Living With a Foreign Worldview by Jill Carattini

Take approximately 5 minutes to read this shortened version of yesterday's 'A Slice of Infinity'. Post comments to the blog for spiritual collaboration. Please email your prayer requests too.

Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too. Philippians 2:3-4 NLT

Slice of Infinity Snippets:
Many Christians now live in an environment where there are not only multiple faith communities around them, but faith communities spilling over into other faith communities, and worldviews embracing strands and fragments of other worldviews.

For Christians whose beliefs are rooted more in conviction than comfort, it is easy to feel that we must inherently be cultural naysayers, gypsies who wander through this world unattached and hopefully unaffected...At times it is admittedly overwhelming, and I am tempted to embrace the myth that faith is something for the private sectors of life. But then something like the Lord’s Supper, a reminder of my baptism, or a glimpse of the glory of God in the face of the church reminds me that God’s reign is here and now, real and present, radical and unafraid.

Like the apostle Paul within first century Rome, I do not believe that all is lost in the fog of a thousand religions. As Paul discovered among the people of Athens, our cultural context presents both risk and opportunity. We may live with a foreign worldview, but we do indeed live in this world. Part of proclaiming the reign of God among us involves learning to see this hope, learning to see that praying “God’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven” means being that hope of opportunity... Our communion as sinners who know God’s power is, for the world, the real presence of God’s reign today. In the words of Lesslie Newbigin:

The church represents the presence of the reign of God in the life of the world, not in the triumphalist sense (as the “successful” cause) and not in the moralistic sense (as the “righteous” cause), but in the sense that it is the place where the mystery of the kingdom present in the dying and rising of Jesus is made present here and now so that all people, righteous and unrighteous, are enabled to taste and share the love of God before whom all are unrighteous and all are accepted as righteous.

The world in which we find ourselves is full of fog and fallacies, but so it is full of the unfailing love of God. In a world where countless ideologies vie for our allegiances, the biblical narrative invites us into an understanding of human history where we encounter the one whose authority is ultimate and presence is real. Our mission is thus to tell the old, old story, to live within this story and the kingdom it proclaims, and to invite others into the narrative that is continually moving us from the particular to the universal, from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth. As Christians aware of God’s reign among us, we must not fear the historical accident that shaped the moods both in and around us, but we can live as visionaries of God's grace, harbingers of hope, and catalysts for transformation. For we testify to the radical work of the Cross in Jerusalem and in our hearts, and to the uniqueness of Jesus Christ who, unlike any other, exchanges guilt for grace, ashes for beauty, and sorrow for joy, yesterday, today, and forever.

Comments: Do not give in to selfishness when those around you do so with glee. We must be a vision of accountability if we are to help our neighbor desire to be accountable. And, our neighbor will not see our true heart for him if we are not in relationship with them. We must get people to FEEL that we care for them and to do this, we must truly care for them (this is the hard part for me). When you are building into someone's life, present your case from the standpoint of the minority (I think true Christians are in the minority) and do not think 'successfully' but rather think significantly over a long period of time.

Regardless of how you voted (or didn't vote) yesterday, it is now time to get behind President elect Obama. Pray for him and over him. God has allowed him to be the next leader of the United States. Let's pray that God has him in relationships that enjoin him to pursue the will of God for our country. Pray 'Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done'.

Faith Quote: Let's pray for the courage to sacrifice and be uncomfortable as we follow Christ and put love of God and neighbor first...Pat Castle, life-devotions.blogspot.com

Triumphant Defeats by Jill Carattini

Take approximately 5 minutes to read this shortened version of yesterday's 'A Slice of Infinity'. Post comments to the blog for spiritual collaboration. Please email your prayer requests too.

So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob's hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. Then the man said, "Let me go, for it is daybreak."
But Jacob replied, "I will not let you go unless you bless me."

The man asked him, "What is your name?"
"Jacob," he answered.

Then the man said, "Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome." Genesis 32:24-28 NIV

Slice of Infinity Snippets:
However often God must win, it is our most difficult but most triumphant loss. In this great surrendering that we find, as Fredrick Buechner says, "the magnificent defeat of the human soul at the hands of God."

Carrying the scars of a fresh wound, the humbled Jacob limped toward the brother he betrayed, on his way to becoming the father of a great nation. We, too, can be humbled by the God who refuses to leave despite the words we shout in protest and despite our constant refusal to surrender. We, too, can be awed by the God who says, "Follow me!" and expects us to trust that He will neither leave us nor forsake us. And we can marvel at the God who, carrying in his own body the scars of defeat, invites us to the very nearness that is our victory.

Comments:
I was reminded by God this weekend of something I have shared with some of you before. That is to say that the old adage of 'love the sinner, hate the sin' will likely not work. When we look at the culture around us and ask questions like, "why aren't they coming to me for help", and "why aren't people seeking me out for what I have?" I think we may be able to see that the perception at large of Christians is that we are hypocrites to the true Christ. People so often tend to see us as judgmental instead of healing. If you think about it, the biggest threat to religion in Jesus day, was Christ himself. And as our pastor said yesterday, and I believe he is right; the biggest threat to religion in our day is Jesus himself. Jesus comes to a broken world and offers healing. Is that what we are endeavoring to do? Or, are we endeavoring to tell people what they are doing wrong?

I believe if we can lead with our own brokenness, people will come to us. For, who wouldn't rather talk about someone else's downfalls rather than their own. And today's reading put this into a greater perspective for me as it helps us to look at defeat as a stepping stone. When God defeats us, we can not have won any greater prize.

As Danny and David (part of this Cougars group and long time friends) can attest, one of my biggest downfalls has been chasing girls. I have always chased girls for selfish reasons. Even to the point of hurting friends. Thank God for giving me a forgiving wife and for teaching me.

Love sinners(everyone), hate your own sin.

Contours of Grace

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Lost Sheep, Lost Coin, Lost Son
Luke Ch 15

Some of us are so familiar with it (the story of the Prodigal Son) that we might even fail to see the rich contours of grace presented in its narrative. Familiarity with the story assumes its central figure to be a son who leads a wasteful and extravagant life. But a careful reading presents the multi-faceted contours of God's extravagant display of grace towards all wayward sons and daughters.
...it is a prodigal, or wastefully extravagant, grace. The prodigal nature of the father's grace compels him to keep looking for his son--he saw him while he was still a long way off. And despite being disowned by his son, the father feels compassion for him. With wasteful abandon, the father picks up his long garments, exposing his legs and customarily shaming himself, and runs to his son to embrace him and welcome him home. The father orders a grand party for this son who has been found, "who was dead and has begun to live"--brought to life by the rich, grace of God, a prodigal grace, both unexpected and undeserved.
But the prodigal nature of God's grace is also a disruptive grace. God's grace disrupts and sometimes even offends our sense of justice. It seems unjust, for example, that such an extravagant party was thrown for such a reckless, rebellious son. It seems equally unjust that the faithful older brother was not celebrated in the same way as his wayward, younger sibling. Clearly, the prodigal nature of God's grace disrupts us because of how it is given--extravagantly and seemingly wastefully.
...
The final contour of God's grace is perhaps the most obvious point in Jesus's parables. God's grace is a seeking grace. God's grace searches relentlessly until what is lost is found. The prodigal nature of the father's grace compels him to keep looking for his son and to feel nothing but compassion when he finds him. With abandon, the father runs towards the son who was lost and now is found! If this story didn't make the seeking nature of grace obvious enough, Jesus follows it with two other stories about a lost sheep and a lost coin. In both, a relentless search for what is lost ensues until it is found.

If you've lost the wonder of God's grace by over-familiarity to the story, may you rediscover the rich contours of grace--prodigal, disruptive, and relentless in its pursuit of you. If you have never known the richness of God's grace, may that grace find you today!

Comments: Is there some way that you can give unexpected and undeserved grace today? Perhaps something that takes someone off guard because it is so freely given? Seek out this way. For it is the way of Jesus.

The Prophet and the Newspaper by Jill Carattini

Take approximately 5 minutes to read this shortened version of yesterday's 'A Slice of Infinity'. Post comments to the blog for spiritual collaboration. Please email your prayer requests too.

“O that you would tear open the heavens and come down, that the mountains would quake at your presence!” (Isaiah 64:1).


A Slice of Infinity 'Snippets'
“We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy cloth.
We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
There is no one who calls on your name, or attempts to take hold of you;
for you have hidden your face from us, and have delivered us into the hand of our iniquity” (64:6-7).

It is unavoidable when looking at injustice--even weeping over injustice--to cry foul at the other team, the other group, the other side. There are also times when looking at injustice that we would put God Himself in the dock, interrogating the one we deem distant and responsible. Yet in this incessant finger-pointing, however justifiable it might seem, we fail to see the unjust things we do ourselves, our own inconsistencies, our own ironic ways of persecuting--indeed, our own ways of contributing to the very things we lament. The ancient cry of Isaiah is one that is rightfully weighted with both an awareness of the injustice around him and admittance of his people’s own depravity, of their own guilt. Reading the prophet’s words with our daily newspaper in hand, we might well see the importance of adding to our cries for the injustice of West Africa the lament over our own involvement--and the will to turn this, too, around.

“Do not be exceedingly angry, O LORD,
and do not remember our iniquity forever.
But consider now: we are all your people” (64:8).

Indeed, Isaiah’s vision of a world that revolves around the kingship of God at the center of all things is a vision that pivots on the urgency of the present moment, shaped not by nostalgia for what once was, but remembrance for who God was, and is, and ever will be. Again and again, God stirs us back to the urgency of the present. Again and again, the Cross reminds us of the fierce urgency of now within a world in need not of more pointing fingers and dividing speeches, but of people willing to rise and work as if now we are all God’s people.

Let's endeavor to add one person to our prayers this week.

In the Belly of Darkness by Jill Carattini

Take about 5 minutes to read this snippets version of The previous day's 'A Slice of Infinity'. Follow up by reading TODAY'S SLICE and forward any comments on your faith journey.

He said,

“I cried out to the Lord in my great trouble,
and he answered me. I called to you from the land of the dead,
and Lord, you heard me! You threw me into the ocean depths,
and I sank down to the heart of the sea. The mighty waters engulfed me;
I was buried beneath your wild and stormy waves.
Then I said, ‘O Lord, you have driven me from your presence.
Yet I will look once more toward your holy Temple.’

“I sank beneath the waves, and the waters closed over me.
Seaweed wrapped itself around my head.
I sank down to the very roots of the mountains.
I was imprisoned in the earth, whose gates lock shut forever.
But you, O Lord my God, snatched me from the jaws of death!
As my life was slipping away, I remembered the Lord.
And my earnest prayer went out to you in your holy Temple. (Jonah 2:2-7)

A Slice of Infinity Snippets:
Sadly, Jonah's idols of self and comfort returned not long after the prayer was finished and his life was spewed back into normalcy. As he rages over the death of a plant and the saving of Nineveh, Jonah doesn’t want to see the God who saved him. The scene brings to mind Isaiah's description: "Surely the hand of the LORD is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear, but...your sins have hidden his face from you" (59:1-2). Even so, the book ends on a note bidding us to see that God is always about the work of salvation. Whether in the lives of nations "who know not their right from their left" or in the lives of men and women blind with self and sin, God moves faithfully among us. Might we remember in distress and in safety, salvation comes from the LORD.

Comments:
How often it seems we push against God to enact our plan upon the world. May we continually be mindful of Jesus' prayer to Our Father: Your Kingdom Come, Your will be done! In what ways might we bring about the kingdom of God today? Jesus went about declaring that the kingdom of heaven is at hand while teaching, healing the sick, causing the blind to see, etc. In what way can I bring teaching, dignity and healing into the lives of those I come in contact with. Perhaps it is buying a homeless man a cup of coffee. Perhaps it is simply listening to the cashier at the store when I'm in a rush. Perhaps it is moving forward in real relationship with a close friend. Perhaps it is healing the sick. God, please grant us each the courage to let your life live through us.



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Fit Bodies, Fat Minds by Alison Thomas

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A Slice of Infinity Snippets:
In his book Fit Bodies, Fat Minds, Os Guinness describes how Christians have "simultaneously toned up their bodies and dumbed down their minds."(1) He connects the contemporary form of Christian anti-intellectualism with Friedrich Nietzsche's prediction of "the last man." Losing touch with transcendence, people would eventually confuse heaven with happiness and happiness with health.

I have been a fitness instructor for five years; it is my favorite recreational activity. How invigorating it is to strengthen and stretch tired muscles after a long day. I am also a romantic optimist, constantly on the lookout for the tiniest glimmer of hope during frustrating circumstances. While there is nothing wrong with exercise and optimism, our challenge as Christians today is to deliberately reflect on our lifestyle and thought-style on a daily basis. How can we live healthfully and joyously without subtly degrading the service of God into the service of self?

If we fail to think critically about the motivating factors underlying our lifestyle choices, our minds will be terribly unfit. William Lane Craig adds, "Intellectual impoverishment with respect to one's faith can thus lead to spiritual impoverishment as well."...Moreover, thinking deeply about matters of faith is not just a purely human activity relying solely on one's own strength; it must operate from the utter reliance on God's Word and Spirit.

Such dependence on God in the midst of discipline should remind us that our deepest motivation to be thinking Christians should not be merely to win arguments, but to captivate the lost with the love of Christ as we ourselves have been captivated. As powerful alternatives to the gospel proliferate all around us, let us prayerfully increase our fitness to fight for the gospel in ways that are persuasive, imaginative, and compassionate.

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Explaining Away Light by Jill Carattini

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Ask me and I will tell you remarkable secrets you do not know about things to come. (Jeremiah 33:3)

A Slice of Infinity Snippets:
However accurate or inaccurate our explanations might be, they sometimes have a way of leading us to short-sighted conclusions. They have also led us to outright incongruity. We have now tried with great effort to define humanity as an impersonal product of chance, an adult germ in a vast cosmic machine. We have brusquely described life as a tale told by an idiot, signifying nothing, only to claim this should not lead us to despair. We have declared our appetites the gods of a better religion, while insisting both God and religion to be an invention of the human psyche. We scoff at the notion of a savior who frees the captive or restores the fallen, while maintaining we live with every qualification for human dignity, distinction, and freedom. But are these even realistic applications of our own philosophies? Do the explanations warrant the conclusions?

On the contrary, we are undermining our own mines. In the words of R.C. Sproul, we are living on borrowed capital. Why should a product of chance have intrinsic value? Why would an impersonal, cosmic accident see herself as a personal, relational being worthy of dignity? What we are attempting to explain away in one sentence, we are arguing for in the next.

Explanations need not always lead us to the conclusion that all is lost. But neither should our explanations lead us to conclusions that contradict our own accounts! Thankfully, in both cases, there are times in life where we find, like Job, that we have spoken out of turn and discover there may be more to the story. After sitting through the whirlwind of God's 63 questions, Job exclaims: "I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know" (Job 42:3).

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Why Can't I Just Be a Good Person? by Michael Ramsden

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Then they asked him, "What must we do to do the works God requires?"

Jesus answered, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent." (John 6:28-29)

A Slice of Infinity Snippets:
The difficulty here lies in the assumption that is being made in each of these questions--namely, that there is such a thing as a good person. Jesus again offers further clarification in the form of question and answer. He was once asked, "Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" (Luke 18:18). The theory of the questioner was clear: Jesus is a good person; good people go to heaven, so what must I do to be in the same group? But Jesus's reply was surprising. "Why do you call me good?" he asked (18:19). He then answered his own question: "No one is good--except God alone."

The simple truth is that the issue is not about good people not getting into heaven. Alas, the problem is much worse! Jesus seems to define goodness in terms of being like God, and on that basis there are no good people anywhere. Thus, the real question is not about who is good enough to get in to heaven. The real question is how God makes it possible for anyone to get in at all. The answer is that we need to be forgiven, and that forgiveness is won for us through the Cross.(1)

In fact, this is precisely why the Gospel is called Good News, and why we do well to declare it. The good news is that getting into heaven is first and foremost about forgiveness. The Christian testimony is, in fact, far from arrogant! Christians can be sure that they are going to heaven, not because they are good, but because they have received forgiveness by believing in Christ.

In other words, if we will trust in and rely on Jesus--his promises, his person, his life, death, and resurrection--we can be sure that we are saved. Christians are not good people because they live morally superior lives to everyone else. They have been made "good" in God's eyes because Christ has made forgiveness possible--because Christ has extended his own righteousness to those who will believe.

Good people will certainly go to heaven. However, the path to goodness lies not in religious observances or respectable acts, but in the forgiveness of a good God, given to us through the Cross of Christ.

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The Apologists first question - by Ravi Zacharias

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A Slice of Infinity Snippets:
I have little doubt that the single greatest obstacle to the impact of the Gospel has not been its inability to provide answers, but the failure on our part to live it out. I remember well in the early days of my Christian faith talking to a close Hindu friend. He was questioning the experience of conversion as being supernatural. He absolutely insisted that conversion was nothing more than a decision to lead a more ethical life and that, in most cases, it was not any different from other ethical religions. I had heard his argument before.

But then he said something I have never forgotten: “If this conversion is truly supernatural, why is it not more evident in the lives of so many Christians I know?”

The Irish evangelist Gypsy Smith once said, “There are five Gospels. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and the Christian, and some people will never read the first four.”

One ought to take time to reflect seriously upon the question, Has God truly wrought a miracle in my life? Is my own heart proof of the supernatural intervention of God?

Comments:
How often I get in the way of evangelism. I must rely on God, not my answers about God. It is for freedom that Christ set us free. Therefore, we have not need to be apprehensive when someone questions us. I need to not take offense when someone dogs my faith, but I should see it as opportunity to love. All too often I see it as an opportunity to dog back; when it should be an opening to love - if I truly have a supernatural conversion in my life.

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God on the Side of Sinners by Margaret Manning

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(Romans 5:1-11)

(2 Corinthians 5:18-19)

A Slice of Infinity Snippets:
C.S. Lewis, the most reluctant and dejected convert in all England, penned this now famous and oft-quoted account of his conversion. Unlike some who decided to follow Jesus with urgency and willingness of heart, Lewis came into the Kingdom of God kicking and screaming! While some of us resonate with Lewis’s dread of conversion, most of us, like the Prodigal Son, gladly pursued the path home.

Lewis’s reluctance fascinates me, but I am even more moved by the portrait of God presented by his conversion story. Lewis reminds us of the love of God that relentlessly pursues even the reluctant prodigal who would turn and run in the opposite direction in order to avoid God’s gracious embrace. The God revealed in Lewis’s account is a God on the side of sinners. Indeed, even the reluctant convert is wooed, courted, and pursued by God’s love. How sadly ironic, then, that the reluctant are often the ones I am quick to reject and judge...

Paul, the “chief of sinners,” knows this great reconciliation personally...

This profound allegiance of God with sinners raises many questions for us. Do we witness to the God who is on the side of sinners as we share the gospel of Jesus? Are we as reconciled sinners proclaiming the message of reconciliation in our words and our deeds? Have we been so moved by God’s alignment alongside us as the helpless, the sinful, and even as enemies that our first motivation is reconciliation, and not judgment, towards those God loves? Miroslav Volf beautifully sums up these questions when he states “God does not abandon the godless to their evil but gives the divine self for them in order to receive them into divine communion through atonement, so also should we-whoever our enemies and whoever we may be.”(3) As we reflect on our own standing before God, may we not be reluctant converts blind to the depths of our own reconciliation. Rather, may our common heritage as sinners move us to pursue others as God has pursued us.

Comments:
If you remember a few days ago, I had written that perhaps many need to hit bottom in order to look up. While this still may hold a truism, I recognize my selfishness and my all too 'eager-to-get-on-with-Other, Greater things' spirit.

Last evening, Kaci and I went out for ice cream. While we were driving away, I saw a couple of Mormon guys. You know the ones, they wore black pants, white shirts and name tags. To a man walking by, I heard one of them say, quite sincerely it seemed, "good evening sir, would you be interested in hearing a message about our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ?"

Regardless of how much truth the Mormon faith holds, I have to admit I was slightly humbled by the reckless abandon of the question.

I continue to hold the view that relationship is key, but open air preaching has seemed to have much great effect throughout the ages.

May we continue to Love our neighbors and bring to them the message of reconciliation at any opportunity God puts on our hearts.

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My God is King by Jill Carattini

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But Ruth replied, “Don’t ask me to leave you and turn back. Wherever you go, I will go; wherever you live, I will live. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God. 17 Wherever you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord punish me severely if I allow anything but death to separate us!” (Ruth 1:16-17)

I went away full, but the Lord has brought me home empty. Why call me Naomi when the Lord has caused me to suffer^[a] and the Almighty has sent such tragedy upon me?” (Ruth 1:21)

“But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives,
and he will stand upon the earth at last. (Job 19:25)

A Slice of Infinity Snippets:
A story written in antiquity that continues to exceed contemporary standards of what is considered “good storytelling” is more than a little interesting. The book of Ruth has drawn accolades from many voices for many years. Goethe held that it was "the loveliest complete work on a small scale" while another pronounced, "No poet in the world has written a more beautiful story."(1) The book is simple and honest, the lives it gives account of both ordinary and compelling.


Comments:
I've recently had a thought regarding someone I have been trying to witness to for awhile. Perhaps the further steeped into a world of rejecting God (through mind-self aggrandizement, body-drugs or vanity, spirit-religiosity) the more they will begin to see the truth of God. What I mean is; when we see a lie in full strength, we recognize it.

There may be a point at which God 'gives them over' to their selfish desires; yet I also know that many must reach the bottom before they will look up. I think a man either finds a way to humble himself, or, he goes mad.

May we continue to pray that we see God's grand story being painted onto the lives of our family, friends, neighbors and even our enemies.

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Jesus: Then and Now, Above and Below by Jill Carattini

- And if Christ has not been raised, then all our preaching is useless, and your faith is useless. (1Corinthians 15:14)
- For since we believe that Jesus died and was raised to life again, we also believe that when Jesus returns, God will bring back with him the believers who have died. (1 Thessalonians 4:14)
- And they speak of how you are looking forward to the coming of God’s Son from heaven—Jesus, whom God raised from the dead. He is the one who has rescued us from the terrors of the coming judgment. (1 Thessalonians 1:10)

A Slice of Infinity snippets:
I believe a Christology that starts with a historical examination of the resurrection offers us much reason to hope in the person and reality of Christ as the Son of God. “If Christ has not been raised,” writes Paul, “our preaching is useless and so is your faith” (1 Corinthians 15:14). Similarly, I wonder if starting “from below,” with an investigation of the historical Jesus, does not offer us a certain hope (and starting point) for the current intellectual climate. Though there are no doubt those like David Hume among us who would not believe on any amount of evidence that something so unusual as the resurrection could happen, there are countless others who are asking good questions from below. Among others: What happened on that first Easter morning? Why would the disciples go to their deaths making such an outrageous claim? And why does the rise of Christianity remain a challenge unanswered?

Such questions are a good starting point for anyone, and often--like the resurrection for those who first beheld it--the questioner is moved quickly from historical matters below to matters far above. As N.T. Wright notes:
“[T]he challenge [of the resurrection] comes down to a much narrower point, not simply to do with worldviews in general, or with ‘the supernatural’ in particular, but with the direct question of death and life, of the world of space, time and matter and its relation to whatever being there may be for whom the word ‘god,’ or even ‘God,’ might be appropriate. Here there is, of course, no neutrality.”...

In the eyes of Jesus’s beholders, the resurrection had clear implications for our own bodies, lives, and deaths. Paul is similarly bold in his application: “But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1 Corinthians 15:20). “He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy” (Colossians 1:18). As the fulfillment of apocalyptic hope, the risen Jesus is understood as the one who ushers in the future resurrection promised to all of God’s people.

The resurrection is so much more than an event in history, but that it is an event in history is what allows us--indeed, requires us--to answer the very question Jesus first asked his disciples: Who do you say that I am? However we answer this question, there is, of course, no prospect of neutrality.

Chad's Comments:
Friday evening, after a short run, my running partner, Ben, and I were stretching on the front porch. A neighbor came by to tell us that he would likely not be able to make it to dinner tonight (we have several neighbors coming over tonight for a get-to-know-you party) because his wife's dad was dying and they would need to work through all of those details. Jerry (my neighbor) was obviously hurting and in anguish for his wife and his relationship with her dad. Ben and I were able to simply love him.

The question of death was on his mind heavy. He was saying things like, I'm not a religious man, etc. Other than my saying, "but you know Jesus", Ben and I pretty much just listened to him talk. We stood there for perhaps 10 minutes while Jerry re-told some stories of the hospital and times he had spent with his wife's dad, growing up on a farm. Then, Ben and I witnessed an awesome thing. Something we didn't really realize till after the conversation with Jerry. Jerry continued to wrestle with and attempt to defend his position of being a 'good' man. He was saying how his wife's dad knew 'right from wrong'. Ben and I watched his mind try to justify 'good works' to us. Even though we were not challenging his position. We were only there, listening and loving.

Looking back on the event, Ben and I have both said how we were able to actually watch the spirit of God convict a man's heart right in front of our eyes. I reiterate, that Ben and I were only listening and loving. We were not arguing or even speaking of such matters - mostly just listening and nodding in understanding and support. Yet, Jerry continued to wrestle with, defend and attempt to justify a works righteousness.

At one point Jerry said, "well, I'm a Christian". Which was an encouragement.

In the current intellectual climate, referred to in today's 'slice', I want you to be sure of your faith. Continue to love and let God do the convicting.

I am also excited to know that the next time someone tells me that they can't 'see' God, I'll have another excellent example of a time I did.

*To comment on this thread, visit the blog.
*Read today's slice and email me with your comments/questions/prayers for
our next posting.
*Check out Life Devotions and see if you would like to receive their daily snippets.
*Invite friends and family to join us on this faith journey.
* The Street Church still needs volunteers and donations.

Sibling Rivalry in the House of Faith by J.M. Njoroge

Read 'A Slice of Infinity' each day and email Chad with your comments/experience/prayers etc. This ~5 minute recap, called 'COUGARS Daily' contains snippets from the previous day's A Slice of Infinity as well as comments from you.

- “so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”- (Ephesians 3:17-19)

A Slice of Infinity snippets:
In spite of the fact that our Lord prayed fervently for unity among his followers, the visible church is often a conglomeration of competing factions, each equally convinced of its solitary possession of divine favor. Those who seek signs and wonders through the Holy Spirit are usually suspicious of those who emphasize exegetical approaches to the Scriptures. Christian scholars are sometimes content just to talk to each other, and the uncanny tendency of apologists to sniff out rotten doctrines, real or imagined, is not always appreciated.

As a result, not only do we squander valuable benefits of dedicated teamwork within the household of faith, we also lose our edge in our witness to a broken world. Despite the monumental gains made in biblical research and translation, biblical illiteracy is still a high-ranking concern, and the frequent outbursts of oft-unfounded accusations from our detractors succeed in rattling the cage for not a few followers of Christ. While outcasts and sinners braved insults to seek refuge in Jesus, they bolt from our divided efforts to reach them and reject God because they mistake us for Him.

When being right becomes an end in itself, we lose sight of our own need for God’s grace--a need that would be there even if we were faultless.

Chad's Comments: How difficult it is to not act as if I know what God wants for every corner of someone else's life. Or even more so to make judgment calls based on someone else's upbringing, appearance, nationality or world view. It is a challenge for me to realize that my Jesus walked an 'Eastern' world and was not a 'white bred American'.

I must lay down my selfish ambition and 'enter in' to a love for others that transcends my personal judgment call.

Yesterday, I was speaking to a client about how we had previously allowed someone who was in hard times to stay with us for awhile. When it became obvious that the person was becoming complacent and lazy, we 'kicked them out'. Looking back on this, I still believe we made the right choice for that particular situation. But, can I pick a hard line and say that this is the proper method for every encounter? No. We must follow what the Holy Spirit tells us, not what our world thinks is best.

I know that the Bible says, "if a man will not work, he shall not eat." And I agree that enabling is likely a downfall; but if, in serving the poor and downtrodden, we err on the side of too generous, I believe we are closer to what Jesus would have us do.

Let's strive to not be divided in ministry. May we put Catholic and Protestant, Messianic and Orthodox, Anglican and Pentecostal all focused on being Christ. The book 'UnChristian' tells us that if a person does not 'accept' what Jesus has done for them by age 18, there is only a 6% chance that they will do so in their adult lives.

I sure don't want someone's excuse for not believing in Jesus to be, "that church (Chad and his friends) sure is a hypocrite. If that is what Jesus looks like, I don't want to have anything to do with it."

Sorry for the jumbled mess of this post. I hope it's making sense.

*To comment on this thread, visit the blog.
*Read today's slice and email me with your comments/questions/prayers for
our next posting.
*Check out Life Devotions and see if you would like to receive their daily snippets.
*Invite friends and family to join us on this faith journey.
* The Street Church still needs volunteers and donations.

"Come, Take and Eat" by Jill Carattini

Take ~5 minutes to read this 'COUGARS Daily' which contains snippets from the previous day's A Slice of Infinity. Read the 'Slice' each day and email me with your comments/experience/prayers etc. I will compile comments and put them into this 'snippets' version to share.

Here are the snippets/comments from yesterday. Remember, this is one day back, so when you have time, read today's 'A Slice of Infinity' and then send me your comments. If you have comments about this particular post, please log in to the blog and post there.

- “Now go out to the street corners and invite everyone you see." (Matthew 22:9)

- The poor will eat and be satisfied. All who seek the Lord will praise him. Their hearts will rejoice with everlasting joy. The whole earth will acknowledge the Lord and return to him. All the families of the nations will bow down before him. For royal power belongs to the Lord. He rules all the nations. Let the rich of the earth feast and worship. Bow before him, all who are mortal, all whose lives will end as dust. (Psalm 22:26-29)

A Slice of Infinity snippets:
..how often God invites us to face the one thing we cannot, the very thing that brings us to surrender. God prepares a table in the presence of our enemies, and at times the enemy is us.

Chad's Comments:
In looking for ways to share the love and grace of our Lord Jesus with our neighbors, Kara and I are thinking of holding a feast of Pentecost. The feast will simply be a way of loving on our neighbors. We hope to bring people from around our immediate neighborhood to enjoy food and meeting each other. Hopefully, God will create an atmosphere in our home where our neighbors will feel comfortable asking us for help.

Remember: to comment on this thread, visit the blog. Also, read today's slice and email me with your comments/questions/prayers for tomorrows post.

* Make Space for worldlians in your life. Enjoin them to belief.
* Post your stories of God's intervention on the blog.
* Look for ways to share Awe and Wonder with children - leave suggestions at CougarsDaily.blogspot.com
* Consider joining Life-Devotions (a group of about 100 catholics and protestants sharing their faith through daily devotions and discussion - strong pro Life content)
* The Street Church
* Voice of the Martyrs

The Apologetic of the Apologist

Take ~5 minutes to read this 'COUGARS Daily' which contains snippets from A Slice of Infinity. Invite your family and friends to participate in reading with you daily. Then, consider sharing your comments or faith questions at CougarsDaily.blogspot.com

- Now, who will want to harm you if you are eager to do good? But even if you suffer for doing what is right, God will reward you for it. So don’t worry or be afraid of their threats. Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if someone asks about your Christian hope, always be ready to explain it. But do this in a gentle and respectful way. Keep your conscience clear. Then if people speak against you, they will be ashamed when they see what a good life you live because you belong to Christ. Remember, it is better to suffer for doing good, if that is what God wants, than to suffer for doing wrong! (1 Peter 3:13-17)

A Slice of Infinity snippets:

I have little doubt that the single greatest obstacle to the impact of the gospel has not been its inability to provide answers, but the failure on our part to live it out. The Irish evangelist Gypsy Smith once said, "There are five Gospels: Matthew Mark, Luke, John, and the Christian, and some people will never read the first four." In other words, apologetics is often first seen before it is heard...

...The skeptic is not slow to notice when there is a disparity, and because of that, may question the whole gospel in its supernatural claim. Yet when they are met with gentleness and respect, we will help meet the deepest longings of the heart and mind, and they will find where true discovery lies. Let us live so accordingly.

Chad's Comments:
How quickly I can identify with the many times I have not given respect or gentleness when someone asks me a question. Often, I feel attacked and respond in anger and fear. We need not be fearful. Christ is sitting at the right hand of the Father and the Holy Spirit will give us words to say when HE decides we need them.

Ben's Comments:
I thought todays slice really applied to what we were talking about at breakfast on Saturday. Loving the skeptic. And answering them with "gentleness and respect." A great cross reference to this was a verse in Col I was looking at a couple of days ago. Col 4:5-6 "Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone." Our conversation should be full of grace. An unbeliever will run the other direction if we don't first build a relationship with them and converse with them with grace on our tongues. Jesus was our example of this. He took time to go to people's houses even when he was busy on a trip.

I will do what I can to be sure this snippets version gets out tomorrow. We will be traveling to my brother-in-law's wedding in Kansas City. - Wouldn't it be cool if I ran into Jim and Elaine at a gas station or something (Jim and Elaine receive this blog announcement and live in K.C.) If I don't get it out, that doesn't get you off the hook for not reading the slice. =)

* Make Space for friends in your life. Enjoin them to belief.
* Post your stories of God's intervention on the blog.
* Look for ways to share Awe and Wonder with children - leave suggestions at CougarsDaily.blogspot.com
* Consider joining Life-Devotions (a group of about 100 catholics and protestants sharing their faith through daily devotions and discussion - strong pro Life content)
* The Street Church
* Voice of the Martyrs

Hoax or History? - by Jill Carattini

Take ~5 minutes to read this 'COUGARS Daily' which contains snippets from A Slice of Infinity. Invite your family and friends to participate in reading with you daily. Then, consider sharing your comments or faith questions at CougarsDaily.blogspot.com

- For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. (2 Peter 1:16)

A Slice of Infinity snippets:
Scottish skeptic David Hume is perhaps history's most famous critic of the miraculous. Hume once stated that if historians consistently agreed that the Queen of England died and then reappeared a month later, he would be willing to accept any explanation but a miracle of God. Responding to Hume's thought-experiment, philosopher William Lane Craig marks an essential clue in investigating the miraculous. Says Craig, "I would agree that a miracle without context is inherently ambiguous....The religio-historical context is crucial in understanding miraculous events. This is why...the Queen's return would only perplex us [while] the Resurrection gives us pause."(2) Craig’s response posits the importance of the context in which Jesus performed his miracles, a context that was brimming with religious significance, and therefore cannot be separated from any consideration of the whole. The supernatural acts Jesus performed were an authentication of the divine authority he was simultaneously claiming. He had professed equality with God, which was why many of the religious leaders accused him of blasphemy, and his startling miracles were further attestation of his startling claim. What's more, his resurrection was the crowning end to the unparalleled claims for which he was crucified.

Chad's Comments:
For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased," we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain. And we have something more sure, the prophetic word, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. (2 Peter 1:17-21) emphasis mine.

Did God just say through Peter that prophetic word is more sure than their eyewitness testimony? Did God just tell us that the words of the Old and New Testament hold more argumentative weight than experience? Wow. Can we accept it? God's Word is more true and real than our own experience.

* Make Space for friends in your life. Enjoin them to belief.
* Post your stories of God's intervention on the blog.
* Look for ways to share Awe and Wonder with children - leave suggestions at CougarsDaily.blogspot.com
* Consider joining Life-Devotions (a group of about 100 catholics and protestants sharing their faith through daily devotions and discussion - strong pro Life content)
* The Street Church
* Voice of the Martyrs

Seeing Clearly by Alison Thomas

Take ~5 minutes to read this 'COUGARS Daily' which contains snippets from A Slice of Infinity. Invite your family and friends to participate in reading with you daily. Then, consider sharing your comments or faith questions at CougarsDaily.blogspot.com

- In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone.

The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But those who fail to develop in this way are shortsighted or blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their old sins. (2 Peter 1:5-9)

A Slice of Infinity snippets:
...But instead, he reminds us that focusing on our union with Christ and our own internalizing of Christ’s qualities helps us to keep the bigger picture in focus and our overall knowledge of Christ most effective...

...Perhaps the place where we can see hope blossom--no matter how dark and distant it may seem--is closer than we think. Looking at the world through the eyes of Scripture, the hope of the gospel, and the presence of the kingdom provides us with corrective lenses through which we can see who Christ is, who we truly are, and indeed, who we can become beside him. Take a look and see for yourself.

Chad's Comments:
I noticed that the writer concentrated on telling me to focus on MY union with Christ and 'MY OWN INTERNALIZING' of Christ's qualities. How am I living out what God has called me to do? Am I being loving to God? Am I obeying his commands? Am I feeding His sheep? Am I serving others with my life?

This coming week is a significant week of service started by (I think) the Southern Baptist convention. Approximately 40 churches in our area have been asked to find families in need and then fill that need. I am sure you can contact your local Baptist Church for service opportunities this week. For those of you in the Colorado Springs area, Vanguard "has selected a military family with some incredible life circumstances. This family has 3 children, 2 of which have cerebral palsy and the other has severe sleep apnea. The husband was injured while in Iraq, where he still is, and is being discharged with a broken back upon his arrival home next month. The home they are living in has some deficiencies that are causing the medical conditions of the children to be aggravated. Vanguard is committed to improving the quality of this family’s life and showing them appreciation for their service to our country. If you or someone you know have time and/or resources to put toward this effort please email me."

This ties to COUGARS very well, I believe, because this is an outreach to an unbelieving family. I am encouraged to get involved and serve them. I believe this is the first among many projects where our company will be jumping on board to serve and enjoin others to serve. I invite you to give of your time next week by letting me know and we'll get you plugged in..early morning to late night. We need people to do insulation, tile, electrical and so on. I am also calling on my friends with landscape companies such as Ben and Brian to go above and beyond the needs of this family and help with their landscape. With a broken back, I'm sure the husband does not look forward to lawn care, so zero maintenance would be an excellent help to them. They live in the 'B street' area so the land would not be all that huge to accommodate.

I would also like to see you get your unbelieving friends and neighbors to help out. I could see relationships being built with organizations through this type of a service project that many times would not be built as there are 'no strings attached'.

* Make Space for unbelievers in your life.
* Post your stories of God's intervention on the blog.
* Look for ways to share Awe and Wonder with children - leave suggestions at CougarsDaily.blogspot.com
* Consider joining Life-Devotions (a group of about 100 catholics and protestants sharing their faith through daily devotions and discussion - strong pro Life content)
* The Street Church
* Voice of the Martyrs

Christ Is Risen - by Jill Carattini

Take ~5 minutes to read this 'COUGARS Daily' which contains snippets from A Slice of Infinity. Invite your family and friends to participate in reading with you daily. Then, consider sharing your comments or faith questions at CougarsDaily.blogspot.com


-And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high." Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands he blessed them. While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven. worshiped him andAnd they returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple blessing God. (Luke 24:49-53)

-And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, and said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven." (Acts 1:9-11)

A Slice of Infinity snippets:
Truly, Ascension Day, a holy day falling inconspicuously on a Thursday in May, is the bold declaration that we are not left as orphans. In the same post-resurrection body he invited Thomas to touch, Jesus is accessible to us today. He ascended with a body; he shares in our humanity, extending his own body even now; and he is coming back for those in bodies. Christ is preparing a room for us, and we know it is real because he himself is real. Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again.


Chad's Comments:
My close friend, Pat Castle, is a teacher at the Air Force Academy. Pat holds a Doctorate and teaches chemistry. The only reason I preface these comments with an introduction is so you may understand the difficult position someone of his faith is in. Being a scientist in a secular university; striving to live out his faith could very likely put his career at risk in a culture that wants to tell you that science disproves God. Here are Pat's comments from today:

* Re-evangelization: The last couple weeks we have shared about how Secularization and Science are purging God from the vocabulary of Western culture. God is with our every breath and every step regardless if we choose to acknowledge Him (footprints in the sand). Secularization and Science are embraced like religions by some...treating them like golden calves that come before God (First Commandment). The founding fathers of American did not intend to separate faith from politics...but prevent a state run church, like Church of England. We are called by Christ to be 'aliens' in this world (1 Peter 2:11). Are we? Like the disciples in the Bible, do we have a real relationship with Christ? Sometimes I use the word "disciple" instead of Christian to differentiate from social Christians (participating for entertainment not for Christ)...like James using "faith" (believing in Christ) and "saving faith" (believing and following Christ). We need to commit to a re-evangelization of ourselves and our Western culture to uncover God in the areas where Secularization and Science have covered Him...making "straight the way for the Lord" (John 1:23). I have plenty of room for re-evangelizing myself (growing closer to Christ)...if Christ was a mirror, the closer I get to the mirror, the more I realize my imperfections (sin). Let's start this re-evangelization by challenging ourselves (love, service, prayer, etc)...and by inviting friends, family, and co-workers to join the LIFE Devotions group (if they agree, I will gladly add their email to the distribution list). Let's pray for the courage to do this...to open ourselves to God's gift of the Holy Spirit who strengthens us for making faith-based decisions (humility, love, obedience) that will cause (in us, our loved ones, and our enemies) a greater conversion (metanoia) to the will of God the Father (Truth) through Christ the Son (Phil 4:13)...Amen!

Upcoming Cougars' "Neighbor-Day" weekend:
As a group, I will be challenging you to reach out to a neighbor. To invite someone over to your home whom you have had little to no contact with. This is not an effort to 'evangelize' them on the spot, but simply an effort to begin REAL relationship with them. Be in prayer about whom God would have you invite. More to come.

* Make Space for unbelievers in your life.
* Post your stories of God's intervention on the blog.
* Look for ways to share Awe and Wonder with children - leave suggestions at CougarsDaily.blogspot.com
* Consider joining Life-Devotions (a group of about 100 catholics and protestants sharing their faith through daily devotions and discussion - strong pro Life content)
* The Street Church
* Voice of the Martyrs

The Least of These - by Margaret Manning

Take ~5 minutes to read this 'COUGARS Daily' which contains snippets from A Slice of Infinity. Invite your family and friends to participate in reading with you daily. Then, consider sharing your comments or faith questions at CougarsDaily.blogspot.com


-Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.' Then the righteous will answer him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?' And the King will answer them, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.'

"Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.' Then they also will answer, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?' Then he will answer them, saying, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.' And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life." (Matthew 25: 34-36)

A Slice of Infinity snippets:
What do world hunger, poverty, illness and despair have to do with righteousness? What do they have to do with Jesus? According to Matthew’s Gospel, they are the vehicles for a revelatory encounter with Jesus, unto whom we minister through acts of mercy, kindness, and justice. Indeed, according to Matthew’s Gospel, we have the opportunity to experience the blessedness of inheriting the kingdom prepared for us as we minister to Jesus in the least of these all around us. Rather than seeing poverty, hunger, homelessness and imprisonment as pervasive societal ills, statistics, or problems to avoid, we are given the blessing of ministering to our Lord, and of seeing in their faces, the face of Jesus.


Chad's Comments:
If you are a local to Colorado Springs, you may want to get involved in ministering to the homeless of our city. You can donate, help out, attend, etc. Visit the Street Church for more information. www.theStreetChurch.com

Last night, I dreamed of a man named Scott Casmer. I was driving my truck and came upon Scott, seemingly learning how to ride a skate board. It did not appear that this was Scott's first attempt at boarding, but it was still relatively awkward to him. This morning I received an email from Scott saying that his grandfather, who has been battling death for some time, has finally died last night.

With much pain, suffering and death around us, may we take joy in knowing our redeemer lives. “For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth.”- Job 19:25

Upcoming Cougars' "Neighbor-Day" weekend:
As a group, I will be challenging you to reach out to a neighbor. To invite someone over to your home whom you have had little to no contact with. This is not an effort to 'evangelize' them on the spot, but simply an effort to begin REAL relationship with them. Be in prayer about whom God would have you invite. More to come.

* Make Space for unbelievers in your life.
* Post your stories of God's intervention on the blog.
* Look for ways to share Awe and Wonder with children - leave suggestions at CougarsDaily.blogspot.com
* Consider joining Life-Devotions (a group of about 100 catholics and protestants sharing their faith through daily devotions and discussion - strong pro Life content)
* Voice of the Martyrs