Pondering Psalm 139
”Before I let you see your baby, I have to tell you that there’s something wrong with her”. I cannot even begin to imagine the sorrow of hearing such words. You see, I have four children of my own now; and, truly, the only thing I wished for them was health. I just wanted my babies to be healthy. They could be bald, look like an alien, have a cone head that never went away, but please Lord let them be healthy. Just imagine what it must have been like to have no idea that there was anything amiss, sitting in a hospital bed with open, waiting, empty arms…..”there’s something wrong with her”. How do you even begin to filter through the rush of emotions that accompany such a phrase? From utter joy to utter despair with a few spoken words.

The Elephant in the Room
From Voddie Baucham: This past week a firestorm erupted over the recent “Elephant Room 2.”  The controversy centers around the decision to invite Bishop T.D. Jakes to participate in the event.

The Distinguishing Marks of a True Work of the Spirit of God
Jonathan Edwards sought to promote vibrant Christian faith through teaching people what the “marks,” or signs, of godly living actually are. He did so not merely because he was really smart and liked categorizing things, but because he wanted Christians to experience the joy of true Christianity and then spread that joy to others. In short, he was a missional pastor before the vodcasts and fauxhawks.

You Don’t Generate Sympathy by Being Negative
They didn’t have time to listen to me whine.  That was a great lesson to learn in my early twenties. Work hard. Give it your best. Do great work.

The Power of Why
Over the years, I’ve learned from my kids that one of the most powerful words is, “Why.”

Spurgeon on Counting Numbers
I found these thoughts from Charles Spurgeon’s book on preaching evangelistically, The Soul Winner, to be particularly helpful and remarkably relevant to contemporary discussions. Spurgeon had the rare combination of being one of the most evangelistically successful, as well as doctrinally rich, preachers of his day. How we need more who can do both!

Meet the Marriage Killer
From the WSJ: Ken Mac Dougall bit into the sandwich his wife had packed him for lunch and noticed something odd—a Post-it note tucked between the ham and the cheese. He pulled it out of his mouth, smoothed the crinkles and read what his wife had written: “Be in aisle 10 of Home Depot tonight at 6 p.m.”

When Good isn’t Good Enough
Our unbelieving neighbors regard themselves as more tolerant. They suppose themselves to be morally superior to judgmental Christians with our exacting, unrealistic standards of holiness. But the reality of the situation reveals itself in a case like Paterno. No good is good enough to wipe away his sins from the record of history as judged by his peers. He could never recover. The first paragraph of his obituary tells the story.

Adele as Allegory
From James Smith: Because of her commercial success, some indie music snobs might miss the fact that Adele is one of the great female crooners of a generation. We bought my daughter a copy of her live performance at Royal Albert Hall for Christmas, but I think it’s been in the CD player in my car since December 25. It is a masterful, captivating performance (despite the fact that she was suffering from a throat condition and would undergo surgery shortly after).

The Iron Lady: A Truly Meaningful Film
From Carl Trueman: Watching The Iron Lady was a strangely emotional experience.   As for anyone who came of age in eighties Britain, the formative years of my life were dominated by the presence of Mrs Thatcher.  The riots of 81, the Maze hunger strikes, the IRA bombings, the Falklands, the miners’ strike, the poll tax: these were the events which shaped public life; and they shaped how I thought of England, of Britain and of the rest of the world.  I joined her party in 1982, voted for her in 1987 and was saddened but not surprised when she fell from power in 1990.   It is a tired and hackneyed phrase, but, for good or ill, we shall not probably not see her like again.

Work on Your Character and a Good Life will Come to You
The blogosphere is abuzz with advice for the new year. We’re being given tricks and tips on getting ahead, becoming more efficient and so forth. But as a guy who helps people live better stories, I have to tell you the best advice I’ve ever heard is simple: Work on your character and a good life will come to you.

How to Be A Miserable Comforter
Apart from the suffering of Jesus on the cross of Calvary the book of Job is the best biblical illustration of human suffering. In a few moments’ time Job, a great man of the east, lost all of his wealth (which was massive), his physical property, and his ten children. Though imperfect (he was a sinner) Job’s response of persevering faith in the God who is sovereign—while in the midst of his suffering, not just afterward—is exemplary.

Hey Football Fans, the Big Day is Nearly Here
From Michael Horton: God and football (baseball has fallen a bit) block and tackle for each other in American civil religion these days. Typically, in the reports I scanned, pastors were justifying their decision by appealing to the mission opportunity. Somehow, having the building full with people who want to be there for a game, but not for God’s saving service to sinners, is “missional.” In any case, the evening service has fallen by the wayside in many churches anyway—no conflict there. Yet even where there are such services, many sympathize with one pastor who said that it’s “a bit of a luxury,” especially “when it falls on a legal holy day [you read that right: holy day] like Super Bowl Sunday.”

On Media and Messages
From Carl Trueman: A few years ago, I was on a panel discussing the Puritans.  A member of the audience asked if I could provide `a few bullet points’ to summarise Puritan theology.  My mind immediately went to those passages of John Owen and Richard Baxter where they give the reader the fifteenth point of the seventeenth qualification of the twentieth application of a doctrine or passage.  `No, I’m afraid I can’t.’ I replied, `The Puritans were not bullet point people in the modern sense.’  As if to underline the point, the recording manager, now a respected RCA pastor in California, added a backtrack of a tommy-gun firing to the mp3 recording.

Owned by Ownership; The Need to Simplify
I have a cousin who moved to a new location and found that some boxes remained in her basement long after her new digs were fully established. One trash day, she brought a box to the curb, “I didn’t even open it. I figured if I hadn’t needed anything in that box for the last five years, I did not want to open it and talk myself into suddenly ‘needing’ to keep whatever was in there. It seemed healthier to just let it go.”  Over the course of a few months, she eventually got rid of all of her stored up boxes, and now she uses the basement for creative projects.

Is Hollywood Out of Touch with Middle America?
From Phil Cooke: Recently, the Christian Post interviewed me about Hollywood. It was a good article, but as most publications do, they only used a few short quotes. I thought I’d post the entire interview in case you might be interested in my comments.  Let me know what you think…

Christianity Today Goes on the Record Against Spanking
From Denny Burke:  There are a number of problems with this editorial, not the least of which is its unsatisfying interaction with the biblical issues at stake in this debate. The CT editorial relies almost entirely on William Webb’s trajectory hermeneutic—a way of interpreting the Bible that says modern readers sometimes need to move beyond the ethical instruction of scripture to an ethic that supercedes it.

Up In The Air
What should you avoid touching on an airplane? Pretty much everything.

St. Andrew’s member Dr. Bill Sasser first began doing short term mission trips over 15 years ago.  Bill and his wife, Susalee, have traveled all over the world, offering dental care to those least able to care for themselves. Their travels have taken them from the jungle highlands of Southeast Asia to prisons in Rwanda to the squalor of Haiti. After serving solo for many trips, they felt led to reach out to students at MUSC’s Dental School.

Ten years ago, they helped organize Dental Community Fellowship (DCF – DentalCommunityFellowship.net). This is a student chapter of a national  organization called the Christian Medical and Dental Associations. DCF organizes yearly mission trips where students play an integral part of the care given in these locations. Students who go on these trips are responsible for covering all associated costs for their trips. These include airfare as well as incountry expenses. The trips not only benefit the patients but the students as well as they are able to provide hands on care at a rate and under circumstances that they will never see if their learning was confined to the school and its clinics. In addition, they are exposed to missions and serving those who are many times forgotten.

This Saturday,  January 21, they will hold two events to raise money for scholarships. The first event of the day will be a golf tournament at Stono Ferry. In the evening, they will have a banquet here at St. Andrew’s beginning at 6:30 pm. The DCF Banquet will feature a silent auction, bar-b-que dinner and a speaker, Dr. Stan Cobb. Stan is known as the Cowboy Dentist and hails from Spearman, Texas. He is a dentist, artist, writer, and occasionally, a cowboy.

I invite you to come and be a part of the banquet and hear the incredible stories of what our Lord is doing through and with our local dental school. To purchase tickets to the banquet, please visit the DCF’s website.

A Danish TV crew was at SAMP this morning, both the 9 & 10.45 am services. They did a profile story one of our members.  The story is to about integrating faith and life and how faith can influence a voting decision.

The station is a European CNN and CBS affiliate.  The story will be a part of their prime-time newscast and will be seen across Northern Europe.

They were interesting folks.  And, they were fascinated about the general faithfulness of Americans and as noted above, the significant role faith plays in the American electorate.

I’m pleased to let you know that at our Vestry meeting this week the following people were elected to the following Vestry officer positions:

Mary Graham, Sr. Warden
Mary is the Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce Senior Vice President for Public Policy and Regional Advancement.

Bill Maddux, Jr. Warden
Bill is the Chief Operating Officer of Greystar Real Estate Partners, LLC, and is a member of the company’s Advisory Board and Investment and Operating Committees.

Robyn Frampton, Treasurer
Robyn is the Chief Financial Officer for the MUSC Foundation and Treasurer for the MUSC Foundation Board

Andy Breaux, Secretary
Andy is the Chief Operating Officer for American Benefit Services

What a great group, we’re richly blessed.

What People Experiences in Churches
Though I’m not a huge fan of George Barna (I question, at times, the Barna Group’s reliability and objectivity) he occassionally offers interesting observations and analysis: Most Americans have first-hand experiences in churches or parishes. What happens, if anything, in the hearts and minds of those who attend? To explore this matter, Barna Group surveyed Americans who have attended a Christian church sometime in the past and discovered what they say about their experiences in these congregations.

5 Lessons The Church Can Learn from Facebook
From Mark McNees – a 5 part article.

Can We Judge the Morality of God?
The debate between monergists and synergists has to be fought anew in each generation, for there is nothing more opposed to man’s inherent exaltation of his own powers of will than the recognition of the sovereign freedom of grace. While we can, and do, benefit greatly from the efforts of those who have gone before us, the fact remains that each generation of believers is faced with the same question, and must come to grips with the ramifications of the answers given.

4 Honest Questions About the Millenial Kingdom
Nice article from The Cripplegate: The Millennial Kingdom (MK), if it’s depiction in Scripture is to be taken literally, is a strange place indeed. More accurately, it’s what God has always intended to be the standard of “normal” (Gen 1-2; Rev 19-21), while the way we now exist is abnormal, unnatural, and twisted by the fall and resultant curse (Gen 3 ff).

What is The Unpardonable Sin?
A nice article from R.C. Sproul.

The Case for “Sense of the Heart” Apologetics
Christians know that the satisfaction of the gospel surpasses the relief of a consistent syllogism, yet many fail to preach like it. Those who have been transferred from darkness to light are not only guided by reason, but also by “taste.” Their “eyes of the heart” have been given a sense of the breadth and the length and the height and the depth of the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge. Yet not enough preachers aim at the sniffer to give them the aroma of life.

Our Women’s Ministry Leader, Cassie Dodds, is off to Houston this week to participate as a workshop leader for the AMiA Winter Conference.  They have a great line-up of plenary speakers.  You can check it out here.  And, of course, keep Cassie in your prayers.

St. Andrew’s home grown missionary, Jean Berler Pereira, and her husband Pastor Francis Pereira are stateside for a brief visit.  Francis and Jean and their children, Esther (4) and Andrew (2), serve in Mumbai, India.

Jean was sent to India from St. Andrew’s in 2005.  There she met her husband Francis who has been pastor of Metro Church since 1998.  Together they are pastoring a growing network of churches which currently comprises eight congregations.  Metro Church is part of a larger Indian church planting movement called New Life Fellowship.

Jean and Francis would love the opportunity to spend some time with their friends and supporters from St. Andrew’s and the Charleston area.  You’re invited to join them for India Night on Friday, Jan 13th 2012 at Sams Hall, St. Andrew’s Church, Mt. Pleasant 6:30pm.  Indian dinner will be served.

Francis and Jean will be sharing about life in India, the incredible ways God is moving there and how you can actively participate in building the kingdom around the world.  Please feel free to invite friends and anyone interested in learning more about missions and our global God.

If you’d like to come please email us at jimnear@gmail.com so we know how much food to order (dinner is free).

A Forgotten Text?  Why is that, I wonder?
From Carl Trueman: Paul, of course, was no legalist.  He affirmed free grace and Christian liberty.  Yet he wrote Eph. 5:12.  So what does it mean?   Well, it actually means exactly what it appears to mean.  You really do not need a postdoctoral qualification in Second Temple Judaism to crack this one.

Dealing with the Doubting
As many of you are aware, I deal with many people who are doubting their faith. To be more specific, these are Christians who are going through some sort of faith crisis where they no longer believe with the simplicity that characterized their belief before. This is becoming increasingly common in a world where sheltered or isolated beliefs are not only impractical, but a thing of the past (and this is good!).  However, most of us really don’t know how to deal with this. We don’t know how to deal with it when it comes to our own doubts, much less other people’s!

Jesus is Enough
Many Christians are spiritually hungry, but satisfy themselves on the wrong food. Rather than seeking and resting in Jesus and all we have in him, some desire a fresh voice from heaven, the visitation of angels, or something else. I encourage you to thoughtfully read Martin Luther’s words below, taken from Table Talk.

The Kids Are Not Alright
That is the evidence-based, data-driven picture that is emerging from sociologist Christian Smith’s National Study of Youth and Religion. His account of the paucity of moral reasoning among twentysomethings can’t be chalked up as mere grumpy-old-man harumphing about “those damn kids” or a reactionary conservative harangue about godless “secular” America. Smith’s longitudinal study provides a deeply worrisome snapshot of the state of spiritual maturity and moral reflection among millenials. Indded, I found the first chapter of his latest book, Lost in Transition: The Dark Side of Emerging Adulthood, to be positively harrowing in its account of how these young people are “morally adrift.” But as Smith is at pains to emphasize: the point isn’t to demonize twentysomethings; the point is for the rest of us to look in the mirror and ask ourselves how we produced this generation.

Dave Barry’s Year in Review: The 2011 Festival of Sleaze
It was the kind of year that made a person look back fondly on the gulf oil spill.