Hitting nothing every time

This principle hit me hard in the gut. After recovering and seeing how I could improve, I also thought it was applicable in many American churches as well. But that's neither here nor there.

"As we bring up children, we should descend to their level in one sense (humility) in order to lead them to our level (maturity). This is not the same as descending to their level (immaturity) in order to lead them to our level (pride). We must be servants to our children; we must not cater to them. One of the central problems with bringing up children in our day is the constant temptation to underestimate their capacities. We teach them profane and irreverent little ditties, not psalms and hymns. We give them moralistic little stories, not biblical doctrine and ethics. We expect them to act as though they have no brains or souls until they have graduated from college. We aim at nothing, and we hit it every time."

-Doug Wilson in Standing on the Promises: A Handbook of Biblical Childrearing (Canon Press, 1997), p. 15

Urgent messages and dying words

"Great theology is always a kind of giant and intricate poetry, like epic or saga. It is written for those who know the tale already, the urgent messages and the dying words, and who attend to its retelling with a special alertness, because the story has a claim on them and they on it. Theology is also close to the spoken voice. It evokes sermon, sacrament, and liturgy, and, of course, Scripture itself, with all its echoes of song and legend and prayer. It earns its authority by winning assent and recognition, in the manner of poetry but with the difference that the assent seems to be to ultimate truth, however oblique or fragmentary the suggestion of it. Theology is written for the small community of those who would think of reading it. So it need not define freighted words like 'faith' or 'grace' but may instead reveal what they contain. To the degree that it does them any justice, its community of readers will say yes, enjoying the insight as their own and affirming it in that way...Theology is never finally anything but theology, words about God, proceeding from the assumptions that God exists and that we know about him in a way that allows us to speak about him."

-Marilynne Robinson in "Dietrich Bonhoeffer" in The Death of Adam: Essays on Modern Thought, (Picador, 1998), p. 117

Harshness or compromise leads to caricature

"The Christian really has a double task. He has to practice both God's holiness and God's love. The Christian is to exhibit that God exists as the infinite-personal God; and then he is to exhibit simultaneously God's character of holiness and love. Not His holiness without His love: this is only harshness. Not His love without His holiness: that is only compromise. Anything that an individual Christian or Christian group does that fails to show the simultaneous balance of the holiness of God and the love of God presents to a watching world not a demonstration of the God who exists but a caricature of the God who exists."

-Francis Schaeffer quoted by John Piper in Contending for Our All: Defending Truth and Treasuring Christ in the Lives of Athanasius, Owen, and Machen (Crossway, 2006), concluding chapter

Book review: The call to wonder

If you have ever been accused of having a cold, overly rational, analytical faith; or if you have ever accused someone of the same, R.C. Sproul, Jr.'s recent book The Call to Wonder: Loving God Like a Child would be a helpful antidote. An easy-to-read but not-so-easy-to-apply book, R.C. Jr. explores Jesus' command to become like little children: "Unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of God" (Matthew 18:3).

In his typical personal, biblical, and (dare I say) winsome way, R.C. Jr. challenges the reader to stop reading commands like this as cynical adults, and take Jesus at His word - fear God and believe his Word:

"Fearing God begins when we believe what He says. When He speaks, we shouldn't seek to wiggle out from under His Word. We shouldn't analyze away the clarity of what He has said." (p. 12)

So with this principle in mind, Matthew 18:3 simply means that "we had better learn to be like children. We'd better not study how this text can't mean what it actually says" (p. 12). What does it really mean to become like little children? R.C. writes that becoming like children in the sense that Jesus means involves cultivating virtues of innocence, joy, trust, wonder, and eagerness to please. With these virtues in mind, R.C. Jr. asks: "Why would anyone not want to become like a child? Why wouldn't we want to squeal with delight at simple pleasures? to rest completely in God and trust Him with our futures?" (p. 24).

Having eight children (some of which are adopted) and a stalwart theologian father provides plenty of enjoyable anecdotes. R.C. Jr. liberally employs these illustrations, making the book enjoyable to read. However, the points he makes are anything but easy to apply. Perhaps most convicting for me is his exhortation against cynicism. Children are mostly trusting and innocent. But I tend to take the Ecclesiastes principle of "there is nothing new under the sun" too far down the road of cynicism. R.C. Jr. says, "Unfortunately, this cynical attitude also infects our reading of Scripture. We no longer express wonder at the God who has brought the universe into existence or split seas in two. We've heard those things before - and they no longer inspire our awe" (p. 20). The call to childlikeness is a call for fresh eyes and hearts: "Children are quick to gasp, swift to ooh, and eager to ahh. They see the world for what it is - a dance, not a machine" (p. 21).

Related to being cynical is viewing Scripture and the world too analytically - too much like an engineer, too much like a scholar. Acknowledging that these approaches are often beneficial, a cold-hearted faith should be buoyed up by joy and wonder at the Creator and creation. Take, for example, a rose:

"As a modern man, I, too, am tempted to think that by taking a thing and breaking it down into its constituent parts, I will grow closer to understanding what it is. But if you take a rose and carefully take it apart, if you slice its petals razor thin and put them on a slide under a microscope, you are getting further from understanding the rose, not closer to it. The 'roseness' of the rose it not found in its DNA but in its beauty. The same is true of the whole of the universe. Of course there is a place for scientific study. But it is not the only place." (p. 59)

While the main thrust of the book is to consider what it means to become like children, R.C. Jr. rightly points out that calls to child-likeness can easily be exploited. In this regard, he is balanced in his arguments. For example, he devotes an entire chapter to maturity, and he frequently mentions the balance between Scripture's commands of becoming like children while also being as wise as serpents and filled with the knowledge of God. But even maturity in Scripture is not just knowing everything or reading everything: "Ironically, maturity of understanding may well be remembering, and resting in, the simplest things" (p. 111).

The most potent, enjoyable chapters for me were the ones on being eager to please God the Father, the call to maturity, and the necessity of joy. While it is an easy read, the outline isn't the best. R.C. Jr. meanders through the outline, taking diversions along the way. Perhaps this is a purposeful reflection of the book's subject matter, though I have found this to be a characteristic of his other writings as well. A meandering style notwithstanding, this is a very helpful and encouraging book, if you enjoy being convicted. The related and fantastic Notes from the Tilt-a-Whirl is also recommended reading on this topic.

Note: I received a copy of this book from Tyndale in exchange for an objective review.

Hardening of the spiritual life

"Over the years words begin to come easy, and we find we can speak of mysteries without standing in awe; we can speak of purity without feeling pure; we can speak of zeal without spiritual passion; we can speak of God's holiness without trembling; we can speak of sin without sorrow; we can speak of heaven without eagerness. And the result is an increasing hardening of the spiritual life."

-John Piper in Contending for Our All: Defending Truth and Treasuring Christ in the Lives of Athanasius, Owen, and Machen (Crossway, 2006), chapter on John Owen

Face washed and pants on

"I took to studying the ones of my teachers who were also preachers, and also the preachers who came to speak in chapel and at various exercises. In most of them I saw the old division of body and soul that I had known at The Good Shepherd. The same rift ran through everything at Pigeonville College; the only difference was that I was able to see it more clearly, and to wonder at it. Everything bad was laid on the body, and everything good was credited to the soul. It scared me a little when I realized that I saw it the other way around. if the soul and body really were divided, then it seemed to me that all the worst sins - hatred and anger and self-righteousness and even greed and lust - came from the soul. But these preachers I'm talking about all thought that the soul could do no wrong, but always had its face washed and its pants on and was in agony over having to associate with the flesh and the world. And yet these same people believed in the resurrection of the body."

-Wendell Berry in Jayber Crow: A Novel (Counterpoint, 2000), p.49

Five year blog anniversary

I find it hard to believe, but today marks my five year anniversary of blogging. From my first post in 2007, I've had the pleasure of blogging on books, worship, sports, music, technology, and the mundane. One miscarriage, two kids, three moves, four jobs, five blog designs, almost six years of marriage, and immeasurable grace later, here we are. I've written nearly 650 posts, the vast majority of which which are forgettable. But I'm glad to have written them, and have enjoyed going back and reading some of them. I've had posts that I (pridefully) thought were excellent but were barely viewed, and controversial posts that made me hang my head in shame. If you'll indulge me, I'd like to take a stroll through some interesting facts, figures, and anecdotes in the short life of token lines.

First, the less interesting: stats. In five years, there have been nearly 19,000 page views from at least 10 countries (though many foreign hits are spam sites). Google is by far the best site referrer, though the Shomo blog is the highest direct URL referrer, with my wife's blog a close second.

If you'll ask any blogger who keeps stats, they will most likely say that they are surprised which posts garner the most traffic. That holds true for me. My post about Robinson Crusoe back in 2008 has more than triple the views of any other posts, with a whopping 1,650! It helps that in a Google image search, the graphic on my post is the first result. The second most popular post also comes from 2008, on Scattergories Categories. People apparently enjoy searching for creative lists, though the ones searching for "dirty Scattergories lists" are surely disappointed when they click through to my post. Three of the top ten keyword searches people use to find my blog are Scattergories related, with dirty lists ranking 7th overall. We're still pretty proud of coming up with the category "Something you would do for a Klondike bar." Rounding out the top five most viewed posts are: A Prayer for the Broken Hearted, Matt Redman Pew Review, and Reading the Bible in a year.

I've had my share of foot-in-the-mouth moments, which tend to correspond with the most vigorous discussions by you. I read all comments even if I don't respond to them, and am grateful for what I've learned through them. Here is a list of the top eight most-commented posts. Consider it a display of my foolishness and a lesson to think before you blog.

Up for grabs: college football allegiance (18 comments, 2010) I'm still a Michigan fan.
Preservething thy language - (16, 2011) Very insightful comments.
Mission trip recap - (15, 2007) Yikes. All comments were deleted.
Providence in the ordinary - (10, 2009) Highlight: My mother in law wonders if she is "lusty."
Predominant Psalm singing - (10, 2009) One of my dad's few comments, and he lays the smack down!
Nursery to the golden oldies - (9, 2011) Decent discussion.
Here I am to Worship Pew Review - (8, 2009) I never did finish those Pew Reviews, eh?
Christianese buzzwords - (8, 2011) One of my favorite posts to write.

It's no secret that I'm a bibliophile, and my most-used tag is books, with 130. Hymns (74), family (64), sports (61), and Scripture (60) round out the top five tags. I've also reviewed over 20 books, many of which I've received for free from publishers' blog programs. Over the last five years, I've read almost 200 books and undergone three year-long reading goals (Institutes, 50 books, and the Bible). More recently, my blogging has relied heavily on the books I read, not least because the authors of good books say things much better than I can.

Overall, I think I have benefited greatly from blogging. I've learned a lot about pride and humility and being slow to speak (and write). I have learned more about brevity and clarity in writing, honed my own style more, and figured out which writers I want to emulate. I have gleaned much from my readers, the books I've read (alone and with others), and the things I've blogged about. I've also learned that as much as I have been tempted to switch to Wordpress, Blogger just has more customizable options and add-ons. I've thought about stopping blogging too many times to count, but have always persisted - even if my output isn't what it used to be. After all, if I stop, how would I get free books through Westminster, Amazon, or publisher's programs?

So thanks for sticking with me. Thank you especially for your patience, your insightful contributions, your encouragement, your challenges, and your clicks on links that get me free swag. Will I be blogging in another five years? Will there even be blogs in another five years?