Yeah...

Reasons I don't draw...

Shawn

An Apologetic That Feels

While reading this evening I came across this story that I thought was wonderful, so of course I have to post it here to share with you all.

There is a story of a rabbi sitting in his study, when his reading is interrupted by a knock on the door.
"Come in."
It was one of his students who was so grateful for his teacher he simply had to come and tell him.
"I just wanted you to know, Rabbi, how much I love you."
The rabbi put down his book and looked over his glasses.
"What hurts me?"
The student looked at him quizzically. "What?"
"What hurts me?" the rabbi asked again.
The boy stood there, speechless, finally shrugging his shoulders. "I don't know."
"How can you love me," the rabbi asked, "if you don't know what hurts me?"

To say we love someone as Christ did without knowing them beyond the surface level does a disservice to that person and makes our message ring hollow. I'm guessing that the reason Jesus had such compassion for the people when he saw them was because he saw, and knew, what is was that hurt in each of them. He knew the hurts of the woman at the well, of the woman caught in adultery, of the demoniac at the graveyard, and he knows my hurts.

How well do we know the hurts of those we say we love?

Shawn

Not The Brightest

I'm really not sure why I'm sharing this information, but...

I contribute monthly to the Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM) organization and each month they send out a cd of Ravi speaking and occasionally (I think quarterly) I receive a newsletter of what is going on with the RZIM team. Well, about a month or two ago I received by disc and I attempted to play it in Davina's cd player in her car - no luck. So then I tried it in my car - same result. I've been trying consistently to play this disc and nothing. So this morning I decided to bring it to the office with me and try it on my work laptop - still won't play. The disc isn't scratched or anything, but the cd player won't recognize it. As I was taking it out of the cd tray in my laptop I noticed the words DVD on the disc. Duh...uh, yeah, I'm guess a DVD won't play in a regular CD player for the simple fact that it's a DVD...

Okay, have a good laugh, I did. :)

Shawn

Truth and Error

C.S. Lewis once said that a person recognizes a crooked road because they know what a straight road looks like. He also said in Mere Christianity that a sober man can tell the difference between soberness and drunkeness while a drunk man cannot. So how do we tell what error is unless truth is known? And how is it that some people can claim there is no objective truth and yet still cry foul against some of the crimes in society? How do we know what wrong is unless we have some sense of right?

Many years ago I was taught that evil is never created, but rather it is always a distortion of what is good. Evil does not have within itself the capacity to create, only to twist and mar. If that is true, and I believe that it is, then it would seem that evil has some good in it which is probably what makes certain aspects of it attractive. But while evil may have some good in it, goodness has no evil in it - just as error may have some truth in it, but truth has no error in it. But it's also interesting that the opposite of truth is error, while the opposite of error could be more error.

When presenting the Gospel it is so important to present the truth as well as we are able because the Gospel we tell and live is the Gospel that people will follow and if it is a Gospel of error, then it can easily become corrupted. Thank God that we do not have to rely upon our own strength and power, but it's the power of the Holy Spirit within us that helps us in this presentation of the Gospel - may we always be careful that we don't "go it alone" when sharing and defending our faith, but that we approach those opportunities in prayer, humbleness, gentleness, respect, patience and most of all love.

Shawn

Happy Birthday

Wow - I can't believe a year has passed since I've started this blog. I think most of my musings have turned into ramblings, but that's okay, it's been a fun first year.

Thanks everyone for commenting and participating on my site and providing your input. It has been a joy know know you all. *wave*

Have some cake on me...

Shawn

p.s. - I have no idea who that is in the picture, i just did a random search on google and thought it was funny. :)

Got Answers?

A little sneak-peek for you fellow blog-heads...this was written for the Canyon Church bulletin. Not sure when Tom is going to use it. I also don't know what will or won't make the final edits, so here it is in all it's tarnishedness (yeah, I know that's not a word).

From Friedrich Nietzsche’s “God is dead” to John Lennon’s “We’re more popular than Jesus” it seems that the “voices of the generation” continually try to shove God and Jesus out of the picture. With them out of the way then what is left to inform our perspective on the world? Pop-culture has had a major influence in this area since the 60’s ranging from the Beatles, Andy Warhol, and The Last Temptation of Christ to our current day counterparts with the likes of Eminem, Woody Allen, and the DaVinci Code. But while we may have advanced by leaps and bounds when it comes to scientific knowledge, technology, and the like, some age-old questions never die. When Jesus asked his disciples “Who do people say that I am”, he was met with a variety of answers. When he asked them “who do you say that I am”, Peter replied, “You are the Christ.” (Mark 8:27-29; see Paul’s answer in Colossians 1:15-17).

While the question has been around for about 2,000 years, each generation attempts to find its own answers to it. The most recent rash of answers our generation has offered is that the Jesus of the New Testament is legend (Dan Brown), myth (The Jesus Seminar), or fact. The polarity between the differing views is obvious to see in the offerings of our arts. C.S. Lewis once wrote, “Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important.”

The question, though old, is as vital today as it ever was. Jeremiah said, “You shall seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:13). Unfortunately may people seek in the wrong places because they think Jesus and Christianity are dated. But they forget that Jesus was raised from the dead, which means that he is still alive. And if he is still alive, then he is our eternal contemporary. And if he is our eternal contemporary, then he is eternally relevant. Who do you say that He is? Got Answers?

Shawn