day no. 16,018: arguing from silence

"We do not argue with our own data."

Whatever your opponent volunteers, you can hold them to.

Pay attention! You can argue better sometimes by listening than by speaking.

James 1:19

Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger

day no. 16,017: the tyranny of the now

Proverbs 22:28

Remove not the ancient landmark, which thy fathers have set.

Genesis 1:28

And God blessed them, and God said unto them, "Be fruitful, and multiply."

Abortion is chronological snobbery.

It rejects the traditions of its ancestors and the existence of its descendants.

It aborts the past and the future for the tyranny of the now.

It arrogantly assumes its own moment in time is preeminent to all others by simultaneously murdering their ancestors’ accomplishments and their descendants‘ opportunities in one fell swoop. 

It nullifies the morality of the past and the mortality of the future for the sake of its present.

day no. 16,016: Laurelai at NINE!

Happy NINTH Birthday, Laurelai!!!

I love being your dad. You are so much fun. You are a bundle of energy. You like being the first to say, "Hullo!" and the last to say, "Bye, biggest air hug ever. Love you!" You always take time out of whatever it is you are doing to give me a hug whenever I come out from the bedroom for a break while working during the day. You often wave to stranger when walking in public and like making people feel seen and appreciated. You have a contagious smile and a friendly disposition. Who wouldn't want to be your friend? Whoever they are, they stink! Just for the record.

You have taken on taking the chickens out in the morning. You get up and get out there in order to get them going on their day. You like watering the garden and Penelope's flower and diligently go about your business all by your lonesome most mornings.

You are very ticklish. So much so, I'm a little surprised that you aren't tickled by your shirt or your shorts or your hair or the wind or the sunlight. When tickled, your body summons some kind of ancient martial art. Something like Tae-Kwon-Don't... Don't... DON'T!!!! You writhe and twist and contort your body into strange shapes with a strength that rivals the Nephilim of old. You are, as Finneas once said, "strong as to lift a house," and when being tickled this strength is somehow even stronger!

You are fast. Like.really.really. fast. Jeremiah once said that the man who can't run with other men should not be shocked to discover that he can't keep up with horses, but Jeremiah never met you. If he had,  he may have mentioned that the man who can keep up with you should expect to be able to run circles around horses. After all, their engines are only 1 horsepower each and you run on candy and optimism. No wonder no one else can keep up with you! You aren't Laurelai RUSH for nothing, I suppose.

So, again, to revisit the point: you are quick... except for when you are not. When it comes to all things digestion, you don't mind taking our time. You dink around when dining and lollygag in the ladies' room. You are like a phone that works really well, but takes a long time to charge. You don't like to rush your time at the table or on the toilet, but you make up for it by doing everything else at a speed of x2

Your fried egg impression is impeccable. Fried eggs dress up like you for Halloween.

You loves to hug. You haven't been hugged until you've been constricted by Laurelai. You haven't lived until you been squeezed to death by you. You've taken to air hugs lately in order to lighten the number of broken ribs around the house. Much appreciated. Either way, if someone meets you, they're getting hugged, one way or another.

You like to pray for others and keep a long Rolodex of open tabs in your mind when it comes to bed time. You have certain go to's, but often add new prayer requests that you've come across to your list and drop those which God has already answered. 

You have really taken to your glasses. You always remember to put them on in the morning and carefully tuck them into their crib of a case each night. You are careful and pay attention to detail when it comes to completing your tasks. Your handwriting is brilliant for this very reason. You like going fast, but don't like being sloppy. You know how to be patient and you know how to get a move on. These will serve you well.

You have taken up the daily delight of doing your hair. You love having your hair in pig tails and enjoy adding clips and other accouterments to your ensemble. You think about what you look like and choose your clothes with intention. At the same time, you are not overly obsessed with what you look like or spend much time wondering what other people think of what you look like. You are gorgeous, but you don't gorge yourself on it. 

You love church and reciting the Apostles' Creed. You look forward to the pastor saying, "Christian, what do you believe?" I am excited for you to be baptized once we move and to begin participating in communion with us each and every Lord's Day.

You are a lovely young lady and I love being your dad.  You are such a blessing and joy to our family. Happy birthday, my little lady. Here's to many, many more.

Love, 

Dad

P.S. I am hoping our new house has a place for you to sit at the dinner table that doesn't have a cold air vent by it. :)

day no. 16,015: keep the party alive

 Isaiah 59:21

"And as for me, this is my covenant with them," says the LORD: "My Spirit that is upon you, and my words that I have put in your mouth, shall not depart out of your mouth, or out of the mouth of your offspring, or out of the mouth of your children's offspring," says the LORD, "from this time forth and forevermore."

Christianity is covenantal and generational. It is meant to be embraced by grace through faith in one generation and actively handed down to the next. Included in the exhortation to receive is the command to pass along. It is not inherited merely by osmosis. It is caught and then taught to the next. And the first lesson is always to catch, keep, and teach again to the next.

In this way, the covenant remains in the hearts and on the lips of thousands of generations as God's promises continue to keep the party alive.

day no. 16,014: to delight is to endure

Isaiah 55:2

Hearken diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in fatness.

To delight is to endure.

God gives both the grace and the gratitude to enjoy it.

Nehemiah 8:10

Eat the fat. Drink the sweet. The joy of the Lord is our strength,

Don't allow yourself to get out of feasting shape. 

Don't get lean on wonder or skinny on thanksgiving.

Eat the fat. Drink the sweet. And count the calories as your blessings.

day no. 16,013: leading is the right amount of face time and back side

“To direct men, you may face them. But to lead men, you have to be willing to turn your back on them.” - Doug Wilson

You cannot crowd source initiative.

It is impossible to lead men by examining their reactions.

In order to lead, you must be going somewhere; and that requires you to be following something other than the responses of your followers. 

1 Corinthians 11:1

Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.

In order to lead, you must give the right amounts of face time and back side to those you called to follow up. If it's all face time, you're walking backwards and blocking their view, thus far the blind leading the blinded. If it's all back side, you're plowing forward, but getting out of their sight, thus far the sheep left without their shepherd.

God met with Moses as one does with a friend face to face, but God also showed Moses His back side from time to time.

Exodus 33:11

And the LORD spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend.

Exodus 33:23

Thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen.

day no. 16,012: more matriarchs

Ruth 4:11

May the LORD make the woman, who is coming into your house, like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the house of Israel.

What a blessing! May God make more mothers of millions, just as He did with Rachel and Leah, the daughters of Laban. These two were used to build the entire household of Israel. May our daughters in turn be employed in the same good work of producing blessed generations that grow into garrisons gathered under one banner. May they all assemble under one covenant as one family under the banner of the one Mediator between God and Man, the one and only Lord ans Savior, Jesus Christ and His kingdom, for the good of all their neighbors in every generation. Amen.

day no. 16,011: between the beloved and the danger: aphorisms for the love of fighting and the fight for love

"You cannot love a thing without wanting to fight for it. You cannot fight without something to fight for. To love a thing without wishing to fight for it is not love at all; it is lust. It may be an airy, philosophical, and disinterested lust; it may be, so to speak, a virgin lust; but it is lust, because it is wholly self-indulgent and invites no attack. On the other hand, fighting for a thing without loving it is not even fighting; it can only be called a kind of horse-play that is occasionally fatal." - G.K. Chesterton

To love is to fight.

You cannot love something you won't fight for.

You cannot love something you won't defend.

You can fight without love, but you cannot love without fighting. 

You can hate what you're fighting without loving anything,

but you cannot love anything without fighting for it.

“Anger is the fluid love bleeds when cut.” -- C.S. Lewis

Love insists on fighting for the beloved and against those who oppose her.

Love cannot resist fighting on her behalf or against those who come against her.

Love stands between the beloved and the danger.

day no. 16,010: under self-control or someone else's

“Culture is lived religion. It is the form religion takes in the lives of men.” -- Henry Van Til

Culture is religion incarnate.

So, let’s get to work.

A better, brighter culture isn’t going to build itself, but by the grace of God and a whole lot of gratitude-fueled grit (i.e. grititude),  we’ll get 'er done.

Matthew 5:5

The meek shall inherit the earth.

Meekness is strength under control, not weakness out of control; it is strength that it under self-control, not weakness under someone else’s.

day no. 16,009: sacrifice and resurrection

"Man must have just enough faith in himself to have adventures, and just enough doubt of himself to enjoy them." -- G.K. Chesterton

A man without faith will not reach beyond his grasp. A man without humility will not appreciate the stretch. A man needs enough confidence to go forward and not so much as to numb the thrill of advancing. To know the last page of your narrative would not increase your enjoyment of living out the pages of your story. You need enough suspense and doubt of the outcome to guarantee a life of genuine courage and faith and enough courage and faith to inspire a lifelong pursuit of the promised outcome.

“The one perfectly divine thing, the one glimpse of God's paradise given on earth, is to fight a losing battle - and not lose it.”  -- G.K. Chesterton

Faith leads a man to sacrifice... and to resurrection.

day no. 16,008: a royal buffet everyday

"The world is so full of a number of things, I’m sure we should all be as happy as kings.” — Robert Louis Stevenson

We are banqueted daily like guests at a royal feast. Depending on the day, we may be treated to rain, to sun, to bees, to butterflies, to snow, to green grass, to falling leaves, to warm cocoa, to cold lemonade, to fresh flowers, to fermented grapes, to tall trees, or to short naps. Just outside our front door, the stage is set and various plays are being performed by millions of species of characters — stories surround us; tragedies and comedies abound. If we are not entertained, it is not their lack of effort, but for our lack of attention. God is a great host and has given us much.

Proverbs 15:15b-17

The cheerful of heart has a continual feast.

We are treated to a royal buffet every day. Let the one who has eyes to see, see it and not take it for granted, but take it, as Chesterton urged, with gratitude.

day no. 16,007: runners on the bases

Exodus 1:1-7

These are the names of the sons of Israel who came to Egypt with Jacob, each with his household: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin, Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher. All the descendants of Jacob were seventy persons; Joseph was already in Egypt. Then Joseph died, and all his brothers and all that generation. But the people of Israel were fruitful and increased greatly; they multiplied and grew exceedingly strong, so that the land was filled with them.

Jacob came to Egypt a family of seventy. His father, Isaac, had been the only child of his parents Abraham and Sarah. He had been one of two along with his twin brother Esau. Now he had multiplied to seventy. But his family caught the "be fruitful and multiply" vision and kept on going until the land was filled with Jacob. All the Israelites could trace themselves back to Jacob, and they all did. As a result, Pharaoh feared them.

So put on your rally cap and let's put some runners on the bases!

Crescite et multiplicamini (increase and multiply)

day no. 16,006: hair on the face is to men what hair on the head is to women

"I cultivate [my] beard not for the usual reasons of skin trouble or pain of shaving, nor for the secret purpose of covering a weak chin, but as pure unblushing decoration, much as a peacock finds pleasure in his tail.  And finally, in our time a beard is the one thing a woman cannot do better than a man, or if she can her success is assured only in a circus." -- John Steinbeck, Travels with Charley

A beard is to men what a uterus is to women. It is a distinctive. It is as inherently masculine as pregnancy is feminine.

“The beard signifies the courageous; the beard distinguishes the grown man, the earnest, the active, the vigorous. So that when we describe such, we say, 'He is a bearded man.'” -- St. Augustine

A bearded man is a man wearing his manhood for others to see. He is a man from top to bottom, front to back, and makes no effort to hide his mane.

"The beard is a masculine ornament, given to us by God not for any practical use, but for our dignity." -- St. Augustine

"For God... has adorned man, like the lions, with a beard, and endowed him, as an attribute of manhood, with a shaggy chest - a sign of strength and rule." -- St. Clement of Alexandria

Hair on the face is to men what hair on the head is to women. As long, full, and flowing locks are inherently feminine, a thick, rich, full beard is masculine.

"You cannot grow a beard in a moment of passion." -- G. K. Chesterton

No one can have a beard on a whim. It takes time. A beard is a sign of manhood in that boys are not able to grow them and grown up boys don't have the patience to wait for them or perseverance to maintain them upon arrival.

All that to say, the beard does not necessarily make the man, but no man would be made less manly by wearing one, which is why so many grown up boys decide not to shave... so that they might appear to be what they aren't, i.e. masculine. In American slang, a "beard" is a term used to describe a person who is used, knowingly or unknowingly, as a date, romantic partner, or spouse either to conceal one's sexual orientation. That is to say, all beards boast of manliness, though some conceal effeminacy. 

day no. 16,005: aphorisms about revolution and reformation

Revolution presumes "new" means improved;

Reformation presumes a standard by which improved must be measured.

Revolution loves chaos;

Reformation loves order.

Revolution assumes human ingenuity can cure a history of human depravity;

Reformation knows divine interference is required to reverse the curse of our current course.

Revolution is man unmaking the world as it is in order to remake it in his own image;

Reformation is man returning to God who made man in His image.

Revolution is paradise indefinitely delayed;

Reformation is paradise lost and found forever in Christ alone.

The only hope of Revolution is death and destruction;

The only hope of Reformation is death and resurrection.

Revolution trusts chaos to recreate;

Reformation trusts the Creator in the chaos.

day no. 16,004 continued... indulgence is no remedy for ignorance

1 Corinthians 13:11

When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways.

A child who thinks like a child is right on schedule, but a man who still thinks like a child has missed his transfer. 

Matthew 18:3

Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

There is a kind of childishness that is required of a man in order to be a man; but there is also a brand of manliness that prevents a man from being a man of God.

1 Corinthians 14:20

Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature.

There is no shame in innocence, but there is in immaturity. We should not strive for ignorance, but we must not try to remedy it with arrogance or indulgence.

Hebrews 5:12-14

For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.

Maturity is a product of continual practice whereas immaturity can be achieved by accident. Routine is inescapable. It isn't a question of IF you will have a habit, but rather WHICH habits will you have, or even more to the point, which habits will have you.

Grow up.

Repent.

Stop being too old for innocence and too young for obedience.

day no. 16,004: fifteen years!

Proverbs 12:4

A virtuous woman is a crown to her husband.

Fifteen years ago today, I was crowned. I took my oath of office and began my reign over the Van Voorst household.

A good and godly wife adorns her head the way a crown adorns the king. The value of a crown can be tested against a standard. The weight and amount of gold and the type and size of the jewels have objective value individually and respective of each other. The crown, then, is worth something to the smelters of a foreign land. But the crown collectively considered is worth more than the mere elements from which it is assembled to those for whom it signifies their king. A wife, in similar fashion, can be valued objectively for her beauty or talents. These have their value in the open market, but when collectively considered as a wife, they cannot be tested until they are placed upon a husband's head.

The test of a wife is not her components collectively considered, but her character in her calling, the one which can only be accounted for after the vows, but not before. All that to say, you don't know what kind of crown you are getting until you put it on any more than the crown knows what kind of head she will adorn until it has to bear her up.

For fifteen years I have worn a crown more precious than I deserve. I have been given honor and respect beyond my respectability as a result of my crown. They say that the head is heavy that wears the crown and they are not always wrong. The gravity of glory and the regalia of regency are weighty matters, not to be taken too lightly. But that being said, the head is not heavy for the weight of the crown, but for the responsibility of supporting it. It is not weighty for the burden of the blessing, but for the blessing of bearing it.

Happy is the head that wears this crown. 

On an aside, this morning Callista asked, "What is an anniversary?" to which Paige replied, "It's like a birthday for our wedding." Amen. Happy Birthday Team Van Voorst. Here's to many more! 

day no. 16,003: falsehood will fall down on its knees

"Christianity did not come to travel and journey along with the other religions or to coexist peacefully with them, and to learn to get along. It came to dissolve the false faiths once and for all.” - Elder Athanasios Mitilinaios

Every thought will obey Christ. Falsehood will fall down on its knees before its King. Christianity will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. Every proud and lofty thing will be knocked down. Christ is not content to eke out an existence as King of the corners. 

"There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry, Mine!" -- Abraham Kuyper

2 Corinthians 10:3-5

For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.

day no. 16,002: God will not give up or give out

Isaiah 42:4

He will not grow faint or be discouraged

till He has established justice in the earth;

and the coastlands wait for His law.

God will not give up or give out before His will is done on earth as it is in Heaven.

day no. 16,001: grace in aces

Psalm 36:8

They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of Thy house.

God has grace in aces. His storehouses are chock full. There is no end to His ability to bless or any cap on His capacity. There is always enough and always left overs. Enough for all you need and everyone else’s to boot. God is full of grace and truth and from His fullness we receive grace upon grace. (John 1:16)

day no. 16,000: God gives us bite

Sixteen thousand. Sixteen thousand times outside the womb I've been privileged to spin with the planet earth. So, to answer your question, "No, this isn't my first rodeo."

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

Isaiah 41:14-15

Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith the Lord, and thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. Behold, I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth: thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and shalt make the hills as chaff.

God gives us bite.

He turns worms into weapons to win the world. He turns rebels into rods to discipline the backs of nations. (Psalm 2:9, Revelation 2:27)

God gives us bite. Let's get to chewing.

day no. 15,999: where He grants humility, He gives hospitality

Luke 15:18

I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee.

God is a good Father who disciplines the world He loves. He allows the prodigal world to blow through its inheritance that it might come to its senses in the hog trough. And there, where He grants humility, He gives hospitality; where He impresses wisdom, He expresses welcome.

(Luke 15:11-32, Hebrews 12:6-8, Deuteronomy 8:5, 2 Samuel 7:14, 1 Corinthians 11:32)

May God hasten the chasten; may we not spurn to return.

day no. 15,998: the great and good cities you did not build

Deuteronomy 6:10-15

And when the Lord your God brings you into the land that he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you—with great and good cities that you did not build, and houses full of all good things that you did not fill, and cisterns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant—and when you eat and are full, then take care lest you forget the Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. It is the Lord your God you shall fear. Him you shall serve and by his name you shall swear. You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are around you— for the Lord your God in your midst is a jealous God—lest the anger of the Lord your God be kindled against you, and he destroy you from off the face of the earth.

God is at this very moment using the hands and creativity of unbelievers to build infrastructures and to develop technologies to be inherited by His covenant children. They are making things which they will have to surrender. Their productivity is being kept for someone else, God's people. We will drink water from wells we've never seen the bottom of and eat fruit from trees we'll never see the top of. 

The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein (Ps. 24:1) and God has promised to give all of it as an inheritance to the meek (Matt. 5:5).

God gave the Egyptians a penchant for storing up gold only to prompt them to give it to Israel on their way out of town. God is right now building His kingdom here on earth and His people will inherit everything that survives the refining fire of God's final judgment. That doesn't mean the destruction of everything, but rather the improvement of that which was gold or silver and the extinction of that which was stubble or hay. The Refiner's fire will melt the bad intentions right off the innovations of the godless, but the advances, if there were any, which He inspired will be saved for the sake of His sons.

day no. 15,997: how to plow

1 Corinthians 9:10

The plowman should plow in hope and the thresher thresh in hope of sharing in the crop.

In Christ, our labors are not in vain; and we should not expect them to be. We shouldn't imagine our efforts will be fruitless. We should wage war with the hope of winning. We should plant with the hope of eating. There is no shame in working with the wages in mind. We should lay ourselves down with the expectation of rising up again.

Hebrews 11:6

And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him.

To be in Christ is to believe that He is there and that He has not lied to you.

day no. 15,996: kings shall spring from you

Genesis 35:11

God said to him, “I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall spring from you.”

Men are commissioned to father future kings and to nurture nations. They are called to bounce generations on their laps and teach the future how to shave. Kings often spring from well-watered gardens and Ring-givers are begotten by bread-winners.

day no. 15,995: cultural engagement and setting the agenda

This is a riff off of Tim Keller's cultural engagement distinctions. In the spirit of testing all things, keeping the good and tossing the bad, I have, however, changed the labels of the converging factors and produced different conclusions/applications from the four subsequent quadrants.

For my chart, I've pitted Cultural Engagement versus Cultural Control. Does the church engage with the outside culture? versus Does the church set the agenda or control the topics of discussion and engagement?

When the church does not engage culture or control the agenda, they are forced to COMPARTMENTALIZE. They still live in a world dominated by an agenda, just not theirs; and they insist on keeping on in it by keeping their Christianity separate, like a privately held personal conviction. So, they live next to, work with, interact on-line with, shop by, exercise near, and drink coffee from the world around them without batting an eye because they keep Christ in a private place in their head and heart where no one else can touch Him and where He does not interfere with anything else around them. He doesn't mess with how you vote, where you go to school, what books your read, what books you don't, etc.. Everything is separate. This is the quadrant of Compartmentalization. This is navigating the tension of being a Christian in an anti-Christian culture by ignoring the tension: simply keep them separate in your head and watch whatever you want on Netflix. Christianity is viewed primarily in terms of internal personal salvation. This method is not particularly interested in worldviews at war. It prefers parallel lives internally and externally. The enmity between the seed of Eve and the seed of the serpent is not acknowledged as a present reality to be dealt with in picking sides, but assumes that private salvation is possible without public declaration and simply decides to live and let live.

When the church does not engage culture but wants to control the agenda, they are forced to retreat to a CLOISTER. This is the Amish approach. Keep to strongly held, well thought out convictions, but keep them away from the outside world. Limit touch points with world around you in order to keep the world from getting inside you. This is like keeping the boat in a barn in order to keep the water from getting into it. For a fear of sinking, stay away from water. This is not becoming of the world by avoiding it as much as possible. This is taking Christianity to the catacombs when it is still permissible in broad daylight. This is retreating before the anticipated onslaught. This is creating your own ghetto. The perception is that the world has chased you to a cave and so you set up camp inside in order to preserve Christianity. An alternate, counter-culture is produced, but kept in a vacuum and sterilized by keeping others out. This Christianity has robust opinions about what one ought to do that are shared liberally inside the cave and rarely outside of it. Christianity is viewed primarily in terms of a kingdom inside the kingdom of the world. The world is going to hell in the hand basket and so the only alternative is to build a fireproof shelter in the cranny of that hell-bound basket, deep down where fingers rarely find anything... you know, next to the detritus of previous snacks and dryer lint particles. This is nook and cranny Christianity. Survive where they aren't looking and hope they never catch wind. This method assumes God's ways are better, but also assumes very few others will ever buy into that and so the only way to preserve God's good way of life is to hide it under a bushel. This assumes the world's culture would win in a fight, so it's better to hide in the locker room than to suit up to have it out.

When the church engages with the culture but lets the culture control the agenda, they are forced to COMPROMISE in order to be allowed to sit at the cool kids table. This is the kind of Christianity that is always chasing cool points and as we all know there is nothing less cool than trying to be cool. The only way to engage with culture in this way is to allow them to define the terms, the dates, the place, the topic, and the outcome. Christianity is allowed to exist in this world as long as it forfeits whatever parts of its circle existed outside its concentric overlap with the existing culture. Christianity is not a distinct culture with something to add to the current culture, but one to tolerate, at best, by compromising everything it holds sacred in order to gain an opportunity to speak. This is the girl getting the boy into the back seat in the hopes of teaching him the value of abstinence. The strategy defeats itself; if you win, you lose, if you happen to make a point, you lose the point. You cannot defend the value of Christianity by selling it out in order to pay for the platform to speak about its value. To be there speaking is to have devalued it. You cannot promote its selling points by selling it out in order to pay for the promotional posters. It is self-contradictory. Christianity, in this approach, is viewed primarily as an endangered species doing whatever it takes to survive, not realizing that it is removing anything distinctly Christian in order to endure. This is the giraffe shortening his neck in order to gain sway with horses or the tiger removing his stripes in order to better relate to other cats. If the triangle surrenders any of his points in order to gain traction for triangles, he will find himself out of shape and obsolete, defending the extinct. This method assumes the world's culture is superior to the Christian's in most regards; so much so, that we have no choice but to learn from them because it's their world after all, we're just living in it.

When the church engages with the culture and sets the agenda, it is COMBAT. It is manufacturing culture in order to engage in the cultural war. You need ships to fight a naval war and bullets to have a shoot out and so in this approach the church creates culture and exports it in order to engage in cultural warfare. It is not importing culture from the world around it because it doesn't delight in trinkets and bric-a-brac. It meets culture head on and benefits from the discussions, but it sets the agenda, the topic, the definition, etc... It doesn't fight on the enemy's battlefield; it chooses the time and place of battle. This is a proactive approach. This requires initiative. This requires a vision for the world and for Christian conquest in light of the Great Commission. This is believing that when Jesus sent us out, He expected us to win. He didn't send us on a cultural suicide mission, but on a quest to make His Kingdom come and His will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. In other words, Jesus didn't teach us to pray in a way that the Father would say, "No," This approach declares, "Let the best culture win" with the confidence that Christian culture is the best. Not just better for you, like broccoli, but better overall, like cheesecake. This approach presupposes that this is God's world and we're all just living in it and our goal is to help the outside world fall in line by seeing how great our God is. This assumes Christian culture will win in a fist fight and promotes the event in optimistic expectation by hardening its fists. It only shadow boxes in order to box the kingdom of shadows.

There is more that could be said, but I wanted to get these initial thoughts in print and in play. May God grants us a mindset of Combat that sees the leaven working its way through the lump more and more everyday and the mustard seed growing and claiming every square inch of every single place and every single person for Christ's glory and our good. Amen!

day no. 15,994: a pressing prayer and a precious promise

Isaiah 29:23-24

For when he sees his children, the work of my hands, in his midst, they will sanctify my name; they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob and will stand in awe of the God of Israel. And those who go astray in spirit will come to understanding, and those who murmur will accept instruction.

I can hardly imagine a more pressing prayer and more precious promise than that of seeing my children, the work of God's hands, doing what they were made to do, believing what they were made to believe, living the way they were meant to live, and setting themselves apart for the One Who is set apart.

3 John 4

I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.

day no. 15,993 this particular patch of heavenly pasture

On this day in 1938 my father was born and on this day in 1977 my father married my mother. The earth was hanging in the heavens at this same place 84 years ago when my dad was born and brought into this world and it was at the same place 45 years ago when my parents were married. Of all the vast space available in all the heavens, God has chosen this patch of heavenly pasture to be the place of two events without which I would not now be writing this. 

Happy birthday, Dad!

Happy anniversary Mom and Dad!

day no. 15,992: the few and the fools

"When a man talks about 'Government by the wise few,' as if they could be picked out by their pantaloons, 'the wise few' must mean either the few whom the foolish think wise or the very foolish who think themselves wise." -- G.K. Chesterton, The Priest of Spring

Is it the case that we fools have found a few handfuls of men wise enough to lead the rest of us? But how can you trust a fool's appraisal? Fool's gold is considered valuable by fools after all, but it doesn't make it worth any more to the wise. And how can fools identify wisdom without becoming themselves wise? 

Or is it the case that there are only a handful of men bold enough to declare that they are wiser than the rest of us? But the one who imagines himself wiser than most is a certified fool. There could hardly be a better way to broadcast your folly than to declare yourself to be king.

day no. 15,991: a Person and a Story

"The only two things that can satisfy the soul are a person and a story; and even a story must be about a person." -- G.K. Chesterton, The Priest of Spring

Stories are personal. There are no abstract, disinterested stories. They are about, by, and for people. Stories about other things are anthropomorphisms; because if they aren't, they aren't stories; they're merely instruction manuals or textbooks.

“I had always felt life first as a story: and if there is a story there is a story-teller” ― G.K. Chesterton

Stories connect people because stories are made in the image of God. God is a Story-teller and begins His story by speaking words. Those words became flesh called sun and moon and dolphin and rock. That Word would one day take on human flesh in order to dwell inside His own story. The Author descended to become a character in order to reconcile them to the Author and Perfector of their faith.

Hebrews 12:2

Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith

Story always wins.

day no. 15,990: a garrison of gratitude

“I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought, and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.” — G. K. Chesterton

Gratitude is humble happiness. It knows what it has and where it come from. 

Hebrews 11:6

And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

“The aim of life is appreciation; there is no sense in not appreciating things; and there is no sense in having more of them if you have less appreciation of them.” — G. K. Chesterton

The old mistake is assuming that if something doesn't satisfy, you simply need more of it. But some things satisfy in small amounts that leave you desiring more, while other things in any amount only create a dissatisfaction with however much of it you already have.

Ecclesiastes 5:10-12

He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income; this also is vanity. When goods increase, they increase who eat them, and what advantage has their owner but to see them with his eyes? Sweet is the sleep of a laborer, whether he eats little or much, but the full stomach of the rich will not let him sleep.

What you have is a gift from God. But the ability to enjoy whatever you have is also a gift from God. And everyone who obtains the one does not necessarily possess the other. There are ways to artificially obtain God's gifts through sinful shortcuts, but you cannot obtain the ability to enjoy them that way. There are no shortcuts to satisfaction, sanctification, or salvation.

Ecclesiastes 2:24-25

There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God, for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment?

Working hard for what you want and being content with what you have is the secret sauce of temporal satisfaction.

Ecclesiastes 5:19

Everyone also to whom God has given wealth and possessions and power to enjoy them, and to accept his lot and rejoice in his toil—this is the gift of God.

Men crave power in order to obtain what the want, but the power to want what they have can only come by God's power. Man does not possess the competency to create contentedness.

“When it comes to life the critical thing is whether you take things for granted or take them with gratitude.” — G. K. Chesterton

Do you take what you have for granted or do you take them with gratitude? Ingratitude can still grab things, but one of the things it cannot get its hands on is satisfaction. It is insulated from gratitude by its entitlement.

“You say grace before meals. All right. But I say grace before the concert and the opera, and grace before the play and pantomime, and grace before I open a book, and grace before sketching, painting, swimming, fencing, boxing, walking, playing, dancing and grace before I dip the pen in the ink.” — G. K. Chesterton

We were made to live a life of "Thank You," not merely "Thanks." Gratitude is toward and for a particular Person, not merely in or during certain circumstances. One may have vague feelings of thanksgiving, but those were made for a specific Giver. We were not created to be merely grateful, but to glorify God in our gratitude and enjoy Him and His grace forever.

1 Timothy 4:4-5

For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer.

As Christians, we can never run out of reasons for saying, "Thank You!" Everything we have: life, breath, and everything else were given to us by Him.

Acts 17:24-25

The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. 

So, whatever you have, you have plenty of reason to be gladdened by gratitude.

1 Corinthians 4:7

What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?

You should boast about what you have, but not in your getting it. What we have is an occasion to praise the Giver of all things good and perfect.

“When we were children we were grateful to those who filled our stockings at Christmas time. Why are we not grateful to God for filling our stockings with legs?” — G. K. Chesterton

When we consider what we have actually been given, it is astonishing how our lips find the time to say anything other than, "Thank You!" We are grateful for our gifts, but often forget that we open them with the gift of our bare hands.

Genesis 25:8 (NASB)

Abraham breathed his last and died at a good old age, an old man and satisfied with life; and he was gathered to his people.

day no. 15,989: take not Thy thunder from us

O God of earth and altar,

Bow down and hear our cry,

Our earthly rulers falter,

Our people drift and die;

The walls of gold entomb us,

The swords of scorn divide,

Take not thy thunder from us,

But take away our pride.

From all that terror teaches,

From lies of tongue and pen,

From all the easy speeches

That comfort cruel men,

From sale and profanation

Of honour and the sword,

From sleep and from damnation,

Deliver us, good Lord.

Tie in a living tether

The prince and priest and thrall,

Bind all our lives together,

Smite us and save us all;

In ire and exultation

Aflame with faith, and free,

Lift up a living nation,

A single sword to thee.

-- G.K. Chesterton

I write this post on January 7, 2021 the day after the chaos of January 6 in Washington, D.C. If ever there was a time to pray for better leaders who lead better, it is now. May God have mercy and grant us more Men of Issachar within His church who know what time it is and what to do about it; and may He give us good and godly men to govern us by limiting their power in order to maximize our liberty.

1 Timothy 2:1-6

First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.