27
Why I Love “The Farm”
My dad grew up on a 160 acre farm in the small Southwest Missouri farming community of Bendavis. I don’t recall us ever calling it anything other than simply “the farm.” This, however, shouldn’t lead anyone to think of it as a place that is not special. Sometimes uncreative people will call their cat “cat” or their dog “dog,” and to me these folks are idiots; they had the perfect opportunity to give their pets an important name like Captain Wiggles or Mr. Happy or some other descriptive yet powerful name. But, a rose would smell just as sweet regardless of what we call it; therefore “the farm” is a perfectly appropriate name.
So, what makes this piece of property in the middle of nowhere so special you ask? Perhaps it’s the fact that the wind is always blowing – cooling your brow on hot Summer days wrestling the cows or reminding of our Lord, the Unmoved Mover. Or maybe it’s all of the imagery of a simpler time – the old tractor, rusted hay rake, weathered fence corner posts or the proud Prairie barn. It could even be because everywhere you turn your eyes you see something that Grandpa and Grandma Robertson touched – the Cherry, Buckeye, and Walnut trees that Grandma Annie planted and the buildings that Grandpa Glenn built with Depression Era tools and practically no money. Maybe it’s the pristine views (click the gas tank image above). All of these are great examples of the specialness of “the farm,” yet I can’t help but consider the fact that when I walk all the way to the back of the property to my favorite place I feel like I’m standing in the presence of God.
16
Why Do We Praise?
I am absolutely loving the book Desiring God! And as you can tell from a couple of my previous posts the subject of Joy has been on my spirit lately. The following is a phenomenal excerpt. Are we slowly putting together an ingredient list for Joy?
“But the most obvious fact about praise – whether of God or any thing – strangely escaped me. I thought of it in terms of compliment, approval, or the giving of honor. I had never noticed that all enjoyment spontaneously overflows into praise unless (sometimes even if) shyness or the fear of boring others is deliberately brought in to check it. The world rings with praise – lovers praising their mistresses, readers their favorite poet, walkers praising the countryside, players praising their favorite game – praise of weather, wines, dishes, actors, motors, horses, colleges, countries, historical personages, children, flowers, mountains, rare stamps, rare beetles, even sometimes politicians or scholars. I had not noticed how the humblest, and at the same time most balanced and capacious, minds praised most, while the cranks, misfits and malcontents praised least…
I had not noticed either that just as men spontaneously praise whatever they value, so they spontaneously urge us to join them in praising it: “Isn’t she lovely? Wasn’t it glorious? Don’t you think that magnificent?” The Psalmist in telling everyone to praise God are doing what all men do when they speak of what they care about. My whole, more general, difficulty about the praise of God depended on my absurdly denying to us, as regards the supremely Valuable, what we delight to do, what indeed we can’t help doing, about everything else we value.
I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment; it is its appointed consummation. It is not out of compliment that lovers keep on telling one another how beautiful they are; the delight is incomplete till it is expressed.” (C. S. Lewis, Reflections on the Psalms, 93-5)
“There is the solution! We praise what we enjoy because the delight is incomplete until it is expressed in praise. If we were not allowed to speak of what we value and celebrate what we love and praise what we admire, our joy would not be full. So if God loves us enough to make our joy full, He must not only give us Himself; He must also win from us the praise of our hearts – not because He needs to shore up some weakness in Himself or compensate for some deficiency, but because He loves us and seeks the fullness of our joy that can be found only in knowing and praising Him, the most magnificent of all Beings. If He is truly for us, He must be fore Himself!” (John Piper, Desiring God, 49)
14
[The most important things are the hardest things to say]
I’m currently working on a web site for an old college buddy (Bret Toth) who now runs a counseling center in the area. Buried in the middle of about a dozen pages of stuff he had typed up for me I ran into the following quote from a Stephen King novel. It’s good stuff, and so true – having never read any of his novels it just never dawned on me that he had this type of writing in them.
“The most important things are the hardest things to say. They are the things you get ashamed of, because words diminish them – words shrink things that seemed limitless when they were in your head to no more than living size when they’re brought out. But it’s more than that, isn’t it? The most important things lie too close to wherever your secret heart is buried, like landmarks to a treasure your enemies would love to steal away. And you may make revelations that cost you dearly only to have people look at you in a funny way, not understanding what you’ve said at all, or why you thought it was so important that you almost cried while you were saying it. That’s the worst, I think. When the secret stays locked within not for want of a teller, but for want of an understanding ear.”
10
Joy… The Key to Worship?
I can’t fully explain it right now, but for some reason the Lord has really been working on me. It all actually began a couple of years ago, but the intensity has really seemed to increase dramatically during the past six month – even more during the past few weeks. My prayer is simply that I’ll be able to keep pace!
Earlier this year I remember struggling with the thought that the last time I truly felt a steady and consistent “joy” in my life was back in my college days at SBU. The culmination of that mental journey was an article that I titled Repentance… The Key to Joy? And once again I may be diving into this one a little early, because it is very new in my mind and spirit, but I often find it helpful to write my thoughts down.
My new favorite preacher is John Piper. He is the founder of Desiring God and the Pastor for Preaching of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota. I’ve been listening to his sermon podcasts while in my car for a few months now, and his enthusiasm for Scripture and Truth has forced me down this path of searching for more depth in my relationship with God. This newly found desire to become more passionate myself has naturally led me to his book which is appropriately titled Desiring God.
In the book (and his podcasts) he has introduced me to the phrase Christian Hedonism. I recall feeling a tad uncomfortable when I first heard the phrase; my initial response was that it seemed like an oxymoron – I’ve always viewed Hedonism as a bad thing! But now this Piper guy has me baffled, and yet in my bewilderment I’m being exposed to what very well may be becoming a reformation of my personal faith structure.
C.S. Lewis says, God in the Psalms is the “all-satisfying Object.” Psalm 16:11 states, “You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” (ESV) If it is true that God is all-satisfying, then is it also true that to not enjoy God is dishonoring to him? Piper responds, “I must pursue joy in God if I am to glorify Him as the surpassingly valuable Reality in the universe. Joy is not a mere option alongside worship. It is an essential component of worship.”
The transformation has just begun, and I look forward to future posts.
The chief end of man is to glorify God
by
enjoying Him forever.
7
Inspired by Peter J. Daniels
I received a call on Sunday afternoon from my buddy Terence Cole. The two of us met about five(ish) years ago trying to make a buck or two selling phone service, and we’ve been entrepreneurial encouragements to each other ever since. Now, we don’t call each other often, so whenever I hear from my man “T” it’s usually good; this time was no exception. He had called to invite me to Church on the Rock to see a speaker named Peter J. Daniels. I wasn’t too excited about doing anything at that church because I had friends in high school who attended there and I already knew that my theology differed from theirs. But my friend emphasized, “dude, this cat is a Christian billionaire whose first three companies went bankrupt – you’ve gotta go!” And with that, I was in (but only for one night).
Within the first few minutes of Mr. Daniel’s presentation he explained the following, and I knew right then that I was in for a treat.
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As you can imagine, I ended up attending on Monday and Tuesday nights as well.
