True Forgiveness

Tim Keller

It’s a complete mystery to those pushing a seeker-sensitive movement or something along the lines of the post-modern movement within the church (dubbed “emergent” Christians) why Redeemer Presbyterian Church thrives. Here’s the deal: it’s a hard-line, conservative, Presbyterian church (reformed theology, predestination and all) growing rapidly in the heart of New York City.

But their secret is simple: they preach the gospel. Nothing added. Nothing subtracted. Nothing assumed. Just the gospel.

Unfortunately this concept is not as common as one would hope.

Redeemer’s own Pastor Tim Keller wrote a fantastic book called The Reason for God (In An Age of Skepticism) and in it he touches on the subject of true forgiveness. Essentially he links our forgiveness of others to something prompted by the forgiveness shown to us by Christ.

But he doesn’t stop there. He shows that when we “take up our cross” we are literally called to totally forgive and absorb the sin and wrongs inflicted on us from others (almost literally bearing the pain they should rightfully have) in order to totally and wholly forgive them. This kind of radical forgiveness is hard. But it makes the gospel so much more hollistic and meaningful.

In that sense it’s no wonder that a church like Redeemer Presbyterian is thriving. Praise God for it!

A Startling Moment

It’s nearly 3:30 am. I was laying in my bed idly working on things on my computer and fiddling around listening to Pandora. It was my Sufjan Stevens station–one of my favorites. A song came on that made me stop. I couldn’t concentrate. It literally consumed my entire mind with everything it said, what it meant to me, and what it meant to things in the past.

I don’t get many things right the first time
In fact, I am told that a lot
Now I know all the wrong turns, the stumbles and falls
Brought me here

And where was I before the day
That I first saw your lovely face?
Now I see it everyday
And I know

That I am
I am
I am
The luckiest

What if I’d been born fifty years before you
In a house on a street where you lived?
Maybe I’d be outside as you passed on your bike
Would I know?

And in a white sea of eyes
I see one pair that I recognize
And I know

That I am
I am
I am
The luckiest

I love you more than I have ever found a way to say to you

Next door there’s an old man who lived to his nineties
And one day passed away in his sleep
And his wife; she stayed for a couple of days
And passed away

I’m sorry, I know that’s a strange way to tell you that I know we belong
That I know

That I am
I am
I am
The luckiest

This song meant a lot to me. It described the way I felt–and still feel. When it came it what rushed through my was a mixture of emotions, memories, feelings, thoughts, regrets, hopes, dreams, fears, and sorrows. I don’t have a point for all of this.

I think it was meaningful which is why I am recording it. It’s the first time something like that has completely debilitated me. It as overwhelming and scary but at the same time beautiful and sad. But I’m going to spend some time thinking about it now.

State of the Union of States

Tonight at 8:00pm we pay tribute to one of the most antiquated, ritualistic, and still necessary part of our American political system: the State of the Union address. We know from the outset that we won’t learn anything new (thanks to the endless, 24-hour news cycle) and we know that over half of the allotted air time is going to be spent with pan-and-zoom shots of our current representatives clapping either in support of what was said or out of formality because they don’t want to be a sourpuss.

But this is an integral part of our system. It is a chance for our President to truly recognize the state of our nation, make public his priorities, and show the American people his plan for the next year. At a juncture as critical as this it’s important that he is just there. That our leader is willing to stand up, admit fault in our nation, but promise to tackle it head on. That alone can restore confidence enough to pull the working man into the fold.

It’s going to be interesting to see from whom President Obama pulls his quotes from. Like many of our greatest leaders, he grabs his most poignant statements literally or synonymously from the great leaders of the past. He has already pulled from Kennedy, Lincoln, FDR, and Jesus Christ. It’s going to be interesting to see if he goes that route tonight.

I’m excited. If nothing else, it makes me feel involved in the government. Like I have something to do with what goes on in Washington besides voting for someone every two years.

Been a While…

Possibly the coolest thing I've found in a long, long time.

Since I last posted something…

• I finished up my fall semester
• I enjoyed Christmas break
• I made a killing working at a snack bar over break
• Started spring semester
• And, last but not least, Kevin Durant turned into one of the baddest scoring machines I’ve seen in a long, long time.

But this post is about Last.fm. I listen to all sorts of different types of music. If you check out my library you’ll find Dave Matthews Band, John Mayer, Jay-Z, Kanye, Nas, Mozart, Morissey, Mae, Depeche Mode, Jack Johnson, Black Eyed Peas, The Roots, Korn, A Perfect Circle and plenty of other random things.

I’ve always wondered what kind of music listener I am besides a binge listener. What I mean is that I’ll listen to an artist or style until exhaustion then move on to another. I recently completed a John Mayer binge. Before that was Kanye. Before that was Dave Matthews Band. Right now, I’ve really been enjoying some classical music and some of the more modern arrangements that have been put out.

The beauty of Last.fm is that it tabulates all of the songs I listen to from any number of sources (Pandora, Winamp, it’s own player, etc.) to assemble it into data of what I truly like. Then it makes recommendations based off of that.

But it gets better.

There is a free player application that runs on virtually zero system resources that acts as a free internet radio app. Personally, I think it’s better than Pandora. You also have the option to play through things they would recommend based on your library.

The idea behind Last.fm is to take music listening in the virtual social direction in much the same way Facebook did it for personal interaction. Regardless of whether you involve yourself in the sizable sommunity there, the application is still extremely useful.

Jonah’s Prayer

"And the LORD commanded the fish and it vomited Jonah onto dry land." Jonah 2:10 (NIV)

A friend of mine pointed me to these two verses before I got to them in chapter two of Jonah.

Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs. But I, with a song of thanksgiving, will sacrifice for you. What I have vowed I will make good. Salvation comes from the LORD.
Jonah 2:8-9

Chapter two of Jonah is his prayer after he is swallowed by the fish. In it, he is thanking God for His mercy. That he would be swallowed by a fish and that God spared him from drowning.

Many of the parts of the prayer are strait out of the Psalms but his grasp that God was at the center of his situation is awesome. He realizes that he disobeyed and that God punished him to make a point but in His infinite wisdom and love He still wants to use Jonah.

He still wants Jonah to be His man.

A lot of times I struggle with thinking I’ve done too much bad stuff–or that one thing that takes me out of God’s plan. But Jonah literally heard a command from God, walked in the opposite direction, probably joked about it, and defied God to His face. And God still wanted to use him.

In the midst of his punishment he sees his dire situation not through his own eyes–mad that he is in a fish and not on a boat headed to Tarshish–but through the eyes of God. He realizes that God is working all things together for His glory. He thanks God for the fish. He dedicates himself to the LORD’s purpose. In verse six he says, “…but You brought my life up from the pit, O LORD, my God.” Jonah realizes that it is his fault that he is there but it is compeltely God’s hand working him out of that situation, shaping him along the way.

I looked ahead to chapter three and saw that God asks Jonah to go to Ninevah again. This is forgiveness by God and a second chance given to Jonah. It’s a chance He wants to give us but often we don’t accept. We need to start taking that chance so that God can use us in the Ninavahs in our world.