The Loss of a Mentor

I read in a John Stott book once that Christianity is built upon a succession of mentorships. Each one of us, if we had the information, could link our mentorship heritage back to one of the disciples and ultimately Jesus himself. The Bible does not work alone to move people towards God, but he uses a combination of truth and love, the Bible and relationships.

What happens when your mentors fail you? Well, first you get sad. You feel for that failure and grieve for the loss you are about to endure. Then you get an array of other feelings and anger presents itself as the one with the most to say. Then comes the questions

1. What do I do now that I have lost my mentor?
2. What do I do with the truth my mentor taught me?
3. What do I do with my mentor relationally?
4. What do I do with God's desire for my life? What life lesson is God really trying to show me?
5. How do I trust myself to choose another mentor?
6. If I have other mentors, do I still trust them? How much do I trust them?
7. Do I need a mentor? Why?
8. Who could be my next mentor? Where do I look? Is God just going to provide one?
8. What does a mentor offer me that I can't just get from God alone, or myself?

I am working through these types of questions right now. I am trying to understand what part of the succession of mentors in the Kingdom of God do I get to interact with? Who is God going to put in my path next? What are they going to add or take away from my understanding of who God really is?

I believe in the process of mentorship. I believe it is the best form of really being known by another human and another human letting themselves be known. I think heaven is going to be a form of eternal mentorship where God will never use anyone except himself as our mentor. I believe that he was and continued to want to be Adam's mentor. The more we can be mentored by Jesus the more we can truly understand who we are meant to be because he is the one who has achieved what we desire to achieve as humans.

Find a good mentor and pray for their spiritual connection to God to remain consistent and growing.

Facebook Dilemma

I am what I would describe an average user of Facebook. I have some pictures on there. My profile picture is artistically not me but a reflection of the best part of me. I have connected with many friends from the past, and have great fun looking at thoughts from my current friends. I have all my information on there and I have included witty thoughts meant to amuse and cause deep levels of thinking. I play on Facebook and I use it for work. I have tried the chatting a little bit but realized I would rather just call the people and talk to them live. I have joined some causes and I have even said Happy Birthday to a few people. Here's my rub ...

I now have to check my email in two places. I have to go to Facebook to respond to the Facebook emails and then I need to keep checking my regular emails. I do not know if it is hip to send emails anymore or if people just get frustrated because they have to check both as well. Do people like to get stuff on Facebook? I have to admit it is fun when someone comments on you. These are the thoughts that occupy my mind.

Driver's Training

I have to teach my twin boys to drive. This thought occurred to me the other day as I was driving the boys home from preschool. I know it is still a good twelve or so years away, but how am I going to accomplish this feat. It will be a miracle surviving one of them attempting to drive let alone two. These are the things that consume my mind on a daily basis. Hmmm...

Fellowship

It is not a good sign when a person recognizes no difference between sucking sweets and eating a square meal. Equally, it is not a good sign when Christians recognize no difference between social activities in Christian company and fellowship. J.I. Packer

The Stack Approach

Does anyone else us the stack approach towards organization? I have stacks everywhere in my life. I have stacks on my desks. I have stacks of clothes in my room. I have stacks of toys in my truck. When in doubt I stack it.

This might not be the best approach towards organization. I cannot even say it is working for me per se, but it offers an effective way to make the desk clean quick. I am sure it will catch up to me at some point, but for now I am going to stack away.

Time to Get Ready

Well if you have not educated yourself on what the Bible truly has to say about Homosexuality now you need to get to work. We can no longer sit back and just follow the leadership of others. Now we need to understand the truth for ourselves so we can explain it to our friends.

Follow the link to Newsweek Article here.

Christmas Season

I am looking for renewed hope this Christmas season. I want to see the cross come alive and renew me. It has been one of the most spiritual challenging Falls of my life and I want to be refreshed in the hope of the cross during this season more than I have ever before. I want to see God working powerfully in the lives of people around me. I want to see people being able to experience the true joy of Christmas. I want to see it in the heart and eyes of my baby boys.

I am excited for this Christmas because I hope it will be a change and opportunity for renewal.

Christmas Time

I can understand the guy who gave his wife the memory. I gave Adriane a Computer Battery last year for a present. Yikes!!

My boys would go nuts over this. I am not sure what to make of it. A lot of wasted time and energy, or just outrageous fun for all. Funny at the very least.

2 Sermons on Preaching to the Heart by Tim Keller

Two Sermons by Tim Keller on preaching are available for free. Click here to go the site.

Mark Dever on what it means to fail at evangelism

How is Christianity Relevant?

The Cost of Discipleship

When we come before God with hearts full of contempt and unreconciled with our neighbors, we are, both individually and as a congregation, worshipping an idol.

Psalm 74

Psalm 74 brings to memory the story of Prince Caspian. The children arrive back in Narnia and everyone has forgotten about Narnia. There is only a remnant left and even they have great doubt about the power and might of Aslan. Even the children begin to doubt Alsan and his power.

The Lord can appear to be absent from our life during our suffering. The Psalmist exists in a time of sadness and despair for the nation of Israel. Invaders have ruined the Lord’s Temple and the people of God feel demoralized. They have lost a sense of hope in the Lord and his ability to redeem them.

The Psalmist, however, continues to encourage himself in the Lord. He knows that the Lord is constantly working throughout history to bring redemption to his people. “Yet God my King is from old, working salvation in the midst of the earth (vs. 12).” History, even with its sufferings, is God’s tool to bring about his ultimate plan of salvation to all that call upon his name. History then becomes a display of the power of God working through people to reveal his glory.

The end of the prayer is a request for God to remember what he is doing (vs. 18). There really is no possibility that God has forgotten what he is doing so why does the Psalmist ask him to remember? Is it possible we need to ask God to remember himself, because we can forget him so easily ourselves? It is too easy to forget God when we get busy or hurt or consumed with life. It is easy to let days, weeks, and months go by avoiding our true calling to give God glory. Way too easy.