Out of the Dark

So I know it has been dark around here lately, but I have at least one good reason for the lack of postage over the last couple of weeks. As many of you know, we experienced significant power outages here in Tulsa last week because of an ice storm. Megan and I were luckier than most people. Our power was only out for 3 days, while there are some people I know who are now on day 9 of no power.

The three powerless days made me realize how dependent our society is on electricity. I brought my laptop to Panera one day last week and discovered there were about 50 or so other people that had the exact same idea. It is interesting to me how quickly people search for a place to "plug in" when the option is not available at home. I find myself always needing to be entertained. Rather than taking the advice of the Psalmist who wrote, "Be still and know that He is God", I seek to fill my schedule with things to do. All the electronic resources that we have at our disposal are great, but I think it is easy to become to dependent upon them. The lack of power made me realize how dependent I can really be.

I kind of see my days without power as a bit of a fast. It is a cool mystery to me that God would choose to speak to us when we deny ourselves of something we are used to. I know a lot of people want to hear from God, but find it difficult to hear his voice. I wonder if we would more consistently "fast" from some of our distractions in our lives that we would in fact hear from God more clearly.

There is my rambling for the night... Look for a future post on my thoughts after watching the movie "I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry."

The Most Annoying Thing to Spend Money On

Over the course of the past month or so, Megan and I have had to spend a little over $1000 on auto repair. For some reason I hate spending money on fixing our cars. Megan tries to comfort me by saying that we should be thankful that we have the money to fix the cars, which is a good point but it still irks me. It is really annoying to spend money on something I do not choose to spend it on.

What do you hate spending money on?

A Weekend With Dr. Ben Witherington

This weekend Dr. Ben Witherington was in town to speak at my church. If you are not familiar with Witherington, he is considered to be one of the world's leading New Testament scholars. On Saturday he taught from 10:00-3:00 on issues related to the birth of Jesus. He showed several different chuncks of the movie The Nativity Story while at the same time weaving in insights about the story from Matthew 1-2 and Luke 1-2. While I enjoyed his teachings, something else was the highlight of the afternoon for me. During the scene of the movie in which Mary gives birth to Jesus, I noticed an older man who was probably in his 80s that began to weep. Normally I would think it was somewhat cheesy for someone to cry during a film like this, but not this time. It was a very powerful moment for me because I began to think about how big of an impact Jesus must have had in him over the course of the life. It excites me to think of the richness and depth my relationship with the Lord could be by the time I reach that age.

With all the said, the best part of the weekend was getting to go to lunch with Dr. Witherington today. Megan and I are friends with our Senior Pastor's daugher and son-in-law. Wade (our pastor) knows of my interest in attending seminary, so he was kind enough to invite us to lunch with them. Our lunch conversation covered a variety of different topics. We talked about everything from sports to politics to his experiences on various TV programs.

At one point, I asked him what his opinion was of the Emerging Church. He actually had quite a few good things to say. The first person he brought up was Rob Bell. While he has some concerns about some of his theology, he is impressed with how creative he is in his teachings. He also likes the ecumenical nature of the Emerging Church is. One other thing that excites him about it is the youthful leadership. He seemed to have only a few major concerns. The first was a slip by some in biblical sexual ethics. Secondly, he worries about a lack of accountability for many of these churches. He thinks it is necessary for churches to have accountability beyond their own members. A final point of concern to him is the devaluing of orthodoxy by some. Other than Rob Bell we did not discuss specific individuals. One thing that we both agreed on is that the Emerging Church is something that can be very difficult to define.

Overall, it was an excellent weekend. If I end up choosing to attend Asbury for seminary, I am excited to take some classes from him.