The Joy of His Presence

One of the themes in last week’s sermon was having an awareness of God’s presence. I do not know a better book on the topic than The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence. The book is actually letters written by him or his friend, Joseph de Beaufort, giving advice to young clergymen.

Here is an excerpt from the first letter:

“Brother Lawrence insisted that it is necessary to always be aware of God’s presence by talking with Him throughout each day. To think that you must abandon conversation with Him in order to deal with the world is erroneous. Instead, as we nourish our souls by seeing God in His exaltation, we will derive a great joy at being His.”

After work I usually go and hit the gym. Today was no different, at least at first. I usually start with a run to warm up and blast some Kanye and Linkin Park on my ipod. After I finished my run I began to think about the presence of God. I decided instead of listening to hard rock while I hit the weights I would switch to some Chris Tomlin. My “cool” side would bag on people working out to Tomlin. Truthfully, Chris Tomlin doesn’t really scream, “Finish that last rep foo!” but whatever.

Then the song Wonderful Maker came on, and I started listening to the lyrics and thought about God’s transcendence and immanence and how both attributes are beautifully displayed in the song:

You spread out the skies over empty space
 (transcendence)
Said "let there be light" 
(transcendence)
Into a dark and formless world Your light was born 

(transcendence/immanence)

You spread out Your arms over empty hearts
 (immanence)
Said "let there be light" 

(transcendence)
Into a dark and hopeless world Your Son
was born


 (transcendence/immanence)

You made the world and saw that it was good
 (transcendence)
You sent Your only son for You are good 


(immanence)

What a wonderful Maker 
(transcendence)
What a wonderful Savior 



(immanence)
How majestic Your whispers
 (transcendence/immanence)
And how humble Your love
 (immanence)
With a strength like no other 

(transcendence)
And the heart of a Father 

(immanence)
How majestic Your whispers 
(transcendence/immanence)
What a wonderful God

 (immanence)

No eye has fully seen, how beautiful the cross 

(transcendence/immanence)
And we have only heard 

(immanence)
The faintest whispers of how great You are (transcendence/immanence)

As I was meditating on this song I was truly in awe of who God was. This struck me because I was hitting the weights during this time and even began to pray between sets. The quote by Brother Lawrence came alive in an instant. Yes, God is with us in every part of the day. We only need to be aware of that fact in order to experience it.

Two things hit me like a punch in the stomach. First, it was a reminder of how Wonderful the Lord really is, and I have no claim on anything in this life but to simply honor Him. Second, I felt like I’ve been missing out all this time because I thought I had to “abandon conversation with Him in order to deal with the world.” Yes, that is “erroneous.” Through the whole time I was working out, I was enjoying the presence of God. I even finished my reps listening to Chris Tomlin.

Devotional – 021310

My church had another Reading Service. A Reading Service at our church is when we read together as a congregation a portion of Scripture prior to preaching through it. We’ve been going through the book of Isaiah, and last week we read through chapters 7-12.

Chapter 6 gets a lot of attention, and rightly so, because of Isaiah’s vision of God on the throne. Chapter 7, however, intrigues me more at a human level. What I mean is that it reveals more of the human condition in which fear of circumstances rules our hearts instead of trusting in the sovereignty of God.

In chapter 7, during the reign of Ahaz, the prophet Isaiah is attempting to present to his people the vision of God that has come to him in chapter 6. In 7:2 Aram and Ephraim are preparing for war against Israel and as a result, “the hearts of Ahaz and his people were shaken, as the trees of the forest are shaken by the wind” (NIV). Ahaz, in an attempt to find security goes to Assyria, Judah’s enemy, for aid. Isaiah tells Ahaz to trust in God and to look to God for help but Ahaz wants “a sign” (7:10). Then the famous passage of a child named “Immanuel” is given as the sign (7:14).

On the surface there seems nothing remarkable about the sign that God actually gives. Why would a future birth of a child comfort Ahaz? But then you look into the meaning of the name “Immanuel,” for “God is with us” and you see what John Oswalt called “double significance.” Oswalt goes on to say, “Its meaning is that God is with us and we need not fear what other human beings may do to us. The first significance is for Ahaz’s own day. He need not go to Assyria because God is with Judah.”

History tells us that Assyria eventually conquers the Northern kingdom of Israel years later. The opening they needed to accomplish this was given by Ahaz as a result of his refusal to trust God. Before we dismiss Ahaz as a failure and move on, I want to point out that as a Christian living under the New Covenant, we have the benefit of the Holy Spirit, the finished work of Christ on the cross, His resurrection, the promise of His return, and the text of Scripture. Dispute all of these eternal blessings, I find myself pursuing worldliness in much the same way Ahaz did. I often wonder if personal security is more important to me than pursuing God and investing in His kingdom.

The story of Ahaz, and others like it, steer me back to pursuing a growing trust in the Lord. This only happens if I learn more about God’s character and His goodness towards us realizing that I don’t need a vision like Isaiah’s to do so but the text of Scripture, which He has provided.

Corndogs and Good Childhood Memories

Normally I try to avoid the cafeteria at school all together because the lack of food quality is downright depressing. I could ensure you that when Junior Jr. comes along he will not be eating school lunches. Today, however, the cafeteria was serving corndogs. No they weren’t all that appealing. The corndogs triggered a fond memory of my mom. Every time she took my younger sister and I shopping at the mall, she bought us corndogs as a reward for enduring hours of wondering aimlessly through department stores. My feet were so swollen I couldn’t get the shoes off of them when I got home.

Then I started to miss my mom while I was thinking about this. I don’t have many happy childhood memories so when I remember one I need to write about it. What mom use to do throughout elementary school was drop by during lunch and hook me up with McDonalds. All the other kids were jealous and I made quite a few friends by handing out fries, particularly handing them to the cute girls. What elementary school girl could resist fries from McDonalds during lunchtime? Yes, sharing is good.

Of course mom didn’t have the benefit of nutritional facts and the health conscience culture we live in today. She just saw how happy it made her son and that’s all that mattered to her. As a future parent, I often wonder if I could live in such a way where I focus my efforts, resources, and energy to the security, love, and affirmation of a child the way my mom did for me. On paper I would say ‘no,’ or more accurately, ‘NO!’

This made me start thinking of what my mom would be feeling if I had a child. Considering how happy she was when my psycho older sister had a child, it would probably be one of the greatest moments in her life for her golden-boy to have a son of his own. That thought alone makes me what to eat a corndog at the mall.

(An entire blog on the pros and cons of parenthood is coming. Stay tuned.)

Don Carson - What Is Biblical Prayer And Why Should I Pray If God Know's Everything?

D.A. Carson is one of my favorite biblical scholars. I've read a few of his books and have found them to be extremely insightful (e.g., The Difficult Doctrine of the Love of God, NT Commentary Survey, etc). I was really encouraged by his explanation of prayer and I hope it's an encouragement to you as well.

1st Anniversary

I wrote how wonderful my marriage was going at the sixth month point. This past weekend the wife and I just experienced our first anniversary together. Marriage is truly a wonderful thing. Most people throw out the clichés of “You’re going to learn how selfish you are,” and “It’s going to take a lot of sacrifice for the marriage to work.” First of all I already know how selfish I am. I am extremely selfish. No surprises there. I already knew that marriage required a lot of “sacrifice” in order for it to “work.” Not breaking any new ground there, Aristotle.

It’s been a great first year. I feel like I love my wife more today than the day I married her. She takes wonderful care of me and does it with such joy. I absolutely cherish her and still admire her for the very same qualities that made me fall in love with her. Through a year of being married, I just see those qualities that much more clearly. It’s fun to get to know her more and see what makes her tick. We still talk about the same things that we talked about while we were dating. She supports me in my decisions and encourages me when I want to shot myself during education classes. When I act like a jerk she gives me the “You’re acting like a jerk but I’m not going to say anything and just let you realize it for yourself” face. Ten times out of ten, I do realize that I’m a jerk and that she’s right. Amazing.

She is a constant reminder of God’s grace and kindness. When I have doubts of God’s goodness or wonder if He has my best interest in mind, I only need to look at my wife to dispel those doubts about God and to bolster my faith in Him.

The relationships I’ve had in the past were crappy. The reason being is that immature love is exhausting but true mature love is empowering and can lift you up when you’re down in the dumps. Now if there is something I have learned through marriage is the “empowering love” factor. As a young guy you don’t always recognize when you’re in a bad relationship because . . . well . . . you’re young and your stupid. Here’s a hint, if you’re constantly exhausted by the relationship it’s a bad one. And I’m not talking about just the first two weeks I’m talking about well after the “honeymoon stage.” If I had known this as a teenager I would have saved myself a lot of grief.

All the pressures of being a teacher by day and taking teaching credential classes at night, while studying for exams to remain a teacher, without my wife I would have lost my mind and gone “Into the Wild” Christopher McCandless style (But instead of eating a wild potato root with poisonous fungus or dying of starvation I would have decided to take down a bear with only a knife. Story Telling Mode: While standing toe to toe with the Beast I lunge at it stabbing him in his left eye. Fuming in rage the Beast retaliates by sinking his teeth into my left shoulder. The penetration was too deep and the lost of blood too plentiful, there was no way of escape. As I laid there with the lost of blood mounting gasping for air, the Beast standing over my body in wounded triumph, savors this victory knowing he had not met such an adversity as I. As I take my last few breaths I am grateful for I no longer have to take education classes. – Or something like that anyway.). I digress.

There are two lessons to be learned here (1) mature love is empowering and can sustain you through some tough times. (2) If I weren’t married I’d be fighting a bear out in the wild somewhere and get myself killed.

Katie,

Happy anniversary honey. I can’t tell you how much you mean to me or how much I love you. I have a lump in my throat just typing this. I know it’s the Lord who sustains His children but He’s given me you as a vessel of His sustaining power and I will forever be grateful. Thank you for a wonderful year of being my support, my friend, my helpmate, and my beautiful wife.

Junior J

P.S. – Sorry about leaving the dishes but I was going to do them when I got home but you got there first. And I think the dog needs a walk too, thanks.

The Land of Sod

The in-laws have been working on their backyard for quite some time now and I must say, the process is coming along nicely. When they first got their home the backyard had a filthy pool, broken down fence, a rotting tree house, and a slum of an extra room separated from the house.

But if you know Big Poppa (aka, the father-in-law), he enjoys a project of restoration. I certainly don’t because it takes work, and I don’t like to work. Since they bought their home they have filled up the pool because they don’t want grandchildren, current and future, falling in and becoming a headliner in the local paper. They rebuilt the fence, took down the rotting tree house and trimmed the tree, and restored the slum of an extra room separated from the house by remodeling the bathroom, giving it a fresh coat of paint, and new carpet. I now affectionately call it “The Man Room” (aka, Jon’s room).

Not too shabby. There’s heavy rain coming this week so the sod had to be laid down rather quickly before the backyard becomes muddier than NBC and The Tonight Show. The wife kindly says to me, “Honey, my dad needs help laying sod. Do you mind if we help him out this weekend?” I said, “Sure honey, I love back-breaking manual labor and getting completely dirty on my day off.”

To the Land of Sod we go. Now getting up early is not one of my specialties so getting up early on my day off is down right dreadful. Once we got there I didn’t anticipate being in an interactive sitcom.

Big Poppa is a perfectionist and I hear that men are particular about their grass. As it turns out, he shows me the pallet of sod in the front yard and tells me it’s like a “puzzle.” A “puzzle?!” Well I never heard of a puzzle with all of the pieces shaped like rectangles. That’s one boring puzzle. Big Poppa goes on to tell me the proper way of laying sod, “You have to stagger the lines, lift the sod in a particular manner, and each piece needs to go in a certain place.” I say to myself, “Whatever.”

While the rest of the family (Momma, Becky, Jon, and the wife) were working I hear this dialogue in a span of 47 seconds:

Big P: “Honey, turn the plant the other way so the stick is facing the fence.”
As Momma and Jon roll their eyes they both say, “Okay.”
Big P: “Becky, are you digging that hole too deep?”
Becky: “You just told me to dig a hole, how was I supposed to know how deep the hole needs to be?”
Jon: “How often does Brianna text you Becky?”
Big P: “Becky put the phone down!”
Jon: “Becky, did you tell that A-hole who stood you up off yet?”
Momma to Jon: “Watch your language young man.”
Jon: (rolls his eyes)
Becky answering Jon’s question: “Why would I waste my minutes?”
Big P to Junior: “Could you move the dirt into the front yard?”
Junior: “Can I bury Puggles with the dirt?” (Puggles is grandpa’s annoying little rat-dog nobody likes)
Katie to Big P: “Can we start putting down the grass already?”
Big P: (no response, just a look of deep contemplation)
Junior: “Look, when I roll up a piece of sod it looks like a giant joint.”
Momma: “Did you ever imagine our little girl marrying a man who thinks sod looks like a ‘giant joint?’”
Katie: “Dad! Can we start putting down the grass already?”
Big P: “Hold on I’m thinking.”
Big P to Momma: “Honey, don’t plant that. Let Jon do it or you’ll hurt your back.”
Momma: “Okay I only hurt my back that one time.”
Katie: “But that was the only time you planted anything and you got hurt.”
Jon: “Yeah mom, you’re going to hurt your back.”
Momma: “Nobody lets me do anything around here.”
Jon: “Becky, let me dig this hole.”
Becky: “Can I go donate some blood for the people of Haiti instead of doing this?”
Big P: “Becky, go get us some water.”
Becky: (frustratingly goes and gets us water)
Katie to Big P: “If we could start laying down the sod we could get this done sometime today.”
Big P: (no response, and still with a look of deep contemplation)
Momma: “Junior, none of this better end up in your blog!”

Junior: (Sitting back and enjoying the show)

We can’t lay down the sod until Big Poppa sprays the ground with water and sprinkles some fairy dust on the floor to help the sod grow. As he sprinkles the fairy dust he looks like an elderly person who’s lost his mind feeding pigeons at Central Park.



I was working so hard and fast bringing the sod from the front yard to the backyard the neighbors starting wondering if Big Poppa picked me up in front of Home Depot. As it turns out, Big Poppa ran out of grass and we couldn’t finish the work. Although we got most of the yard done I asked him, “Why didn’t you order more grass?” He replied, “I didn’t want to order too much and waste it.” Growing up in East Los Angeles there are three lessons you automatically learn: (1) how to barbeque carne asada, (2) how to make guacamole, and (3) you can never have too much grass. Let that be a lesson for all of us. Until next time . . .

A Good Night Almost Foiled

This past Friday night I decided to go to the Lakers’ game with my buddy Ronnie whom I’ve only seen a handful of times since high school. It was a good night to do some catching up. If you’ve ever been to Staples Center you’ll know that they jack up the prices about 600% on everything there. It’s as if Staples Center was its own country and can pretend that food is so rare there they could charge whatever they want.

And just like any country they have boarders and security checks before you enter. Here’s where a good night was almost foiled. Now I like to think that I’m a rational guy most of the time. So I’m not going to pay a ridiculous price for food when I could get the same thing for one-eighth the cost somewhere else.

My buddy Ronnie got us some nice burritos before the game. They were pretty big and it was going to be difficult sneaking them in with all the security but of course we were going to try. The burritos were wrapped in foil. I said, “What a minute, the foil is going to set off the metal detector.” Ronnie replies, “No it won’t. Your jacket has zingers. The zingers doesn’t set off the metal detector so why would foil?” He might be right but I still wasn’t feeling confident. I put my big burrito in the inside pocket of my jacket on the left side.

As we entered the security check I tried to keep it cool by pretending to have a conversation with Ronnie. Sure enough the metal detector went off. I was asked to move aside so they could check me with the hand-held metal detector. Can you guess where the hand-held metal detector went off? That’s right, the inside pocket of my jacket on the left side. The security guy says, “Please empty your pockets.” You could imagine now I was sweating some bullets. Not to mention that everyone else was looking to see what was going on wondering why I was setting off the metal detector. “Maybe he’s a terrorist!” they thought. Great, all of this trouble for a freakin’ burrito.

I complied without saying anything hoping that I could find something else in my pockets to pull out other than my big burrito. I was digging in my pockets so hard I almost poked a hole through them. Nope. Still searching. Nothing. Then I came clean and just told the security guy, “Look man, it’s just my burrito and it’s only loaded with beans and rice. It’s completely harmless, I promise.” The security guy cracked the kind of smile that says, “I’ve gotta tell my friends about this one. A dude tried to smuggle in a freakin’ burrito! That was a first.” But he says, “There is no outside food allowed.” Dejected and a little embarrassed I grabbed my things and took my burrito outside.

Did Ronnie get caught? Of course not. Now if you knew Ronnie, that wouldn’t surprise you at all. He gets away with these things. There is no method to how he does it, he just has the “I don’t get caught” gene. But like a good friend he went back outside with me and said, “I’m sorry dude, but you were right. The foil really did set off the alarm.” You could imagine that his acknowledgement of my correctness about the foil was small consolation.

Afterwards, both of us decided to go in by another entrance. On our way we were “unfoiling” our burritos and wrapping them in napkins. We made it through the second time without a hitch, got to our seats, and took a nice sigh of relief. Just in time for the game introductions. We sat and enjoyed the rest of the night by watching the Lakers destroy the Clippers by 40 AND eating our burritos (although it was cold by now because it had no foil to keep it warm)! I think the whole ordeal actually made the burritos taste even better.

In conclusion, there are two lessons we could learn here. Foil sets off metal detectors and don’t listen to Ronnie if you ever meet him because if he talks you into anything you'll be the one caught. A great start to the weekend. I hope the rest of you are having as much fun with life as I am.