New Job? Part de

So…AAA didn’t end up as planned. I was there for over a year selling home and auto insurance but I am now with Insphere Insurance Solutions. I am dealing with health insurance mostly but we deal with life, disability and long-term care as well. At this point, I have a product for literally everyone. If you would like more information you can give me a call at 284.3985 or visit www.insphereis.com/dcoldwell more information. This is definitely a different life for me as I seek to basically start and run my own business from the ground up. I will be drinking much coffee so you should buy St. Arbucks stock now!

The process of adoption is mind-blowing. We are watching many people get everything together much faster than we have been able to. It is definitely a test of our faith as we watch the time tick away with no steps being taken.

With a new ojb comes a completely new schedule which should allow more updates. Although I do not think that people are flocking to this site, I do enjoy getting some thoughts out there.

Control

Wow there is a lot of sin in my life. I am amazed at where my mind goes when I take my eyes of Christ. I believe that God graciously healed my wife. She should have died on March 13th if not for my God saving her. So why is it that I now need to protect her as if I am in charge now? It’s as if I have said to God, “I’ll take it from here.” I can not take care of Laurie. Only God can. Do I understand this?

Two weeks ago I had nothing to cling to but God. Now I still have nothing to cling to but God, however, I am chosing not to. I am clinging to my perceived control over her life. I have heard so many nurses say that Laurie is such a strong woman, that I am starting to believe it. It’s a lie! Laurie is not a strong woman. Laurie is a weak, weak woman in desperate need of her Savior. What condition her physical body is in is irrelevant. The only control that I have over her is given to me directly from God. He alone is in control of all things, ALL things.

Paul does not give us any other option in Galatians 3 when he says O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you?…Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? I understand that God has made me a steward of creation in general (Genesis 2:15) and my wife in specific (1 Peter 3:7) but do I honestly think that this is done by working hard? Meganointa! It is not by works but by faith that ANYTHING happens.

It is not that I sit back and wait for God to work His magic, I work in faith to earn money to live on. I serve her in faith to wash her in the water of the Word. I care for her physical needs not because I can control her needs but because in faith God will meet her needs through me. Do we see this shift in thinking? Do we see the inability to do anything on our own? Many people have wondered why I have been so ‘at peace’ through this time of soul training. My answer is simple. Jesus.

-Cheers

Death By Love

I’ve been reading Driscoll and Breshears’ book Death By Love for a little while now and I must say that it is great. It is a departure from Driscoll’s other books and even from Vintage Jesus which is also a collaboration between the two. It is an interesting book, and one that is doing for me something that no class at college ever did but wished that they had. This is a summary of what Jesus did on the cross. Semesters could be devoted to this specific aspect of Jesus’ life but I was unable to take this class. This I can only assume is an issue for Christians all over that have an understanding of how they can be saved; but do not have an understanding of why or how it was made available. This is the theology behind our salvation and the various things that Jesus accomplished on the cross. This needs to be preached in churches. Not this book mind you, but the theological points made in every chapter. Every one of these has been so thought provoking that I have had to stop and pray for a few days in between every chapter. Between this book and For the Love of God by D.A. Carson I am not going to ever read the Bible the same way again.

Now I realize that this has been said about many books over the course of life and I am but a lone moron with enough technological fortitude to open up a wordpress account…but I am going to say it anyway. This has changed my thinking much like, Knowing God by Packer and The Great Divorce by Lewis. Now don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t use this book as a textbook on the cross since it is not written in a form that would lend itself to a classroom setting. I would, however, make the chapter divisions the outline for the semester. It is interesting that I am not necessarily learning things that I never learned before; it is that I am putting what I have learned into life application through the use of the letters that Driscoll writes.

I encourage you all to study the cross in a new way and I would suggest this book at the conduit for that study.

-Cheers

Simplicity

Is it really that simple? Seriously, Jesus…is it that simple? It seems so hard to understand something so simple. How could God do what He did? Jesus, yes it really is that simple.

I read an interesting passage from My Utmost for His Highest yesterday. The basic thought was that God is always trying to simplify our lives not make them more cumbersome. We don’t need to learn more about Jesus as much as we need to unlearn about ‘other’. We have too much in our minds that is tacked to Jesus that we can’t fully rest in Him.

We do everything right..we don’t watch rated R movies, we don’t watch TV after 9pm, we don’t drink the devil’s juice, we listen to conservative radio etc. Yet why is our life so complicated? Sin for sure, but much of the complication comes from everything we bring to Jesus not what He brings to us.

We have a lot to unlearn.

Late Morning

Daddy and Me

So here we are. Sleeping in until 7 AM!!!!! I am usually a 5am kinda guy but not with my little girl beside me. She had shots yesterday and so she ended up in our bed last night. I didn’t get to workout this morning but I was able to do this.

So many things to say so few gigs to put it on. There have been many different happenings in the last few weeks that have thrown me for a loop. Many things that I would love to see from God’s point of view as I search to find a future within His will. Things are happening and life will be changing here in a while. I wonder if the change will be hard to take?

I have been studying Reformed Theology recently and have come to the conclusion that it is not as evil as my upbringing has led me to believe. I first had my interest peaked while in college and there was a guy there who was all about the Reformed way of life. I was always intrigued by Mr. Keith D. and I wish I could hang out with him now to see where he fits into everything. I attended a Nazarene Church in TN which has roots in the Wesleyan movement. In fact, I can still picture the Wesley Study Bible that EVERYone walked around with. I remember being intrigued with the ideas that they had. Although never FULLY agreeing to what they were saying I can say that i felt at home there and was not looked down upon for my (correct) beliefs. As I came home to an Independent Baptist Church (read into that whatever you want) I was struck at how they were similar as much as different. Either way, it still didn’t click to me. I am finding myself drawn to the ideas of the Reformed tradition ore and more. A while ago I explained that I was liberal in my conservativeness. I was asked to explain that and couldn’t. I knew it in my head but couldn’t put it to words.  Then I found churches like Mars Hill (the good one in Seattle) and The Village in TX (give em the benefit of the doubt). These guys are reformed but not stodgy. They are what I thought I was but could not put words to.

I drink beer. Beer is ok.

People need to repent or face hell.

These two ideas can co-exist!

Yeah new-reformers! Check out their podcasts. You WILL be drawn to God.

So I think I need to start reading more R.C. Sproul. I never thought I would hear myself say that!

Spinning

So with all that is going on, the question is once again the same question that must be asked at all times. How can God be glorified in this? I am currently searching for an earthly future and this has lead me to various thought streams. I have dipped into the emerging thought and swam around enough to see that swimming is all that it is about. There is no firm footing. You need the Bible people…all of it.

I have chewed on what I has been termed ‘solo Scriptura’ and found that what we have is short sightedness. Solo Scriptura has been defined as Scripture alone…not first…but alone. So, since the Bible does not speak of open heart surgery, that can not glorify God. Many of the people in these churches would argue against that label for them, however, that argument does not by itself, disprove the theory.

I am scared for some of the Christians that I come in contact with who do not take their Biblical thought process seriously. They do not understand that their worldview shapes every decision of their life. So, when they need to make a decision, whether or not to attend an event, which books to read, which church to attend, how to live out their responsibilities…whatever the case may be. These decisions are made based on their worldview.

Whatever they choose, it shows what they truly believe in and what they hold up as truth. Some people will base their decisions on finances and some on relationships. Some might say, “I chose to make such and such a decision based on what is the best for my checkbook.” Still others might say, “I want to do what is best for my family.”

This last one is one of the most dangerous of all. We can fool ourselves into thinking that our families are the central theme of our lives. A case can be made that family is the center of society in general but it can NEVER be the center of our lives. God MUST be that center. Some will often disguise their selfishness ass holding their family in high regard but when our families are not laid at the foot of the cross, sin is the center of our lives.

Emerging, solo-Scriptura, family first…no thanks I’ll take Jesus. Jesus is all we ever need and when we can finally make all our decisions based on who He is and what He did for us; the church will see the spiritual awakening that we so desperately need.

the main thing

sorry

I know another quote means that I couldn’t come up with anything original.  Well, there is a lot in my life right now so when things speak to me…I share them.

This is a quote from Too Christian, Too Pagan by Dick Staub

Following Jesus today requires you to practice that same single minded conformity. And it will produce the same effect on your life that it did with Jesus. If you truly follow Jesus, in addition to enjoying a most excellent adventure, you will likely end up seeming too Christian for many of your pagan friends and too pagan for many of your Christian friends. When you truly follow Jesus, you’ll spend considerable time in the world like He did, and as a result, many of your religious friends will think you’re too irreligious. On the other hand, many of your irreligious friends will find it odd that you are so focused on the spiritual. Thus, you end up seeming both too Christian and too pagan.

wrong about Jesus?

So THIS story showed up on Yahoo today. I love to read these stories just to see how far people go with them. Seriously, Mr. Bronner seems to assert that this tablet states that there was already the idea of a messiah raising after three days. Yeah, we know. It’s called the OT. Hegoes on to say that this artifact seems to point to Jesus’ death and resurrection as being fabricated to match the ideas already in place. Haven’t we already seen this argument in the form of accommodation? Jesus died, then he came back alive. A doctor said so (Luke) is a doctor’s job to know the difference between dead and alive.

Jesus was crucified, during this He was stabbed directly in His heart. Then He was placed in a tomb, wrapped in 100 +/- pounds of burial cloths and laid in a cold tomb. Starting three days later people saw Him alive.

Stupid stone tablet…now I have to leave the church!