I Defy Gravity

Yes, that is right. I defy gravity in such a way that is bound to get me recognized in The Hall Of Fame Of Geeks With Too Much Time On Their Hands. While playing Tetris, I discovered a way to make part of the puzzle remain suspended in thin air. Before this discovery I was amazed that the towers never fell over when they were lopsided. I had thought that the different pieces became cemented together in an unusually strong fashion as soon as they came to rest. That may still be true, but the main reason the towers do not fall over is that once they come to rest, they permanently defy gravity. I must come to understand the deeper physics behind Tetris. Then I will be able to defy gravity in the world outside of software.

On Justification, "The Theology of the Cross," and Holy Communion

Raise your hand if you've ever heard that justified means God looks at me just as if I'd never sinned (notice the similarity in how that sounds). Clever phrases often come close to the truth, sometimes close enough to actually be considered true. But they seem to always fall short of the full truth. I have often looked at justification as if God is delusional, pretending that I am sinless when, in reality, I am quite sinful. I have imagined that Jesus dying for me means that God gave Jesus my sins and is then able to ignore my sins and only see the good things I've done. But really, what are these "good things" I've done? Aren't they nothing more than "filthy rags"? So that leaves absolutely nothing for God to see if He looks at me and ignores my sins. But that nothing is not enough to merit any reward for me. So what does God see when He looks on me? He sees Jesus. He sees Jesus' righteous character and righteous deeds. And unlike my former notion of God merely ignoring my sin, this is not some delusion on God's part. You see, there is a thing we call imputed righteousness. It is the righteousness God gives to us through faith as He takes our sins and nails them to the cross. It is the perfect and holy works of Jesus, our Savior. And there is a such thing as imparted righteousness. This is the righteous nature of Jesus in us for the life we live in the world we know. And none of this righteousness is a delusion, but it is all very real. It is all given to us through faith, as we are united with Jesus in His death and resurrection (Col. 2:11-14). So it's not like we only receive forgiveness, love, and the like through faith, but we receive Jesus Himself! We are united with Him in such a way that we receive all He is, all He's done. Then the lives we live are lived through Him. So then through faith, we are full beneficiaries of everything Jesus (I don't know if that makes grammatical sense, but it's best way I can summarize it).

So I've been thinking and marveling about all this and much more that I don't have the ability to speak of. Then I heard a good sermon this morning about how we are reconciled to God. Then as I knelt at the communion railing it all came flooding into my mind. I was blown away by the truth that those simple communion elements bestowed upon me and in and for me the whole person and work of Jesus Christ.

I don't think the marvel of it all can be communicated by human words, but it can be experienced (at least in part).

So on Saturday I was cleaning and came across a bag of stuff from our Boundary Waters trip. Inside was some garbage, 3 cutoff T-shirts, and a pair of leather gloves. It wouldn't have been a bad find except it was all wet. The T-shirts smelled pretty musty and the gloves were caked in mold. Mmm, mold.

So life at camp now that my job is done (allegedly)... Every morning I ring the bell at 7:30, but campers no longer race out of their cabins to the bathhouse. At least I don't have to worry about getting trampled while on my way back to the RC. A little while later I go to the flag pole and sing "The Look At Me Song," and "Awake, Alive, Alert, Enthusiastic." I'm getting really fast. Then I raise the flag, say the "Pledge of Allegiance," and tell the grass what's on the agenda for the morning. After breakfast my right arm and my left arm play a game of tetherball. After a few losses, my left arm gets pretty tired. It gets irritable when it's tired. Usually my right arm is pretty polite, but this morning it got a few taunts in, and that tired old left arm really lost it's cool. It wasn't a pretty picture. Fortunately Dennie was there to break it up.

Okay, so what is life really like? Well, it's kind of quiet and kind of boring. My work hours are back to normal and it's a lot less stressful. I bought a new guitar so I've been practicing that, and unlike the last paragraph, I'm not even joking. But if you heard me play you would probably contend that it is a joke. I've also been watching Star Wars a lot. They really get better and better the more I watch them. My knowledge of The Force is growing. Soon I will be a powerful Jedi. With the Twins losing I decided to buy the 1987 World Series DVD set. Yep, all 7 games digitally preserved me. I've been waiting by the mail box since last week for it to come, but it's cold and rainy today so I decided to take a break and finally post something. But when it does come I will be able to watch the Twins achieve ultimate victory whenever I want. I will be living in the past ... unashamed.

I've been doing some traveling too. I of course went to the Boundary Waters to act like a manly man. I also went to the cities to help my sister and her family move. I also saw some friends from my years of school, and of course, my baby niece. Last week I went to Lifelight and got angry when the best artist there didn't have his second concert. I'm working on a conspiracy theory. I can't give you all the details but it incriminates Mike Myers. After Lifelight I went to a wedding and upon returning home I discovered that Rapid City to Park River is a feces of a lonely drive. Next week I don't go anywhere because the world's bestest comedian is coming here. Then I take a long weekend and go to Washington to see Luke smile perpetually. After that I bid you all farewell as I depart for Coruscant to begin my Jedi training. I will come back and free you, I promise.

The Ugly Cross, The Beautiful Cross

There should be a "Currently eating" option up there.

On this Good Friday, I want to remember that the cross is the ugliest thing ever and the most beautiful thing ever. That's because there is nothing uglier than the wrath of God, and there is nothing more beautiful than the grace of God. And there is no other place where either of them are revealed like on the cross. There is no place where the wrath of God is revealed like on the cross, where all the sins of humanity were punished and the blood of God was spilled. And there is no place where the grace of God is revealed like on the cross, where a world of lost sinners was cleansed.

If I ever build a church, I want it to be really pretty, with a big ugly cross.