holidays, Kari | No Comments »
November 22nd, 2007 Jeff
(See more @ GO Comics)
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