Barnes & Bargains

Disclaimer: My editor (aka. my wife) decided to insert some of her thoughts into this one. That's the price you pay the editor sometimes, I guess.

When it comes to reading books, I don’t like to spend money on ones I know I won’t keep or read again. There’s a book I needed to read for my finance business. I knew I didn’t want to actually pay for it, so I had this bright idea to visit the local Barnes & Noble and simply read the book there. It would save me a whole $13.00.

(Katie: And let’s be honest… be a good excuse to get out of the house and out of childcare for a few hours. I’m going to start “saving money” this way, too!)

This past weekend, I went to the closest store and started reading the book. It was 300 pages, so I knew it might take a few trips. (Katie: I have a 600 page book in mind that I intend to read…twice.) Once I found the book, I tried to find a comfortable place to sit. There wasn’t one. It’s a good business move on Barnes & Nobles’ part. If the place were too comfortable people would never think, “Maybe I should just buy the book and read it in the comfort of my own home.” (Katie: A place on the floor will be just fine for me!) Reading on the hard chair wasn’t fun, but I was determined to save that $13.00. (Katie: I’ll take the hard chair any day if it means getting an hour or more of uninterrupted reading time!)

After a couple of chapters, the music came on. I was sitting directly underneath the speaker and couldn’t hear myself read the book. (Katie: You should try it when the baby starts to cry…) I got up to move away from the speaker, but when I started moving around, I noticed there were speakers everywhere where there was a seat. (Katie: It’s kind of like a two year old that can follow you anywhere.) Maybe it was their way of saying, “Hurry up and buy the book we marked up at 200%!” I decided I would sit on the floor. It would be like high school all over again except I didn’t any read books in high school. A few minutes later, a store manager told me I wasn’t allowed to sit on the floor because of store policy. I guess that’s fine. You wouldn’t want a bunch of people lying around making your place a business look like someone’s living room.

I got up again and went back to my hard chair right underneath the speaker because, really, that was the best spot. Not two minutes later there was a gentlemen wondering through the aisles murmuring to himself while thumbing through books. This guy picked up a “Sex Book” and kept murmuring to himself. Initially I thought he was just a pervert, but then he kept perusing through the books and stopped again on Chinese Cuisine. (Katie: Perusing through books? People still have time for this in the real world?) Okay maybe he’s not a pervert but just some guy that likes to spend his time going through books at a bookstore. (Katie: Probably another dad trying to “save money.”)

Whatever.

I tried to ignore him and keep reading but then he sat down right next to me and kept murmuring to himself while flipping through his Chinese Cuisine book. Then it hit me, “I’m going through all this to save $13.00!” I gave up and just bought the book off of Amazon. I’ll get to read the book in the comforts of my own home. (Katie: Great! While you are reading at home, I will head off to Barnes and Noble… ) Trying to be frugal is one thing, but sometimes it’s okay to actually buy something when the benefits outweigh the cost. And in this case, $13.00 clearly outweighed the cost. Let's see if I'm still saying this when the book arrives and there are screaming kids in the house.

What God has Joined Let NO Man Separate

It's really nice to finally start attending weddings as a married person. When I attended weddings as a single person I would often think, "When is it going to be my turn?" Now weddings of fellow Christians are a source of encouragement to strengthen my own marriage. Last week our dear friends from our Grace Group (home bible study), Alex Torres and Cassie Robertson made a lifelong commitment to one another. It's been a blessing to watch these two mature in the Lord and loving each other well. During the ceremony one of our elders, who was officiating the wedding, said, "What God has joined let no man separate." For some reason this uniquely resonated with me. I've heard the phrase a hundred times before but there has been recent circumstances to make me think about this differently and reflect on it more. So this is a snapshot of that reflection.

It's clear in the bible that God hates divorce (Malachi 2:16). Yet I've seen many fellow believers choose the path of divorce without any biblical grounds. I've had close friends, parents of friends, and even former mentors, pastors, and elders who have gotten divorced. Let me be clear that I'm in no way a perfect person nor is my marriage a perfect marriage. But this grieves me deeply. "What God has joined let NO man separate." Do we take this seriously as Christians? Do we not know marriage is a picture of Christ and the church? Most of these divorce cases is not a result of infidelity or abuse (physical or emotional) but because of hardheartedness. There's a complete unwillingness to forgive one another.

The hardhearted person who cannot forgive or live in proper relation to others in Christ's body (18:1-35) will also despise weaker people in society-in Jesus' day, these included wives (19:1-12; compare Mal 2:14-16) and children (Mt 19:13-15). By contrast, Jesus, who is not hardhearted, remains unimpressed by worldly status (vv. 16-22). When we hold grudges against a genuinely repentant spouse and remain hardhearted toward her or him-whether or not we officially cast the person away-we hinder our own communication with God (1 Pet 3:7-12) and ultimately can invite our own damnation (Mt 18:34-35).

If there's a chance of "inviting our own damnation" I want no part of it. If Christ has forgiven me, how I can stand with a clear conscious when I don't forgive others? I've been blessed living in a community with friends and elders who won't let me get away with acting like a jack@$$ because they love me too much. It's how the Body of Christ suppose to function. I believe one of the first lies we could believe is thinking we have to do things on our own including having a good marriage. If I didn't have accountability, love and encouragement from others, as well as beautiful living examples, there's no way I could thrive in my marriage. By the grace of God I have those things and it's not my own doing. It's interesting to me though, that when a person is intent on doing what they want they begin to isolate themselves from anyone who could call them out of their nonsense.

Now that Alex and Cassie are married I want to make a commitment much like my friends and elders have made a commitment to me. As a fellow church member, a grace group member, and most importantly a brother in Christ I will make the endeavor to support them in their pursuit to honor God in their marriage. Because in the kingdom of God there is no such thing as "irreconcilable differences." The cross proves that.

Reading Service - The Gospel of Mark

Today at my church,Grace EV Free La Mirada, we had what we call a "Reading Service" which we simply read large portions of the book we plan on preaching/teaching through next. Most "Church Growth" people would say, "You can't just read the bible at your church. People wouldn't be in to that." I'm glad I attend a church that tells those type of people to "Go and kick rocks because we're going to do what we believe pleases God."

We read the first 8 chapters of Mark. In our ADD culture this might seem like a lot. But it give us (the congregation) the opportunity to exercise sustained focus, something we all disparately need. During the reading, I felt my heart awaken to the Scriptures. I blocked everything else out of my head and focused all my energy to listening to the reading, following themes within the passage, and attempting to connect theological truth in the larger narrative structure. It was powerful just to listen to the Word of God being read. It felt like "Letting the Lion out of the cage." There was zero commentating on the passage but it still ministered to my heart. It made me excited to read the gospel of Mark on my own as well as do my own study. I'm extremely grateful for moments like these that remind of the power of God's word.