markdroberts: guest bloggers

Lebanon in Psalm 29

Today The Daily Psalm focuses on Psalm 29. Included in this psalm are the following verses:

The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars;
the LORD breaks the cedars of Lebanon.
He makes Lebanon skip like a calf,
and Sirion like a young wild ox.

Psalm 29:5-6

It's a bit of a shock to find "Lebanon" in my morning devotional reading. Honestly, I had forgotten that it was mentioned in this psalm. Given this "coincidence," it seemed good to me to put up selections from The Daily Psalm, plus some fascinating pictures.

Prayer

How strange it is, Lord, to find the word "Lebanon" in today's psalm. I've heard this word probably five hundred times in the last week as the war between Israel and Hezbollah rages. Yet here it is, right in the middle of today's psalm.

My first thought is to pray for peace in Lebanon and the entire Middle East. I ask, not for a short term peace, but a lasting peace with justice for all residents of this part of the world. It seems almost silly to ask for such a thing, given the realities of that region. But I ask, nonetheless.

Yet, I wonder, why is Lebanon mentioned in Psalm 29? This psalm celebrates the power of Your Word, Lord. Your voice "breaks the cedars," even the famously large cedars of Lebanon. When You speak, Lebanon skips like a calf. The very ground shudders and shakes because of the power of Your Word.
Again, how strange it is to read these things, when on the news I hear of the forests of Lebanon and northern Israel being devastated by fire, and when I watch on television as the land shakes as it is pelted by bombs.

Yet Your Word is stronger than any bomb, hotter than any fire, more powerful than any human device, even than any natural power. Your Word brought all things into existence. Your Word determined the very courses of the stars. Your Word dwarfs all human knowledge, all earthly powers.

O Lord, as this world flails about, as nations war against nations, as people of violence seek to impose their will, as leaders appear lost and confused, let Your Word come forth. Speak Your truth to our world! Give us ears to hear You! Reveal Your power, Your glory, Your compassion, Your mercy. Make Yourself known, Lord, that all the world might bow before You. Break the cedars, Lord, with the saving power of Your Word.

Amen!

Postscript

Ancient Lebanon was a region more or less equal to today's Lebanon. The mountains of northern Lebanon were covered with forests, and were famous for their huge cedars. These were used, for example, by Solomon when he built the temple in Jerusalem.

The cedars of Lebanon can also represent the loftiness of human pride, a pride that opposed the Lord. In Isaiah 2 we read:

12   For the LORD of hosts has a day
    against all that is proud and lofty,
    against all that is lifted up and high;
13   against all the cedars of Lebanon,
    lofty and lifted up;
    and against all the oaks of Bashan;
14   against all the high mountains,
    and against all the lofty hills;
15   against every high tower,
    and against every fortified wall.
In Psalm 29, when God breaks the cedars of Lebanon, the emphasis is upon God's strength.

The same is true with making Lebanon "skip." In ancient stories from Israel's neighbors, the gods spoke with thunder, making the earth quake. The verb "skip" probably has this connotation. When God speaks, the earth shakes. God's Word is that powerful.

The following picture shows the mountains of northern Lebanon today.

The next picture shows some of the remaining cedars from Lebanon. In biblical times, the mountains of Lebanon were covered with dense forests, and the cedar trees were both far more plentiful and much larger. For a fascinating analysis of the deforestation of Lebanon, check out this link.
 

Inspiration from the Daily Psalm

from Psalm 28

Excerpt

. . .for if you are silent to me,
I shall be like those who go down to the Pit.

Psalm 28:1

Prayer

O Lord, there are times when You are silent, when my prayers seem to bounce of the ceiling, when it feels as if You have gone on vacation . . . or worse. In those times I can feel like those who go down to the Pit: lost, hopeless, defeated.

So help me, dear Lord, in those times when, for Your reasons, You are silent. Help me to trust You, to wait, to be patient. Give me hope when I feel hopeless, strength when I am weak. Remind me that You went down to the Pit on my behalf, so that I might enjoy life with You, now and forever.

Postscript

[Notice] the sad despair [the psalmist] should be in if God slighted him: "If thou be silent to me, and I have not the tokens of thy favour, I am like those that go down into the pit (that is, I am a dead man, lost and undone); if God be not my friend, appear not to me and appear not for me, my hope and my help will have perished.’’ Nothing can be so cutting, so killing, to a gracious soul, as the want of God’s favour and the sense of his displeasure.

       Matthew Henry, Commentary on Psalm 28:1

The Daily Psalm

The Daily Psalm is my devotional website. Each day I put up a psalm, a prayer based on that psalm, and some additional input, like a brief commentary or a quotation. I use material from The Daily Psalm on markdroberts.com for Sunday inspiration.

The Blogging Week in Review

Sunday, July 23: Inspiration from the Daily Pslam, Psalm 21

Monday, July 24: The Telephone Game and Oral Tradition, Section B

Tuesday, July 25: The Telephone Game and Oral Tradition, Section C

Wednesday, July 26: The Telephone Game and Oral Tradition, Section D

Thursday, July 27: The Telephone Game and Oral Tradition, Section E

Friday, July 28: Denominations Provide a Context for Submission
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Fascinating article: "Searching for Order in the Blogosphere"  (HT: Claude Mariottini)
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One more picture from my stay in the desert: the sun going down over the mountains west of Palm Desert, California.

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And on a personal note, today is the twentieth anniversary of my dad's death. He died on July 29, 1986, of cancer that ended up in his liver. My dad was a wonderful man: funny, loving, faithful, always putting God and family above his career in computer science. My favorite memories of my dad are times on family vacations. Thus, it's only fitting that today my family and I are beginning a trip as we head to Zion National Park. I miss my dad, today more than most. I'm very grateful for him, for his role in my life, and for his eternal life.

The picture below is my favorite picture of me and my dad.

Lemons into Lemonade, Part 2

Yesterday I began a story about a recent visit to Yosemite National Park. (The picture to the right is of Half Dome on Monday evening.) After a delightful day in this Sierra wonderland, my wife and I got stuck behind a person who might have been the slowest mountain driver in history. He poked along on a road with a conservative 35 mph speed limit, probably averaging well under 25 mph. Since this narrow two-lane highway had no passing spots, and since the slow driver never pulled over to let the twenty plus cars behind him pass, we were forced to follow him as he crawled through the dark forest.

Finally, after an hour leading us at a snail's pace, the slow driver signaled that he was making a left turn . . . and pulled over to the right side of the road! Free at last, I exulted. The last fifteen miles back to our motel would pass quickly. My shower and bed were not far away, a happy thought for an exhausted hiker at 10:00 p.m.

But then a miracle happened, a devilish wonder. The new lead driver, who had been stuck behind the first driver ever since we left Yosemite Valley, actually seemed to drive more slowly than the previous leader. Soon the speed limit climbed to 55 mph. But we were often going 30 or less, still on a two-lane road with no opportunities to pass. By now there were 30 cars piled up behind us in the darkness as we all crept down the mountain.

More lemons. So more lemonade. Linda and I resumed the mock-argument that had kept us occupied earlier. I claimed, once again, that the driver was too macho to let people pass. Linda, with a more sensitive spirit, claimed that he was probably a visitor from a foreign country, one who was unfamiliar with mountain driving and with the legal and ethical demand to pull over and let others pass.

To add to the fun, I suggested other possible scenarios, besides the "macho bad driver" and "terrified foreigner" options. Maybe this guy really likes being a leader, I surmised. He's on a power trip. Or maybe he doesn't know how to shift out of first gear. Or maybe he's in a huge argument with his wife, who thinks he's driving way too fast in the darkness. Or maybe he thinks everybody drives too fast today, and he's making a moral point about the virtues of poking along. All of this kept me occupied for a while.

Then I started keeping track of the slow driver's speed. I made up a game for him, the "Go-Slow Game." What would be his record "under-the-speed-limit" pace? At first it was 25 mph (30 in a 55 zone). Then 27 mph (28 in a 55). As I cheered the lead driver on to victory, he set his all-time record at 32 mph under the speed limit (23 in a 55). He, and the thirty cars forced to follow him, were driving at almost exactly one-half of the speed limit. I figured this must be some sort of personal record for me too.

Shortly before we arrived at our motel, the world-record slow driver pulled into a restaurant parking lot. I followed him, not because I wanted food, but because I wanted to win my argument with my wife. I'd prove that the driver was some hyper-macho bum. (I'm not sure how I would have demonstrated this fact by spying on him, but it was worth a try.) Alas, the driver was a kind-looking man who, by his appearance, was clearly from a foreign country. Moreover, his car was a rental, and he looked relieved to have his feet on terra firma. So I had to concede defeat to my wife. We weren't following a guy who was too tough to let anybody pass, but rather some pour soul who was so terrified by the mountain road that he probably never stopped to look in his rear view mirror. He wasn't being rude on purpose. He was just confused and afraid. A stranger in a strange land. Oh well . . . .

By the time Linda and I got back to our room, it was more than a half-hour later than it should have been. I was exhausted, but not from grinding my teeth for the overly-long drive behind the overly-slow drivers. No. If anything, I had had more laughs in the last 90 minutes than I'd usually have in 90 days of driving. I wasn't angry and frustrated, but slightly bemused. It was lemons from lemonade. My usually rushed personality had some unexpected moments of slowness and laughter. Vacation does things like this to people like me. It's why we need them.

Lemons into Lemonade, Part 1

I'm sure you've heard the saying, "If life gives you lemons, make lemonade." Well, I had the chance to make some lemonade last night.

First, the context. My wife and I visited Yosemite National Park yesterday (Monday, July 3rd). There are four ways to drive into this Sierra wonderland. Tioga Pass, the only access from the east, is a 9,000-foot-high tightrope walk through gorgeous mountains. The other three roads come from the west, hugging precipitous canyon walls and winding through dense forests. Well over a million visitors to Yosemite brave one of these four roads every year.

But in April there was a major landslide on Highway 140, one of major western routes into Yosemite. It was so large, and is still so dangerous, that California transportation officials haven't even begun to clear it. I've read that they're considering leaving the slide in place indefinitely, and building a bridge to the other side of the canyon on the western edge of the landslide, and then, after building a short road on the other side, building another bridge back to Highway 140. Because of the landslide, traffic on the other roads into Yosemite has increased, especially on Highway 41, which is closest to Highway 140.

My wife and I entered Yosemite by way of this southern access route. I was nervous that the traffic would be terrible, especially given the fact that we were visiting the park on July 3rd, the Monday of a four-day holiday weekend famous for its crowds. But the flow of traffic along 41 was reasonably swift. The folks at the Yosemite entrance gate were ready for the crowd. So we made the 45-mile drive from our motel to Yosemite Valley in just over an hour.

The return trip at night was another story, however. We were exhausted by the time we headed for home. Linda and I had hiked over ten miles during the day, including a tough climb from the valley floor to Nevada Falls and back. (The picture to the right is of Nevada Falls. The falls are full this year because there's been so much snow in the Sierra.)  Since there was a lot of traffic, we waited until about 9:00 p.m. to leave. I couldn't wait for a hot shower and a welcoming bed.

But as we were leaving Yosemite Valley, I got behind a slow driver. He or she was obviously uncomfortable driving on a serpentine, narrow road in the dark. For about ten minutes I sat behind this person, thinking all sorts of terrible thoughts about him or her. But, finally, the car pulled over so I and several other drivers could pass.

I rolled along at the speed limit for about ten minutes before I came upon another pack of cars. This group was going even more slowly than the last slowpoke, averaging less than 25 miles per hour on a road with a conservative 35 mph speed limit. The driver of the van leading the pack would slow down, almost to a stop, before every curve, and there were hundreds of these.

Both the law and common courtesy require the lead driver to pull over so other can pass. But this snail-paced driver never made even the slightest effort to allow the rest of us to get ahead of him. So we sat behind this car for 30 miles. There was no opportunity to pass legally and safely. I, and the dozens of other cars now lined up behind the slow car, were stuck for a 40-minute drive that had now been extended to 60 minutes or more.

I quickly figured that all of this was adding a half-hour to our return trip to our motel. I must confess that I wasn't very happy about this. But, beyond my own frustration, I was astounded that any driver would just sit there with more than 20 cars on his tail, a couple of which were flashing their high beams in desperation. Such rudeness, I thought!

So here were my lemons. How did I make lemonade?

Well, first of all, my wife and I had a long, mock argument about what the slow driver was thinking. I conjectured that he was a macho type who wouldn't ever let people pass because he was too tough to be humbled by faster drivers. My wife countered that the driver was probably from another country, and that he or she was not an experienced driver, and was sacred to death of driving on such a winding road in the darkness. Yosemite draws hundreds of thousands of foreign visitors, so Linda's position had some validity, though I wouldn't admit it. Moreover, the car had its interior lights on, which added to the possibility that the driver didn't know what he was doing. (This is also illegal in California, by the way.) Linda and I argued our various sides for several minutes without resolution. Surely, even someone unfamiliar with such a road and with American driving laws would see the long line of lights in his rear-view mirror and pull over, I reasoned. But Linda held her ground admirably.

My argument with my wife managed to keep us both entertained for the better part of the drive. Somehow we had managed to turn our lemons into lemonade.

Finally, after an hour leading us through the darkness, the slow driver signaled that he was making a left turn . . . and pulled over to the right side of the road! Free at last, I exulted. The last fifteen miles back to our motel would pass quickly. My shower and bed were not far away.

Or so I thought . . . Come back tomorrow for the surprising conclusion to this happy story.

Happy Independence Day!

Last year, in honor of Independence Day, I put up some of my favorite Fourth of July pictures. Since I'm not in a place to put up new pictures today, I'll send you to last year's photos, if you're interested. Just click here. But, before I sign off, I'll add a new picture for this year. In the foreground is Arlington National Cemetary. In the background you can see the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument.

Less Time for Wireless Telephones, More Time for Winning People to Jesus?

Today I'm finishing up a six-part series: On Baptists and Blogging. I was inspired to get into this topic by a sermon delivered by Bobby Welch, the outgoing president of the Southern Baptist Convention. In this sermon, Welch came down hard on computer folk, especially on bloggers. I've shown in previous posts that his perspective might be too narrow, though he is right to challenge us to think carefully about our use of time in light of God's kingdom.

Yet bloggers weren't the only ones to take it on the chin from Bobby Welch. Here's what he had to say about cell phone junkies, according to a report in BPNews: Welch advised the crowd not to gloat that he’s chiding “them bloggin’ boys. Why, you run around with that wireless telephone up in your ear all day long like a pacifier. You think if we’d spend less time with those wireless telephones and more time on the street we wouldn’t win more people to Jesus?”

I'm assuming that, by "wireless telephones," Welch means what most of us would call "cell phones." The image of cell phones "up in your ear all day long like a pacifier" is a humorous one, to say the least.

Some of us certainly are addicted to cell phones. I was recently on the campus of Georgetown University in Washington D.C. right after classes were breaking up. I was amused to see dozens of students rush from class with cell phones jammed to their ears. What was so urgent that it couldn't wait? And whatever did we do before we had cell phones? Talk to people from our classes, I suppose.

No doubt Bobby Welch has a point here. We can use our cell phones to keep us in touch with our friends, but this may cut us off from others, including, as Welch says, those we should be winning to Jesus.

Yet I find Welch's imagery rather dated. He wants us to spend less time with cell phones and "more time on the street." On the street? Is this the best place for evangelism? Perhaps it is in Daytona Beach, especially during heavy tourist seasons. But where I live, street evangelism would be silly. We're a car culture, not a walking around culture. And if people are out walking, they're usually in a hurry, trying to get from one store to another. They aren't sauntering about looking for conversation.

As I mentioned previously in this series, my high school director keeps in touch with dozens of kids by use of cell phone, especially text messaging. If he spent more time in the streets and less time with his wireless phone, he'd win fewer people to Jesus, not more.

For me, one contemporary version of the "street" is the coffee bar. I've had ten times as many conversations about God in Starbucks or Tully's or It's a Grind as in all the streets of Irvine combined. The other contemporary version of the "street" is, ironically enough, the Internet. Through my blog and e-mail conversations it has engendered, I've had literally hundreds of interactions with non-Christian people during the past two and a half years.

As I wrap up this little series on Baptists and blogging, I want to quote once again from one of the core values of the First Presbyterian Church of Daytona Beach, values articulated under the leadership of Senior Pastor Bobby Welch. This statement reads:

We recognize the eternal and unchanging nature of God’s Word but we also recognize an on-going need for ministry change and innovation in order to effectively facilitate the sharing of the Word and growth of God’s kingdom.

It seems to me that this sort of commitment demands that we take seriously the pluses and minuses inherent in all forms of ministry. But to dismiss the Internet and cell phones out of hand seems just as unwise as naïve endorsement of technology just because it's "hot." We must look creatively and critically at all the tools available for ministry, and use these tools wisely.

Less Time for Computers, More Time for Converts?

Bobby Welch, past president of the Southern Baptists, isn't too fond of technology. In his last sermon as leader of the Southern Baptist Convention he asked if we should spend less time on websites and more time on witnessing, less time blogging and more time baptizing. Then, completing his trinity of alliteration, Welch asked: "Do you think if we spent less time fumbling around with those computers we might have more converts?"

Just for fun, I thought it would be interesting to check out the website for Bobby Welch's church, The First Baptist Church of Daytona Beach (Florida). So I did.

First of all, the church website is graphically sophisticated. There's no "fumbling around" here. The layout is superb. There are elements of Flash technology (movement), but nothing too complex. This church either has a professional web designer/master, or they outsource to professionals. Obviously, First Baptist of Daytona Beach takes serious the need to use technology to maximum advantage. Yet I find the excellence of this website to be strangely inconsistent with Welch's negativity about computer technology in his sermon. Hmmmm.

Second, I noticed on the page that described the pastors of First Baptist that Bobby Welch has an e-mail link. I guess that's one technology he's not opposing. The funny thing is that I find e-mail to be perhaps the single greatest consumer (waster?) of time that I might otherwise be investing in converts. If I were Bobby Welch, I might have gone after this distraction.

Third, First Baptist of Daytona Beach has a page that lays out its "Core Values." These are fine statements, well conceived and expressed. Several of them, it seems to me, are relevant to the question of how Christians might use technology. For example:

Core Value #1. The Lordship and Sovereignty of Jesus Christ – In all we are and do, our foundation and focus will always be the honor and lordship of Jesus Christ and all things will be for His glory. Furthermore, understanding that with God all things are possible, our mission and ministry shall be limited only in those ways God Himself determines. We shall allow our hearts, minds and souls to be stretched by the heart and hand of God as He shapes and fashions us as a Church according to His perfect will.

My comment: Could blogging be one way of doing ministry, one of the "all things" that are possible with God?

Core Value #6. An Emphasis on Evangelism and Missions – We believe that Jesus Christ alone is the way to salvation. Our ministry calls for a strong emphasis on taking the Good News of Jesus Christ to this community and around the world.

My comment: Couldn’t the Internet be a powerful tool for "taking the Good News of Jesus Christ" to our local communities and to the world? In the two and a half years of my blog, I've received e-mails from readers on six continents. No readers from Antartica, as far as I know.

11. Freedom to Innovate and Change – We recognize the eternal and unchanging nature of God’s Word but we also recognize an on-going need for ministry change and innovation in order to effectively facilitate the sharing of the Word and growth of God’s kingdom. An atmosphere of grace shall prevail when our innovative methodologies are deemed ineffective.

My comment: This is an excellent statement, don't you think? I only wish Bobby Welch had remembered it as he was preparing his sermon. This statement would seem to call forth an aggressive effort to use new technologies for the sake of the kingdom.

It may seem like I'm picking on Bobby Welch. If so, I apologize. I'm not trying to show him up so much as to show how his own church is much more engaged with technology than his sermon might suggest. Sometimes sermons use hyperbolic rhetoric that simplifies or distorts reality. Core value statements, like the one adopted by Bobby Welch's church, tend to be more thoughtful and balanced.

Bobby Welch the preacher asks: "Do you think if we spent less time fumbling around with those computers we might have more converts?"

Bobby Welch the pastor answers: "[U]nderstanding that with God all things are possible, our mission and ministry shall be limited only in those ways God Himself determines. . . . Our ministry calls for a strong emphasis on taking the Good News of Jesus Christ to this community and around the world. . . . [W]e also recognize an on-going need for ministry change and innovation in order to effectively facilitate the sharing of the Word and growth of God’s kingdom." Or, to put it differently, maybe time spent fumbling around with computers will lead to more converts.

Less Time for Blogging, More Time for Baptizing?

Bobby Welch, the outgoing president of the Southern Baptist Convention, doesn't like blogging. In my last post I examined a line from his swan song sermon at the recent SBC meeting. He wondered if "we'd spend less time on these websites that we'd be able to spend more time witnessing?" Staying on his alliteration roll, Welch asked, "Do you think if we spent less time blogging we might have more time to do some baptizing?"

I'm tempted to ask a rhetorical question back in Welch's direction: Do you think if we spent less time messing around with church politics we might have more time to do some baptizing? I freely admit that blogging can be a waste of time. But so can church politics. In fact, there are few things that are more hurtful to the cause of Christ than church politics run amuck. When Christians bash each other, play power games, and outdo the world in worldliness, this doesn't exactly draw the heathen into the kingdom. Of course not all church business is like this. But much of it is.

Bobby Welch may be a wonderful man and a wonderful pastor. I have no reason to believe otherwise. But it's obvious that he hasn't thought much about how to reach the younger generations with the gospel. To be sure, face-to-face relationships matter to these generations, as to the rest of us. But folks under thirty are techies. They live in an e-world, where the Internet is as normal as the telephone system. E-mail, blogging, websites, online chat rooms, Myspace – all of these are simply normal tools of living for people born after 1980. If we're going to communicate with them, we need to speak their language and use the modes they use.

Eric, my high school director, does lots of ministry through the Internet and through text messaging by way of cell phones. He stays connected with more than a hundred kids by a wise use of technology. Eric also understands the importance of personal contact. He's always hanging out with kids. But the Internet is a valuable tool in his collection. I don't know for sure, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if Eric knows kids who first got interested in our youth group by way of the Internet. And if it hasn't happened yet, I expect that before long we'll be baptizing some new believer because of the Internet.

My answer to Bobby Welch's question on blogging and baptizing is this: It just may be that if we Christians spent more time engaging the culture and the people around us through blogging, then we'd end up needing to spend more time baptizing as well. Why give up a potentially powerful communication tool, especially when that tool has such impact among younger generations?

(In the picture to the right, I'm baptizing a high school girl by immersion. You may notice that we Presbyterians don't have state of the art baptismal pools.)