don't rain on our parade

The day began with rain.
And lots of it.

To the tune of the parade almost being called off altogether.

We pitched an impromptu tent to avoid being utterly drenched.

After a while, God broke up the clouds and allowed the sun to shine long enough to pass out fridge magnets to the rally cry of "NO FRIDGE LEFT BEHIND!!!"

 

Paige and the kids strolled along side the float handing out icy pops and magents while I strutted my stuff with the boys in the band.



 

We won a People's Choice Award.  Jenni could not have been prouder than if it were a real award.

 

It was so much fun to get the Word on the street that Candeo is up in this Cedar Falls hizzy.

 

It was a good day.

closing time

You don't have to go home, but you can't stay here.

We closed on our old home today.

It was a fun time on which I will look back fondly.

God was good to give us a great home.

He was merciful to hear our prayers to sell it when we said, "yes" to the call to move to make much of Him.

Good-bye Story City.

Good morning Cedar Falls.

Come on Candeo.
Let's kick this pig!

the love of God and the love of loveliness‏

Chambers continues to teach me things about myself.

If what we call love doesn’t take us beyond ourselves, it is not really love. If we have the idea that love is characterized as cautious, wise, sensible, shrewd, and never taken to extremes, we have missed the true meaning. This may describe affection and it may bring us a warm feeling, but it is not a true and accurate description of love.

To be surrendered to God is of more value than our personal holiness. Concern over our personal holiness causes us to focus our eyes on ourselves, and we become overly concerned about the way we walk and talk and look, out of fear of offending God. “. . . but perfect love casts out fear . . .” once we are surrendered to God (1 John 4:18). We should quit asking ourselves, “Am I of any use?” and accept the truth that we really are not of much use to Him. The issue is never of being of use, but of being of value to God Himself. Once we are totally surrendered to God, He will work through us all the time.

Most of us who call ourselves Christians are more concerned with being lovely than we are with loving Jesus.

We expend so much anxiety, effort and indecision on trying to be as white as we can be that we often fail to offer God anything He actually has requested: reciprocal love.

In having children, God has granted me great insight into this idea of “right” relationship.

I want my kids to obey me.

I want my kids to want to obey me.

Mostly, however, I want my kids to love me.

I love them desperately.

I pray they would respond in kind.

Their service and conformity to my preferences and commands is a great honor to me and makes me swell with gratitude to God. But if their hearts were far from me in performing these tasks, the evidence of the relationship not being “right” would soon be communicated. The serving and lip service would cease to encourage my heart and would produce rather quite opposite the effect on my person.

Love does include duty, but love is not merely duty.

Put another way: You do not love what you do not serve.

You cannot serve as a substitute for love.

what's in a name?

After a busy winter/spring involving a decision to move our lives to Cedar Falls, my brother passing away, Paige’s grandfather passing away, listing our house, selling our house, moving out of our house, looking for a new job, starting a new job, starting a new church, etc… we have finally had time to consider with full focus the name of our next little Van Voorst.

Lauren Schaeffer Van Voorst

It was very important to me to incorporate an homage to Lauren in the naming of this child. So we flirted with several different ways of accomplishing this. There were a few names that emerged as aesthetically quite pleasing, but did not include any reference to Lauren. As much as the pull was towards some of these names, it did not feel right . It felt too important to honor Lauren. It was something I was eager to do.

So we settled on naming her about as much after a person as you can by giving her the same first name.

I am praying that God allows Schaeffer to grow up to be a woman of the same mold as her aunt.

Lauren, we love you and it is our privilege to honor you in this manner.

We are going to call our newest daughter Schaeffer to avoid any familial confusion since Aunt Lauren is a frequent source of encouraging conversation around our home. Although in our home it is usually just the name Aunt.

Paige discovered the writings of Edith Schaeffer while pregnant with our newest daughter and has been greatly encouraged regarding her teaching and wisdom regarding families, homemaking and beauty in all things.

Edith Schaeffer passed away back in March of this year at the ripe ol' age of 98.

So what’s in a name?

The high hopes and prayers of parents who long to call their children brothers and sisters in Christ someday by the grace of God.

Lauren Schaeffer represents a great deal of what Paige and I find most beautiful, desirable and worthwhile in this life.

My prayer is that Schaeffer herself would become in her own right one after whom future generations would gladly seek to honor in using her name as a standard of character and integrity aimed at godliness in Christ alone.

yes, it was very sad when the guy stopped drawing the deer‏

Paige and I were watching “Friends” last night because we own all 10 seasons and when we are at a loss of what to watch, we usually default to some couch time with our favorite friends.

One of my favorite Chandler jokes ever is a comment he offers in response to Joey’s attack on his insensitivity to the movie “Bambi.”

Watch it HERE.

I love everything about that joke.

That said, I cried when Charlie died on Lost.

Yes, he was imaginary too.

But I liked him.

And he wasn’t a deer.

But he was dear to me.

(Yep, you’re right. I’m sorry. Too much.)

the myth of "the one" assumes affection is the glue that holds marriage together‏

“The problem with the myth of “the one” is that it assumes that affection is the glue that holds the marriage together, when really it is your commitment to marriage that safeguards the affection. So ditch the myth and get hitched.” ~Kevin DeYoung

The myth of “the one” perpetuates our worldly tendency to exalt our emotion to the place of first priority.

We then act in accordance with our feelings and lastly, we think.

If we run into resistance in relationship, we defer to our emotions that are telling us to cut bait and find a better mate.

The Bible teaches wisdom is orienting your life exactly opposite of this worldly default.

Instead of feel, do, think; the Bible promotes a paradigm shift to think, do, feel.

We commit to marriage.
We act in accordance with our commitment.
We develop emotions consistent with our conviction and commitment.

"A man must choose what he loves and then he must love his choice."

In our worship of emotion, we place it first, and thereby interrupt our ability to sustain it.
Emotion is not stable enough to provide a foundation for any relationship.
Emotion is too fickle and volatile to serve as a building block.

If in wisdom we exalt the Word, then act in accordance with its principles and commands, we find ourselves feeling the very things we never thought possible.

If we chase emotions, we lose everything.
The man who chases wind doe not catch it (or anything else)

When we seek wisdom, we find right emotions.

let's meet in the middle‏

Compromise.

God does not do it.

You cannot meet Him halfway.

You will not reach God by climbing Jacob’s ladder anymore than you will build a Babel to the doorstep of Heaven.

Either He comes all the way down or we perish.

God will not meet you in the middle as though we and He are both a little off base and a reasonable compromise would be to find a center point, a “happy” medium as though robbing Jesus of some glory to cater to and exalt your depravity were a “happy” offer for God to receive from us.

Jesus does not meet us in the middle.

Praise God!

He comes all the way down to lift us all the way up.

We can only climb so far up.

Our paths do not cross as I climb and He descends.
Our paths lead down to the foot of the Cross after He goes all the way down.

There is no further down than Jesus bloodied on a tree becoming something altogether foreign to Him.

He took on an alien sin so that we could inherit an alien righteousness.

There is no middle in that.
There is no meeting to discuss that.

There is Jesus and Him crucified dead and buried and now risen from the grave.

let's not and say, "we did."

Romans 10:9

…if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

There are more people who say they have done this than there are those who actually confess Christ and believe in His life, death and resurrection unto salvation.

Luke 6:46

“Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?

Good question Jesus.

Why do we want to disobey while wanting others to think that we want to obey?

Why pretend to follow Jesus if you are not actually going to follow Him?

Do we think we can fool Him?

Do we think we can fool others?

Depending on our talent for treachery, we may be fooling some (even many).

But NOT Him.

And what does a man gain if he gets good will from men and yet forfeits his soul to obtain it?

A nice eulogy and a date with Deity.

Bottom line: we want all the benefits of going to heaven without the burdens of dying to get there.

this weak end

This weekend was the most miserable 48 hours I've experienced in recent memory.

So much sweat and frustration and lifting and driving and lonely and money, etc...

But all was not lost.

My friend, Travis (better knowin in this forum as Travinci) traversed land and sea to pick me up from Cedar Falls on Friday afternoon after driving 1 1/2 hours to do so, only to turn around and drive me back to Story City so that I could drive the Uhaul this weekend without having my ride stuck in Story.

Such a blessing to be his friend.

Besides the great gesture, it allowed me 1 1/2 hours of drive time back to Story to just chat with Travis and hear about his life, his thoughts, etc... 

So many friends came over on Saturday to help us move: Andy, Dani, Jordan, Andrew, Emily, Jacob, Jamie, Laura, Lauren, Jon, Laura (not Iscariot), and the neighbor even made an appearance.

So manh friends showed up on the back end to help me unload after a long day: Jerry, Jerry's son-in-law, Nate, Peter, Elley, Claire, Paul, Josiah, Lowell and J. Wise.

God has provided us with so much help in doing so much work.
It is still work.
God is still good.
I am tired.
God never rests.

Psalm 68:19-20

¹⁹ Blessed be the Lord,
who daily bears us up;
God is our salvation.

 

Selah

 

²⁰ Our God is a God of salvation;
and to God, the Lord, belongs escape from death.

wordsmithin': volition‏

Extra! Extra! Read all about it HERE.

 

vo·li·tion ~n.

1.The act or an instance of making a conscious choice or decision.

2.A conscious choice or decision.

3.The power or faculty of choosing; the will.

 

I do not know where I was first introduced to this word, but I remember loving it.

 

I love the sound it makes.

I love that it feels powerful off the tongue.

I love that it starts with a “v.”

 

We see this concept of harnessing one’s volition for God and godliness in many famous passages:

 

Joshua 24:14-15

 

¹⁴ “Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve theLord. ¹⁵ And if it is evil in your eyes to serve theLord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

 

Deuteronomy 30:19-20

¹⁹ I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live,²⁰ loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.”

We must make choices every day.

It is inescapable.

 

To choose not to choose is a choice.

We exercise our volition whether or not we put much effort into it or not.

 

I love my children.

I cannot choose Jesus for them.

I cannot act out of their volition.

 

I pray that Jesus would choose them and that this would be made manifest and observed through repentance, belief, faith and good works acted out from the volition of my children’s inner most, reborn beings. Good works and choosing do not a saint make, but those who are chosen by God demonstrate their election by acting upon the regenerated desires of a heart that longs to choose God in reciprocity.

just think‏

Micah 6:8

He has told you, O man, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?

We live most of our lives in a sense of “must think” rather than“just think” as articulated above.

Oswald Chambers speaks of it this way,

“Our Lord says to be careful only about one thing-our relationship to Him. But our common sense shouts loudly and says, ‘That is absurd,I must consider how I am going to live, and I mustconsider what I am going to eat and drink.’Jesus says you must not.”

This is what Oswald was referring to Jesus as saying,

Matthew 6:25

“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?”

When we typically think of justice, we tend to think of us getting the good things we think we deserve and bad people who do bad things to us getting the bad things they deserve for being bad to us.

More often than not, this is unbelief generated by “must think”rather than “just think.”

We typically hesitate, if ever at all, to consider justice being others getting the good things their goodness deserves and us getting treated badly for the bad things we’ve done.

Justice works every which way.
Not just your way.
But always His way.

To “do justice” is to seek it for others and not merely yourself.

To “love kindness” is to speak it to and on the behalf of others and not merely yourself.

To “walk humbly” is to acknowledge the injustices you have committed and the unkindness you have harbored in your thoughts and unleashed with your tongue.

These constitute “good.”

Listen to what He has said.

Do what He has said.

This is “just” think.

christianeasy peasy lemon squeezy‏

Christianese is Christian slang and short cuts to address broader concepts without the need to entirely rehash the entirely doctrinal substance and Biblical evidence for or against a particular belief and/or practice.

But it is these short cuts that often make weeds very comfortable among wheat and wheat even more comfortable with weeds.

Ever met someone who knew what to say and how to say it in order to get the approval of those they were trying to woo?

Ever been either a teenage boy or girl or in an over-sexualized culture?

So, you know then.

Christianese is fine for reducing the length of conversations among mature believers. It is like a contraction that saves you the “no” of “cannot” by replacing it with the ‘ in “can’t.” Not a great time saver, but over time and if used enough, you can see it’s utility. (not “it is” utility. “it’s” is not a contraction. seriously, English is nutzo!)

But I challenge you to really define your terms when speaking and request additional information from others who use terms like “fleecing it out,” “quiet time,” “Gospel,” “sanctification,” etc… Think about how you would define these terms if your hearer was not an inner circle Mafioso all secret-handshake equipped with kung-fu grip.

It is easy to hold easy things.

It is difficult to grapple with difficult things.

A man cannot express what he does not understand.

Oswald Chambers said it this way,

“If you cannot express yourself well on each of your beliefs, work and study until you can. If you don’t, other people may miss out on the blessings that come from knowing the truth. Strive to re-express a truth of God to yourself clearly and understandably, and God will use that same explanation when you share it with someone else. But you must be willing to go through God’s winepress where the grapes are crushed. You must struggle, experiment, and rehearse your words to express God’s truth clearly. Then the time will come when that very expression will become God’s wine of strength to someone else. But if you are not diligent and say, “I’m not going to study and struggle to express this truth in my own words; I’ll just borrow my words from someone else,” then the words will be of no value to you or to others. Try to state to yourself what you believe to be the absolute truth of God, and you will be allowing God the opportunity to pass it on through you to someone else.”

Yeah, so what he said.

Do that.

Now.

we can't force God to talk‏

“We can’t force God to talk, yet sometimes He completely surprises us and talks anyways.” ~Bruce Waltke

There are times in teaching God’s Word that we hope upon hope for His voice to be heard through our mouths in the hearts and minds of our hearers and He doesn’t. Or He does, but not to who we thought He was going to do so.

We can’t wrestle the Spirit down from Heaven to do our bidding.

On the other hand, we can’t keep Him quiet either.

On other occasions, He intervenes Himself into our thoughts and actions in ways we did not anticipate or invite. He invites Himself into our aspirations and plans and tugs at us in ways we would shut off if we could.

God is sovereign.

Psalm 115:3

Our God is in the heavens;
He does all that He pleases.

book review: Quitter by Jon Acuff‏

Learn more about this book HERE.

My sister lent me this book a few weeks before God granted her the job of her dreams.

Jon Acuff lays out a great strategy for determining what it is you really want to do and how to orient your current life around taking steps to see if that is something you could do full-time.

I learned a lot and laughed a lot as well.

For those of you unfamiliar with Acuff’s Stuff Christians Like, check it out.

You’ll laugh.

Unless you take yourself too seriously.

Then you won’t.

And we’ll all laugh at you.

Back to Quitter, only in the past few years has my heart really begun to develop what most of my friends have long called their “passion” or “calling.” I never had one of these. I am a hard worker. I like being productive. But I never had a specific end to which I wanted to work or a particular skill I felt I could pursue.

I want to teach, preach, counsel, encourage, and proclaim the Gospel of God to the lost, the found and everyone in-between. I want to use my mind and creativity to encourage men already leading to lead more and more. I want to use my knowledge and discernment to counsel young Christians trying to make a go of it by grace. I want to be a pastor. I want to learn how to shepherd as I have been shepherded.

Reading Quitter helped me put into perspective the road between where I am and where I want to go.

Thank you LAUREN!!!

dad point oh

I have a Heavenly Father.
I have an earthly father.
I am an earthly father to 4 children.

Today is a good day to be alive, to be a dad, to be a son, to have an inheritance, to be forming a legacy.

Thank You God for teaching me to be a man by receiving my identity from Jesus.

Thank You God for an earthly father who has generously provided for me beyond measure.

Thank You God for children to teach and love and serve and shepherd.

May me, my dad and my children all share a Heavenly Father that we may be siblings made equal and made perfect in Christ forever.

don't worry! you ARE going to die‏

Matthew 6:27

And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?

Is there a right place for thinking through what we eat and to what we subject our bodies (organic food, cell phone waves, microwaves, yellow #5, etc…)?

Yes.

Can you by worrying about these things make sure that you live longer?

Nope.

Can you by putting into practice better eating habits and limited exposure to laptops and smart phones increase the likelihood that you will have a healthier life?

Sure.

But rest assured, you will die when God wants you to die.

Take note crunchy moms, you and your kids will live as long as God wants you to live.

Take courage from this.

Take comfort.

It’s not ALL on you.

My wife has the following verse taped to the side of our fridge to keep this principle in perspective:

Romans 14:17

For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

Jesus’ concluding words on this topic in the “Sermon on the Mount” may be the basis from which we affirm Paul’s declaration in Romans above.

Matthew 6:31-33

 

³¹ Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’³² For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.³³ But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

Everybody wants what’s best for them.

That is commonplace.

That is to be expected.

It is uncommon and unexpected to lay down that life for which everyone else strives so hard to protect in order to obtain and inherit eternal life from God in Christ.

Protecting our earthly bottoms is base.

Perishing daily voluntarily is beatific

Noah had faith and everyone else died!

“Abel had faith and he died; Enoch had faith and he did not die; Noah had faith and everyone else died!” ~Bruce Waltke

 

Faith is like a box of chocolates; you never know what you’re gonna get except that you’ll get God in the process.

 

Believe on the Lord Jesus and leave the rest up to Him so your soul may find rest in Him.

God doesn't take risks; so we can‏

“God doesn’t take risks; so we can.” ~ Kevin DeYoung

God is not a gambler, so we can gamble our lives on giving them completely to Him.

If He was capricious and fickle, we would be foolish NOT to be fear-infused when relinquishing our valuable lives and livelihoods to His discretion.

However, If He is consistent and faithful, we are foolish NOT to gladly relinquish our valuable lives and livelihoods to His discretion.

Do you believe God to be fickle or faithful?

decidere‏

The Latin decidere literally means “to cut off.”

From this word, we get our English word, “decide.”

When you make a decision for one thing, you make a decision against another thing.

This is a basic tenet of the Law of Non-Contradiction a la Ravi Zacharias.

If you decide to follow Jesus, you decide to forsake all others you could follow.

You have options available to you.

To choose one, however, means to forsake the others.

Jesus said it this way:

Matthew 6:24

"No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”

Stop trying to choose Jesus AND ______ (money, women, sex, career, comfort, 6-pack abs, facebook friends, nice purses, fast cars, popularity, pinterest followers, youtube fame, etc…)

Just Jesus.

Decide.

Cut off everything else or be cut off from Him.

worry about the future is not simply a character tic, it is the sin of unbelief‏

Just when you thought you had run out of things to repent of along comes this marrow-splitter:

"Worry about the future is not simply a character tic, it is the sin of unbelief,an indication that our hearts are not resting in the promises of God." - Kevin DeYoung

Unbelief sounds a bit harsh, doesn’t it?

I worry a lot.

Now I’m worried that I worry too much.

Our primary worry about the future is often that things will not go as well for us as we would have them go for ourselves if we were in control of our futures.

Can you begin to see the unbelief and sin in that?

verb tense? verb relax.

John 1:12

 

But to all who did receive Him, who believed in His Name, He gave the right to become children of God

 

RECEIVE.

BELIEVE.

BECOME.

 

Receive the finished work of Jesus.

Believe on His life, death and resurrection.

Become His child.

the story already has a star, and the star is not you or me‏

"I’m not trying to put you down or imply that you don’t matter. Nor am I am saying that you are absent from the grand Story of God… I’m simply stating the obvious – thatthe story already has a star, and the star is not you or me.” ~Louie Giglio

 

Prior to moving on to the “application” portion of his magnificent theological manifesto that is the book of Romans, Paul concludes it with a doxology of praise and this concise, pregnant clause.

 

Romans 11:36

 

For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

 

I count four “Him’s” and ZERO “you’s” and “me’s.”

inspirational quotards‏

 

… unless of course that “no one” is someone actually superior to you.

 

Set gun to “pun.”

Initiate sequence.

 

Is there like a quota cubicle-based businesses have for purchasing cheese-ball artwork like that pictured above?

 

This is usually next to the photo of the sky-divers all holding hands to form concentric circles.

 

Which is usually next to the mythical golf hole poster.

 

Why does that make me feel better about myself?

 

I obviously feel inferior to an eagle.

Look at him all flying all cocky like.

 

I wonder what people who think they are better than others think when they read signs like this.

 

...

 

They probably write blogs making fun of people who use stuff like this to feel better.

measuring cups‏

1 Corinthians 11:28-29

 

²⁸ Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. ²⁹ For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself.

Jesus is the Ruler of all.

Jesus is the ruler of all.

Ruler (King):
He is the one and only Sovereign.
He reigns over all.

ruler (measuring rod):
He is the standard of perfection.
He is the holiness by which all will be judged.

When we come to the table of communion we acknowledge two truths about Jesus in receiving the blood-filled cups:

(1) Jesus is Lord

Not just "a" lord, but "the" Lord and our Lord.

(2) Jesus is the standard of perfection

Not just a good example, but the exemplar - the spotless Lamb.

How do you measure up?

Is He your Ruler?
Do you submit to Him?
He is God.
You are not.

Is He is your ruler?
Do you consider yourself on par with His perfection?
He is perfect.
You are not.

In receiving these two truths, we take the cup and drink our salvation in the humility of rendering ourselves nothing but servants saved by grace.

If these two confessions are in your heart and on your lips, drink in deeply the riches of peace and promise.

If these two confessions are foreign to your heart and lips, you drink down your doom.

1 Corinthians 11:26
 

For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

 

You proclaim either your judgement in failing to acknowledge Him as Lord and yourself as sinful

 

OR

 

You proclaim your salvation by acknowleding Him as Lord and yourself as sinful.

when God speaks...

Ozzie dropped a bomb this morning when he said,

They said to Moses, ’You speak with us, and we will hear; but let not
God speak with us, lest we die’ `—Exodus 20:19

We don’t consciously and deliberately disobey God— we simply don’t
listen to Him. God has given His commands to us, but we pay no
attention to them— not because of willful disobedience, but because we
do not truly love and respect Him. “If you love Me, keep My
commandments” (John 14:15). Once we realize we have constantly been
showing disrespect to God, we will be filled with shame and
humiliation for ignoring Him.

“You speak with us, . . . but let not God speak with us . . . .” We
show how little love we have for God by preferring to listen to His
servants rather than to Him. We like to listen to personal
testimonies, but we don’t want God Himself to speak to us. Why are we
so terrified for God to speak to us? It is because we know that when
God speaks we must either do what He asks or tell Him we will not
obey. But if it is simply one of God’s servants speaking to us, we
feel obedience is optional, not imperative. We respond by saying,
“Well, that’s only your own idea, even though I don’t deny that what
you said is probably God’s truth.”

Why do we listen to and put up with preaching?

If it is by grace God speaking His Words to us, why do we treat it
like the performance and opinion of the man we call pastor?

If it is not God speaking His Words and only a man speaking his
opinions, why do we come back week after week?  Why should we buy the
pastor’s house for him?

Do not argue with me about why you will not obey God.
Look up at Heaven and take it up with Him directly.

We have less anxiety about casting off men’s words when we suppose
they could be wrong.

We are too cowardly to tell God we don’t like Him and His demand for our lives.
So we pretend the pastor is just a man speaking just his opinion.

If that’s true, then preaching is useless.

Galatians 4:16

Have I then become your enemy by telling you the truth?