Knoxville

"a wind has blown the rain away and blown

the sky away and all the leaves away,

and the trees stand. I think i too have known

autumn too long.''

                                             e.e. cummings



Some dear friends and I ventured to Knoxville this weekend for a concert/camping extravaganza. In between seeing Sufjan Stevens on Friday night and Mumford & Sons on Monday night, two of my favorite girls and I embarked into the Smoky Mountains for an overnight camping excursion. Everyone from fellow concert goers to Ranger Rick cautioned us that it would be cold and advised us to cancel our trip; that camping in the cold would be a miserable experience. Fortunately we were hard headed enough to not listen to them and strapped on our packs for the 7 mile hike.

It was the first snow we've seen all year and the further up we went, the more snow we found. Such a beautiful contrast between white snow and still green leaves on the trees. Over and over again we made the comparison to entering Narnia in all of its magical glory.

And yes, it was cold. But it was unanimously voted that hiking in the snow and camping in the bitter cold was one of the best weekends of our lives. While most people would probably be reminded of the writings in Thoreau's Walden in such an environment, I was continually reminiscing a talk I heard N.D. Wilson give once on God's abundant sovereignty as evidenced by nature.

Wilson made the point that the book of Genesis says that everything came from 'ex nihilo'-'from nothing'. There was nothing and then God spoke it into existence and that He was continuing to speak things into existence every day. He speaks the snow into existence, the trees, the clothing on our backs, etc. With such evidence of His faithfulness and attention to detail all around us, why don't we trust Him more with the concerns of our lives?

A few other notable points from N.D. Wilson's talk:

-God's personality is big.  He's the maker of both the cute bunnies and the red tail hawks that eat them. He made both rainbows and storms. We live in a magical world. We see God's huge personality in His creation.

-God's personality is not comfortable. He's both majestic and meek. To quote C.S. Lewis: "He's not a tame lion, but He's good.''

-Both of the above points means God is the authority. Learn to live in His authority. It's the best place to live.

-Don't limit your faith in realism. Moses (through God's power) turned a staff into a snake and a river (the Nile) into blood. Accept miracles. Accept a power that is uninhibited by our earth's rules.

I hope you will be encouraged by these few words to see God's creation as an attribution to His immense sovereignty.

Blessings,

KB
 P.S.

Enjoy a little Ray LaMontagne on this chilly evening.

Desiring God Conference

I had the privilege of spending this past weekend in the beautiful Twin Cities for John Piper's Desiring God conference. This was my first time to Minneapolis and I must say that it is one of the best kept secrets of the United States. Everyone talks about New York City or Chicago or New Orleans or LA. Take a weekend and head to Minneapolis and St. Paul. Go hear Garrison Keillor. Walk along the river and you'll hear Target Field go nuts for the Twins. Talk to the locals-some of the most wholesome, sweet people you can meet. Minneapolis: you won't regret it. Not the most marketable slogan, but nonetheless it was just one of the most pleasant and nice cities I've ever been to. Kind of have a crush on Minneapolis now.

As great as Minneapolis was, the main attraction that brought me was the Desiring God conference hosted by John Piper. Three days of messages and discussion panels, it's mainly aimed at church staff but obviously they welcome all sorts of theology geeks such as myself.

There were several very inspiring speakers there including Kevin DeYoung, N.D. Wilson, Randy Alcorn and of course John Piper himself. But the message I would like to take a minute to reflect on was given by Francis Chan.

Francis Chan is mainly known for his book, Crazy Love. Our church read it together a few years ago and although it's a good book, Chan wasn't the pastor I was the most excited about hearing speak. I love being surprised like that.







Chan's topic was: "Think hard. Stay humble: A look at I Cor. 8:1-3". Solid reflection on how good theology isn't the most important thing to God-"knowledge is essential but it is not sufficient." John MacArthur. Or, to have it paraphrased by Chan: "some of you are brilliant but completely worthless".  Are we using our knowledge to build each other up or puff ourselves up?

He then asked how hard we think about the lost. Do we pray for God to save the lost? Are we burdened for those who don't know Jesus? The prayers of a righteous man are effective-are we purging sin from our lives so that we may be righteous? So that we can intercede for the lost effectively? "This,'' Chan says,"is love".

He talked about how Paul was in anguish for the lost. It hurt him so much to know that people, people he knew, were without Christ. I know that I do not have this anguish. Would I say it was sad? Absolutely. Do I step outside my own selfishness to pray for the lost with conviction? Shamefully, no, I don't.

This is a rabbit trail, but I think it overlaps a bit. Kevin DeYoung spoke about the mission of the church, or rather 'redefining missional'. Awesome speaker. Definitely someone who isn't afraid to think critically. If you get a chance,read his stuff.

He spoke about the mission of the church and he said something I'd like to start wrapping up with:

"Don't just gravitate to the things the world will thank you for such as human trafficking, digging wells, going green, etc. There are enough Angelina Jolies of the world to take care of that. Our responsibility as a church, as Christians is something no one else will do: give them Jesus. There is something worse than disease, than death. There's hell."

Kevin DeYoung, 2 October 2010

And yes, I know that Ashraya Mission is fighting human trafficking. But I hope that we're more than just fighting for social justice. I hope that we're loving our neighbors in India. I hope that we're giving them Jesus. And I hope that we can become so burdened for the lost in India, or Africa, or Minneapolis or wherever that we are praying for them constantly. And loving them well.

Blessings,

KB

P.S. Listen to Neil Young's "Harvest Moon" tonight with the windows open. Perfect song for a cool fall evening. You won't regret it.