Top 9 Christmas Presents I've Ever Gotten

Getting ready to leave for the good state of Illinois tomorrow to celebrate some Christmas action with the folks...and I thought would do a little Christmas post on the top 9 presents I've ever gotten.

Rules: Presents must have been surprises, and no more than two presents from one person can make the list.

9.) Pizzazz Rotating Pizza Oven (from my mom) - largely responsible for the 30 pounds or so I gained in college, I have to give credit to my mom for her creativity. What a present for a college student who didn't like going to the cafeteria! Let's get some frozen pizzas and cook them right in the dorm! I loved that thing.

8.) Authentic Torii Hunter Jersey (from my wife) - a great effort from the wife in year one of marriage. It was a little small, but she got it for a good price, and it still looks beatiful today. I only wish I knew Torii could retire a Twin; it's unlikely.

7.) Bases Loaded for Nintendo (from my dad) - the most creative wrapping job my dad ever did, wrapping my first Nintendo game in a pyramid-shaped box. This game was great; I played it so much I discovered how to throw a perfect game w/ 27 strikeouts every game with a certain pitcher. And yeah, I kept the offical 'book' by hand...for every game of every season.

6.) Settlers of Catan Board Game (from my sister Shannon) - wow, what a fun yet frustrating game. I credit this game for getting me into playing board games with people. I'm now to the point where I'd rather play board games than video games by myself.

5.) Madden '96 & NBA Live '96 for SNES (from my Aunt Mary) - so, this wasn't a total surprise. Aunt Mary called me one day asking me if there was a game I wanted for Christmas. I told her either Madden '96 or NBA Live '96 and to surprise me. Well..she did, for I got them both! I was amazed.

4.) Indelible Grace CDs (from my sister Janelle) - last year, Janelle got me the first, second, and fourth Indelible Grace CDs (and got my wife the Sandra McCracken hymn CD). Wow, I never knew how good those things are until listened to over and over again. This blog probably wouldn't exist without that gift.

3.) Basketball Goal (from my dad) - it wasn't as nice as the one pictured in the link, but it was good enough for me. Nothing was better than getting up at 7:00 as a boy on a Saturday morning, skipping cartoons, and playing basketball until lunch time. I would often play entire imaginary games by myself and would almost always make myself make 30 or so in a row until I was allowed to leave.

2.) My First Illini Tickets (from my wife, fiancee at the time) - most gifts don't bring tears to my eyes. This one did. I finally was able to go to an Illinois game (with my dad) thanks to the creative idea my fiancee had Christmas of 2002. Brian Cook went nuts in the 2nd half to beat Wisconsin, and my dad and I have been back to a game every year since.

1.) 1988 Topps Baseball Card Set (from my mom) - I know the 792 cards of that set like no other. It was my first set of baseball cards. I probably went through it 1,000 times, sorting the cards by each statistic on the back and forever stripping any monetary value it had. Today the set is worth just a few dollars, and mine is worth pennies due to condition. But my mom, single and working two jobs at the time, got me a birthday/Christmas present that beats all -- and had to sell some jewelry to afford the $25 it cost at the time. I actually found this one a bit early, hidden behind a couch, and would sneak out at nights to try and find the two Kirby Puckett cards. I got caught, but my mom had mercy.

10 Misconceptions about Christianity

Wow, has it really been 10 days since I posted? I know I've been busy and gone for a weekend, but still, time is flying! I figured I should probably get a couple of posts in before I left for Christmas. During the Christmas season, Christianity often gets mentioned just a little bit more than usual, but I often hear or read common misconceptions about the faith that I hold so dear. I don't claim to have a top ten list here or to even be close to an exhaustive list, but what I have is just a list. Hopefully, some of my millions....and millions...of fans will add some in the comments section. Here we go, just off the top of my head, in no particular order (and I know I'm missing a bunch)...

1.) Christmas is Christianity's 'Biggest' Holiday - I get this vibe every year about this time. America has made Christmas its biggest holiday. But Good Friday and Easter should be far more important to the Christian in my opinion, and all should in a sense be celebrated daily. I understand the importance of Jesus being made a man and coming to earth to save his people, but the act of actually saving the people should really be the bigger deal. Also, the extra giving and extra generosity 'this time of year' is great and all, but Christians should really be doing it all the time.

2.) Good People Go to Heaven; Bad People Go to Hell - Sorry. That's not what the Bible teaches. In fact, the truth is as follows: bad people go to heaven; bad people go to hell. There are no 'good' people when compared to the holiness of God. It's not as though Christ came to save only the ones who were bad, we are all bad! This is a big misconception you see in movies all the time...if the guy was a good guy, then yeah, he'll go to heaven when he dies. Also, heaven in all of its glory is filled with some of the world's worst people, but they trusted in Christ, and he was perfect.

3.) If I Do More Good Than Bad... - Perhaps related to #2, but a separate misconception in my mind. We often hear people speak as if there is some heavenly balance that weighs out our good and bad deeds. So people are tricked into thinking that they must do more good things than bad things to get to heaven, and it has nothing to do with Jesus.

4.) Doing This Makes One a Christian - Oh, fill in the blank! Some say they believe in God but don't have a clue who the God of the Bible is and definitely aren't considering Jesus. A lot of people go to church, pray, read the Bible, do good things, and even talk about Jesus, but none of those things makes one a Christian -- only the grace of God through faith in Christ can accomplish the feat.

5.) But I've Done This! - A lot of people think they because they have done something so terrible in the past, whatever it may be, that they are unforgivable. Oh, get over yourself and stop belittling our great and mighty God who can forgive the murder of his own son! God can and will forgive all types of sinners.

6.) But Christians Can't Do This - Nothing irks me more I think that hearing crap like this: But Christians can't drink or Christians can't play cards or Christians can't date or Christians can't whatever. Sure, in Judaism, the Ten Commandments were a series of ten very serious things that we should not do. While they still apply, Christianity has never been and never will be a religion of cannots. It is a religion of fighting sin and doing good -- and it's all about the heart. If your heart is corrupt in doing something, well that is something that shouldn't be done. I think a lot of nonbelievers think that there is some magic list of things they can't do if they would become a Christian -- and there are a lot of things we shouldn't do -- but the crazy part is that a real Christian, with the Holy Spirit, does not want to do the things we shouldn't do. And there is the difference.

7.) Christianity is Just Like Other Religions - File this under the 'all roads lead to heaven' hogwash. Christianity certainly doesn't allow for that. And all other religions the aim is to do good enough in order to please some sort of God. Christianity is the oddball in which none of its subjects can do good at all, so God himself had to become man, do the good we couldn't do, and suffer its consequences so that people could be made right with God. No other religion is even close.

8.) As Long as I Believe in a Higher Being... - This isn't all that common, but I hear it. Many think that a belief in a God or a higher being is the same as believing in the God of the Bible and will be treated as such. Sorry. Believing in a God who isn't like what he says he is in the Bible is nothing less than idolatry, and leaving out Christ in a search for heaven isn't a very good idea.

9.) God has a Relationship with Everyone - This one's a little deeper, but there's a lot to understand about the tabernacle and the temple of the Old Testament and how Christ's death opened the way for man to have a relationship with God. Warning to humans -- there is a massive divide between us and God because of our sin. ONLY a relationship with Jesus Christ allows one to 'access' God. God definitely shows love to all creatures, but doesn't necessarily have relationships with all people, for there is this problem of sin and the enmity is causes.

10.) The Death of Christ was Some Sort of Terrible Accident - Hardly. Was it terrible? Sure. Was God surprised? No. Was Christ unaware of what was going to happen? No. God worked this whole thing out beforehand. We're not smart enough to figure out a way to save ourselves, for we try and fail all the time. The Bible says that God crushed his son. Who killed Jesus? The Romans, the Jews, you and me? Yeah, sort of, but God killed Jesus. No accident here.

The Difference Between Our Love for God and God's Love for Us - Part 2

Recap: About a week or so ago, I offered up a post talking about how our love is different than God's love. The main conclusion I was trying to draw from part one of this series is that our love for God is highly conditional on what we do - namely our obedience.

I Concede: Why did it take me a week to do part two? Part of the reason was that it was a busy week. My wife just had foot surgery, is in constant pain, can't walk, and is very needy right now, a job that falls primarily on the husband, though many people have gone out of their way to help out. Anyway, the main reason why I haven't posted a part two to this series is that it's really really hard to take a subject like God's love for us and turn it into a readable quick little blog. In fact, I admit that I can't do it. That subject is too big, too deep, and simply too much for a blog. So I'm going to try and touch on it by using a song (go figure). And by the way, I think I mispoke the other day when mentioning that our love for God and God's love for us were similar. While I know they are different, they really aren't very similar either. What is similar is our love for people. Parents can probably relate to this even more. But our love for God is so tied Biblically to our obedience, and because our obedience is so weak, I can't help but say that most Christians (including myself) probably have a much weaker love for God than they think they do.

Hymn Choice: I was in my Durango for about an hour and a half today alone, going to and from church, etc. Anyway, I listened to one song the entire time, over and over. I think it speaks of the love God has for us very well, and I think I can use it to finish my impossible task of trying to fairly compare our love for God with God's love for us. The song is "A Debtor to Mercy Alone," a song written in the 1771 by Augustus Toplady and performed by Sandra McCracken to the music Kevin Twit wrote for the first Indelible Grace CD. An absolute masterpiece. For some reason, my previous listening of this particular CD had sort of passed over this song. Not anymore.

A debtor to mercy alone, of covenant mercy I sing;
Nor fear, with Thy righteousness on, my person and off'’ring to bring.

-- God's love for us can certainly be seen in his wonderful mercy, which I spoke of extensively in a post a week or two ago. We absolutely cannot overlook the fact that God overlooks our sin by punishing his own son in our place. We are debtors to mercy indeed, and it took a mighty act of love to accomplish it. The difference between us and God? We in no way can show God any merciful love because God is derserving of nothing that would need mercy.

The terrors of law and of God with me can have nothing to do;
My Savior'’s obedience and blood hide all my transgressions from view.

-- Oh, how wonderful it is to live without an unhealthy terror of the law or of God! While we should definitely fear God in reverent sort of way, we need not fear condemnation because of the sacrifice of Christ. Notice how this hymn refuses to leave out the full gospel -- Christ had to both be righteous by his obedience and also had to shed his blood for the guilt of those who are disobedient. I don't think we can fully understand the love of God for us while he willingly separated himself from Christ in the moment he wore our sin, but the thing I 'll point out today is that we are not capable of that type of love. If we all only understood how free we are in Christ, we might live wild and different and holy lives.

The work which His goodness began, the arm of His strength will complete;
His promise is Yea and Amen, and never was forfeited yet.

-- Ah, a good Philippians 1:6 reference here, possibly sprinkled with some Isaiah 41:10 and wrapped up with some 2 Corinthians 1:20-22! Here, God is showing his steadfast love for us. Notice how often the Bible describes the steadfast love of God for his people. He is relentless in love. The good news is that once he saves us, he won't leave us alone -- but instead he mercifully completes the work he started in us and promises to uphold us. Do we have steadfast love for God? Well I know I don't...especially when I examine by obedience. My love for God is anything but steadfast...it's all over the place and terribly inconsistent.

Things future, nor things that are now, nor all things below or above,
Can make Him His purpose forgo, or sever my soul from His love.

-- Definitely a Romans 8:38-39 reference here. Perhaps the Bible's greatest passage on God's love, we are told by the Bible itself or by the Holy Spirit himself that there isn't anything that can separate us from the love of God. I'll throw this into the steadfast and unconditional love section that God has for us. There's nothing that can happen to rattle God enough to make him not love us anymore. Are we the same? Well, I would hope to say so, but I'm sure a lot of people out there can relate to a time in which a circumstance affected your love for God in a very negative way. God's love isn't like that. Aren't we glad?

My name from the palms of His hands eternity will not erase;
Impressed on His heart it remains, in marks of indelible grace.

-- The word 'indelible' isn't used too much today but means "impossible to remove, erase, or wash away; permanent" according to the Amercian Heritage Dictionary. I see this as a redeeming love. Know this Christian, you were bought with a price. Bought. By Christ himself. You were redeemed from a life of slavery to sin. And the grace of God is what made it all possible. I love the picture of our names being etched permanently into the hands and heart of Christ. I don't really even need to say that we don't have this type of love either. God has nothing to be redeemed from.

Yes, I to the end shall endure, as sure as the earnest is giv’n;
More happy, but not more secure, the glorified spirits in Heav’n.

Yes, I to the end shall endure, as sure as the earnest is giv’n;
More happy, but not more secure, the glorified spirits in Heav’n.

-- I think if you look up 2 Corinthians 5:5, 2 Corinthians 1:22, and Ephesians 1:13-14 in the KJV, you'll see where this stanza comes from. The earnest given is none other than the deposit of the Holy Spirit guaranteeing our inheritance. And that is why one shall endure to the end, not because one 'has what it takes' or believes flippantly in some weak 'once saved, always saved, so we can do whatever we want' theology. No, God is the one in charge of our perseverence, and I for one am exceedingly joyful that he is. If my perseverence was up to me, I wouldn't have made it three days (and that may be pushing it). Just like the rest of the song, we see God's great love for us and how our love for him just simply doesn't measure up.

Summary: Our love for God, Biblically, seems to be tied to our obedience. Since we all know we don't obey perfectly or even very well at all, we should hesitate and think before flippantly saying or singing about how much we love God. From personal experience, I can tell that that my love for God varies with circumstances, is often selfish, is highly conditional, and is full of empty promises. God's love for us on the other hand has things like grace, mercy, and redemption to consider and is steadfast and unconditional. See Genesis 1:1 - Revelation 22:21 for more details. I can't possibly discuss all that needs to be discussed on this topic, but I am convinced by just a little research that our love for God is very much different from God's love for us.

Thoughts from Old Dead Guys - Part 3

From last Sunday's church bulletin (prelude w/ meditation), here is a small portion of Life Together by Dietrich Bonhoeffer:

"Anybody who has once been horrified by the dreadfulness of his own sin that nailed Jesus to the cross will no longer be horrified by even the rankest sins of a brother."
"He who is alone with his sin is utterly alone...the pious fellowship permits no one to be a sinner. So everybody must conceal his sin from himself and from the fellowship. We dare not be sinners. Many Christians are unthinkably horrified when a real sinner is suddenly discovered among the righteous. So we remain alone with our sin, living in lies and hypocrisy. The fact is that we are sinners!"

Song Spotlight - "Love Me"

Song Title: Love Me
Artist: JJ Heller
Album: Only Love Remains
Writer: JJ Heller

He cries in the corner where nobody sees
He’s the kid with the story no one would believe
He prays every night, “Dear God won’t you please
Could you send someone here who will love me?”

Who will love me for me
Not for what I have done or what I will become
Who will love me for me
‘Cause nobody has shown me what love
What love really means

Her office is shrinking a little each day
She’s the woman whose husband has run away
She’ll go to the gym after working today
Maybe if she was thinner
Then he would’ve stayed
And she says…

Who will love me for me?
Not for what I have done or what I will become
Who will love me for me?
‘Cause nobody has shown me what love, what love really means

He’s waiting to die as he sits all alone
He’s a man in a cell who regrets what he’s done
He utters a cry from the depths of his soul
“Oh Lord, forgive me, I want to go home”

Then he heard a voice somewhere deep inside
And it said
“I know you’ve murdered and I know you’ve lied
I have watched you suffer all of your life
And now that you’ll listen, I’ll tell you that I...”

I will love you for you
Not for what you have done or what you will become
I will love you for you
I will give you the love
The love that you never knew

Audio Sample: HERE or HERE or FREE MP3 DOWNLOAD

Why This Song: Ah, how great it is to finally be back in town for church! After a month of being out of town, we were greeted this morning by yet more guest worship leaders -- JJ and Dave Heller this time. Though worship consisted of all Christmas songs, during the offering, JJ busted this song out that left half the congregation either in tears (my wife) or fighting back tears (me). And people even clapped. Wow. Clapping after an individual performance...very rare. Anyway, as I sat down tonight trying to the impossible and write about the love of God in a few words, I couldn't get this song out of my mind or stopped on Media Player (for very good reasons). A lot of times when I sit down to write, I have a hard time being simple. Rarely do I have the gift of a simple mind. But this song does a great job of speaking to the love of God very simply.

Why I Like It: JJ just happens to sing my favorite type of music (some sort of God-glorifying acoustic folk rock), and I had never heard of her until today. But she can really sing. But a lot of people can sing well, but I don't care for what they sing about. What this song does a great job of in my opinion is relaying the outstanding truth that God actually loves for who we are, in spite of our imperfect love, in spite of our filth, in spite of our deeply rooted wickedness and selfishness -- in spite of the fact that our sin caused him to be separated from his only Son. It also portrays a sad truth that human beings can be very cruel and unloving people --- even Christians! A sweet picture of forgiveness is also painted. Forgiveness is just one small part of God's love. It's so big. Again, the lyrics alone can't do this song justice. Listen to it. Download it. Enjoy it.

Related Scripture: Romans 5:7-9, Romans 8:38-39

Favorite Line: "I will love you for you, Not for what you have done or what you will become" -- a very simple but effective way to say that God's love is unconditional. It does not depend on what we have done and will not depend on what we will do. We cannot make God love us more or less. It is what it is. And God is love.

The Difference Between Our Love for God and God's Love for Us - Part 1

I'll start by saying that it's a whole lot easier for me to blog on an article written by someone else (and the thoughts I have on it), but tonight I will begin a two part series on love -- attempting a rare original thought. The idea I'm shooting for is to use the Bible to show the vast difference between our love for God and God's love for us. Though similar (largely because we are made in the image of God), I think we'll see that the Bible portrays the two differently.

Since it's obvious from this blog that I'm a big fan of and even too much a critic of music, I'll confess to the world the thing in praise music that bothers me more than anything. I'm going to quote lines from two common praise songs that are very popular, and I even like these songs, but what I want to show is that I have a hard time singing them. Again, I want to make it clear that I don't want to put these songs down. Stay with me. The songs I'm pulling some lyrics out of are "Jesus, Lover of My Soul" and "I Love You Lord." Good praise songs.

Jesus, lover of my soul
Jesus, I will never let you go
You've taken me from the miry clay
Set my feet upon the Rock and now I know
I love You, I need You, though my world may fall
I will never let you go
My Savior, my closest Friend
I will worship You until the very end.

I Love You, Lord
And I lift my voice to worship You
O my soul, rejoice!
Take joy, My King, in what You hear,
May it be a sweet, sweet sound in Your ear.

Notice the words I have italicized. I admit that I have a lot of trouble singing those lines and often find myself changing the words around as I sing these songs so that I don't have to say things like "I love you, Lord" and make them instead "You love me, Lord." Yeah, that's weird I know, but I'm different guy. Anyway, what does the Bible teach us about our love? How can I learn to sing those italicized lines with confidence? Here are a few passages:

John 14:15 - "If you love me, you will obey what I command."

John 14:21 - "Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him."

John 14:23-24 - "Jesus replied, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me."

1 John 4:19-21 - "We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother."

John 21:15-18 - "When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these?" "Yes, Lord," he said, "you know that I love you." Jesus said, "Feed my lambs." Again Jesus said, "Simon son of John, do you truly love me?" He answered, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you." Jesus said, "Take care of my sheep." The third time he said to him, "Simon son of John, do you love me?"Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, "Do you love me?" He said, "Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you."Jesus said, "Feed my sheep."

Dictionary.com has 28 definitions for love. I don't even want to go there. So I'll go to the Bible. What is interesting about these 5 passages above, is that the Bible (4/5 verses are quotes from Jesus in fact) seems to indicate that our love for God is highly conditional. It is as if God is trying to tell me that I can have all the affectionate feelings I want, sing all the words of praise I want, and even mentally consent to the fact that I love God -- but if I'm not obeying God, not loving my brother, and not feeding his sheep (all forms of doing what God wants us to), then I'm not really loving God and my feelings are lies. And this is why I have a hard time singing those songs above. It's not because I don't like them or it's bad doctrine or anything like that, it's because I know the disobedience in my heart, I know when I'm not feeding the sheep, and I can only rest in the fact that God loves me anyway -- only because of Christ and not because of any good in me or because I love him. No way. John 14 cannot be anymore clear. If you obey God, you love him. If you don't obey him, you don't love him. I take that to mean that my love for God is conditional and based on my obedience. One might at first glance look at the John 14 and 1 John verses and say that the passages are speaking of generalities, a believer obeys and an unbeliever disobeys. But I think the fifth passage above throws that thought off some. Why would Jesus have that conversation with Peter? Why do you think he asked him three times? Surely, it wouldn't have anything to do with the three times he denied Christ, would it? Maybe, maybe not. It's not like in Peter's denial he was neglecting the sheep. But he was a coward and disobeyed and failed to love Christ in a moment of weakness. Don't we all go through those times? Could I sing about how much I love God after verbally bashing the referees in the Arizona - Illinois game tonight? Hardly. Was I loving my brother? No way. Was I loving God? If I say yes then I'm a liar. So I'll choose to focus on the love God has for me, turn away from my wickedness, be renewed again -- and then I can sing...maybe about my love for God, but probably more on his great love for me.