inexplicably, I regularly battle anxiety. sometimes I can identify the culprit and dissolve the root fear before it calcifies. sometimes, I lose the fight. badly. before I know what happened, I find myself squinting, searching the vertical horizon for the lip of the pit that sucked me in. I desperately need the light of hope.

enter Advent. last Sunday (Nov 30) we celebrated the first Sunday of Advent by reading passages from the OT, Psalms, NT, and Gospels, concluding with a plea for God’s intervention in our lives. and the lighting of a solitary candle. next week, two candles will stand lit…then three…four…five…and the accumulation of light signals the drawing nigh of Christ’s return. and our growing anticipation of when all things will be right, just, and whole.

amen, come Lord Jesus.

after the Sunday service, I suddenly saw candles everywhere. especially lit ones. and I find a great desire to light candles and surround myself with their gracious glow. they remind me of the Father’s promise to send the Son back to rescue us from our deplorable condition. until that stunning event, we grasp tightly the Son’s promise to provide the Comforter.

a single candle calls these promises to mind and buoys me into the light of day, anticipating the imminent Day.

amen, come Lord Jesus.

Unity is beauty of what will be.

Psalm 133

ok, this has gotta stop. William P. Young’s The Shack needs to go away. far away.

for those who love the book, I apologize if this post bruises you. I care about you - I care nothing for this book which scatters our understanding of our Triune God and his work of salvation. further, it fails to adequately address the hard issues it seeks to resolve.

one reviewer on Amazon, a pastor, said,

…I can understand why the book is upsetting to many–whether because of the subject matter (the murder of a child) or because of some of the book’s theological implications. However, I think many are missing the point that the book is a parable, not a doctrinal treatise. I found reading the book to be an incredibly moving experience, and have (cautiously) recommended it to those in my circle of acquaintance whom I think would be able to digest its message.

he then proceeds to compare it to C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles - they both embody "parabolic communication of Christian truth." WRONG. that precisely pinpoints the problem. Lewis writes of a fantasy land, Young creates the pretense of truth. SO WRONG.

a better review of this book than I am able to construct is here, and the follow up here.

don’t tell me pop culture doesn’t have theological implications…

now that I’ve transitioned to the Annual Meeting of SBL (Society of Biblical Literature), I felt it appropriate to make my own contribution to the conversation.

“Pharaoh, Pharaoh, oh no, let my people go - huh! Yeh, yeh, yeh, yeh, yeh, yeh!”

I attended my first ETS (Evangelical Theological Society) meeting in 2004. Having graduated from Dallas Seminary in May of that year with my Th.M., I energetically prepared myself for what would assuredly be a mountaintop experience.

“odd” barely (and graciously) captures the existential aura wafting through the convention. let’s leave it there for charity’s sake.

this year, I expectedly prepared myself for what would assuredly be a mundane experience.

“audacious” barely communicates the experiential joy that whacked me upside the head today. I listened to a presentation, interaction, and follow-up Q&A on Andy Crouch’s book, Culture Making: Recovering our Creative Calling. stunningly profound.

but more than that, to hear these men dialogue in such a way that life transformation, social justice, and beauty that screams the glory of God were the ends made my mind spin. in 2004, I wept because I couldn’t seem to find one session that gave a you-know-what about the concept of “neighbor.” this year, I met a whole room full of neighbor-loving theologians.

the times, they are a changin’.

or, “childhood devotional, #4,” by guest blogger, Eva Bleeker…

I lost my Bible. I was so mad.

During my college years at Kansas State, my Christian campus group met on Thursday nights in the student union. And one Thursday I left my Bible on the floor under the rows of flip-down seats,  never to be seen again. 

My parents gave me that Bible for Christmas just before I left for college. My mom had inscribed the front pages in her perfect calligraphy with my name and something encouraging. Losing the Bible was bad enough. But something else disappeared that night: one of Josh’s elementary-age devotionals. Number Four. The original autograph. Gone.

When Josh and I started dating, I discovered the devotionals in his old bedroom. I fell in love. I mean, I already loved Josh, but I flipped over the little yellow pages. I loved seeing that God had been massaging his heart for years. So I started carrying Number Four in my Bible because it endeared Josh to me.

Since I bear the responsibility for losing this precious document, I offer my best attempt at recreation.

Josh Bleeker #4

Read Job 33:28

“Brung Back”

We read that God redeems our life from the pit.

A Thought: Let’s make him not have to do it again.