На Даче

Good Questions

2011-10-20T04:10:00.000-07:00

The other day at lunch, my five-year old son asked me how a microwave oven works.

So I told him about "invisible energy waves," called "electromagnetic waves" that travel from one place to another. You can't see them, but they do a work. In the case of the microwave, they excite our food and make it hot. In the case of baby brother's monitor, they excite the antenna so we can hear when he cries. Our cordless phone works the same way, so we can hear Grandma and Papa talk. Nathanael thought that was pretty cool.

After lunch I took Nathanael outside to a washbasin and we dropped a pebble in the water and watched the waves spread out across the surface of the water, and bounce back again. Snaking my hand and arm across from one side to the other, I told him invisible energy waves work the same way, you just can't see them. I also told him an earthquake is similar; it's an energy wave that goes through earth and makes your house shake.

Visibly impressed, Nathanael asked, "So why does God send earthquakes?"

The questions don't get easier.

New Testament Overview handout

2011-08-04T13:07:00.000-07:00

Here is a one-page handout I developed to teach an overview of the New Testament. Anyone is welcome to use it or share it. Let me know if you have any questions about it. An overview of the OT is also available.

[Download]

In Real Terms

2011-04-26T10:55:00.000-07:00

In the past six months, the exchange rate between the US Dollar and the Brazilian Real has shifted 10% in favor of the Real.

According to Google Finance, on November 26, 2010, USD 1 = BRL 1.728.

Today, April 26, 2011, USD 1 = BRL 1.564.

To put that in different terms, consider the following. In Brazil, the maximum daily limit on a cash withdrawal from an ATM is BRL 1000.00. If I had gone to a Brazilian ATM last November and withdrawn BRL 1000.00 from my US checking account, that would have registered a withdrawal in the amount of USD 578.70.

Today, withdrawing the same amount of Brazilian Reais would register a withdrawal on my US account in the amount of USD 640.02.

Ouch.

What Are They Doing With The Church?

2011-04-06T21:28:00.000-07:00

At a pastors’ conference last November I picked up of book entitled, What Are They Doing with the Church?: The Rise and Fall of the Brazilian Evangelical Movement (Mundo Cristão, 2008). The author, Augustus Nicodemus Lopes, is a Presbyterian pastor and chancellor of the Mackenzie Presbyterian University. The material of the book originated in large part from posts at the blog O Tempora, O Mores, which the author shares with two of his colleagues. From among the titles presented at the conference bookstore, I selected this one with two criteria in mind: First, I wanted to read something that would help me understand the church in Brazil. Second, I wanted to read something published originally in Portuguese, not translated from English. There is little point in me wrestling in Portuguese to read what already exists in English.

I hope, when finished to write a proper review of this book, but since I can usually only read when waiting in line, for example, at the bank, that may be a while in coming. So for now, here is a snippet I found valuable:

In chapter five, “Myths of Pluralism,” Augustus Nicodemus levels a critique against pluralism as embraced by theological liberals, neo-orthodox and libertines. He distinguishes between empirical pluralism, which merely recognizes that God has created the world with a magnificent display of diversity of cultures and ideas, and philosophical pluralism, which denies the existence of absolute truths, and asserts that contradictory truth claims may be equally valid at the same time.

Pluralism as an acknowledgment of diversity is a good thing, but Augustus Nicodemus lists nine difficulties he finds with pluralism as a worldview.

I translate here difficulty #3:

The concept of absolute pluralism is internally inconsistent. The affirmation, “there is not one right idea, but many,” can be understood as just one of these many ideas, relative and therefore not valid for everyone at the same time. I find it interesting that the defenders of pluralism are unanimous in defending the existence of pluralism and the non-existence of absolute truths. Strictly speaking, unanimity is incompatible with pluralism. If everyone agrees that there is not one right idea, but many, and truth is dependent upon the point of view of each individual, this unanimity is already an exception to the rule (p. 45).
[View original blog post from 24 February 2007.]

Unanimity is incompatible with pluralism. This is to state the obvious, it arises from the very definition of pluralism, but it is also the Achilles’ heel that invalidates the whole philosophical system.

MacArthur Study Notes for the Online ESV

2011-03-15T01:50:00.000-07:00

When the ESV Study Bible was released in the fall of 2008, I immediately fell in love with the online component. I have a print edition, but what I use almost every day is the online edition.

Then in April 2010, when I learned that Crossway would be publishing an ESV version of the MacArthur Study Bible, I contacted them and inquired if they would make MacArthur's notes available as a module that could be added to the online ESV.

I received the following cryptic reply:

from: ESV Online Help
to: Matthew Carroll
date: Sun, Apr 25, 2010 at 9:25 PM
subject: Re: [ESV Online] Customer feedback on /search/gen/

I take it you would be interested in this =)
Crossway - ESVonlinehelp

Keep Connnected:
Blog: http://esv.org/blog
Facebook: http://facebook.com/crosswaybooks
Twitter: http://twitter.com/crosswaybooks
http://www.crossway.org

Interested? Definitely!

Well, my wait is over. The MacArthur study notes module is now available for $19.99 as a as an add-in to the online ESV. Crossway is offering a 30-day free trial. If you don't have an ESV Study Bible, you can get a free account with just the ESV text, and try out the MacArthur notes for free as well. I'm doing the test drive right now.

Details [here] and [here].

Here's a screen shot of Mark. (Click to enlarge.)

My own notes are in the left column. The ESV text is in the second column, and I have arranged the ESV Study Bible notes and the MacArthur Study Bible notes in the third and fourth columns.

There are a few things I really like about the online ESV Study Bible:

Portable - Anywhere you log in in the world, you automatically have your Bible with personal highlighting, underlining, "margin" notes.
Affordable - Obviously, software like Logos Bible Software is far more robust, but frankly, I haven't been financially able to keep up. When Logos rolled out version 4, they left me behind. For quick searching the text of Scripture and getting an at-a-glance commentary on a passage, Crossway's online ESV Study Bible has been very helpful.
Linkable - From any other program that permits web linking, you can link into your online ESV.

When I teach, rather than use Powerpoint, I like to use Freemind mindmaps. Within a mindmap, I can include a Scripture address that links to that location in my online ESV. Rather than copy and paste all my Scripture into a Powerpoint, I link from my mindmap to the online ESV. This gives much greater flexibility while teaching to search out the context or investigate a parallel passage if class discussion takes a unforeseen, but serendipitous turn. (Yes, I know, you can link from a PowerPoint to a web address, but I still prefer a mindmap to a PowerPoint slideshow.)

You can also link out from the ESV to other online resources, for example if a video on YouTube provides an illustration pertinent to a given Scripture passage, you can put that link in your own marginal notes to your online ESV.

I found all of these benefits before test driving the MacArthur study notes module. The release of MacArthur's notes for the online ESV will only increase the valuable tool Crossway's online ESV has become.

Thank you, Crossway!

God's all over this book

2011-03-11T19:55:00.000-08:00

Our four-year old is a budding pre-reader. Throughout the course of the day's dialog, he'll frequently glom on to a word recently spoken and say, for example, "Flower? How do you spell flower?"

He's also something of a picky eater, though he is expanding his horizons. It's not unusual for him to ask me for something, which I eagerly prepare, only to see him play with it a while and then reject it.

Yesterday, my son asked me for an orange. I sliced it into wedges for him and placed it before him. He drove them around like cars for a few minutes and then told me he didn't want them, "This orange is not good."

"But you never even tried it."

"Oranges are bad."

"Okay, look, I'll eat three of the pieces, but I want you to eat this one piece."

"No, I want to get down."

"No, you asked me for the orange. You may get down when you eat the orange. And make sure you do not let the orange fall on the floor."

Disappointed, my son pushed the orange wedge around a couple more minutes until, of course, it fell on the floor.

So I brought my son aside to my study for a little conversation. Opening my Bible, with my finger in the text, I read Genesis 1:11-12 and 29, and explained that God made the fruit trees, including the orange, and called them good. God gave oranges to us for our food, so we ought to enjoy them, thanking God, rather than calling oranges bad.

My son studied the page, and with his finger in the text, he located a word he recognized, "God!" Then scanning up and down the column, he discovered more, "Hey, God, God, God, God!" his finger roving all over the page, "God's all over this book!"

I brought my son to God's Word hoping to teach him a lesson about oranges. I believe he took away a lesson far, far more important.

Through the Bible in a ...

2010-11-13T04:19:00.000-08:00

I think the first time I read through the Bible cover to cover, I was in high school. I read in my NIV Student Bible.

The second time, I was nearly 30, living in Kazakhstan. I had my Logos Bible Software design a schedule for reading the whole Bible in a year, which I then read in the ESV using Laridian PocketBible on my Dell Axim Pocket PC.

A couple years ago, I tried to read through the Bible in a year using Crossway's ESV Study Bible Reading Plan. I found the four book-marked groupings very agreeable, however, in August of that year I returned to finish my seminary studies and ditched the plan in favor of keeping up on seminary-related reading and study.

Now, out of seminary, it's high time to develop a structured Bible reading plan again. For the OT, I'm still letting my Logos software give me a plan to read through the OT in a year. But for the NT I wanted to do something different.

In his sermon entitled "How to Study Scripture," John MacArthur recommends reading the New Testament through by spending a month in each book, reading that book through in its entirety each day for 30 days. This way by the end of 30 days, you'll really know the book. Larger books can be divided into sections, for example the Gospel of John, can be divided into three sections of seven chapters each. The Old Testament does not need to be read this way. Just read it straight through, and then start over.

I've tried this New Testament plan before. Usually what happens is I spend a very profitable first month in, e.g., Ephesians. Then, at the end of the month, I flounder because I don't know where I'm going next.

So here I have developed a plan for reading the whole NT, reading each book or section daily for 30 days:

The books started more or less in canonical order and then I rearranged them to alternate short books with long books, which are divided up into groupings of five to eight chapters. I grouped Colossians and Philemon together as well as 2 Peter and Jude. Then I promoted the Pastorals and Philippians to the front end of my calendar just because I want to study them first.

It should take just under four years to read the whole NT this way. Seems daunting, but I make two observations: 1) Seminary was daunting--but profitable. This will be will be a cake walk compared to seminary--and most assuredly profitable. 2) Now I know what I'll be reading for the next four years--no floundering at the end of the first month.

I will use a variety of print and online tools as I read and study each book, including my Logos software, and the ESV Study Bible online. I'm not opposed to occasionally doing a day's reading in my Laridian PocketBible, now on my HTC Touch. But my "home base" for my reading will be my NASB UltraThin LeatherTex Bible. The idea being this will be the Bible that collects my margin notes and that will be "imprinted" on my mind's eye when I want to go back and find that reference that is "on the left-hand page, right column, about half-way down."

The Bible reading calendar above started as an Excel spreadsheet. If anyone would like to try something like this, I can e-mail you the spreadsheet for you to customize to your own needs.

Seminary and Beyond

2010-06-24T15:27:00.000-07:00

Wow, a lot has happened lately!

For starters, after six years in seminary, I finally graduated! Thank you to so many of you who encouraged us and prayed for us along the way. It is a great feeling to be done with this significant chapter in life, and I am extremely grateful for the training I have received while here.

Secondly, many of you may recall an e-mail I sent out at the end of March listing several potential options for us following graduation. Our main choices were an internship at a pastoral training center in Fortaleza, Brazil, or (1400 miles away) seeking secular employment in order to live near Elsiene’s family in Goiânia.

As the Lord would have things, the internship opportunity in Fortaleza did not materialize, but a dear friend contacted me with another idea for ministry. Thomas Smoak was my high school principal, athletics coach, and Bible study leader when I was growing up in Lomalinda, Colombia. In my life, he is a mentor and a hero.

Thomas is now the Brazilian national director with ACTION International. Thomas and his family live in São Paulo, where they have a ministry rescuing street children. Also part of ACTION is PLD (Pastoral Leadership Development) a ministry that provides training and resources to otherwise untrained, poor pastors. PLD reaches all over Brazil, but their main base just happens to be located in Goiânia—seven miles down a country highway from Elsiene’s house where her father and grandfather still live!

As you can imagine, we are very excited to have discovered this ministry where I can put my own seminary training to good benefit, and we can live near Elsiene’s family at the same time. We have begun the process of formally applying to ACTION in Brazil.

Thirdly, in other news, Elsiene and I have recently learned that we are expecting our third child, due in February 2011! We are thankful to God for His blessing. All the same, we ask your prayers. With our first two pregnancies Elsiene suffered severe nausea, and this pregnancy so far appears to be following suit.

It is still unclear what our schedule might be for joining ACTION in Brazil, and how our pregnancy will affect these plans, but we invite you to rejoice with us for all these developments and to pray with us for God’s will in our application to ACTION and for the health of Elsiene and our new baby.

Blessings in Christ,

- Matthew

Abundant Grace

2009-02-02T03:10:00.000-08:00

Two years ago, I had a couple posts about how Iain Murray helped me find a good church in Goiânia, Brazil, and how through that church, we got back in touch with a young woman (also named "Grace") who had first welcomed Elsiene to Grace Community Church.

Iain Murray is the founder of Banner of Truth Trust, one of the most trusted publishers among the books we carry at Grace Books International. Iain Murray was assistant to Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones at Westminster Chapel, London, in the 1950s, is a minister in the Australian Presbyterian Church, and is one of today's foremost biographers.

Yesterday, February 1, marked 40 years that John MacArthur has served as our pastor at Grace Community Church, and Iain Murray was our guest preacher, bringing a sermon from Colossians 1:27, "To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory."

I had thought it would be fun to meet Iain Murray, but I was serving with the bookstore most of the day. For the 40th anniversary Grace To You published a book of landmark sermons from the preaching of John MacArthur's forty years of ministry, entitled Truth Endures. Included with the book is a 70-page biographical sketch of John MacArthur's life, written by Iain Murray. We received 4000 copies of the book to give one to each family or household as a gift. We blew out of those by 12:30 pm, and could have used about 1000 more.

As we were down to the last box, one of the pastoral assistants came to me and asked, "Do you have any more books? I need two copies to give to Iain Murray."

I gave the young man two books, grabbed a third copy for myself, scooped up Nathanael (who was playing around my feet) and followed around behind the church where Iain Murray was waiting to be whisked away in a car by Phil Johnson, director of Grace To You. I thanked Iain Murray for having directed me to the church in Goiânia, and he signed my copy of Truth Endures, saying, "Not many people know Goiânia!"

It was a great day, from start to finish, and I am grateful for how God continues to bless me and my family at Grace Community Church and The Master's Seminary. It is rare to see a man who has served God faithfully in one pulpit for 40 years, and the effect of that faithfullness will be felt for many years to come, I'm sure.

And I'm tickled by God's providence, even in the small things. He certainly didn't have to let me meet Iain Murray, and I wouldn't have even recollected if the day had passed without it. But God put me in the right place at the right time to enjoy the blessing. I guess that's an example of God's grace: God didn't have to show favor...

but He did.

Under the Wing

2009-01-09T15:43:00.000-08:00

News flash:
Starting May 21st, 2009 DELTA AIRLINES will start NON STOP service from Los Angeles to Sao Paulo International Airport in Brazil.

Los Angeles to Sao Paulo - Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays.

Sao Paulo to Los Angeles - Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

And to introduce their new connection Delta was offering LAX-GRU round trip tickets for $450. Bummer that that offer expired four days ago, and I've already committed my 100,000 miles on United for our tickets in April.

But next time around...!!!

More info here:
http://news.delta.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=11199

Overheard in the church parking lot...

2008-12-21T16:49:00.000-08:00

Three young men leave the college-age fellowship group at noon on a Sunday, not too long ago.

Two of them are conversing about a "sister" within their circle of friends who has apparently impressed them both.

The first young man suggests to his friend, "Maybe we should have hand-to-hand combat to see who gets to go out with her!"

"No," the friend replies, "we should have hand-to-hand prayer to see who gets to go out with her."

At this the third companion butts in, "Tell you what. You guys go pray, and I'll go out with her."

On Obama and denying one's self

2008-11-19T08:15:00.000-08:00

A guest at this blog recently read my review of The Faith of Barack Obama, and made the following comment:

I read and reviewed this book, too (thanks for the free book, TNP!), and I had mixed reactions like you did.

I'm interested in one thing you said about Obama's conversion coming "not because he was drawn to Christ" but because this church meshed with what he already believed.

I'm not sure it's as tidy as that. The way each of us comes to faith and experiences faith is conditioned largely on what we already bring to the table. In the case of many radical conversion stories it means rejecting much of what we brought to the table, while for Obama it was an affirmation of it. His church challenged him and made him grow, even if he didn't make a massive 180 degree turn in his life.

To assume, then, that he is not really a Christian, but a "spiritually awakened person" is, I think, boxing in the work of the Holy Spirit a little too much. God works in mysterious ways, and they very rarely fit in to our narrowly defined categories.

I responded in the comments, but I don't want this to get lost down there, so I'm promoting this to a new post.

Hello ________, thanks for stopping by to read my review of The Faith of Barack Obama.

While agreeing with you that God does not work with in our narrowly defined categories, I must affirm that God always works within the parameters He Himself sets in Scripture.

For example, I reference the words of Christ who said, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself” (Matt. 16:24; Luke 9:23). God works within those parameters. It would be foolish and arrogant, yea, heresy, for me to teach that one can come to Christ without denying himself.

Just this morning, I came across the full text of Obama's interview with Cathleen Falsani, from March 27, 2004, in which he describes his own faith. I highly recommend we all read it.

There is much I could say about the interview, but I'll just mention two points of concern:

1) Obama's prayer life is actually an internal dialog with himself; no mention of communion with God.

2) Obama's understanding of sin is anything that goes against his own values; no mention of sin as an offense to a Holy God.

Compare Obama's practice of prayer with the example of David in Psalm 5.

Give ear to my words, O LORD, consider my meditation. Hearken unto the voice of my cry, my King, and my God: for unto thee will I pray. My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O LORD; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up, (Ps 5:1-3, KJV).

Likewise, consider David's theology of sin found in his confession after committing adultery with Bathsheba and murdering her husband Uriah:

Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me. Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest, (Ps 51:1-4, KJV).

Contrast the religion of David with Obama's brand of Christianity and it becomes apparent that the faith of Barack Obama is essentially quite Obama-centric, even when he's using it to serve others.

Obama will soon take the oath of office. He will be my president, and I will honor him as such, but I have no confidence in his profession of faith in Christ.

I pray that God will indeed grant Barack Obama repentance, the grace to deny himself and follow Christ.

Obama's interview with Cathleen Falsani may be read here:
http://blog.beliefnet.com/stevenwaldman/2008/11/obamas-interview-with-cathleen.html

Book Review: Basics of Verbal Aspect in Biblical Greek

2008-11-14T04:20:00.000-08:00

Constantine R. Campbell. Basics of Verbal Aspect in Biblical Greek. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2008. 159pp. $16.99. Reviewed by Matthew Carroll.

Constantine R. Campbell’s Basics of Verbal Aspect in Biblical Greek, released just this month by Zondervan, is an accessible, affordable, and I believe, invaluable, introduction to the topic of verbal aspect.

I entered seminary with an undergraduate degree in engineering, and no knowledge of Greek aside from the letters of the alphabet my former vocation had appropriated to represent all manner of variables. At seminary, I took an intensive summer introduction to Greek grammar, followed by two semesters of Greek Exegesis. Looking back though, I can’t recall if I learned anything about aspect. So among Campbell’s readers, I consider myself among of the uninitiated.

For my benefit, Campbell responds first to the “So what?” question. Knowledge of verbal aspect is important because it enables one to correct exegetical falacies, not uncommon in commentaries. Positively, it allows one to understand why a particular verb may have been employed in Scripture over against another, opening up rich exegetical insights (11-16).

Campbell defines verbal aspect as the speaker’s or author’s viewpoint on the action of the verb, and holds that there are only two aspects, perfective and imperfective. In the perfective aspect, the speaker views the verb as a whole, in summary, from a distance, with no regard for the details. In the imperfective aspect, the speaker views the verb as if unfolding before his very eyes, with no regard for the beginning or end of the action. The classic example is that of a journalist reporting on a parade. Sitting in a helicopter far above the parade, the reporter would describe the event in the perfective aspect as a whole. Standing on the curb with the parade passing before his eyes, the same reporter would speak in the imperfective aspect of the details of the parade, with no reference to the beginning or end of the parade (19).

Campbell’s book is a necessary addition to our resources on Greek grammar because many of the most trusted works on biblical Greek confound aspect and Aktionart. Aspect is a semantic value built in to the tense-form of the verb, it does not change from one context to another. Aktionart, the “kind of action,” is a pragmatic value that arises from the aspect, the lexeme (the particular word) and the context, so the same verb, in the same tense, may involve a different Aktionart from one context to another (21-25).

Greek tense, Campbell argues, is not primarily a temporal quality as it is in English, but a spatial quality. In other words, speaking in summary of a remote event, the subject would use a verb with the aorist tense-form. The aorist tends therefore to be translated as a past tense in English, but since time is not the most important factor in tense, sometimes context requires us to translate an aorist verb in the present or the future.

The theory of verbal aspect, Campbell explains in Part 1 of his book, and in Part 2, he shows how this plays out in the New Testament text. Both parts of the book yielded a number of good “ah-ha!” moments for me. Campbell uses Luke 9:42-45 to give an example of how perfective and imperfective aspect are employed in narrative. In this case, aorist verbs are employed to provide the main structure of the narrative. The main events described are remote to the narrator, and are presented in summary; Jesus rebuked the demon and healed the boy. But the supplemental information is provided via the imperfect tense, which is similarly remote, but is able to convey unfolding events, in this passage, the people’s reaction to the healing and subsequent fear (44-5).

Campbell deals with each of the tense-forms according to an understanding of aspect in chapters 7 through 9, and then in chapter 10, he deals with participles. I have heard sermons (in fact, I have taught) on Matthew 28:19 that the imperative verb is make disciples, and that go is actually a participle that may be understood “as you are going.” Regarding this verse, Campbell explains how knowledge of aspect requires us to treat this participle as taking on the same imperative mood of make disciples.

“It would be a mistake to render this aorist participle ‘as you go,’ communicating an action that frames the context in which the command ‘make disciples’ is to take place. Instead, as a participle of attendant circumstance, the aorist takes on the full force of the imperative with which it is coordinate. The command is to go and make disciples” (127).

After finishing Constantine R. Campbell’s Basics of Verbal Aspect in Biblical Greek, I returned and reread Part 1 on Verbal Aspect Theory, and found I filled in a number of remaining gaps in my understanding of aspect. I recommend this book to any student of the Greek Testament, whether you already know the importance of aspect, whether you are looking for a way to freshen up a knowledge of Greek grammar that has grown rusty, or whether, like me, you don’t recall if you ever heard of this before. Basics of Verbal Aspect in Biblical Greek is an invaluable tool in your Greek study.

Campbell is blogging this week over at Koinonia. Read the blog to sample the content of his book:
[Post 1 of 5] [Post 2 of 5] [Post 3 of 5] [Post 4 of 5] [Post 5 of 5]

Gnomic Aktionart

2008-11-11T07:23:00.000-08:00

I am learning about gnomic Aktionart. As intriguing as that sounds, it actually has nothing to do with lawn ornaments.

Aktionart is a grammarian's way of describing what "kind of action" a verb describes in its context, whether a repetitive action, an action beginning, or a state of being, for example.

"Gnomic" is an adjective that describes some universal, timeless truth. So when James writes, "For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits" (James 1:11), he uses aorist verbs (for those of you interested in such things) which are ideally suited in their aspect for creating a gnomic Aktionart, expressing a general statement about reality.

Verbal "aspect" (since you asked) is a way of communicating the speaker's viewpoint upon the action. If the speaker describes the action as from a viewpoint spacially or temporally distant, he employs a perfective aspect. If he describes the action as unfolding right before his eyes, he employs an imperfective aspect.

Zondervan has just published Basics of Verbal Aspect in Biblical Greek, by Constantine Campbell. Constantine argues that classical and koine Greek actually did not employ tenses (past or present) as we do in English, but instead used aspect. When translating the Greek Testament in to English, we need to pay attention to aspect and context to determine what English tense to employ.

I'm something of a hobby linguist and Greek nerd, so I found this book fascinating. Russian language also uses aspect, so the concept in Greek was not completely foreign to me. All the same there were still some parts that left me scratching my head saying, "Huh?!?" Undoubtedly, that is no fault of Dr. Campbell's.

Shortly, I plan to post something more along the lines of a book review here on Basics of Verbal Aspect in Biblical Greek, but for the moment, I merely wanted to gush about Greek grammar. It's the coolest evar!

Campbell is blogging this week about his book over at Koinonia.
[Post 1 of 5] [Post 2 of 5] [Post 3 of 5]

His book just happens to be available at Grace Books International.

Unpacking Forgiveness

2008-10-11T22:11:00.000-07:00

I received an early review copy of Unpacking Forgiveness (Crossway), by Chris Brauns, and have begun to read through it. I've got a number of other things going on, so I may not finish it quickly, but that may actually be for the better. This looks to be a very good book to take slowly.

Probably the first author I ever read to turn me on to the glory of God is John Piper. I came across a copy of Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist in Uzbekistan in 2000. There Piper writes, "God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him."

In Unpacking Forgiveness, Chris Brauns starts by applying that principle to our understanding of forgiveness. Too many people are afraid to learn about biblical forgiveness thinking it will be a bitter pill to swallow. Not the case, says Brauns:

So why do it? Here is the short answer. You should be motivated to unpack forgiveness so you can know maximum happiness. When your alarm clock screeches at you to get out of bed at some desolate hour so you can get up to study the Bible and pray, you should listen to it because you want to be happy. When you contemplate calling up someone to ask forgiveness or to offer grace, perhaps someone to whom you never wanted to talk again, you should challenge yourself to do so because you want to be happy. When you are deciding whether or not to watch television or to learn prayerfully about forgiveness, tell yourself, I am going to do this because I believe it will maximize my happiness.

I never thought about forgiveness that way!

I look forward to much more to come in this little volume.

Book Review: The Faith of Barack Obama by Stephen Mansfield

2008-09-28T08:37:00.000-07:00

Stephen Mansfield. The Faith of Barack Obama. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2008. 164pp. $19.99. Reviewed by Matthew Carroll.

Stephen Mansfield has done well in this brief book about Barack Obama's life and faith. Presidential biography makes some of the most interesting reading, and the story of presidential candidate Barack Obama is among the most remarkable. I am grateful for the opportunity to read and review the book. It has helped me to better know who Obama is, and understand his significance.

Perhaps most interesting to me is that Obama, if elected, would be the first “Third Culture Kid” to become president. One of the aspects of Obama's life that Mansfield makes clear is that Obama is a “man without country” (xvi). He was too white for his black friends, and too black for the society of his white grandparents. He was born in Hawaii, and barely knew his father from Kenya. A significant portion of his childhood was spent in Indonesia where his step-father introduced him to folk-Islam. And his mother sent him to a Catholic school, though she herself taught Obama her “atheistic optimism” (14).

Technically, John McCain is also a TCK, born in the Panama Canal Zone, and moved from base to base much of his childhood, though in my opinion, as far as cultural diversity goes, that does not hold a candle to running barefoot in the streets of Jakarta.

As a TCK myself, I find Obama's biography fascinating. Raised in Colombia of American parents, I can identify with the feeling of being neither fish nor fowl. I can sympathize with his longing for belonging, and yet never quite fitting in. And even when apparently finding some birds of a feather, I know the feeling of resting lightly on the roost. Mansfield describes Obama’s association with Jeremiah Wright’s church and suggests that Obama was able to attend there for 20 years and “take the chicken and spit out the bones” (64). I can attest to the TCK’s ability to pick and choose wherever he goes. In my past 15 years as an adult TCK, as I moved from assignment to assignment, I have participated in a dozen churches on four different continents. Of these churches, I only left two for doctrinal reasons. The others I stayed and got plugged in despite the flaws—and found the Lord still worked in me and made me useful in that season. But I have little assurance that Obama would have the foundation to pick and choose rightly. Being raised in an atheist and Muslim home, attending a Catholic school, I don’t see where Obama would ever have received the biblical instruction required to have the discernment to pick and choose from Jeremiah Wright’s sermons. All the same, I will give Obama the benefit of the doubt. I will grant that he may have able to receive some benefit from the good, bring his own contribution as well, and leave most of the bad to the side. If this is true, it stems not from any superior skill of Obama’s, but from God’s sovereign ability to use imperfect vessels to accomplish His purposes.

This brings me to the main thing that troubles me about Obama. Mansfield quotes from Obama’s The Audacity of Hope, that “he was seeking a ‘vessel’ for his values, a ‘community of shared traditions in which to ground my most deeply held beliefs’” (24, 52). This concerns me because it appears that Obama came not to faith and a church because he was drawn to Christ, but because he already had a “faith” of his own making and sought a sympathetic community not unlike a virus seeks a host to draw the basic requirements to pass on life. The Gospels record several people who wanted to be included among Jesus’ followers, but on their own terms (Matt. 8:19-22; Luke 9:57-62). Jesus turned all of them away, because “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself” (Matt. 16:24; Luke 9:23). No one can come to Christ with his own agenda; Christ is Lord, He sets the agenda.

Furthermore, Mansfield quotes from Audacity that “rather than ‘renounce the world and its ways’” Obama “was pleased that his faith would not require ‘retreat from the world that I knew and loved’” (53). This raises red flags in my mind, for though Jesus’ followers are “in the world” (John 17:11), we are not to be “of the world” (John 15:19). Likewise John in his first epistle writes “Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him” (1 John 2:15). If Obama is pleased with his faith because it has not required him to forsake the world he knew and loved before his conversion, then I must express serious doubts that Obama has found biblical, saving faith.

If I could hazard a guess at where Obama is spiritually in his own mind, I would draw from the words he used to describe his own mother. In a caption to a photo on page 68, Mansfield records Obama as having written, “For all her secularism, my mother was in many ways the most spiritually awakened person I have ever known.” Obviously Obama is not speaking with scriptural understanding here because no atheist is spiritually awakened in the biblical sense. Without Christ, we are dead in our trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1). I believe Obama intends to pay his mother a compliment in calling her “spiritually awakened.” The way the world understands these words, being spiritually awakened merely means appreciating beauty in others different than one’s self and acknowledging an immaterial dimension to reality. Ann Dunham raised her son well, and I suspect there is a great deal of her still in him. Though many are eager to say Obama is a Christian, and proud of it, it might be more accurate to say he is “spiritually awakened” as the world would understand it, and he has associated himself with Christianity in order to give his spirituality expression.

Unfortunately, Mansfield was not able to interview Obama personally, and since I have not read any of Obama’s books myself, I will stop short of pronouncing Obama an infidel. But after reading The Faith of Barack Obama, the best I can say is that I hope this is not the final definitive word on Obama’s faith. Obama is still a young man. I pray that the Lord will indeed save Barack Obama. Jesus is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through Him (Hebrews 7:25).

Book Review: The Leadership Dynamic by Harry L. Reeder III

2008-09-26T14:58:00.000-07:00

Harry L. Reeder III. The Leadership Dynamic: A Biblical Model for Raising Effective Leaders. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2008.189pp. $12.99 (paper). Reviewed by Matthew Carroll.

I was once asked to assemble a book list of recommended titles on Christian leadership. Immediately, J. Oswald Sanders's classic Spiritual Leadership came to mind, but not much else. After consulting other pastors and seminary professors, I realized that much has been written on leadership attempting to apply a corporate business model to the church, but very little has been published on leadership from a biblical perspective. Therefore, the book list project was scrapped, but just this month, Harry L. Reeder III, pastor of Briarwood Presbyterian Church in Birmingham, Alabama has come out with a book on leadership in the church.

The Leadership Dynamic is the book I would have liked to have had at the top of my book list on leadership a couple years ago. Harry Reeder's conviction is that "The Christian church must become a leadership factory and distribution center for the world, and by the grace of God, it can – if we return to both the biblical definition of leadership and the biblical method of producing leaders for the church and the world" (15). Reeder's dream is to hear the words of Acts 17:6 uttered again, even upon the lips of an adversary, "These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also" (22). In order to see this come about, we need what Reeder calls 3-D Leadership: "The church must follow the Bible's model for defining, developing, and deploying leaders while simultaneously rejecting the world's leadership models and standards" (15).

Chapters 2 through 11 flesh out the ideal of 3-D Leadership. Christ's threefold mission on earth was to save sinners (Mt. 1:21), to destroy the works of Satan (1 Jn. 3:8), and to purchase his church (Eph. 5:25-27). Reeder finds "embedded in achieving his threefold mission is the strategy of leadership multiplication of servant leaders for the kingdom" (35). A leader is defined as one who "influences others to effectively achieve a defined mission together" (43).

In Chapter 5 Reeder deals with the lists of qualifications for elders and deacons in 1 Timothy 3:1-7 and Titus 1:5-9 and distills them into four requirements for leaders in the church: 1) the existence of a divine call, including an internal aspiration and an external affirmation, 2) that godliness is more important than giftedness, 3) that effective leaders must develop a grace-driven and disciplined lifestyle, and 4) that leaders are position-bearers, not position-wearers.

In this same chapter, Reeder describes three traps to avoid: indolence, immorality, and insubordination. Here, unfortunately, Reeder is unclear on whether an elder or pastor who commits adultery may ever be restored to his position. He asks the question, "Can a leader who falls to adultery or fornication be restored and reconciled in the home and in the church?" and responds, "Yes—sexual immorality is not the unforgivable sin. But it is extremely destructive to the element of trust that's so essential to leadership, and full restoration to authority will, of necessity, require much supervised time and effort" (60). However, on the following page, Reeder describes an accountability group he has been a member of for 25 years. In this group each member has agreed that if any one of the group is guilty of "violating [his] marriage covenant, he must leave the pastoral ministry. For us, the door to leadership and ministry swings open one way and only one time" (61). Reeder's personal conviction seems to be that a pastor or elder needs to be a one-woman kind of man; it doesn't make sense that he allows in general the remote possibility that a Christian leader who has proven himself not to be a one-woman man could then return to his former position.

In Chapter 12, Reeder sums up his vision that through 3-D Leadership the church could once again become a leadership factory and distribution center for the world. Reeder writes passionately about a topic near to his heart, and with only a few exceptions, supports his points well from Scripture. Though Reeder includes no examples from modern corporate leadership, he takes many examples and illustrations from military history, using them to good effect throughout. The Christian life is spiritual warfare, so we should not be surprised, Reeder affirms, that biblical leadership more closely resembles a battle than a board meeting.

To cite just one example, Reeder relates the story of Lieutenant Colonel Moore, who during the Vietnam War was known for his leadership skills. One story is told of Moore that in a training exercise, a squad leader was "killed." Moore declared, "You are dead! Now, who do you have ready to take your place?" Reeder employs this story to illustrate one of his leadership maxims that "great leaders always prepare to reproduce and multiply themselves" (68).

I left the foreign mission field to enroll in seminary in order to be equipped to return overseas and train men to effectively proclaim the Word of God. Pastor Harry Reeder is a like-minded brother-in-arms, and I heartily recommend The Leadership Dynamic as a resource to anyone who is about the work of training faithful men who are able to teach others also.

From the Publisher:
Product page: The Leadership Dynamic: A Biblical Model for Raising Effective Leaders.
Read the Preface and Chapter 1. [PDF]

About the Author:
Harry L. Reeder III earned an MDiv from Westminster Theological Seminary and a DMin from Reformed Theological Seminary. He is senior pastor of the 4,000-member Briarwood Presbyterian Church in Birmingham. He is also the author of From Embers to a Flame.

An I Can Read Story

2008-09-18T00:34:00.000-07:00

Of course every parent thinks their kid is the smartest.

Or do they?

Recently I was in line at the grocery store and observed a mother with her daughter in the grocery cart. The girl, maybe 5 years old, had plucked a board book from a rack and was whining that she wanted it. Her mom responded, "What do you want that for?!? You can't even read!"

Mother and daughter continued to repeat this point and counterpoint until I left the store and could hear them no more. Broke my heart. Surely there are 100 better ways to tell your child, "No, we're not buying that right now."

* * *

Nathanael loves to ride elevators--there are so many buttons to push! Tonight we entered an elevator, and before I could grab him, he set off the alarm (Why do they put that big red button where a 2 year old will find it?).

I picked up Nathanael to prevent any more alarms, and from his higher altitude, he could see more bottons, and started shouting "Two! Three!"

When we got home, I opened a jar of canned mush for Nathanael and broke open a pack of colorful magnetic numbers. We played with numbers 1 through 5. I asked Nathanael to show me the three. "Three!" he shouted, pointing to the big number 3 on his jar of baby food.

Kid does not miss a thing.

Now if he would only tell us where he hid his mother's car keys.

The Gospel in a Paragraph

2008-08-05T08:26:00.000-07:00

This paragraph came across my desk recently and it blew my mind:

The most terrifying news in the world is that we have fallen under the condemnation of our Creator and that he is bound by his own righteous character to preserve the worth of his glory by pouring out his wrath on the sin of our ingratitude. But there is a fourth great truth that no one can ever learn from nature or from their own consciences, a truth which has to be told to neighbors and preached in churches and carried by missionaries: namely, the good news that God has decreed a way to satisfy the demands of his righteousness without condemning the whole human race. He has taken it upon himself apart from any merit in us to accomplish our salvation. The wisdom of God has ordained a way for the love of God to deliver us from the wrath of God without compromising the righteousness of God. And what is this wisdom?

Blogger Thabiti Anyabwile posted it in May along with "The Gospel in a Sentence."

But originally it comes from a message John Piper preached in 1983, "Conversion to Christ: The Making of a Christian Hedonist."

Read the paragraph. And then go read the whole article. Still blows my mind.

Earthquake!

2008-07-29T12:24:00.001-07:00

So I'm sitting in my basement office for the bookstore, and all of a sudden it feels like a semi truck is driving down the hallway above my head.

I jumped into the doorway, but I still had visions of rescue workers coming to find me under three floors of rubble, so I made a dash for the parking lot outside.

I can't remember the last time I actually felt a good earthquake.

This one was a 5.8, not far from San Bernadino, and I felt it near Burbank pretty strongly.

What's in a name?

2008-07-28T23:36:00.000-07:00

My wife and I have this game.

We've been playing this game since before we even married. I invest all sorts of deep thought and emotion into coming up with a name to bestow upon some future child of ours, and she tells me, "Yeah, if you wanna give someone that name, you'd better get a goldfish!"

So recently, I've been spending a lot of time reading about Nestorius, the bishop of Constantinople who went down in history labeled a heretic, accused of faulty christology. He was deposed at a council in Ephesus in 431. Another council at Chalcedon in 451 condemned him again and gave us the Chalcedonian Definition which sets the limits within which all christological speculation must take place and affirms that Christ is truly God and truly man.

So I thought to myself, "Chalcedon. Hmmm... Chalcedony is a semi-precious stone. That's kinda cool.... Hmmm... How about Chalcedonica, I wonder if that means anything... [fingers run to Wikipedia] Hey! That's a flower! When we have a daughter, I want to name her Chalcedonica!"

Next Day:
"Hey, Love. You know, I've been thinking about names, if we should have a daughter someday. And you know how I've been studying about Nestorius and all. What about Chalcedonica? It means a really pretty flower, and I think it sounds really nice."

"No way, if we named her that, they'd all call her Calcinha."

Which of course is what the Brazilians call panties.

I guess I'm going to need a big fish tank.

Wordle

2008-07-26T18:46:00.000-07:00

So I wordled my blog.

And I got this word-cloud, where words used more frequently in my blog appear larger in the cloud.

I won't venture any interpretations about what, if anything, this wordle might say about my life or priorities.

But I did think that all those words jumbled together resembled the organizational structure of the bookshelves behind my desk.

Tagged

2008-07-07T02:05:00.000-07:00

Back in March, I was tagged with a meme. I never responded because I was working on a paper that was due just around the corner.

Well the paper is still undone, but I thought I'd finally acknowledge the meme.

THE RULES:
Look up from the computer, look around the room where you're sitting and pick up the closest book. Open the book, turn to page 123, count down to the fifth sentence on that page, and then post the next three sentences.

Okay, so excepting the pile of works on the Nestorian christological controversy of the 4th century, the closest book at hand is Walking with God, by J.C. Ryle. It is #13 in the Great Christian Classics series published by Evangelical Press. This book came into my hands, quite by accident -- or rather by Providence. I ordered four copies of this for the bookstore, and the publisher invoiced us for four but sent us five. So our receiver gave me the extra copy of the book.

Lest you think I'm giving the publisher a raw deal, I am liking this book so much that I'm buying two copies to give to guys I discipled in Uzbekistan. Not only that, I'm reintroducing the whole set to the store. I ordered two complete sets and am figuring out the best way to educate our customers about this resource. This series takes 22 of the all time greatest works of the Reformers and the Puritans and updates and abridges them making them accessible to your average reader looking for an introduction to Calvin or Edwards, for example, but not ready to sit down uninitiated and plow through the Institutes or Religious Affections. Kudos to Evangelical Press.

But on with the meme...

Our text tells us that Christ "will gather his wheat into the barn". Let me show you what his people will receive when he comes to cleanse his floor. He will gather all his believing people into a place of safety.

In my experience anything Ryle writes is good. And what I really like about this book, is that he explains fundamental truths clearly and makes it applicable to non-believer, new believer and seasoned believer all at the same time.

Now with good reason, this blog has laid semi-dormant for a while. But just in case anybody still visits, I tag Andrew in Brazil, Walter in the Netherlands, and Dan in Visalia.

P.S. Here's a complete list of the titles in the Great Christian Classics series. Scroll to the bottom of the page: http://www.evangelicalpress.org/grace_publications.htm

Danilo Joseph

2008-06-01T11:33:00.000-07:00

Thursday evening, at 6:05 pm, we welcomed our new son Danilo Joseph into the world. He weighed in at 7lbs 7.5 oz and is 19 3/4 inches long.

Danilo is having a little trouble breathing, so he is in the NICU for now, but they are gradually weaning him off the respirator, and hopefully, he can come home later this week.

We love you, Danilo!

Danilo's grandpa has a little more at his blog

Update

2008-05-12T23:55:00.000-07:00

Today I turned thirty-three.

A few years ago, when I left Kazakhstan, I considered applying for a job as an Overland Adventure Tour truck driver on the Lima-Santiago route.

But I had this notion, something about starting my life work.

So I applied to seminary instead.

And got married.

And had a kid.

And got another one due just a couple weeks away.

"Life work" was right!

But I guess I never heard of anything worth doing that was easy. I now think overland tour operators are sissies, and miss out on all the real rewards in life. Most of them probably never came home in the evening to find fresh-baked oatmeal raisin cookies and a note addressed to the "most gentle man in the world."

So tonight, my honey took me out to dinner at Café Colombia in Burbank. It was good food, but the waitress addressed me in Spanish. I tried to respond, but all that came out was Portuñol. The poor waitress couldn't figure out what to make of us, and asked if we were from France. Oui, bien sûr!

Too poor to buy cheap knives.

2008-05-11T00:52:00.000-07:00

In Russian there is an expression along the lines of "we're too poor to buy cheap knives."

This is the retro 50's style "KitchenAid" brand from Target. It just happens to be from the knife block we chose for our wedding registry. And it disintegrated while fixing dinner.

Granted, I was abusing the knife. I was rocking back and forth over a block of frozen spaghetti sauce. But I have abused many a knife in my day, and I have never seen a knife do this!

Note to any future brides out there: Don't register for your knives at the same place you go to buy your ZipLoc bags.

That sinking feeling

2008-04-22T13:56:00.000-07:00

I saw this video, and found it strangely appropriate. I've got two papers due two weeks ago. I've had 15 weeks to get this far behind, and two weeks before the end of the semester to get caught up. (One reason I haven't spent much time blogging lately.)

Fortunately, my professors are godly, merciful men, and have granted me permission to take an incomplete for now and work on my two papers into the summer.

Not that this summer will have nothing else going on. But it will be in keeping with tradition. A year and a half ago, I put the finishing touches on my Biblical Counseling paper in the wee hours of the morning in the maternity ward while keeping an eye on my sleeping wife and firstborn son.

Maria Machado

2008-03-20T06:48:00.000-07:00

Sunday, 16 March 2008, Maria Machado left this world behind, and entered the presence of her Savior.

Her friends affectionately called her Nega. We called her Mãe. She is dearly missed, but we rejoice for her. For the past two years we have prayed every night that God would grant Dona Maria health and strength, and now our prayer has been answered. She exchanged her frail earthly body for glorified eternal body and is praising her Lord Jesus with a capacity she never knew before. To die is gain.

Systematic Theology

2008-02-22T01:46:00.000-08:00

Graham A. Cole is professor of biblical and systematic theology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He is an ordained Anglican minister originally from Australia.

In my Theology II class, we are using his book He Who Gives Life in our study of pneumatology.

In seminary, there is the temptation to "read" the multitudinous books assigned as if they contained flip-book animations.

Do not read this book that way.

From the preface:

I have taught pneumatology classes in Australia, England, and now the United States. However, to teach systematically about the Holy Spirit, when Scripture itself does not present the story of the Spirit in that way, has always proved a considerable challenge. Moreover, if one believes the biblical testimony--which I do--then when I write about Holy Spirit, surely I ought to be in the Spirit. Moreover, as I write I am actually in the Spirit's own unseen presence, who may be grieved by what I say and do with the written page. Indeed, in human experience there is something odd, in fact impolite, about talking to a third party about someone else in that person's very presence and never directly addressing the person under discussion even though he or she is there. Likewise with the Spirit. Sobering!

Indeed.

From the Pentateuch to the Pizza Parlor

2008-02-17T00:50:00.000-08:00

Tonight I am reading an article by TMS professor Dr. Michael Grisanti in The Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society.

In this article he makes reference to the development of the Hebrew language over the course of the thousand-some years of OT compositional history. As an example of evolution in language, Grisanti includes a poem written in English over 400 years ago:

Svmer is icumen in,

Lhude sing cuccu!

Groweþ sed and bloweþ med

And springþ þe wde nu,

Sing cuccu!

Awe bleteþ after lomb,

Lhouþ after calue cu.

Bulluc sterteþ, bucke uerteþ,

Murie sing cuccu!

Cuccu, cuccu, wel singes þu, cuccu;

Ne swik þu nauer nu.

Sing cuccu nu. Sing cuccu.

Sing cuccu. Sing cuccu nu!

I was curious about this character "þ" and googled it. Turns out it sounds like our "th" (this much I had guessed), and the letter is called a "thorn".

The Wikipedia article listed several abbreviations used in Middle English that incorporated the thorn; for example, the thorn with a superscript "t" means "that", and the thorn with a superscript "e" means "the".

Over the course of time, the thorn gradually became indistinguishable from the letter "Y", and still shows up today in examples like this sign which should actually be read as "The Olde Pizza Parlor".

Suddenly it all makes sense! I always figured the pizza guy was guilty of bad grammar, using a nominative pronoun where he should have used a possessive pronoun. Turns out he was only guilty of cheesy decor! (Well, maybe still bad grammar.)

I realize this may not be new to some of my career linguist readers, or my classically educated readers, but I am now a much better informed pizza lover.

У^e things I learn in seminary!

The Same As It Has Always Been

2008-02-11T19:05:00.000-08:00

Lawrence Clark Powell, who pretty much built the UCLA library, said:

We are the children of a technological age. We have found streamlined ways of doing much of our routine work. Printing is no longer the only way of reproducing books. Reading them, however, has not changed; it is the same as it has always been, since Callimachus administered the great library in Alexandrea.

That may be true, but the way I read books is changing this semester.

I have been an enthusiastic user of Logos Bible Software since 2002 when I first bought my copy of the Original Languages Library. A couple years later I won a drawing and came home with a copy of the Scholar's Library, which I have since upgraded to the Silver Edition.

I use Logos almost daily for scripture reading and exegetical study. Logos makes accessing my favorite reference works a breeze. Occasionally, I print off a journal article to mark it up with my red pen. Sometimes, I copy a chapter of a book out of Logos and save it to a .doc file to carry around on my Pocket PC and seize moments that would otherwise be lost.

But I have never actually tried to read a full-length book on my computer... until now.

This semester the textbook for my Old Testament Introduction class was already in my digital library, so instead of purchasing the print edition, I'm endeavoring to read the whole thing (608 pp.) on my laptop.

So with all respect to Mr. Powell (who may have been speaking cognitively rather than referring to the basic physical medium), the way I read books is undergoing a significant change this semester. I'll let you know how it goes. I always like to read with pencil in hand, and though digital books incorporate ways to highlight and add notes, it's not quite the same. But this technology is still in it's infancy, and I'm sure things will continue to develop and improve.

Ironically, though I now carry more than 500 Logos books on my laptop, that already does not seem portable enough! For my winterim class in January, one of the required textbooks was available for Kindle, Amazon's slim, new, lightweight, wireless reading device -- and that for $10, as compared to $40 in paperback or $125 in hardcover!

I don't think print books will ever go extinct, but the way we read books is rapidly changing.

Spotted in the Wild

2008-02-09T00:45:00.000-08:00

I don't know how many of you read Car & Driver or the like, but a frequent feature is "spy shots" of as yet unreleased car models spotted in the wild. You know, like a picture of what we presume must be a 2010 Acura, wrapped in black canvas snapped up in a blurry paparazzi shot.

I figured I would have to camp out on some lonely stretch of Autobahn to ever see one of these cars in real life, but the other day, I actually saw one on the 210-westbound just before La Tuna Canyon!

I was driving along, and noticed a gray sedan with Michigan manufacturer plates. I thought, "That guy is a long way from home!"

Then I moved my gaze forward, and found he was very nearly on the bumper of another gray sedan with Michigan manufacturer plates. "That's peculiar," thought I.

As I passed these nondescript sedans, my gaze moved still farther forward, and fell upon a compact SUV all wrapped up in black canvas with what looked like foam bricks underneath to disguise the body lines of the car. (This image here is not exactly what I saw, but it gives you the basic idea.)

As I pulled up even with this vehicle incognito, I wondered, "Ooh, what kind of 007-type person do you suppose gets to drive these top secret cars?"

I passed the car and glanced in at the driver...

She wore pig-tails, and looked barely 20 years old!

Now only if I could get a job driving next year's cars...

Rebuked

2008-02-05T14:15:00.000-08:00

A dear Christian brother, in a spirit of love, confronted me over the fact that I have not blogged in nearly half a year.

I repent in dust and ashes, and put my hand over my mouth -- or maybe to my keyboard instead.

More to come later...

Happy Birthday, Nathanael!

2007-09-24T07:50:00.001-07:00

Happy Birthday, Mr. Doodlebug!

Your Mãe and Papai love you very much!

For Sale by Owner

2007-09-22T19:19:00.000-07:00

How do you say "Good-bye" to an old friend?

By taking out an ad on craigslist.org?

I Believe I Can Fly

2007-09-19T07:17:00.000-07:00

Now here's a creative Do-It-Yourselfer:

This guy, Cyril Mazibuko, from South Africa, built his own paraglider from ropes and plastic fertilizer bags, and got 20 feet of altitude.

Check out the story and pics here...

The Resurrection

2007-09-18T07:20:00.001-07:00

Last night I concluded about 30 hours listening to the audio book of Leo Tolstoy's The Resurrection on my MP3 player. Tolstoy tells the story of Nekhlyudov, a young man of nobility, who betrays Katerina Maslova, a childhood peasant friend. Several years later, she is placed on trial for a crime she did not commit, and he just happens to be on the jury which condemns her to hard labor in Siberia. Nekhlyudov sees that he is responsible for putting her in the circumstances that led to her downfall, and sets about to reform his life and redeem Maslova.

Tolstoy leads the reader through a fascinating description of the life of nobles and peasants, courts and prisons, in a Russia working towards the upheaval that would soon topple the Empire and change that society forever. He makes some very piercing observations about the morality and effectiveness of criminal law, though his solution, I think, betrays his belief that society is at fault for the corruption of the individual. Tolstoy concluded rightly that our institutions will not save us and very often compound our problems, but he is overly optimistic that a man is able to reform himself.

But what I enjoy so much about Tolstoy is his incredible descriptions of the inner lives of his characters. His people are real, and I found myself over and over thinking, "Yes, this is true, I have felt this way also!" I wish that in my preaching, I could learn to take the truth of God's Word and bring it to bear on the conditions of my hearers to similar effect. God's Word is truth, whether the hearer feels it or not, but if I preach and the hearer says, "This man does not know me or his subject matter," then I have failed to do my job.

Perfection

2007-08-05T13:57:00.000-07:00

Over at The Dry Wash, a tailor-philosopher engages in some higher criticism.

Over here, we are hoping that our local tailor cares more for his alterations than he apparently does for his signage.

I'm guessing that's probably not his car.

Gratuitous Self Promotion

2007-08-04T22:34:00.000-07:00

Okay, here is just a fun pic of the fam:

We have succeeded in flipping the odometer on our digital camera. Since Nathanael's birth we have averaged about 500 pictures a month, most of which just get stashed away on a hard drive some where. At that rate, we quickly ran out of digits, and our camera began assigning names at IMG_0001.jpg again.

In other news, for pet picture month, we were going to post a picture of Nathanael's favorite cats, but they all ran away when he tried to pose with them. In fact, we've come to suspect that Psycho Kitty was misnamed. His name should not be Psycho, but Sai-co, as in "Sai correndo!"

You Meet the Nicest People!

2007-07-17T05:51:00.000-07:00

As some of you know, while my brother has been off in China, I've been driving his '82 Yamaha 750, a Maxim.

Well, last week on the way to work, I pulled away from a stop light, and couldn't get the bike to shift out of first gear. I took the bike to my mechanic here, and he removed a side cover and looked through a little hole into the transmission and found some unidentified loose part resting on the drum preventing it from shifting.

Dropping the engine and opening it up to discover what that part was could cost $500. Depending on what it turned out to be, fixing it could cost $1500.

Blah.

My brother and I considered several options: e.g., there was an engine with 18,000 miles on it on e-Bay we could have picked up. But by the time we paid for shipping and installation, it would have run us $900, and the bike would still have had all the other old issues we were aware off, for example squishy brakes--the rear wheel brake drum was so worn that new pads wouldn't fix anything, it really needed a whole new rear wheel assembly, too.

So we waited. And prayed. And watched the ads.

Saturday, I found this on craigslist:

1982 750 YAMAHA VIRAGO
(ALWAYS GARAGED) - $750
Priced for quick sale. My first bike...now must make room in the garage. Original owner. 16,000 miles only. Rode occasionally for the past 20 years and always garaged. Not ridden since January.

First come first served.

I contacted the owner, and he said he'd be showing the bike Monday evening between 5:00 and 6:00. I was waiting on his doorstep at 4:55.

The bike is 25 years old, but it's basically brand new. The owner is a great guy, a brother in the Lord, and I really enjoyed talking with him. He had bought the bike when he was in college, and rode it just a few miles to class. For a couple years he rode it to work, that's where he put most of the first 10,000 miles on it. When he married, he and his wife took off, planning to spend 12 months traveling around Europe, Africa and Asia.

Thirteen years later, they returned home. In Asia, he had found a job. They settled there and even began a family. After being overseas thirteen years they finally said, "We gotta go home!"

So the bike is cherry. It's clean, gently ridden, hardly a scratch. We fired it up, and I drove it around the block a couple times. As I pulled up to the house, the second interested buyer pulled up behind me. "I'll take it!" I said.

My friend gave me all the papers and every receipt for the bike, including the original dealer purchase receipt for $2600. Since he returned to the States, he rode it only occasionally. Every year, he'd get the desire to ride, so he'd take it back to the dealer, have the bike totally reconditioned and overhauled, change the seals and clean the carbs, etc. He'd ride it a few times... and then end up returning the bike to the garage for another year.

Now they need room in the garage to get their boys a ping-pong table, so finally, the bike had to go.

I drove it 35 miles home. Compared to the Maxim 750, it seems a bit underpowered. Part of that may be the V-twin design of the Virago instead of the transverse-four of the Maxim. But I suspect it has more to do with slightly clogged jets in the carburetors. I'm hoping that once we get those cleaned out, the bike will jump off the starting block like anything.

Speaking in Tongues

2007-06-22T00:02:00.000-07:00

Recently I was working in our bookstore on a Sunday afternoon. Sunday afternoons are usually pretty quiet, and this particular Sunday was no exception.

But towards the middle of the afternoon, I saw a group of tourists, complete with cameras draped around their neck, stroll onto campus. They posed for pictures in front of the seminary library, and then made their way into the bookstore.

My guests were very excited to find the Rose Chart Book, and after loading up, they began to make their way in twos and threes to my register.

I inquired of the first group where they were from: "Korea," came the reply.

My knowledge of Korean is limited to the following three words (and I won't pretend to know how to transliterate them correctly):

anyonghaseo - hello
muksanim - pastor
gamsamnida - thank you

So I said to my customers, "Anyonghaseo."

They nodded politely and replied, "Anyonghaseo."

I asked, "Muksanim?" They nodded their heads in the affirmative.

I rang up their purchase and handed them their Rose books and said, "Gamsamnida!"

They replied, "Gamsamnida," and wandered back outside to take a few more pictures.

A few minutes later, the second group came up to the register with their arms full of Rose books, and I repeated the same dialog: "Anyonghaseo... Muksanim?... etc."

Very pleased with myself I handed them their books and receipt and said, "Gamsamnida!"

To which they replied:
"Danke schön!"

Avoiding "Nature-Deficit Disorder"

2007-06-06T23:09:00.000-07:00

Just to make sure we aren't diagnosed with Nature-Deficit Disorder, here are the three of us hiking in Eaton Canyon, just above Pasadena.

Notice that this post also fulfills the "picture of my honey" requirement.

Origins of the Ñ

2007-05-26T05:50:00.000-07:00

Ever wonder where the ñ came from?

Well here you go!

Summer Reading

2007-05-25T22:47:00.000-07:00

If my spring semester reading seemed a bit heavy on the side of preaching, my summer reading will make up for it by majoring on the topic of family.

The past two weeks I took "Pastor's Home." As hard as a night class is on a pastor's home, this class prompted plenty of good conversations here in our home. And I think the reading will prove to be the most helpful part of the class yet.

Wayne Mack's book, Your Family God's Way, I found very helpful and timely. Here's a quotable snippet: "Look upon every family member as a 'human becoming' as well as a human being. We are all in process. None of us has arrived at perfection yet" (p. 47). The gist of the book is developing effective communication within the family, and I appreciate Wayne Mack for his sound biblical counsel demonstrated over a lifetime of ministry.

Next I've begun to read Köstenberger's God, Marriage, and Family. In an age when we are finding it necessary to define the meaning of words like "marriage" and "family" this thorough, 400-page work has become the textbook on the topic from a scriptural foundation.

In my job as inventory clerk at the bookstore, I get first dibs on all the damaged or defective books that turn up in the store. I got a free misprint copy of this book that was returned by a customer for having 14 blank pages in the first seventy pages of the book. That's only 3% of the total, right? Well, I've begun reading, and I think I'm actually going to have to go buy my own copy. I'm not going to want to miss any of this book.

Finally, to round out the summer, Nathanael and I want to read The Dangerous Book for Boys. Together I'll teach him all the important things he needs to know, like how to build stuff, and what happened at Gettysburg, and how to communicate in secret code.

The Thought of God

2007-05-09T23:28:00.000-07:00

The thought of God should be the Christian's panacea. It should cure all his ills at a stroke. And what an infinity there is in the thought of God! Nothing can approach in beauty to the idea of the true and living God. That there exists a Being who is infinite in power, knowledge and goodness, that that Being cares for me with a perfect love as though I were the only man in existence, that he loved me before I was born and created me to enjoy him eternally and that he sent his Son to suffer the agony of the cross to secure my eternal happiness--that, surely, must be a thought to end all sorrow. It ought to be and often it is.
There is a difference, alas, between things as they are and things as we perceive them. Our perceptions of God suffer more than our perceptions of natural things because we are depraved and do not make it our life's work daily to enrich our idea of God from the fountainhead of Scripture. It is our folly that we allow ourselves to look at life's problems as if they were somehow isolated from God. As soon as we see our problems in the light of God's Being and perfection, we are emancipated from alarm and terror. It therefore remains a principle of universal application that we can cope with our afflictions just so long as we 'look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen' [2 Cor. 4:18].
Maurice Roberts, The Thought of God, p. 5

Mr. Fixit

2007-05-01T02:34:00.000-07:00

This lamp was given to me as a wedding gift. It has served me well during late-night study sessions, although lately, it's doesn't always turn on the first time I flip the switch.

Earlier this evening, Nathanael and I were sitting at my desk--or rather I was sitting at my desk, and he was dancing like a wild Cossack on my desk.

Nathanael proceeded to grab the head of my halogen desk lamp (it was turned off) and began to yank the whole contraption around like he was reeling in some great big fish.

At the time, I made some comment about how he was trying to fix my desk lamp. I convinced him to release his death grip from his prize catch and we moved on to other things.

Well, tonight at about 1 AM, the rest of the family is off in bed, I reached to adjust my lamp over my book, and screws I didn't even know existed came raining out of my desk lamp.

Nothing is safe.

Here he is making needed repairs to his changing table.

The devil's mountain

2007-04-25T23:34:00.000-07:00

goal we have set recently in our family is to be regularly in the scriptures. We have begun, each night after dinner, to read a chapter in Portuguese from O Evangelho Segundo São Mateus.

One advantage of reading familiar scripture in a foreign language is linguistic: You pretty much know what your reading, and when you come across new vocabulary, you can easily fill in the blanks for comprehension.

Another advantage of reading familiar scripture in a foreign language is spiritual: It forces you to think outside of some well-worn ruts in your mind. I have found new insights come to me often as a result of struggling to understand a portion of scripture where my own familiarity with the text has bred laziness.

One such text is Matthew 4:1-11, the account of Jesus' temptation in the wilderness. In verse 8 the devil takes Christ to a high mountain from which he can see all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. All this the Devil offers to Jesus, if he will but worship him.

Sometime in my childhood, I read this story in a picture Bible, and there was an artist's rather fantastical impression of what the view from the mountain must have looked like. And ever since, reading this text, I called to mind a glistening watercolor Babylon, about 4" to a side, printed on glossy paper.

Fortunately, a couple weeks ago, at our dinner table, we read this account again in Portuguese, where verse 8 is as follows:

Novamente, o transportou o diabo a um monte muito alto;
e mostrou-lhe todos os reinos do mundo e a glória deles.

I read "diabo" and "monte," and suddenly in my mind, I was standing on top of Mount Diablo in Contra Costa County, east of the San Francisco Bay.

This mountain is not even 4000 ft. high, but because there are no other mountains around it, from its elevation, you really do have the sense that you can look down and see all the kingdoms of the world. To the west, you look out to Concord and Walnut Creek, and beyond that, Oakland, the Bay, San Francisco and the Pacific Ocean. Inland, you see California's San Joaquin Valley with the cities of Stockton, and Sacramento, and beyond them, the towering Sierra Nevada. In fact, when a winter storm clears the air, one can see Mount Lassen some 180 miles to the North in the Cascade Range. Because of its unique vantage point, land surveyors in the 1850's used the peak of Mount Diablo as their starting point to survey large portions of California, Oregon and Nevada.

Even though the official story of how Mount Diablo got its name has nothing to do with Matthew 4, as I read aloud to my family, I found myself imagining a Spanish padre making the climb, with decomposed granite filling his sandals, and leaning on his walking stick all the way to the top. When the Franciscan reaches the summit, he looks down the other side, and then back where he came from, and then all around, and--still catching his breath--observes what appears to him to be the whole world fairly spread out before him. Recalling the account of the temptation of Christ, he names the mountain under his dusty sandals Monte del Diablo.

Now the scene my mind created in an instant is quite likely fiction. But the former image of a four-inch watercolor Babylon is fiction of a far worse sort. I do not know how Satan transported Jesus to the top of that mountain in verse 8, or what the view looked like from there. But whereas before, my mind plodded through these verses like a cow beating a well-worn path to pasture, now I find myself standing on top of that mountain with Jesus seeing those kingdoms with him!

And if the scripture came alive like this because I read the text in Portuguese and recalled standing upon a hill in Contra Costa, what would happen if I could actually read it in Greek or Hebrew and call upon memories of hillsides in Galilee?!?

Note to self...

2007-04-17T01:11:00.000-07:00

Next time I have time, I will go to my bookstore and help myself to one of these books from Al Mohler's list of "Ten Great Christian Biographies."

I might have to wait until August and select just one. Mohler probably read all of these last week in the time he spent sitting at red lights
on his drive home for supper.

Yellow Card

2007-04-15T12:33:00.000-07:00

Appearing for the first time ever at На Даче, a Yellow Card:

Hmmm! ... this actually happened to me once.

A few years back, I was visiting Almaty, Kazakhstan for a conference. I had been living in Uzbekistan and they don't have ATMs. But in Kazakhstan, they do, so I had gone out to get some cash from my stateside bank account.

Returning from the ATM to my hotel, a nice looking young man approached me to ask directions. I confessed that I was not from Almaty, and did not know the street he was asking for. He explained that he was a student from Kyrgyzstan and we began to talk as we both walked the same direction along the wooded path.

We had only gone a few paces, when low and behold, he stooped down by the sidewalk and with an exclamation of surprise came up with a wallet in his hand.

We opened the wallet, and found US dollars, Russian rubles, Kazakh tenge, German marks (this was a few years back), Kyrgyz som, and Uzbek sum. I'm not sure if there were any yuan, there may have been some won. Anyhow, there was a wad of cash, in about any currency that might tickle your fancy. But there were no documents. No IDs of any kind.

The two of us discussed briefly what we should do, and the kind Kyrgyz student suggested we split it, since we found it together.

I smelled a rat, and told my friend that he had found it, and in English we have an expression, "Finders keepers." He insisted on sharing it, but I told him I was content, and didn't need the money. He, as a student, could surely put it to good use.

He shrugged and thanked me, and in two steps he completely disappeared from my sight.

Only later did I learn that this is a common scam. If I had taken half of the money, my friend would have disappeared, and a moment later, an accomplice claiming to have lost the wallet would have shown up with a couple crooked cops and demanded his money back. I would have had to pay back the half I gained from the deal plus the other half out of my own money. Convenient that they happened to spot me returning from the ATM.

Thankfully, I avoided that scam. But I think I've fallen prey to others. The good scams are the ones you never know about.

But then there was the time I was living in Germany, when in my building's community laundry room, I found a still wet 100 DM note on the floor.

What did I do?

I kept it.

[Get your own Yellow Card!]

Road Trip

2007-04-14T11:17:00.000-07:00

At the end of the Summer in 2005 my brother and I took a motorcycle trip we'd been talking about for a long time. It was grand. Here (finally) are a few pics.

Juan Valdez

2007-04-08T22:10:00.000-07:00

This is old news actually. But I tucked it away, thinking I might use it someday. Last year on our flight to Brazil, I picked up a Miami Herald, and noticed this:

The actor who played Juan Valdez, the famous Colombian coffee grower, was about to retire, and they were looking for a replacement.

Funny they never contacted me. I used to work for Juan Valdez. In 1989, I arrived in California to start 9th grade and was befriended by a bunch of losers, clowns and general smart alecks. When they found out I was from Colombia, they all wanted to know if I knew Juan Valdez. I told them, "Of course, I used to work for him after school, picking beans and all."

"Oh," they said.

"But it's a shame what happened to his brother, Exxon," I added.

"Huh?" they said.

"Never mind."

I hope they find the right guy for the job.

Don't I know you from somewhere?

2007-04-03T22:52:00.000-07:00

I told you there is a conspiracy afoot.

Now they're at it again. I already introduced you to this book back in August. In Brazil I picked up O Caminho da Felicidade, the Portuguese translation of MacArthur's The Beatitudes - The Only Way to Happiness. I thought the girl on the cover kinda looked like my sister, but she definitely looked like she had found the way to happiness.

Imagine our surprise today when the same girl showed up in our mailbox in California advertising a "solution for clear, beautiful skin!" for $19.95. She definitely looks like she has found clear, beautiful skin.

But which one is it? Did she find the way to happiness, or did she find a nice complexion? This question is going to haunt me, I can tell.

Jacaré

2007-03-31T10:02:00.000-07:00

Some kids play with a rubber duck. Nathanael is the only kid I know who prefers his rubber alligator. If he had to choose three things to save from a burning building, his Jacaré would be one of them.

One more just for giggles.

2007-03-21T20:42:00.000-07:00

New Fotki Albums!!!

2007-03-17T21:24:00.000-07:00

Finally!

For keeping all Nathanael's grandma's and tias happy, we have two new albums posted at my Fotki site.

By popular demand.

2007-03-12T22:04:00.000-07:00

With family on both sides clamoring for more pics, we offer this submission in hopes that it will stave off hunger until we can put together another album for the International Nathanael Fan Club.

This past week, we had Shepherds' Conference at Grace Community Church, the biggest week all year for the bookstore. All the guests and speakers have now gone home, of course, but at the bookstore, we won't really recover for another week or so.

Packing up the conference bookstore today, I used Saturday's LA Times. Imagine my surprise to find presidents Bush and Lula embracing on the front page, or at least sorta embracing.

My fellow blogging friend Andrew Comings offers interesting commentary on what he thinks is happening in this picture...

Anyhow, I promise more pictures of Nathanael to come.

Until then, abraços!

Out of Office Reply...

2007-02-20T21:37:00.000-08:00

Just for the record, На Даче has returned from Brazil to California.

Perhaps one day soon when I am more caught up on seminary papers and such, life will afford me more time for blogging.

In the mean time, I thought I would share this picture with you. It just makes me happy.

Oh, by the way, speaking of pictures of trucks, I drove one of these home from the Resolved conference in Long Beach.

As fun as it was to drive a "25ft. Bob Tail," given the choice I think I'd rather drive the ... what would you call that thing above..., maybe a "earth-fuel-friendly-hybrid-vehicle."

Goiânia - Part II - Sufficient Grace

2006-12-31T11:10:00.000-08:00

At the beginning of this month, while still in Fortaleza, I read that Iain Murray had spoken at a church conference in Goiânia.

So last Sunday, here in Goiânia, I visited the First Presbyterian Church of Goiânia. You may remember that on my last visit to Goiânia in June, I had been considerably upset by evangelical pastors who use the pulpit to spread unfounded rumors and outright libel.

Happily, Pastor Jôer Batista of Primeira Igreja Presbiteriana de Goiânia is an excellent biblical expositor and preacher. Among other things, he also happens to be a professor of Greek and of New Testament Exegesis at the Central Brazilian Presbyterian Seminary here in Goiânia. I was encouraged and edified by the sermon from Isaiah 9:6 that Pastor Jôer prepared for the Sunday before Christmas.

Today, I returned to PIPG. The guest preacher this morning was Mauro Meister, pastor of Presbyterian Church of Lapa (a bairro of São Paulo) and a professor of the Old Testament at a seminary in São Paulo. The sermon he prepared for this morning on the Christian's relation to the Law under Grace was very instructive.

Back up a few years now... In 2002, when Elsiene first arrived at Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California, she was befriended by a young woman named Grace whose father is a pastor in São Paulo. Grace was a great help to Elsiene, but she returned to Brazil, and Elsiene has lost contact with her.

On a hunch, I asked Pastor Mauro if he new of this young woman. "Oh yes," he said, "her father is a close friend of mine. We have a blog together: http://tempora-mores.blogspot.com/"

I explained the connection between Grace and Elsiene back in California. Mauro continued, "You know, I was at your church back in February. As a matter of fact, I walked into your book store and was served by someone who is married to a Brazilian."

Well, the only one at the Grace Books who is married to a Brazilian is me. Small world.

(That's how God used a preacher with a sermon about Law & Grace and a couple random connections at Grace Church to help my wife get back in touch with her friend Grace. And somehow Iain Murray figured in here too.)

More Nathanael pics at Fotki

2006-12-30T09:55:00.000-08:00

I've selected a couple dozen of our favorite pics from the past three months and posted them in a new album over at http://mcarroll.fotki.com.

Enjoy!

One more just for fun.

2006-12-29T06:05:00.000-08:00

At a Christmas party, we tried to put Nathanael down to sleep in a nice, quiet, back room. But he kept waking up and requiring the whole "nursing-burping-patting-etc-routine" to be put back to sleep. Then 10 minutes later, he'd be up again, crying that he'd been abandoned.

So I draped him over my arm like I tiger on a tree limb, and returned to the Christmas party where Nathanael promptly dropped of into deep sleep and remained the rest of the evening.

(Let's see how he does for New Years.)

Christmas gift for the GPs.

2006-12-28T05:20:00.000-08:00

Here's a couple pics for Nathanael's grandparents back in foggy Tulare county.

Before we left Fortaleza, we decided to make one last visit to the beach.

Come on in, the water's fine!

How many of us have heard of Goiânia?

2006-12-05T18:10:00.000-08:00

This was the rhetorical question posed by Iain Murray, founder and editorial director of the Banner of Truth Trust, in a recent letter which Ligon Duncan has posted on the Together for the Gospel blog.

Iain Murray was recently in

Brazil

and, to read his letter, it seems he enjoyed his visit.

Since we will be in Goiânia in a couple weeks, I think I should like to visit the church Mr. Murray wrote about in his letter.

I would also like to say that I am very impressed with Banner of Truth. Not only do they publish good books, but twice I have contacted them with questions regarding their authors, and both times, I received a reply from the author-in-question himself! (No, I was not inquiring about John Bunyan.)

Light and momentary

2006-11-27T09:34:00.000-08:00

Paul describes his afflictions in the fourth chapter of 2 Corinthians. He is "afflicted ..., but not crushed; perplexed, but not destroyed," etc. He continues, "we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day."

Then in verse 17 he says, "For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond comparison."

Notice the contrast in this verse:

momentary ->	eternal
light ->	weight
affliction ->	glory

I have to admire Paul's perspective on his sufferings. The momentary shall be replaced by the lasting; the ephemeral shall be swallowed up in the substantial; and suffering is producing splendor.

Speaking on glory at the end of the previous chapter, Paul wrote, "But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord the Spirit" (2 Cor. 3:18).

It's like James says in the opening of his epistle: "Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing."

I ought to be of good courage as a Christian. God in his desire that I lack nothing and resemble the Lord Jesus Christ is carefully ordaining suffering for me.

Food, Shelter and High Speed Internet

2006-11-04T17:13:00.000-08:00

Well, the apartment we now live in has WiFi, but to get any sort of connection, I have to stand with my laptop on the building's 2nd floor balcony. And it tends to go completely kaput between the hours of 10AM and 7PM. We have a telephone, but it's a "party line" shared with the teacher in the apartment next door--and any anybody else who happens to be passing through to stay in one of the other units.

This kinda makes blogging, or for that matter just about anything else I do for work or leisure, rather difficult.

I think I'll spend the rest of the evening chipping the ice out of the freezer compartment of our mini fridge.

Boy are we confused!

2006-10-18T19:41:00.000-07:00

I just learned something new today. Now I can go to bed.

Three times in the past three days, reading different histories of Brazil, I came across the word metropolis referring either to Portugal or to one of the other European countries. For example, "The metropolises all tried--once again with differing degrees of success--to impose mercantilism on their American domains." This didn't make much sense, for I thought "metropolis" merely meant "big city" (which one?), and I vaguely recalled that a "metropolitan" (other than being a rather humorous excuse for a car) is some kind of an ecclesiastical regional authority. None of this was much help.

So when for the third time I came across this familiar word in unfamiliar usage I figured I had better look it up.

It turns out a metropolis is "the city or state of origin of a colony." In Greek, μήτηρ (mētēr) = mother and πόλις (pólis) = city/town.
[Hats off again, to Wikipedia.]

Suddenly it all makes a lot more sense, but then another question arises. Namely, if the polis in "metropolis" meant "city," then how do we end up using metro as an adjective for everything pertaining to urban life?

I may be able to go to bed now, but I doubt I'll be able to sleep.

Any linguists are invited to opine.

Webbed Life

2006-10-16T18:30:00.000-07:00

I have spent most of today online participating in a TMAI symposium taking place at TMS in California. About 100 people attended on site and several more logged in from Japan, Mexico, New Zealand and me in Brazil. Here is a screen shot of me logged in while Dr. Barrick lectures on preparing culturally for ministry.

And here is another first for me. Today during the symposium dinner break, I edited a Wikipedia article. Nothing big, I just corrected a couple typos on the article History of Brazil.

I finished reading D. A. Carson's Becoming Conversant with the Emerging Church. It's very good. Carson is just smart. He points out some of the things we can learn from postmodernism's criticism of modern evangelical Christianity, but also explains several serious areas of concern in the movement. And he made me think about some good things. Speaking on the nature of truth, Carson says, "In the realm of morality, often obedience is as foundational to understanding as is exegesis."[1]

I've discovered that I can actually read quite a bit as a new father. My wife needs sleep, but will wake up every time our son burbles in the night. So to give her at least three hours uninterrupted sleep, I put our boy in a sling, and I go downstairs out of earshot. I walk in the yard for 20 minutes until Nathanael falls asleep, and then I can sit and enjoy more time to read than I've ever afforded myself before. In this way I finished Carson as well as MacArthur's Fulfilled Family (an excellent treatment of Ephesians 5 and 6 and other scriptural passages on life in the Christian family), and I have begun to read Olson's The Story of Christian Theology, a rather large tome. I don't know if I'll finish this one, but it's sure fun to start books. Life's good.

[1] D. A. Carson, Becoming Conversant with the Emerging Church (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 2005), 118.

The Best of Blogdom.

2006-10-07T07:52:00.000-07:00

The blog world is particularly rich this morning.

When enter a person's home or office, I never fail to observe their book shelves before leaving. I study the content of their library and, if I think it won't offend, I open a volume or two and flip through to see how my host interacts with the authors in his library. I learn a lot about my friends and associates this way. A bibliophile of much greater credentials than I, Al Mohler posts on this experience: By Their Books We Shall Know Them

Incidentally, on Thursday, Al Mohler posted about new Ultrasound technology for viewing babies in 3-D, real time in the womb. We got one of these at 37 weeks. Al Mohler posts about abortion advocates who have reacted that this technology will have a "dangerous impact on the public debate over abortion": The View into the Womb is "Extraordinarily Dangerous?"
Over at Pulpit Magazine, there is a post by John MacArthur with three simple guidelines on how to get the most out of your personal Bible study time. I wish someone had shown me this when I was 15: How to Enjoy Bible Study
Finally, Pyromaniac Phil Johnson shares his musical taste with us. Right now he is listening to Music for One Apartment and Six Drummers. You can't afford to miss this one, though I doubt Al Mohler would approve of the last movement.

I just realized...

2006-10-02T19:53:00.000-07:00

I just realized I have everything I really ever wanted.

I have wanted to be a father since I was about twelve. At that point I did the math, and figured I should get married when I was 23, have a child when I was 25 -- in the year 2000 -- that would be cool. My great-grandma Margaret was born in 1900, so that she was 82 in 1982. I figured it would make it easy to remember my kid's age if he was born in 2000.

In God's sovereign plan, at 23 I didn't get married, and in 2000 I didn't have any kids. At 23, I was working in Germany, and the year 2000 found me in Uzbekistan. Those were both wonderful experiences. In fact, my whole life has been one experience of a lifetime after another. Even the tough experience I allude to in Young, Restless, Reformed I can now say I appreciate. I believe God did more to direct my life in that one difficult year than in any other "good" year. So I can say that I have certainly not had an unhappy life.

But today it dawned on me that, 1) I am married, and 2) I have a son, and 3) I'm happy.

Perhaps you know the feeling of disappointment that typically follows when you finally buy something you've been craving. When I was eleven I got my first real Swiss Army knife. After opening and closing all the blades, there was this rather anticlimactic gnawing in my stomach. When I finished college, I bought my first laptop computer. After starting it up and checking out all the doo-dads, that gnawing feeling returned. And every other mode of transportation, utensil, or accessory I ever desired and acquired left me with a craw of promises unfulfilled.

But today is somehow marvelously different. My son Nathanael doesn't do anything - aside from nurse and sleep and poop. I can't even play catch with him yet. But for finally being given something I strongly desired for 20 years, I feel strangely contented, strangely peaceful.

Of course I know that there will be trials in the years to come, and someone might say, "Yeah, he's only a week old, wait 'til he's two." Be as that may, we'll deal with each day as it comes, and I know God gives only good gifts to those who fear Him.

Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord,
the fruit of the womb a reward.

Psalm 127:3

Please visit our photo album "Meet Nathanael" at my Fotki site.

Happy Birthday, Nathanael!

2006-10-01T14:12:00.000-07:00

Here is a picture of Nathanael celebrating his 1-week birthday...

And here is some amateur video I shot at the hospital at his birth. It lasts about 8 minutes, and if you listen carefully, you can occasionally hear me babbling like a fool.

Young, Restless, Reformed

2006-09-23T05:58:00.000-07:00

The current issue of Christianity Today contains an article worth reading. The story mentions several pastors I admire, respect and read: R. C. Sproul, John Piper, Al Mohler, C. J. Mahaney, Mark Dever and Joshua Harris.

One point the article makes is that, contrary to a common accusation, today's young adherents to Reformed theology see no conflict between the doctrine of God's sovereignty in election and the call upon the Christian to evangelize the lost.

When I was on staff with a parachurch ministry known for its emphasis on evangelism, I began to be concerned about their apparent "psychologizing" of the gospel. I predicted that if they continued to incorporate psychology into their evangelism and discipleship, they would soon shoot themselves in the foot, because any benefit psychology may bring applies equally to the believer as to the non-believer. In other words, "If all I need to do is learn to set up some 'boundaries' in my life, then what do I need Jesus for?" "If I can learn how to deal with my 'dysfunctions,' then I don't need to be forgiven of my sin or conformed to the likeness of Christ." It occurred to me that if Christians needed the insights of psychology to solve problems in their lives, then either God's word lacked something, or we lacked understanding of God's word.

At the same time as I was growing disenchanted with my erstwhile ministry environs, I came across a book by R. C. Sproul explaining Reformed theology for laymen. I wasn't entirely convinced of his theological system, but I did come away impressed that he taught that scripture actually meant something (rather than whatever we wanted it to mean), and his description of God's sovereignty actually made God sound truly kingly (rather than as one who hangs out in heaven hoping we'll come ask him for a favor).

Anyhow, I continued to read in this vein, and I guess according to the CT article, I'm not the only one. One other thing I have in common with the people mentioned in the story is that I'm not particularly fond of the label "Calvinist." But on the other hand, I've found that about every question or problem I encountered in Evangelicalism today I've found can be remedied by a dose of the biblically faithful theology of the Reformation and of the Puritans.

P.S. The "Homeboy" T-Shirt seen on the CT cover is part of a collection created by Frank Turk, aka "Centuri0n," one of the contributors at the Pyromaniacs blog. He refers to them as "cheap junk at ridiculous prices." Name your Reformed hero, and you can buy your T-shirt here.

AK-47s and Roses

2006-09-15T04:24:00.000-07:00

A craftsman in war-torn Colombia is turning decommissioned Kalashnikovs into guitars. This is Juanes with his new escopetarra. Shakira had been given one of these guitars as well. I was going to post her picture, but concluded that modesty is the better part of virtue.

Bêbe Bebê a Caminho

2006-09-03T11:16:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Elsiene's friends threw a baby shower for her. Us guys went over to another house to watch Narnia. But before I left, I finished making the above lembrancinhas. It was a lot of work, but it was worth it. The other mementos available for purchase in the stores were actually enough to give me nightmares. Anyhow, I began working a week in advance and had made about 10 when I discovered I put the "chapeuzinho" on the wrong "e". It's bebê, not bêbe. Fortunately, we were able to recover from our mistake, and Lentil didn't seem to mind.

Our boy.

2006-08-26T14:21:00.000-07:00

Here's a recent pic of our boy.The doctor reports that our baby is healthy and coming soon.

The day we received this image, we made a stop at a little stationary store. While there, a handful of medical papers fell from Elsiene's binder. At the same time as I reached to pick them up, a little old man, looking to be about 80-something, also made an instinctive move to pick up the papers. Then he stood observing us as we arranged the papers in Elsiene's binder.

I smiled at him and proffered this picture saying, "This is our baby," not sure if he would know what to make of it. Usually when we share our ultrasounds with friends they say, "So that's a baby, huh? I never can interpret these things."

The octogenarian, however, replied, "Oh, a very good 3-D ultrasound! Are you having a boy or a girl?" He must have noticed our surprise and continued, "I'm an obstetrician. I work at UniMed, where I'm on call. I have two surgeries there tonight."

What were the chances?!?

Oddly enough.

2006-08-18T04:19:00.000-07:00

Here's an odd piece of news coming out of the lunatic fringe of Christianity.

Family faces eviction for loud night prayers

Thu Aug 17, 2006 10:26 AM ET
BERLIN (Reuters) - A seven-member family faces eviction from an east Berlin apartment tower after neighbors complained about loud prayer sessions that keep the whole building awake at night, a German newspaper said Thursday.
"I really don't want to disturb the neighbors but the high volume is needed in the battle against the devil," Pierre D., the 42-year-old father of the Christian family, told Bild newspaper. He is fighting an eviction order in court.
Neighbors told Bild the screams and singing that are part of the family prayers in the second storey sometimes begin at 2:30 a.m. and can be heard all the way up to the fifth floor.
"We have to work in the morning and need our sleep," said taxi driver Horst Berghahn, who lives on the third floor. He said he asked the family to lower the volume several times since they moved into the building 10 months ago but to no avail.

I would like to contemplate the rationale behind the high volume of the music that typically issues from churches here in Brazil, spilling into the surrounding neighborhoods, but I think I'll save that for another time.

For now I'll just make this observation. Hebrews 5:7 says, "In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence." (ESV)

There is a time and a place for prayers of high volume, but Jesus was not shouting and screaming to scare away the devil. His cries were cries of deep anguish over the prospect of separation from the Father over my sin. Christ directed his prayers not against the devil, but to the Father, and he was heard not because of the volume of his prayers, but the text says, "because of his reverence."

Adventures in Sushi

2006-08-17T18:00:00.000-07:00

There's a shopping center near our house with a food court. Most everything is overpriced, but we found a little Chinese kitchen that's pretty decent. Except that they offer sushi. Walking with tray in hand down the deli window, I asked the girl behind the counter "What's in the sushi?", pointing to the handful of examples under the glass.

The girl bent into the display and wrinkled up her nose... "Hmmm, I don't know. Hold on..." and she turned around and yelled into the kitchen, "Hey, what's in the sushi?"

Another girl came out and said, "Ummm... that's tuna, and ... no, no, no," cocking her head to one side with a thoughtful finger to her temple. "Let's see, I think that one's ... No. Wait just a minute."

By this time I had lost my curiosity regarding the sushi, but now a big dude with a day old beard emerged from the kitchen, wiping his hands on his butcher's smock . "Yeah. The sushi's got tuna. And that one's got crab. And the other one's got... uh... tuna. Yeah. Tuna."

"Thanks," I said. "I think I'll have the broccoli beef."

Daddy's Girl

2006-08-13T09:35:00.000-07:00

For several years I have been of the opinion that Islom Karimov, president of Uzbekistan, would not leave office alive, and that "it was anybody's guess" what would happen after him. I may have been wrong.

Now, unless Karimov uses another suspect "referendum" to extend his term in office (for the now third or forth time) his current term is set to expire December 2007. And it looks like his daughter Gulnara Karimova is being groomed as his successor. Or perhaps it would be more appropriate to say the people of Uzbekistan are being groomed to accept her as Karimov's replacement.

Gulnara has a warrant for her arrest in New Jersey. She is also accused of running prostitution rings in Uzbekistan and the UAE.

Now her image is being cleaned up. The "censored Uzbek press ... presents her as a lucky businesswoman, caring mother and the person involved in charity. An intriguing fact is that according to Uzbek press Gulnara combines a lot of professions at her only early 30s : she is a diplomat, a scientist, a poet, a jewellery master, an enterpreneur and recently she was mentioned also as a singer." [1]

You can download an mp3 of her crooning "Besa me mucho". Actually it's not that bad.

Uzbek TV is now playing (over and over again) her new music video Unutma Meni, or "Don't Forget Me", where she flies around a cartoon wonderland in her limo. The video is available at YouTube. Is it just me, or does the opening chord progression sound like Eagles' Hotel California?

Related Links
Wikipedia: Gulnara Karimova
Taipei Times: Uzbekistan dictator's daughter struts stuff
DesPardes: Uzbekistan President's daughter: Gulf pimp or shrewd business woman

So many books...

2006-08-11T14:47:00.000-07:00

I finished reading The Beatitudes: The Only Way to Happiness last week. I read it in a hurry because I was trying to recommend the Portuguese translation for the small group we are in.

It was a pretty good treatment of the Beatitudes, though as one of MacArthur's early sermon series converted to book, it still reads a bit like a sermon transcript. As far as the Portuguese version goes, if I was to judge a book by its cover, I'd say it might be better than the English original.

Instead of The Beatitudes, the group chose to read The Four Seasons of Marriage, by Gary Chapman (known for The Five Love Languages). It could be worse. The other option was Secrets of the Vine, by Bruce Wilkinson, author of The Prayer of Jabez.

Now, for my own benefit, I'm reading The Exemplary Husband, by Stuart Scott. When Elsiene and I married, I received three copies of this book as gifts from Elsiene's friends. Hmmm... maybe they were trying to tell me something...

The Girl from Ipanema

2006-08-03T10:38:00.000-07:00

This is one of my favorite pictures. It was taken seven months ago in Rio on our first "lunaversary". Today we have been married eight months.

I love you, Elsiene.

Speaking of Extreme Sports

2006-07-31T07:50:00.000-07:00

It's a blogworthy event when two of your interests intersect, particularly when those are, say, "Uzbekistan" and "Classic Cars".

Here's an article about 100 classic cars driving more or less along the ancient Silk Route. July 15th they left Amsterdam bound for Beijing. Last Saturday they stopped in Tashkent, in the parking lot across the street from my old apartment. And I missed it!

But they're due to pull into Tiananmen Square on August 13th. Maybe I can still catch them.

Slowlane, any chance you could make another trip to that consulate?

Say What?!?

2006-07-30T08:52:00.000-07:00

As my brother points out, profile "tests" can be problematic, but fun.

My Linguistic Profile:

60% General American English

15% Dixie

10% Yankee

5% Upper Midwestern

0% Midwestern

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

I would be more interested in seeing a series of questions that tests other varieties of English, including British, Canadian, Indian, Australian, Singaporean as well as those found in English-speaking African nations. That might be more fun.

For whom did Christ die?

2006-07-27T16:08:00.000-07:00

I have been reading up on this question, and generally the responses I expected, and in fact found, were two:

Christ died for the whole world, or
Christ died only for the elect.

Not to deny that your answer to this question is significant indeed, John Piper has written an article from a mindset that is wholly other. I read it and found myself saying, "Wow, God!" and enjoying a new insight into God's person and plan in a way that I've not experienced in a while.

No further comment.

2006-07-25T13:32:00.000-07:00

Last week Veja (Think Newsweek) came out with a cover story entitled "The Pastor is 'Show'!"

The subtitle reads, "With the use of psychology and self-help a new generation of preachers gives a spectacle and reinvents the faith that is growing fastest in Brazil."

No further comment.

What I'm reading now.

2006-07-21T06:21:00.000-07:00

I've just replaced the LibraryThing "Random books from my library" widget on my sidebar with a little box showing what I'm reading now. I don't expect it to change nearly as often, but I thought it would be fun. When available, the icons will link to GBI Books (No, I'm not getting any percentage of the profits if you buy the book).

Culver's Systematic Theology is very good. I'm enjoying reading it. If I'm able to read 10 pages per day, I might finish it by Christmas.

Fool's Gold? by MacArthur and other pastors from Grace Community Church was given as a gift at the last Shepherds' Conference and is also good, but much easier to carry in my pocket. I have almost finished it while sitting in doctors' offices with Elsiene waiting to meet and choose an obstetrician to deliver our son.

I think we've found a good obstetrician, now we need to find a pediatrician, so I'm not worried that I won't be able to finish the book.

The coolest thing.

2006-07-19T08:38:00.000-07:00

Okay, this is about the coolest thing I've ever seen. We've got three of them around the house. It's like a little tennis racquet, but instead of catgut it's got a wire mesh energized by two AA batteries in the grip. You swat mosquitos (or anything else) and it delivers a sturdy 3V shock -- trust me, I tried it on my finger.

So we have this nightly ritual now. Every night my wife crawls into bed, and I make my rounds with the racquet, shaking nightstands, rustling the curtains, stirring the leaves on the fake plants, etc. My wife lies on her pillow saying, "Opa, over there, on the ceiling, a big one!" and I approach and usually say, "Nope, that's the smudge that was there last night."

But every night, we get one or two, sometimes five or six, of the little bloodthirsty dengue culprits with our portable bug-zapper. The first time we got one, it gave a gratifying sizzle and then a "POP!" that was disproportionately large for the explosion of such a little bugger. The sudden and unexpected demise of the blood-sucker nearly gave my wife a heart attack, and then the smell of ozone filled the room.

"Coooool!" I whispered in awe.

My wife is still not sure if she likes "that weapon" as she calls it. I guess she has come to consider it a necessary evil. I think she is also concerned about having the thing around when our son is born. In fact, I distinctly heard her mumble something about "gmbl boys! gmlbl" when she caught me seeing what would happen if I flicked a booger into the zapper.

The Rumor Weed

2006-06-28T05:30:00.000-07:00

Several weeks ago in Goiânia, a relation of my wife came to visit. This man is a pastor of a church in the region, and somehow, in the course of our conversation we began discussing Starbucks Coffee and this pastor informed me that Starbucks is actually a satanist organization. As conclusive evidence, he pointed to their logo, which contains a five-pointed star within a circle--to him this was obviously a pentagram.

I told him that "Starbuck" was a character in the novel Moby Dick, and the logo contained a mermaid, nothing more. I googled "Starbucks" and "pentagram" and turned up several news articles telling the story of a Starbucks employee who had been fired by her managers for wearing a necklace with a pentagram to work. I told the pastor I seriously doubted that a satanist organization would fire an employee for wearing a pentagram.

The following Sunday Elsiene and I attended her church here in Brazil, hoping to hear the preaching of Pastor José who married us. Unfortunately, a visiting pastor from Brasilia gave a rather sensationalist and manipulative sermon. He did not open the scripture, but rather gave a string of anecdotes. One of the things he told us was that Proctor & Gamble recently made a public announcement that they give a large portion of their profits to the church of satan.

That afternoon, Elsiene & I were lamenting the lack of biblical content in the morning message, but when I mentioned the story about Proctor & Gamble, she responded that she had been taught the same thing at a Bible school she once attended.

I was seriously skeptical that any publically traded multi-national corporation would give shareholders' profits to any church, much less annouce it was supporting the church of satan. A Google-search on "Proctor & Gamble" pointed me to the Snopes.com site confirming my suspicions about this nefarious urban legend, which has been circulating in various forms since the early 1980's.

Musing on these curious, similar conversations brought me to several observations:

The aged Apostle John actually tells us that "...the whole world lies in the power of the evil one" (1 Jn 5:19). Why should Starbucks and Proctor & Gamble be singled out as special?
Christians will always be duped if we do not learn to check our sources. I'm not just talking about urban legends. The devil is a liar. He told Eve in the garden, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Gen 3:4, 5). What if Eve inquired first of God concering this claim? What if we did when tempted?
There is a serious need for well-equipped pastors in God's church. In the 8th century B.C., the prophet Hosea was describing dark times when he spoke this word from the Lord: "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being My priest. Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children" (Hosea 4:6). Much more needs to be said about the qualifications of a pastor, but they certainly cannot be less than knowledge, particularly of God and His word.

Everyone loves an underdog.

2006-06-13T17:49:00.000-07:00

Well, most everyone. The fun thing about being a American in Brazil is that you get to root for a winner and..., well, a loser.

In yesterday's World Cup match between the USA and the Czech Republic I'm not sure US coach Bruce Arena wanted to be there. Everytime I saw him on camera he had the same stone-faced appearance. I understand his boys were losing, but he looked like he didn't even care.

Here's an article from last fall saying he didn't expect the US to make it to the World Cup. That's not very inspiring. I think we need a new coach. One that looks like he actually cares what happens in Germany.

I vote to elect my father-in-law. He seems to always have plenty of advice to the players and judges.

Ya'll call, ya hear?

2006-04-18T12:30:00.000-07:00

Yesterday afternoon working at the bookstore a lady asked me, "Are you from the South?"

"No," I said, "it's just that I've been taking phone orders from Texas, Louisiana and Alabama today, and it's rubbed off on me."

One particular lady had called that morning and said, "Ah'd lahk tah bahy a yooztuddy bahble."

"I'm sorry," I said, "we don't carry used books. All our study Bibles are new."

"But don't ya'll carry yooztuddy bahbles?"

"No, ma'am. But we can sell you a new study Bible."

"But mah grahndaddah is tahrnin' 13, and ah'd like to bahy her a yooztuddy bahble."

"Well, we do carry the MacArthur Student Bible, that might be ideal for your granddaughter."

"Thaht's what ah waohnt. A yooztuddy bahble -- Y. O. U. T. H., yooz."

"Oh, I'm sorry, I can help you with that."

Turkish Tofaş Timothy

2006-03-18T20:03:00.000-08:00

I think this is one of my favorite pictures. I was sorting through some old papers this evening, and stumbled across it. In January 2004, Timothy met me in Istanbul and we toured around western Turkey. We traveled mostly by bus and foot, but one day we rented this Tofaş Doğan, a Turkish-licensed version of a Fiat 131.

Serendipitously, I came to post and found that Timothy is posting about Turkey, and Aileen is posting old pictures (though not quite so old as this one). So we are all good.

... make lemonade!

2006-03-13T23:32:00.000-08:00

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade!
When life gives you coca, ... well, never mind.

Recently whoamtoblowagainstthewind [whew!] posted about a creative idea by a Peruvian presidential candidate. It's not his fault that his country's most valuable resource is coca.

Now the recently elected president of Bolivia just gifted our Secretary of State a beautiful coca-inlaid guitar.

Will she have any trouble clearing customs?

Kittenwar!

2006-03-11T19:22:00.000-08:00

Visit Kittenwar and see how Pogger & friends are doing...

Born to Ride

2006-03-07T18:08:00.000-08:00

Saturday afternoon the three of us took our first family motorcycle ride.

We left Panorama City, and took Little Tujunga Canyon Road up into the Angeles National Forest, and then came down through Placerita Canyon. We took the old Sierra Highway parallel to the 14, and then The Old Road parallel to the 5, then over Balboa pass, and back home on Sepulveda Blvd, avoiding the interstates the whole way.

We had a great ride. Here are some pics:

Lonesome roads.

But we weren't the only ones with the same good idea.

Less than 20 miles from our 'hood!

Meet Lentil

2006-02-22T21:10:00.000-08:00

Here's our kiddo!

And here's his heart beat!

And if you ask me, it looks like he's already riding a motorcycle!

That's my kid! :-)

About time someone came up with this idea!

2006-02-22T18:43:00.000-08:00

I've been to 28 countries, more or less.
Africa, Asia and the Pacific seem somewhat underrepresented.

create your own visited country map
or visit the Tashkent travel guide

I'm a little privy pot...

2006-02-15T20:18:00.000-08:00

James Spurgeon over at the new "Team Pyro" blog has written an excellent piece on the role God has given each of us within the body.

Lest I get puffed up...

Thanks Mr. Spurgeon, I needed that.

For the love of books.

2006-02-14T09:04:00.000-08:00

Today is Tuesday. Yes, and yesterday was a wonderful day.

Yesterday a dear friend gave me a wonderful gift: a remarkable set of commentaries.

This is a MacArthur commentary, but that is not was is so remarkable. This is a set of MacArthur commentaries printed in India by Grace to India.

The pagination is the same as the Moody Press edition published in the United States, but the binding and cover are of a different quality. And if you look in the most recently released 1 Peter, you will find this:
FIRST INDIAN EDITION: 2004
If you look in volumes released earlier, such as 1 Timothy, you will find something like this:
INDIAN EDITION
First printrun:1997
Second printrun:2003
This is definitely one of the most beautiful gifts I have ever received.

On the work of Christ and Mohammed

2006-02-08T09:46:00.000-08:00

John Piper posts an interesting observation on Muslim reactions to the offending cartoons.

He says: "The work of Muhammad is based on being honored and the work of Christ is based on being insulted." "If Christ had not been insulted, there would be no salvation."

To read the rest of his article, click [here].

Tolle! Lege!

2006-01-31T22:58:00.000-08:00

I would like to visit Al Mohler's personal library. I've heard he has barnloads of books.

He has blogged an interesting post about his reading strategy. It can be found at his blog, or at the blog he shares with CJ Mahaney, Ligan Duncan and Mark Dever.

... the beginning of wisdom.

2006-01-28T20:11:00.000-08:00

For a long time I've been dissatisfied with my ability to adequately explain the word fear in the concept "the fear of God." For those who misunderstand this idea, what comes to their mind is repugnant, and many Christians, also misunderstanding, apologize for the term and try to explain it away.

But just now studying Psalm 51 for my class, Exegesis of Selected Psalms, I have come across a great explanation of the fear of God.

The human correlate of the holiness of God is the fear of God. However, the fear of God is not a terror which drains away the vitality of the divine-human relationship. The fear of God and the awareness of the holy presence has a "mysterious power of attraction which is converted into wonder, obedience, self-surrender, and enthusiasm" (Eichrodt, Theology of the Old Testament, II, 270).
-- Tate, Word Biblical Commentary: Psalms 51 - 100, p. 24

Too funny. Too close to home. -- Part II

2006-01-27T22:18:00.000-08:00

I am supposed to be working on a presentation I am to give tomorrow morning for my work with The Master's Academy International. Frustrated at how easily I allow myself to be distracted from the task at hand, I leaned back in my chair and groaned aloud to my precious wife of barely eight weeks, "Elsiene! I am a procrastinator of the worst kind."

Came her reply: "I'm glad you waited one and a half months to tell me."

На Даче

Good Questions

New Testament Overview handout

In Real Terms

What Are They Doing With The Church?

MacArthur Study Notes for the Online ESV

God's all over this book

Through the Bible in a ...

Seminary and Beyond

Abundant Grace

Under the Wing

Overheard in the church parking lot...

On Obama and denying one's self

Book Review: Basics of Verbal Aspect in Biblical Greek

Gnomic Aktionart

Unpacking Forgiveness

Book Review: The Faith of Barack Obama by Stephen Mansfield

Book Review: The Leadership Dynamic by Harry L. Reeder III

An I Can Read Story

The Gospel in a Paragraph

Earthquake!

What's in a name?

Wordle

Tagged

Danilo Joseph

Update

Too poor to buy cheap knives.

That sinking feeling

Maria Machado

Systematic Theology

From the Pentateuch to the Pizza Parlor

The Same As It Has Always Been

Spotted in the Wild

Rebuked

Happy Birthday, Nathanael!

For Sale by Owner

I Believe I Can Fly

The Resurrection

Perfection

Gratuitous Self Promotion

You Meet the Nicest People!

1982 750 YAMAHA VIRAGO(ALWAYS GARAGED) - $750

Speaking in Tongues

Avoiding "Nature-Deficit Disorder"

Origins of the Ñ

Summer Reading

The Thought of God

Mr. Fixit

The devil's mountain

Note to self...

Yellow Card

Road Trip

Juan Valdez

Don't I know you from somewhere?

Jacaré

One more just for giggles.

New Fotki Albums!!!

By popular demand.

Out of Office Reply...

Goiânia - Part II - Sufficient Grace

More Nathanael pics at Fotki

One more just for fun.

Christmas gift for the GPs.

How many of us have heard of Goiânia?

Light and momentary

Food, Shelter and High Speed Internet

Boy are we confused!

Webbed Life

The Best of Blogdom.

I just realized...

Happy Birthday, Nathanael!

Young, Restless, Reformed

AK-47s and Roses

Recommended Reading.

Bêbe Bebê a Caminho

Our boy.

Oddly enough.

Adventures in Sushi

Daddy's Girl

So many books...

1982 750 YAMAHA VIRAGO
(ALWAYS GARAGED) - $750