Going Crazy!

Hey y'all! I'm going crazy, so it's going to be a while before I can read much and have time to write about it again. I hope things will settle down a bit in a few weeks, but since we have a couple of trips to MO planned, I'm not sure that will happen. In any case, I just thought I'd let you know that I think I'll be out of commission for a bit. Adios!

I've been trying to think of a question to post up here about Kite Runner-- but i can't really think of one!! It was an awesome book, I'm just not really sure what to say. :)

Are we moving on to Future Grace, by Piper?

Rory

I'm glad you posted, Katie. I kept meaning to and then I would forget. :)

We're still doing well and just loving this new little bundle. Cami really likes her, too. We haven't seen any signs of jealousy yet, so that's good.

Here is the Snapfish link to our first pictures of Rory.
http://www1.snapfish.com/share/p=913231177353537487/l=262934095/g=8124251/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB

It's a Girl...for Alicia!

I hope Alicia doesn't mind me posting her news, but I thought you all would like to know. Rory was born on Friday (4/20). She was 6 lbs. 15 oz. and 20" long. Mommy and baby girl are doing well. Congrats, Alicia!!

Anyone Else Finished?

So I stayed up until 3am last night finishing the silly book! I don't know what got into me, but I think I just needed to feel a sense of accomplishment. I've been catching up from our trip to Texas, and I still have so much to do. As soon as I get something under way, it seems like something else needs attention. I figured a book can not become un-read, so I decided this would be a neat thing to accomplish! All that to say... I'M FINISHED!!!!

What a great book! Definitely disturbing much of the way through, but totally enlightening as I consider the lives of people across the globe. I've been trying to think about my favorite line of the book, and so far, I think it's this:

"'That's the real Afghanistan, Agha sahib. That's the Afghanistan I know. You? You've always been a tourist here, you just didn't know it.'" (p. 222)

I mean, can you imagine coming to the conclusion that someone speaking to you in this way was totally right on and that you couldn't deny it any longer? Can you imagine going through your entire childhood into your mid-life and realizing all of a sudden that you never really understood the lives of MOST of the people around you? Do any of you feel like you've already experienced things like this? I mean, it could happen here in America just as well as anywhere else--it would just look different, I guess.

Living more intensely

Hey guys... I was just messin around with the blog, and I noticed (again) the quote that I chose as the subheading of our blog. Have you read it?

I was wondering how reading Elie Wiesel's book has changed us. Has it caused you, in any way, to "live more intensely" because you read it? Was it worth your time investment to read the book?

For me, I think the answer to that question is that God is using it as part of a journey in my life of opening my eyes more widely to the incredible depravity and horror of the world around us. How easy it is for me to be comfortable and to shield my eyes and my heart. I pray that God would use me as His hands to help hurting people and eliminate injustice so that His will may be done "on earth as it is in heaven."

Also, in case you are new-- we have decided to read "Kite Runner" with our 'due date' of April 15th. (Eek! I don't know if I can do it! I'm in seminary and I really don't know if I can get in another book!!!) Anyways, you should all be able to 'contribute' on this blog and make posts with discussion questions as we finish up the book. Also, I think it would be great to continue to develop the "community" aspect of this group. Since most of us don't get to see each others faces very often.. if at all... keep us all posted on your lives too! Pics would be fun too!!

So, anyways, would love to hear your comments on how this book club is fulfilling its purpose as related to the above quote! Blessings!

vote

So..... I guess we have the following options. Please comment and rank them #1 (one you want to read most) to #6 (least desiring to read).

Here are the options:

Future Grace by John Piper
Knowledge of the Holy by A.W. Tozer
Kite Runner by Kahled Hosseini
For One More Day by Mitch Albom
A Long Obedience in the Same Direction by Eugene Peterson
Instruments in the Redeemer's Hands: People in Need of Change Helping People in Need of Change

Another Idea

Jessica and I are both already reading Instruments in the Redeemer's Hands: People in Need of Change Helping People in Need of Change for our Biblical Counseling courses. It's a book written for the average Joe to read, so it's not like a textbook or anything. It might be a good one for discussion as well as present and future application.

Suggestions

So I have an idea. Let's all suggest 1 book we'd like to add to the list (if you want), and then we'll add that to the top 2 of last time: Future Grace by Piper and The Knowledge of the Holy by A.W. Tozer. Let's try to do this by Wednesday evening, and then we can all number them from 1 to whatever in the order that sounds interesting to us. Then we can see which book rated in each of our top 3's.

The one I'd like to add to the list:

A Long Obedience in the Same Direction by Eugene Peterson

Some Book Suggestions...

My mom let me borrow several books yesterday. A couple of them she did in the book club she's in. Here are the links to them on Amazon...

Kite Runner by Kahled Hosseini

For One More Day by Mitch Albom
Of course, he also has Tuesdays with Morrie and The Five People You Meet in Heaven. Those could be good options also.

Just thought I'd throw those out there.

Should we do another?

The convo on here has slowly dwindled to a crawl... :0

How are ya'll feeling? Should we choose another book? Or are ya'll feeling too busy with school and babies and work?

I, personally, would be up for another one....

The Answer for My Hope

Okay, here are a couple of thoughts I’ve had regarding how we might answer one who has been in this situation, particularly those who suffer such mass atrocities as the Holocaust…

Exodus Account
If we look back at Scripture, we see God’s promises made and fulfilled throughout. We see his rescuing hand all over the place. We see his people in distress and persecuted, but he always delivers them. If we look at the Exodus account as an example, we see the Israelites persecuted at the hands of the Egyptians.

We see God hardening Pharaoh’s heart resulting in Pharaoh’s refusal to let the people go and his harsh treatment of them while they are still in captivity (see Exodus 4:21; 7:3-4; 9:12; 10:1-2; 10:20; 10:27; 14:8; 14:17-18).

Why did God do this?
See Exodus 10:1-2 “Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Go in to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, that I may show these signs of mine among them, and that you may tell in the hearing of your son and of your grandson how I have dealt harshly with the Egyptians and what signs I have done among them, that you [the Israelites] may know that I am the Lord.’”

Now check out Exodus 14:30-31 “Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. Israel saw the great power that the Lord used against the Egyptians, so the people feared the Lord and they believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses.”

Read Exodus 15 for their song to glorify the Lord.

Awesome!!!! It is true that MANY individual Israelites and MANY individual Egyptians were killed during the whole ordeal. But what was the purpose in the end? To show BOTH the Israelites and the Egyptians that God is Lord. So what can we glean from Exodus 14:30-31? Here’s what I understand… that there were still some Israelites who didn’t believe until this point—and God demonstrated his power in such a way that they could not help but break and finally believe him. He did create circumstances that allowed for the death of many Israelites, but in the end he saved the rest so that they would believe and trust in him. He did this so that they would understand that when he made promises, he would keep them. They were to tell their offspring all about these things so that when hard times came, they would look to the Lord—their only hope--for deliverance.

Applications
So, with regard to the modern-day survivor, it seems like it might be helpful to cover the following topics….

• In the OT, God made promises and kept them
• The OT promise of the Messiah has been kept and has been fulfilled. (It would be cool to provide a list of OT prophesies fulfilled in Christ showing the OT scripture reference and the NT fulfillment reference—there’s a really great one in the MacArthur Study Bible, but they can be found in many other places as well
• Read the book of John, highlighting the signs of Jesus and the great revelation that he is indeed the Son of God, the Messiah. It would also be key to emphasize how one is saved—ONLY by believing in Jesus.
• A discussion of the assurance we have in God’s goodness and his ultimate wisdom no matter how hard our circumstances are—if we are believers. We can use Paul as an example. While the Israelites were still waiting for the Messiah—as are the Jews—Paul understood the truth of Jesus as the Messiah and was able to trust all the more in the fact that SIN HAS ALREADY BEEN CONQUERED, and we can rest assured that the Lord will vindicate those who are his people. If a Holocaust survivor later came to understand the glory of God IN JESUS, he could then pass this on and provide this has helpful encouragement for others who may be struggling with hard times. After all, the Lord is our ever-present help in trouble.
• A discussion of the sovereignty and ultimate and complete wisdom of God. He is in control at all times and he is also completely and supremely wise. There is no one who is wiser than God—even the Jews would attest to this statement. The Biblical account is full of references where God uses all sorts of difficult situations, even leading to many deaths, to demonstrate his power, glory, might, and ultimate worthiness of our praise. No matter what, everything that happens is happening in order to ultimately glorify God.
• Draw parallels between their story and that of the Israelites in the Exodus account. For example, Jews during the Holocaust were enslaved, persecuted, tortured, killed, etc. If they survived all this and were freed, it is crucial to help them see that God orchestrated all of these events. Admittedly, it seems difficult to understand that God could have hardened Hitler’s heart just as he hardened Pharaoh’s heart, but because we know that God is completely sovereign over all and never allows anything to happen that will not bring him the greatest glory in the end, we can trust that his wisdom is behind even these terrible acts. This is where it becomes important to focus on the great accounts of faith—possibly using Hebrews 11 as a platform for demonstrating what it means to have faith even when it seems ridiculous or even when it seems like God cannot possibly be good.

There are plenty of other ways we could discuss this with a survivor of such atrocities, but these are just a few that I came up with and some of the scripture I thought of to help in the endeavor. My brother is still in Sudan, but when he gets back in the states, I’m going to ask him what other examples would be helpful, seeing as how he’s had to have these very discussions countless times with those who have been persecuted and have watched their loved ones die in mass numbers all around them.

In the end, it seems like no matter whether or not someone is a Christian, the truth is the same, and it is the most comforting thing a person can hear. The truth is that:

• God is in complete control;
• He is ultimately out to bring himself the glory which is due him because he is the only one who is worthy;
• He is a faithful, promise-making and promise-keeping God;
• He is entirely good and wise and purposeful in all he does;
• heaven and hell are both real places, and we will all go to one or the other at the end of this life;
• the path to heaven is narrow, but he has promised to redeem those he calls his own;
• everything that happens must, therefore, be part of his plan for the unfolding of redemptive history;
• He has sent his Son as the Messiah;
• Jesus was born so that he could successfully and perfectly endure every type of temptation and suffering we endure as humans, sacrificed on the cross to take the punishment for all our sins, and rose again to conquer death and the power of sin in an amazing act of grace that saves all who believe;
• and, as Paul writes in Philippians 3, it’s worth losing it all if it means we end up coming into a relationship with Christ.
• Why? Because if we understand the glory of God and honor him as a promise-keeper who designs and perfectly carries out his plan of redemption, and if we believe the Gospel message, we will be glorified in the end with Christ. No matter what it takes to get our attention, isn’t that worth it?

Philippians 3:7-11 (ESV)
7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith- 10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

Personal Note
I have to tell you all that, as I was searching the scriptures tonight and putting my thoughts together, I just couldn’t help but be overwhelmed with joy in the Lord. I mean, how amazing his His Word to us? If we were unable to put the scriptures together and read the whole story as one big story, it might not make sense and we would be left with many questions. But in the end, we have all the answers we need right here, and it’s AMAZING!!!! If we question God’s sovereignty or the fact that ALL THINGS work together to bring him glory in the end, then things like the Holocaust can’t possibly make sense because they wouldn’t seem to fit into the picture. But when we can read the entire scripture and understand the whole story of redemptive history, we can sit and marvel at the glorious things that the Lord has done and continues to do. Even if we are one day victims of some atrocity that is right up there with the Holocaust, we can have hope. And if we have the scripture hidden in our hearts, even if we’re in a dark dungeon all alone, we’ll still have hope—and we’ll have a reason for the hope that we profess. Let’s not take for granted the great gift of the scripture and the great privilege it is to have such ready access to read and study it here in our country.

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So, here’s another question… What if you were talking to one of the Nazis who persecuted people like Elie Wiesel? What would you say to him? Would this be easier or more difficult than speaking to a Holocaust survivor about the Lord? Why?

Completely Off Topic

I was reading past posts and comments trying to catch up with everything and noticed someone asked if I was going to post pictures of Lily. We have a blog going. It's at www.normthedog.blogspot.com. It's from the point of view of our dog, Norm, so it's pretty silly. Anyway, there are some pictures there.

I feel like an idiot...

I was telling Greg how much I've enjoyed reading everyone's posts, but that I feel like I'm incapable of contributing an intelligent response. He suggested I just write "Me like book. It good." Ha. That made me laugh. Just thought I'd share.

Here's maybe a dumb question. Since sending Jesus to die for our sins, does God really still "punish" His people?

Some Thoughts on Jessica's Comments (see Tiffany's post)

Okay, so I'm also reading a book called "Lost in the Middle: Midlife and the Grace of God" by Paul Tripp. At one point in the book, he is discussing Exodus 32 where the Israelites have recently been delivered from Egypt, and when Moses goes up to the mountain to meet with God, the Israelites become restless and demand that a golden calf be crafted so they can worship it. They were not seeing that the Lord Himself was the one and only one they needed to worship. In part of Tripp's discussion of this, he writes:

"God is willing to sacrifice what is important to us in order to reclaim our hearts. God loves Israel so much that he is willing to lose three thousand Israelites in order to turn the hearts of the whole nation back to him. The one thing God is unwilling to share is our hearts. So he uses everything at his disposal to reclaim our affection, adoration, and worship. God's reclaiming actions are often devastating, but they are at the same time a sure sign of the depth and faithfulness of his love.... He will not share us with another. He will battle to be the center of our personal universe until we are with him in eternity."

So, here are a couple of thoughts that possibly connect this paragraph with what we're reading in Night. It seems to me that the Bible is clear that the Jews are God's chosen people. But sometimes we make a mistake when we think that this necessarily includes every person who is Jewish. What I understand is that the Lord is designing history so as to redeem his people (the Jews) and his other people (the Gentiles). But this does not mean that he will redeem every individual along the way. Sooo... is it possible that the Lord designs certain things, even the Holocaust and other events, to get the attention of his people to cause them to lean on Him and realize that he is the answer? I think it's definitely possible.

All of this pales in comparison to the fact that Christ, God's son, the PERFECT man was joyfully brought to the cross (Isaiah 53) as a sacrifice so that MANY would be brought into relationship with God. It is difficult for us to understand certain things as acts of love, especially when we consider that God could have designed it so that hundreds of thousands of people would die without saving faith. However, when we remember that he would be perfectly just in sending us all to our rightful punishment--hell--we can appreciate his grace on us even more when we realize that he saw fit to redeem some of us from damnation. And we can marvel at his grace and love in saving even one person. And we can share his love with others, spreading the Gospel, realizing that we are the tools he decides to use to share his love for others.

In the end, what if Elie Wiesel turned to the Lord as his savior in the wake of the Holocaust? What if he realized that everything he trusted in before the Holocaust was meaningless without the completed picture of seeing Jesus as the Messiah he was waiting for? What if he realized he didn't need to wait any longer to have the relationship with God he always wanted to have? What if he was able to share his story with the MILLIONS who have read his books? And he's just one person who has this platform. What about Corrie Ten Boom as another example? Is it possible that the Lord would see fit to sacrifice hundreds of thousands in order to save millions? It's possible.

Whoa! Lots of Thoughts!

So, why DOES God allow things like this to happen? Over the course of the last few years, as I've read through the scripture, I've come to the conclusion that the better question is really, "Why does God allow any GOOD thing to happen to otherwise bad/sinful people?" I think what we fail to see when we ask the question "Why does God allow bad things to happen to good people?" is that we are not good people. It is only His restraining hand of mercy and grace that keeps our whole society from going mad and being given over to sin. Can you imagine what would happen if every person was totally given over to Satan to do as he wished at any moment? Our society would be utter chaos, and we would all be destroying one another. It is only the grace of God that keeps us from doing this. We tend to think we're entitled to something, and so when anything goes wrong, we fail to thank God for all the things that are right in our lives.

We know that we are all sinful beings and we deserve the full wrath of God. I think He designs these types of situations so that we get little glimpses of what that could be like. After all, doesn't this story give you, as a Christian, renewed faith and hope as you consider your own life? Doesn't it make you realize the greatness of grace and that, without the mercy of God, you too could be the Hitler who destroyed and was accountable for the lives of so many? What if you were given over to your sin? What would you do? Praise God for his restraining hand of mercy! Praise God that, to date, none of us has been so deceived by the lies of this world that we have murdered in such a way and died a hopeless death. Obviously, we could look at ourselves with pride and assume that it was our own efforts and choices that kept us out of such terrible things. But in reality, we can only give credit where credit is due and PRAISE GOD FOR THE GRACE HE GIVES US in directing us as we make any good choice, for without this grace, the truth is that we would choose to do something just as awful as Hitler.

Despite all these things, it's difficult to see how exactly this fits into God's plan to ultimately glorify Himself; that is, until we see that God uses these situations to show us what life is like without Him. We see what we would do if we were turned over fully to our sinful nature (Hitler and other German leaders). We see the deceit that we would fall prey to (those who believed Hitler and followed him). We also see the hopelessness that comes when we don't have the Lord in our lives (as the Jews)--when we don't have a saving relationship with Jesus Christ and assurance that the Messiah has already come and that we are going with Him for eternity no matter how our lives end here on earth.

Regarding Crystal's comments:
It is definitely true that these things are still happening throughout the world and that it seems as though no one is paying attention. As I was reading the book, even Elie Wiesel mentioned several times that terrible things would happen, and after a few days, they would all be back to life as usual. As I was reading, I saw the connection immediately to our lives. And then I began to wonder...

What would it take to actually change us? You know, to turn our attention from our self-centered desires and actually DO SOMETHING? Is it the case that we have to be so blind as to overlook the obvious until it happens to us or someone very close to us? It seems as though this is what Wiesel was trying to get across. He mentioned several times that life went back to normal all too quickly and that he and his people missed warnings and freedom because they were too wrapped up in their day-to-day lives to pay attention. Isn't this just how we are? Don't we fail to see that there is more to life than earning a paycheck, keeping the house, hanging out with friends, etc.? I mean, all of these things are definitely included in what we were created to do, but they are not ALL that we were created to do.

And I think of my own life, and I realize that all too often, I do not even pray earnestly for those things that I see going wrong. How often do I spend even 10 minutes at a time praying for lost friends or for situations going on around the world? Not often enough, I can tell you. So I guess the question is, will I read this book and move on with life as usual, or will I pay attention and begin to do something different?

And to follow up on Tiffany's comments, it seems like even if your stance is that military action is not the answer, there are millions of things we can do. Options include praying (the most important thing--as you mentioned), feeding, clothing, Biblical training, providing Bibles and other materials, letters of encouragement, and talking to our government officials. Of course, there are more dangerous options, like helping people escape persecution, etc. People wonder why missionaries and military personnel go to dangerous places to help those in need thereby risking their own lives, but isn't this a funny question. What if our country was under attack? Wouldn't we hope and even expect that people from other countries would come to our aid, helping to protect and encourage us?

A Note About the Forward:
Did you guys catch the last paragraph of the forward? I think I've read it about 15 times now. This is something we need to think about... as believers, how would we answer one who has gone through this type of situation? I keep rereading this paragraph realizing that I am called to have an answer for the hope that I profess. So how do you answer these types of questions? I'm going to think more about this and hopefully develop something more coherent than that which is in my head right now. I'll post again when I've thought it through, but if you all have thought about this, please provide insight as I wrestle with this.