We boast in our tribulations

I was thinking upon this declaration from Romans 5:3 as I just had the opportunity to give Dr. Bob Smith, who told me that he is speaking about heaven on Wednesdays at his church in Lafayette, a ride from the airport. I asked him if he had seen the quote from a letter sent from a dear saint to Charles Fuller, upon hearing that he will be speaking about heaven. I will quote it hear because it always serves to give a blessing.
"Charles E. Fuller, a well-known radio evangelist of the mid-twentieth centruy, announced one day that his sermon the following Sunday would be on "Heaven." As he prepared his radio message that week, Fuller recieved a letter from an elderly man who knew that he was soon to die. Here is part of that letter:

Next Sunday you are to talk about "Heaven." I am interested in that land because I have held a clear title to a bit of property there for over 55 years. I did not buy it. It was given to me without money and without price. But the donor purchased it for me at a tremendous sacrifice. I am not holding it for speculation, since the title is not transferable. It is not a vacant lot....Termites can never undermine its foundations for they rest upon the Rock of Ages. Fire cannot destroy it. Floods cannot wash it awy. No locks or bolts will ever be placed upon its doors, for no vicious person can ever enter that land where my dwelling stands, now almost completed and ready for me to enter and abide in peace eternally without fear of being ejected. There is a valley of deep shadow between the place where I live in California and that to which I sahll journey in a very short time. I cannot reach my home in the City of God without passing through the dark valley of shadows. But I am not afraid, because the best friend that I ever had went through the same valley alone long, long ago and drove away all the gloom. He has stuck by me through thick and thin since we first became acquainted 55 years ago, and I hold His promise in printed form, never to forsake, nor to leave me alone. He will be with me as I walk through the valley of the shadows, and I shall not lose my way when He is with me. I hope to hear your sermon on Heaven next Sunday from my home but I have no assurance that I shall be able to do so. My ticket to heaven has no date marked for the journey--no return coupon--and no permit for baggage. Yes, I am ready to go and may not be here while you are talking next Sunday, but I shall meet you there someday."

The believer has this hope; at the end, He will be with Christ, reflecting the glory of Christ. This is what makes heaven to be heaven for the believer. It is Paul's striking words that among the things that give the believer a reason to boast in his troubles is this hope: "we boast in our troubles." He continues that the believer does this for 3 reasons. First, he boasts because troubles bring about perseverance in the life of the believer. This is an endurance to continue living by faith. Next, he boasts because troubles give opportunity for a proven character to be evident. This is the continual application of a persevering faith. Finally, the believer boasts because troubles produce a hope in the place and condition when there will be no more troubles, no sorrows, no death: heaven.
I am reminded of these things as I was hit hard by illness this weekend; being reminded that this body I live in is so fraile and capable of failing at any moment should the Lord choose not to sustain it. Yet, in these times of weakness, there is blessing. Time to be caused to rest, to think about God's purposes, to consider sin to be repented of, to desire God's strength, to see lack of faith, to be tested on how to exercise faith.

Quote taken from Living a Life of Hope by Nathan Busenitz, pp. 14-15.

A Student's Plight

I am in the midst of that infamous time of the semester: paper time. Usually, I will have about two large papers to write each semester. This semester is a little different because I am writing my master's thesis paper, the largest paper I have ever worked on. The goal is to produce a resource for the church in the area of Biblical Counseling concerning a subject perhaps neglected.

Although the goal is worth pursuing, the temptations of paper writing are still present: "just get it done so you can go have fun," "put it off, you'll have more later," and "quantity of pages is more important than quality." But I have chosen to approach this paper by another principle:

Where there is much labor, there is much gain.

Ignatius' Epistle to Polycarp 1.2

I know firsthand that writing a paper forces me to synthesize what I read and is a very instructive experience. But it's hard. It takes work. And for that reason, I often fail to produce good papers (at least in my oppinion). Yet it seems that most valuable things require much work to obtain. This is easily seen in learning a musical instrument or achieving ability in sports. No one appreciates the sound of a violinist who practices occassionally; it is the violinist who through years of disciplined practice produces sweet sounds that we appreciate.

This leaves little room for dabbling. It requires devotion. I use to have a desire to write a lot of books, commentaries on the Scripture and such. As I have become a more experienced reader, this desire has changed. Many books reveal little depth of insight, little thought in their production. I think rather than writing a lot of books that I would like to produce one great work which can be called the definitive or classic work. I'm not as much interested in having the reputation as a writer but of one who worked hard to produce something of value.

In Luther's Shadow

Martin Luther is best known as a reformer in the history of the church. On October 31, 1517, Luther nailed a list of theological disagreements on the door of Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany as an invitation for theological debate. This document is known as the 95 Theses. Because of the development in printing, this theological treatise was translated into the common German and distributed quickly. What began as an academic activity soon exposed the Roman Catholic Church's abuse and usurpation of the authority of the Bible for the Christian's rule of faith and practice. Luther himself was impacted by an in depth study of the book of Romans and the declaration that the righteous will live by faith (Romans 1:17). God used Luther to direct others to examine what the Scripture said and to come to an understanding of salvation by faith in Christ alone, by grace alone.

These facts are not a secret. In fact I just reviewed the information on Wikipedia before writing. But what may be unknown is that this reformation is not a thing of the past. For the past two summers, I have traveled with a small group of believers to Croatia. Croatia is a staunchly Roman Catholic country, to the point that one might have to forfeit their job, friends, contact with their family, and safety if they should choose to come to God by faith, with the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith (Phil. 3:9). Ministering in this country has given me a real picture of what Luther was up against. To them salvation is bound up in the sacraments and attendance at the RC building. This situation seems so familiar especially when picking up a biography of Luther. In a realistic way, the worldwide church needs reformers, not new ideas or new methods or new books to replace the ones already written with the same information.

In my experience, the church in Europe is starving for a trained man to teach the Scriptures. Perhaps, our goals are too small. It seems that the American pastor's assitant's assitant might be used as a church reformer, making plain the way of salvation, by God's grace, to thousands.

Perhaps, I have gone too far. Maybe zeal needs to be tempered with wisdom. Pray for the European church, pray for Croatia, consider your calling.

Note the dominance and centrality of the catholic church in this small Croatian town. And this is just one, there are actually two other catholic churches in this small town although out of view of this picture.

Chemotherapy and waves of mercy

My mom first learned of her colon cancer in the Spring of 2003 (probably the hardest year of my life). The doctor's gave a prognosis that the development of the cancer was in the late third stage (out of four). She first had a surgery to remove a large portion of her colon; then chemotherapy began. In all, she endured 8 months of very painful weekly treatments. My family supported and served her, encouraged her to hope in the Lord's strength. We grieved and trusted the Lord for His best. That Christmas was special because we did not know what the next year would bring.

Early in January, my mom had a cat scan which would tell us if any progress had been made. By God's mercy, no trace of cancer could be seen in her body. We rejoiced in the Lord for His goodness. I found that, in this time, I learned what it means for God to be sovereign. I believe that I knew He was sovereign but at the same time, I had to learn it. I also looked back and wish I had trusted Him more. There were many times that year that I was tempted to doubt God's goodness and care. At times, I gave in and became bitter...but God did not leave me to this but always brought me back to acknoweldge His goodness in my life, that He would save a sinner and communicate in His word that He acts with infinite knowledge in accordance with what is best, being able also to accomplish it...so that I know without any doubt that my God is all-good, all-knowing, and all-sovereign, at the same time, all of the time.

We experienced the absence of cancer from our family for a little over a year until God in His good purpose chose to bring it back in my mom's body. It is now February and she has been enduring chemotherapy since last June. I see daily what it looks like for the joy of the Lord to be someone's strength (Neh. 8:10). She continues to amaze me with her bravery and softness to the Lord's choice in her life. My dad as well continues to serve and love her. By God's grace we have seen His working in reducing the size of the remaining tumor (now 4cm). Please continue to pray for her endurance in trusting the Lord.



i took this picture this morning.

In awe...

In January of 2005, I took a trip to Scotland to visit a friend and stayed in London for a couple days on the way back. It was a great opportunity to visit the British Museum, which is world renowned. I prepared myself before the trip with reading up on what was in the museum. I heard it was huge; and I am not interested in everything so I wanted to be able to see items of interest, having limited time. The schematic was impressive a large structure, known as the reading room, actually inside the Museum proper. When I stepped inside the Museum, this room was the first placed I stopped, not as much planned as drawn. I stepped inside the room and saw more books in one place than I think I have seen altogether in my lifetime. I was in awe, three stories of books around the walls of a huge (football field size) oval-shaped room. I'll admit it--I love books. I was overwhelmed with what I was seeing; I just stood there and looked around for about 20 minutes.

My thoughts were directed to the Scripture and John's gospel: "And there are also many other things which Jesus did, which if they were written in detail, I suppose that even the world itself would not contain the books that would be written" (John 21:25, NASB). This is the closest that I have come to that context: a world full of the account of what Jesus did. Yet, I was standing in one room, so small in comparison to the world. This gave me just a glimpse at the greatness and glory of Jesus Christ.

Also, that beloved hymn of the church, the Love of God, came to my mind: "Could we with ink the ocean fill, and were the skies of parchment made, were every stalk on earth a quill, and every man a scribe by trade, to write the love of God above, would drain the ocean dry. Nor could the scroll contain the whole, though stretched from sky to sky. O love of God, how rich and pure! How measureless and strong! It shall evermore endure the saints' and angels' song."

Not you too...

That was the first response I recieved when telling a friend I started this blog... I don't mind, I guess it's kind of a fad but I enjoy reading other's blogs so I thought I would join in. Well, I think having a purpose for your blog is an important thing. Not just because it gives direction to what you will say but life should be lived on purpose and that principle trickles down to individual actions.

So...in stating a purpose for my blog, a little background is necessary. The title of this blog is meant to associate itself with John Bunyan's allegorical account of the Christian life. My Christian life began 8 years ago when God saved me from the just penalty for my sin through faith in my Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. I was anticipating my senior year of high school. Growing up in a Christian home (that is my parents are believers as well), church attendance began in a nursery. I was exposed to the Bible and the person and work of Jesus Christ from an early age. I knew a lot. Yet, the affections of my heart as a child and teenager were not for the God of the Bible. I saved those affections for my own desires and the life that I believed would bring me happiness, the god of my own choosing. During that summer, God changed me. I began to read the Scripture, specifically the book of James. It spoke of a faith that is dead, not a real faith. As I studied that summer I began to see the likness of that faith to my own professed but dead faith in God. I remember the confronting thought of Christ's return and if I would be a part of his calling when He came back. But recalling what I knew of Jesus and the promise of forgivness of sin through faith in Him, I trusted Him, in my best understanding, for the first time. Since then, my life has changed so much. I have been studying the Bible and seeking to live its truth by God's grace and work in me. I have graduated from a Bible college and continue to pursue a life in full-time Christian ministry--a drastic change to the life of an engineer (what i was anticipating before that summer).

So...I have created this blog with a desire to exalt Jesus Christ as He works to set me apart from sin and to holiness and likeness to him; from the things that I learn to the events of my life specifically noticed toward that end.

I don't know who will end up reading this but if you are reading and want to know more about Jesus and how you can know the forgiveness of your sin and the hope of eternity with Him feel free to leave a comment.