the putting to death of the fallen self...

...I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me...

Galatians 2:19-20

everyday i wrestle with my humanity. i live selfishly. i think and say mean things about people. i am apathetic. i am not compassionate. i fail to trust God. i pray half-heartedly. it sort of makes one wonder why, if i have been crucified with Christ and He is living in me, i do these things.

the fact is that my fallen humanity is dead. it has been all along. you see, if i can do nothing but sin without the help of God (and sin is death), then my fallen humanity is dead. the problem is that, despite being made alive in Christ, it still has influence in my life. when Christ engrafts us into Himself, who is the Life, He so brings us to life and allows us to share the benefits of His Sonship. however, we are not simply dissolved into God. our humanity does not simply disappear, but we are brought to a place where we can, with God's help, live as we were created to live.

God did not create me to be selfish, or mean, or apathetic, or in any other way that is not of Him. what a stupid thing we say when we say, "that's just the way i am." no, actually you weren't created to be that way. but this corrupted part of me is trying its hardest to pull away from this fire that is burning it away. this part of me wants to be autonomous. it wants to draw itself back into non-being, away from God, where it is comfortable in its misery.

so everyday i struggle with these things. on good days, i remember that Jesus Christ took these things onto Himself on the cross and defeated them for my sake. they have been crucified.

yet, it should be our daily prayer that the parts of us that are dragging us into non-being, would be crucified, for these things do not know that they are dead... and that they are dead-weight. thankfully, we worship a God who, as Nichole Nordeman says, gently moves over us like a river moving over a stone, smoothing out our rough edges, and reshaping us into what He had in mind all along.

cheers,

jw <><

a few thoughts...

i have tried to refrain from making any comments that are political in nature since the election; however, i have a few things i would like to comment on...

1. why is there $4.19 billion in the new economic stimulus plan for acorn? how exactly is this going to create jobs? seems like a pay-off for their work during the election to me, but, then again, who am i?

2. why is obama asking republicans to put aside politics to get the stimulus plan passed when this plan is a wish list of democratic spending items? so the republicans should put aside politics, but the democrats don't have to? all this talk of being bi-partisan is making me nauseous. friends, bi-partisan does not mean that one group gets what they want while the other doesn't.

3. why is there talk of reinstating the fairness doctrine? is it just me, or do we take freedom too far and end up destroying it? for those of you who don't know what this is - the fairness doctrine requires that for every talk radio show (or other things that are broadcasted) there has to be equal air time for opposing views. while it sounds good, it actually kills freedom of speech. the last radio station to suffer the consequences of this doctrine from the early 80's was a christian station, which didn't have an opposing view to the christian beliefs it expressed. the radio station lost its license to broadcast. talk radio died during this time because of the costs and challenges of ensuring the regulations were followed.

4. in a time of economic crisis, why did obama immediately reinstate legislation that sends hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars (i think it was between $700 and $800) to foreign countries for abortion? this will surely create the approval and respect of the muslim nations that we have become so desperate to receive.

5. speaking of muslims, why does obama believe that telling the muslim extremists that we "respect" them will all of a sudden make them not hate us anymore? is it just me or does trying to use rational means with irrational people seem extremely naive? friends, i hate to be pessimistic, but the muslim extremists are always going to hate us. they hate us for who we are, not because we don't respect them. what exactly had we done to them pre-9/11 that caused them to murder us? nothing. we were just being us. 

they aren't going to like us just because we send some hippy love vibes their way. this is the nature of being irrational. you can't talk someone out of being irrational with rationality. have you ever lied awake at night worrying and tried to convince yourself everything was going to be okay in order to go to sleep?  it doesn't work, does it? that is because fear is irrational. it cannot be driven out by rational thinking.

this is my opinion (which isn't worth a whole lot): obama talked about putting our childish ways behind us in his inauguration speech. part of childhood is naivete. it is time we all wake up and smell the roses. america isn't going to change because of inspiring speeches. the economy isn't going to prosper by turning to a welfare system (winston churchill once said that trying to create prosperity through a welfare system is like someone trying to lift themselves off the ground by standing in a bucket and pulling up on the handle). despite its appeal, big government has never helped prosper a nation. religious extremists aren't going to respond to rational conversation. america has to stop trying to please everyone, we have to give up our obnoxious insistence that the world owes us something, we have to stop confusing rights and privileges, we have to stop putting off personal responsibility and relying on government to save us, and we have to get off our butts and work. this is what made this country great, and this is the only thing that will allow it to return to prosperity.

sorry to be so negative, but someone has to be realistic.

cheers,

jw <><

out of options...

She had endured much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had; and she was no better, but rather grew worse.

Mark 5:26

it is pretty amazing how slow we are sometimes. why is it that we stick to our plans no matter their lack of results? yesterday's lectionary reading was about a disabled man who had been sitting next to the healing pool for 38 years, waiting for his opportunity to get in when the waters were stirred. 38 years!!!! that is close to the average life span of someone in this time. he had never gotten in; yet, he continued to sit there.

in today's reading, the woman had been bleeding for 12 years - only about a quarter of the time the disabled man had been ill. still, she had tried everything. the result - she was out of money, out of options, and was growing worse. it was 12 years that had been wasted - 12 years in a life that is all too short to begin with.

it seems that sometimes we have to hit rock bottom (and then some!) before we hand our plans over to Jesus. what is Jesus' response to our plans, which we have religiously clung to despite the fact that they have repeatedly failed us? his response is, "do you want to be healed?" translation - "are you ready to give up your plans and allow me to show you the way?"

friends, may we not create plans and stick to them despite their ineffectiveness. instead, may we search out God's plans for us. may we continually hold up what we think His plans are for us for Him to shine His light on and correct. may we not bleed for 12 years or sit crippled for 38. may we not waste our lives chasing after our own plans. may we be healed, pick up our mat, and run after Jesus.

cheers,

jw <><

HACKENSAW BOYS and PIZZA

REMEMBER ME???? i used to blog here 1 million years ago! haha

sooo... our internet has been down at the seminary for a few days now, and i have found myself itching to blog. how funny is that! i have been totally inspired by the hackensaw boys! i am going to post a video if i can remember how to do this. the video does not do them justice, but i want to spread the word. it was the craziest concert i have ever seen!!!!!!  yes, one guy is playing tin cans... with spoons... that he wears strapped to his chest.  also, at any moment it looks like their eyes are going to pop right out of their heads! it does not get anymore bluegrassy than that my friends!  I LOVED IT!

hope you enjoy! the sound quality is not heard as well when listening online...




another important update from the land of pittsburgh...  our new favorite pizza place is bites and brews! we went friday night before the concert with a bunch of friends and got a huge pizza with 8 slices for $6.00! it was awesome, and we are going back very soon. happy hour is a lot happier than i ever thought it could be... haha!

we had a surprise snow storm this afternoon.  jon and i were enjoying a sunday afternoon snooze and woke up to 1 1/2 inches of snow!  what a beautiful sight to see!!

until next time...
e l i z a b e t h

unplugged...

just wanted to do a little update on the lack of blogs the past two days. our internet connection went out right after i sent that blog friday morning and has been out ever since. i am at panera right now.

hopefully our connection will be back up tomorrow when our network administrator comes back from the weekend. as soon as it is back up, i will be posting again.

go steelers!

cheers,
jw <><

poem...

Willing to die,
you give up
your will, keep still
until, moved
by what moves
all else, you move.

Wendell Berry

waiting...

Be still before the LORD, and wait patiently for him...

Psalm 37:7

recently, i have been doing hospital visits for members in the congregation i am serving. i don't know if my presence has done anything for these folks, but i have learned a lot about life in the few visits i have made.

you see, hospitals aren't just a place that people go to get well... or maybe to die... but hospitals seem to be places where people go to wait. everyone in the hospital is waiting. people are waiting to see loved ones who are not well. patients are waiting to be seen by doctors. some are waiting for test results or to go into surgery. others are waiting to be released to go home. a few are waiting to pass on from this world. everyone that i have gone to see has been waiting for something.

i will admit that i have felt rather helpless in the hospital. i don't have the results that people are waiting for, or the drugs that will relieve the pain they are in or make them well, or the answers about what decisions to make concerning their health. so, i have found that my job is to wait with them. this waiting is not without purpose, though.

it seems most of my life has been about waiting. wait to get to drive, or to graduate high school, or to get married, or to go back to school. now, it seems i am waiting to be done with school, to get a job, to have children... but so often in life we run ourselves ragged in these times of waiting. we don't create opportunities to stop and think. we don't live in the moment. we just go, go, go, go, go to get to what we are waiting for. and as one of my youth pastors used to say, our lives end up like whirlpools. everything looks great until the jets stop, and all the junk that was unseen in the raging waters floats to the surface. it is all the junk that we don't want to deal with, so we keep ourselves busy in order to avoid dealing with it.

hospitals force us to stop... and wait. it is unfortunate that it is only in times that we are unwell that we stop and wait, for there is great value in this waiting. it is patient waiting (no pun intended, serious!)- albeit somewhat forced because there is nowhere to go and nothing to do.

it is in this time that Jesus becomes so apparent. it is in this time that He can deal with the junk in our lives. not that He wasn't always there, but it is just that He is less apparent when we try to fit Him into our schedule. scripture shows us that Jesus doesn't work on our schedule. in fact, there are instances where people are upset with Jesus when He doesn't show up "in time," and someone has died. as if God's timing isn't always perfect.

the thing is, we have to learn to stop and patiently wait for God. He will reveal what He is up to. He does this on His time, though... not ours. in the meantime, maybe we should stop waiting for things to come and enjoy the things we have.

so this is what i do in hospitals. i patiently wait with others. and Jesus always shows up.

cheers,
jw <><