Archive for February, 2007

If you’ve noticed, I’ve had some posts about legalism. Having been an active participant in such a defeating mindset, reading this book by Neil Anderson has helped me realize a TON of things. The biggest so far is figuring out who I am. I know my true identity.

I’ve taken a certain excerpt from the book to share with you. When I read it, a LOT of what I’ve read in the Bible came to life and made so much sense to me.

New Life Results in a New Title

Have you noticed that one of the most frequently used words of identity for Christians in the New Testament is “saint”? A saint is literally a holy person. Yet Paul and the other writers of the Epistles used the word generously to describe common, ordinary, everyday Christians like you and me. For example, Paul’s salutation in 1 Corinthians 1.2 reads: “To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling, with all who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours.“
Notice that Paul didn’t say that we are saints by hard work. He clearly states that we are saints by calling. Some of us have bought into the mentality that saints are people who have earned their lofty title by living a magnificent life or achieving a certain level of maturity. No way. The Bible says you are a saint because God called you to be a saint. You were “sanctified in Christ” – made a saint by participating in the life of the only true holy one, Jesus Christ.
Many Christians refer to themselves as sinners saved by grace. But are you really a sinner? Is that your scriptural identity? Not at all. God doesn’t call you a sinner; He calls you a saint – a holy one. If you think of yourself as a sinner, guess what you will do: you’ll live like a sinner; you’ll sin. Why not identify yourself for who you really are: a saint who occasionally sins. Remember: What you do doesn’t determine who you are; who you are determines what you do.

I don’t know how this potentially impacts your life but this spearheaded my feeling of having to ‘qualify’ in walking an extremely skinny, impossible line that is formed by and laced with intricate unnecessary rules. Who am I?

taken from http://www.ficm.org/whoiam.htm:

Every one of these statements are non-negotiable. We as Christians, as believers in Jesus Christ, as saints do not have to prove that they’re true, they’re already true and we can never change that. It’s good to know that neither our bad nor our good can have any bearing on these.

I am NOT a reader-type. As a matter of fact, I’m probably about as far away from that as I could be. But, the time I’ve spent reading Victory Over the Darkness have been absolutely unreal. Reader or not, I suggest you give this book a go. You’ll see the value in it. I promise.

I hope all of you have had a good (and guys, wise) Valentine’s Day.  Dana and I went out to eat with two friends of ours, Todd and Kerri.  They’re an older (no offense, guys) couple who are our new mentors.  They’ve been with Wycliffe for about 2 decades now with a lot of it spent in Cameroon.  They live here in Waxhaw now working at the JAARS center.  They are awesome.  I’ve liked them since the first time we met them.  Dana has been meeting with Kerri one-on-one and Todd and I just began this week.  They have a lot of life and missions wisdom that we hope to learn.

On a quick side note, I’m putting together a prayer blog for us so if there is anything in particular you’d like to see in the design, you’d better let me know now!

Happy V’s-Day to you, too!

I’m not posting this picture for the purpose of showing off Tony Stewart.  This post is to express my delight that NASCAR is back.  Didn’t peg me for a fan, huh?  I never would have either until I checked out what it is all about.  It is a very fun sport to follow and even more fun to attend.  Two of my favorite things: Feeling the bass in my chest at a concert and feeling the rumble in my whole body as 43 Nextel Cup cars take the green flag.

Dana and I sat and watched the Budweiser Shootout Saturday night and it felt great!  The RV has a stereo system that has speakers in the ceiling.  Don’t you know I figured out how to hook up the satellite to feed audio through it?!  Never underestimate a gadget junkie.  Surround sound in the RV, baby!  Ain’t nothin’ like it.  Seriously.

Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. ~Romans 4.20

These are a couple of the verses I read this morning. What they made me think of is my belief about getting to Tanzania this year and how I believe God wants me to stand firm on it. The branch has asked us to be there for orientation that begins August 8. I firmly believe God will have us there for it. 100% support is still pretty far away for us but thinking that makes me REALLY happy that getting there is not up to us. God has asked us to be obedient in discovering who He has in store for our partnership team. But, He is the one who works in them, not us. So on that, I believe we WILL be in Tanzania in August 2007.

Am I typing all this because I am waivering in my faith and need to make sure you think I have faith in that? No. Am I saying it because I want to let you in my confidence level. Yes. There really is only one other question… are you one God has called to be part of our team? www.jonathananddana.com > Click PARTNER at the top and you’ll find your place if that’s the case. (rhyme unintentional)

This is the story of Theo, our toy poodle. I was working as a Finance Supervisor at UPS when one of my co-workers came to me. She said an elderly couple she knew couldn’t give their dog the attention he needed so they wanted to give him away. I was single at the time and had considered getting a dog shortly before she offered him to me. I decided sure, why not.

On a cool evening in October of 2002, my co-worker met me in the parking lot with little 11-month old Theo. Well, actually he wasn’t Theo at the time, he was Teddy. Being a single man, hoping to one day get a woman, I could NOT have a little white toy poodle named Teddy. No way. No how. So, what is Teddy a nickname for? Theodore. Theodore. Theodore… hmmmm… aaahhhh…. THEO! That’s a strong male name. At least strong enough to get me a first date, right?

Theo was born in November 2001 and has 5 years that have been the best a dog could have. He thinks he’s Poodle Supreme, always claiming us as ‘his humans’. Although very well housetrained, he has some disobedient moments to balance back toward the bad. When someone new comes around him, he absolutely goes off the hook until they acknowledge they live in the poodle world. We’re working on his discipline. It is hard for Dana as little cute looks sway her judging abilities.

Oh yeah, why ‘Poodle of Grace’?  I didn’t deserve such a good dog.  He really is a treat and a pleasure to have as a companion.  He WILL be making the journey to Africa with us.

God helped me realize something HUGE last night while Dana and I were getting ready to go to sleep.  You know how those pre-slumber reflective moments can get.  This is what I realized: I’ve been approaching the Bible as a ‘requirement’ for being a Christian instead of seeing the Word as what God will use to TRANSFORM me.  Whoa.  My position = To decide whether or not I want to BE transformed.  Hot/cold or lukewarm.  Godly or worldly. Yes or no.

I can give my answer right now, but I want to see it played out.  (HINT: I’m as excited about me and God as I have been in… I don’t know how long!)

Theological implication within the Transformers action figures: They could not transform themselves.

From: <Sender>
Date: Thu, 1 Feb 2007 09:31:47 -0500
To: <Classifieds>
Subject: [JCL] Save water to drink and flush toilets if electric power-out

Seriously, this is all the ad e-mail said.  If you can explain it, please leave a comment because I don’t get it.  ~ Jonathan