iReformed



I really like my iPhone 5. I was never an Apple Groupie but when I got in the market for a smart phone, when the iPhone came out, I adopted it and became an instant fan. Intuitive and Intelligent.

I am sure the Android devices are cool, too. I am using Google Classroom at school for my College & Career Class and since my course is all writing, Google Classroom is a fantastic technology tool. So, Google does great work and I am pretty sure will take over the world soon enough.

Outside of the Google Maps app on the iPhone which has literally set this direction-impaired individual free, my next favorite app on the iPhone is the iTunes Podcast. Just as the convergence of Luther and the Printing Press (pic is of the first Bible printed) fueled the Protestant Reformation in Germany outwards, podcasts deliver high caliber preaching to my bedside nightly. Tim Keller, Alistair Begg, and R.C. Sproul are in heavy rotation. I rotate them to keep my mind from uneven wear like tires on the car. Some may argue that going heavily Reformed already ruts me in but it operates as the antidote to a world gone astray, like an Augustinian Anchor is the Seas of Post-Modernism. I don't need compromise, I need counter-balance.

I see my share of madness daily. I hardly wince anymore at tragedy, great and small, because it a consistent part of my Dysfunction Du Jour. A lot of scar tissue in my soul.  

I also include The Westminster Pulpit podcasts which is one of the flagship churches in the PCA denomination as the local entry. Mixed in with all of this is NPR's Fresh Air. And in this corner, NPR. The Worldly Wise. I have sympathies with Liberalism but ultimately have to say "No" to its ideology. Some of the most intolerant people I know fashion themselves to be tolerant. That is, until one disagrees with them and then fascism raises its face. Ironic indeed.

Once a person assumes that there is no merit in contrary perspectives, the echo chamber of Amen Corner is in full force. I have been in these conversations and frankly they weary me. Perhaps it is a crazy dream but I would hope for the day where Reformed Theology and Deep Compassion could kiss because, in fact, we are all astray. Only God is supreme. Mere men are but wisps, a vapor. How being Reformed leads the faithful to become self-righteous, or at least that is the stereotype, is a sad state. When I came to the realization that I am a great sinner, and so is everyone else, I became much more forgiving of others. The ground is level at the Cross.

John 2:24

But Jesus did not trust himself unto them, for that he knew all men 



    

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Shake the Dust: Anis Mojgani

Pslam 90:2 "Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God." I am not real certain where Anis Mojgani comes from belief-wise. Cats like him tend to be synchrestic spiritually rather than Christ-centered. Yet, this poem captures the spirit of Jesus. What this poem also needs is grace....we shake off sin and mortality and take on Christ and immortality. This is for the fat girls This is for the little brothers For the former prom queen And for the milk crate ball players This is for the school yard wimps And the childhood bullies that tormented them Shake the dust. This is for the benches and the people sitting upon them. This is for the bus drivers driving a million broken hymns And for the men who have to hold down 3 jobs, Simply to hold up their children. For the nighttime schoolers And for the midnight bike riders trying to fly Shake the dust. For the two year olds who cann
Read more

White Shoes, White Stones

Rev 2:17 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches. To him that overcometh, to him will I give of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and upon the stone a new name written, which no one knoweth but he that receiveth it. (ASV) With the white stone mentioned above in the Scripture verse, "And will give him a white stone" it is "Supposed that by the white stone is meant pardon or acquittance, and the evidence of it; and that there is an allusion here to the custom observed by judges in ancient times, who were accustomed to give their suffrages by white and black pebbles; those who gave the former were for absolving the culprit, those who gave the latter were for his condemnation." (Clarke) What has brought about this essay was my purchasing the other day of some very white and new Nike jogging shoes. My old pair of Nike's have been worn down. I was developing serious pain in my feet which is a solid sign that it is t
Read more

Going Rogue: Dare, Risk, Dream

Image
I picked up a bumper sticker at a Pub recently from the Rogue Brewery . On it there are the words: DARE, RISK, DREAM. Typically, the word Rogue is a negative term. I will let you decide if Sarah Palin and her book has made the word less or more so. Initially, I taped the bumper sticker to my computer lap top with the backing still on it in case I wanted to remove it. Just a second ago, I committed fully, and pulled the backing off and affixed it to my Dell. No turning back. Is that not an illustration of how to accomplish great things? We have to stick and commit. If we go taping ourselves to the backs of things, it leads to easier removal but also to tepid efforts. Now, if I take this bumper sticker off the back of my lap top it is going to be a mess...I am all in. Consequences be damned. My summer vacation officially began today at noon (why else would I be blogging at 3:26 am?) and my creed for the summer is DARE, RISK, DREAM. A Kerouac quote to light the fireworks... "Great th
Read more