We’ve finished moving out of our old apartment, with plenty to do to get us moved in. I don’t think we ever really even moved into our old apartment. Not so for this one! One thing I’ve noticed in this part of town is the cheeseburger bird, so named because of the three syllables it seems to be pronouncing. Rosanna told me about the name and I had to laugh, but dang if it isn’t as annoying as all get-out after the first thousand or so times you hear it. I have to agree with this blogger’s sentiment: Would Someone Please Give Those Birds a Cheeseburger?! Here’s a video that shows you what I’m talking about: Update (6:40am): Apparently, this is the black-capped chickadee. And apparently, it only likes to sing between 4:30am and 6:30am. Lovely. Funny link of ways to describe bird songs

It’s been five long years on Movable Type. Thanks for all the posts. Soon, thanks to David Guy, this blog will be managed through WordPress. May not mean much to you, but it’ll mean I’ll be posting more. You might need to refresh this page when it happens. And just after I tweaked my blockquotes to look like this:

Here’s a quote. Oh well.

David Powlison (quoted by Michael Mckinley):

The pattern of our life and growth is like a yo-yo. Up and down, up and down.

Pretty depressing, huh? But he continues:

The pattern of our life and growth is like a yo-yo… in the hands of a man walking up a flight of stairs.

Earth Day Philly Style Sad but interesting story about Ira Einhorn, the “Unicorn Killer” and his relationship to Earth Day.

Ira Einhorn was arrested for murder March 28, 1979, the day the Three Mile Island nuclear plant accident occurred. Ira Einhorn, environmentalist, was charged with murder during the same period as one of the greatest environmental accidents in United States history.

But the real irony is that more people died in the apartment of Ira Einhorn, co-founder of Earth Day than at Three Mile Island. The environmentalist killed more people than the so-called environmental disaster.

Happy Earth Day.

I loved Myst. And now I can help Rosanna love it, too. Myst for the iPhone and iPod Touch It’s gonna be $5.99, and according to this thread on the Cyan forums, it’s currently awaiting approval from Apple. Now, I’d really like to see Riven get ported. If you’ve been a long-time reader of my blog (all three of you), you’d know that I fancy Riven quite a bit.

For background and continuity, here are my last two posts on this topic, from last May: How to Obtain the Blessing of God: Introduction How to Obtain the Blessing of God: Part 1 All these quotes are taken from The Blessing of God: Previously Unpublished Sermons of Jonathan Edwards, Broadman & Holman, 2003, pp. 22-23. To recap, Jonathan Edwards’, in his sermon entitled How to Obtain the Blessing of God, proposes that it’s appropriate for us to receive His blessing through a process of not letting Him go until He bless us. He cites four reasons, and the first which was discussed in Part 1 is this: Reason #1: Because not letting God go except He bless us reveals the value and necessity of the blessing we seek. It reminds me of the many, many kids I heard while working at Super Target in Edmond (1398 props, Baby!) who dramatically informed their parents that if they didn’t have that Bratz doll, or didn’t get that squishy ball in the checkout line, they would die. The parents knew this was a passing desire that had no root in their hearts other than in the immediate moment of impulse buying. Even a good parent who takes care of his child’s needs won’t give into every impulse of “I want _____.” In the same way, God wants us to really know how much we need this blessing so that, upon receiving it, we are able to recognize its true value and be aware that God takes care of our true needs. By temporarily withholding a blessing, we have time to think about whether this is really valuable or not. Okay, recap out of the way. Reason #2: Because not letting God go except He bless us gives us time to reflect on our unworthiness.

God’s seeming [appearing] to deny persons the blessing for a while when they seek tends to lead person to reflect on their unworthiness of the blessing. They have that seeming denial to put them upon thinking what they have done to provoke God to withhold a blessing from them. While Christ seemed to deny the woman of Canaan what she sought, she was put in mind of her unworthiness. Jesus said, “It is not meet [appropriate] to take the children’s bread and cast it to dogs” (Matt. 15:26). This leads them to seek it in a more humble manner. Not only are we brought to the point of realizing the value of the thing we seek, we’re also given the opportunity to examine ourselves for the purpose of finding out what things we may have done to cause a rift in our relationship that needs repenting. And in so doing, we are humbled and rely more on the cross as the basis of our blessing, not our righteousness. This is not vindictive of God, as if He’s only mad at you and will change to happiness if you do your part. God does have anger for sin and it is a part of His nature, just as we can be angry when someone we love does something hurtful against us, and yet love them and want their good at the same time. But according to this sermon, God is eager to bless us even when He has something against us. I love, love, love the biblical account he calls on and it’s worth meditating on. Matthew 15:21-28 21 And Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon. 22 And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.” So Jesus went to Tyre and Sidon, and who comes before Him to seek a blessing but a woman, a Canaanite woman. This is a Gentile, a descendent of the people who inhabited the land and had stored up God’s anger against them through extremely dark sins. And she comes to Israel’s Messiah to seek a blessing, seeking mercy because of her daughter who was oppressed by a demon. Jesus’ response? 23a But he did not answer her a word. If God wants to bless people more than they want to be blessed, what explains Jesus’ behavior? He didn’t tell her yes, He didn’t tell her no. He just ignores her. 23b And his disciples came and begged him, saying, “Send her away, for she is crying out after us.” 24 He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Evidently she did not give up, but was continuing to cry out after Jesus. This annoyed the disciples. Did it annoy Jesus? His answer is that He is Israel’s Messiah, sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. It sure appears that Jesus is not interested in blessing this woman by granting her request. Does she give up? 25 But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” She finally gets close enough to Him and, in a humble way, pleads for His help. You’d think that if Jesus was so eager to bless people He’d give in and say, “Okay, fine. Have it your way.” Like Burger King. 26 And he answered, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” Whoa! Slam on Canaanites out of nowhere! “Not only have I been ignoring you since you’re not an Israelite, but I’ll also take this opportunity to remind you that you’re not a child but a dog.” This seems so harsh. “My blessings are for the children, not for the dogs.” I have no idea His tone, but it seems like a shocking spurn. But notice her reply: 27 She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” In other words, “Yes, I may be a dog and not a child, but even the crumbs are good enough for me.” She doesn’t shirk off His dog imagery; she embraces it as a way to get closer to Him. “Yes, Lord,” is an amazing acknowledgment. I see her as saying, “Yes, I know I don’t deserve this blessing from You. Yet I trust that You are so overflowing with blessings that even the ‘spare’ blessings You give are way more than I need.” 28 Then Jesus answered her, “O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed instantly. Her faith was great and her desire was answered. She didn’t give up. She sought His blessing in a more humble manner, and this greatly pleased Jesus. So, even though it seemed like Jesus wouldn’t give the time of day to this Canaanite woman, He was intending on blessing her all along and it was through her persistence and humble acknowledgment that Jesus answered her request. My conclusion is that it’s right for God to withhold the blessing we seek because it makes us remember that it’s the cross we’re trusting in for our righteousness and reward, and we are given time to reflect on anything we might have done that we should repent of, and casts us back on His mercy to bless us because Jesus paid for all of the sins we have committed. It’s not a matter of shoring up some sort of righteousness savings account and then saying, “See, God, reward me now.” It’s recognizing that He’s paid for it, and that there’s an “it” that needs to be paid. Then, we ask for mercy and draw near with confidence to the throne of grace where we find grace and help in time of need (Hebrews 4:16). Thus, if God is withholding a blessing you are seeking, don’t automatically assume that He doesn’t want to bless you with what you’re seeking. Take some time to consider if your heart is not right toward Him, like King Amaziah in 2 Chronicles 25:2. All right, that wraps up a few of my thoughts on Point #2. On to #3!

I love this story about impatience told by Richard Wurmbrand, quoted in John Piper’s Future Grace with his commentary following.

A legend says that Moses once sat near a well in meditation. A wayfarer stopped to drink from the well and when he did so his purse fell from his girdle into the sand. The man departed. Shortly afterwards another man passed near the well, saw the purse and picked it up. Later a third man stopped to assuage his thirst and went to sleep in the shadow of the well. Meanwhile, the first man had discovered that his purse was missing and assuming that he must have lost it at the well, returned, awoke the sleeper (who of course knew nothing) and demanded his money back. An argument followed, and irate, the first man slew the latter. Where upon Moses said to God, “You see, therefore men do not believe you. There is too much evil and injustice in the world. Why should the first man have lost his purse and then become a murderer? Why should the second have gotten a purse full of gold without having worked for it? The third was completely innocent. Why was he slain?”

God answered, “For once and only once, I will give you an explanation. I cannot do it at every step. The first man was a thief’s son. The purse contained money stolen by his father from the father of the second man, who finding the purse only found what was due him. The third was a murderer whose crime had never been revealed and who received from the first the punishment he deserved. In the future believe that there is sense and righteousness in what transpires even when you do not understand.”

Moses’ impatience with God in this story would surely be overcome if he had more faith in God’s power and wisdom to turn all things for the good of his people. God has promised again and again in the Bible to do just that (2 Chronicles 16:9; Psalm 23:6; 84:11; Jeremiah 32:40-41; Isaiah 64:4; Romans 8:28, 32; 1 Corinthians 3:22-23). In fact, the only thing misleading in this legend is the comment put in the mouth of God that, “For once and only once, I will give you an explanation.” The fact is, God has given us explanations like this repeatedly in the Bible with enough illustrations to fill a book.

I’m sorry. This is just too hilarious to pass up. If you’ve got 23 seconds, spend them on this, especially from :18 on. Thanks, [Rosanna]. :o)(http://rosannasreverie.blogspot.com)

Safari 4 (Beta)’s welcome screen mesmerizes me. I liked the sound so much I downloaded it. Nerd? Yeah.

My blog’s current subtitle is: pursuing well-formed opinions. It has been since late 2006.

In the past, it has read things like:

• an experience of life & theology (2004 and before)
• he through who faith is righteous (2004-2006)
• frustrated with his lack of code skillz (2006)
• a strange coming-together of thoughts (2006)

I’ve never really explained these, but I figured that the current one should get some airtime.

I credit Alanis Morisette and her song, 21 Things I Want In a Lover for part of my wording. In her song, she is listing the twenty-one things that she prefers, though not necessarily needs, in someone. Among them….

Do you derive joy from diving in and seeing that loving someone can actually feel like freedom?
Are you funny? A-la self-deprecating?
Like adventure? And have many formed opinions?

I think her little list rang a little bell in me that I don’t want my blog to be just random stuff (a change from a previous subtitle), but purposely helping me form well opinions about many things I bump up against in life.

Right now, I’m currently trying to form my opinion of the believer’s relationship to the law and in particular, indwelling sin. I’ll have updates about it, likely, as I progress through my forming. For any interested, I am going through John Owen’s The Nature and Power of Indwelling Sin, a book I’ve never read before. Much has precipitated this, but I won’t bore you with those details.

I’m also suffering, as long as we’re being honest, with not wanting to say too much. I want to be precise, but I’m starting to fall off on the “I’m saying so little I’m not saying anything” side of the issue.

All right. To bed. Remember, tomorrow is SPRING FORWARD. :o)