gaza

hey everyone,

please be praying for the war zone in Gaza. while we are so fortunate to live in a country where there is relative peace, there are innocent people being killed daily in this region of the middle east.

-dave-

a few things

first of all, i want to thank all of you so much for your kind words. jen and i could not be more excited and look forward to what lies ahead. we will be starting a new blog with pictures and updates as everything progresses.

secondly, if you haven't seen my brother james' most recent post, do yourself a favor and check it out.

lastly, my friend jeff forwarded me this article from the boston globe. the article is called "Jesus and the Promise of Christmas." i found it very interesting so i thought i would share it with you guys. enjoy.


-dave-

i'm gonna be a daddy

well, i can finally tell everyone...jen is 12 weeks pregnant!!!

finally got the new ultrasound pics online. enjoy.

so there it is. major life changes ahead.

-dave-

night is coming

John 9:1-5
as he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. his disciples asked him, "rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" "neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life. as long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. night is coming, when no one can work. while I am in the world, I am the light of the world."

what do you guys think Jesus meant when he said, "night is coming when no one can work?"

-dave-

war is over

so happy christmas
for weak and for strong
the rich and the poor ones
the road is so long
so happy Christmas
for black and for white
for yellow and red ones
let's stop all the fight

for as strange of a dude as he was, john lennon had a heart for peace and love. two kingdom qualities that we sometimes (unfortunately) need to be reminded of.

this time of year reminds me especially of God's great love for a hurting and broken people who have turned their backs on God time and time again. the story of God made Son of Man makes me realize how much love God truly has for Creation.

we, in turn, have been commissioned to share the love of Christ with those who hate us. to proclaim the end of war made possible only through the Way, Truth and Life.

right now i am finding myself thankful for those who have shared the love of God with me. from my parents to my wife, to every one of my "bloggin' peeps."

war is over if you want it. war is over now.

merry christmas

-dave-

where TULIP withers

something that i have been thinking about as a result of my last post has to do with the theological systems that we have constructed to understand God and scripture. we have calvinism and arminianism as the two main systems of thought in the west, but there are also other systems that have been developed to understand God in the east. the truth is that they all fall short.

any endeavor to understand the mind of God is a failed endeavor. calvinism, as a system devised to understand the mind of God and God's plans, is a failure. the same logic applies to arminian thought.

the danger is that the more we think we know about how God does things, the more we dig ourselves a hole in our quest for Truth. every one of our attempts seems to create the same thing: a God in the image of humanity or easily understandable human philosophy. we make God fit into our system and when something in scripture or in our experience does not match up to that system, we have no choice but to dismiss it. don't hold so tightly to the TULIP that you can't see a rose when it's sitting right in front of you.

the way i see things, our God is deserving of so much more glory and worship than our theological and systematic constructs allow. the God who is able to gather all people unto him and to accomplish his purposes in this world despite the freedom of choice that God has granted us is the God that i am constantly in awe of. the fact that i cannot understand God's ability to pull everything together, despite this fallen world's attempts to destroy the work of Christ, makes God all the more worthy of worship.

we will never be able to grasp the love, mercy, grace and justice of God through calvin or arminian thought. never. i fully embrace this reality and am even thankful for it. like levi said in his comment on my last post, this is why we need grace to abound all the more.

-dave-