THINK DIFFERENTLY

List-O-Mania V.4

Biggest surprise: Biggest surprise was the level of traffic BeDeviant.com is seeing! A few posts really threw us over the top (all election and Obama-related, oddly enough): “Is Obama the First Postmodern President?” and, “Can You Vote for Obama?” Great discussion on both posts. I’ll even be using some of the comments in my sermon this week at Immersion!

Favorite new song: I’ve had LCD Soundsystem’s “Someone Great” on repeat for the past week (link opens in iTunes). I feel like you should do everything in robot-like fashion when you listen to this song. It’s great.

Seminary: I’m gutting out the last few weeks of my classes. Greek is really starting to take a turn for the worse. Not grade-wise, comprehension-wise. I know it’s important for me to learn this ancient language, but sheesh! Beef jerky isn’t as dry as this class is at times. Also trying to figure out how to graduate by Fall 2009. My advisors think I’m insane.

Most excited about: Seeing where this blog goes. It’s fast becoming a favorite hobby of mine and one of my blogs even won an award! I’m excited about the future of this blog because of the awesome content you all provide. Insightful comments, joining in the election liveblogging discussion, and telling your friends about BeDeviant.com - this couldn’t happen without you. The Church is in a massive (and exciting) change right now and I think platforms like this will help usher in a new direction. Decentralization baby!

Favorite new Twitter-er: There’s two this week: @BeImmersed and @d_eickelberg. Immersion is the ministry I’m on staff with and we just hooked up the Twitter to the Immersion blog. Follow along and read some amazing posts by some amazing young adults who have something to say. Dave (@d_eickelberg) just started up a great blog “Someone Has To Say It”. And he is. Follow him on Twitter and give his blog a little love.

Are you a list person? Type A, perhaps? If you like things organized in list-like fashion, check out the List-O-Mania archives for more listed commentary on culture, theology, and life.

Technorati Tags: #iowawebawards, 2008 Election, Barack Obama, Bethel Seminary, Immersion, Iowa Web Awards, List-O-Mania, Postmodern, Twitter

Greek quiz (redemption!).

And that, my friends, is what you call a Greek @$$-kicking. If you’ll remember, I did not fare so well on the last Greek quiz that I took. This, I’m afraid, feels good… Maybe even “very good!”

Technorati Tags: Bethel, Greek, Quiz, Seminary

Burn out.

From Robert Kegan’s The Mental Demands of Modern Life:

“When burnout occurs, it is almost always an indication that the person’s goals have been externally imposed. Somehow he embarked on his present course because it was expected of him… He was never the authentic source of his choices and consequently they afford little real satisfaction.”

I thought that was pretty great.

Technorati Tags: Bethel, Burnout, Christian, Robert Kegan

Blogging Bethel V.2

Status: Stuck in a small, 4×4 room. Studying for Greek quiz. Needed a break. Took picture of self from ceiling of said small room. Back to the salt mines.

Luther on languages.

Studying Greek this week, I needed a pick me up of sorts.

This is a hard language to learn - very analytical, mathematical, precise. I got a jolt from my wife via e-mail, but then our professor handed an article out by none other than Martin Luther. He talks about the importance of learning the languages of the Scriptures - Greek and Hebrew. I needed a reminder as to why I’m doing this, Luther provided me with one:

“We should not be led astray because some boast of the Spirit and consider Scripture of little worth, and others… think the languages are unnecessary. Dear friend, say what you will about the Spirit, I too have been in the Spirit and have seen the Spirit, perhaps even more of it than those fellows with all their boasting will see in a year. Moreover, my spirit has given some account of itself, while theirs sits quietly in its corner and does little more than brag about itself. I know full well that while it is the Spirit alone who accomplishes everything, I would surely have never flushed a covey if the languages had not helped me and given me a sure and certain knowledge of Scripture. I too could have lived uprightly and preached the truth in seclusion; but then I should have left undisturbed the pope, the sophists, and the whole anti-Christian regime.“

Beautiful. Basically, Luther is saying the Holy Spirit is in the languages of the Scriptures - not removed from them. Luther is blasting the anti-intellectualism of his day (and ours), the pope, sophists (modern-day secular humanists), and atheism (aggressive atheism, not passive atheism).

Simply put, Luther is encouraging Christians to adopt the reality that our minds are connected to our spirits - our minds are not our enemies, they are our friends.

So trudge on Christian. Exercise that mind and take heart!

Technorati Tags: Atheism, Lutheran, Martin Luther, Theology

Blogging Bethel V.1

Wow. I’m beat.

On tap for today was the following:

1. Perfect Active & Perfect Middle/Passive Verbs
2. Greek Participles
3. Basketball (followed by a backache)
4. PB&J for dinner
5. Study more Greek (Mounce, Chapter 24)
6. Realizing that I’m exhausted.
7. Bed (soon.)

There is a verse that has been swimming past my view finder for quite some time now. An amazing verse from Hebrews 4, verse 11:

Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience.

I need to rest. Badly. I need God’s rest, the rest he promises me and you. Badly.

I just got done listening to a timely message by Brad Jorgensen. It was on this very topic… Rest. (For all things good and holy, you must listen to this message - find it here.) The theme of today’s chapel at Bethel was, you guessed it, rest. People are talking about it, everywhere and in every way.

Where do you need rest? Is your job taking you to the limit? Is insomnia claiming the late hours of the night that God intended to recharge your body? Is guilt gnawing at the back of your brain like a buzzing July june bug? In the words of a modern day poet, do you “feel so tired but you just can’t sleep?”

Maybe it’s time to rest. It’s time to enter into the rest God promises you. And note the word, “enter”. We “enter” into God’s rest - not “strive” or “travail” or “force” or “push” or “strain.”

Pray for me to rest, and I’ll pray the same for you. Peace.

Technorati Tags: Bethel, God, Scripture, Western Christianity