deTheos

Your words matter

Kari reflects on the power of words, in words of encouragement. My wonderful wife concludes:

"Please hear this:  What you say to others can change the course of history.  Speak life!  Speak encouragement. And if we are in a position of authority, don’t be threatened by those underneath!  It is our responsibility as leaders, parents, teachers, mentors, to raise up the younger generation.  Our goal is that they would be better, smarter, and more influential than we are.  If our goal is simply to protect our status, to guard our carefully constructed identity, we will miss out on raising up the next generation of leaders who will change our world for Christ.  As a youngster, who has just received one of the most encouraging talks of my life, I can attest to the fact that being believed in is one of the most powerful things in the world.  I pray that we would look for ways to encourage, build up, and call out the valuable gifts we see in others.  You never know how God might use your words, and who He might raise up in the process.  And don’t forget to thank those along the way who have believed in you."

• Read the whole thing: "Being Believed In "

Posted in Blog, Joy, Kari | No Comments »

Trusting God FOR or WITH something?

My sweet bride has an insightful article on the subtle (but significant) difference between trust God for something and trusting Him with some circumstance. The former is more prevalent, the second aligns with the New Testament vision of trusting Christ. Period.

Posted in Blog, Kari, godly trajectory, prayer | No Comments »

55 reasons why I love my Sauce - on our 5th

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!) …

1. She loves Jesus
2. She loves me
3. She was created to be a wonderful Mommy and is more than our boy Dutch (and baby #2 on the way) could ask for
4. She thinks
5. When someone asks if I can share my wisdom with them, I respond, "No, I’m not sharing my wife."
6. She is my best wisdom
7. She searches and swims in the deep things of God
8. She realizes that our pursuit of joy and God’s passion for His glory are not at odds — He is our Joy!
9. Her identity is not wrapped up in what she does
10. She is "in Christ" and walking in the Spirit in all of life
11. She loathes the separation of the Sacred and the Secular
12. She’s not afraid to say "No" to many good things
13. Her words drip with wisdom and grace
14. She waited for me, and gave me a second chance, even when I broke her heart 6.5 years ago
15. She does something once, right, and then moves on
16. She enjoys reading as the greatest form of entertainment
17. She doesn’t waste words
18. She is a woman of exceptional character
19. She is so consistent and faithful that I often say I feel rebuked yet encouraged trying to catch up
20. She has many young women "caught up in her wake"
21. She loves to solve issues quickly with grace-filled resolutions
22. She is God-centered in all her ways
23. She is a far better djembe player than she will admit
24. She is graceful and dancing, and patient with her clumsy husband
25. She perseveres always
26. She loves when I lead spiritually (yet is so strong in Christ that it seems like she doesn’t require my initiative)
27. She’s willing to think and feel with God in the fullness of her being, all the appropriate emotions (as found in the Psalms)
28. She’s quick to forgive
29. She’s coached me through a few somewhat humiliating yet totally humorous public situations
30. She likes it when I call her good nicknames and returns the favor (my Sauce!)
31. She is a devoted friend
32. She recycles
33. She’s is an ever-grateful daughter to her parents
34. She’s willing to do crazy thinks like live with them for over a year (this past year)
35. She puts up with me, and the quirks I’ve managed to pass down to the Dutcher
36. A better wife none could ever find
37. She makes each day of marriage better than the previous
38. She still has the joy and perspective of a newly marred bride, mingled with the wisdom of a mature woman beyond her years
39. People of all ages listen to her (and ought to)
40. She is a giver not a taker
41. She makes me want to eat vegetables
42. She is the greatest chef I’ve ever met (sorry Mom, you set the bar high!)
43. She can turn nothing into something absolutely delicious
44. She holds her finger below her nose in just a certain way while deep in thought
45. She loves to take walks together
46. She makes me happy
47. More than that, she makes me holy
48. She journeyed with me and lived in the windowless cave
49. She never stops working and serving
50. All of her hobbies are completely constructive and others-directed
51. She is not a consumer
52. She somehow manages every penny we have and stretches them every month
53. She’s always up to mischief
54. She lets me interrupt her
55. 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!

Posted in Blog, Family, Holidays, Jeff, Joy, Kari, Love | No Comments »

Happy Mother’s Day, Kari

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 »

Kari’s notes from a women’s retreat

I’m headed out to pick up Kari from a women’s retreat she taught/preached at this weekend (read her notes ). Dutch and I stayed home to play and pray, and are so excited to get our wife and mommy back. It was a joy to sit and read her notes while she preached and be praying for her through the various points.

• Kari posted her notes/manuscript from her two talks at the retreat — from Philippians 2:1-4:

1 Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, 2 fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. 3 Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. 4 Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.

I encourage anyone to read them, and not only women — there are insights in there for everyone, and definitely for men. Her words are challenging, rebuking and teaching me so much. Praise God I married "up," in so many ways!

The beauty of the Bible is its relevance to all of life and its power to give insight into the deep issues of our lives. God continues to speak through His Word. And Kari is a humble mouthpiece for Him.

Posted in Blog, Gospel, Kari, Sanctification, Teaching, Theology, godly trajectory | No Comments »

Costly Knowledge + Experience

Kari reminds us of the value of our continuing education, which far outweighs the rising financial cost of it.

The whole discussion was started by our reading an article (see original) first discussed over at Going to Seminary.

Posted in Blog, Kari, Multnomah Seminary | No Comments »

Learning the ‘Little Way’

Kari is preaching/teaching a sermon in a communications lab class on Monday, and has 20 minutes to develop the themes of Philippians 2:1-4. I was eager and to have her practice on me today, receiving her words of wisdom and exhortation as the food my soul needed.

She’s posted the rough draft of her manuscript over on her blog. Her four points are the Premise, Picture, Path and Pursuit of unity as believers in the church. One of my favorite parts is centered around verse 3 on the Path:

Verse 3 provides us with a Path to unity.

“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.” (Phil. 2:3)

The path to unity has a steep downgrade. The road goes down, and down and down and down.  At times it’s windy, at times narrow, but always always down. The amazing thing is that this downward path takes you to the mountaintop. The summit of the Christian life is experienced on the mountaintop of humility.

Amen. I needed that, especiallly these days as I learn more and more the blessings of being poor in spirit, desperate for Christ and needing God’s Word to guide our every steps.

Andrew Murray says humility is the sense of entire nothingness which comes when we see how truly God is all, and in which we make way for God to be all.  Humility is losing oneself in God. It is a total lack of concern for self, which sets us free.

In making the fourth point (Pursuit) we are reminded how this frees us from pride.

Tozer says, The burden of self-love is a heavy load indeed.

CS Lewis said, “The pleasure of pride is like the pleasure of scratching.  If there is an itch one does want to scratch; but it is much nicer to have neither the itch nor the scratch.  As long as we have the itch of self-regard we shall want the pleasure of self-approval; but the happiest moments are those when we forget our precious selves and have neither but have everything else (God, our fellow humans, animals, the garden and sky) instead.”

Humility, then is forgetting our precious selves.  When we do this, we are freed to gain true fellowship and unity with our brothers and sisters in Christ.

She goes on to remind us that “humility truly is the most freeing quality of life,” and the entire passage is centered around making the case as to why that is.

Kari’s final words drive the full thrust of the the passage home:

So you may be wondering, how can I cultivate this?  Understand the Premise—we are accepted and loved by God.  Gaze at the Picture—Love, Unity, Like-mindedness.  Follow the Path down to humility.  And lay down your burden of self for the Pursuit of one another.  Do you want the secret to this?  It’s found in the Little Way.  Therese of Lisieux devised a prayer-filled approach to life that is deceptively simple.  Seek out the menial job, welcome unjust criticisms, befriend those who annoy us, and help those who are ungrateful.  Lay down your burden of self and Live the Little Way.

That’s a sermon I’d like not only to preach, but to live.

Posted in Blog, Ekklesia, God-centered, Grace, Joy, Kari, Theology, humility | No Comments »

5 years since I last caught on fire

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 »

Joseph’s Lullaby

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 »

Why Dedicate the Dutcher?

Here’s a portion of what we sent to our extended family, inviting them to Dutch’s baby dedication (which will take place this Sunday morning):

Why Dedicate the Dutcher?

We wanted to share with you, our family, why we do what we do. It may seem that a baby dedication is merely a religious ritual, a tradition to follow. In some ways, it is. We see the value of traditions that celebrate and affirm Dutch. We want him to know that he is valued, loved, and celebrated. We will spend our lives affirming him and this is a first step. But, this is really the secondary reason we are having him dedicated. Primarily, we dedicate Dutch to God because it is a symbol of what we aim to do with him in life, recognizing that Dutch belongs to God. We will spend our life helping him become the man that God desires Him to be.

In the Bible, Mary and Joseph took baby Jesus to the temple to be presented to God, signifying, by their actions, that He belonged to God and was His, not theirs. Hannah did the same thing with her son, Samuel (1 Samuel 1-2:11). She prayed for a child, and when Samuel was born she dedicated him to God’s work. In her case, this meant she only got to see her son once a year once he was older! Though it must have been so hard for her, she was willing to let him go because she’d dedicated him to God at birth. We dedicate Dutch because we want to recognize he is His.

So why are we inviting our family? We obviously could dedicate Dutch privately, in our own home even, and it would be no less “real.” But we want to share this dedication with you, because you are all part of raising Dutch. You all will influence, shape, and mold his life in different ways. You influence our lives as well, by your prayers, words, encouragement, and advice. We aren’t raising Dutch alone—you all are part of this process. We need you. And we are asking you, as our family, to stand with us and help us, pray for us, encourage us, and remind us, when things are hard, that Dutch belongs to God.

Posted in Blog, Dutch, Ekklesia, Kari | No Comments »