THE BEACH

I am not much of a beach guy. 

I enjoy sipping coffee on an empty beach as the sun rises, but for the rest of the day - when people are shoulder to shoulder in beach chairs or head to toe on towels in the sand - I can easily pass.

Melissa and Sarah and Grandma Trudy, on the other hand, can spend all day on the beach, doing very little beyond reading, napping, or looking for shells, and be perfectly excited at the prospect of doing the same the following day. 

I get bored. 

After a few minutes, the beach makes me want to go inside and read or go for a long run.

I heard someone recently say that one of the differences between men and women is that men have the ability to think about nothing - to shut off their brains - and women do not.

I don't know if there is scientific data for that or not, but it sounds true to me.

So here's my theory - these women in my life enjoy the beach because it's the chance to shut off their brains for a little while.

And I guess the beach doesn't impress me much because I don't need to drive 11 hours to shut off my brain.

Happens every day. Frequently.

NEW PLACE

We made a slight detour on our way down to Florida in order to see where Caleb will be living for the next 5 months or more. 

We spent last night at a hotel in Columbus, Georgia. We got in too late last night to do anything but sleep, so we were anxious this morning to get out and see what we could see before heading further south in the afternoon.

Our first stop was at "Independence Place" - where he will be living - for a tour. It is off the base but all the residents in this community are soldiers. He will be sharing an apartment with 3 other guys randomly assigned. (I trust God will have His hand in that selection.)

Melissa and I (and Grandma) were impressed and excited for Caleb in this next stage of his life - the place was like a vacation resort. (Especially in comparison to dorm rooms on a college campus.)

"Independence Place" 

Aptly named!

I think he's going to enjoy his independence here. And I think it might be a wee bit easier letting him go in a few weeks now that we have some idea where he is going. 

CELEBRITY

We started a little family vacation today - just Melissa and I with Caleb and Sarah and Melissa's mom, Trudy. We are headed down to Florida tomorrow but decided today to make a slight detour through Georgia in order to see Fort Moore (formerly "Fort Benning") where Caleb will be stationed come July. 

So tonight we are staying in a rundown Comfort Inn on the edge of Columbus, Georgia after a long and mostly uneventful day of driving. Tomorrow we will check out the base and a local military museum before heading down to our Airbnb on Navarre Beach.

The highlight of today was walking into a Cracker Barrel for dinner and meeting a podcaster Caleb listens to on a regular basis. I had never heard of this guy, but he's got millions of views on his YouTube videos. 

Caleb recognized him immediately and was almost speechless after greeting him. His little sister found it amusing that he was so star struck.

It's funny how anyone can become a "celebrity" - at least to some sliver of the population - in this age of the internet.

GREATEST PROBLEM IN PREACHING

"The greatest problem in preaching is not the preparation of the sermon but the preparation of the preacher." - Dennis Kinlaw

Now that I am preaching weekly I keep telling people that I have come to the realization that I was not ready to preach even 3 years ago. It was a few weeks into preaching at Sardinia Baptist Church - where I was called this past March - when I realized that I was, in fact, finally prepared to preach. 

(Admittedly, this means that I was not yet ready when I was preaching weekly at the little United Methodist Church in Marietta, Indiana 25 years ago. By God's mercy for that congregation, it was a short-term gig.)

What has changed in the meantime? What has brought me to a point where I feel prepared to examine and proclaim the word of God on a regular basis?

A few things, off the top of my head and in no particular order:

• My recent doctorate classes through Wesley Biblical Seminary (wonderfully relevant information which has landed more firmly in my mature years)
• Developing a consistent prayer and bible study life apart from sermon preparation (without this, a preacher feels like an imposter - because he is)
• Maintaining a daily writing habit for 2 and a half years now (clarifying my thinking)
• Getting knocked around pretty hard by life and by professing believers (the greatest growth comes through the toughest times - and Melissa and I had plenty of fertilizer dumped on us) 
• Learning some things about persuasion and psychology as a result of getting knocked around (this has given insight into fallen human nature and sinfulness - in my own heart as well as in the hearts of others)
• Paying attention to debates regarding Calvinism (which has clarified what I believe and why)

All good stuff - none of it in place three years ago - except the beginning of the knocking around!

To be clear, I am far from claiming to be a great preacher ... yet - I am only saying the Spirit has been preparing me for the serious duty and privilege of preaching. 

RAW DEAL

Remember, The Westminster Confession of Faith is THE guiding document of Calvinism. (Even above Scripture, some would argue. 😏 ) 

With that in mind, check out what Westminster says about infants:

"Elect infants, dying in infancy, are regenerated, and saved by Christ, through the Spirit, who works when, and where, and how He pleases: so also are all other elect persons who are incapable of being outwardly called by the ministry of the Word."

In other words, just like the rest of the population, some among infants belong to the elect, and many are among the non-elect. Elect babies who are aborted or stillborn are saved by Christ and gain eternal life.

BUT what about the non-elect infants?

They go on to eternal conscious torment. 

Seems like kind of a raw deal to me. 

(Fortunately, you do not find this teaching in Scripture - so don't feel guilty if you don't agree with Westminster.)

CULTURE AND BIBLE

I just finished a book by William Webb entitled Slaves, Women & Homosexuals: Exploring the Hermeneutics of Cultural Analysis.

If you aren't familiar with the word "hermeneutics", it's just fancy talk for the study and interpretation of the Bible. 

In his book, Webb outlines 18 separate criteria which can be used to judge how culturally bound any particular passage of Scripture might be. And there is no question about it - culture is an important consideration when interpreting the Bible. 

I have long been fascinated by culture - the differences in food tastes, holidays, and clothing. But it wasn't until my family and I moved overseas that I got a good understanding of just how deeply we are shaped and influenced by our own cultures. Food and clothing are only surface aspects - there is a whole world going on beneath that surface.

Anyway, the tricky part of bringing culture into the conversation about Biblical interpretations is that it is so easy to go off the rails if you lean too far in either of 2 directions:

1) "This command is purely culture bound - we can completely ignore it."

Or

2) "This needs to be obeyed absolutely literally - culture had nothing to do with it."

Progressive Christians tend to go overboard with #1. The result is a Bible stripped of authority whenever it stands at odds with current culture - like the issue of the sinfulness of homosexuality.

Calvinists and other joyless fundamentalist types go off on #2. I had a Calvinist online admit that he believes God hates the vast majority of human beings - all the "reprobates" who are hell bound. Why? Because God said, "Jacob I loved and Esau I hated" (in Romans 9). And he had no interest in cultural idioms or historical context. The "plain meaning" of the text was enough for him.

We will never come to 100% agreement on the culture question when interpreting the Bible on the hot topics like women's role in ministry or the sinfulness of homosexuality, but the question IS there and it should inspire 2 things:

1) Deep, meaningful conversations

And

2) A little more humility in our stances on difficult questions. 

(Webb concludes his book with a chapter entitled "What If I Am Wrong?"! And I loved it. We could use more of that kind of humility.)

TAKE OUR WORD FOR IT

I hear Calvinist preachers reference the Westminster Confession of Faith (1646) almost as often as any particular Bible verse. I had never really looked at it until this evening. 

It is fascinating that each paragraph is footnoted abundantly with Scripture verses - but it's not always clear how the quoted verses actually uphold the stated doctrines of the document.

Probably the most quoted paragraph of Westminster is the following:

"God from all eternity, did, by the most wise and holy counsel of His own will, freely, and unchangeable ordain whatsoever comes to pass; yet so, as thereby neither is God the author of sin, nor is violence offered to the will of the creatures; nor is the liberty or contingency of second causes taken away, but rather established."

Notice what is being affirmed here: God has ordained absolutely everything that comes to pass. It is all part of His plan. 

Then comes the sleight of hand: for all of God's micromanaging of the universe, He has done it in such a way as to not be responsible for bringing about sin, nor does He violate human will! 

To move it out of the abstract into the concrete: God ordained Bob to become an alcoholic and to climb behind the steering wheel one Friday night and to crash head on into a family minivan, killing all onboard. All this was God's plan from before the first motion of creation. BUT that doesn't mean God did anything evil or sinful! Bob is still responsible for his actions and will face God's judgment for them. 

How is that possible?

The Westminster Confession does not even attempt to explain it. 

"Just take our word for it."