Just Pray This Prayer...

Sunday night Shana and I took our students to the Winter Jam concert at Freedom Hall. It was the first time I was at Freedom Hall. The vaunted caramel popcorn did not disappoint. Neither did the bands. Third Day, unlike their album recordings, were rockin' and rollin'. Newsong was good, although some of the band was really showing their age. The Newsboys have a new lead singer - Michael Tait, formerly of Tait and dcTalk. They were pretty good but could have had a shorter set to make way for Tenth Avenue North. Wow. Those guys were fantastic. Totally gospel-centered and great on stage. Check them out here.

Speaking of the Gospel....

In between Newsboys and Tenth Avenue North set they had a massive set change. While that was taking place, Tony Nolan came out to give his evangelistic message geared up especially for lost teenagers. Somewhere from his walk from backstage to center stage he must have forgotten something. What did he forget? The Gospel. Because what he preached wasn't the Gospel - at least not the kind that Jesus and Paul taught.

He came out with a $50 bill. He asked if anyone had a penny. Some kid came up on stage and traded him the penny for the "fity." "That's a great deal, right?" he asked. "Well God has a great deal for you too!" The rest went something like this (my paraphrase): Do you guys want to go to hell??? "Noooo!" everyone answered. Well Jesus came so you don't have to! What a deal! Wanna go to heaven??? "Yeaaaaah!!!" everyone answered. Well, pray this prayer, ask Jesus into your heart and you're in!

Then I threw up a little and probably said somethings in my mind that I need to repent of. Heck, I might need to repent of this post. If I do, someone call me out on it.

So what's wrong with what he said? Well, for starters he never talked about sin, repentance, and barely mentioned Jesus. It was a numbers driven, easy believeism, cheap grace gospel. Then he had everyone in the building "pray the prayer." He prefaced his sinner's prayer with, "there's nothing magical about this prayer." Great. Glad you mentioned that. However, everything that followed said otherwise. "If you prayed that prayer then you're in!" "Yeaaaaah!!!" everyone answered. Now, "If you deny Jesus before men, he'll deny you before the Father. So if you said that prayer, don't deny Jesus, and stand up to make it public!"

More regurgitation and more repentance.

What's worse, three of the students that were with me were/are lost. They all prayed and stood on command. Later I asked them about it and they couldn't tell me the first thing about what he said or why they stood. They just did because everyone else did. I was semi-glad that the didn't get it because I didn't want to have to tell them what they did wasn't the real thing. Well, who knows. I guess someone could have gotten saved. God has worked in spite of my stupidity many times. I suppose the same could be true of Sunday night.

Why is this such a big deal? Getting a bunch of sugar-hyped, emotionally high, concert-going teenagers to pray a prayer about not going to hell is not the gospel that leads to salvation. This is the type of message that has given false hope to thousands of teenagers over the past decades and is the reason we have so many dying, apathetic, and lost churches in this country with "members" who don't need church, or Jesus for that matter, because they prayed a prayer. "I prayed a prayer, stood up, and walked an aisle when I was 13. I'm saved right?" Have you turned from your sin and trusted Christ? "I guess, but I just want to go to heaven." That's the problem. We've made heaven the goal of salvation and not Jesus. Heaven has become our American Idol. Just get me to heaven. What about surrendering to and following Jesus as Lord and Savior? What about repenting of your sin? SALVATION IS NOT ABOUT GOING TO HEAVEN!!! Heaven is a perk. Right standing and a restored relationship with the Creator of the universe is the goal. I don't mean to make little of heaven. It will surely be great. But heaven without God on the throne isn't any kind of paradise that I want to be a part of. Heaven without God is just a place. A boring noun. If I want a God-less paradise I'll head to Key West. Besides, who wants to go to hell? No one. Then why isn't everyone saved? Because being saved isn't about not going to hell. It's not about praying a prayer that's not magical. Its not about being guilted into standing up so some ministry can say that 20,000 kids got saved on our tour.

My prayer after leaving there was that those kids that are truly seeking after God have some good youth ministers or parents that can lead them to Jesus not simply away from the flames of hell.

Random...

Nothing is pressing but I thought I'd just blog for a bit and see what comes out....buckle up.

1. The Mighty Kentucky Wildcats just went down to West Virginia. UK played like a bunch of freshmen (which they are and accentuates the need for at least some maturity and experience on ANY sports team). They played a very sloppy second half with poor defense and even worse shooting. I don't dislike UK per se, but I'm glad they lost. Why? Because just when I thought there was nothing more irritating than a UGA football fan, I moved to Kentucky into the Big Blue Nation. I have some good friends here who are die hard Kentucky fans and I consider them only mildly passionate compared to some of the other yahoos around these parts. Do I care that UK lost? Not really. But now I don't have to hear about the amazing John Wall and man-child DeMarcus Cousins anymore (and they're both really really good, kidding aside), blah-be-de-blah.

1b. I did, however, hear a good U of L / UK joke today. "How can you tell its spring? The Cardinals are sitting on the fence watching the Cats play." Ha! See, the Cardinals are U of L and they got sent home early and the Cats are from UK and they....well, its not as funny when you have to explain the joke. *note the intentional non-funny explanation of the joke to make the drawn out explanation of the joke enhance the funniness of the joke* What?

2. I think Duke will win it all representing the mostly disrespected ACC and restoring order to the over-hyped Big East basketball universe. *side note* *I clearly am unable to make accurate predictions regarding NCAA basketball 2010. See my bracket for evidence.*

3. Spring is finally here (weather wise). That means busy days at the Fresh Market. I like the pressure of a busy day. Since we don't pre-cut our meat and only cut on demand, the days when we have a lot of demand (like today), are really fun. When I actually know what I'm doing and have confidence I think I thrive under pressure.

4. Tomorrow we're taking our students to Winter Jam '10. Its funny that Winter Jam will happen the day after it was 70 degrees outside. It should be a good show. Third Day (who needs to return to their rock-n-roll roots), NewSong, Newsboys, and Tenth Avenue North are the main bands. I'm really glad to see Tenth Avenue North. I've been streaming them from their myspace page for a few weeks. They're good. Check them out.

5. I just mapped out my last year of seminary. I have this coming summer (two classes). Next fall (3 classes). Next winter (maybe one class). Next spring (3 classes). Graduation in May 2011. It seems rather surreal that I'm going to be finished with a 3 year degree in 3 years. If you know my undergrad story you'll understand why this is amazing. It takes a lot of guys 4 to 5 years (or more) to get their M.Div sometimes. I am thankful that I front-loaded my time here so I don't have to take as many classes at the end. I can work more and spend more time with the family. Its also crazy that very soon (this summer) I'll be getting my resume together. I'll blog more about my plans for that sometime soon since many people have asked. However, as Shana and I seek more clarity about post-seminary plans, please pray for us that we would have wisdom. Big decisions ahead.

6. I took a mild break from P90x this week due to a really busy schedule. I will resume next week with intentionality. It should be noted that every time, and I mean EVERY time I finish Plyometrics I have really bad thoughts about Tony Horton. Usually these thoughts have to do with the devil and his demons doing this workout in hell and Tony over on the side laughing asking if they want some water. Or oxygen. I probably need some help with that.

7. If you couldn't tell from the video of Truett crawling I'm a giant goober of a dad.... and I really love it.

8. I'm writing a paper for Hermeneutics. Its on Romans 11 and the future of Israel. If any of you out there know what that means and have any insight for me please glean it my way. I need some gleaning.

New Tim Hawkins....Chick-Fil-A (New Verse)

I guess this video was shot at a Chick-Fil-A convention or something. Truett Cathy (the founder) was there. I've posted this song before but not this version. Thanks to Meggan (blog in the sidebar) for posting it first. I felt the need to re-post it because, well, he says "Truett" in it. And, since so many people have never heard that name before I just want people to know that we didn't make up the name. However, contrary to Shana's slight (and by slight I mean major) obsession with Chick-Fil-A, we didn't name Truett after Truett Cathy. Although, if we didn't I guess it wouldn't be a bad thing. He did invent the chicken sandwich.

Truett Crawling

Last night Shana left me h0me with Truett for a few hours while she went to work. Normally he goes with her but he's a little sick. So while we were home he started something new. I managed to piece together the videos that I took from last night's events....

Shana's Update: Fixing my prior post.

Ok so after I posted my prior post, I was informed that it was all over the place. To quote my husband, "it was as if I vomited on the blog." OOPS! I really do wish I was a really good writer like some of my friends. You can read my friends blog, The Godshalls (on the right column), she is a good writer. I apologize for making a mess on the blog.

To clarify a few things: 1)it isn't a bad thing Truett sleeps in his bed, he just doesn't sleep well in his car seat anymore. He likes to roll all over to get comfortable. So, I can't go out to the grocery store and whatever errands I need to do and be out forever because he needs to take a good nap at home 2) I know it probably didn't make sense to say his sleeping was getting messed up and then say it was getting some consistency. I know that sounds confusing, but in the chaos he is getting some rhythm.

I didn't talk much about SWI Saturday, and I feel bad. It was just so good I have a hard time putting into words, see I am not a writer. Dr. Mohler's class was seriously so good, I am still pondering what he said. I don't know if you have ever heard someone teach out of scripture and it be so clear and thought out and well just right. Seriously, it was really good. I haven't been a Dr. Mohler fan really until now. Not that I didn't like him before, I was just impartial I think. But now I am a fan.

I also went to a homeschooling seminar that was really good. I will be honest I really had no desire to homeschool, but Josh has always said "when we homeschool." I always look at him with a look like you have a mouse in your pocket. I know that we would mean me. Anyways, I think I am opening up to it more and more. I think we'll still weight some factors of where ever we live and whatever schools are available to us then. I think the big pro I liked was the freedom and flexibility of your family. You aren't bound by school hours and days. You have the freedom to pick up and do whatever where ever you want. I have a friend that home schools her kids (they have 7, going on 8) and they went on a RV trip across the united states and taught along the way. Talk about a cool, interactive classroom. I know there are pros to the other type of school. For example, my kids initials are TD, what does that stand for TOUCHDOWN. Of course I would love it if my kid chose to play football, but probably only going to happen if he goes to school. Anyways, lots of things to think about. I guess every stage of our children's lives we'll be weighing pros and cons for what we will do.

We all do what we think is best for our kids, even though that looks different from family to family. We shouldn't condemn our brothers and sisters in Christ for doing something different. In the words of a good friend, "we are all sinners, and therefore all doing it wrong" (not sure if she would like me to mention her name here so I won't). I have constantly kept that nugget of truth at the forefront of my mind. Not as an excuse, but to remind myself when others do things differently. It is just like Theology, we have Armenian christians and Reformed christians. That doesn't mean either are lost whoever you disagree with. That is kind of how I look at parenting styles. Well, I will step off that soap box for now. (more vomit I guess)

Well I hope I didn't vomit again in this post. I guess if I keep this up, I will have to have my posts proofread before posting.

Shana's Update: Craziness

It is very true, they say, that as soon as you get in a groove something happens and it all gets tossed out the window. I feel more and more like this window of craziness is getting smaller and smaller. That is, that Truett is constantly changing so the peaceful times are getting shorter and shorter. He is once again having bad nights. Although, I think I figured it out sooner this time that he is yet again teething. I am seeing daily changes in his gums where his two front teeth are. Momma really needs some rest. The past couple days have been rough on me and I have noticed myself eating into an oblivion. I definitely need to cut this out, I just lost a bunch of my pregnancy weight and I don't need to be gaining it back. I ate a box of girl scout cookie in the course of a couple of days. Good thing we have kept the sweets out of the house or it could have been worse. Truett turns 7 months in 2 days I can hardly believe it.

I ordered a book that a few of my friends recommended on the topic of introducing foods. I am looking forward to it getting here so that I can read up on the food process. It was so cute, last night I was eating serbert and he was opening his mouth, so I would take a bite of my sherbert and clean off the spoon. Then I would offer the spoon to Truett and every time he took it like he was eating. There might have been some flavor left on it, but it was really cute to watch him.

I feel like Truett is getting to that point of consistency in his sleeping, but the bad part is he sleeps way better in his bed now. I feel confined to my house now, either that or I am hauling butt our the door to try and get grocery shopping done before his next nap time. If anybody has advice on this, boy send it. If you don't want to put it here please feel free to email me.

On another topic, winter is finally on the way out. Although it has been a really gray week. Who wants to be outside when it is so ugly? Last weekend I had the chance to go to SWI Saturday. It was so good. My favorites were probably Dr. Mohler's "How Not To Raise A Heathen" and Dr. Ware's "Big Truths for Young Hearts" (title was something like that). Not to mention Chick-fil-a for lunch was awesome.

I am tired so I am going to head to bed.

Truett Update

Ok, I know I am long overdue again for an update. Here it goes. Below you'll find some new updated pictures. I know Grandpa and Grandmas are probably going crazy that we haven't put anything up in a while.

Truett has gotten so big that he can take a bath in the kitchen sink sitting up. Here are a few shots.

Just so stinking adorable.

Truett is doing so much now. He is rolling all over the floor. He is rocking up on his knees occasionally pooping out one of his legs. He is definitely trying to figure out how to get from A to B with his skills, and frustrates himself in the process. He sits up by himself and plays on he floor for long periods of time. He is a dare devil already and loves to be thrown and swung around. He loves his daddy and anytime he is in the room his eyes are fixed upon him. He is learning who Zoe is and smiles big when she tries to lick all over him. He is sitting in a grocery cart like a big boy and reaching for strangers to hold him. He is already showing a social personality. He loves to watch other kids playing, in his way I think he thinks he is playing with them. Truett is still only on mama's milk.

I am loving every moment of being a mom. He is growing so fast and I feel like I can't capture it all.

Don't Swallow Gum

Click to enlarge...

Blame my dad for this. He sent me this email and it was too funny not to post.

This Picture...

...makes me swell up with pride. Is it ok to be prideful about someone else? Every time, and I really mean EVERY TIME I see this picture I get all goose bumpy n' stuff. I have the most beautiful wife ever. I know some of you other pretty good lookin' wives read this blog. And you're probably really attractive. Not to take anything away from your beauty, but c'mon, this woman is in a different stratosphere. And as for the kid... this picture captures what his face looks like when he wakes up from a nap and I'm the first person he sees. I get this at least once a day.... in person. He's the cutest kid ever. I don't know what people with ugly kids do. But man, I'm a proud papa. Lord, forgive me. Maybe next time give me a kid only slightly cute as my discipline.

On another note this song is awesome:


I'm a little behind on the Tenth Avenue North bandwagon, but I'll be seeing them in concert in a few weeks with our students. Can't wait.

Driscoll on Noah

I'm very slowly reading through Religion Saves + Nine Other Misconceptions by Mark Driscoll. I only read this when I have a shred of reading-free-time. Which is usually when/where most men do their reading. I just started chapter two: "Humor." If you know anything about Mark Driscoll you know that he's pretty hilarious... well, depending on who you ask. Some people still call him the "cussing pastor." I won't defend that, but he's sense repented. Anyway, so this chapter on humor.... he basically goes through the Canon and shows all the parts that he thinks are funny thereby justifying his use of humor in the pulpit...or stage, or stool, or whatever he preaches from. His take on Noah is hilarious.

From Genesis 9:20-21

"Noah is obviously a camping redneck, because only a camping redneck would make his own liquor and pass out naked in his tent wearing nothing but a John Deere ball cap. For all we know, his tent might have been made of blue tarps, and he may have dozed off while singing country songs about the hillbilly trinity of dogs, trucks, and cornbread."

I never thought of Noah in that way. I'm guessing you haven't either. But now just picture your kid's Noah Ship with Noah on the top with a green John Deer hat and a pair of Uncle Jesse overalls. Nice.

A Post About Facing Cancer

I recently found out that a close family friend has breast cancer. The prognosis looks good as far as I have heard. But, having been through cancer with my dad, I have a second-hand idea of what she must be feeling. I thought, "How can I encourage this friend?" I also recently found out that she is a follower of this blog. So, why not send an encoura-blog (*boom* new word!).

How can I encourage? Well, first there is prayer. Shana and I are praying for sure. Praying for healing. Praying for comfort and peace of mind. Praying for the family. Praying for God's glory.

Second is Scripture. Psalm 39:7, "“And now, O Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in you." Waiting was, at least for me the hardest part of the whole process.

Third is Matt Chandler. Who? One of my pastor-heroes. He's the pastor of The Village Church in Texas. On Thanksgiving Day he had a seizure. Passed out. Went to the hospital. Was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Had surgery. Back preaching. He's an amazing pastor and preacher. He's young. He's a husband and a dad. He's also blogging and vlogging. So, I'll point you to him. First read this article.

After you've read the article check out this video. There are also more videos on his church's YouTube channel. Click Here for that.



So, Shana and I are praying and we hope this is an encouragement to you. We also hope that if you know someone who has cancer and is struggling, use some of these resources to encourage them and point them to the Lord!

Painfully Hilarious

We watched this video in our service today. I'm glad I have a pastor with a sense of humor. He was pointing out that no matter how well we are prepared, when we forget the words, the music keeps on going. He's teaching out of Nehemiah. He was talking about when the workers had their tools in one hand and their weapons in the other and always being prepared. It really worked with the sermon. But since I'm not preaching that sermon, you should see the video anyway. Its hilarious.

P90X

I've waited to blog about this for good reason. I didn't want to blog and say, "hey, I'm starting P90X" and then not do it. So, its been a month. Or in P90xese, I've completed Phase One. I finished my last "Yoga X" of the first phase this morning.

Here's the deal. P90X is insane. After last semester and Truett's arrival I laid down and quit going to the gym and quit biking. Partly, well, mostly because of time, and I was also just tired a lot. Something had to change this semester. I knew I didn't have the time to go to the gym as much as I did in the past and I had heard about this workout from my friends Justin and Rossie (blog in the sidebar) and I had also seen the multiple infomercials on TV. You can find them on YouTube I'm sure. Its an at home workout but the results are supposed to be incredible. We were pretty skeptical especially at the cost of $120. That's money we don't have to spend on something that doesn't work, or worse, something that we're not going to do.

Solution? Craigslist (Atlanta, not Louisville). The cheapest we found the used DVD's in Louisville was $80. Not bad. But we when we were home over Christmas break we found the whole package, brand new, unopened, in Atlanta for $50! So, we used some of our Christmas money to buy it. We knew that if we didn't like it or it didn't get used we could resell it on Craigslist in Kentucky and actually make money on it. Nice plan.

It requires weights or resistance bands. I already had a good set of bands I bought a while back from bodylastics. The only other equipment we had to buy was a pull-up bar. We got it on the cheap from Wal-Mart. We were ready to go. Well, almost. This thing comes with a nice nutrition guide that's not insane, but actually well balanced and it makes sense. However, the hawk their own products like crazy. Protein powder, recovery drink mix, bars, vitamins, etc. All of this stuff is really expensive.

Solution? Homemade stuff. We got chocolate Muscle Milk protein powder from Costco that has more servings per container at a much cheaper cost. Shana made our own protein bars which are great. The only problem was the recovery drink which is supposedly great tasting. You drink it after a workout to recoup and build muscle quicker. Its expensive. Solution? Skim milk and hershey's chocolate syrup. That's right! Chocolate Milk! It has the exact same carbs, protein, and less fat than their stuff. The only thing missing is all of the vitamins. Solution? A multivitamin. I admit it doesn't have all the same stuff, but its close. And when you're on a super-tight budget, you make it work and deal with it. Most of the nutrition stuff is very doable, even on a budget. We shop at Costco a lot. I don't go strictly by the guide though. We just can't. But, we've cut out sweets, sodas, and eat way more veggies and do a lot of smaller portions.

Results? Well, you're supposed to take pictures all along the way. Which we've done. Which you'll never see. But after the first 30 days - I've lost 5 lbs. Toned up a lot. And feel great. I've missed a few workouts here and there. I think I've missed 3 out of 24. The workouts are 1 hour each and its 6 days a week. I admit its a big commitment, but they don't try to hide it. You have to work for it. It kicks my butt every time. But, I'm doing more each time.

If you have the time you should check it out. I'll blog about it again in 30 days.

Phrases...addition....

A couple of days ago I made a post about Phrases that I don't like. Here's another one:

7. Unpack. "Let me unpack this." "Hang on, we'll unpack this verse in a second." Initially I liked it. I get the metaphor. I think its a good one. However, what pastor doesn't use this phrase these days? Nearly every podcast I listen to and pastor that I've heard in the past year has used this phrase...most of the time its used repeatedly. There's only so much unpacking that you can do before you have to put away the stuff you unpack. Let's stop unpacking and start storing it in a usable place on the shelf.

Truett Videos: Little over 6 months

So, I am a terrible mom for not posting on Truett's 6 month birthday because he is well on his way to his 7 month birthday. I can hardly believe he is almost 7 months. Time really does fly by. I want to freeze time some days, most days, and keep him my cuddly baby.

Truett is such a big boy. At his 6 month appointment Dr. Abbott confirmed my suspicions that Truett is a genius. Well maybe not in those words, but he is definitely advanced. He is sitting up with a straight back and can move toys from hand to hand, among other things. Dr. Abbott says that those are skills of 9 month olds. Truett is awesome, he makes so many noises. He uses his dada sounds and mama sounds. He blows bubbles. He reaches for everybody. He lights up when he sees Zoe and tries to put her in his mouth all the time. Truett loves people and seems to thrive when new people are around. He definitely gets that from his mom and dad. He is such a happy baby and loves to play on the floor with all his toys. Just this week he has started to roll all over the place.

I love this little guy so much. It is really crazy to me to watch him grow so fast. I have a hard time already remembering what he was like when we was so little.


Here are some recent videos that are oo soo cute.
This is something kind of new he started to do with daddy.


He has also found his feet and when not in his cloth diapers takes every opportunity to play with him.