Christlike Compassion (Friday Devotional)

When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.

- Matthew 9:36

The other day, something upset my daughter Katherine. I don’t remember if she’d hurt herself, if somebody had made her mad, or if she’d just been told she needed to do her chores—but whatever the case, she had collapsed into a heap on the floor, sobbing.

What made me remember that moment was what happened next. As she wailed, our son Isaac, not yet 2 years old, curiously walked up to her. Even as she screamed, he cupped her face in his hands—the same way he does to me and his mom when he wants us to pay attention to him—and quietly questioned, “Hi, KaKa?”

There’s a reason why that little moment has been rolling around my brain all week—as adults, we almost never do that. When we see a stranger in need, it makes us uncomfortable and we look away.  When a loved one is struggling, we silently wonder how long it will take for things to go back to normal. Our immediate reaction is not to enter into someone else’s suffering, but to flee from it.

Jesus never ran away from people in need, he ran toward them. Whether to heal, to teach, or simply to console, Jesus’ instinct was to reach out to the suffering, to put their face in his hands. Because he knew—and he was teaching us—that love is not just something you feel, but something you demonstrate.

Christlike compassion requires more than good intentions, it requires stepping outside your comfort zone. It means showing people, not just telling them, about the love of Jesus. May you not respond to tears by turning away, but by stepping up.

September Reading Log

 

Not a lot of entries in this month's log, but believe me, I read a LOT. In fact, this was probably my most disciplined month of reading all year. Take a look below to see what held my attention this month!

BECOMING THE PASTOR'S WIFE by Beth Allison Barr

In 2021, one of the biggest books in evangelicalism was Beth Allison Barr's The Making of Biblical Womanhood, a book that was part history and part polemic, all focused on how the modern concept of complementarianism was not, as often said, "what the Bible has always taught," but was really just a new spin on sanctified patriarchy. She wrote that it was time for women to go and be free, aided by examples in both the Bible and church history which prove women's calling by God.

Becoming the Pastor's Wife has a narrower focus but a similar theme. In this book, Barr keys in on the role of the pastor's wife, showing how for generations that role has been both elevated and inherently limited within the church. Her argument is that this has been done less as a sign of respect for ministerial spouses than as a way to enforce complementarianism—the only leadership role a woman can hold in the church is an unofficial one that is directly tied to her relationship to a man. In other words, little girls are taught that God wouldn't call them to be ministers, he would call them to marry ministers.

Barr approaches this argument from a number of different angles, showing how pastor's wives have blessed their churches and communities even as they are kept in the shadows. Her historical examples range from medieval saints to 20th century women in the Southern Baptist Convention. And sprinkled throughout is her own testimony as a pastor's wife—the ways she has fit within the mold of what is expected of her and the ways she has not.

This book does not necessarily have the broad appeal of The Making of Biblical Womanhood, but is nevertheless a fascinating and, at times, provocative read. There is plenty to learn from Becoming the Pastor's Wife, and Beth Allison Barr has once again blessed the church with her research and writing.

GOD'S COACH by Skip Bayless

THE BOYS by Skip Bayless

HELL-BENT by Skip Bayless

Before his forays on First Take or Undisputed made him a household name among sports fans, Skip Bayless was a columnist for the dearly departed Dallas Times-Herald, where his takes on the city's sports teams—especially the omnipresent Dallas Cowboys—made him a local celebrity in the 1980s and 1990s. Along the way, he wrote three infamous books about the Cowboys, filled with both both insight and conjecture, reporting and sensationalism. You know, classic Skip.

God's Coach is, at its heart, a hit job. Bayless became a columnist at the low point of the Tom Landry years, when the coach was clearly past his prime and struggling to hang on. So Bayless' take in this book is that Landry was never actually the genius he was portrayed to be—merely a good man and a sincere Christian whose image outpaced his skill. On the plus side, this book highlights the players who made the Cowboys into America's Team, showing that they—not the the trinity of Landry, president and general manager Tex Schramm, and chief scout Gil Brandt—were most responsible for Dallas' consistent success. But ultimately, Skip doth protest too much—while never quite coming off as vindictive, his criticism of Landry ultimately seems more about the author's contrarianism than about telling the truth.

The Boys is the most conventional of the three books, a beginning-to-end account of the Cowboy's 1992 season, when Jerry Jones and Jimmy Johnson's dreams became reality and Dallas inaugurated a dynasty with its first Super Bowl win since the glory days of Landry, Schramm, and Brandt. In one sense, this is the best of Bayless' three books because it is the least spectacular—this is Skip the sportswriter, not Skip the provocateur. There's some behind-the-scenes drama along the way—including, presciently, tension between Jimmy and Jerry—but mostly this is just a chronicle of how that season played out. Its biggest weakness is that you can really tell which players and assistants gave Bayless a lot of access and which didn't want to talk to him—from reading this book, you'd think defensive coordinator Dave Wannstedt was the glue that held the team together and that offensive coordinator Norv Turner barely showed up to work. Give Skip the time of day and he'll make you a star.

Hell-Bent is the wildest of the three books, as Skip shifts back into let's-make-some-headlines mode, most infamously by speculating (absent any evidence whatsoever) that Troy Aikman might be gay and that he once called a teammate the N-word. The central drama of the book is the very real conflict between Aikman and head coach Barry Switzer, who took over after the firing of Jimmy Johnson and brought a far more laid-back, boys-will-be-boys attitude to the enterprise. Bayless takes Switzer's side—since that's the opposite of what the rest of the Dallas media was doing—portraying him as misunderstood and Aikman as whiney and petty. The book culminates in the Cowboys' 1995 Super Bowl victory, which comes more as a relief than a triumph and which Bayless ominously (and, as it turns out, correctly) predicts may be the beginning of the end for the Cowboys dynasty.

Look, these books were pretty popular because Skip Bayless has always had a knack for getting attention and turning a phrase. They're also trashy, over-the-top, and full of a lot more style than substance. So, in a way, they are the perfect books for the Jerry Jones-era Cowboys—they're not good, but you can't look away.

 

THOR BY JASON AARON: THE COMPLETE COLLECTION VOL. 1-5

From 2012 to 2019, Marvel handed the keys to Asgard over to Jason Aaron, and the result was 100+ issues of arguably the best comics Thor has ever seen—only the great Walt Simonson has a case for topping Aaron's run. At a rate of more than 3 issues per day, I immersed myself in the whole run this past month, gobbling up all the thunder I could withstand.

The run is bookended by stories about a brand new character who immediately landed on the Mount Rushmore of Thor villains: Gorr the God Butcher, an ordinary mortal whose life of tragedy and unanswered prayers, combined with the fortuitous discovery of the ultrapowerful Necrosword, give him the motivation and the means to hunt down and destroy all the gods in the Marvel Universe. Menacing, creepy, and seemingly omnipotent, Gorr is a worthy antagonist for the God of Thunder, and the battles against him cross space and time—it is only by enlisting the aid of a younger version of himself and his future self (the truly awesome King Thor the All-Father) that Thor is able to stand a chance against the God Butcher.

The rest of the run is dominated by two stories: the War of the Realms and the replacement of the Odinson with Jane Foster, his onetime lover, who becomes the new Thor when the old one is rendered unworthy by his own self-doubt. The War of the Realms is plotted and led by longtime Thor antagonist Malekith, a dark elf who I'd never cared much about but who makes an incredible villain in this story, as he seeks to take over or destroy all ten of the realms, from Asgard to Midgard (Earth) to Svartalheim, Niffleheim, and all the other lands of Norse mythology. It all culminates in an event that brings the rest of the Marvel Universe into the fray to defend Earth and take down Malekith, led by Thor.

The story of "lady Thor" is really the heart of the run though. Jane Foster, wracked by cancer, is imbued with the powers of the God of Thunder every time she picks up Thor's hammer, but doing so accelerates her disease—being Thor is killing her, but the realms need her. While the story was divisive among misogynists, it is beautifully told, so much so that I was actually disappointed when the "real Thor" was once again worthy enough to pick up Mjolnir.

All of these stories are aided by incredible art, first from Esad Ribic and then Russell Dauterman (and then Mike del Mundo, though he places a distant third). Ribic brings a painterly quality that makes the Gorr stories feel appropriately mythological and high-concept. Dauterman, in contrast, is pure metal, superhero comics at their best. Both are perfect for the stories they are telling, and writer Jason Aaron couldn't be more fortunate to have them as co-creators.

If all you know of the Jason Aaron run is its adaptation in the much-maligned film Thor: Love and Thunder, you owe it to yourself to read the FAR superior source material. It's the most fun I've ever had reading Thor.

Bow Your Heads, Close Your Eyes (Friday Devotional)

 

He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth." 

- Psalm 46:10

When teaching children how to pray, there are usually three instructions I give: Put your hands together, bow your head, and close your eyes. Before we ever get into “Dear God,” before I ever explain the different kinds of prayer, and long before the final “amen,” we start with that simple posture: put your hands together, bow your head, and close your eyes.

But have you ever wondered why we do those things when we pray? Why is that posture—one never explicitly demanded by Scripture—so automatic for believers around the world and throughout the ages?

I think it comes down to one word: still. When you clasp your hands together, you render them incapable of doing anything else—they can’t make anything or break anything, they can’t move at all. When you bow your head, you fix your gaze in one direction, limiting the scope of what you can see. And when you close your eyes, you block out your vision altogether, shutting out the world around you. For the time you are praying, you cease moving and observing. You’re simply still.

In our overstimulated world, there is something powerfully humble about making yourself still for the sake of prayer. Ours is a society where focus is fragmented, where we are bombarded by ceaseless alerts and notifications, where taking a 5-minute bathroom break without your phone in hand is borderline incomprehensible. We live in a state of constant distraction.

But when you pray, you declare that time with God is worthy of your focus. When you bow your head and close your eyes, you choose to shut out the noise. You are still.

So let me encourage you now, whether you are reading this on your phone while waiting in line, on your desktop computer in between tasks, or on your iPad while you bounce between emails and social media—stop what you’re doing for a couple minutes. Turn it all off and set it to the side. Just for a few minutes, be still and know that the Lord is God. Listen to what God has to tell you when you pray—because when you don’t move and you can’t see, you’ll be amazed by what you hear.

Trivial Pursuit (Friday Devotional)

 

Who is wise and knowledgeable among you? Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom. 

- James 3:13

 

Ok, it’s pop quiz time. Let’s see how well you know your Bible.

 

Q1: What was the name of Aaron’s wife?

A: Elisheba (see Exodus 6:23)

 

Q2: Upon what mountain was Israel cursed for disobedience?

A: Mount Ebal (Deuteronomy 27:13)

 

Q3: What was the name of the cave where David sought refuge when fleeing from King Saul?

A: The Cave of Adullam (1 Samuel 22:1)

 

Q4: What does Jehovah Shammah mean translated from Hebrew to English?

A: The Lord is there (Ezekiel 48:35

Q5: What Athenian judge was converted under Paul’s preaching?

A: Dionysius (Acts 17:34)

 

How’d you do? If you got any of those right off the top of your head, you did better than me…and I went to school for this stuff!

I suspect for most of you, those questions were tough, a reminder that there’s plenty of Bible knowledge you don’t have right on the tip of your tongue. Whether you’ve been reading the Bible for 80 seconds or 80 years, there’s always more to know.

But Scripture reminds us that, even as we should continually read and learn, wisdom doesn’t come from accumulating mountains of trivia. Rather, wisdom is found when we apply God’s Word to our lives, practicing faith in gentleness and care.

In the end, people don’t think you know God because you can pass a quiz like the one above. Godly wisdom is displayed through Christlike behavior, by living for Jesus instead of just knowing about him. So read your Bible, memorize verses, study up—but not so you’ll win at trivia night. Do it so you can show people the gospel by how you live.

Come Look (Friday Devotional)

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

- Acts 1:8

“Come look!”

You might exclaim those words after reaching the summit of a long hike and gazing out at the view before you. You might say it once you’ve reached the conclusion of a long project and you’re ready to show off your work. You might just say it to a friend after you watch a funny cat video on YouTube.

Whatever the reason, the reaction is the same. When we’re amazed or proud or excited—when something has managed to truly capture our imagination—we want to show other people. Enthusiasm isn’t something you keep to yourself.

So it’s natural that Jesus tells us that we are his witnesses in the world—that it’s our responsibility to tell others what we’ve seen and heard. It’s not meant to be a dry obligation or a nerve-racking assignment, but the ordinary response to being saved by the grace of God in Christ. We don’t tell people about Jesus because we have to, but because we want to!

Somewhere you may have gotten it into your mind that sharing the gospel is a job strictly for professionals. But the truth is that the most effective evangelists are often brand-new believers—not because they know the most, but because their excitement about Jesus is so fresh. What can become old hat to old believers is still novel to them—and so they want to tell everybody!

Who’s the last person you talked with about Jesus outside the walls of a church building? When’s the last time you invited a neighbor to church? Are you being obedient in your evangelism?

Don’t be scared or ashamed of your answers. And don’t think you need a master plan to evangelize. Just try two words, and pair them with the excitement you had the first time you met the Lord: “come look!”

Treasured Time (Friday Devotional)

 

And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.

- Galatians 6:9

Every sport has “garbage time,” the period at the end of a game when the result is a foregone conclusion and both teams are merely running out the clock. In basketball, it’s the time when you see second-stringers jack up wild three-pointers which the defense only halfheartedly acknowledges. In football, it’s when the winning team suddenly stops passing the ball, instead calling runs up the middle on every down. Even in baseball, if an opponent’s lead is big enough, you’ll see position players sent in to “pitch,” throwing 45 mph lobs that would look silly even in batting practice.

But what you’ll never see is something readily available to the losing team to stop the bleeding: a forfeit. At any time, they could simply wave the white flag and retire to the locker room, ending their humiliation and turning the page to the next game. But for some reason, it is deeply embedded in our understanding of sports that, no matter how lopsided your defeat, you never willingly forfeit. You can make nods to the inevitability of the outcome, but you can never just surrender. Defeat is disappointing, but giving up entirely is unacceptable.

That attitude is a useful one to keep in mind off the field, where life can sometimes feel as one-sided as a scoreboard reading 58-0. We all go through seasons when merely getting out of bed feels like a victory, when it seems like your every attempt to do the right thing blows up in your face. It can feel like giving up is the only thing that makes sense.

But the Bible encourages you to persevere in such periods, to never “grow weary of doing good.” These seasons, it tells us, lead to an eventual harvest, one reaped from what was sown in hard times. The key is to not give up before that harvest comes.

Life is full of “garbage time.” But if you persist through it, following Jesus even when the way is narrow, you will see him turn that trash into treasure.

August Reading Log

 

The reading log is back to a normal length this month after an unprecedentedly short entry in July, but it was still a pretty meh month for reading. I've started trying—with mixed results—to work out in the mornings, which zaps an hour of time I once spent with my nose buried in a book; additionally, I had a 2-week reading slump after we got back from a weeklong family trip.

In other words, I'm in no danger of beating last year's page total. But I did knock out 5 books this month, so take a look below to see what I thought of them!

21: THE STORY OF ROBERTO CLEMENTE by Wilfred Santiago

Read in conjunction with our family trip to Pittsburgh, 21 is a graphic novel biography of my all-time favorite baseball player, the legendary Roberto Clemente, whose flash on the field and humanitarian heart off it made him a beloved figured both in Pittsburgh and through Latin America. Bouncing between scenes in Clemente's native Puerto Rico and his career highlights for the Pirates, the book beautifully renders both the ballplayer and the man.

I'll start with the art, because it's what shines the brightest. Wilfred Santiago, whose style is expressive and impressionistic, has a knack for portraying movement. Especially when he's portraying moments from baseball games, the images never feel static. This is especially appropriate for Clemente, who was so renowned for his athleticism and physical grace. There are numerous times throughout the book where the words feel superfluous; the art is doing the heavy lifting.

The writing is not quite as strong, occasionally reading like someone communicating in a second language. While the story of Clemente's life gets across, it sometimes comes across as disjointed, both because of the structure Santiago employs and because he refuses to spoon-feed the reader. I was able to follow without a problem, but I question whether that would have been true if I'd been less knowledgeable about the beats of Clemente's life going into reading this book.

For Clemente fans, I would say this is a must-read, a unique way of portraying the life of one of the most revered ballplayers to ever live. For those less familiar with the Great One's life, I'd start with a more conventional biography first.  

WHAT'S NEXT: A BACKSTAGE PASS TO THE WEST WING by Melissa Fitzgerald and Mary McCormack

The West Wing is one of my all-time favorite TV shows, and it probably is my mom's favorite, so when I learned that What's Next—a behind-the-scenes account of the show written by two of its stars—was coming out, I instantly preordered it for her. Then when she finished it, she promptly lent it to me, and I devoured the majority of it on two long flights.

What's Next, like the show it chronicles, is 75% entertainment, telling the story of how the show came to be, sharing backstage anecdotes from cast members and writers, and reveling in favorite episodes and scenes. But it's also 25% call to service, interspersing sidebars on the various charitable organizations that the show's family has supported over the years and explaining how and why readers should get involved. In a way that is unique to a show which idealized the work of the federal government, the alumni of the West Wing remain committed to making a difference in the world, not just with photo ops and donations, but with deep, involved work in these organizations, and What's Next goes to great lengths to highlight that work.

This is definitely a book for so-called "Wingnuts," the hardest of the hardcore fans, those who have listened to every episode of The West Wing Weekly podcast and watched favorite episodes multiple times. As such, don't expect much tell-all gossip or criticism of the show (even the disappointing-by-West Wing-standards 5th season); this book is a pure celebration of the show by people who are indebted to its success. And if you thought the show was just ok, you'll likely find all the fawning over writer Aaron Sorkin's genius to be a bit much, and may feel out of the loop on some inside jokes, like the actors' facetious disdain for castmate Josh Malina.

But if you love The West Wing like I do, you will fly through this book, and its stories will feel like a warm blanket. This was the ideal book to read on a plane, one that didn't require much concentration but kept me captivated throughout. Definitely worth a read for all my fellow Wingnuts.

PASTOR by William H. Willimon

I love books about pastoring that understand what pastoring really is. Not those that imagine we get to sit in a study praying and contemplating Scripture for 30 hours per week. Not those that think we are corporate CEOs devoted to customer satisfaction and increasing the bottom line. Books that understand pastors to be normal men and women with an extraordinary call, one we fail at all the time: to teach, lead, and serve the local church God has entrusted to us.

Pastor by Will Willimon is just such a book, one that understands how multifaceted pastoral work is, takes that work very seriously, and gives ample grace to those who try and fail to do it well every day. Each chapter walks through the theology of a pastor's various roles, from prophet to priest to teacher to role model, explaining how and why God calls us to these tasks. Along the way, there are stories from Willimon's own ministry, offering both credibility for the author and some on-the-ground case studies that bring the biblical imperatives to life.

The book is carried throughout by Willimon's excellent writing. He has a preacher's gift for prose, which turns what could have been a dry how-to manual or a sleepy doctoral dissertation into a readable, devotional guide. I confess I didn't have a highlighter handy while reading—it's a habit I've never really picked up despite repeated attempts—but this was the kind of book where I'd have worn mine out.

For fellow pastors, this is the kind of book that will make you feel seen. For laity, I'm not sure it's worth your time, but it would give you a fuller understanding of what your pastor is trying to do. For my part, I loved it.

DISCOVERY IN GREAT SAND DUNES NATIONAL PARK by Aaron Johnson

The adventure continues and the mystery deepens in the second installment of the proposed 10-part National Park Mystery Series, which has my two oldest kids spellbound. Having been left clues to a scavenger hunt his late grandfather, the protagonist Jake and his cousin Wes and friend Amber now journey with their families to Great Sand Dunes National Park, where they come upon an artifact that has ties not only to antiquity, but to Jake's family history.

I found this book to be a slight improvement over its predecessor (which I also liked!) for two reasons. First, this book alternated chapters between the present day and the story of a girl in 1880, a pattern the first book employed also. But in this book, the connection between the past and present was much more evident, which I appreciated. Second, this book introduced a set of villains, which added an air of menace and anxiety to the proceedings.

All in all, this was another good edutainment book, with plenty of safety lessons and fun facts about the Great Sand Dunes, but never so much that it get in the way of telling a good story. Next, we're off to the Grand Canyon!

HELEN OF WYNDHORN by Tom King and Bilquis Evely

One of the most acclaimed comics of the last several years is 2021's Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, which sees Kara Zor-El get her True Grit on in a character-driven adventure. I won't say more about that book's plot, both because I already read and reviewed it last year and because it's going to be a movie next year. What I will say is that it introduced me and most of the world to artist Bilquis Evely, as she teamed up with Tom King, arguably the greatest working writer in comics, to put on a master class in storytelling. So when my brother loaned me his hardback trade of Helen of Wyndhorn, a Dark Horse miniseries authored by King and Evely, I couldn't crack it open fast enough.

The titular Helen is the daughter of a pulp author of great renown who died by suicide, leaving her confused and broken. Following his death, she is taken to live with her mysterious grandfather in his massive estate, Wyndhorn House. While she is initially rebellious, drinking the days away, she soon learns that there is more to the manor—and to her grandfather—than meets the eye. As it turns out, he is the inspiration for her father's greatest creation, Othan (a clear stand-in for Conan the Barbarian), and every day he ventures to a strange world to slay monsters, win wars, etc.  Before long, Helen is joining him on his adventures, though he always keeps her at a remove. The central conflict of the story is not about dragons or witches—it's about whether or not these two can become a family.

As was the case with Supergirl, King and Evely are a perfect pairing for this story. King, who tells the story from a variety of different POVs over the course of its six issues, keeps the story grounded in the characters, never distracted by the fantastical elements of the plot—as the title indicates, Helen is the point of the book, not Wyndhorn. But while the fantasy is incidental, Evely is clearly having a blast illustrating it. Her art is gorgeous here, possibly even better than what she gave us in Supergirl.

I do think this book ends a little suddenly; it could have used another two issues to keep the conclusion from feeling rushed. But on the whole, I loved this story. Definitely recommend!

Strange Timing (Friday Devotional)

 

I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope.

- Psalm 130:5

When 20-year-old Paul Schreiber took to the mound in 1923 for the Brooklyn Robins, he likely thought his whole career was ahead of him. The season hadn’t gone exactly as he’d hoped—he’d allowed 16 hits and 9 runs in 15 innings—but there was surely time to straighten things out. However, in his ninth game of the young season, he threw a curveball and felt sharp pain in his shoulder. Likely having suffered the sort of tear that would prompt surgery today, he was sent down to the minor leagues to recover his strength.

He spent all of the 1924 season in the minors. And the 1925 season. And 1926. Indeed, it wasn’t until 1931, having lost more games than he’d won in the minor leagues, that he decided to hang up his spikes and go into coaching. Like so many before and since, his big league dreams had gone up in smoke.

Until on September 4, 1945, the New York Yankees faced off against the Detroit Tigers as part of a crucial 7-game series, one that would play a big part in determining who would win the pennant race. Teams weren’t always fielding their best squads that year with so many athletes overseas fighting in the Second World War. But even so, everyone was surprised when Yankees manager Joe McCarthy announced that his 42-year-old batting practice pitcher was being activated to throw in relief. After 22 years spent toiling in obscurity, Paul Schreiber was a big league pitcher once again.

You never know when your time is going to come. Sometimes things happen exactly according to your plans and in your timing. Sometimes it takes more patience than you ever imagined you’d need. Sometimes your moment never comes at all.

A phrase that pops up repeatedly in the psalms is helpful for believers: “I wait upon the Lord.” Part of faith in God is trusting in his timing—even when it doesn’t match your plans. Sometimes bad news comes sooner than you’d expected. Sometimes good news takes far longer to come around than you’d hoped. But when your hope is in God’s timing instead of your plans, you can know peace.

Paul Schreiber’s life didn’t go according to his plans; he had to wait a long time—longer between appearances than any other player in history—to get back on a big league mound. You too may be waiting for something good to come, for a hope to be fulfilled, for a brighter day to dawn. Trust God’s timing and wait for the Lord—his plans may not match yours, but they are worth the wait.

Team Players (Friday Devotional)

 

So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

- Ephesians 2:19-22

Yesterday, my brother and I began our second season coaching Little League baseball. For more than an hour, we rolled grounders, played catch, and taught proper hitting technique to a group of 6, 7, and 8-year olds. In just a few short weeks, the Trash Pandas will take the field for the first time in a real game.

But for that initial practice, I was struck by the disparity of talent, experience, and attention span among our players. For a few kids, this was their third or fourth baseball season, and practice was just about shaking off rust. For some others, this is the season they graduated from tee ball to coach pitch, and so last night was their first time facing pitching (even if it was from me, kneeling on the grass 5 feet in front of them). And for at least one of our players, this was the first time he’d played baseball outside his backyard.

But despite this gap in experience and skill, everybody belongs on our team. The beautiful thing about Little League is that, whether you’re new to the game or an old pro, all you have to do to join the team is, well, join the team. Everybody grows together and nobody gets left behind.

In that regard, I’m reminded of the church as described in the New Testament. The early church was made up of men and women, fishermen and Pharisees, a few prosperous community leaders and a lot of poor followers. Some had spent three years with Jesus, some had only heard his story, and one was confronted by him on a Damascus road.  But whatever their backgrounds, all professed the same faith, all held tight to the same gospel. In Jesus’ name, they were transformed from a motley crew into a family of faith.

Today, the church has the opportunity to be a countercultural witness to a fragmented, divided society. If obedient to Christ, the church is a body that doesn’t care what value you bring to the organization, because as someone created in the image of God, your worth is inherent. If obedient to Christ, your education, career, and family history are part of your story, but they are not your defining characteristics—your faith in Jesus is. If obedient to Christ, the church welcomes both the well-to-do businessman and the impoverished addict with open arms—because both need Jesus.

In Little League, both the stars and the scrubs get jerseys. Everybody rides the bench at some point, and everybody plays. Nobody gets left behind. In Jesus’ name, may the church dare to embrace an even greater spirit of hospitality than that—may we not only allow anyone on our team, but welcome them into our family.

Spiritual Training (Friday Devotional)

 

Have nothing to do with profane and foolish tales. Train yourself in godliness, for, while physical training is of some value, godliness is valuable in every way, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.

- 1 Timothy 4:7-8

On Monday, I awoke at 5:00AM feeling determined. After several weeks doing my homework on the best plan to follow, this was to be the day I started a new diet and workout routine. I knew every exercise I was going to do that morning—how many reps, how many sets, what proper form looked like, everything. I was ready.

I made it all of 10 minutes before realizing I wasn’t as ready as I thought I was, and wasn’t going to be able to finish that morning’s workout. I haven’t yet built up the strength to complete the full circuit I’d planned—indeed, it will probably take weeks of repetition before I’m able to do so. I’d forgotten one of the most basic rules of training: you can’t expect to have it all figured out on day one. That’s what the training is for!

What’s true for physical training is true for spiritual training as well. In 1 Timothy 4:7-8, the apostle Paul compares the two, reminding believers that, just as physical strength is built steadily over time, so is godliness. While salvation can come instantaneously, with the kind of “road to Damascus” moment that Paul himself experienced, sanctification happens more slowly—not in an instant, but day by day.

Believers in Jesus ought to strive to be like our Lord, to “put on the new self” (Ephesians 4:24) that comes with being made new in Christ. But we must also understand that, while inner transformation may be immediate, outward transformation is a process, one the Holy Spirit graciously empowers and enables. So when you stumble—not if, but when—be assured that there is grace and forgiveness for all who seek the Lord. Nobody is a spiritual giant on day one so don’t give up. Keep training!

Difficult Love (Friday Devotional)

For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the gentiles do the same?

- Matthew 5:46-47

Every now and then, when the sports calendar is in a dry period, an evergreen controversy will consume talk radio: athletes today fraternize too much with their opponents. Following a friendly pregame hug or a lengthy postgame chat between players on opposing sides, sports pundits (often former athletes themselves) will talk about how “back in my day,” rivals hated each other, how icons from Ty Cobb to Michael Jordan refused to so much as speak to the opposition, much less treat them as friends. The implication is clear: you should hold tight to your team, but should be wary—if not outright hostile—towards others.

There’s something very relatable about that instinct. We are always most comfortable around those who are most like us: those who live where we live, go to school where we go, make the kind of money we make, vote like we vote, and believe what we believe. Those are easy friends to make, and you feel an immediate kinship to them because of all your similarities. If all your neighbors were like them, life would be easy.

But Jesus offers a gentle word caution: not all your neighbors are like you. In the kingdom of God, we are called to love not only our friends and family, but even our enemies. The “neighborhood” we are called to love is not a gated community, but an expansive world, made up of both like-minded allies and divergent strangers—and we are called to love each and every one of them in Jesus’s name.

It’s tempting to build a bubble of nice, middle class, Christian believers, and to disregard the rest of the world. But the Lord points us to a bigger project: not simply surrounding ourselves with easy, comfortable friends, but reaching out to lost souls. Sticking with your team may work on the ballfield, but it has a distinct weakness in the real world: your roster never grows.

Remind Me (Friday Devotional)

 

These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

- Deuteronomy 6:6-9

By the time you’re reading this, my family and I will have begun our trip to America’s Rust Belt, where we plan to visit three major league ballparks, a national park, and Niagara Falls—not to mention eating some delicious food. But before we do any of that, there’s one little obstacle we’ll have to navigate: airport security.

Since 2001, those who fly regularly have gotten accustomed to the various rules: shoes off, empty your pockets, laptops and electronic devices in their own bins, etc. It’s been more than 20 years of this rigmarole; you’d think we’d all have it down by now. But inevitably, the line gets slowed down by the man who didn’t remember his cell phone was in his pocket or the woman who thought her 24 oz. bottle of shampoo would sneak past the X-ray. That’s why TSA employees, with understandable weariness, have to give the same instructions 100 times during their daily shift—because while we think we know what to do, we actually need to be reminded what’s expected of us.

In the days of Moses, God wanted to be sure his people remembered the laws he was giving them—so not only did he give them commands, he told them how important it was to repeat those commands amongst themselves. Teach them to your children, talk about them around the dinner table, give yourselves visible reminders on your body and in your home—these were all things the Lord advised his people to do.

For God’s people today, we continue to need such reminders. It’s easy to think after a while that you’ve absorbed everything already, that following God is second nature by now. But the truth is that, without daily discipleship, you’ll fall into bad habits and forget what Jesus has taught you. Don’t let your pride trick you into thinking that you have nothing more to learn from God, or that what you have learned is set in concrete. Read your Bible. Pray regularly. Worship and serve alongside fellow believers. These are all ways that God gives you little reminders of what the gospel’s all about.

And rest assured, we all need reminders. Take it from this world traveler, life goes a lot more smoothly when you listen—yes, even when you know the words by heart—to the commands you swore you’d never forget.

July Reading Log

Is this the shortest reading log I've ever published? Maybe! Blame youth camp, a family beach trip, a reading slump, and several long books (one of which I finished, two of which I'm still working on). Enjoy reading this, it won't take you long!

WORKING by Studs Terkel

If there's one thing we value in the U.S. of A., it's work. From the pilgrims to the pioneers to today, America's citizens have long found meaning in our jobs, seeing them not merely as a means to get by but as a source of purpose.

So in 1974, writer and historian Studs Terkel shined a light on America's workers, from nurses to nuns, from steelworkers to stewardesses. Working is a voluminous series of interviews with worker of all stripes, primarily out of Chicago, where subjects explain what they do and why they do it. Some confess that their job is just a job, while others take tremendous pride in what they produce. Some are happy in their work, others can't wait for something else to come along. But to a person, everyone understands that work is necessary.

This book is looooong—nearly 650 pages, and with frustratingly small print—and it's a bit tedious when read for long stretches at a time. But taken in bite-sized chunks, it's an illuminating (if dated) look at the so-called "forgotten people" of our country, the working class folks who keep society functioning. I admit that I appreciated this book more than I enjoyed it, but I'm glad to have spent the month in its pages.

MYSTERY IN ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK by Aaron Johnson

This month, my kids' bedtime reading veered away from the works of Roald Dahl (we're essentially finished with everything he's written) and went in a totally different direction, courtesy of Andrew's teacher at Herfurth Elementary. Knowing that he's interested in America's national parks, over the summer she gifted him four books in an ongoing series set in the parks.

Mystery in Rocky Mountain National Park establishes the series' premise: Jake, his cousin Wes, and their family friend Amber are on a scavenger hunt set up by Jake's late grandfather, one which will take them through multiple national parks and which has roots deep in our nation's past. But even as they solve the various clues, they must be mindful that a mysterious, sinister group of opponents is doing the same. Basically, National Treasure meets John Muir.

The series is pretty classic children's lit, seeking to educate and entertain simultaneously. And while for an adult it's a little transparent in its attempts to teach about conservation and outdoor safety, the kids were eating it up. I can't think of a night all month when they weren't begging me to read at least one chapter.

In September we'll continue with the second book in the planned 10-part series, this one set in Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve. Thanks, Mrs. Posey!

Quiet Faithfulness (Friday Devotional)

 

So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward.

- Matthew 6:2

After dinner a few nights ago, my son Isaac climbed up on the dining room table, where a half-finished jigsaw puzzle was assembled. As you might expect from a toddler, he then started grabbing individual puzzle pieces and throwing them on the ground. By the time we stopped him, the floor was littered with 50 or so puzzle pieces.

The damage already done, we decided to make cleanup a learning experience, showing Isaac how to pick up the pieces and then telling him to do as we had done. He was hesitant at first, but when he successfully mimicked us—picking up a piece and putting it in the box—everybody in the room cheered and clapped. He burst into a big smile, then did it again, to more applause. Every time he did what he was supposed to, he was rewarded with praise.

While perhaps not taken to that extreme—expecting applause every time you do the right thing—we never fully outgrow that desire to be recognized for our good works. In Jesus’ day, there was a particular group, the scribes and Pharisees, who loved to parade their religiosity before the people. When they prayed and fasted and gave to the poor, they made a show of it, wanting to be sure everybody saw what righteous people they were.

But Jesus calls his disciples to a different posture—not to showy religiosity, but to quiet faithfulness. Instead of practicing righteousness for earthly rewards like recognition, the Lord points us toward the integrity of doing what is right even when nobody notices.

It can be tough to abandon that childlike need for praise, to be comfortable serving the Lord even when your work goes unnoticed. But be assured that the Lord sees even when others don’t—and while you may lose out on the earthly reward of applause, you can look forward to heavenly reward.

Deep Calls to Deep (Friday Devotional)

 

Deep calls to deep at the thunder of your torrents; all your waves and your billows have gone over me. By day the Lord commands his steadfast love, and at night his song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life.

- Psalm 42:7-8

With summer break winding down, my family spent a couple days at the beach at the beginning of this week—no sightseeing, no plans, just two days in the sand and the water soaking up the sun. Everybody has their own favorite activity at the beach—Katherine likes playing in the sand, Andrew likes the pool, etc. Personally, my favorite thing to do is to swim out deep enough that my feet can no longer touch the sand beneath me and to just bob up and down in the water, letting the waves break over and around me. There’s something oddly peaceful about the repetition of those waves, each one a little different than the one before it, yet all coming in a steady, unceasing rhythm.

Life can feel those waves, constantly crashing into you without a break. Its stresses and anxieties can feel endless, routine only in the sense that they never stop. That’s the situation the psalmist describes at the beginning of Psalm 47, when he describes his soul thirsting for God the way a deer pants for water. “Why,” he asks, “are you cast down, o my soul, and why are you disquieted within me?”

But just as life’s rollers and breakers never seem to cease, neither does God’s mercy. “Deep calls to deep,” the psalmist says. God responds to your cries with his presence. When you pray to him, those prayers do not vanish into the wind; they rise to heaven. God hears you, he cares, and he responds.

Believers often compare the slings and arrows of life to a storm, the kind of wind and waves that Jesus and his disciples faced on the Sea of Galilee. But know this—as powerful as those trials may be, they cannot compare to the power of the Lord. Cry out to him today and find his mercy.

Your Worst Day Ever (Friday Devotional)

 

The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

- Psalm 34:18

“THIS IS MY WORST DAY EVER!!!!”

Lately that’s become something of a refrain for one of my kids (I won’t disclose which one in case they read this somewhere down the road). When things don’t go their way—whether it’s because we say no to chocolate milk or because we tell them it’s time to practice piano or because they get scolded for misbehaving—we can count on that exclamation, sometimes accompanied by the slam of a door. THIS, we are assured, is the worst day ever.

As adults, we have a little more perspective in those kinds of moments. Hurt feelings really do hurt and disappointments really do disappoint, but we know better than to believe those kinds of moments are rock bottom. Life has a way of showing you what true tragedy looks like—your real worst day ever inevitably arrives someday, and you probably know it when it comes.

The good news is that when it does, you don’t face it alone. The Bible promises us that our God is not distant and removed from our pain, but rather that he sits with us in it. Indeed, the life and death of Jesus is the ultimate proof of how divine love functions—the Lord is not “God beyond us”, but “God with us.” He is the baby laid in a humble manger, the friend who weeps at Lazarus’ tomb, the Savior who suffers and dies for our sins.

For both the pouting child in my home and the devastated parent in the Hill Country, God is near, not far. And when you come to your own worst day ever, be assured that he will not leave your side.

God and Country (Friday Devotional)

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 

- 1 Peter 2:9

Today we honor the 249^th birthday of the United States, celebrating our national independence with fireworks and parades and all sorts of revelry. It’s a day when Americans of all stripes take pride in our country, giving thanks to God for the freedoms we enjoy. We say the pledge of allegiance, we sing the national anthem, and we salute the flag.

And for believers in Jesus Christ, we do all this even as we remember something important: our primary citizenship is not in this country, but in heaven. In talking about the Lord’s church, the Bible describes us as “a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation”—terms which once exclusively described Israel and now refer to all who profess faith in Jesus. With those words, Scripture reframes our understanding of belonging and identity.

The New Testament makes clear that, while we have secondary allegiances—to family, to workplace, to nation—our primary allegiance is to our Savior. We serve our communities, but first we serve our God. We pay honor to those in authority, just as the apostles command, but we worship our Lord.

We have much to be thankful for as Americans—first and foremost that freedom of religious expression is a constitutional guaranteed right. So as we celebrate our national heritage today, may we do so with our spiritual heritage top of mind. Love for country is worthwhile—and love for God is supreme.

June Reading Log

 

As I post this, I'm at youth camp, but the log waits for no one (plus I finished writing it on Saturday). Here's what was on the docket for the month of June!

RISE by Carly Parkinson with Nancy Scammacca Lewis

If you've been reading these logs for a while, you'll know that I'm picky when it comes to church health/growth books. A well-written book in this genre is a blend of the spiritual and the practical, incorporating both biblical principles and modern applications of those principles. Some miss the mark by veering too far in the spiritual direction, offering a sermon that inspires but leaves you with little in the way of pragmatic strategies. Others lean too far the other way, offering lots of corporate jargon, charts, and marketplace techniques, but doing so to the point that you wonder if the authors remember that a church is different from a business.

Rise, unfortunately, falls into that latter bucket, to the point that I almost DNF'ed it. The bulk of the book is chapters looking at different church archetypes, from the "troubled church" all the way to the "vibrant church," analyzing how churches get to where they are, what pros and cons exist in each archetype, and how to then get where they need to be. For a researcher this is probably fascinating, but for a pastor looking for a hand, I quickly identified the archetype that matched my church and then found reading about the others to be largely a waste of my time.

The last 40 pages or so offer the strategies promised in the book's subtitle, several of which, unfortunately, seem to be more about selling particular programs than anything else. What's more, these strategies commit the cardinal sin of church growth books: assuming every church has the resources and structure of a megachurch, when in fact few pastors reading a church growth book are in that situation.

As you've probably gathered, this is not a book I plan to keep on my shelf for long. I appreciate the research done by the authors, but just didn't find the conclusions satisfying.

I HOPE THIS FINDS YOU WELL by Kate Baer

Following last month's review of The Collected Works of W.B. Yeats, when I declared that "I still don't get poetry," my friend Kelley showed up to church the next Sunday with two books in hand, confident that the problem is neither me nor poetry in general, just my selection. And so far, maybe she's on to something!

I Hope This Finds You Well is a slim, clever collection of erasure poetry, in which the poet takes a selection of found text, then removes words, leaving behind the remaining words to form a new poem. In this case, Kate Baer takes as her initial text the comments left on her  blog—most critical, a few complimentary, all personal—and transforms them into beautiful words of affirmation, especially for women. The result is poetry that takes the ugliness of the Internet and redeems it into something uplifting. Recommended, unless you're prone to tell feminist authors why they're wrong online.

FOREVER WORDS by Johnny Cash

The second poetry book Kelley loaned me is a collection of previously unpublished poems and song lyrics by American music icon Johnny Cash. These are easy reading (especially after 5 months of W.B. Yeats), and you can't help hear Cash's voice as you read. Admittedly, some work better than others as reading material—song lyrics are meant to be sung, after all, not read silently—but nevertheless this was a fun, breezy collection.

I'll share my favorite snippet, from the undated "I Have Been Around":

I have been around

I have tasted rapture that could not again be found

I felt the power filling up

And I felt the power gone

I've been full but hungry

And abandoned to the bone

In the end I knew one thing to pull me through

I always come back around to you

'SALEM'S LOT by Stephen King

Hot on the heels of his debut novel Carrie, 1975's 'Salem's Lot was Stephen King's foray into a more traditional horror story. It tells the story of a small New England town—this is Stephen King, after all—which is infested by vampires and about the small group of brave townspeople who take them on. Borrowing heavily from Dracula—both Bram Stoker's novel and the subsequent film adaptations—the novel starts slow, steadily builds up steam, then erupts into a final 100 pages of nearly nonstop action.

While beloved by King fans, who often put this book in their top 10 of the author's works, I kind of had a hard time sticking with this one. It's hard to put my finger on the reason why, and it may have had more to do with my busy month than the book itself, but I wasn't sucked into this novel the way I was with Carrie, Misery, and other King classics. For me, this was a perfectly serviceable horror story, but one I wasn't sad to finish. It's also, incidentally, the first of King's novels to deserve the oft-level criticism that he's not good at writing endings.

I have yet to read any bad Stephen King books, and I know they're out there, but so far I would put this in the bottom half of what I've read. You've got to read it if you love King, but don't expect it to be your favorite.

CIVILWARLAND IN BAD DECLINE by George Saunders

My experience here mirrored that of reading 'Salem's Lot—this was an early work by an author I normally love, yet who in this case left me cold. The author in question this time was George Saunders, often regarded as America's best living writer of short stories. CivilWarLand in Bad Decline is his first collection, made up of tales published in the early 1990s in magazines like The New Yorker and Harper's, including a novella, "Bounty."

Saunders is now well known for stories that blend satirical, comic prose with horrifying, dystopian situations. Sure enough, CivilWarLand in Bad Decline sees him trying his hand at that formula in virtually every story. But where his stories now routinely grab me from the get-go, these are harder to get into, with protagonists you never feel attached to and worlds that he's too slow to build out.

In short, this reads like a writer still finding his voice. By the time he published Tenth of December, he'd found it, and has been richly rewarded ever since. But these stories are rough drafts compared to those—he'd make it the mountaintop, but this collection represents him still climbing.

GOING SOLO by Roald Dahl

It took every bit of a month to get through this one, the second half of Roald Dahl's two-volume autobiography. Where the first volume dealt with his boyhood, Going Solo tackles his early adulthood, particularly his experiences in Africa working for Shell Oil and then his time flying with the Royal Air Force during World War II.

While that sounds exciting, I have to be honest—this one was a drag to get through. Dahl has an engineer's enthusiasm for aircraft, so you get lots of lengthy descriptions of planes, aerial maneuvers, etc. While that may interest some, I could see Katherine's eyes glazing over as I read the descriptions aloud (and I was as bored as she was!) Additionally, this book has longer chapters than most of his work and is nearly twice the length of his children's novels, making it a rough bedtime read. Andrew stuck with it the whole time, but he was the only one of the three of us who I think really enjoyed the experience.

Dahl's adventures overseas are interesting, but his storytelling in Going Solo is lackluster, something you'd never expect of the writer of James and the Giant Peach. I'd file this one (and, for that matter, Boy too) as "for completists only."

ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR VOL. 1-11 by Mark Millar, Warren Ellis, Mike Carey, Adam Kubert, Greg Land, Pasqual Ferry, et al.

In 2000, Marvel debuted Ultimate Spider-Man, a reimagined, modern take on their most popular character, which sought to keep all the core elements of the character but without the burden of 40 years of continuity. Ultimate Spider-Man—and subsequent versions of the X-Men, Avengers ("Ultimates" in this universe), etc.—aimed to bring in new readers by shaking off the dust of characters who had started to feel, well, old. The trick was to match the original characters' ethos while updating it for the 21st century.

Ultimate Fantastic Four, unfortunately, failed to do that. The FF has always been about family, with Reed and Sue acting as mom and dad, Ben and Johnny as the lovable uncles, and eventually Franklin and Valeria as the bright young kids. Secondarily, it's about wacky science fiction adventures, superheroes as "imaginauts," to borrow Mark Waid's memorable term.

The Ultimate version of the characters manages to get this secondary theme, with the team traveling to the so-called "N-Zone" (an alternate dimension known as the Negative Zone in Marvel's primary universe), being visited by zombie versions of themselves from another world, and fighting off alien invaders that include Ultimate Thanos. The heroes themselves are part of a think tank for young prodigies, and the accident that gave them their powers, it is explained, is actually stretching Reed's brain in such a way that he is literally getting smarter every day. So if all you want is superheroes with a heaping spoonful of science fiction, Ultimate Fantastic Four has you covered.

But the book's core mistake—which was then borrowed in the universally reviled 2015 Fantastic Four film—is in making all the characters young adults. Instead of being parents, here Reed and Sue have just started dating. Instead of feeling like close friends and family with decades of history, here the four feel like the more traditional superhero team forced together by circumstance. And instead of the rivalry between Reed and former labmate Victor Van Damme—the Ultimate universe's Doctor Doom— carrying the weight of decades of stories, it feels more like an immature grudge match.

The Ultimate Universe was all about putting a fresh coat of paint on characters weighed down by the baggage of their history. But the problem is, the Fantastic Four are Marvel's First Family—their history is what makes them appealing. So in this case, reinventing the wheel winds up making it worse. Ultimate Fantastic Four, which continued until the entire Ultimate universe met an ignominious end, was one of the line's misfires—it's not bad, but it's not right.