Today my good friend and brother in Christ, Hal DeJarnatt, sent me a link to this video (thanks Hal, you have no idea how much your friendship means to me).  It is absolutely powerful, and I wanted to share it with you immediately.  Enjoy and worship while you watch!

Important Note: Shortly after posting this video, a trusted Christian brother with extensive knowledge and background in music submitted the following helpful comment regarding this video:

Phipps’ theory has some historical and musical holes in it.  As a student of music, I can tell you that the Pentatonic scale is not unique to African culture.  It is found in folk music of many cultures, including Celtic and even Asian.  (By the way, all the notes fell on the black keys because he played it in the key of G flat.  If he had played it in the key of G, all the notes would have been on the white keys.  The same could be said for the other spiritual songs he played.)  Also, the tune we sing as “Amazing Grace” is not the original tune.  This tune, originally known as “New Britain” was associated with Newton’s lyrics many years later.    I’m only mentioning this because I respect your love for truth and thought you would be interested in knowing this.  Here is a link that discusses that video, although, I must say that I don’t necessarily endorse that particular site.  Having said all that, I do want to say that I love the old African-American spirituals.  Phipps is right about how the pain and suffering influenced the music and and makes it soul-stirring.

Hopefully this will help readers take Phipps’ opinions in the video as just that — Phipps’ opinions.  As Francis Schaeffer once said, “All truth is God’s truth.”  It is for truth that we strive, so I thank my good brother for pointing out the inconsistencies in Phipps’ comments. — SK

My, how quickly a week goes by when you’re on the beach! I would like to thank Kathy Ferguson for guest-blogging for me while I was away.  I trust you were blessed by her words.  What a great friend and co-worker.  THANK YOU, KATHY!

After vacationing with my family, we headed home on Saturday. It was a long, LONG drive back, but the fourteen-and-a-half hour trip was worth it since we got home in time for two great events at The Church at Pinnacle Hills: Sunday morning’s Summer Freedom Celebration and Sunday night’s Fireworks at the Crosses.  Food, live music, entertainment, fellowship, fireworks.  And would you believe that sixty-one people professed Christ through baptism!  What a great day of celebration it was! 

While away, I had time to think and reflect on some important things.  I’ll be sharing some of those thoughts with my readers this week, so stay tuned!

Interruptions may also be characterized by God working in ways we did not expect (or want) and God NOT working in ways we expected.  When God does not perform or provide according to our expectations, we may find ourselves as Phillip Yancey has suggested “Disappointed with God”.  The very suggestion of such language to some evangelicals may make them nervous.  In our humanity and limited understanding of the nature and ways of God, I think we can be on safe ground to honestly say out loud that God may disappoint us with circumstances He thrusts in our lives.  To suggest to an infertile couple that they should never be disappointed that God did not allow their womb to bear a life might be naïve, insensitive and perhaps even inhuman.  And they may even feel the need to look into the heavens and say,”God, I am disappointed that YOU did not allow us a child.”  This expression of disappointment to the One who truly is sovereign in affairs of life seems to be a human admission of the heart, not necessarily act of defiance and rebellion.

Although Job, who’s chronicled suffering answers few questions that solve the mystery of pain, does give us a honest template of struggle.  The Bible is clear that “Job does not charge God with wrong doing.”  And yet one could make a case that God did hurt Job’s feelings with the relentless onslaught. Chapter and chapter of human struggle.  He did arrive upon rock solid conclusions concerning the sovereignty of God with this statement, “He performs what is appointed to me….” Job 23:14.  And an uncanny and unexplained tried and tested trust, “Though He slay, yet will I hope in Him” Job 13:15.

Even though we have this Biblical template, the Christian community is unsure as to what to do in the midst of struggle—as did Job’s support system.  We like “victory” in the Christian community, but seem to want to avert our eyes in the struggle for it.  Someone has said “we like the baby, but not the labor.”

And yet the countless testimonies of faith that emerge from dark places are recurring themes in the Christian experience.  In fact my unscathed life frankly produced an untested faith that in hindsight seems paltry and amazingly shallow, but it was all the faith I had in those days.  God did prove this to me in the midst of a horrific car accident that stole away the love of my life… Hebrews 6:19 “This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast…..”  In the storm of my life, as my doubts, disappointment and loss tossed my very untested faith; I pulled hard at the anchor of my faith and discovered that it held.  The anchor of hope held.  And that anchor is not tied to earth, but to heaven.

In recent days I have stood alongside others who have and will pull at the anchor of faith and hope.  As did Job.  Faith has an expanding meaning to me these days.  It is not only child-like trust or believing God for the impossible.  It has broadened to mean trusting a mysterious, unexplained God in dark and confusing places.  I call back to those pulling on their own anchor “He is sure and He is there.”

“What will you do in the midnight of our need, when the light of life is gone, when your personal cupboards are despairingly bare? If we have come often to God in the sunshine of our lives, our anxious feet will find the familiar pathway, even in the darkest night. Though blinded by disaster, though confused by life, we can find our way to God intuitively, because going to Him has become a second nature, a way of life.”

He will be there when your personal cupboards are despairingly bare.  Everytime, my friend.

The illustrious but vacationing Dr. Scott Kaufman certainly went out on a blogging limb to invite me to guest blog while he goes belly up, so to speak on the beach in Florida. One can only hope that he will be far too engrossed in snorkeling to come up for air to check on posts. He has left his blog in the hands of a woman who lacks his credentials and his IQ. And yet like most women I have some words in me and Between Patients will be an outlet for a few thousand of those words this week.

While Scott is away I have decided to blog about “Interruptions”. What is an interruption? It is an unplanned, unwanted occurrence that interrupted life or a plan that one had for their life. Since Scott has introduced me previously most of you are aware that my life stunningly interrupted in route to a family vacation by the death of my husband in a horrific car accident. My life was interrupted when I became a widow at age 45. This past week I have walked beside precious friends as their lives were brutally interrupted by the death of a 21 year old family member who was wife, daughter and sister. No life is untouched by interruptions.

What has been your most significant interruption? Breast cancer, a natural disaster, birth of handicapped child, illegal drugs engulfed your life or the life of loved one, a marriage proposal that never came, financial calamity, failed marriage or like myself a death that seemed to come far too soon—interruptions come in hundreds of shapes and sizes. There is a huge sliding scale in answer to that question. Responses may range from disappointments and mild heartache to those who may know interruptions that instantaneously altered the entire landscape of life.  When life does not give us what we want or expect we may go in a tailspin. Wrestling down unwanted bitter circumstances may cause even people of faith to struggle. I did. From the comfort of a life that made sense, from the perch of an uncomplicated life and untested faith, things of God seemed quite easy to digest. The sovereignty of God being one of those things.

My life interruption thrust me into a season of struggle as I attempted to apply the sovereignty of God to a brutal car accident on I-70 in Hayes Kansas. Theology may be taught in classrooms in the world of academics, in pulpits and bible study classes but it is tested in the trenches of life. Larry Crabb gives insightful commentary in Finding God:

“No one will conclude that God is good by studying life. The evidence may powerfully suggest otherwise. Belief in the goodness of God and the worship that naturally flows from the confidence depends on the revealing work of the Holy Spirit. When he ushers us into the presence of ultimate goodness, when our darkest tragedy is pierced by one glimpse of invisible glory, then faith is born.”

God has ushered me into goodness and glory. A new faith has been born. Tomorrow I will begin to unpack that process.

This week I’ve asked a friend and colleague of mine, Kathy Ferguson, to guest-blog while I am away on vacation with my family for some much needed ”R & R”.  I trust that you’ll be edified and encouraged by Kathy’s words throughout this week.

Kathy serves as Director of Women’s and Special Ministries at the Church at Pinnacle Hills, and is someone I have come to admire and respect greatly.  She is a gifted person with a big heart, an uncommon degree of theological understanding, and a disarming sense of humor.  

Some of you may recall that several weeks ago I told of how Kathy’s strong faith in God sustained her through a particularly difficult storm of life when she lost her husband, pastor Rick Ferguson, in a tragic auto accident. Consequently, I thought it might be fitting to post this video again so that you can refamiliarize yourselves with her powerful story. 

Please join me in welcoming Kathy this week. This will be a great opportunity to hear from a godly woman who has much wisdom and practical insight to share through years of ministry experience! — Scott

Recently I have been re-reading an old classic in Christian literature: J.I. Packer’s Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God.   What a treasure!  No wonder it remains in print since 1961…forty-five years ago!

Here’s a nugget for my readers — especially those who actively share their faith for Christ – gleaned from Packer’s little book:

“The sovereignty of God in grace gives us our only hope of success in evangelism.”

Packer explains:

“Some fear that belief in the sovereign grace of God leads to the conclusion that evangelism is pointless, since God will save His elect anyway, whether they hear the gospel or not. This . . . is a false conclusion based on a false assumption. . . . So far from making evangelism pointless, the sovereignty of God in grace is the one thing that prevents evangelism from being pointless. For it creates the possibility–indeed, the certainty–that evangelism will be fruitful. Apart from it, there is not even a possibility of evangelism being fruitful. Were it not for the sovereign grace of God, evangelism would be the most futile and useless enterprise that the world has ever seen, and there would be no more complete waste of time under the sun than to preach the Christian gospel.”   (emphasis added)

The sovereignty of God should empower us, embolden us, and excite confidence and joy in us as we share our faith with lost friends and loved ones!  So take heart, and remember the Scripture’s admonition:

“Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.”
1 Corinthians 15:58, ESV

A few weeks ago (May 22) I posted a review of the best-selling fictional title, The Shack.  Those who continue to follow the controversy surrounding that book may be interested to know that LifeWay Stores recently made the decision to pull all copies of The Shack from their shelves and stop selling it to the Christian public.  While I am not one who advocates the banning of books, I do applaud LifeWay’s decision to use discernment in what they offer to their customers.  As part of their “Read with Discernment” program, LifeWay states:

“We at LifeWay Christian Stores are dedicated to providing biblical solutions that spiritually transform individuals and cultures.

One way you can grow spiritually and intellectually is through reading. And whenever you read we encourage you to read with discernment, asking God to reveal His truth to you as you read so that, as Paul wrote in Philippians 1:9-10,

     ”…your love will keep on growing in knowledge and every kind of discernment, so that you can determine what really matters and can be pure and blameless in the day of Christ…” (Holman CSB)

Here on our website, LifeWaystores.com, we list over 100,000 titles. Any product we stock and promote should be consistent with historical evangelical theology. In addition to the products we stock and promote, there are some additional titles that can be found through our search engine that are available through our 3rd party distributor. These titles are made available strictly for critical study or research so that pastors, seminary students, or ministry leaders may have access to material that helps them understand and develop responses to the diversity of religious thought in a postmodern world.

Our sincere desire is to meet the needs and requests of our many constituents, from casual readers to the most ardent pastors and seminary students. Our prayer for you is that in whatever you read, you put it under the magnifying glass of scripture and read with discernment…”

 For those who might be interested, Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, Washington had this to say about The Shack.

The greatest of all commandments is:

“You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart
and with all your soul and with all your might.”
Deuteronomy 6:5

In the Old Testament, the word ”heart” refers to the core of one’s being, the center of who you are as a person. It refers, in particular, to the place where we feel, where we think and make plans, and is the seat of the emotions, affections, mind, and will. It includes one’s attitude of mind, mood, and temperament (H. W. Wolff, Anthropology of the Old Testament, p. 44).

Although man looks on the outward appearance, the LORD looks on the heart (1 Samuel 16:7). “It is only before God that what is hidden from the eye of man cannot be concealed” (Proverbs 15:11; Psalm 44:21; See also Psalm 139:23 and Jeremiah 17:9).  This is why we may be able to fool others outwardly, but nothing is hidden from the all-seeing eyes of God: ”And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account”  (Hebrews 4:13, ESV).

How about you?  What does God see when He looks on your heart?   Jesus said of the religious people of his day, “This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me” (Mark 7:6).  What an indictment!

Let’s give our LORD more than just lip service.  Let’s give Him our hearts.

“A person who has knowledge of doctrine and theology only — without religious affection — has never engaged in true religion.”

Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758)
The Religious Affections

Today I want to share with you a very personal story.  It is the story of how God used a letter, sent at just the right moment, to change my life.  Shortly after coming to Christ my senior year in high school, I started college at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville.  There I was, away from home for the first time, and attending college in a town where I didn’t know anyone.  Those first days were lonely, and my relationship with God soon began to grow cold.  

In process of time I moved into an apartment with another student at the U of A.  He happened to run with the wrong crowd, and his friends frequently came over to get high on speed, pot, and alcohol.  Having drifted from God, it wasn’t long before I had regressed back into my old, “B.C.” (”Before Christ”) way of living.  And it caught up with me.  Before long I was feeling very, very empty inside. 

Like the prodigal son, I eventually came to my senses, and realized just how far I had drifted from the Lord.  But I felt powerless to change.  I began to try to pray for God’s help and forgiveness, but didn’t feel like my prayers were getting anywhere. 

Around that time, however, God had begun to put a concern for me on the heart of Clint Block, a friend and acquaintance who also attended my home church back in Missouri.  Clint felt like the Lord was prompting him to write a letter to me, asking about my relationship with the Lord.  You see, Clint hadn’t seen or talked to me since I left for college, and knew nothing of my circumstances.  Late that November I was feeling especially empty inside, and had prayed for God’s help to restore my spiritual life. 

And then it happened.  I got up one morning and went to the student union to check my mail, and there was a letter from Clint.  I was surprised to hear from him.  I was even more surprised when I opened it and began to read what he had to say.  Most of the letter (postmarked November 24, 1980) is excerpted below:

Dear Scott,

“But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.  Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat?”  [2 Peter 3:10-12]

I don’t know how you are doing with the Lord, but He gave me a burden to write a letter to you asking you to “examine yourself whether you be in the faith” [II Corinthians 13:5].  I care about you and the Lord cares about you and we don’t want you to grow cold.  Always remember when you are tempted that the pleasures of sin just last for a season, but the kingdom of God is righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.

Please write me and tell me how you’re doing, even if it’s just a post card. — Clint

That’s all it took. Standing next to my campus mailbox, I repented of my rebellion and rededicated my life to Christ.  

I still have that letter today, even after nearly twenty-eight years.  And I am grateful to God each time I remember the day He used that letter, written by one of His obedient servants, to change my life!

I love reading the “dead guys.” Their works are so much richer, deeper, biblical, theological, and spiritually refreshing than so many of today’s best-selling “pop” Christian authors.  Samuel Davies once said, “The venerable dead are waiting in my library to entertain me, and relieve me from the nonsense of surviving mortals.”

One of the best investments I ever made was to purchase the entire collection of Charles H. Spurgeon’s works.  Spurgeon was known as the “Prince of Preachers” for good reason.  Today I want you to read a statement Spurgeon made concerning “politeness and hell”…

Men are perishing, and if it be unpolite to tell them so, it can only be so where the devil is the master of the ceremonies.

Out upon your soul-destroying politeness; the Lord give us a little honest love to souls, and this superficial gentility will soon vanish. I could with considerable refreshment to myself pour sarcasm after sarcasm upon religious cowardice. I would cheerfully sharpen my knife and dash it into the heart of this mean vice. There is nothing to be said in its favor.

It is not even humble; it is only pride of too beggarly a sort to own itself.

Well said, brother Spurgeon. The quote is from an article titled ‘The War-Horse’, published in the May 1866 issue of Spurgeon’s publication, The Sword and the Trowel.

“All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass.
The grass withers, and the flower falls,
but the word of the Lord remains forever.”
(1 Peter 1:24-25, ESV)

The truth that “All flesh is like grass, and all its glory is like the flower of grass” has become increasingly evident as I have observed myself and others over the years. The apostle Peter was quoting Isaiah 40:7, which says “The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the Lord blows on it; surely the people are grass.”

The flower of our youth is in bloom but for a short time, and then - gradually - our physical beauty fades, our bodies change, and we grow old. God in His wisdom and providence has clearly ordained the aging process of our fleshly bodies. In addition, the pride and “glory” of youth fade as well, and it seems God has so designed it that way so that we will put no confidence in the flesh.

“So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.”
(Psalm 90:12, ESV)

Like David prayed, may we also pray that the Lord will teach us to number our days, so that we may apply our hearts to wisdom while we still have breath in our bodies. May the Lord help us to see all of life from His perspective.

Over the last few days I have been meditating on James 3:1 which says, “Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment.” What sobering words!  I posted those words over my desk as a reminder of the serious responsibility that I have before God and before the people I teach on a weekly basis. Those of us who are in positions of leadership, who teach, will incur a stricter judgment based on the way we have handled (or, God forbid, mishandled) the Word of God. What an awesome responsibility… Lord, help me, help us, not to waste it! 

Reader, please pray for those in positions of leadership in the church.  Pray that God will help us to be faithful stewards and to rightly handle the Word of Truth, as 2 Timothy 2:15 commands, “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.”  Pray that as we teach and preach, that we will not “waste our pulpit.” And how do we waste it?  According to Dr. John Piper, ”The best way to waste your pulpit is to preach [or teach] your own thoughts, instead of preaching God’s thoughts… The Bible is power and truth. So, “Don’t Waste Your Pulpit” means stay close to the Bible, meditate on the Bible, go deep with the Bible, penetrate through the BIble, to the living Christ, to the living God, and do it in such a way that your people are ignited with the truth of the Bible.”  Check out Piper’s powerful and convicting video entitled, “Don’t Waste Your Pulpit.”

Like many other dads, I’ll be taking my family on a summer vacation very soon. In our case it’ll be the  beach.  Of course, like many other dads, I also want our vacation to be a  positively memorable experience for my wife and my kids (my wife calls it, “memory-making”). But how?

Well, recently I came across Justin Taylor’s blog post highlighting three articles written by C.J. Mahaney entitled, “Leadership + Family Vacations.”  I heartily suggest these to any family who wants to make their vacation a God-glorifying and family relationship-building investment.

Here’s a quote from C.J. Mahaney on family vacations:

Here’s what I’ve learned. The difference between forgettable vacations and unforgettable vacations is not the location or attractions. Nope. The difference between forgettable and unforgettable vacations is the father’s attitude and leadership. This makes all the difference.

Family vacations provide a unique opportunity each year for fathers to create memories their children will never forget. Memories that will last a lifetime. Memories that will be recreated by your children with your grandchildren. Memories that will outlive a father. But in order to create these memories, a father must be diligent to serve and lead during a vacation. How a father views his role on a vacation will make all the difference in the vacation.

So in this season where family vacations are being carefully planned and eagerly anticipated, I thought it might be helpful if I passed along seven lessons I’ve learned over the years, in hopes that your family vacation will be a God-glorifying, grace-filled, relationship-building, memory-making time together.

See Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.  Below is an outline of the lessons:

1. A Servant Heart
2. A Tone-Setting Attitude
3. An Awareness of Indwelling Sin
4. Studying Your Family
5. Skillful Surprises
6. Intentionally Together
7. Gratefulness to God

Journaling can be one of the most important and valuable of the spiritual disciplines.  Check out these two excellent articles that offer some very practical advice on journaling:

• Some Thoughts on Journaling (Part 1)

• Some Thoughts on Journaling (Part 2)