Bowery Mission

This past week I was serving with about 15 other college age people at the Bowery Mission in New York City. It was a tremendous time and I hope that this experience will drastically affect my life hereafter.

The Bowery Mission ministers in a number of ways, but the two focal points are their discipleship program and their food service. You can read about the Bowery's history here.

The men in the discipleship program there all have amazing stories to tell. One man who grew up in Guam was sexually abused at a young age and then went on to a life full of drugs and wealth as a successful artist. After a failed suicide attempt he found his way to the Bowery and went through their 6-month discipleship program. He was a great encouragement to us all and presently visits the Bowery often and is living in NYC.

I think I still need time to decompress (we worked relatively hard days in the kitchen and around the mission) and reflect on what I truly learned. It is always life-changing in some manner to have your eyes opened to the suffering, pain, death, sin, and different experiences our fellow man goes through. As I reflect on this short week, I will keep updating with my different thoughts.

Mildly unrelated, but the Bowery is home to the piano that Fanny Crosby wrote the majority of her hymns on.

101 in 1001

I realize that I am a pretty terrible blogger. Hopefully I will be better in the future and give meaningful, edifying, entertaining content. Likely not all three of those things at once. I'm not that good.

Anyways, my friend Alyse recently posted a list of 101 goals to accomplish in 1001 days. I enjoyed her post so I figure I would give the same thing a try. Most of these I should be able to complete, but some are simply beyond my control in some regard. The end date is Friday, December 7, 2012. Here we go, in no logical order or categorization:

1. Pass the Certified Public Accounting (CPA) exam.

2. Move out of my house.

3. Go on a vacation without my family.

4. Get a full time job.

5. Read 50 books. [0/50]

6. Read through the Bible twice. [0/2]

7. Go to a shooting range.

8. Bike 300 miles. [0/300]

9. Blog at least once a week.

10. Go on a date. [0/?]

11. Write 3 songs. [0/3]

12. Re-learn the piano.

13. Shred an epic metal guitar solo.

14. Sing in a choir.

15. Find a church (after I leave my present one).

16. Get my MBA.

17. Buy a camera.

18. Try 5 new foods. [0/5]

19. Buy and read a book that I won’t agree with.

20. Fast for three consecutive days.

21. Pay off all my school debt. [0/100%]

22. Serve in the community.

23. Shovel someone’s driveway randomly.

24. Call 3 non-Christian friends and catch up with them. [0/3]

25. Start sprinting again.

26. Get some new clothes.

27. Buy a wok.

28. Run 10 traffic cones over. [0/10]

29. Make crème brulée.

30. Sell my video games.

31. Buy 2 blazers. [0/2]

32. Grow facial hair for 2+ months.

33. Travel outside the US.

34. Buy more Bible commentaries.

35. Give away 10 books I have read. [0/10]

36. Realize a gain on my stocks.

37. Begin to put away savings monthly.

38. Go camping.

39. Write 3 poems. [0/3]

40. Fill up 2 Moleskine journals. [0/2]

41. Go open-air preaching.

42. Get 1000 visits to my blog. [0/1000]

43. Write 5 letters to my grandparents. [0/5]

44. Visit my sister at college.

45. Go skiing at a big mountain.

46. Roadtrip somewhere.

47. Swim in the ocean.

48. Read more of the Puritans.

49. Get a record player and play the vinyls I have.

50. See another Thrice concert.

51. Dance.

52. Post a video to Youtube.

53. Understand local government better.

54. Visit a state I have never been to before.

55. Go curling.

56. Speak in some formal public venue.
57. Attend 6 concerts. [0/6]
58. Crowd surf.
59. Mosh.
60. Play in a band.
61. Learn to drive standard better.
62. Win a contest.
63. Go fishing.
64. Go 2 days in a row without technology.
65. Go a week without using artificial light.
66. Fix up my bike.
67. Build a bookshelf.
68. Get soaked in a rainstorm.
69. Go golfing.
70. Play tennis.
71. Greet 10 strangers. [0/10]
72. Go to a flea market.
73. Document 5 days in my life through photographs. [0/5]
74. Sleep under the stars.
75. See 10 meteors. [0/10]
76. Memorize Romans 8.
77. Memorize 3 Psalms. [0/3]
78. Read Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.
79. Floss my teeth more regularly.
80. Clean out my closet and give clothes away.
81. Make sushi.
82. Buy a new computer.
83. Re-read “The Grapes of Wrath”.
84. Read C.S. Lewis’ space trilogy.
85. Have an extended conversation with a homeless man/woman.
86. Eat at 5 new restaurants. [0/5]
87. Visit 3 new cities. [0/3]
88. Eat pho.
89. Try pipe tobacco.
90. Attend a NCAA tournament (conference or national).
91. Write an opinion piece to the local newspaper.
92. Blow something up.
93. Take a picture each day for a month straight and post it to the blog. [0/30]
94. Host a party.
95. See 2 plays. [0/2]
96. Go to the symphony 3 times. [0/3]
97. Donate blood 5 times. [0/5]
98. Write a list of 20 Johnathan Edwards-style “resolutions”. [0/20]
99. Buy and consume delicious Ovaltine.
100. Go without Twitter and Facebook for a month. [0/30]
101. Get engaged. (Ha!)

Zapped.

This is too awesome not to share.

(via Engadget)

The Meaning of the Cross

Just came across a quote from this article (please for the larger context):

"Thus the cross is, for me, not a substitute for a punishment we all deserve, but rather a revelation of a love that is infinitely tender and deeply mysterious."

Read that. Take it in. It is pretty clear. You know what else it is? Dead wrong. Here is what the cross of Jesus Christ truly means:

"For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus." - Romans 3:23-26 (emphasis added)

Christian, beware of the evil doctrines that tickle the ears and appease the mind's depraved appetite. 

*Edit: Check out the comments below for some further discussion on the full meaning of the cross of Christ. 

The Sweet Doctrine of Justification

From time to time (i.e. often) I will be posting a quote from Of First Importance, a blog that is solely dedicated to that which is "of first importance", the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

“The gospel teaches that what could not be found in us and was to be sought in another, could be found nowhere else than in Christ, the God-man… who taking upon Himself the office of surety most fully satisfied the justice of God by His perfect obedience and thus brought to us an everlasting righteousness by which alone we can be justified before God.”

 - Francis Turretin, Justification (Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian & Reformed, year not available), 29.

Pray.

Do you ever wonder what to pray for? I do.

"The harvest is plentiful, but the laborer are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest." - Matthew 9:37-38

Let's start here. So much more to be said about this verse, but let's pray. Earnestly.

Men's Retreat Part III

 This past weekend I attended the third annual men's retreat hosted by the Baptist Campus Ministry at Syracuse University (my church!). It, as usual, was totally awesome. (The above picture was taken from the top of Mount Baker.)

We left Friday afternoon and arrived at the Lake Placid Baptist Church, which might I add is a church that God has his hand on bigtime. Now I say that with absolutely no regard to numbers or size of the congregation or anything...it is rather small in comparison to modern-day megachurches. LPBC rather is a vibrant, loving, praying, community of Christians that has never failed to encourage me and give me a better picture of what the local church is supposed to look like. Makes me want to remain in a small church...

Anyways, the teaching theme of the weekend was based off of 2 Timothy 2:2. I would summarize the exhortation of the weekend as this: "Make disciples: teach them to teach, and teach them to preach." I gave a short talk on discipleship. My notes are available here if anyone cares for my thoughts on 2 Timothy 2:2 and discipleship: Discipleship Notes

On Saturday a bacon blanket was weaved. Though you might think that nothing could possibly top this...

 

We went curling. It was awesome. I had two shots that were complete miracles on ice...you had to be there. Curling can be very competitive. Later that night we had some epic spaghetti for dinner and then played body-body. If you don't know what that is, it is basically a live action version of the more commonly known party game "Mafia". I may or may not have given someone a bloody nose in an overzealous execution attempt...

Overall it was an absolutely fantastic weekend and now I am rather tired and going to read my Bible and relax, for tomorrow is the first Monday in a long time that I will be unemployed.

A Gospel Poem

Not what my hands have done
Can save my guilty soul
Not what my toiling flesh has borne
Can make my spirit whole
Not what I feel or do
Can give me peace with God
Not all my prayers and sighs and tears
Can bear my awful load

These guilty hands are raised
Filthy rags are all I bring
But I have come to hide beneath Your wings
These holy hands are raised
Washed in the fountain of Your grace
And now I wear Your righteousness
- Horatious Bonar, Not What My Hands Have Done

(via firstimportance.org)

Reflection on Spurgeon's Morning Devotion for Dec. 30

Ecclesiastes 7:8 "Better is the end of a thing than the beginning of it."

The diamond is hewn from a rock of uncomely stature, it is carved from the plainest stone. That which is precious is carved away whilst the jeweler regards no loss for he is creating that which is magnificent. So are we carved; we lose that which may be precious in our eyes but it is necessary to be carved away so that we may be made glorious. The master jeweler is Christ, we are the stones. Where will our final home be? We will be placed into the crown of King Jesus to be a prism shining forth a single glorious beam from the source of light of the King. Until we are placed as diadems in the crown of the King it is necessary that we must undergo the fire of refining in this life.

Note: I have a number of blog posts that will be up in the future, but I have been terribly bogged down with work (read: too lazy) to post all I have written. Look out for some in the future my imaginary readers!

Oh and I totally wrote this on my iPod. Technology win. Typing efficency fail.

We are beggars: this is true.

"We are beggars: this is true."
"If there's one thing I know in this life; we are beggars all."

The former quotation is the last written words of Martin Luther, scrawled on a scrap of paper shortly before his death. The latter, an inspired lyric by Dustin Kensrue of Thrice. Check out the above song for a thoroughly musical and lyrical conviction of your truly poor state in all things.

I cannot claim even my own name. I cannot keep my heart beating while I sleep. I cannot keep the atoms that compose my body from succumbing to the second law of thermodynamics, to utter chaos and entropy. What would this mean for how I view the world? What does my pitiful and humble state do to all my actions? This acknowledgment should cause deep concern and thought even in the mind and heart of the most staunch atheist. This thought should melt the heart of the Christian. This thought will likely pass by millions as they cling to pride and a sense of self-control. The question remains: What is man to do upon realizing his state as a cosmic, poor, beggar?

Perhaps gratitude would first blossom. This is perhaps the most common affection that grows from the beggar's soul. Gratitude can be fleeting, insincere, and mere lip-service to an unseen God who acts as a cosmic vending machine...or it could change the beggar's life. The beggar might fall on his face and thank God for all that he has bestowed on him, for "In him we live and move and have our being", [ Acts 17:28 ]. Perhaps the greatest conclusion and joy the beggar might come to is this: the exaltation of a very powerful and giving God by the very weak, created human. And then man would rejoice in God. For the one who is in Christ, God is for 100%. 100%. Cancer is for the Christian's good. A loving wife is for the Christian's good. Persecution is for the Christian's good. "For those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose" [ Romans 8:28 ]. All things. The needy Christian is supplied with all that is needed from God, who gives all things graciously and mercifully.

When the time comes that you forget your humble state Christian, ponder this: What can you claim as your own?