Unsuper Bowl

I used to watch the Super Bowl for the commercials. This year, they stank. This year I was actually watching the superbowl for the athletics and physical abuse that is the National Football League. However, the two teams really didn’t deliver on the intensity that I had expected. I’m just glad that in the end I got to have fun at our friend’s house and that we got to eat smoothies.

I actually had to drop Evie off in the kitchen with Jessica because she was too distracting to watch the game. No, not because she was being awkward its just that she’s so darn cute. I had to have Jessica hold her so that if Craig asked, “Randy, did you see that?” I would be able to answer, “Yes.” Instead of hoping John Madden would talk over an instant replay. Of course he might say, “Could you feel that [insert football player’s name] was going to do that as the play started?” Or maybe, “Well, you know you’ve got to be a good quarterback to be called a good quarterback.”

To that I say, “It’d have to be a good game for it to be called a good game.” It was an OK game, but it was surely not as exciting as playing the drums in High School while the home team got beat to smithereens by anyone and everyone that came to play us. When you play the drums you’re cool, and you never lose because people want to hear you groove.

I’ve Been Transfered, Thankfully

In Colossians 1:12-14 Paul writes of our position being transfered from a domain of darkness to a domain of light:

giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light. For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
(Colossians 1:12-14)

This passage is in the middle of a recording of a prayer that Paul regularly prays for (at the very least) the church in Collosae [starting in verse 9]. Paul has already prayed for their spiritual growth and for their walk to be maturing, but then he gives thanks to God for a list of important things: God’s qualification of us to be sons (and daughters) that we might be inheriters of God’s Holiness. Paul continues to be thankful for our having been transferred from the domain of sin, the flesh and ultimately being children of Satan to being in the domain of Christ (how just happens to be our redeemer). Paul’s last bit of thankfulness is tied to our redemption in that we can be thankful for the forgiveness of sins.

In short I think there are several applications of this passage, but one that really stands out is that due to God’s work we are set aside into His Holiness so no matter what we do, we have God’s holiness that surrounds us. Since we have that holiness, since we have our sins forgiven we need to walk in that holiness, but if we somehow fail to walk in that then we need to not dwell in guilt, shame and self flagilation, and instead we need to return to our focus on God and His Holiness. We are transfered and the legal documents required of us to be heirs is done, signed, sealed and official. You can’t undo your salvation and God’s grace is completely sufficient. He’s not looking at your forgiven sins, why would you?

Sneaking One In

Normally I post all of my theological stuff (of the last year or so) on my Bible blog, but today I heard a quote that I think should be thought provoking for all readers of this blog. I have been listening to MP3’s from Alistair Begg, a reformed theologian (no, I don’t abide by all reformed theology, but Alistair is atypical in many regards because he understands and teaches clearly about the position and identification of the believer with Christ… but I digress), he was discussing the errors of legalism within the church and the world and had this to say about the attraction of rules to new Christians and those who are old Christians who unfortunately don’t know any better (for a long time I fell into this latter camp):

It wasn’t that they were susceptible to a sub-standard Christianity they were susceptible to the notion of a super-standard. That incidentally is why the cults always fish on the fringes of Faith [I Want to know Christ – Part A]

The problem for many people is that they hear that Christianity will make people ‘better’ instead of recognizing that Christianity merely puts all believers on one level: they recognize their failure as humans to be perfect and their need for Christ’s righteousness. You don’t get a “Power Up” or an extra life, or a raccoon tail, you get your sins paid for, even the ones you’re going to commit. There is no super-Christian, and there are no below average Christians, what makes you a Christian is faith and not actions. Salvation has never been by any works that we do with the simple exception of one: having had faith in what God says He will do.

This quote really grabbed me, I hope you like it 🙂

Valentine’s Day Warm Up

My sister-in-law Shari tells me I’m a dork for some comment I make 8 out of 10 times that we chat online. One guaranteed story that will surely cause many readers to think that I’m a dork was the smooth move that I made when I first told Jessica that I was attracted to her. I told Jessica that I was attracted to her on Valentines day. I steered the conversation that direction, dropped the ‘bomb’ on her and then, in typical Randy-hates-commitment fashion changed the subject. Two days later I asked her if she would “Go out with me.” She asked her mom.

Basically I have been a horrible romantic my whole adult life [not to indicate that I was a better romantic prior to that]. When I proposed to Jessica I did it at my place of employment. I did it there due to the element of surprise that I believed I had. I bumbled out the proposal words in shear nervousness and even mentioned something about being married to me until death. I mentioned death in my proposal!

Of course I had bigger, more grand plans of proposing on Christmas as the ultimate present but Jessica mentioned earlier that year that she thought that people who proposed on Christmas were goofy. She got that right, I am goofy, even if I chickened out on the Christmas day proposal.

Personality Cult: Rachel Ray

How bad do we have it for the food network in our household? Jessica was told by Abby that she shouldn’t talk to Abby for a while because Abby was on TV like Rachel Ray.

Abby was cutting things (fake things with a fake knife) for a while and talking as she did so and then she stopped and said, “OK, don’t go away, I’ll be right back but we’ve got to take a quick brake.”

I do so hope that she starts picking up on more Alton Brown 😉

Girls of MySpace or I Just Want You For Your Bloggy

As I have been in practice of doing in the past I like to highlight the morally corrupt practices of Playboy seeking out possible pornographic material in the marketplace that is today’s culture. In the past they’ve looked for ‘women’ [I think they redefine it to mean purely gender and have no moral conotation] at Home Depot, McDonalds, Starbucks and Enron. Now they’re after women on a blogging service. My Space is the place for people to find blogs, but over time has also gotten its share of adult content. Why Playboy continues to operate is clear: most men are willing to look at naked women most of the time. Why women continue to pose for Playboy is beyond me. Women are special and should not be treated like so much skin and fatty curves and instead should be treated with respect.

Yes, I’m a huge fan of marital sex, yes I think that sex is healthy, no I do not think that men should be searching for pornographic material, whether its on a blog or on a site dedicated to adult content.

PAL

Last night at dinner I was helping abby with letters and I wrote PAL. She identified the letters “P-A-L.”

Then I asked, “What does that spell?”

“Pal.”

And thus I am now the father of a girl who has far more knowledge of letters and words than I expected of a 3 year old. Not that I thought Abby was dumb, but this is rather amazing for my brain and heart. She’s growing up fast!

How Do You Pray?

I have been really impressed with the idea that we often pray the wrong prayers. Sure, now you’re thinking that I’m making up rules about how you should pray, which I’m not, but I’m going to ask you to pray with doctrinal soundness. That is to say when you pray, don’t ask the Lord to do something that he’s already done. For example, I just heard the pastor of Mars Hill, a church in Seattle, pray, “… for this to be made possible that you would send us you’re Holy Spirit….**” Here’s the kicker, the thing that drives me crazy when I hear this sort of prayer: The Holy Spirit has come, has entered our lives and is indwelling believers right now as a secured seal until the day when we are taken up in the rapture to get our new bodies. Praying for the Holy Spirit to come is like asking God to make your body with about 70% water – it’s done!

When we pray we need to not pray for our weakness to be turned into strength, but instead that we may reflect His strength in our flesh being dead – our life is in Christ, when we live that life, we have the strength of Christ living and working in us. Instead of wrestling with the flesh, hoping that it would be conformed to the image of Christ, instead pray that you would moment by moment reckon the flesh as dead (Romans 6:11). God has promised in Romans 8:29 and Philipians 1:6 that you will be conformed to the image of Christ. Positionally, since you have been identified with Christ in his death, burial, resurrection, ascention, seating and are now hidden in Him (Colossians 3:3).

So, when you pray, the power of your prayer is not that you proclaim your weakness and need for His strength and working in your life, but instead it is the power of His life working in you and your reckoning or applying what He says is already true of you. I’m not talking about ‘word of faith’ type teaching that is full of selfish name-it-and-claim-it stuff, but instead that your attitude towards your life [which is His life, really] is from His perspective and that you take what God has revealed about your newness in Him as a given. This allows us to take into account for nasty things like suffering and trials and see them as lessons for our own growth (Hebrews 12:1-13).

What I’m writing is not an easy shift, but it is one that comes with an understanding of God’s word and the true life of the believer. The flesh wants control, it wants us to pray for its reformation because if it can be reformed then its not dead. I can pray that I would stop doing what is sinful, or I can pray that the Lord would help me identify where I’m letting the flesh creep into my thinking instead of reckoning it as dead. As we learn to see life from God’s perspective it allows us to grab hold of situations and see the lesson rather than having been grabbed hold of by a situation and ripped apart having learned nothing.

I am involved with a few situations currently that are frustrating me, but in their resolution I’m seeking God’s perspective. Maybe there is no resolution because there doesn’t need to be resolution yet because I’ve still got things to learn. But whatever learning there is to do, I’m looking forward to it because I know that God has a plan for my growth that will work in tandem with my life situations so that I will be praying His will, proving His will (Romans 12:2), and showing others God’s will by His life through me. It’s exciting stuff and it makes me want to pray for whomever reads this that the Lord would draw you to His word for inspiration in your prayers and insite into His character in you.

**This quote is from their podcast dated from 01/23/2006, Pastor Mark Driscoll.

Yeah, Yeah, Yeah

No, that’s not a Beatles reference. It is what we as parents of Evie say to her over and over again. If we say something and she smiles, then we repeat it, if she smiles again, we repeat it again. I swear she must think we’ve got the smallest vocabulary! When she gets older, she might read this and she’ll say, “Dad, what on earth did you think you were doing?” And I will reply carefully, “Trying our best?” Which won’t cut it because, “Yeah, yeah, yeah,” makes for some pretty lame rock lyrics as well as not much for a baby’s mind to grab onto. Fortunately I have a goatee for her to grab onto instead of words.

Happy Remote Day!

OK, so the company that I work with a lot in Texas, Alt-N, has another employee that will be going ‘remote’ such as I did in 2004. However, they’re having a party for his departure and I was ‘commissioned’ to perform a song for the party (remotely, of course). Here it is in MP3 format: Happy Remote Day!