Throwing My Dream in the River

New Year’s Day is a time for resolutions. We commit to exercise more, eat less, get out of debt, spend more time with family, and the list goes on.

I suspect each of us also has a dream that we cannot do much about – reconciling a relationship, seeing a loved one come to the Lord, getting married, or hearing the “All’s clear” from the doctor.

We reflect on 2010 with a little sorrow. Will God ever answer our prayer? Do we have any hope for 2011?

Then I remember Jeremiah. His people, the Israelites, were captives in Babylon. It looked like there was no hope, but God promised an end. Jeremiah wrote down God’s promise of the destruction of Babylon and gave the scroll to Seraiah.

“And Jeremiah said to Seraiah, ‘When you arrive in Babylon and see it, and read all these words, then you shall say, ‘O LORD, You have spoken against this place to cut it off, so that none shall remain in it...’ Now it shall be, when you have finished reading this book, that you shall tie a stone to it and throw it out into the Euphrates. Then you shall say, ‘Thus Babylon shall sink and not rise…’” Jeremiah 51:61-64 NKJV.

Was it hard for Seraiah to throw God’s promise in the river? I would want to keep it, hold it, read it everyday. But God said to throw it in the river, let go of the dream, and wait for God to fulfill it in His own time.

This New Year’s Day I will throw my dream in the river one more time. I cannot make it come to pass, but God promises He will. I rest in that promise.

Tolstoy and Christmas Carols

Of the 1224 pages in War and Peace, I remember one scene well. That’s not a good percentage, is it? I’m glad I don’t get tested on my bedtime reading material.

What scene was so important that I remember it? Prince Andrei was surveying the troops and battlefield before an engagement with Napoleon’s army. Suddenly, he tuned into the voices of officers in the lean-to nearby.

“I say that if it were possible to know what there will be after death, none of us would be afraid of death.”

“Afraid or not, all the same you can’t avoid it.”

“But you’re still afraid!”

Imagine for a moment preparing for battle, the kind of battle they had 200 years ago. Infantry and cavalry charges. Bayonets. Blood and gore. Imagine being in the front lines with bullets speeding toward you.

“If it were possible to know what there will be after death, none of us would be afraid of death.” If it were possible…

It is possible, but only in Christ.

Good Christian men, rejoice
With heart and soul and voice
Now ye need not fear the grave:
Peace! Peace!
Jesus Christ was born to save
Calls you one and calls you all
To gain His everlasting hall
Christ was born to save
Christ was born to save

A Latin hymn, translated by John Mason Neale

Snowflakes

The following is a take-off on a thought of C.S. Lewis. I have absorbed enough Lewis in the past years that I no longer know where his thoughts end and mine begin.

Have you ever seen a snowflake trying to "find itself"? What a ridiculous idea! I look at the blanket of whiteness on the ground, each snowflake uniquely formed by our Creator. It boggles my mind.

Why do we humans feel the need to find ourselves? We listen to the messages our culture sends. Sometimes we conform. Sometimes we deliberately do the opposite. But we still have this nagging feeling that we're the product of what other people think we should be. Until we come to Christ.

When I surrender everything to God, I finally become the unique individual He created me to be. As Whittaker Chambers said, "In the act of seeking oneness with God, I became one with myself…I became what I was. I ceased to be what I was not."

Life is not a fruitless game of hide and seek. If we want to find ourselves, we first must find God. Then we have found everything.

Tune My Heart

"Come,Thou Fount of every blessing, Tune my heart to sing Thy grace..."

I cannot help but sing this hymn with my violin brain turned on. I am constantly tuning notes to make a perfect unison or a perfect harmony. A note that is even slightly out-of-tune sounds terrible. The violin gets its bad reputation for a reason.

Do I take just as much care in letting God tune my heart to match His? Do I take quiet time each day, listening to His note, to His voice? Or am I too busy telling Him what I want? Do I make so much of my own noise that I don't hear Him?

Then I think of what happens when my heart is tuned. Ever see one of those silly cartoons in which the lady sings a high note and the window breaks? Yeah, that's sympathetic vibrations. I love physics terms. If I play an A, anything else pitched as an A in the room will vibrate.

We violinists depend on this. We have an open A string. If I play an A in tune anywhere else on my violin, the A string will also ring. That extra ring tells me I'm in tune.

When my heart is tuned to God's heart, anything that moves God's heart should move mine, too. Just keep listening to Him...

Justice

The blog Bloom! posted the following conversation starter on July 8, 2010:

"In light of this week's articles concerning ways which we can help to alleviate injustice in the world, do you have a particular outreach ministry which you admire and respect?"

At first, I did not know what outreach ministry to name. I don't follow many ministries focused on alleviating injustice. I primarily follow Ravi Zacharias International Ministries. Their motto is "Helping the Thinker Believe. Helping the Believer Think." The RZIM team travels the world giving a reasoned defense for the existence of God. Does this promote justice? Yes.

The Holocaust started with the intelligentsia. Friedrich Nietzsche said God was dead, and eventually men's actions conformed to their beliefs.

We must now restore the foundation of justice -- the belief that God exists. He created all men equal. He created us in His image, and we have value. Without that confidence, we will never have justice.

Bible Memory -- How well have I hidden God's Word?

Psalm 119:11 says, "Your word I have hidden in my heart, That I might not sin against You" (NKJV). Yes, I have hidden God's Word. Sometimes I have hidden it too well -- back in the recesses of my mind where I'll never find it again. How can we memorize the Bible so that we truly remember it? Here are a few of my favorite techniques.

1. Pick a good translation.

Obviously, you want to memorize an accurate translation. I do not want to start a Bible version debate on my blog. But we sometimes forget to mention that some versions are easier to memorize than others.

I am partial to the Old King James Version (KJV). It is poetic. The words have rhythm. When words flow together well, they are easier to memorize. I'm a musician -- it's all in the rhythm.

Some Bible versions are very hard to memorize. The Amplified Bible and the Message often use more words to express a thought than most standard translations. If your Bible uses twice as many words, you have twice as much memorizing to do. Beware.

For a general overview of Bible versions, go to http://www.apbrown2.net/web/TranslationComparisonChart.htm.

2. Schedule daily time for memorizing Scripture.

Find a time in the day when you can always (or almost always) memorize God's Word. I like to study verses while drying my hair. I have long hair, and drying it gives me just enough time to squeeze some Scripture into my head.

Also, pick a time in the day when your hands are busy, but your head isn't. This is a perfect time for reviewing verses you already know. You can do it while washing the dishes, making your bed or exercising. Daily review is crucial.

3. Print the passage you are memorizing in an easy-to-read format.

I like memorizing at least a chapter at a time. I print it at http://www.biblegateway.com/. Then I can carry it with me and study whenever I have a few minutes.

The KJV starts each verse on a new line. Many other translations group verses into paragraphs. I think the format of the KJV is better for memorizing. We have a visual memory. When I see each verse as a little section in itself, my visual memory kicks in more strongly.

If you prefer a different translation, you can always paste it into Word and reformat it yourself.

4. Print/write individual verses in prime memorization form.

I'm am currently memorizing Romans 6. Some verses in Romans are very long. I like to rewrite them with one phrase per line, indenting some lines to emphasize the structure. For example, I might write Romans 6:4 as follows:

Therefore we are buried with Him
    by baptism
    into death:
that like as Christ was raised up
    from the dead
    by the glory of the Father,
even so we also should walk
    in newness
    of life.

Now I can see three main phrases, and each main phrase has two little phrases under it.

5. Read the verse out loud.

We have an aural memory. We remember what we hear. Read a verse out loud to yourself. Can you say it with rhythm, almost chanting the phrases? Can you read it expressively? Read it a couple times, emphasizing different words each time. Does this change the flavor of the verse?

6. Write down your verse.

Many people learn best by doing. When you write, you are actively involved in the process.

7. Post your verse in places where you will see it often.

Mom has a verse posted on the washing machine. You can put one on your mirror. Put Scripture on your refrigerator. You will be regularly reminded of your memory project.

8. Put the verse in your own words.

How would you explain this verse to a five-year-old? It is extremely difficult to memorize something when you do not completely understand it.

9. Meditate on the connecting words (and, but, for...).

The little words trip me up. But they are there for a reason. The word but shows contrast. What is God contrasting in the passage? Therefore shows a result or conclusion. Look at the previous verses to discover what came before. Because and for show the reason for something. Dig out God's logic. What is the thought flow of the passage?

10. Pray through your verse.

Talk to God about the verse you are memorizing. Is there anything you don't understand? Is there something in it that challenges you to live differently? Does it encourage you? Should you thank God for something in the verse?

11. Study the passage as a whole.

I like Kay Arthur's book How to Study Your Bible and Tim LaHaye's book How to Study the Bible for Yourself. These books give general guidelines for studying any passage of Scripture. For example, find the main point of the passage, find the key words (words that are used often), outline the passage, list your questions and look up the meanings of words.

You can also purchase a Bible study book for the book of the Bible that you are interested in. A Bible study book gives questions to answer and can keep you focused on your study.

12. Measure success God's way.

Romans 12:2 says, "And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind..." (NKJV). Our goal is to be conformed to God's image as we meditate on God's Word. God does not measure success by how many verses we can quote word-perfect. Have I spent time in the Bible? Has it changed my heart? That is success, and it pleases God.

Do you have any memory techniques that you like? Please add them in comments to this post.

Liberty, Law and Monopoly Games

My sisters and I played "America the Beautiful" for church this morning. The second verse says:

America! America!
God mend thine ev'ry flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law.

How do liberty and law fit together? I love C.S. Lewis's illustration of a chess game in The Problem of Pain. It's okay to override the rules of chess once in a while. It's okay to let your opponent take back a move. But you cannot override the rules all the time. What if you let your opponent take back all the moves he doesn't like? What if you let him move his pieces in whatever way he wants, as far as he wants, in whatever direction he pleases? You would destroy the game.

It reminds me of how we played Monopoly when we were younger. When people went broke, we would loan them money. The game would never end. Needless to say, we don't play Monopoly anymore.

Many people today yearn for absolute freedom, but absolute freedom is not possible. Without law, we have no liberty. This Memorial Day weekend, let us praise God for our liberty and our law and for the men who gave their lives to preserve these blessings.

Small Hard Things

I just finished reading Do Hard Things by Alex and Brett Harris -- for the third time. I love the chapter on small hard things. It's so easy to focus on doing big things for God and to forget about the little things in our lives. But God says, "He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much" (Luke 16:10).

What is one small hard thing that you are committed to doing? Please put your answers in comments to this post. I'd love to know what you are doing.

My answers:

#1 I am committed to pressing the play button on my CD player each morning. What's so hard about that? I am not listening to music. I am practicing Portuguese. The only time I have to practice is while I make my bed and pick up my room in the morning. Often I would rather enjoy the quiet and let my mind wander. Yes, pressing the play button is a small hard thing each morning.

#2 I am committed to getting my blood sugar under control this summer. I am not diabetic. My blood sugar is just erratic. It is so erratic that I despair of ever controlling it, "...but with God all things are possible" (Matthew 19:26). Feel free to hold me accountable on this one. I have a terrible sweet tooth.

So what are your answers?

Creativity

I recently discovered the website http://www.bloomthemagazine.com/ and their "Weekly Conversations." I decided to use the conversation starters there as an inspiration for my own blog posts. I would love to hear your thoughts. Let's make this a conversation.

The most recent question is: "Madeline L'Engle writes, 'Unless we are creators we are not fully alive.' Do you agree or disagree? How do you implement creativity into your daily life?"

I partly agree and partly disagree. I disagree because many people use creativity as a substitute for God.

Francis Schaeffer addressed this in the third chapter of Escape from Reason. Naturalistic science (denying God's existence or His involvement in the world) leads to determinism. If there is no God, we are a product of evolution, a chance combination of matter and energy. Then what are my thoughts? Random neuron firings? Are my actions a product of my environment?

People do not want to believe they are mere machines. They value freedom and self-expression. They value creativity. If I create something, I am more than the product of my environment. Or am I? How do I know I created it? Who am "I"?

I fear Madeleine L'Engle sought her identity and worth through creativity rather than finding them in God. When interviewed by Bob Abernethy, she said that she was not a Christian author. She said, "I am a writer. That's it. No adjectives. The first thing is writing. Christianity is secondary." (See http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/week412/profile.html.)

In John 10:10, the Lord Jesus said, "...I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." Christ gives life. Creativity never can.

However, Madeleine L'Engle might have a point. We will never feel our faith until we act on it. God made us individuals. He gave us personality beyond our DNA. As we live this out, we experience the life He intended us to have.

Creativity plays a great part in my life. I teach private music lessons. I am continually looking for new ways to inspire my students, explain difficult concepts and master challenging technique. Photography is my creative pass time. I love capturing the beauty God put in the world.

But I don't worship my creativity. I use my creativity to worship the God who gave me life and enjoys my friendship.