Entries from September 2006 ↓

My semester so far would not have been the same if it were not for Salire Partners. During my one night experience in the office of this business, not only did I receive amazing and probably unsafe amounts of Starbucks French Roast, but I also received a great piece of porcelin - a Vintage Salire Partners Collector’s Edition Mug.

If it were not for the veracity and faithfulness of this mug, then I would be without the great liquid that I enjoy so much. The size of this mug enables me to drink, yea verily, three cups of coffee at a time and the dark color allows for frequent refills with not so frequent washings. This mug delivers the coffee that makes me better equipped for my late-night studies, my morning devotions, and my life here at college.

I give my heart-felt thanks to Tony Kevin, both Jr. and Sr., for the great priviledge that I have to drink out of one your distinguished mugs. I count it an honor to advertise for Salire Partners through avenue of coffee. Thanks again.

I have entered the fog. It’s official. Today, I dived into Greek nouns and I will remain in the fog of the unknown for quite some time. I am so excited to actually learn this language jump into the original text. It is hard in some respects, but on the other hand, I am love it and am really excited for it, so it doesn’t seem as hard.

Today we stepped past the alphabet and the English grammar review and into the Greek vocabulary and grammar, starting first with nouns. I have plenty of things to help learn this archaic language, such as a textbook, workbook, and flash cards.

I thank God for giving me an undeserved desire to learn the language and to love doing it at the same time. So even though the fog has set in, lights are turning on all over the place and text is coming alive. My exposure to original language has actually made me appreciate the English text all the more. We owe a debt of gratitude to the men throughout history who sacrificed so much by pouring over the Greek and Hebrew so that we could read about the greatness of God for ourselves. What a priviledge we have to know the God of history, who is the God of the Bible.

“Beyond measure, it is desirable that we, as believers, should keep the person of Jesus constantly in mind, in order to ignite our love for Him and increase our knowledge of Him.

Observe these words, ‘That Christ may dwell in your hearts.’ (Eph. 3:17). The heart is the best room of the house of mankind. Christ is not to dwell in your thoughts alone, but in your affections; not merely in the mind’s meditations, but in the heart’s emotions. We should earnestly desire an abiding love for Christ - not a love that flames up, then dies out into the darkness of a few embers; but a constant flame, fed by spiritual fuel.

This cannot be accomplished except ‘by faith.’ Faith must be strong or love will not be fervant. Jesus cannot be in your heart’s love unless you have a firm hold of Him by your heart’s faith. Therefore, pray that you may always trust Christ so that you may always love Him. I love is cold, you may be sure that faith is drooping.”

Charles Haddon Spurgeon

The world universally accepts calling young males and females - boys and girls. In Sunday schools, elementary schools, and homes everywhere adults use these terms to distinguish, not only between genders, but also between age. A boy of 8 years is not called a man, nor is a man of 45 called a boy. When is the switch made? When do you no longer call a girl a girl and you begin to call her a woman?

In our effort to combat the ever-pervasive myth of adolescence, we need to use our terms purposely. We too frequently accept the terms that our society gives us and we don’t consider the implications that they have on our thinking. If I address a group of high school males by calling them boys, then I am further supporting what they are being told from every other source - that they don’t have to grow up yet, because they are still boys. If you consider the people you are ministering to as adults - men and women - then you will expect much more of them and hold them to greater responsibility before God for their relationship with Christ and conviction of sin.

We destroy what the church’s purpose of building godly men and women when we consider those in jr. high and above as still boys and girls. The guys in your small group are no longer boys, the girls on your wing are no longer girls - they are adults and called to be mature in Christ. Let us work to present every man complete in Christ (Col. 1:28) by calling adolescent boys to be men and adolescent girls to be women.