Monthly Archive for March, 2009

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Chris and Jamie Brauns Birth Announcement

Published on March 14, 2009 in Parenting, Preaching, Quotes and Uncategorized. 6 Comments Tags: .

Please join Jamie and me in celebrating the arrival of our first baby Kindle.  Born late in the afternoon of March 11, he weighed just over 10 ounces.

Both dad and Kindle are doing well.  I was a real trooper in unwrapping him.

So far I am mildly pleased. I have been mostly using the ESV Bible (a free download). The display is very cool. It is very compact. Book delivery works well. I am not sure I like the 5 way mouse. But, then my fine motor skills are not exactly those of a surgeon.

More later on how dad and baby Kindle are getting along.

Forgiveness Question: Is Facebook a Legitimate Avenue for Repentance?

Published on March 14, 2009 in Forgiveness. 4 Comments

Think this is a good idea?

Crunchy Con writes about looking up an old girlfriend on Facebook:

I heard on the radio driving into work this morning a story about a guy who was bullied in high school. Years go by, and lo, his bully finds him on Facebook, and apologizes to him. That gave me an idea.

Back in 1991, I had a bad, bad break-up with my girlfriend. I treated her most unkindly. In fact, I was a pluperfect ass to her. Not long after I moved away, I realized how cruel I had been, and felt horrible about it. But by the time I worked up the courage to apologize and ask her forgiveness, she had moved. Last I heard, she was living overseas.

Over the years, my conscience has been heavily burdened by the need to apologize to her. But I didn’t know how on earth I would get in touch with her, or even if she lived in this country. As recently as a couple of weeks ago, getting ready for the start of Lent, I recalled her father’s name, and have been thinking about looking up his address and writing my apology in care of him, hoping he’d forward it to her. Something. Anything.

Listening to the story on the radio this morning, I thought I’d check and see if my old girlfriend is on Facebook. Her name is not uncommon, so I thought it’d be hard to search. I typed it in, and bam, there she was.

Read the whole thing here.

Do you approve?  Let me know how it goes.

International Results on the Book Giveaway

Published on March 13, 2009 in Uncategorized. 4 Comments

We have two international winners of a free copy of,Voddie Baucham’s book, What He Must Be If He Wants to Marry My Daughter are:

Darrel Dash of Toronto (Darryl is a famous blogger so I include his last name)

and

Margaret S. of Hungary

If you have no life, and you’re curious, I used the random number generator in an Excel spreadsheet to select a winner.


We’ve All Got To Go Through Enough To Kill Us

Published on March 12, 2009 in Quotes and Wendell Berry. 6 Comments

From Pilgrim’s Progress where the “river” is death:

Now I further saw, that betwixt them and the gate was a river; but there was no bridge to go over, and the river was very deep. At the sight, therefore, of this river the pilgrims were much stunned; but the men that went with them said, You must go through, or you cannot come at the gate.

The pilgrims then began to inquire if there was no other way to the gate. To which they answered, Yes; but there hath not any, save two, to wit, Enoch and Elijah, been permitted to tread that path since the foundation of the world, nor shall until the last trumpet shall sound.

Or, in the words of Wendell Berry’s, Burley Coulter:

We’ve all got to go through enough to kill us.

Ready?

Psalm 90:12, So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.

Listen to the Suffering. There is So Much to Learn from Them.

Published on March 11, 2009 in suffering. 0 Comments

I followed David Wayne’s blog before he found out he has cancer.  But, after David learned late last year he has cancer, I’ve leaned closer to the computer to listen to what he has to say. 

Read these two paragraphs if for no other reason than to be able to pray more effectively for those going through cancer treatment.

There are days when I just can’t go, it’s an accomplishment to get out of the bed and get down to the couch to sit up for a few hours. A couple of the side effects of some of the medicines I am on is neuropathy of the hands and feet and something called “hand and foot syndrome.” With the neuropathy I can’t touch anything cold, and with the hand and foot syndrome my fingers get a burning sensation and the skin peels off of them and if it’s bothering my feet it’s hard to walk. So there are times when I have to have my wife open bottles for me and I can’t open the refrigerator without gloves on. And by the way, if you know someone else with cancer you will know that these side effects are minimal compared to what others have endured, so I’m not saying any of that by way of complaint – in fact I feel fortunate that my side effects have been so minimal. But the point I am making is that for the first time in my life I have been given a taste of actual, real-life, real-world weakness, and it’s very different from the metaphorical, spiritualized weakness I used to study about and wax eloquent on. 

I’m not ready to claim any great spiritual breakthrough in the sense that I love this and feel all warm and fuzzy about it. There are times when I hate it and resent it. Yet there are other times when I see the hand of God in it. And even when I am in resentment mode I still understand that this is the true meaning of weakness. 

Read the whole thing here.

Ethics Question: Can I Take a Picture of a Quote at Barnes and Noble?

Published on March 11, 2009 in ethics. 16 Comments

Thesis: In a digital age, we need to be very careful about our integrity. 

If you are pressed for time, read only the question and respond if so inclined  .

The Question: Can I legitimately take a picture of a quote in a book at Barnes and Noble, or do I have to buy the whole book?

Background: I buy a lot of books.  I mean a lot of books.

How many books you ask?  Let me put it his way.  I am Barnes and Noble’s favorite customer.  When I walk in, they assign someone to follow me around in case I need something.  Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos gave me his cell phone number.  I text him when I want books and he stops by the warehouse to personally shrink wrap my orders.

Which is to say, I must limit myself somewhere.

So recently, while at Barnes and Noble, I was reading a book and I stumbled across a quote that I thought would be useful for my sermon.  However, I didn’t necessarily want to buy the book – -

I started to type the quote into my Blackberry, but then thought, why am I typing in the whole quote.  I could just take a picture using my camera phone.

An ethical wrestling match ensued: Is this a violation of copyright laws and a form of stealing?

What do you think?

Homosexuality, Loneliness and the Church

Published on March 11, 2009 in Recommended Links. 1 Comment

We would all do well to read and reflect carefully on an article by Wesley Hill.   Wesley Hill writes (these are his words, not mine):

I am drawn to these haunting confessions of Auden’s because I, too, am a homosexual Christian. Since puberty, I’ve been conscious of an exclusive attraction to persons of my own sex. Though I have never been in a gay relationship as Auden was, I have also never experienced the “healing” or transformation of my sexual orientation that some formerly gay Christians profess to have received. But I remain a Christian, a follower of Jesus. And, like Auden, I accept the Christian teaching that homosexuality is a tragic sign that things are “not the way they’re supposed to be.” Reading New Testament texts like Romans 1:26-27 and 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 through the lens of time-honored Christian reflection on the meaning and purpose of marriage between a man and a woman, I find myself—much as I might wish things to be otherwise—compelled to abstain from homosexual practice.

As a result, I feel, more often than not, desperately lonely.

How are we doing in being there for desperately lonely people?

Click here to read the whole thing.

HT: Between Two Worlds

Elie Wiesel Unwilling to Forgive Bernie Madoff, What Do You Think?

Published on March 9, 2009 in Forgiveness. 4 Comments

Bernie Madoff “made-off” with a bundle of Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel’s money.  Wiesel says (1) That he is unwilling to forgive Madoff and (2) That if he was going to forgive, Madoff would need to come begging.

What do you think?  Does Wiesel have the right approach to forgiveness?

NEW YORK (CNN) — Elie Wiesel, the Nazi concentration camp survivor who went on to win the Nobel Peace Prize, showed little inclination this week to make peace with accused swindler Bernie Madoff, whom he called “one of the greatest scoundrels, thieves, liars, criminals.”

Then, once Madoff had gained his trust, Wiesel invested all $15.2 million that his foundation had amassed, he said.

Elie Wiesel called on the federal government to bail out charities just as it has bailed out carmakers and banks.Elie Wiesel called on the federal government to bail out charities just as it has bailed out carmakers and banks.

“Could I forgive him? No,” the 80-year-old told a panel assembled Thursday by Conde Nast’s Portfolio Magazine at New York’s 21 Club to discuss Madoff, whose alleged victims included Wiesel and his foundation, The Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity.

“To forgive, first of all, would mean that he would come on his knees and ask for forgiveness,” the Auschwitz survivor said. “He wouldn’t do that.”

Madoff, 70, is accused of running a Ponzi scheme that may have cost investors up to $50 billion. He faces one charge of securities fraud in connection with an international scheme that has cost some investors their life savings and could land him in prison for up to 20 years.

Wiesel said a wealthy friend who has known Madoff for 50 years introduced them. The two men met twice over dinner, and Wiesel checked with financial experts whom he trusted before investing all of his and his wife’s personal money.

Read the whole thing here.

HT: Thanks to Mike Wittmer to pointing me to this story.

Picking Cotton

Published on March 9, 2009 in Forgiveness. 6 Comments

Picking Cotton is a new book, and it refers to a man named Ronald Cotton, not the crop.  I’ve already ordered the book.

Chapter 1 of my book Unpacking Forgiveness begins with the story of Jennifer Thompson.  The quick summary is that Jennifer Thompson “picked Cotton” – - that is she identified Ronald Cotton as the man who raped her, when in fact he didn’t really commit the crime.

I began my book with this story because it was one of the most amazing stories of forgiveness that I read (and I’ve read a bunch of them) and, because it illustrates so much biblical truth about forgiveness.  Not only did Jennifer Thompson have to unpack the baggage of being raped – - but she had to live with sending the wrong man to prison for over a decade.

How do you unpack forgiveness with a man that you wrongly sent to prison for some of the best years of his life?

There was an excellent special about Jennifer Thompson and Ronald Cotton on 60 Minutes tonight.  I would highly recommend watching it.  The two of them also co-authored a book Picking Cotton: Our Memoir of Injustice and Redemption.   It was recently released and I’ve not yet read it.  But, I am looking forward to it.


Watch CBS Videos Online

Here is Part II of the Sixty Minutes special on Jennifer Thompson and Ronald Cotton.


Watch CBS Videos Online

Is It Arrogant to Say Christ is the Only Way?

Published on March 8, 2009 in Chris Brauns Radio Spots. 3 Comments

Acts 4:12 says that Jesus is the only way of salvation.  It reads, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under Heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”  Let me ask you, “Is it arrogant for the Bible to claim that salvation is only through Jesus?”

My four year (okay, so she’s six now) old daughter loves to go to a particular grocery store in our area because they have miniature shopping carts.  She likes to push her own cart around and act as though she is talking on her toy cell phone at the same time.  She especially likes it if some of the groceries are in her cart.

Now suppose I took Mary Beth to the grocery store and someone came up and said, “That is my daughter.”  What do you suppose that I would say?  I mean, “what if they said that is my little girl and I am going to take her home?”  How do you think I would respond?

Would I say, “Well, I’m not sure, I mean let’s agree to disagree.  You have your opinion and I have mine.”  Or, “Well, she thinks that she belongs to me, but that’s just because of where and when she was born.  Is that what I would say?

You know I wouldn’t.  I would say, in a Christian kind of way, “Listen freak – - I don’t know what you are thinking – - -but she is my daughter.  I was at Swedish American hospital when she was born; God entrusted her to my wife and me.”  Of course, it’s not arrogant to make that claim, because it is true.