Ray Fowler .org

Nuke fluke. “A B-52 bomber was mistakenly armed with six nuclear warheads and flown for more than three hours across several states last week . . . The missiles, which are being decommissioned, were mounted onto pylons on the bomber’s wings and it is unclear why the warheads had not been removed beforehand.” That’s a little scary.

Don’t say can’t. Can’t say don’t. A Siberian mayor has banned his staff from using the phrases “I don’t know” and “I can’t.” Those who do not comply risk losing their jobs. I don’t know. I can’t say this is a great idea.

You’re never too old. Meet Olive Riley, the world’s oldest blogger. Olive was born in 1899 and blogs from her native country of Australia. Her blog is called The Life of Riley. At 107 years old, I am sure she has plenty of stories to share.

Having been trained in Evangelism Explosion and as a frequent listener to WAFG radio when I lived in South Florida, I found the following paragraphs from the Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church press release on Dr. D. James Kennedy’s death very interesting:

Dr. Kennedy was born Nov. 3, 1930, but his Christian life did not begin until 1953. Sleeping late on a Sunday morning, his radio alarm went off and a preacher’s booming voice invaded his slumber. “Suppose you were to die today and stand before God and He were to ask you, ‘What right do you have to enter into My heaven?’—what would you say?”

Dr. Kennedy soon discovered that answer was to trust in Christ alone for eternal life, and shortly after he made that commitment was called into the Gospel ministry. Crediting this radio program for hearing the call to Christianity, he founded WAFG (90.3 FM) in 1974 as an outreach for Christ to the South Florida community.

Anyone who has taken E.E. (Evangelism Explosion) knows the two diagnostic questions that help you transition a conversation into sharing the gospel:

1. “Have you come to the place in your spiritual life where you know for certain that if you were to die today you would go to heaven, or is that something you would say you’re still working on?”
2. “Suppose you were to die today and stand before God and He were to say to you, ‘Why should I let you into My heaven?’ what would you say?”

I have personally seen the power of asking these questions to many people over the years. What I didn’t know is that God used a variation of these questions to bring Dr. Kennedy to faith! I also did not know that God used the medium of radio to bring this question to bear on Dr. Kennedy’s life, and that this was part of what inspired him to launch WAFG so many years later. What a wonderful testimony to God’s grace and how he works in our lives to advance his kingdom!

Related posts:

• D. James Kennedy Passes Away (1930-2007)
• Dr. D. James Kennedy Retires

Dr. D. James Kennedy passed away “peacefully, in his sleep, at home” earlier this morning. Dr. Kennedy had just retired as pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church ten days ago. A memorial site has been set up at www.djameskennedy.org. Here is a great quote from Dr. Kennedy featured at the memorial site:

Now, I know that someday I am going to come to what some people will say is the end of this life. They will probably put me in a box and roll me right down here in front of the church, and some people will gather around, and a few people will cry. But I have told them not to do that because I don’t want them to cry. I want them to begin the service with the Doxology and end with the Hallelujah chorus, because I am not going to be there, and I am not going to be dead. I will be more alive than I have ever been in my life, and I will be looking down upon you poor people who are still in the land of dying and have not yet joined me in the land of the living. And I will be alive forevermore, in greater health and vitality and joy than ever, ever, I or anyone has known before.

D. James Kennedy, Ph.D.

Related articles:

• Article at the Christian Post: D. James Kennedy Dies at 76
• Wonderful tribute from Dr. Samuel Lamerson (who has been preaching at Coral Ridge in Dr. Kennedy’s absence)
• Albert Mohler also offers a fine tribute with some personal remembrances.

Related posts on this blog:

• The Power of a Question: “If you died today . . .”
• Dr. D. James Kennedy Retires

Twenty years ago this September I attended my first day of seminary. I was serving as youth pastor at a church in Burbank, CA at the time, and figured if I was going to continue pastoring, I should get some theological training. So here I was headed back to school three years after graduating from college.

I opted to go to Fuller Seminary in Pasadena, CA to work on my biblical languages first. They offered language intensives where you could take a full year of Greek or Hebrew in just ten weeks. I decided to take Greek in the fall and Hebrew in the spring. So off I went to Greek class in September of 1987, my very first day at seminary. (I eventually transferred to Gordon-Conwell in Massachusetts the next year and completed my seminary training there.)

I was a little nervous going back to school after three years, so I tried to prepare myself the best I could. I got my syllabus early and purchased all my textbooks in advance. I scoped out the campus the week before and found exactly where my classroom was located. I packed my briefcase full of books and left extra early the morning of class to make sure I got there on time.

We all crowded into the classroom, and the professor introduced himself to the class. He wrote his contact information on the board and told us to write it down for future reference. I opened up my briefcase to get out a notebook when I realized that I didn’t have one. In all my preparations for class I had forgotten to get a notebook. I searched frantically through my briefcase for a piece of paper, any piece of paper, but I had none – just a bunch of Greek textbooks that I didn’t want to write in.

I got the attention of the student seated at the desk next to me. “Excuse, me. Could I borrow a piece of paper?” He looked at me a little strangely, but opened up his three-ring binder FILLED with college-ruled white paper and gave me several sheets.

I was so embarrassed. Here I was at my first day of class for my Master’s degree of all things, and I had not even brought any paper. “Oh well, Lord,” I prayed, “I guess it’s good to be humbled.” I opened my briefcase again to get out a pen to write down the teacher’s contact information. No pen. I got the attention of the student next to me again. “Excuse me, could I borrow a pen?”

That’s all I remember from my first day at seminary. But God is good, and I got through, and yes, it is good to be humbled.

Related posts:

• I can relate to Billy going back to school in this video clip.
• Here is a little poem on learning Greek (or Latin, as the case may be.) [Pun intended on the word “case.”]

Return trip. A burglar in New Zealand broke into a family’s home through a window, stole some electronics and a credit card, and then came back later the same day to return the stolen goods – along with the new items he had purchased with the stolen credit card. He left everything on the kitchen table along with an apology note and a promise to drop off some cash later to pay for the broken window.

Grade inflation. Honors journalism students in Naples, FL are graded not only on how well they write, but on how many ads they sell for the high school yearbook. The syllabus says $600 will get you an A, $500 will get you a B, $400 gets a C, $300 gets a D and less than $300 worth of ads sold will earn a student an F on the assignment. Does anyone else think this is a bad idea?

Dog heir. Hotel operator and real estate investor Leona Helmsley, who died August 20, 2007, left $12 million dollars to her dog. The article doesn’t say who gets the money when the dog dies.

Here is a little Adam Sandler clip for everyone heading back to school.

(Video length: 0:32)

“Back to school! Back to school, to prove to Dad that I’m not a fool! I got my lunch packed up, my boots tied tight, I hope I don’t get in a fight! Ohhhh, back to school! Back to school! Back to school! Well, here goes nothing!”

HT: Provocations and Pantings

Yesterday’s message was called View from the Cave, taken from 1 Samuel 22:1-5.

1 Samuel 22:1-5 – 1 David left Gath and escaped to the cave of Adullam. When his brothers and his father’s household heard about it, they went down to him there. 2 All those who were in distress or in debt or discontented gathered around him, and he became their leader. About four hundred men were with him.
3 From there David went to Mizpah in Moab and said to the king of Moab, “Would you let my father and mother come and stay with you until I learn what God will do for me?” 4 So he left them with the king of Moab, and they stayed with him as long as David was in the stronghold.
5 But the prophet Gad said to David, “Do not stay in the stronghold. Go into the land of Judah.” So David left and went to the forest of Hereth. (NIV)

The main idea of the message was how we should deal with God’s delays in life. Here is a brief recap of the message:

David had been anointed as the future king over Israel. But now God’s promises seemed to be put on hold, and David found himself hiding in the cave at Adullam instead. What do you do when life doesn’t turn out the way you thought it would, the way God seemed to be leading? What do you do when you suddenly find yourself in a cave instead of the palace? How do you deal with God’s delays in life?

1) Serve where you are (verses 1-2)

    – Commit yourself to God.

    – Continue to do good.

2) Continue to seek God’s will (verses 3-4)

    – Remember what God has done in the past.

    – Seek God’s will for the future.

3) Be quick to respond to God’s word (verse 5)

    – Be open to hearing God’s word.

    – Be quick to obey God’s word.

The view from the cave can be a dark and lonely one, but it does not mean that God is through with you or has forgotten his promises. God’s delays are not necessarily God’s denials. Think about Jesus. Jesus went into the cave. He was crucified, dead and buried in the tomb. That was a dark day for his disciples. All of their hopes and dreams were crushed when Christ was crucified. All of their future plans lay buried in the tomb with Jesus. The view from the cave was pretty bleak that day. But three days later Jesus rose from the dead and fulfilled God’s plan for the ages.

So when your life seems off course, and certain dreams or plans lay shattered at your feet, remember that God is still God. He has good plans for your life. The view from the cave is not all that God has for you. Even if you are in the cave due to your own sin or foolish mistakes, no matter how bad you or I may mess things up, God is still bigger than our sin or mistakes. He will fulfill his plans for your life if you will trust and follow him.

Note: To read the complete message, go to the Sermons tab at the top of the blog.

As the pastor says near the end of the video: “I’ve been a pastor for 25 years – and that’s a first.”

(Video length: 1:25)

Does this kid belong to any of you? 🙂

HT: GirlTalk

Scot McKnight shares statistics on pastoral burnout from H.B. London’s Pastors at Greater Risk.

Brad Wright has an interesting article on role theory. “One of my favorite theories in sociology is role theory because it explains so much of what we do and don’t do in everyday life. It even explains why students don’t have pizzas delivered in the middle of class.”

Tim Challies reviews Tony Dungy’s new book, Quiet Strength. “I have read several NFL biographies, but none so serious, none so biblical as Quiet Strength . . . My lasting impression is not of Dungy’s life as a football player and coach, but of his life as a Christian. And I know this is just as he wants it.”

Al Mohler and Rick Phillips both share some thoughts about the recent disclosure of Mother Teresa’s long-term struggle with doubt and a sense of Christ’s absence. “The recent revelations of Mother Teresa’s spiritual struggle should remind all believing Christians that our faith is in Christ — not in our feelings.” (Mohler)

Fred Sanders demonstrates how Susanna Wesley refuted Aristotle’s teaching on a necessarily eternal world due to her deep understanding of the Trinity. “She was a full-time home-schooling mom, and didn’t write very much by scholarly standards. But what she put on paper is ample evidence that she had a lively intellect and a mind for what matters.”

Lifehacker has put together a nice collection of links to various archives accessible online for the following categories: historical information, multimedia, print media, science, web-specific information and government. “Some of the most intriguing resources on the web are located in archives—compilations of data that in the past, could only be found by making appointments in dusty libraries.”

Mike Metzger compares the Jason Bourne trilogy to the larger Christian story found within the Bible. “[The gospel is] the story behind every story – captured in four chapters: (1) Creation – addressing the existential question ‘Who am I?’ and how life ought to be, (2) the Fall – addressing ‘What did I do wrong?’ to make the world the way it is today, (3) Redemption – addressing ‘How can I escape what I am?’ and make things better and (4) the Restoration – ‘Where will I end up?'” (HT: Between Two Worlds)

Justin Taylor at Between Two Worlds has a nice interview with Tullian Tchividjian today. Tullian is the pastor of New City Church in Coconut Creek, Florida, not far from Plantation Community Church where I used to serve. He is the author of a new book on assurance called Do I Know God? and the grandson of Ruth and Billy Graham.

Tullian went through a season of rebellion in his teen years, and Justin asked him if Billy had said anything in particular to him during his time away from the Lord. I appreciated Tullian’s answer and the wisdom and love demonstrated by his family during those difficult years.

Interestingly, because my grandparents knew that my parents had laid such a solid foundation, teaching me the Gospel from the time I was born, they never preached to me during my wilderness wanderings; they never sat me down and gave me a lecture. They always told me they were praying for me, that they believed God had his hand on me, and that if I ever needed anything, not to hesitate to let them know. Their unconditional love for me during that time was stunning. In fact, from a human perspective, one of the tools God used to bring me to himself was the attractiveness of my grandparents (and parents) unconditional love. Because of my upbringing, I had always known the content of the Gospel but it was the “preaching of the Gospel without words” through my parents and grandparents which helped me to “taste and see that the Lord is good.”

Be sure to visit Justin’s blog for the rest of the interview.

Update: Tullian’s mother shares about the prodigal years from a mother’s perspective. Click here for the article by Gigi Graham Tchividjian.

Related posts:

• Congratulations Coral Ridge, New City and Tullian!
• Father and Son Share about the Prodigal Years (Abraham and John Piper)

A whole lot of nothing. “University of Minnesota astronomers have found an enormous hole in the Universe, nearly a billion light-years across, empty of both normal matter such as stars, galaxies and gas, as well as the mysterious, unseen ‘dark matter.’ While earlier studies have shown holes, or voids, in the large-scale structure of the Universe, this new discovery dwarfs them all.”

Red on the way out? National Geographic magazine reports that redheads are becoming rarer and could be extinct in 100 years. Best chance to preserve redheadedness? Move to Scotland where an estimated 40 per cent of Scots carry the red gene and 13 per cent actually have red hair.

Rumor police. Police in east China have arrested or warned 60 people for spreading rumors or threats through text messages and the Internet since the beginning of the year. “Rumors spread by modern means of communication can be a greater menace to society than those spread by word of mouth,” said Xia Cunxi, spokesman of the Jiangsu Provincial Public Security Department. If they arrested people in the United States for spreading internet rumors, half of us would be in jail.

Any Greek students out there? You should appreciate this little poem written by a first-year student of Scot McKnight [cited in McKnight’s New Testament Greek Grammatical Analysis, 76, n. 6.]

Greek is a language,
At least it used to be.
It killed off all the Greeks
And now it’s killing me.

All have died who ever spoke it.
All have died who ever wrote it.
All will die who ever learn it.
Blessed death, they surely earn it!

Aaaaah, the good old days of learning Greek. I remember working as a night watchman in seminary from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m., racing home, showering and eating breakfast, and then getting to Greek class by 8 a.m. Only by the grace of God I got through!

HT: Illumination

Related Posts:

• My Embarrassing First Day at Seminary
• Click here for poems by Ray Fowler.