Who do I give to?

Here is a link to a safe organization to send your money if you are looking to help with the situation in Haiti (and I hope you are): http://churcheshelpingchurches.com/
Check them out and pray about how you can help.

"So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, especially to those who are of the household of faith." Galatians 6:10

What I didn't mention last Sunday... The Great Flood

Since I forgot to address the issue of archaeology, geology and the historicity of the Great Flood event, I'd like to do that now. The Scriptures were never intended to give scientists a leg to stand on (though in many cases it does!). The original intended audience of Genesis would not have been looking for the same answers that too many of us look for today. So without getting too bogged down in peripheral issues, I will simply say- the Flood is a historical event. It’s simply a fact that this truly happened. It’s interesting that there is Mesopotamian and Babylonian literature that include a story of a great flood. The Mesopotamian story is called the Epic of Gilgamesh. It has many similarities to the story recorded here in Genesis. No doubt oral tradition played its part in the passing down of the different accounts of the Great Flood. The account in Genesis was written by Moses under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. That makes the book in our hands not just reliable, but also essential to understanding God's purposes for us here on earth. In The Epic of Gilgamesh, a man (named Utnapishtim) built an ark, loaded it with animals, and survived a torrential flood. The story says that he loaded animals in pairs onto the ark (much like the story of Noah).

What is key to recognize is not so much the similarities of the stories, but rather, the differences:

Epic of Gilgamesh:
- Warring gods created the earth.
- Mankind was pretty much an afterthought to the gods.
- The sun and moon and stars are depicted as gods to be worshipped.
- Mankind becomes noisy and rambunctious.
- The gods are annoyed and have a headache so they send a flood to wipe out the noise along with all of mankind.
- The flood got out of control.
- One man escaped their view and survived (much to their dismay). They overlooked a man named Utnapishtim.

The Bible
- A loving God created the heavens and the earth by opening His mouth and speaking them into existence. All that He created was good.
- Mankind becomes God's masterpiece, and it's clear that He loves mankind.
- The sun, moon, and stars, were spoken into existence by a powerful Creator. They are not even mentioned by name, perhaps to point to the fact that they are duds without the power of God to give them light. See Genesis 1:14-19.
- God is not annoyed by the noise of man, but he is grieved by man’s sin.
- God sees that His creation has been ruined by sin and recognizes the need to deal with sin.
- God, in His great wisdom and mercy, watches and sees with his own eyes, a man named Noah. Genesis 6:8.
- God intentionally wipes out all living creatures, except for Noah and his family and a select portion of the animals.
- God's salvation was made known to Noah's family and all flesh through His Word (specific directions given to Noah) and through the wise provision of the ark. Noah's faith was rewarded by deliverance from annihilation.

It's fascinating to think through this story- with all the dynamics at play. How would a righteous and blameless man feel about all that was happening? What about his friends that he must have loved dearly (blameless and righteous people are, by definition, loving)? How many conversations must he have had with God through all this time? What about the conversations he must have had with his wife and his friends? Or conversations with the rhino!

And then you must consider the sheer horror of the event. God essentially drowns all that "had the breath of life in its nostrils." We learn that God cannot simply sweep sin under the rug and avoid dealing with it. The Flood is a picture of humanity gone wrong and God's grieving over the sin of mankind. He is the only one who can save us from what we deserve. Here's video footage taken on December 24, 2004 from Banda Aceh, Indonesia. It gives a slight hint as to how horrific the Great Flood would have been (though clearly the Great Flood would have packed a much greater punch than this Tsunami).

WARNING: This is a very intense video and contains images that some may find disturbing.

I am selfish.

This holiday season has reminded me of many things. Like- a family that loves God is the greatest blessing, traveling non-stop from one place to another is not a blessing, my wife and son are AWESOME, and I am selfish.
CS Lewis wrote about this sickness. He addresses his own selfishness (some call it depravity) with bravery:

All this is flashy rhetoric about loving you.
I never had a selfless thought since I was born.
I am mercenary and self-seeking through and through;
I want God, you, all friends, merely to serve my turn.

Peace, reassurance, pleasure, are the goals I seek,
I cannot crawl one inch outside my proper skin;
I talk of love- a scholar's parrot may talk Greek-
But, self-imprisoned, always end where I begin.

I was blessed with great food, friends, family, and great memories, but as embarrassing as it is to say, all I keep thinking about is how much money I received for Christmas, how much money I have left to spend, and how much I want stuff.

Anytime I replace God with something else, then I am guilty of idolatry. God save me from myself and open my eyes to see the emptiness of loving the riches of this world.

You Will Suffer

Act like a cat...

When I was a student at UTA (University of Texas Almost), I took a class called "Oral Interpretation." In this class it was expected of all the students to memorize a rear-end-load of literature and eventually recite/perform it back to the class as if we were the author or main character of the piece. 10-15 minutes worth of monologue is A LOT of memorization. My professor told us that if we were to forget our lines, then we should just keep going- act like it's all in the plan. She summed up her advice by saying, "Basically, act like a cat. When a cat runs into a wall, they just keep going and act like they meant to do that."
While I was preaching on Sunday, I took her advice. During my sermon on Sunday, I was reading a James Dobson interview with Ted Bundy (16 hours before Bundy went to the electric chair). I came upon the word "succumb" and mispronounced it horribly. Instead of placing the emphasis on the 2nd syllable to say "suh-kuhm" I placed the emphasis on the first syllable to say "suck-uhm." I immediately knew that I mispronounced it. I decided not to look up and see spouses leaning over and whispering and giggling like little kids. I acted like a cat. I was hoping no one would notice. But I was reminded in my Life Group on Sunday night that my cat-like reflexes were not very good.
I was also reminded that last Sunday I mispronounced another word while I was reading Revelation 12. The word was "scepter" and I read "skepter." I knew that it was wrong when it came out of my mouth, but I kept on going. It was glorious.

While we're at it- if you have heard me say anything else that needs to be exhumed or brought out into the light, leave it here and laugh it up.

Secret Church

I am really pumped about Secret Church this Friday night. In case you're in the dark, here are the details:
Location: Jose & Rosanne Zapata's house- 6901 County Rd 526, Mansfield, 76063
Time: 6:00 pm - midnight
Agenda: Hear from Tony Rizzo (our friend from Gospel for Asia), take the Lord's Supper together, pray for the Persecuted Church, and study the entire New Testament.
If you are planning on attending, please eat before you come and get ready to dig into the Word. If you can, be there a little before 6 because we'll start on time and it's going to be a special time of identifying with the early church, the persecuted church, and of worship together.


Here's a promo video by our friends at The Church at Brook Hills in Birmingham, Alabama.

Cain and Ted Bundy and you and me

On Sunday I read part of a manuscript of a Ted Bundy interview conducted by Dr James Dobson 16 hours before Bundy went to the electric chair. I feel like this interview highlights very well the seriousness of sin- the way that sin will work if we think we can manage it and deal with it ourselves (just like Cain in Genesis 4). Bundy tried to manage and deal with his secret sin on his own for a couple of years before it finally pounced on him and devoured him (and over 30 lives were taken as a result).
The moral of this story: Don't think you can deal with your sin on your own. Don't think that you are beyond Bundy. Don't think that you are stronger than Cain.

Here's the interview in case you are interested.