Quote of the Day; Balthasar

Despite what the title suggests, I’m not planning on starting a running “post of the day” theme on my blog. I would fail at it more than I would succeed.
Ran across this paragraph today in the book I’m reading, A Theology of History, by Hans Urs von Balthasar. It’s pretty intense.

“There are three things we cannot do: (1) we cannot carry on with natural metaphysics, natural ethics, natural jurisprudence, natural study of history, acting as though Christ were not, in the concrete, the norm of everything. Nor can we (2) lay down an unrelated “double truth” with the secular scholar and scientist on the one hand and the theologian on the other, studying the same object without any encounter or intersection between their two methods. Nor, finally, can we (3) allow the secular disciplines to be absorbed by theology as though it alone were competent in all cases because Christ alone is the norm. Precisely because Christ is the absolute he remains incommensurate with the norms of this world; and no final accord between theology and the other disciplines is possible within the limits of this world. The refusal of any such agreed demarcation on the part of theology, though it may look like and be called arrogance, is really no more than respect for the methodological demands of its subject.”

random thoughts. from germany. yeah.

i feel kind of bad for neglecting this blog. i’m the kind of guy who really thinks through what he says, does and writes before he says, does or writes them. i don’t think i’ve ever done anything of which i could say,   “I really regret doing this.” so the scarcity of my blogging stems out of, basically, a lack of creativity on my part. but, as i was reading other friends blogs, the concept of a blog with little random paragraphs of completely uninterrelated subject matter might be something i would be interested in  resurrectiong.

random thought #1: i got to this point, and realized i’m stuck. i spent all of my brainstorming time working on the preceding paragraph of this post. this is going to be rough

random thought #2: germany is a beautiful country, especially the black forest area that we’re staying in. aside from the unnecessary excess of humidity, this is as comfortable a climate as i’ve ever been in. despite the toll it takes on my family, i love how often it rains here. i could literally write another thousand words, but i’m going to put up this picture, which, according to common knowledge, is roughly the same in value.

Random thought #3: my family is starting the bourne supremacy downstairs. that means that this blog post has come to an untimely, yet completely understandable end.

i’ll direct your traffic here

while i come up with stuff to blog about (i had a paragraph written up last night, but realized that i was boring myself with it), i am on twitter. so i shall direct all of you to my live micro-blogging service while i am stumped on my macro-blogging.

also, shameless plug: i’ve gotten some good feed back on some of my more recent previous posts. check’em out.

much love,

Caleb

europe…

not entirely what to blog on. i guess i’m missing out on the blogmania that has swept over the rest of my family. i don’t even care to remember most of my observations, let alone share them with you guys. call it bloggers block. i will write something, eventually.

Embracing the Process

American’s are really, really impatient. This isn’t an outside opinion, I’m one of them. we want our internet to be as fast as possible (which any IHOP-er will tell you is just not possible anywhere within a 400 yard radius of the missions base during GBF week), our food as fast as possible, and when we don’t get the results we want in the borderline impossible time-frame we want (like, say, a pizza delivered in 20 minutes), than we become passive aggressive at best, downright mean and nasty at the worst. We could blame several people or organizations for this, super markets, McDonald’s drive through, or the advent of flight, but at the heart level, we are a nation of impatient, whiny children. We’ve strayed from something that I believe is dear to God’s heart, something I’ll refer to as “the process.”

The process of what, you might ask. To be specific, I’m not going to be addressing anything specific in this post. Fill in what you want, the process of sanctification, inner healing, or the baking of a pie, I’m going to be talking about the principle of embracing a process, whatever that process might be.

I believe that God, who we in the evangelical world sometimes refer to as a “master craftsman,” is very committed to the process. This means that we, as Christians, should also be committed to it, regardless of our nationality, denomination or theology. There are several reasons to be passionate about the process, some of which I believe are the reasons that God is.

Embracing a process as a means to an end produces patience, a shifting at a deeper level, and an overall sound, firm end result. First, it produces patience. When we embrace a process, we surrender to it, allowing it to run it’s course. Whether we wait for moments, days or years is not up to us, and there is little we can do aside from hindering the fruition of that for which we wait. An expecting mother can wish all the day long to hold her still-forming child, but she can do nothing to speed the process. So we to are subject to eager expectation and painstaking longing for something which we cannot have until the appointed time. These two are the foundations of patience.

Second, it produces a shift in the phycological make up of the individual who embraces the process. If I am trying to lose weight (no smart comments, please), I have two options. I can embrace the natural process of doing so (exercise, eating healthy, and yes, fasting helps), or I could go get liposuction. While the liposuction would produce the same results of natural weight loss, the results would be limited to the physical outcome of the process. But if I embrace a lifestyle of healthy living, than, over time, my mentality changes in such a way that will actually sustain the results. By committing to diet and exercise, over time, that becomes my lifestyle. But were I to go the liposuction route, no habits would be formed or broken, and I’d be on the fast track to gaining it all back.

Finally, embracing the process produces a sound, lasting end result. Let’s examine the process of sanctification. The minute an individual comes to the saving knowledge of Christ, he or she is still desperately wicked in every way. I’ve been a Christian all my life, and this year at IHOP I’ve come to realize just how utterly dark my soul is. If the Lord were to immediately make a new convert completely holy, that individual would have a form of holiness that had no root system. They would, in fact, be holy, but would have no idea as to why they were or why that which they were changed from was so needing change. In His wisdom and mercy, the Lord allows us to see how desperately wicked we are and than invites us to work with Him to uproot and do away with that wickedness. By embracing the process of sanctification, we see first hand A) how wicked we truly are, B) the results of that wickedness, and C) what a difficult thing it is to uproot that wickedness. This means that we will see why we need to be holy, and what cost we pay to become holy.

Embracing a process means sacrificing one’s desires (not for the completion of the process, but for the other things that potentially hinder our progress), rights and timetables. I must here also point out that the process’ to which we submit ourselves must be ones of a righteous nature. If we give ourselves to wicked process’ or to ones that end in a decreased moral state, than we actually engrain that darkness in our hearts even deeper, because our mentalities have shifted in such a way as to preserve and sustain that darkness. By surrendering to righteousness and the inner workings of it, we are surrendering to the One who orchestrates the process.

Painting a Realistic Picture of Christianity, Part 2: Freedom and Victory

my last post was, without question, quite a downer. that’s why there’s a part two

the world often thinks that “christianity” as it knows it is boring and that life outside of religion is exhilerating, and freeing of “legalities” and things of that nature. i think that, too often, most inside the church secretly consider it to be boring and burdensom. this is because we are not living the christian life to its’ fullest. as trite and cliche as that sounds (i know, it’s actually pretty bad), if we actually think about what that means, and how we can apply it to our day to day routines, than i think we’ll find it quite life changing.

the world often portray’s sin as being enjoyable, and without recourse. this couldn’t be further from the truth. for one, the bible tells us that, “the wages of sin is death.” most of us have been hearing that since sunday school. tozer says that truth, if we allow it, can become so familiar to us that it loses all its power (or, as steven colbert might say, its truthiness). my head spins and my heart aches when i ponder all the solid biblical truths that we’ve allowed to loose their power. bunny trail. no matter how far we run, we cannot escape from our sins. the heart that laden’s itself down with wickedness will ultimately perish in the bed of corruption it has made for itself. if you look at men and women who’ve boughten into the sinful desires of the flesh, look how their lives have turned out. kurt cobain, who was once the icon of the rock and roll fantasy life, killed himself in deep depression. there are many, many others in the limelight who live the life their hearts desire, and are miserable wretch’s.

every time we cast off the restraint of God, we are only putting on chains, binding ourselves more and more to the miserable state in which we live. absent of this reality, the world, and sadly the church, is selling itself into slavery to the powers of darkness that want nothing more than for it to burn at its side in the lake of fire.

still depressed? here’s the good news. we don’t have to live like that. god, our all wise and all knowing creator, established boundaries for us within which we can live and flourish and enjoy. what the world calls oppressive and legalistic is actually meant for our good and to sustain us. imagine you have a small child who is learning to crawl. it would be foolish of you not to put up a fence in front of your stairs, or to leave the front door open so that the child could wander into the street! parents set boundaries for their children so that they can live and not fall into harms way.

not only are the boundary’s set for us meant for our protection, but to propell us to enjoy the lord as much as we can. a heart free of the baggage of sin (guilt, condemnation, and a polluted spirit) is free to engage with the Lord in a deeper and more intimate way than that of a sinner.

“Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD?
Or who may stand in His holy place?
⁴ He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
Who has not lifted up his soul to an idol,
Nor sworn deceitfully.”
Psalm 24:3-4

as we walk in obedience and righteousness, we engage with the lord more freely and enjoy fellowship with him more. not only that, but we have victory over the evil one. obviously, when we say no to sin and yes to righteousness, we are overcoming the devil, but as we walk in intentional, continued holiness, we begin to have increased power over him in more and more areas of life. in john 14:30, jesus reminded his disciples that, ” the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me.” Jesus walked in such a measure of authority over sickness and devils because they could find no foothold in him. how can we bind that which has bound us?

thank you jesus for your laws and your leadership!

Painting a Realistic Picture of Christianity, Part 1: Turbulent and Mundane

in an effort to merge myself into becoming a “blogger” (i don’t consider myself one. yet.), i’ve decided to begin a multipart series. over the next couple weeks, i’m going to be jotting down my thoughts on what being a christian means and how it actually looks in day to day life.

one of the questions i’m most often asked by people outside the IHOP community is what is it like being in the prayer room 24+ hours a week. mainly for shock value, i tell them, “i hate it!” (no, i don’t.) actually, they are surprised when i tell them that, most of the time, i’m spacing off or unsuccessfully trying to focus. others, who may have been at IHOP for a short period of time (meaning a couple days) ask, “don’t you just love being in the prayer room?” my honest answer has to be not nearly as much as they think i might.

i think that many people get fantastic, very-far-off-base ideas of what the prayer room is like. even those who have a measure of exposure to the prayer room tend to get these romantic ideas of what it is like. this was the way i thought going into last semester. it took me about two weeks to realize that that place is one of the most brutal, raw places one can put themselves in.

i think that the problem stems from well-intentioned preachers and leaders in the body of christ who paint pictures of the place of the prayer room to their congregations that often resembles rolling hills covered in daisy’s. the picture i’d probably paint is a world war i trench in france. blood, guts, struggle, ground being taken and lost (metaphorically speaking, of course. no one looses a limb in the prayer room).

what i’m trying to convey is that the prayer room (and by prayer room, i’m not strictly referring to the global prayer room at 3535 e redbridge road, kansas city, mo, 64137. i’m using it to convey the place of focused, extensive prayer and fasting) is, for most of the IHOP community, a place of great wrestling, not of great rest (that sounded eerily evangelical…).

in 1st Corinthians 13:12, paul, in describing the contrast between this age and the age to come, tells us that, “Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.” the modern mirror was not the intended image paul was trying to conjour up in our minds. in the days of the early church, mirrors were no more than buffed peices of metal. when you read mirror, don’t think of the thing hanging above your sink, think of a peice of sheet metal. imagine (ladies and some of you more “tidy” gentlemen) trying to do your hair looking into the side of a pot. we aren’t intended to walk into the christian life and have third heaven, audible voice encounters everytime we close our eyes.

most of what we experience as christians today is obscured by the weakness of our flesh, our circumstances and wrestlings with sin. i think most christians will go through their lives as successful, mature christians and never have the encounters we read about in the bible. if we study the bible in an open minded, teachable spirit, we realize that the details of the lives of most of the characters we so revere and cherish are omitted from the bible. if they were not, we would have volumes and volumes of scripture to pour ourselves over, and most of the content would be something like this, “the next day, moses went to the market, purchased some bread, went home, and spent the rest of the evening deciding whether or not a particular feild needed a fence.” BORING! this is reality, though. Daniel was 13 when he went into babylonian captivity, and was 60 when he had his first vision in Daniel chapter 7.

what i’m saying is this: most of the christian life, at least in this age, is subject to mundaneness. when we close our eyes and turn our internal gaze heavenward, we’re still confined by our weak, boring minds. yes, God breaks in and fascinates and enthralls us from time to time, but, from my experience, i would say that 80-90% of the time, my prayer life is fueled out of my own strength, and that i’m running on fumes constantly.

kind of a downer? i’d rather be sobered by the truth than be caught up in a dilusional fantasy.

My testimony and exhortation concerning night and day prayer

My journey to IHOP and IHOPU is somewhat uninteresting. There were no angels, audible voices, and the third heavens stayed frustratingly shut during the season of my life where I was deciding where to go to college. I’ve always known that I was called into ministry, but where to go and how to get there was a mystery to me.
My church was and still is very connected with New Life Church in Colorado Springs, CO. I did a couple of summer internships out there during high school, and was pretty confident that that was where I wanted to go to college, mainly to be a part of their college internship programs. But when the scandal with Ted Haggard broke, everything changed. I was a junior in high school, and even after the scandal broke, I was pretty set on going there for my college years. When I talked to my father about it, however, he was suddenly opposed to it, and with good reason. Without getting into specifics, he tried to talk me out of it. I wasn’t convinced. All of this happened at Onething 2006, where I saw and became interested in FSM. I checked out the booth, and talked it over with my parents. They were all for it. So, without much hesitation, I changed my direction.
Before I came to IHOP, I would say that my spiritual life was filled with high’s and low’s. I was either really good or really bad. In contrast to now, I was having much more high’s than I’ve had since I’ve been here. But I wouldn’t trade my experience over the past semester for the world. Though it has never been harder to pray, fast, and press in to God, I have grown and matured spiritually far beyond where I was merely six months ago. In hindsight, though I was encountering God more, the encounters weren’t very deep or life changing. Since I’ve been here, the few real encounters I’ve had have profoundly shifted my life and my mentality.
When people back home ask me what it’s like being in the prayer room on a daily basis, I tell them that focused, extended involvement in the prayer room brings out two extremes. On one hand, intense meditation upon the Word and extended periods of worship tenderize one’s heart and shifts one’s mind and heart towards God in ways that an hour and a half service on Sunday’s can not. By simply submitting yourself to sitting before the Lord for hours a day, you allow the Lord to work things in you that require long periods of meditation and communion with Him.
But on the other hand, the depravity and hatred towards God and the things of God are forced to the surface, and demand to be dealt with. As starry eyed as non-IHOPer’s get about the prayer room, what you don’t see on the webstream or even on a visit to the base is the war that is waging in the minds of those sitting there to cast off the things of the flesh and give themselves whole heartedly to the Lord.  It’s only natural that, when Holy Spirit is given greater access to our lives, that He purges more darkness from us. The end of this is an obedient, mature lover of Christ. The process is one of the most brutal, raw wars raged by men, physically or spiritually. This is my experience in the prayer room.
That being said, as difficult as night and day prayer is for the soul in the process of sanctification to take part in, it is one of the most important, rewarding things that men and women can give themselves to. The aforementioned benefits of night and day prayer far outweigh the costs. In fact, as intense as my experience with it has been, I’m beginning to question how the Christian life, let alone ministry, can flourish and not die outside of the context of perpetual worship and intercession. Four dry, unanointed hours in the prayer room benefit me far more than an entire day devoid of this reality could ever hope to. If I have trouble sustaining my own, personal spiritual life outside of the prayer room (and by prayer room, I’m not speaking specifically of the IHOP prayer room; I’m simply using the term to describe a context of extended prayer and worship), how can I possibly sustain a life of pastoral leadership, something I’ve grown up around. I know the trials and hardships of vocational ministry, and they far exceed the pressures I’m facing now.
This is why ministers must be wholly given to the place of prayer. First, Jesus tells us in John 15:4 to, “abide in (Him),” using the example of a vine and its branches. If we, as the shepherds of the flock, are not ourselves in continual dependence on the Lord for our sustenance, as a stem is upon its trunk, how can we expect to sustain ourselves? As the branch that falls from the tree quickly withers, so shall we.
Secondly, because the place of prayer breaks one, and ministers must be broken and dead to themselves to properly minister Christ to those they serve, the place of prayer is, by nature, the womb from which true witnesses are birthed. Apart from the place of prayer, ministers are reliant upon themselves and thus founded upon only the faithless sand that they so eagerly warn others, in theory, but in theory only, not to root themselves upon.
If our Lord and Savior often withdrew from the masses to be alone with His Father, how can we expect to live any other way? Jesus, who was fully God, was dependant upon His Father for strength and empowerment in ministry. Why is it that we expect to be able to minister without doing the same, being less than He was? It is founded either out of arrogance, believing that we do not need God to profess God, or ignorance of the Scriptures we claim scholarship of.

I must say that I’ve been priveliged to have been brought up under a man whose given himself to this reality. Thanks, Dad.

Out of the Archives II

this one took place after graduation. i had a couple friends over (really, just chris and nick), and those two, thomas and i decided to take axes to this old wooden santa we had kicking around our place. the song is “por ti volare”.

out of the archives I

digging through my computer and phone, i found that i have some pretty interesting stuff. so i’m putting it up here, in the name of transparency.

for this one, chris, nick and i thought it would be a fun idea to mess around with my macbook’s green screen. jared thought otherwise.