Operation Care

Tomorrow I am going to help out at the Dallas convention center as Operation Care Dallas throws a Christmas party for over 10,000 homeless people. It is an all day affair designed to bring people joy and hope in many ways. I am going to help with the evangelism team. I would appreciate your prayers as I will get to share with people the ultimate gift of joy and hope -- our savior Jesus Christ. Here's a video that can help you understand what's going on:

Cancer

I know that most people have been affected by cancer in many difficult circumstances. Until recently, I was not among them. However, in the last couple of months I have seen two people pass away from this disease. Cancer has been a key topic in my life this week, so I was interested when I saw the Christianity Today article, When the Pastor Suffers, that came out the same day as my Uncle Jeff's funeral. It was written as a response to the recent discovery of a brain tumor after a seizure on Thanksgiving day by Matt Chandler, the 35 year old pastor of The Village Church. The article discusses how Chandler and John Piper were suddenly able to demonstrate deep trust in God, despite the circumstances, with whole new perspective. Here are a couple of the quotes that I thought were especially powerful:

"For those of you who keep living in fear and would try to use this as an excuse to continue in that fear, don't you dare use me as an excuse to continue in your lies," Chandler told his church. "My hope would be that you would see that he is good in all things, and he would never send any of us things he does not provide strength for."

"Cancer does not win if you die," Piper said. "It wins if you fail to cherish Christ. God's design is to wean you off the breast of the world and feast you on the sufficiency of Christ."

These two well-known pastors are both incredible examples to us of trusting Christ in all things and through all things. My Uncle Jeff’s funeral and final year of life was the same kind of testimony. Cancer didn’t win the battle with him either. He’s dancing in heaven today.

Here is the video of Matt Chandler addressing his church after the seizure and before the surgery:
Video from Matt

Uncle Jeff

Yesterday morning I received a text from my grandfather and was not surprised by the message. Uncle Jeff, his brother, died earlier in the morning after a long battle with cancer. Let me tell you a little bit about this special man who means so much to me (and everybody else who he has come in contact with).

Uncle Jeff and Aunt Julia live in Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina, along with rest of my grandfather’s relatives (he has a brother and two sisters plus all of their children and grandchildren). I have lived in many places – all over the world. For most of my life I barely knew this side of the family. I really met them for the first time when I looked at some colleges in the area. A couple of years into my Army career, I went from a year in South Korea to Fort Bragg, North Carolina (about an hour from Fuquay). This was when the Iraq war was only a few months old. On my very first day with my new unit, the commander brought the battalion together and announced that we were going to Iraq and would be there in a couple of weeks. My life became a whirlwind as I was still recovering from moving back to the United States and did not have my personal affairs put in place at all. I didn’t have a place to put my belongings. I didn’t have a place to leave my car. I only knew a couple of people in town who could help. I spoke with Papa (my grand-father) on numerous occasions and he asked about my car. He told me to call Jeff. I initially had a hard time convincing myself to ask a favor of somebody who I hadn’t even seen in several years. But I took his advice. Uncle Jeff was happy to hear from me. I started to explain the situation and he basically told me to just let them know when and where I wanted them to be and they would help with whatever I needed.

So I spent my last day and last meal in the United States before going to war with Uncle Jeff and Aunt Julia. Not only did they take my car, but they chauffeured me around and helped me get my last few errands done. And he didn’t just hold onto the car – when I returned eight months later it was in better shape than it’s even been! I was stationed in North Carolina for two more years after the Iraq tour. During that time Uncle Jeff and Aunt Julia (as well as Aunt Helen, Aunt Carolyn, and the rest of the North Carolina relatives) welcomed me into their homes and lives just as they did with the rest of their family. Uncle Jeff asked me to speak at his Sunday School class about my Christian perspective during my time in Iraq. They had me over to their house for two Easters. Uncle Jeff, Aunt Julia, Aunt Carolyn, and Aunt Helen were there when I was promoted from Lieutenant to Captain. And when I met and got engaged to Deanna, the entire family threw us a wedding shower at Jeff and Julia’s house. I could not have been blessed more through a group of people at a time in my life when I needed it the most.

Uncle Jeff and Aunt Julia were also at our wedding in Illinois. They road-tripped to come and see us! Deanna and I took great care in making our wedding reflect the amazing things that God was doing in our lives. We each brought in a special pastor from our college years who knew us well to do the service together. We also selected special worship songs at the beginning of the service to set the stage. At the reception, Uncle Jeff came up to me with tears in his eyes and said how wonderful it was that the entire service was such an authentic act of worship to our great God. Well, I was humbled by how much he was moved with emotion. And, yet, it was easy for Deanna and I to declare praises to God during the happiest and most exciting moment in our lives. Well, Uncle Jeff did this during the hardest time in his life – at the very end, as he suffered through incredible physical pain and discomfort. I have never been around anyone who is dying and it took me a while to really figure out that Uncle Jeff was at that point. When I finally got a clue, I called Uncle Jeff (in October). I was amazed at how at-peace he was and how he just began talking about the miracles that he continued to see in life and how he wanted to give me encouragement. He knew that he was going to heaven by trusting Jesus with his life and he wanted people in his life to also understand that this free gift is available to them as well. He used every one of his last breaths to sing God’s praise and to give testimony of a glorious father who has watched over him his entire life and was about to welcome him with loving arms into heaven. His family updated a CaringBridge website which is an incredible glimpse into the glory of God in their lives.


Uncle Jeff and Aunt Julia with me at my promotion


Uncle Jeff dancing with my grandmother at our wedding

I am very sad that I will not make it to the visitation (tonight) and funeral (tomorrow). I am in the midst of final exams and the timing is just not going to make that possible. And I know that it would make Uncle Jeff happy to know that I am doing what needs to be done to prepare for future ministry.

Shortly after we received the news, we were in church for Sunday morning worship. I am continually amazed at the many times that God puts a song in my life or a word from a friend to encourage me and minister to me with whatever I am dealing with. This morning, Deanna and I were both in wonder as two of the songs directly encouraged us in knowing where Uncle Jeff is right now. They really reflected what I saw in his life, especally in his toughest moments. They really ministered to us and I would like to share one of them on this blog.



This music video is from the Hillsong United song “You Hold me Now” and below are some of the lyrics:

On that day when I see
All that You have for me
When I see You face to face
There surrounded by Your grace

All my fear is swept away
In the light of your embrace
When Your love is all I need
And forever I am free

Where the streets are made of gold
In Your presence healed and whole
Let the songs of heaven rise to you alone

No weeping, no hurt or pain
No suffering You hold me now
You hold me now
No darkness no sick or lame
No hiding You hold me now,
You hold me now

In this life I will stand
Through my joy and my pain
Knowing there's a greater day
There's a hope that never fails

When Your name is lifted high
And forever praises rise
For the glory of Your Name
I'm believing for the day

Yesterday morning, Uncle Jeff ran into the loving arms of our Savior – through the gates of heaven, free of pain. He can truly embrace the words of 2 Timothy 4:7-8 (NIV):

“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.”

I love you Uncle Jeff. Thank you for the incredible testimony of Jesus Christ in your life. I know that we will meet again.

Colt McCoy's Story

If you're pumped up about the heisman trophy presentation tonight, like I am, then you need to check out Colt McCoy's story (video) on the I am Second web site.

Creativity

This was our final week of classes for my first semster. I am going to enjoy a break from some of the assignments, but I am really going to miss all of the classes that I took this term. Howard Hendricks spent our last few sessions together teaching on something that he is passionate about -- creativity. There are many smart people at my school and the temptation can be to be so book smart that you forget about creativity. Prof Hendricks taught us that this would be a very sad mistake. Here are a couple of snippets from my notes:

"Creativity must become a lifestyle."

"Creativity infects the nature of your leadership -- the two are inseperable."

"Creative people continue to produce what non-creative people never try."

We were given a simple assignment to take the story from Acts 3:1-10 about Peter and John healing a lame man and produce a creative paraphrase. Prof Hendricks made our classroom a theater during our next meeting so that some people in the class could share their work. I rewrote the story from the point of view of a person in the crowd. I was amazed at what some of my classmates came up with. The class began with two of my friends (who had placed 130 blank butcher block paper sheets all over the building) instructing the rest of the class to go out and use markers to draw with our individual hurting / healing stories from God. This powerful experience just set the stage for a very creative and emotional rest of class. There were skits, poems, dramatic readings, and even a quilt. Below is a music video and picture from two of my favorites.



These two girls brought a blank canvas and played a four minute song by Big Daddy Weave about Jesus healing the lame, the blind, and wanting to heal us in our lives. They painted through the song. Initially the painting showed the hurt of the man. As the song progressed it showed the healing from a Savior. Powerful!!!



This is not necessarily the type of music that I listen to. But this video is great (and alot of fun) -- especially considering that they had 48 hours to do! It is a very creative way to reach people who enjoy this kind of music with the message of how Jesus heals.

Don’t Miss the Treasure

Chuck Swindoll is a former president of the seminary and current chancellor. He comes and speaks at chapel every so often. At the beginning of the semester he spoke to us on Romans 8:28:

“And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” Rom 8:28, New American Standard Bible

The theme of his message was to not miss the treasure on account of the wrappings. It’s no coincidence that he was speaking to many seminary students who were just embarking on their educational journeys. One significant quote that impacted me was, “don’t doubt in the dark what God has revealed to you in the light.” God made it very clear to Deanna and I that we were supposed to go to Dallas Theological Seminary and eventually into vocational ministry. It’s His plan and His path that He has set for us. It was very easy to see this as the plans unfolded so perfectly. Chuck’s warning was to take hold of that memory of the plans that God has revealed to us and not let go. Seminary, like many things in life, is hard. It’s supposed to be hard. You want pastors who can handle the toughness. You want your pastor to have the mental, moral, and spiritual fortitude to lead the church when leading isn’t easy. When seminary (and life) gets difficult, the temptation is there to give in to doubt and unbelief. Chuck provided great encouragement to not miss the treasure and to rest in God’s faithfulness.

Community

Many years ago, Howard Hendricks noted an alarming trend that the seminary was graduating many students who knew a lot of things, but were spiritually dry. DTS instituted a Spiritual Formations program so that all students would have a few people who knew them well and could encourage them in their personal walks with God and give them accountability to be able to withstand the temptations that arise in life –especially through the stress that a graduate program can induce.

Deanna and I volunteered to lead a couples group. We meet with two other couple every Sunday night in our home. We couldn’t be happier with the people we were “assigned” to share our lives with. Sean and Krysta and Daniel and Allison are such great friends, who provide the encouragement that we need during a challenging first semester and transition. It’s amazing to see how God works to bring together and form His communities.

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

My Evangelism class required that I interview eight non-Christians about their beliefs. The intent was for us to learn what other people believe and then also to develop boldness in sharing our faith with others. I have not always been very bold in this regard. We live in a culture where we don’t want to hurt people’s feelings – to the degree that we avoid the Truth. I fall victim to this more often than not. A guy named Brian came to our class one day and offered to work with us during some of our interviews and provide mentorship and encouragement. He listed off several places where we could go. It just so happened that Brian is a huge Texas Rangers fan (somewhat similar to the writer of this blog) and he likes to go talk to people about God at the ballpark. He carries around a game bat used by Josh Hamilton which he uses to talk about Josh’s Christian faith as a bridge to talk with Rangers fans. You probably won’t be surprised to hear that I took him up on this offer.

My first interview was a little awkward. But we talked to several people that day and I grew more and more comfortable each time. We talked to one younger guy, there by himself, who needed encouragement and prayer and was very happy for our company. I know that God guided that encounter and I hope and pray that we may have laid seeds for our new friend to also realize that he needed a Savior. I’m glad that we were able to talk with him. It was a great day at the Ballpark! (even though the Rangers didn't win)

P.S. If you are curious about what we were sharing with people, look at the links on the left hand side of this blog under “How you can know for sure that you’re going to heaven”. I would be more than happy to talk with you about anything you read on those web pages.

Twenty-Five Observations

The class that I was most excited for this semester was Bible Study Methods. Dallas Seminary is known for their emphasis on in-depth study of the entire Bible. So you can probably imagine that a class on Bible Study Methods is an exciting foundational class with glimpses of the enriching stuff that I will learn over my next four years. However, the reason that I was really excited for this class is because of the professor – Howard Hendricks. “Prof” Hendricks is a DTS icon. He has been here for a long time and made some incredible contributions to not only Bible Study Methods but Christian leadership and many other areas (thus on campus we have the Howard Hendricks Center for Christian Leadership). He actually trained my father / mother-in-law with Campus Crusade for Christ when they were just out of college. He was also a Dallas Cowboys Chaplain at some point, but that’s just a bonus :).

The first step of Bible study is observation. Our assignment during the second week of class was to take Acts 1:8 and make twenty-five observations (without crossing over to step two, interpretation).

"but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”" Acts 1:8, New American Standard Bible

I spent the better part of an evening pouring through this simple, yet deep verse making twenty-five observations exactly. Most of them were solid, only a few were a stretch. I was pretty proud of myself. I was sure that I had explored every angle and then some. I brought my assignment the next day to turn-in, but Prof told us to hold onto them. He said, “Your next assignment – go home and make twenty-five more observations on Acts 1:8.”

Would You Please Join Me In . . .

After my first few classes I realized how refreshing it was that the professors began each lesson in prayer. In a couple of them, the professors even asked for us to share our individual prayer needs. I appreciated the genuine concern from the faculty for each student as brothers and sisters in Christ. When I arrived in my fourth and final class of my first day, Intro to Theology, I figured that I had caught on to the routine when Dr. Holsteen said, “Would you please join me in . . . . . a hymn.”

A hymn? Yep, that’s right. He had us all stand and sing a classic song of worship to our Lord. On first glance, standing up in the middle of a graduate school classroom to sing seemed a little out of place. But what a perfect way to prepare for a class on the study of God! Not to mention a great way to step back from all the brain exercising to focus on energizing our souls. And this was an everyday routine for us!

What I Read Before the First Day

“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.” Hosea 4:6b (New King James Version)

This verse really spoke to me as I did my morning devotionals before my first day of school. I was on my way to learn a lot of good stuff. Not all this "stuff" is completely necessary for the average Christian (not everybody is called to seminary). However, properly trained leadership is very important for the church as a whole. And that’s why I am at seminary! Christianity is about love and relationship. But accurate knowledge of God’s word to us in scripture (the Bible) keeps us living in the Truth and from going astray.

Bringing seminary to my friends and families

My first semester at DTS has been incredible. I have learned so much -- in and out of the classroom. People have asked me all semester, "How do you like your classes?" Usually I find it hard to share much more than "Classes are great." and "Greek is really hard." There is so much more that I want to say! We learn alot of deep stuff and use some big words. But at the heart of all that are some really incredible and important truths that are't hard to understand. I want to share these truths on this blog. I will keep each entry short because many people probably have as little patience as I do when reading long things. During my next several posts, I am going to go back through the semester and share some of the most exciting and interesting things that I've learned. Enjoy!