On Reading and Writing

It is sad to say that I often view reading and writing as unfruitful activities. If I sit down to read, I will not build anything, I will not have any meaningful conversations with anyone; I will just sit there and fill my mind with whatever it is that I am reading. However, over this school year, I am becoming more and more convinced that reading and writing are, in fact, very productive.

The first two chapels of this week have prompted me to think and write on this topic. Chapel this week is themed around Church History, and Dr. Stephen Nichols has spoken both today and on Monday about John Bunyan and Jonathan Edwards. As I was listening, I realized that I was very grateful that Dr. Nichols had done his homework, read, and written about church history. And I'm glad that Edwards and Bunyan developed skill in the area of writing and that their ideas have been preserved over the centuries.

Reading has impacted my own life in many ways. After all, the Bible is a book. God chose to reveal himself to us in writing. Without this revelation, I would not be a Christian, my parents would not have been Christians, and neither would the people who led them to the Lord. Outside the Bible, many authors (of both fiction and non-fiction) have influenced me with their writings. One author that comes to mind quickly is John Piper. John Piper has read a lot of books, and he has shared what he has learned through his own writings, and these writings have, in turn, impacted my life greatly.

It is easy to see the fruit that reading and writing have produced in the world on a broad scale as well as on the individual level, so I'll think twice before concluding again that reading and writing are fruitless.

Augustine's Confessions

Tonight I had the pleasure of sitting down with excerpts from Augustine's Confesseions, over which I will be quizzed tomorrow morning in my World Literature class. This selection is by far my favorite of the semester so far; I love seeing Augustine's desire for God as well as the struggles of his spiritual journey. Here are some of the points/quotes I found interesting:

-It seems that Augustine's spiritual struggle was not only or even primarily with the intellectual issues of faith. His struggles were with the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life--all of which are obvious as he recounts his boyhood life and pre-conversion adulthood.

-Augustine speaks clearly of the superiority of God to all earthly pleasures. He goes through a list of sins, showing their deception and God's supremacy over them. "Ambition seeks honor and glory, although You alone are to be honored before all and glorious forever...The caresses by which the lustful seduce are seeking for love: but nothing is more caressing than Your charity, nor is anything more healthfully loved than Your supremely lovely, supremely luminous Truth...Sloth pretends that it wants quietude: but what sure rest is there save the Lord? Luxuriousness would be called abundance and completeness; but You are the fullness and inexhaustible abundance of incorruptible delight." Even about seemingly good and beautiful things, Augustine writes, "These lower things have their delights but not such as my God has, for He made them all: and in Him doth the righteous delight, and He is the joy of the upright of heart."

Not a bad night of homework...

50 Years Later

Last Sunday was a special Sunday. It was the 50th Anniversary Celebration for Grace Community Church. I have only attended Grace for about 4 of those years, but I can easily see the many ways this church has impacted my 20-year-old life.

It did not take me long to realize the magnitude of "GComm's" effect on my life. As I started thinking about this topic, I was sitting on my bed at The Master's College with my MacArthur Study Bible. If Grace Church had never existed, I probably would not have a MacArthur Study Bible, and I probably would have never heard of The Master's College. These two observations were only the beginning. I began to think about how my parents grew during their years at Grace, and they have probably impacted me more than anyone else.

I had never seen GComm more packed than it was last Sunday. The excitement of 50 years of the Lord's grace working through Grace Community Church was all oozing all over the place. The day was filled with special music and some sweet retrospective videos. The morning video focused mostly on the history of the church. I especially enjoyed the video because 4 of the 6 remaining founding members of Grace attend my Bible study, Generations. Those 4 people, who I did not know until last year, have born fruit in my life in so many ways by the work they started 50 years ago. Pretty cool...

This Sunday (right now) I am down in Orange County attending my brother's church, Compass Bible Church. This church was started just over a year ago, and it is exciting to listen to my brother talk about how the Lord is working here. I am looking forward to seeing it in action today. Who knows what the fruits of this ministry could be in 50 years? Who knows what the fruits of your ministry and my ministry could be in 50 years?

Some Sunday Thoughts

Take a good look at that picture. You will notice that both of these people look pretty happy. And they are not just happy people; they are a happy couple. You can tell that these two have the general disposition that life is just better together. A week before this picture was taken, Billy asked Cory to marry him, and she agreed. And I think that they are even happier now than they were the day of this picture because December 15 is much closer.

This morning, Pastor Rick Holland spoke at Grace Community Church on 1 Peter 1:3-9. He spoke about the incredible joy that we should have in the living Savior and the living hope of heaven. At one point in the sermon, he used the joy of marriage as an example. Now I've never been engaged or married, but I've known people who have, and it seems like it's a pretty fun/exciting/joyful/pysched out your mind kind of thing.

So here is the question I am getting at: Do I look forward to heaven like I would to getting married? Do I spend time with my Savior now like I would with a fiancee?

I know that I need to think about the reality of heaven more and enjoy the "joy inexpressible and full or glory" that that should bring. So get excited. Heaven is real, and if you believe in Christ, you're going there to be with Him forever someday. You psyched? I'm psyched.