This past Mother’s Day we went out to Denise’s grandparents house in the country. It was a beautiful day and we relaxed, played, and ate some good food. Denise’s uncle owns some remote controlled planes – so he put on a show for us. Molly, meanwhile, tore it up on a four-wheeler. She did really well for a rookie.
Today is Pentecost Sunday. Praise Jesus Christ, who died for sinners, conquered death through resurrection, ascended into heaven, and sent His Spirit to His church. Hopefully we are all familiar with the story of Pentecost, but if not you can find it in Acts 2. Doug Wilson has a good post on his blog in regards to Pentecost – here it is.
One thing that fascinates me about Pentecost is the speaking in tongues. Clearly the context shows that tongues refers to a different language – a foreign language, not a “spiritual language.” Most of you probably agree with me, but this is not what fascinates me most about this. What I find interesting is the Old Testament event that corresponds to this New Testament event. At Pentecost, God used foreign language to make a point – His chosen people – His church – would consist of every tribe, tongue, and nation. But this is not the only time God used language to make a point. At Babel, God used language to the opposite effect – He confused those who rebelled against Him, which resulted in the establishment of many nations. God used language to judge sinners, but then used language to draw sinners to Himself. The people of Babel were trying to be their own saviours – they were building a city, a center of worship, opposed to God, and they paid a price for it. But through His Son, Jesus Christ, God established a new place of worship, the Church, and used language to add 3000 to His church that day.
There is something interesting about the connection between Babel and Pentecost that I want to point out. In both instances, Babel and Pentecost, there was a judgment and a blessing. At Babel, the world was judged for its sin and confused by God, resulting in the establishment of many nations. Most of these nations continued in their rebellion. But God chose to establish one nation and bless it – Israel. In fact, God promised to use Israel to bless the nations. Israel became God’s chosen people, but they didn’t always act like it. In fact, they sometimes rebelled worse than the pagan nations. Which leads us to Pentecost – a judgment and a blessing. On that day, Israel was judged and the nations were blessed – the opposite of Babel. God showed Israel that they were no longer His chosen people, but that His chosen people would come from every nation. His favor no longer rested on one specific nation, but on His church – a diverse church made up of all ages and all nationalities (Acts 2:39).
Praise the Lord this day, for He no longer resides in a tent, a tabernacle, or a temple, but in His Church!
OK, I admit it, I watch American Idol. Now, I’m not a hardcore fan like I am with Lost, but I usually watch it. Previous seasons have bored me and I lose interest in the middle of the season, but this season has been different, for one reason – the singing has been fantastic! Well, let me qualify that – the singing of Jordin and Melinda have been fantastic. Don’t get me wrong – there are a few other contestants who are good, and I enjoyed listening to them, but Jordin and Melinda were head and shoulders above everyone else. With that said, here is the main gist of this post: The American Idol Finale sucked!
And what makes it worse is knowing what might have been: A Melinda vs. Jordin showdown.
Tonight was boring – Jordin was awesome and Blake was weak. Sure, he was the best guy (maybe… Phil was a better singer), but he was not even close to Jordin or Melinda. Imagine how good the finale would have been with Melinda and Jordin squaring off on the winning song from the songwriting contest. Instead, Blake stumbled through his version, and Jordin blew it out of the water. I was disappointed last week when Melinda was voted off, but I figured “Eh, give the people what they want.” Man, I didn’t think it would be that bad, though. Well, hopefully Jordin wins tomorrow night – I think Denise actually called and voted a few times. At least if Blake wins, though, I’ll have the Lost finale to look forward to right after.
Molly has been whistling for a number of weeks now. This amazes me. She not even 4 yet. And we’re talking some serious whistling – even a few tunes. I don’t believe I learned to whistle until I was at least 8 or 9. So, is she a whistling genius, or was I a slow whistler? She’s also clapping to the beat consistently. This seemed to happen overnight. She’s also our go-to girl for names – she remembers everyone’s name. Molly is also beginning to spell. She’s known how to spell certain words that we taught her for a long time now – like her name – but she’s now beginning to understand the concept of sounding out letters and making words – exciting stuff.
Not to leave Katie out, this girl is a dancing machine… and she’s got rhythm too. I think she’s going to be the comedian of the family as well. She also is beginning to recognize landmarks. She knows when we’re headed to Mimi’s house.
Wow, it’s been awhile. Sorry, but it’s been inventory time at work, which meant later evenings. But I’m back now, so don’t worry.
We celebrated the end of inventory today by taking the family to a new park – once the pics are developed there will be a new “travel” entry – so stay tuned. Denise and I also celebrated by going to see Spiderman 3… It was Awesome! So, for those of you counting at home, I’ve now been to two movies this year and they’ve both been excellent… 2 for 2 – not bad, eh?
First off, let me say that Spiderman 3 was thoroughly entertaining. The effects were awesome and the action was turned up a notch from the previous installments. The characters were more interesting and the love story was more believable and mature this time. Also, the acting especially stood out to me this time. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a big fan of the previous two Spidermans (they’re probably my favorite of all the “superhero” flicks), but the acting was a little cheesy in those movies. Topher Grace of That Seventies Show was particularly good. There was plenty of edge of your seat moments, plenty of stand up and cheer moments (ok, I never really stood up, but I wanted to), some good emotional moments (Denise cried, I, uh, didn’t), and some very funny moments – I laughed out loud a number of times – especially the scene with Bruce Campbell in the French restaurant. All in all, the entertainment value alone made Spiderman 3 well worth the price of admition (and even worth the $3.75 I had to pay for the “hot dog” that my pregnant wife was craving), but there was something else that made the movie great – the Christian symbolism.
I’ll try not to spoil anything, but I do want to point out a few things that you should watch for if you go to see Spiderman 3. To begin with, one thing I’ve always liked about the Spiderman movies is the clear division between good and evil. Spiderman is a literal “good guy” who always puts others before himself (with great power comes great responsibility), while the bad guys are ruled by selfish desires. This quality is even more evident in Spidey 3. Also, another thing I’ve always liked is the innocence of the Spiderman movies. Whereas in the latest Superman flick you have a superhero with an illegitate son, in Spiderman the symbol of true love has been “The Kiss.” In a time when practically every movie or t.v. show has people having sex with each other or behind their partners backs, it’s refreshing to watch a movie where a kiss is emphasized (this is also true when it comes to the movie’s “act of betrayal” – it’s a kiss). Along the same lines, listen to what Aunt May says is necessary for a successful marriage – this isn’t something you hear on the big screen nowadays!
The most interesting feature in Spiderman 3 has to do with the black Spiderman – or Venom. A strange, black, alien substance crashes to the earth and attaches itself to Peter Parker – creating a black Spiderman. This Spiderman is evil and commits all of the seven deadly sins (I may be reaching here, and some are obviously more emphasized than others, but I thought the scene where Parker is eating cookies and milk while on the phone was an allusion to gluttony). This black substance is clearly symbolic of sin – specifically pride, which is said to be the worst of the seven deadly sins – the root of all the others. Eventually this substance causes Parker to do the unthinkable, and he realizes he must get rid of this substance. The next scene shows him on a church steeple underneath a cross. He struggles with the substance – a very real and powerful struggle (the “sin” does not want to go), but he eventually succeeds in shedding the “sinful flesh”. Beautifully, the next scene is a “baptism.” We then see the new, resurrected Parker don his “new flesh (the good Spidey suit)” and he rights his wrongs and conquers the bad guy(who, ironically, was the “pharisee” in church for the wrong reason when the suit was discarded). There is even (at least) two powerful instances of forgiveness – which is a major theme of this movie… I don’t won’t to spoil anything, so I’ll leave it at that. There are probably other symbolic references in the movie, and if ya’ll go to see it, and find any, let me know. These are just the ones that were very obvious to me and stuck with me. Anyways, I highly recommend this movie and I would love to hear what any of you thought about it!
Recently I replied to a friend’s blog on the topic of Christian parenting. Although the main point of the post was for people to describe what they do in their homes – specifically in regards to Family Worship – it got me thinking about those aspects of parenting that are vital to raising a godly child. While there are a number of important attributes of Christian parenting, two specifically have been rattling around in my head the last few days.
First, regardless (to a point) of how you do it, Family Worship is absolutely necessary – whether its just a husband and wife or a family with many children. I believe that any husband that is not leading his family in worship on a regular basis is failing as the leader of his family. All too often, parents look to the church as the sole source of Christian learning. While this is an important part of Christian growth, it is not the only source. Husbands are called to lead their families in worship – to read and teach the Bible, to sing, and to pray. To some degree, every man is called to be a theologian. This means it is the husband’s job to dig into the Scriptures and share the bounty with his family. This doesn’t mean he is a preacher, but it does mean that he is a teacher. Husbands and fathers have to let go of their pride, laziness, and insecurities and become the leaders they are called to be.
Second, and just as important, is the relationship between a father and mother. There are two points I want to make here. First, there is the security of having a mother and father that love each other unconditionally. I know personally that this made a big impact in my life growing up. Not once did I ever wonder about my parent’s marriage – which is a rare thing today. Not only do I have an excellent example of a loving marriage to hold my marriage up to, but I know that my children will also be watching and learning from us. This leads me to the second point – the marriage relationship directly affects the attitude of the child. In other words, if the marriage relationship is stressful, argumentative, sarcastic, etc…. the children will probably be harder to control, disobedient, mean to each other, etc… This doesn’t mean that there won’t be stressful times, or even arguments, but if we husbands remember to love our wives – all the time – as Christ loves the church, the home will have that sweet aroma of love, which translates into an ideal enviroment for raising Christian children.
