Finding Woody Woodpecker
All work and no play makes the Spain team a dull group. Ok, here’s how this story goes…
We were riding the subway/train back to our apartment the other day when Darrell claims he saw Woody Woodpecker on the tracks. None of our kids even knew who Woody was, and the other group (Nicole, Charlie, Julie and Jackie) gets off a stop earlier than us, so it was Darrell’s exuberant claims against the combined doubt of myself and Carolyn and eye-rolling disbelief of the four kids.
So… Wednesday on the way back, Darrell insisted that we look for Woody. It was one of those “Wait for it… Wait for it… Wait for it…” moments with all seven of us glued to the window of the train. After several minutes, Darrell blurted, “Oh wait. We’re on the wrong train!” Indeed, as we entered the next station, we looked up, and we were back in the same station we had left from. It had traveled to the other group’s stop, and instead of going on, it had returned to our starting station. So we disembarked sheepishly and waited for the next train.
After boarding it, Darrell’s enthusiasm was contagious, and Carolyn shot the following video on her iPhone:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vetzdcXkdoo&w=560&h=349]
Indeed, we saw Woody!
Thursday, the guys walked over to the part of the tracks where we thought Woody rested, and to our great joy, we found Woody. Here’s proof:
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Churchplanting123.com
For those of you unaware, I’ve started a new website in cooperation with the venerable Darrell Cook. It’s called churchplanting123.com, and it’s already had 5-6 hits! We’re sure that it will bog down the internet as it goes viral.
CP123 will be a collection of extremely helpful (tongue-in-cheek) videos designed to encourage church planters and leaders. It’s an irreverend and irreverent look at the world of modern church planting and religion. We’ve shot two episodes on our Spain trip so far. Stop by the site and let us know what you think… Or not.
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The rain in Spain
When we arrived in Donastia on Friday, it was wonderfully cool weather – in the 70s. On Saturday and Sunday, however, it soared into the 90s and was HOT. On Monday evening, however, a storm blew through, and it’s been drizzling most of Tuesday. The weather is now back in the upper 60s/lower 70s. Incredible.
That also describes our experience here so far. We’ve been humbled to see the excitement of the Basque children in the kids camp to learn English and to learn about our culture. They’ve loved our western garb (cowboy hats, bandannas, and plaid shirts, mostly). More than 40 are enrolled, and they all paid to participate. Paying for an experience like this communicates its value, and parents here are eager for their kids to have an experience with Americans they trust. The Txat Room has a growing reputation in the city for excellent conversational English teaching and real relationship building. We’re blessed to be associated with them.
On being unplugged
We’re at the mall this afternoon on their free WIFI. We’ve been nonstop since our arrival and mostly unplugged. It’s been wonderful to be reminded and enforced to unplug and be for people. It’s humbling to plug back into life, faces and relationships. We need to encourage one another to fast from electronics and social media more often.
On beauty and ministry
Donastia is a place of breathtaking natural beauty. We’ve been by the coast on the last two evenings about sundown, and the scene is an ocular overload. I’ve been disappointed in every single picture we’ve taken. Words nor pictures can do the scene justice. It’s not just the visual but it’s the smell of the water, the noise of the birds, the company of friends.
I asked some of our friends here if they ever take it for granted. I wasn’t surprised to learn that indeed, it’s easy to do. The old adage of familiarity breeding contempt may be too strong of a description, but it at least fosters complacency. As my family is experiencing this together, it’s a reminder to enjoy the simple things and wonderful beauty available around me wherever I am – in Spain or in Blacksburg.
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Saturday in Spain
We’ve been so excited (and tired) the last couple of days. By the time we finally hit the sack here on Friday night, we’d been up over 30 hours. I didn’t sleep much at all on the planes – really just dozed here and there. The Erwins urged us to stay awake until 7:00p or so, and we made it to 9:30. A bed felt so good.
Saturday (and you can see the post I wrote for the Northstar Spain Team site below) was our first full day here. It was spent in orientation, more touring, and getting to meet some of the other workers here. I’ve been on several international trips before, but it’s always humbling to see it through someone’s eyes who has never been overseas. That joy is compounded when it’s your own kids. Sam and Adelyn are sponges. It’s been such a surreal experience introducing them to the world and how much God loves all people on this trip.
Here’s my latest post from the Northstar Spain Team site:
Saturday in Donostia was humbling and amazing. The team spent most of the morning in orientation getting ready for the kids’ camp this week. We enjoyed an incredible lunch of Spanish turkey and ham with Spanish lettuce on Spanish wheat and white bread. ;) (Sandwiches always seem better overseas or if someone else makes them, and in this case it was both.)
After a morning full of orientation, we were able to see the Txat Room (“tx” in the Basque language gives you a “ch” sound). It’s a dynamic business that enables its American owners to engage the Basque people in the English language at an intentional conversational level that results not only in better skills for the customer but also in genuine friendships. We hope to be able to meet and engage some of the clients in conversation this week.
Another fun thing – hanging out with Tucker King again. He’s here assisting the Chat Room for the summer as well!
We rendez-vouzed with Clare Knickman for supper. Clare was part of one of the BCM teams to Spain and was offered a summer job here. We spent the evening playing on the beach, watching a breathtaking sunset. 
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Spain plane
Thanks to everyone who helped make our trip to Spain possible! We’re boarding in Charlotte, heading to Frankfurt first.
Off goes the cellphone for 10 days! Stay tuned here and at our team blog at northstarspain.wordpress.com.
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Review: The Language of God
There might be some who would mock me for attempting to review Francis Collin’s book The Language of God. After all, he’s a well-known scientist and headed up the government-backed Human Genome Project which mapped human DNA. I’m a pastor.
In addition, Collins is a genuinely nice guy from all accounts. He also is a Christian in that he professes that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and seeks to live his life in obedience to the commands of scripture. As a pastor, I’m grateful for Collins’ outspoken faith and his diligent attempt to enable those who embrace science to also embrace faith. There should not be a conflict, since the God that is revealed in the Bible is also the God who made all there is. He is the author, and so as we read his “book” of creation, we should be able to arrive at similar conclusions.
However, that is where I disagree, fundamentally, with Collins. He comes down in the theistic evolution camp. He believes that God initiated the process of life with the Big Bang and has essentially stood outside of the process, allowing it to evolve on its own course. This has taken billions of years. At some murky point which he is unable to explain, God stepped into the process and began relating with humans after their evolution from a common ancestor.
He believes that Adam and Eve and other parts of the scriptures are to be taken figuratively, but apparently, he has decided to take at least the New Testament’s claims about Jesus Christ literally. That arbitrary selection poses a problem – not just to me, but even to many of his areligious scientist colleagues who demand to know what gives him the authority to pick and choose the parts of the Bible to believe.
I appreciated his use of Annie Dillard’s poem Teaching a Stone to Talk (New York: Harper-Perennial, 1992, 87-89):
Now we are no longer primitive. Now the whole world seems not holy… We as a people have moved from pantheism to pan-atheism…
It is difficult to undo our own damage and to recall to our presence that which we have asked to leave. It is hard to desecrate a grove and change your mind. We doused the burning bush and cannot rekindle it. We are lighting matches in vain under every green tree.
Did the wind used to cry and the hills shout forth praise? Now speech has perished from among the lifeless things of the earth, and living things say very little to very few… And yet it could be that wherever there is motion there is noise, as when a whale breaches and smacks the water, and wherever there is stillness there is a small, still voice, God’s speaking from the whirlwind, nature’s old song and dance, the show we drove from town…
What have we been doing all these centuries but trying to call God back to the mountain, or, failing that, raise a peep out of anything that isn’t us? What is the difference between a cathedral and a physics lab? Are they not both saying: “Hello”?
Man’s attempts (both scientists and theologians) have needlessly dissected our existence into faith or science. I’ll explain my viewpoints on that dichotomy later in the series. I hope to allow this series to provoke dialogue. But a few caveats:
- My lens: I’m hopelessly in love with God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. My lens is first and foremost one of faith in Him as a loving Creator and Sustainer.
- My background: I have read voraciously over the years (about the last 20) about evolution. I’ve read opposing viewpoints and attempt to keep up with the ongoing perspectives – both scientific and faith-based. There’s quite a bit of material – good and bad – out there on both sides.
- My time: I love to dialogue, but I honestly don’t know how many of the comments that might be generated from these posts I’ll be able to respond to. So I may just be pointing the interested to resources rather than attempt to respond individually. Please keep your comments civil. Personal attacks (on me or other commenters) will simply be deleted. It’s interesting to me the vitriol that this issue engenders.
So for this first entry… a teaser.
Collins reveals his perspective early on in Language:
“Science’s domain is to explore nature. God’s domain is in the spiritual world, a realm not possible to explore with the tools and language of science. with the tools and language of science… Science is the only reliable way to understand the natural world, and its tools, when properly utilized can generate profound insights into material existence.” (p6)
It’s incredibly helpful to know what lens he views evolution and science through. I want to reiterate again the respect that I have for him. His sincere desire to create a helpful book is obvious throughout. He’s reaching out to those who currently embrace science as their faith. He wants to help them see that their love of science does not have to be killed in order to come to faith in God.
However, in this revealing quote, (and through the rest of the book), Collins elevates scientific method and natural laws above God’s Word and His own ability. By assuming that God must work a certain way and assigning God to the “spiritual” domain, he demonstrates his belief that God must operate according to the physical and natural laws that we are subject to (and that He created). “Science” in this perspective becomes the arbiter and revealer of truth and so understandably from this view is “the only reliable way to understand the natural world.”
After digesting his worldview, it was ironic that he nailed my thought process on page 33 in his statement, “A torrent of your own objections has begun to form.”
Indeed. I don’t like how he elevates science and makes faith its servant. For me, there is faith and faith only. Hebrews 11.6 does not say, “Without science, it is impossible to please God…” Rather, it’s faith. Hebrews 11.3 says:
By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.
What makes us clearly think we can think clearly?
Faith is required because scripture tells us that no matter how much we don’t like or that we want to deny that our very brains and logic systems are ultimately flawed by sin. Our minds are clouded and must be cleared by the light and love of God. Only then can they function as they were intended to.
In addition, because of sin, our consciences are corrupt. Our thinking is flawed. We see partially. Our motives are impure and skewed. No matter what the observation of our natural world and the methods that we use, our conclusions and interpretation of data are flawed, obscured and, according to scripture, even set against the knowledge of God.
(Here are some supporting scriptures for the above conclusions).
To be continued
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Read the book, people.
The March/April issue of Outreach Magazine listed six insights from interviews with Christians in America during 2010 (conducted by the Barna Group):
- The Christian church is becoming less theologically literate.
- Christians are becoming more ingrown and less outreach-oriented.
- Growing numbers of people are less interested in spiritual principles and more desirous of learning pragmatic solutions for life.
- Among Christians, interest in participating in community action is escalating.
- The postmodern insistence on tolerance is winning over the Christian church.
- The influence of Christianity on culture and individual lives is largely invisible.
I’d hardly describe these as earth-shattering insights. Some of them I would downright contest. I think Bradley Wright (see review here) has done an excellent job at exposing shoddy research practices and misinterpretation of statistics and surveys. The Barna Group was one of those he singled out in his book.
However, #1 above is a definite issue that I’ve had repeated personal experience with. And because Christians are theologically illiterate, we see things like this taking place.
Read the book, people.
Which of the above list ring true to you, and which would you disagree with?
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Review: Sun Stand Still
Stephen Furtick is pastor of Elevation Church in Charlotte. He’s a dynamic communicator, and his church has seen wonderful numerical and spiritual growth. It was planted in 2006, and within a year, it was running over 1000. At last report, they were tallying over 8000 in worship on Sundays on multiple campuses.
I wrote a review on the church’s website back in 2007 when I was doing a series on helpful ministry websites. I had no idea then that Elevation Church would become a megachurch or that Furtick would become the popular preacher he is today.
I recently heard him speak at the Refuel Conference in Lynchburg, and he was as I’ve heard – powerful, animated, humorous and convinced. He preached a message of encouragement and challenge (watch it at the link) to the gathered ministers.
With that said, I believe I can recommend Sun Stand Still to you with qualifications. If you’ve been a Christian for a while and are a reader, I doubt this book will be anything worth reading. If you’re new to the faith or are not a reader, this book is a good first start.
Furtick’s premise is based on an obscure passage in the Old Testament (seems to be the in thing for preachers/writers these days). In Joshua 10:13-14, God answered a prayer of Joshua’s by stopping the sun’s path across the sky for several hours. The Israelites had been promised victory over their enemies, but with encroaching darkness, their enemies would be allowed to escape in the night. So Joshua prayed what Furtick describes as a “sun stand still” prayer – an audacious prayer in his words.
The rest of the book is peppered with stories and examples of people who have experienced God’s unusual work in their lives as a response to prayer. He then uses the second half of the book to instruct and urge the reader forward in audacious prayer.
The book is an easy read, and if you’re looking for a book to give as a gift to someone who needs to be encouraged to keep going, to trust God, or to reignite vision in their life, it would be an appropriate book to give.
I would not suggest giving it to a well-read Christian. It is repetitive and other books and authors have written on prayer in ways that are more instructive and substantial. Furtick’s chapters come across as just scratching the surface of the beauty of prayer.
Some books I’d recommend (and please comment on others you’ve read and are familiar with):
- A Call to Spiritual Reformation by D.A. Carson (reviewed here)
- Hearing God by Peter Lord
- Disciples Prayer Life by T.W. Hunt
- Wrestling Prayer by Eric and Leslie Ludy (more challenging, but read review here)
- The Kneeling Christian by Anonymous (reviewed here)
- Prayer by Phillip Yancey (review here)
- A Hunger for God by John Piper
FTC Disclaimer: “I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.”
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A la carte: Camping’s miss, new website, evolution, Instagram
Glad we’re still here… I think
I laughed at my Foursquare screen on Sunday morning. (see pic at right) With Harold Camping being shown to be a false prophet again, you’d think folks would learn that the Bible is completely reliable. There’s that pesky little verse in Matthew 24.36 where Jesus says, “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.”
Harold keeps trying to get around that, and after a few days in self-imposed exile last Sunday-Monday, he emerged saying he was off, but only by a few months. The earth will be obliterated on October 21 now. Don’t hold your breath.
There are some good things that Camping’s craziness provoked, however. One is that it allowed Christians to discuss matters of eternity, heaven and hell in mainstream conversations. It also showed us again the trustworthiness of scripture (and again, it challenges us to call a false prophet a false prophet). Let’s not be mealy-mouthed about that.
But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.’ And if you say in your heart, ‘How may we know the word that the LORD has not spoken?’—when a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the LORD has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him. (Deuteronomy 18:20-22 ESV)
Two articles I saw this past week were especially insightful:
- TJ Scott’s Harold Camping and the May 21st prediction
- Phil Cooke’s What Harold Camping got right
Personally, I knew Jesus wasn’t coming back on Camping’s timetable. However, He is coming back. We see the birth pangs all around us. Let’s not disdain The Return, only false predictions of it. And let’s pray that false predictions don’t inoculate an unbelieving world to the reality of Judgement Day.
When a super, megachurch is where you want to be…
This week, Darrell Cook and I launched a website that we’ve been laughing about for a long time. It’s called churchplanting123.com. You can follow it on Twitter at churchplant123. Essentially, it’s a sarcastic, tongue-in-cheek look at the world of church planting. We plan on making it a video blog with regular updates.
Go here to view the first installment called “The Name.”
Evolution
I’ve been doing a ton of research and reading on evolution … (again). This is probably the fourth or fifth time that I’ve devoted time to review latest writings and claims from multiple perspectives. Stay tuned here for reflections and thoughts. Go here for the last entry on the topic – Tackling Runaway Evolution. When I post my next entry, you’ll be able to determine if my views have evolved…
It’s a newish app that allows you to post pictures instead of a status. It also includes numerous photo filters for enhancing your shots. It allows you follow folks and to like or comment on their pictures. Very nice, streamlined app. There are also a number of web apps for those of you who don’t have a phone that supports Instragram so that you can at least get your photo fix from your favorite snapper. (Gramfeed, Webstagram) My personal feed at Webstragram is here.
From this past week:
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Don’t get hell wrong
Francis Chan released a video today that powerfully promotes a book he’s currently working on about hell. It is obviously a response to Rob Bell’s controversial book about hell called Love Wins. I can’t help but think of the words of Ecclesiastes 12.11-12:
The words of the wise are like goads, and like nails firmly fixed are the collected sayings; they are given by one Shepherd. My son, beware of anything beyond these. Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh.
However, Chan’s video is a powerful one. I’d encouraged you to watch it. He shares Isaiah 55.8-9 in the video:
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
He urges us to quit thinking we think like God thinks. Every time we say, “But God wouldn’t…” or “I can’t believe in a God who would…” we demonstrate our proclivity to aspire to godhood. We essentially set our own logic above the Creator’s, and we attempt to make Him subject to natural and physical “laws” which exist only because He instituted them. Our pride refuses to bow to His preeminence.
This issue of hell, Chan soberly reminds us, is not something we – or those who don’t yet know Christ as Savior and Lord – can afford to get wrong. He urges us to pray for him as he is writing, studying and searching the scriptures for this book project. I will be. His book Crazy Love remains on my short list of impacting books of the past 10 years and has been a great encouragement. Let’s pray that this next work will be a significant contribution and may be used by the Lord as a scripturally-centered “last word” for this generation on the issue.
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About
Notes from the Trail
The Personal Blog of Jeff Noble
Info: From the misty hills of Virginia, "Notes from the Trail" seeks to encourage you on your journey. Written by a graphic designer-pastor, this blog is a blend of humor, insight, and faith discovery.
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