The 4th July is guaranteed to incite emotion. A variety of emotion.

In the face of all these impending feelings, I am grateful to Shepherd Press for the following newsletter.

Shepherd Press
Newsletter 96
July 1, 2010

The 4th of July is a combination many things – cookouts, fireworks, concerts, memorials to fallen heroes and to the birth of a nation. Fireworks and explosions will mark celebrations all across America. We can and should be thankful for the many blessings that God has bestowed upon the United States for the last 234 years. However, it is more important to remember why our country and indeed all countries exist. Our country exists by the sustaining power of Jesus Christ, to the end that God, his Father, will bring salvation to all those whom he has called. America does not exist for her own heritage, nor does she survive by her own will. America exists and continues to survive because it pleases God for her to do so. We owe our collective breath as Americans to the purposes and pleasures of God. We will not survive one minute longer or shorter than what God sees as fitting. This may rankle the notions of the politically correct, but it is true nonetheless. (Act 17:24-28; Col. 1:15-20; Romans 13)

In 1 Timothy 2:1-4, Paul shows us how to pray for our nation. We are to pray that our leaders will lead in such a way that we, the people of God, may be about the business of bringing honor to the name of Jesus Christ. Paul sent these words to Timothy while living under the tyrannical and decadent rule of the Caesars. Paul was not telling Timothy to lead a populist revolt against unjust leaders. Instead, Paul urged prayers of thanksgiving and intercession be made for them. Why? Because he wanted God’s people to be about God’s work. God’s work was not about saving the Roman empire, any more than God’s work today is about saving the United States. Paul was a faithful and good Roman citizen who used that citizenship for God’s purposes, just as American Christians should today. But Paul’s focus was on his heavenly citizenship and adding others to the heavenly nation. America has eerily mimicked aspects of the Roman culture of Timothy’s day. As in the Roman world, spiritualism is on the rise. Sexual perversion has become normal and legal. Paganism is gaining ground.

Preaching the Constitution will not turn aside these pagan tides. Preaching the Gospel will. The United States Constitution is a wonderful and brilliant document. But as John Adams said 200 years ago, our constitution is only useful if the people whom it governs are a people who are first governed by God.
On this Independence Day, don’t get caught up in the fear that each political party has of the other party. Teach your children why America really exists as a nation. In this moment of history, those of us who live in the United States have the mandate to declare the glory and message of Jesus Christ to a fallen and lost world. It is time for the Gospel.

The Holiest Day of the Year

Greg Doyle is a writer for CBS Sports. He is a good sports reporter and I enjoy his work. I also believe that he represents what many think about the role of sports in our culture. As you may know, Tim Tebow and his mother are going to be featured in an ad sponsored by Focus on the Family during this year’s Super Bowl. Mr. Doyle provides this description of what he thinks the ad will be like:

“Apparently the commercial has a beautiful, undeniable message. Tebow’s mother suffered a life-threatening infection during that pregnancy, and doctors advised her to abort the baby. She didn’t. She named him Tim. Just typing this paragraph gives me goose bumps. The commercial might just make me cry.”

Yet, Mr. Doyle is offended by the ad. Why? Because it is airing during the Super Bowl. Listen carefully to his reasons for not wanting the ad to run. His comments honestly reflect his priorities.

“And I’m not complaining about the ad because it’s anti-abortion and I’m not. I’m complaining about the ad because it’s pro-politics. And I’m not. Not on Super Sunday. If you’re a sports fan, and I am, that’s the holiest day of the year. That’s a day for five hours of football pregame shows and four hours of football game and three hours of postgame football analysis. That’s a day for football addicts to gorge themselves to the gills on football.

It’s not a day to discuss abortion. For it, against it, I don’t care what you are. On Super Sunday, I don’t care what I am. Feb. 7 is simply not the day to have that discussion.”

This is a clear statement of allegiance. There is deep passion voicing these thoughts. Sports is at the center of Mr. Doyle’s life. He clearly believes there is room for other things—just not on Super Sunday. This view would be fine in a world where man decided his own fate, determined what was moral and what was not, and God was not a jealous God who requires undivided worship and fidelity from man. But that is not the world we live in. We live in God’s world, in which he determines where we live, move and have our being (Acts 17:24-28). So issues like abortion, sexual purity, and personal holiness and righteousness matter every day, even on Super Sunday. The living God of the Bible will not be pre-empted, even for a day.

Despair and difficulty burden many in our culture because they have embraced Mr. Doyle’s worldview. To be sure, he is not the originator of this viewpoint, he is just a subscriber. But living with anything other than God at the center of life is living in the world of idolatry. Idolatry always leads to despair because it can never deliver on the promises it makes. To quote from Tim Keller’s latest book, Counterfeit Gods, idolatry can happen anytime someone takes a good thing and makes it the ultimate thing. In this sense, only God is ultimate, because no one or nothing else can compare to him. Idolatry may focus on things that are evil in themselves, but not necessarily. It can also result from taking something that is good in its proper context (like sports), and making that thing more important than anything else. If I make sports ultimate, to the point where I put aside issues of morality and holiness, then at least three things happen. The first is that sports will become the center of my life. The second is that relationships with others will be secondary to this primary pursuit. The third thing is that sports will turn out to be a cruel god, for it cannot deliver what it is that it promises. So all of the time that has been invested in the pursuit of this idol will come to yield emptiness.

Are Christians ready to state clearly what is most important in life? For Greg Doyle the ultimate thing is sports. But that answer won’t do. God demands all of our worship and attention each day. It does matter whether or not infants are killed in the womb. It does matter whether or not drunkenness is permissible when your team wins the big game. It does matter if you look at women to lust after them. It does matter whether or not God has first place in your life. It does matter whether or not men respond to the gospel.

Next Monday the game will be over. But the real, pressing issues of life will remain. There is only one path that allows you to live in harmony with God’s purposes. That is the path you must point out to your children each day. Jesus Christ is Lord of Lord and King of Kings. The spectacle that is the Super Bowl attempts to say that, just for few hours, something else is ultimate. But that is a lie, an idol that delivers only emptiness. In this sense, the idol of sports is symbolic of any pursuit other than living all of life for the glory of God. As Christians we need to live with fidelity to our King and Savior. We will not be perfect in our pursuit, but we must be consistent with it. May we show our children and people like Greg Doyle what is truly important and fully holy in life. May we take hold of life that is truly life.
—Shepherd Press, Newsletter 85

Our first gathering was our fire department’s Christmas party, at which our family was responsible for child entertainment. We racked our brains for a while on this one, what would be engaging, indoor, and suitable for 1-25 children confined in a smallish room! We ended up with an assortment of different activities, (Rolit, Exago, Duplos, arts and crafts, etc) but our favorite was “target practice.”

After building a number of Citiblocs towers (which was almost an activity in and of itself), we held a shooting contest to see who could knock the towers down first with Hot Rocketz. It was a blast – literally! Of course the adults couldn’t stay away either, and it provided an easy and fun way to direct some of the endless energy that evening.

Our second gathering was our New Year’s get together with extended family and for this gathering we loved Word On The Street. Our family is not a “reserved” family and so of course we had many enthusiastic plays and lots of laughter. Word On The Street gave us an entertaining outlet for our excess of (friendly) group competition. Because we had family members arriving at different times the freedom of only having two teams, and no limit on how many team players, was a blessing.

Here are some short video clips Joy managed to capture while we were “trialing” the game with Grandma before the other relatives arrived:

So how about your family? Did you receive Timberdoodle items for Christmas? Which one was your family favorite?

What if you discovered, quite by accident, that your married daughter was flirting with the UPS man? Would you not beg her to remember the vows she made before God and man? And wouldn’t you feel sick if she laughed and continued to engage in such destructive behavior?

Paul, in his second letter to the Corinthians implored “…I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ.” If your children are to spend eternity with Christ, as a godly parent, don’t you see a need to train your children to treasure Him above everything else?

For all the warmth and joy that the Christmas season can bring, it can also become a cesspool of impulsive passions. Or it can be a season of opportunities, uniquely designed to sanctify your family. The caroling missed because of the flu, the must-have toy not purchased because of a scaled back budget, the annual Christmas pie tossed because the cat sampled it, are all occasions to take a peek into where your child’s affections are. For all the hoopla surrounding Christmas, there is disturbingly little emphasis placed on pleasing the One whose birth we are celebrating, and wholly too much importance placed on making ourselves happy

Samuel Rutherford, a Scottish Presbyterian theologian (1600-1661), wrote “… if you see a man shut up in a closed room, idolizing a set of lamps and rejoicing in their light, and you wish to make him truly happy, you would begin by blowing out all his lamps; and then throw open the shutters to let in the light of heaven.”

This Christmas, may we all remember to whom we are betrothed and set our affections fully on Him,

Enjoying Timberdoodle products in a whole new way,
Dan, Deb, Joy, Hope, Grace, Abel, and Pearl
www.timberdoodle.com

P.S. Throughout December we plan to be posting old family Christmas videos, details on our favorite Christmas traditions (including camel bags!) and even a Christmas recipe on our Facebook/blog. If that interests you, become Facebook fans and follow Doodleblog to stay in the loop!

“The 4th of July is a different sort of ‘Independence Day’ for me. On July 4, 1995 my multiply-disabled son entered the world and my life came crashing down around me—and would soon include a deep and intense bitterness toward God.

I never denied that God existed or is powerful; I concluded he was mean and capricious. But it also began God’s work of creating an affection for him and for the sufficiency of Jesus Christ. I am often astonished, when thinking back, that I am now able to praise God for his goodness in giving my son his autism and blindness.

None of this happened easily or by accident. I can point to five specific things that God brought to bear on my life…”

Read entire article here.

Thoughts?