2018 New Year's Resolution Scorecard

2018 has come to a close, which means it's time to make resolutions for the new year. Tune in tomorrow to see what I've come up with in that regard.

But before that, I wanted to take one last look at the resolutions I set for 2018 and see how I measured up. As you may remember, I had a lengthy list of resolutions, some easy and some wildly ambitious. The good news is, I took (almost) all of them seriously over the course of the year. So here's my scorecard for 2018.

*Note: As you'll see, in keeping score here, I'm not a legalist. They're my resolutions and it's my scorecard, so I'm awarding myself points based on whether I kept the resolution in spirit more than whether I fulfilled it according to the exact wording.*

1. Blog once per week

Midway through the year, I realized I was failing spectacularly at this one. The problem was not so much a lack of will as a lack of ideas—there simply weren't as many things that I cared to blog about as I'd thought when the year began. So in addition to occasional blog posts when I had something to say, I started regularly writing music reviews for a website called The Daily Vault (which I previously wrote for as a high school and college student). It served the original purpose of this resolution—an outlet for personal writing—and meant, since I have over 400 albums in my iTunes library, that my idea well would never run dry.

That being said, I had some catching up to do when I adjusted this resolution, and I didn't quite make it to the 52 I'd set as my goal. 44 ain't bad, but it's not close enough to give myself full credit here. Since I stuck with the resolution and took it seriously, but I didn't quite pull it off, I'll give myself half credit on this one.

Score: 0.5 out of 1

2. Talk to every member of my family once a week

Another one that was adjusted midway through the year. I mentioned in an update earlier this year that I had misread this resolution, thinking my responsibility was to talk to a member of my family on a daily basis, rather than talking to every member of my family over the course of the week. After discovering my error, I decided to just go with it (while still making an effort to talk to all my family members regularly.)

Thanks to technology, it's easier than ever to stay in touch with people you love...but since you're already seeing their updates online, it's also easier than ever to forego that contact. All it took was the will and a daily iPhone reminder to make this happen, and I'm glad I did. This is a good example of the purpose of New Year's resolution—once a goal, this is now a habit, and one I intend to stick with going forward.

Score: 1.5 out of 2

3. Read the Bible in a year

Check. Every morning, once my coffee kicked in but before Andrew woke up, I'd read a few chapters from Eugene Peterson's paraphrase of Scripture, The Message. Tomorrow morning I'll be able to say that, for the third time in my life, I've read the Bible all the way through.

In the coming year I have a different plan on how to spend my devotional time. Stay tuned.

Score: 2.5 out of 3

4. Drink more water

This was one I'd forgotten about until my update a few months ago, but since then I've done very well with it. I bring my plastic water bottle with me almost everywhere I go, I keep it filled, and I shoot for about 100 oz per day.

Took me half the year to get on this one, but the habit has formed.

Score: 3.5 out of 4

5. Complete the Navy SEAL workout (minus the swimming portion)

Nope. Total failure on this one after trying to take it seriously for roughly one week. It turns out that I just really really really hate upper body workouts.

I learned several years ago that I like to run and I've got the body type for it. So in 2019, instead of trying to make myself something I'm not, I'm going to lean into the exercise I enjoy.

Score: 3.5 out of 5

6. Give half my entertainment money to charity

Done. I mentioned in my initial post that I wanted to give based on the people groups listed in Matthew 25—the hungry/thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick, and the imprisoned—so I chose these organizations and causes:

• For the hungry and thirsty, the Texas Baptist Hunger Offering, which helps fund over 130 hunger relief and development programs across the state and around the world.
• For the stranger, Buckner International, which (among other amazing programs) is deeply involved in foster care and adoption for children in need of safe, loving homes.
• For the naked, Mission Waco, which, quoting their mission statement, provides "Christian-based, holistic, relationship-based programs that empower the poor and marginalized" of my city.
• For the sick, a Baylor medical missions trip to Pignon, Haiti that occurred March 2-9.
• For the imprisoned, Hospitality House in Huntsville, a free home-away-from-home for families visiting prisoners at the federal penitentiary.

These are all fabulous organizations and causes; please consider giving to them yourself.

Score: 4.5 out of 6

7. Learn sabermetric terms better

First I read Smart Baseball by Keith Law, which is essentially a takedown of outdated traditional statistics and a primer on sabermetrics. Then I made flashcards of 30 basic sabermetrics stats I thought were important to learn. Then I studied those flashcards. So...yeah. Check.

Score: 5.5 out of 7

8. Construct the perfect baseball scorecard

Boom. Cost me about 15 hours and $20.

Score: 6.5 out of 8

9. Learn to cook 50 meals

This is the resolution I took most seriously, (and the one that was most appreciated by my family.) Between vacations and super busy weeks where we never ate at home, there's a good chance I didn't get to exactly 50, but Lindsey will be the first to tell you that I cooked at least once per week when possible. Do I like cooking any more than I did this time last year? No. I still pretty much hate it. But at least now I've got a decent collection of recipes.

My top 5 dishes:

1) Pot roast with homemade meat rub
2) Shrimp and chicken gumbo
3) Chili
4) Pulled pork pizza
5) Swedish meatballs

Score: 7.5 out of 9

10. Finish all my comic books/graphic novels

Everything is read except a few books I just got for Christmas. So, you know, time to read those and then buy more! (That's how it works, right?)

Score: 8.5 out of 10

11. Write a book

Aaaaand now we're to the ambitious ones. Nope, no book. However, I do have an idea for a book now (something I didn't have this time last year), and even a rough outline for it. So expect to see me renew this resolution in 2019.

Score: 8.5 out of 11

12. Learn biblical Greek, biblical Hebrew, Latin, and German

Nah. I studied flashcards off and on for a few months, but this was the Everest of the list, and I never got past base camp.

Score: 8.5 out of 12

13. Learn Spanish

Never made a serious effort here, which I'm ashamed of. I said this in January: "I've become convicted that any Texas pastor who isn't at least trying to learn Spanish isn't thinking ahead." I still believe that, so this will be on 2019's list. Hopefully without 4 other languages on the list vying for my attention I'll take it more seriously.

Score: 8.5 out of 13

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So for those of you keeping score at home, I wound up completing 65% of my resolutions. Not bad.

Making a large list of resolutions instead of just choosing one was an exercise in seeing how many different ways I could seek self-improvement and determining along the way which I would take seriously. It was a good experiment and a good year, and I'm excited to share 2019's resolutions with you tomorrow. So long, 2018!

The Ministry Bowl (Friday Devotional)

For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ…Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot would say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear would say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose.

- 1 Corinthians 12:12, 14-18

As all the Longhorns, Aggies, Bears, Horned Frogs, Cougars, and Mean Green reading this already know, it is officially college football bowl season. Players, coaches, cheerleaders, and band members, to say nothing of students and alumni, are traveling to locations as exotic as Honolulu and as—let’s just say ‘not exotic’—as Albuquerque and El Paso for these games. Players will be lavished with gifts from bowl committees, schools normally relegated to obscurity will get their moment on national TV, and in the end, the winning schools will bring home trophies to proudly display for years to come.

When you think of these games, your mind probably goes immediately to the biggest bowls, the ones played on New Year’s weekend like the Cotton Bowl, the Sugar Bowl, and the granddaddy of them all, the Rose Bowl.  But in the days prior to those big games with national championship implications, there are smaller bowls for the teams who squeaked in with winning records but no illusions of title contention. These games lack the grandeur and tradition of the bigger bowls, and it shows in their sometimes hilariously corporate names: the Redbox Bowl, the Belk Bowl, and the Camping World Bowl, to name a few.

The thing about these smaller bowls is that, despite their insignificance relative to the national title, they can mean everything to the participants. For example, while Alabama and Ohio State would sneer at an invitation to the Arizona Bowl, New Mexico State could not have been happier to play in it last year—it was their first appearance in a bowl game since 1960. Their matchup against Utah State wasn’t one seen by millions; it wasn’t the kind of game you’d put at the top of the marquee. But when New Mexico State triumphed in overtime, guaranteeing them their first bowl victory in 57 years, Arizona Bowl executive director Alan Young said, “You’d have thought they won the national championship or the Super Bowl.”

Ministry reminds me of bowl season in that sense. It can be easy to think that the only ministry that matters is the high-profile stuff: preaching before thousands, missionary work in the Third World, giving millions of dollars to nonprofits and missions organizations, and the like. But effective ministry cannot be measured by worldly measures of success like audience size or dollars raised. For the widow living alone, a visit at home by her Sunday School teacher is more meaningful than anything a megachurch pastor might tell her on TV. For the single mother struggling to get by, your offer of free babysitting is a more visible manifestation of Christ’s love than anything she’ll read about in a missions pamphlet.

Scripture reminds us that the body of Christ, i.e. the church, is made of many members, and needs each one in order to function as intended—so don’t let anyone, including your own doubts and insecurities, tell you that your contributions to the kingdom of God are insignificant. Low-profile, unacknowledged, “small” ministry is anything but meaningless—for those you serve, it can mean everything.

Rushing Through Christmas (Friday Devotional)

But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!”

- Luke 2:10-14

‘Tis the season for hurrying: hurrying to buy last-minute presents, hurrying from one Christmas party to the next, hurrying from family gathering to family gathering. For every child whose eyes light up with the joy of the holiday, there is a parent whose eyes are bleary with exhaustion. Christmas is the season of hope, peace, love, and joy—but also of long lines, bumper-to-bumper traffic, torn wrapping paper, and ‘some assembly required.’ It is, simply put, a stressful time.

In a sense, that’s fitting, because so was the first Christmas. Jesus was born in an unfamiliar town because of a government order, was placed in a makeshift crib because no suitable place would host his parents, and was visited first by strangers from a nearby field then by foreigners carrying strange gifts. His first years of life were spent in hiding from a powerful king who wanted him dead.

Without even meaning to, we tend to idealize that first Christmas, picturing a serene Mary, a strong Joseph, gentle shepherds, and a silent night. But the truth is messier, louder, and less picturesque. The first Christmas was stressful, a night of fears and doubts, blood and tears.

But out of all that stress came Jesus. Though that first Christmas was hardly a peaceful one, peace ultimately came, not because the noise stopped or the activity ceased but because Christ was born. In that tiny baby laying in the manger came our reconciliation with the Father, redemption from the Son, and restoration in the Spirit. All around him may have been chaos, but in him there was peace.

As you rush through the next week, don’t look for peace in the events and traditions, however meaningful. Don’t look for peace in the gifts you give or receive, however beautiful. Don’t look to Christmas for peace—look to Christ.

From Sickness to Wellness (Friday Devotional)

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin.

- Hebrews 4:15

It’s been a rough week in the Camp household—Andrew decided to ring in his second birthday with a nasty case of Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV). Our normally happy-go-lucky toddler was reduced to a pitiful shell of himself, content only when being held by me or Lindsey. We in turn found ourselves exhausted trying to take good care of him without neglecting our other responsibilities.

As the week went on, something kept coming to my mind whenever I’d dry a tear or draw up another dosage of Motrin, something I’d never really considered in quite these terms: Jesus got sick too. As an infant in Bethlehem, the King of Kings spat up when he ate too quickly, squalled when he filled his diaper, and snuggled close to his mother’s breast when he had a fever. As a toddler in Egypt, the Lord of Lords sobbed and flailed when he didn’t feel good, wanting to be held one moment and then feeling smothered the next. Even as an adolescent and a man, making his way from Nazareth to Galilee and ultimately to Jerusalem, there were undoubtedly mornings when the Son of God woke up with sniffles and coughs and headaches.

I know this to be true because Jesus was not only fully divine, but fully human; he was not only the Son of God, but the son of Mary. Every year at this time we celebrate this miracle called the Incarnation—the Word becoming flesh and living among us, the Son of God emptying himself by taking the form of a slave and being born in human likeness. But I wonder if we fail to recognize all the earthy implications of Jesus’s humanity.

In our rightful desire to exalt Jesus as Lord, we imagine him as a teacher who always had the right answer ready, a worker who never grew weary with his task, and a leader who was always in control. Real life, human life, isn’t that easy. Being human means dealing with aches and pains, it means battling fatigue and depression, it means having to deal with people who can’t or won’t understand what you’re trying to tell them. Human life is a never-ending series of both triumphs and trials, flashes of transcendence accompanied by long spells of temptation.

The amazing blessing of the Incarnation is we know Christ experienced all of that. He was not born impervious to the struggles we face; no angels protected him from scraped knees or hurt feelings. The physical, emotional, social, and spiritual tests we face every day are all familiar to him, because he faced them too.

What set Christ apart is that, facing the same challenges which send us stumbling into sin, he stayed true to the Father, obedient even in the face of anguish, humiliation, and death. And so today if you will place your faith in him, repenting of your weakness and trusting in his strength, by the grace of God you can inherit his reward: resurrection.

Life is hard—but Christmas reminds us that Christ knows that as well as we do. He didn’t study hardship from a distance, he experienced it firsthand. Jesus got sick so that we could be made well. Jesus wept so that we could rejoice. Jesus died so that we could live. So as you celebrate the truth that on a Bethlehem night the Word became flesh and lived among us, may it be more than just doctrine to you—may it give you strength for today and hope for tomorrow.

First Impressions (Friday Devotional)

“Do not judge, so that you may not be judged.”

- Matthew 7:1

You never get a second chance, goes the cliché, to make a first impression. It’s practical, albeit pessimistic, advice—people make snap judgments the moment they meet you, so you owe it to yourself to put your best foot forward. How you look, what you say, and who you’re with determines what people will think of you upon introduction. And once the judgment is made, it’s hard to change it.

As pragmatic as that advice is when you think of yourself as the one being judged, it’s poisonous when you start to position yourself as the judge. No matter how good you think your intuition about people is, no matter what gifts of discernment you possess, people can surprise you. Indeed, God constantly works through the most surprising people.

Christmas is an annual reminder of this. If someone from Bethlehem had wandered into the nativity scene the night Jesus was born and made a snap judgment, they would have seen a teenaged mother and her cuckolded husband welcoming their baby into the world with no one to celebrate with but some rough-necked day laborers. They would have seen a couple so unprepared for parenthood that they hadn’t even gotten found a place to stay that night, much less a crib or a going home outfit. They would have pitied this poor child and assumed he was destined for a life of little value.

Armed with information and perspective, we know better than our Bethlehem bystander—we know that Jesus’s humble birth was God’s signal that He is with us, no matter our social station. We know that God chose people of humble obedience to raise the Son of God, that He welcomed shepherds to greet the birth of the Good Shepherd, and that both the goodness and the greatness of God were on display that holy night. But none of that comes across in a first impression.

In his famous Sermon on the Mount, Jesus cautioned us not to judge lest we be judged. God makes a habit of working with lowly, messy, unexpected people to accomplish His purposes, and those who let their personal judgments determine people’s worthiness are liable to miss out on the chance to see grace at work. You may never get a second chance to make a first impression with some people—but Jesus’s birth, life, death, and resurrection remind us that we do not worship the God of first impressions, but the God of second chances.

November Reading Log

It was a month with a high page count but a low book total, as seemingly everything I was reading made for a good doorstop. Take a look!

5 Articles I Like This Month

"Post Malone Is the Perfect Pop Star for this American Moment. That's Not a Compliment." by Jeff Weiss, The Washington Post. 9 minutes.

I've come to really appreciate good, creative, socially conscious hip hop music. In turn, I've also come to despise bad hip hop. So this review/hit job of Post Malone was cathartic and wildly entertaining...which is more than I can say for its subject. 

"Deep River" by Will Bostwick, Oxford American. 14 minutes.

A solid overview of Baylor's Black Gospel Music Restoration Project, which seeks to catalog and digitize every piece of vinyl from black gospel's 'Golden Age' (1945-1975) still in existence. The project is, in my opinion, one of Baylor's greatest treasures, and the writer of this piece (born and bred in Waco) 'gets it.'

"Marvel Icon Stan Lee Leaves a Legacy as Complex as His Superheroes" by Spencer Ackerman, The Daily Beast. 20 minutes.

A lot of eulogies poured in for Stan Lee this past month, with many heralding him as the singular creator of the Marvel Universe. The real story is more complicated, and is told well and even-handedly here, giving Lee his due without stiffing the artists (especially Jack Kirby) who deserve at least half the credit.

"'Nothing on this Page Is Real': How Lies Become Truth in Online America" by Eli Saslow,The Washington Post. 15 minutes.

An affecting, personal look at one of the people creating fake news in the United States today and one of the people unwittingly consuming and sharing it.

"Beneath the Surface of Bruce Springsteen" by Michael Hainey, Esquire. 31 minutes.

An insightful profile of someone I'll never stop being fascinated by. Consider it your warm-up for the upcoming Springsteen on Broadway film, coming to Netflix December 15th.

JUST AS I AM: THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BILLY GRAHAM by Billy Graham

This was an autobiography I'd been putting off reading for years, due mostly to its size (over 700 pages). After Graham's death earlier this year, I decided it was finally time to dust it off and give it a read. At the end of a month in which I dipped into this book for half an hour each day, I was as sad to to put his book down as his legions of admirers were to see him go. Just As I Am is a clear, charming overview of the life of the 20th century's greatest evangelist and most famous preacher.

Spanning Graham's life from birth until the time of the book's writing in 1997, when he had begun to wind down his full-time ministry, the book largely drives in three lanes: 1) his early life and entrance into ministry, 2) his most notable national and international crusades, and 3) his relationships with the different presidents he counseled, from Truman to Clinton. Not surprisingly, given my interests, I found the third lane most fascinating, though it was all a worthy read.

Reading an autobiography is always an exercise in reading between the lines—given the biases and motivations that go into writing your own life story, the reader has to not only hear what's being said but listen for why it's being said (as well as pay attention to what's not being said.) In reading Graham's account, it became apparent what made his ministry successful: he was plain-spoken without being overly folksy, he was shrewd without being cynical, he was always open to new opportunities, and he was devoted to his task and his Lord.

This is an easy read for anyone interested in Graham's life and work, full of memorable anecdotes and never shy about name-dropping (something I find annoying in person but irresistible in biography.) Soon I'll dive into The Preacher and the Presidents, which looks solely at Graham's relationship with the various commanders-in-chief whom he counseled. I'll be curious to see how its account differs from Graham's, and what gaps it fills in.

THE MASTER OF THE SENATE by Robert A. Caro

At 1200 pages (including acknowledgements, source notes, and index), this is one of the longest books I've ever read. It's also one of the best.

The third part in Robert Caro's masterful, exhaustive biography of Lyndon Johnson, The Master of the Senate explores how LBJ rose to power in the U.S. Senate after successfully stealing the 1948 election to acquire that office. Following Johnson's rapid rise from junior senator to Minority Leader to the most powerful Majority Leader in history, the book is (like all Caro's books) less a conventional biography than an exploration of how political power works in America, as told through the story of one of the men who knew best how to get it and use it.

Like the previous two books in this series, half the fun of the book is the tangential mini-books Caro writes as background for Johnson's story. For example, the book begins with a history of the Senate that runs nearly 100 pages before Johnson is even mentioned. Later, in order to establish the importance of Johnson's political patron in the Senate, Richard Russell, Caro gives us more than 50 pages of biographical information about Russell. These side trips are one of my favorite things about reading Caro—no stone is left unturned, no detail wasted.

But the truth is, these books would be utterly exhausting were it not for the quality of the writing. I appreciate good historical research, but would never have spent 3 months (and counting, since there's still one book to go) reading these books unless the prose managed to suck me in. Thankfully, Caro is as good a writer as a historian, which makes both the meat of the book and its lengthy but important tangents feel consequential, interesting, and even exciting. Would that history could always be written this way. One volume to go!

ESSENTIAL DAREDEVIL VOL. 5-6 by Steve Gerber, Tony Isabella, Marv Wolfman, Bob Brown, George Tuska, et al.

After the disappointing Essential Daredevil Vol. 4, I can't say I was looking forward to reading these two books, the final Daredevil volumes in the Essential line. However, they proved to be an improvement over the fourth volume, with the titular hero returning to form as a street-level defender of the law—both as Matt Murdock, attorney-at-law, and Daredevil, the Man Without Fear.

Spanning Daredevil's adventures from 1972-1977, these volumes see the superhero's break-up with Black Widow and subsequent move back to New York, the introduction of Bullseye as a villain, and the reintroduction of Foggy Nelson to the supporting cast. All are welcome moves for this reader—while a fun idea, the romance with Black Widow and move to San Francisco never went anywhere interesting, and being back in New York ensures that Daredevil is able to encounter familiar friends and foes alike. Where in vol. 4, the writers seemed to be looking to reinvent Daredevil, these books are a return to form.

With that being said, the comics historian in me can't help but see these issues as anything but a prelude to the coming Frank Miller era, when the writer-artist would introduce Elektra, transform Kingpin from a C-list Spider-Man villain into Daredevil's arch-nemesis, and make Daredevil the grim defender of Hell's Kitchen fans know him as today. Vol. 6 ends just 2 years before Miller would save the character from extinction, and these books had me ready to read those issues.

Ultimately, these books are the epitome of the Bronze Age of comics—fun, but forgettable. Lots of action, plenty of melodrama, but nothing that history will remember as outstanding work. I'm glad to have read them, but more than anything I'm geared up to dive into Frank Miller's seminal run on the character. Tune in for those reviews soon!

STAR-LORD: GUARDIAN OF THE GALAXY by Steve Engelhart, Chris Claremont, Doug Moench, Timothy Zahn, John Byrne, Carmine Infantino, Doug Sienkiewicz, et al.

Some Marvel characters haven't changed much since their original creation. The Hulk, for example, has been a giant, raging monster with an alter-ego of a meek, brilliant scientist since day one. Other characters have changed, matured, been retconned, and otherwise gone through various metamorpheses to suit the times: Iron Man, Spider-Man, and Thor are noticeably different from their Silver Age iterations, but the same characters at heart.

Then there's Star-Lord. When you picture him, you undoubtedly picture Chris Pratt's leader of the Guardians of the Galaxy and sorta-boyfriend of Gamora, who explores space armed with little more than jokes, a jet pack, a gun, and a cassette player. And if you were to pick up a Star-Lord or Guardians comic today, that's what you would get, thanks to the need for cross-media synergy. But that character barely resembles the Star-Lord who debuted in one of Marvel's black-and-white science fiction magazines in January 1976.

That Star-Lord, whose initial appearances prior to his mid-2000s transformation are collected in this book, was a Flash Gordon-esque cosmic adventurer named Peter Quill whose mother had been killed by an alien when he was a child. That part's familiar. What's less familiar is, well, everything else, starting with his relationship with "Ship," his sentient spaceship who—and I wish I was kidding about this—has romantic feelings for Quill. The less said about that, the better. This version of Quill became an astronaut on Earth so that he'd have the chance to go to the stars and avenge his mother; he is soon empowered by a mystical being called the Master of the Sun and then becomes the Star-Lord, a being with an ambiguous mission and power set. From there, he travels from planet to planet, star system to star system, getting into scrapes with galactic empires and defending lesser beings, aided only by Ship and his element gun, which is capable of shooting (you guessed it) fire, water, earth, or wind.

The stories are pretty generic 1970s Robert Heinlein homages, none of which connect to the greater Marvel Universe in any way. What makes them notable is not so much the stories or their influence on the character 40 years later, but the art. Through some cosmic coincidence (pun intended), Star-Lord's earliest adventures are drawn by some of the artists who would define comics for the next decade, from John Byrne to Bill Sienkiewicz. In fact, one of the stories is written by Chris Claremont and drawn by Byrne—that duo would go on to team up for what is unquestionably the greatest run in the history of the X-Men.

These stories didn't do much for me. They're hard sci-fi, and I'm not a sci-fi guy. But the art makes these stories worth a look. If you want to see the seeds of the character Peter Quill is today—and only the seeds, because he has blossomed into something much different—and to admire some beautiful art, give this book a whirl. 

Who Do I Listen To? (Friday Devotional)

When they had brought them, they had them stand before the council. The high priest questioned them, saying, “We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and you are determined to bring this man’s blood on us.” But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than any human authority.”

- Acts 5:27-29

This time of year, there is no escaping holiday advertisements. On billboards, in newspapers, on television, in the mail, and online, retailers across the country are doing everything in their power to get your attention. They do it with brightly colored ads, with catchy jingles, with memorable commercials, and, if you’re lucky, with sales. Whatever it takes, they want you thinking about their products when you shop this month.

The problem, of course, is that since you’re being bombarded from all sides by advertisements, it’s hard to discern which are worth listening to and which can be safely ignored. Nobody wants to be suckered into buying something dumb just because they got lured in by an ad—but on the flip side, nobody wants to miss out on the sale of a lifetime either. You know some of what you’re seeing and hearing is worthwhile—but how are you supposed to know what’s what?

We face the same problem when it comes to issues of morality. In our information age, opinions about what you should think and do are as plentiful as holiday advertisements. Whether you’re talking with a coworker in the break room, scrolling through Facebook, talking on the phone with your parents, or watching cable news at home, you can’t get through a day without being exposed to a constant stream of (often contradictory) messages about what you’re supposed to believe. So how are you supposed to know who to listen to?

The answer to that question comes from the apostles. In the early days of the church, they had already won many new disciples to Christ, but had subsequently managed to land themselves in hot water. Jerusalem’s high priest and council—the same men who had brought false charges against Jesus and passed him on to Pilate—were concerned by the popularity of their message and wanted to see it put down quietly before they caused any more fuss.

But when they tried to throw the apostles in prison, an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors overnight and the apostles went right back to publicly proclaiming the gospel. Frustrated, the council called the apostles before them and demanded they stop preaching about Jesus. That’s when Peter, speaking for the Twelve, took a courageous stand: “We must obey God rather than any human authority.”

In our day of opinion overload, the apostles’ declaration is more important than ever. Believers are not supposed to take our cues on right and wrong from celebrities, politicians, or social media, but from the Word of God. Even and especially when obeying God means defying conventional wisdom or human authority—as was the case for the apostles—we are called to stand firm and be courageous, listening to our Lord instead of to idols. Morality isn’t determined by the whims of popular opinion, but by the unchanging God.

Every day, whether you realize it or not, your beliefs and behavior are being shaped. Left to your own devices, they will be shaped by the opinions of your friends, the authorities you respect, and the ever-shifting views of the majority. So pray for the conviction, the courage, and the cognizance to obey God before any other and to be shaped by Him instead. Bombarded by other’s beliefs, look to the Lord to know what’s what.

Broken Pieces (Friday Devotional)

“If we confess our sins, He who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

- 1 John 1:9

Lately, my son has gotten in the habit of rummaging through the drawer of our coffee table. There’s nothing special in there—a tin of spare change, a bunch of pens, and some coasters—but nevertheless he likes to dig through it and make a small mess in the process. Since, as I said, there’s nothing particularly important in the drawer, I generally let him do his thing when I see him scamper over to the coffee table.

But the other day, the mess went beyond a few coins on the floor. As I cleaned a dish in the kitchen, my son came running in with one of our cardboard coasters in his hand—in two pieces. I’d seen him drawing on the coaster and bending it, and it seems that he’d finally pushed it too far. He looked stricken as he held the two pieces up. “Broke,” he said with anxiety written all over his face.

Smiling, I took the pieces from his hand. “It’s ok, bud. Daddy can fix it.” Handing me the torn coaster, my son nodded with understanding and said, “Yes!” then went to find a ball to play with. The worry which had clouded his little face when he approached me had vanished, and he was back to business.

In that small, otherwise insignificant moment, it hit me—that’s exactly how repentance and forgiveness are supposed to work. My son recognized he’d done something wrong, came to me to admitting what he’d done, I forgave him, and he got back to work. According to the Bible, that’s exactly how our relationship with God is supposed to work: “If we confess our sins, He who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

The problem is that we overcomplicate things. When we sin, we tend to ignore the nagging conviction of the Holy Spirit; we rationalize or excuse our actions. When we do realize we’ve sinned, we are often too proud or too scared to go to God with what we’ve done. And when we finally take that step, repenting of our wickedness, we are plagued with self-doubt and guilt, unable or unwilling to accept the truth that God has forgiven us. Instead of embracing His grace, we try to earn it, plagued all the while by a fear of failure.

Jesus said that to enter the kingdom of God we must become like children, and indeed forgiveness is one area where adults repeatedly fail to understand what kids intuitively know. When you fall, you can go to God with your failures without fear of being disowned. When you sincerely confess to God, He is faithful to forgive you. And when you’ve been forgiven, you are cleansed of your sin; you don’t have to earn the forgiveness that’s already been given to you.

The forgiveness of God is supremely gracious, undeniably powerful—and so simple a child can understand it. So when you sin, don’t let fear or pride stand in the way of your relationship with Him. Go to Him with your broken pieces and allow Him to put you back together again.

Following the Leaders (Friday Devotional)

Remember your leaders, those who spoke the word of God to you; consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

- Hebrews 13:7-8

When Lyndon B. Johnson hosted visitors at his ranch in the Texas Hill Country, he always made sure there was time for fun as well as business...fun for him, anyway. At some point in the afternoon, he would invite his guests to go for a drive around the property. From behind the steering wheel, he’d point to the different kinds of trees, tell stories about his childhood, and they’d all enjoy the fresh air and the winding hills together.

Then suddenly, they’d barrel down one particular hill straight toward a lake. Johnson, looking panicked, would slam his foot down repeatedly to no avail. “The brakes are out!” he would shout. “We’re going in!” The car would plunge into the water to terrified shrieks from his guests. Most, from family friends to journalists to cabinet officials, bailed out at that point, certain their lives were on the line. Only after they were swimming toward dry land would they see Johnson cackling in the front seat as his car—the only amphibious model ever mass produced for civilian use—not only floated, but began to putter across the lake, guided by twin propellers.

On one of their visits to the ranch, Billy and Ruth Graham fell victim to the president’s prank, accompanying him for a drive around the ranch only to find themselves hurtling toward the lake. However, when the car hit the water, neither of the Grahams leapt out (though Billy would later admit to being terrified.) As the car floated onward, a disappointed Johnson complained to his dry friends that most people jumped when they hit the water. “You’re the president,” Ruth said to him. “I figured you knew what you were doing!”

We can all learn a thing or two about that kind of faith—and one of the great blessings of the Bible is the many examples of faith it gives us. From Abraham to Moses to David to Mary, Scripture offers us story after story of people who, for all their flaws, were ultimately defined by their faith in God. They weren’t perfect, but when others trusted themselves, these men and women trusted God first, placing their lives in His hands.

In the epistle to the Hebrews, the writer encourages Christians to imitate the faith of these spiritual leaders. Their words and deeds were recorded for more than just posterity, but for edification—by learning from their mistakes and emulating their faithfulness, we can become more faithful servants of God.

Sometimes life takes turns you don’t expect, and you wonder what you’re supposed to do. In such moments, look to the faithful witness of the men and women of the Bible, then take a page out of Ruth Graham’s book—follow the leader.

What's Your Answer? (Friday Devotional)

When he had said this, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva and spread the mud on the man’s eyes, saying to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). Then he went and washed and came back able to see…So for the second time they called the man who had been blind, and they said to him, “Give glory to God! We know that this man is a sinner.” He answered, “I do not know whether he is a sinner. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.”

- John 9:6-7, 24-25

One of the things that has made The Price Is Right such a beloved game show for decades is its embrace of audience feedback during the games. Every time a contestant has a choice to make, such as whether an item should be priced higher or lower than a given amount, both the host and the contestant engage the studio audience’s advice, inviting them to yell out what they would do if they were on stage. For a few seconds, the studio is filled with noise as dozens of people off-camera, all of whom seem certain they’re right, shout out different numbers. Usually, the contestant plays along with the premise of audience participation while in actuality just going with their gut. But occasionally, you’ll see a contestant freeze up in the face of all the shouting—when confronted with so many different answers all at once, they don’t know what they’re supposed to think.

Sometimes you may feel that way about God—with so many differing beliefs, theories, philosophies, and agendas explaining who He is and what He wants from you, you start to wonder what you’re supposed to think. Can a God who allows suffering in the world really be called Savior? In a world that sometimes seems like it’s spinning out of control, does it make sense to believe in the Lord?

Where you land on the “big questions” about God takes a lifetime of spiritual growth and prayer—but as you seek those answers in the thoughts and writings of other people, it’s important that you never forget your own testimony. We can learn something from someone in John 9, a man born blind whom Jesus miraculously healed. Because that healing took place on the Sabbath, the religious leaders of the day launched an investigation, questioning the man multiple times about what had happened in the hopes that he might reveal Jesus to be an imposter or a charlatan. “We know that this man is a sinner,” they said on their second visit. His response was instructive: “I do no know whether he is a sinner. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.”

Every follower of Jesus Christ has a story to tell, a story of how Jesus rescued them from sin and brought them into a relationship with God. And your story doesn’t stop there—you may have stories about times when God’s presence in your life pulled you out of the depths of temptation or depression, about times when a word from Scripture pointed you exactly where you needed to go, about how in a moment of tremendous stress the prayers of a friend brought you peace you couldn’t explain. Everyone has a story to tell about how God has moved in their life.

And when the complexities of faith threaten to overwhelm you, when the shouting from all sides about what you’re supposed to believe has you nearly paralyzed, it helps to root yourself in your story. Along with the man born blind you can say, ‘I don’t know all the answers, but one thing I do know: I once was blind, but now I see.’

There is great value in learning more about God, in listening and reading and talking to people who think and believe differently from you—after all, if you never learn, then you never grow. But when your questions are so overloaded with answers that the foundation of your faith is rocked, cling to your testimony. Everyone has a story to tell—don’t lose track of yours.

10 Reasons Why You Should Vote

It’s Election Day! If you’re registered, but you haven’t already voted and you’re on the fence about whether it’s worth the time and aggravation, here are ten quick reasons why you should head to your polling place and cast your ballot:

1.     People have fought and even died to get and maintain your right to do so.

Sorry to start heavy. But the whole reason we have the United States of America to begin with is because, nearly 250 years ago, a bunch of people in thirteen British colonies were tired of paying taxes to a government that refused to let them choose their leaders. That was only the first of many times that soldiers gave their lives in battle to ensure liberty for their fellow countrymen.

Getting and maintaining your vote came at a cost, in the 1770s and the 1860s and the 1940s and beyond. The least you can do to honor the memory of the soldiers, abolitionists, suffragettes, and civil rights leaders who fought, bled, and died to give you a vote is to use it.

2.     FOMO.

The only thing anyone will be talking about on TV and social media tonight will be the election. If you don’t want to feel left out, you’ll need to have voted earlier that day.

3.     It’s biblical(ish).

Admittedly, this requires some interpretation, since there is no “thou shalt vote” commandment in the Bible. But what Jesus did say was “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.” A veeeery narrow reading of that command is that you should pay your taxes. A more generous (and, in my opinion, better) interpretation is that, while you are first and foremost a citizen of the kingdom of God, you are also a citizen of your nation, and that you have duties to that nation. In a democracy like ours, one of those duties is to vote.

4.     It’ll make the old people in your life happy.

As a general rule, senior citizens are worried about what kind of nation their grandchildren will inherit and what their grandchildren’s generation will do with it. So an easy way to encourage them is by showing up to the polls. I promise, the little old ladies volunteering at your local precinct beam every time they give a millennial an “I Voted” sticker, and every grandparent, elderly church member, and retired neighbor you know will do the same.

5.     As civic duties go, it doesn’t take that long.

Thanks to the Internet, researching candidates is a LOT easier than it used to be. I recommend relying on interviews and endorsements from your local newspaper rather than the obviously and understandably biased websites of the candidates. If you do your due diligence, I bet you can have your ballot figured out in an hour or so, and then probably won’t have to spend longer than an hour at the polls (depending on when and where you go.)

Sure, 2 hours is inconvenient. But it’s faster and easier than jury duty, paying your taxes, serving in the military, or basically any other civic duty. Also, see #1.

6.     It’s the most direct way to make your voice heard by your local, state, and national officials.

Sure, calling/e-mailing/writing your congressman is a good thing. Going to a town hall or a protest is a good thing. Blogging, posting, and retweeting your political opinions can *occasionally* be a good thing. But politicians can ignore all those things. What they can’t ignore is the votes of their constituents.

7.     If you don’t, someone in your life will shame you for it.

Consider this sort of the negative side of #2. There is someone in your life, whether a parent, sibling, or friend, who’s really into politics and government. And if they find out you didn’t vote, get ready for an annoying lecture or at least a withering death glare.

8.     Your vote matters (especially locally).

Look, I get it—sometimes your vote can seem meaningless, especially if you don’t live in a swing state/county/district. But particularly when it comes to those down-ballot races for school board or mayor or district attorney, races are sometimes decided by dozens of votes, not millions. Do your part.

9.     You feel good when you do it.

There aren’t many things left that bind us together as Americans in our hyper-polarized society. But thanks to the secret ballot, when you walk out of the voting booth, you feel connected to everybody else at your polling place, and to everybody on social media posting their “I Voted” selfies, and to the lady at the grocery store with her “I Voted” sticker—you don’t know how they voted, but you know they did, and now you have that in common with them. And knowing that makes you feel like part of something bigger than yourself.

10. You get a sticker!!!

It’s the ultimate participation trophy, worn with pride by 18-year olds and 98-year olds alike. But you don’t get one unless you participate. So go vote!