View All | The Joy of Glory

So the search has begun…you are officially looking for a seminary. You’re freaking out aren’t you? You don’t even know where to begin. I heard that you started pulling books off of your shelf to read author bios and see where they went to school. I assure you, a game of author roulette is not the best method for choosing a seminary. Google is not a real viable option either.

I do trust that God can providentially guide you to a good school despite your ignorance, but might I offer one thought that perhaps God, in his providence, will use in your search.

At the end of the day, the relationships you form at seminary will be what impact your life and ministry the most. It is through relationships with friends and professors that the Holy Spirit will wield the truth of God’s Word in your life. You will be taught the Word by people, discuss it with people, pray over it with people, believe it and learn to obey it with people.

People are essential to your seminarian journey.

Obviously you cannot choose who will attend seminary alongside you, but you can choose your professors. As you look at schools, I would encourage you to direct most of your attention to the faculty. Before you look at the prestigious name of a place, its course line-up, the campus, the city, etc. look at who will be pouring into your life.

God designed the Christian life to be one of perpetual discipleship and seminary is an unique opportunity to be discipled intensely. Therefore, be wise about who will disciple you. Think about your calling and find a professor who will guide, encourage, and educate you in that direction.

I understand that you are called to pastor and want to be an effective communicator of the Gospel, so look for someone who can train you as a pastor and preacher. Find a mentor, a discipler, a friend and sit under them.

Jonathan, when it comes to choosing a seminary, do not pick a place…pick a prof.

Grace and Peace,

*To know/understand the premise behind these letters please click here.

May 12, 2013

A Pastor’s Heart for all Women Today…

My father was an orphan. His mother passed away when he was two years old and he grew up in a children’s home in Corsicana, Texas. I cannot imagine growing up without a mother, but truth be told, neither can he. While he had no biological mother, he would be the first to tell you that so many women became mothers to him throughout his life.

No mother, yet many mothers.

Because of this, I am always conscious that mother’s day is about much more than just women who have birthed babies. It is a celebration of all women who have poured into the lives of so many around them. Dear ladies, you have comforted, loved, cared for, treasured, taught, led, cried with, rejoiced over, and mothered so many…most likely even many of whom you are unaware.

I know that mother’s day can be painful for many for a myriad of reasons. So this mother’s day, I wanted to give a gift to all the women I pastor at Shades Valley Community Church. I wanted to honor and love them, no matter if Mother’s day is a day of joy or of pain. Most of all, I wanted to point them to Jesus, for he is the one who empowers motherhood within all women who know him. Mother’s day is ultimately about Jesus, because he upholds all women and strengthens them to pour into those of us who so desperately need them.

So dear lady, whether today is filled with joy or with pain, may you know the presence of Jesus. Here is my small, feeble gift to you…a simple poem I wrote to remind you that Jesus is with you wherever you are…

Silence and Cries and Why
The silence broken by a baby’s first cry
Celebration of life, the holy, the why
Jesus is present in your joy, in your smile
New mother he loves you, he gave you this child

The silence is broken by a mother’s heart cry
Precious life has been lost, and we wonder why
Jesus is present in your pain, in your loss
Dear woman he loves you, felt your pain on the cross.

The silence is broken the house rings with cries
Crazy parenting life, we’re both asking why
Jesus is present in your angst and frustration
With us as his kids he understand irritation

The silence isn’t broken, there’s no child’s cry
Wishing you were a mom, and you’re left asking why
Jesus is present as you weep and you pray
He holds you even when there’s nothing to say

The silence is broken, with joy-filled cries
Kids once who were homeless don’t have to ask why
Jesus is present as they become your own
He too was adopted, made the world his home

The silence is broken, by your own cries
Your children rebelling, and you don’t know why
Jesus is with you while they’re far from home
He is also with them wherever they roam

The silence is broken, with laughter you cry
Watching them grow, you are blessed, and why
Jesus laughs with you amidst those moments of joy
When you’re so thankful to parent your girls and your boys

The silence is broken, with a full heart you cry
Life without your own mom, you ask how and why
Jesus is with you, you’re not alone in your fear
He will hold you up and he will catch all your tears

The silence is broken with a grandbaby’s cry
The struggle of parenting and now you know why
Jesus is present in your empty nest
Through grieving and joy he will be your rest

The silence is broken with heaven’s own cry
All joy and all pain, we all now know why
We will be present with Jesus and we shall see his face
Every woman there shall be crowned with beauty and grace

No matter how you experience silence or cries
No matter the reasons your heart wonders why
Jesus is with you, dear lady, he never leaves
Find your joy in his love, and to his glory ever cleave

May 11, 2013

The Pains of Childbirth

Disclaimer: I am not an expert on this subject.

Even typing the title of this blog makes me more than a little nervous that I will incur the righteous wrath of women everywhere. How could I, a male, possibly have anything to say about the pains of childbirth? But, hang with me for just a moment and hopefully things will make sense.

My beautiful bride is currently pregnant with our third child. Full…term…pregnant. She technically is not “overdue,” but both of our previous children came quicker than this third, stubborn kid. Needless to say, she already expected to be done.

This morning I awoke at 5am and rolled over to see her staring at the ceiling. Without even turning her head she said, “I have been awake since 3:30am having contractions…I think this might be it.” Yet, as time passed the contractions died down and so did our excitement.

More waiting…

The waiting is killing her (and me, though not at all in the same way) and she longs so badly to have and hold this kid that she literally is disappointed she is not yet in the full throttle pains of childbirth.

Her deep anticipation of joy has prepared her to persevere through the pain.

In Romans 8, the apostle Paul uses birth pain/anticipation language to describe the current state of all creation. He writes, “For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now (vv 19-22).”

Because of the humankind’s plunge into sin, all of creation is broken! It has been subjected to futility under the righteous judgment of God. But, there is a hope that it will be set free! And, creation is currently groaning with the pains that are akin to childbirth. Like a mother is enabled to endure labor for the joy of a coming child, so creation groans through the current curse of sin and death, longing for the joyous day of new creation! Creation is waiting.

But there is more…

The next thing Paul says is absolutely mind melting. Romans 8:23, “And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.”

Christians are groaning like creation.

We are waiting…in pain…in anticipation…and the waiting is killing us…literally.

Like a mother in labor waiting for the birth…We are all in the midst of pain and suffering waiting for redemption.

We know this…we feel it everyday. Pain comes through physical, spiritual, and emotional avenues. Suffering is the one experience that universally connects all people. We all suffer.

Yet Paul says that, as Christians, we can lift our eyes and look beyond our suffering to a future day of glory…a day when our bodies, through which we experience all pain, will be redeemed. He would have us look to a coming day of joy…a coming day of glory!

Why? What good does a focus on the future do us now?

It does us endurance-enabling good! Just like a mother endures labor pains for the joy of a child set before her…just like creation endures futility for the joy of new creation set before it…so we endure the pains of this life for the joy of completed redemption set before us!

Did not Jesus endure the cross for the joy that was set before him? God empowers our endurance in the same way…with the joy of glory! Romans 8:18, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”

So often all I can see is my present pain and I begin to despair. But, I am to look to Jesus who is with me in the midst of pain and in whose presence I shall spend eternity! Through the joy of that truth God empowers endurance and makes me more than a conqueror amidst all my suffering that cannot separate me from Christ!

All of a sudden, I kind of understand my wife’s longing for the pains of childbirth to come. It’s not the pain she longs for, but the joy on the other side…and the deep anticipation of joy has prepared her to persevere through the pain in the present!

That is the way God empowers us to endure…through the present joy of future glory. The promise provides power in the present.

That is the joy of glory.

For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison…
2 Corinthians 4:17

The Joy of Glory

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May 14, 2013