I’ve blogged a lot more lately. Especially today. I’m not sure what reminded me of GentleWhisper.com… or what caused me to neglect it for so long. I think I was hurting… and I just didn’t want to talk about it. I know that sounds a bit silly since I used to write about little else.

Either way, things are getting a bit better. God has been showing himself so trustworthy… so personally involved in my life.

[I no longer capitalize personal pronouns referring to deity… it’s a grammatical decision please don’t be offended by it… I still love Jesus, believe in the Trinity and all that jazz.]

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I’ve had a lot on my mind lately. There are a lot of theological questions floating around up there. It’s a danger that comes with being a seminarian… Yesterday I contemplated Calvinism, Eternal Security, Initial physical evidence of the Baptism in the Holy Spirit, two views of sanctification, Lordship Salvation, the inerrancy and canonization of scripture, the cost of truly following Christ… several military chaplaincy issues, some parenting concerns, marriage, the role of women in ministry, homiletics, Unitarian and Universalism heresies, humanism, neo-paganism … and what heavyweight punching bag I should purchase… that was all between dropping Sarah off at preschool and picking her up two and a half hours later.

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I’ve been looking through my blue Sing His Praise Hymnal. I bought it at a used bookstore once because I wanted to look up a hymn I had read one day at church while not actually paying attention to the service. We sing a few hymns at Central but we very rarely use the hymnals. They just put the words on the screen.

I don’t actually know how to read a hymnal… I can look at the music and have absolutely NO IDEA how the song sounds. Rachel told me she can hook me up, that she’s grown up singing hymns and knows how they all sound… I highly doubt she knows the ones I was reading in the Assemblies of God hymnal. I was in the Pentecostal section of the book. I kind of doubt Independent Fundamental Baptists sing these hymns often. Actually after reading the lyrics, it seems a lot of the older Pentecostal hymns are preaching sanctification as the Church of God (Cleveland, TN) understands it, not as the Assemblies of God does. I wonder if anyone notices such doctrinal differences when they’re picking songs for the Sunday night service? I wonder if anyone AT ALL cares about this paragraph of my post.

Rachel just called and saved you all from more random, random rambling. Until next time…

Reading notes on:
Devotional Classics / Preparing for the Spiritual Life / Page 7

The first selection comes from Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis.

My favorite quote from this selection:

“When He said, “Be perfect,” He meant it. He meant that we must go in for the full treatment. It is hard; but the sort of compromise we are all hankering after is harder–in fact it is impossible. It may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird: it would be a jolly sight harder for it to learn to fly while remaining an egg. We are like eggs at present. And you cannot go on indefinitely being just an ordinary, decent egg. We must be hatched or go bad.” - pg 9.

I love this. We can’t just be a “good egg.” We have to fully surrender to Christ and give Him everything. Earlier in the reading, Lewis explains why anything less just doesn’t work.

The Scripture for this selection: Luke 14:25-33.

A Reflection Question:

“In Luke 14:25-33, Jesus encourages those who would follow him to “count the cost” of being one of his disciples. What has being a Christian cost you?” - pg 11.

Hello friends,

I’m preparing to write a paper on Unitarian Universalism. If you walk too closely to me in the library, sit by me in a hospital waiting room, or talk too long on the phone you’re destined to hear about this religious group.

Feel free to add your insight and suggested resources in the comments section. ESPECIALLY if you’re an Unitarian Universalism chaplain or minister. I’d like to add a section in the paper about how to provide religious support for UUs… I’d also like to know what UU Army Chaplains think about wearing the cross on their uniform.

P.S. Pestered friends, if you’re terribly tired of hearing about UUs… hold on. Next week I’m going to talk of nothing but Church history. [Which conveniently has a lot to do with this paper too…]

I have a pile of books I can’t wait to dive into this summer. They’re not exactly ‘light’ reading… but they cover counseling and theological topics that I can’t fit into my seminary schedule.

Here’s the list.

I’ll post a photo of my pile when Amazon ships the two I just ordered.

P.S. Fellow seminarians, I know I’m not the only geek.  Let’s see a list of your summer reading.  Chris, I know you’ve got a pile of book twice as high as mine.

I’ve started reading a selection in Devotional Classics: Selected Readings for Individuals and Groups each morning as part of my devotional time. This is only day two but I’m loving it.

The book, edited by Richard Foster and James Bryan Smith, includes devotional readings drawn from six faith traditions:

1. The Prayer-Filled Life (Contemplative Tradition)
2. The Virtuous Life (Holiness Tradition)
3. The Spirit-Empowered Life (Charismatic Tradition)
4. The Compassionate Life (Social Justice Tradition)
5. The Word-Centered Life (Evangelical Tradition)
6. The Sacramental Life (Incarnational Tradition)

The book begins with eight selections comprising a section titled “Preparing for the Spiritual Life.” These readings come from familiar authors such as C. S. Lewis, John of the Cross, Bernard of Clairvaux and St. Augustine.

I encourage you to pick up the paperback book and join me. The book has fifty-two selections and has been organized for group as well as individual study. I’m going to use it for daily devotions, but it’s obviously put together as a weekly introduction to “the great devotional writers over the course of one year.”

I’m contemplating posting my thoughts or favorite quotes for each selection. I’m not sure if I’ll do that in individual posts, or as a comments to this post. What do you think?

I got a chance to talk to Patti on the phone today. What a treat! I’m so very thankful for the amazing people God has brought into my life through the chaplaincy. I hope someday we can be stationed together!

Joel’s away for more Army training.  I really miss him.  I used to not complain too much when he’d leave for a week or two. But now that I have him back from Afghanistan I prefer to keep him home!