The Web Site and Blog of Author and Pastor Chris Brauns
Cal Thomas:
June 18, 2010 marked the 70th anniversary of Charles de Gaulle’s historic call to arms for the French to resist the Nazis and also Winston Churchill’s "finest hour" address.
Another anniversary might have gone unnoticed were it not for a brilliant new biography of a man who gave his life in a failed plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler. "Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy" by Eric Metaxas, is a major biography of this giant of faith published 65 years after his death.
Again, I am in Europe. I am doing my best with soccer. But, as did a previous post to which I linked, Rick Reilly’s list of things that bug him about the World Cup does strike a chord.
Included in Reilly’s list is:
The Twinkie-fingered gloves goalkeepers wear. No wonder the English goalkeeper allowed that easy shot to give America a 1-1 tie in the Group C opener. You couldn’t stop a beach ball with those big goofy things. What, is Hamburger Helper a sponsor? Why must they be so huge? Doesn’t Roger Rabbit need them back? And where do the batteries go? How are goalkeepers expected to hang on to the ball with them on? And is it difficult to play goalie while also taking things out of the oven?
Samuel Johnson:
It is better to suffer wrong than to do it, and happier to be sometimes cheated than not trust.
Can you think of a way to help make your pastor’s family be excited about the place where they are called?
I cannot describe how much our family has enjoyed the Lauterbrunnen Valley in Switzerland. One of our Lauterbrunnen neighbors says, “It’s impossible to take a bad picture in Lauterbrunnen. Just point your camera anywhere.
It’s a beautiful valley. Still, it’s not our valley.
After taking this picture (our children were in the midst of trying to dam up a mountain stream), I noticed that they were all wearing assorted Stillman Valley Cardinal t-shirts. (You wouldn’t believe how many different Cardinal t-shirts are worn in our valley). You would think that the SV football coach picked out our wardrobe.
Jesus said, “Out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks.” We might paraphrase it to say, “Out of the overflow of the heart, teenagers pick out their clothes.”
Even while we are in such an awe inspiring environment, we think frequently of Stillman Valley. Our kids have been excited to think of going home since the day we arrived. My 16 year old has asked for my assurances more than once that she can attend her church as soon as we return, though I will still be on sabbatical.
What better compliment could a 16 year old pastor’s daughter give to her church family?
Even if you aren’t a baseball fan, you’ll appreciate these lines. Here’s what you need to know. Rickey was a tremendous baseball player who didn’t lack for confidence and often talked to himself in the third person.
(The collection is not original to this blog – – see below).
1) Rickey… on referring to himself in the third person:
“Listen, people are always saying, ‘Rickey says Rickey.’ But it’s been blown way out of proportion. People might catch me, when they know I’m ticked off, saying, ‘Rickey, what the heck are you doing, Rickey?’ They say, ‘Darn, Rickey, what are you saying Rickey for? Why don’t you just say, ‘I?’ But I never did. I always said, ‘Rickey,’ and it became something for people to joke about.”
2) In the early 1980s, the Oakland A’s accounting department was freaking out. The books were off $1 million. After an investigation, it was determined Rickey was the reason why. The GM asked him about a $1 million bonus he had received and Rickey said instead of cashing it, he framed it and hung it on a wall at his house.
Click here to read more.
Or, see this post about what Ricky said to himself when he struck out.
Where I grew up we didn’t play much soccer. Indeed, we suspected that soccer wasn’t too far from good old fashioned communism. Still, we are in Europe for a few weeks and my family is getting into the World Cup spirit. Switzerland is ecstatic about their win.
But, we were all mystified today as to why the third goal was disallowed. It didn’t help that we were listening to German announcers. I’m sure they knew what they were talking about, but we don’t speak German.
All of which is to say, I can really relate right now to this post from Ross Douthat.
I am not a soccer fan, particularly. I hated playing the game as a kid, I’m easily exasperated by the ties and the low scoring and the penalty-kick finales, and I loathe what Jonathan Last calls “the ritual attack of the soccer scolds” every World Cup season. (Also, I had college roommates — and dear friends — who insisted on referring to the game as “football,” even though they were Americans going to college in America, for crying out loud.) Buttoday’s United States-Slovenia match was a beautiful, remarkable, riveting thing to watch — and a game seemingly perfectly engineered, in its stakes and scoring and sudden reversals, to hoist me on my own soccer-hating petard.
Until, that is, what should have been the winning goal, capping an astonishing American comeback, was disallowed by a flagrantly awful and entirely mysterious referee’s call. And suddenly all my bright talk from a couple weeks back about the virtues of living with bad officiating seemed like so much pompous dreck. I wanted instant replay for the World Cup, and I wanted it today.
Over to you, Joe Posnanski:
When you are watching a sport you don’t often watch, things happen that you don’t quite understand. Why didn’t that play count? Oh, the offensive lineman was holding. Why was that basket disallowed? Oh, that guy was standing in the lane for three seconds. Why was that home run taken away? Oh, the umpire said it went foul. This happens in every sport.
But what made Coulibali’s Call-of-Folly so maddening is that even soccer experts could not tell us why it happened.
The picture to the right is of Jamie and me in the Lauterbrunnen Valley in Switzerland. One cannot look at too many village landscapes in Western Europe, without seeing a steeple.
I recall once reading that Calvin said when Paul received the Macedonian call it was the most fortuitous moment in history. It meant that the Gospel traveled west rather than east – - initially to Europe rather than Asia. Given the boundaries of the Roman Empire, in the power of the Holy Spirit, the Gospel soon blazed all the way to England and in God’s Providence, to the New World. (This post will help you better understand the point).
By circa 200, Tertullian was able to say:
We are but of yesterday, but we have filled every place among you cities, islands, fortresses, towns, market places, the very camp, tribes, companies, palace, senate, forum we have left nothing to you but the temples of your gods.
Traveling about Europe, it is mind boggling to see churches dotted across the landscape and to consider how the entire culture was shaped by the cause of Christ.
Yet, it is also tragic to reflect on the reality that much of the spiritual soil here is as tillable as concrete. We so need to pray for the West!
Last night after having dinner in Salzburg, our family reflected together on the Great Commission and the call to go into all the world and make disciples. We awoke to the Salzburg church bells ringing, reminding us that nearly 2000 years ago, God directed Paul to spread the Gospel West.
See also, The Miracle that was Paul
Some helpful thoughts on giving from Justin Taylor and J.D. Greear:
I’ve found this post by J.D. Greear to be very helpful in thinking about giving, generosity, and possessions.
He begins by identifying two different extremes that Christians often hold with regard to possessions. Either:
- God wants you to give 10%, and after that you can do whatever you want with your money.
- Whatever you give, you should be giving more.
The second position, he says, is much better, but it’s imbalanced and leads to despair and constant guilt. He gives three problems with it:
- It never ends.
- It’s out of sync with what the Bible says elsewhere about possessions.
- It ends up as a spiritualized sense of “compulsory” giving (contra 2 Corinthians 8-9).
Here is a summer science project. Do this one at your own risk.
Choose an afternoon when the summer sun is burning down, get a magnifying glass and a pile of some dry combustible material. Dried leaves will work just fine. Gun powder will be more exciting.
Put the burning material down on the sidewalk and then use the magnifying glass to focus a beam of sunlight onto the material. You will be amazed at how quickly smoke begins to curl away. My boys and I do this and we think it great. Jamie rolls her eyes.
You know: the magnifying glass does not provide any power of its own. It serves only to direct the power of the sun. But, when it does, it brings light to a burning focus and things ignite.
That is what the local church is supposed to do. By itself, the church, God’s people, do not offer any power. But, a church is like a magnifying glass that God uses to focus and direct His power. Paul says in Ephesians 3:10 that God is pleased to make declaration of Himself both to people and the Heavenly realms by means of the church.
Maybe in your life, the presence of Christ does not seem powerful. You keep waiting for change and power to ignite in your life but it’s just not happening. If that is the case, then try another experiment this summer. Look for a church that centers on the Lord Jesus and His Word. Put yourself right underneath the magnifying glass on a warm Sunday and wait for Spirit and Truth to ignite in your heart.
Read endorsements for Unpacking Forgiveness here.
Click here to order Unpacking Forgiveness.
“. . . Chris Brauns has done a magnificent job in helping us understand the true nature of biblical forgiveness. Every Christian will profit from reading and applying this book.” Jerry Bridges.
“ . . . Unpacking Forgiveness is an engaging, convicting but emphatically encouraging treatment of this hugely important (and sometimes mindbogglingly challenging) part of life. Dr. Brauns writes from the standpoint of a faithful, wise, experienced and caring pastor . . .” Ligon Duncan, First Pres, Jackson, MS
A Brick in the Valley
