Incomparable Glory . . .

After church and fellowship lunch on May 18th, I went to my grandparents house to see them before leaving the next day from Chicago. I spent the night with Zachary at my old apartment in West Lafayette. We planned to take Amtrak to Chicago and the L from downtown to the airport, since that was much cheaper than any other option. But when we got to the train station, the train was running two hours late. So we made a quick change of plans and took the shuttle bus from Purdue to O’Hare. We arrived in plenty of time, only to learn that our flight to Madrid was cancelled. They ended up routing us through Rome, putting us in Madrid about four hours later than planned. In Madrid, wee met my cousin Jenni and she showed us around the sites off the town. In the evening we went grocery shopping and then went to Jenni’s apartment to make dinner. In Spain, they usually don’t eat supper until late, around 9pm or so. Then Zachary and I had our first experience staying in a hostel, which is the common place for people traveling around Europe to stay. Quite the experience indeed. The next day Jenni showed us more of Madrid, then Zachary and I boarded the train for Barcelona, where we met Adam that night. The train was brand new and extremely nice. I enjoyed a nap, as well as watching the scenery go by at 300 km/hr. Definitely the fastest I have traveled on land. We spent two nights in Barcelona, then went by train into France. This was a much older and slower train. We planned to make it all the way to Geneva on Friday, but we missed the first train from Barcelona to Avignon. Then all the trains from Avignon to Geneva were full. So we spent some extra time in Avignon and saw the papal palace. On Saturday, we took the train to Geneva, checked in to our hostel, and walked around the city. We saw the Reformation wall and the church where John Calvin preached. In the park near the Reformation wall, there are large chessboards on the ground with men casually smoking their pipes and enjoying a game of chess. On the Lord’s Day, we went to John Calvin’s church first, which was entirely in French. We didn’t get much out of it, but they did sing Psalm 100 in French to the same tune we use, which is from the Geneva Psalter that John Calvin used after he had Louis Berkhof assemble the musical arrangements. On Monday we toured the U.N., then took the train to Milan. After a short stop in Milan, we got on the overnight train to Rome. hat was a bit scary, but somewhat thrilling. We arrived in Rome at 4:30am on Tuesday. That day we saw the Colisseum, the Roman Forum, and some other Roman ruins. On Wednesday we toured the Vatican Museum, which was very interesting and very sad at the same time. On Thursday we went toured some catacombs, said goodbye to Adam, and took the train to the airport. We flew through Athens and arrived in Tel Aviv at 4:30am Friday morning. That is the condensed version of Europe. I have lots of pictures, but I have not yet found a good way to scale them down to the appropriate size for web viewing. Maybe I can work on that later this week.

In January, Matt Filbert asked me to lead one of the mission teams this summer. I was looking at going on the Uganda team, but then Zachary tried to recruit me for the Israel team, which he was planning on joining. After a closer look at the mission opportunities this summer, I saw that the Israel and Cyprus mission teams could be done back to back, so I convinced Zachary to do both with me.  All three of those teams already had leaders, and the last three weeks of my summer were still free, so I am going to be co-leader of the White Lake team with Brenda, who I know from the mission team to Scotland two summers ago. That will be exciting and quite challenging from what I hear about White Lake. More about that later. Then the man who was going to lead the Israel teamwas not able to come, so Bill was recruited to lead the team. He and his wife Jeanne and daughter Katie were on the team, as well as Joseph, Ross, Allen, Zachary, and myself. Since Bill could only be away from home for two of the three weeks, Matt asked me to lead the team for half a week at the beginning and another half week at the end of the trip. My responsibilities included leading devotions for the team and making sure everything goes smoothly (thankfully the congregation made sure so many things went smoothly). I do not yet know all my responsibilities for White Lake. Besides that, I had to prepare and plan with Zachary and Adam for our travels in Europe. It was a part-time job last semester preparing for this summer.

Because I have not posted about my travels as they happened, I must resort to transcribing what happened some weeks ago. I did not write in Israel because we kept very busy. By the evening, we were exhausted, so I spent any free time with my host family and calling home. Here in Cyprus our work is much more laid back, so I have time to recount the details. Read this post as if it were written the week before my departure, May 11-17.

This has been the busiest week of my life. I am busy preparing to leave.the country on Monday, May 19th, and be away for eight weeks. Late last week I learned my grandmother in Florida was give a few days to live. She was battling cancer for the second time, but the cancer was too invasive and the necessary treatment too strong for her weak body to withstand. She died Sunday evening the 11th and our prayer for her to be removed from the misery of ths world was answered.  Despite her great pain, she was able to enjoy time with her family and joke around until shortly before she died.  Although sad for the death of my grandmother, I can only thank the Lord for planning what I could not plan. If she had died any later, I would be out of the country and not able to be at her funeral.  As it worked out, I was able to leave my job on Wednesday, instead of Friday as originally planned. I enjoyed the visitation on Friday and the funeral on Saturday.

I bought an internal frame backpack just small enough to be taken on the plane as carry-on luggage, because Zachary convinced me to travel light. That way our luggage won’t be lost in transit, and we won’t have to carry much on our backs in Europe. This spring, Zachary and I concocted our plan to serve on mission teams to Israel and Cyprus. Since we fly through Europe to get to Israel, we decided to stay in Europe for ten days to see my cousin Jenni and travel with our friend Adam, both of whom are studying abroad in Europe. Our plan is to fly into Madrid, take the train through Spain, France, Switzerland, and Italy, and fly out of Rome to Tel Aviv. Our plane tickets are bought, our train passes are in hand, and our hostel reservations are made.

My rough summer schedule:

May 19th: Fly from Chicago to Madrid

May 20th - 28th: Tour Southern Europe

May 28th: Fly from Rome to Tel Aviv

May 29th - June 19th: Israel Mission Team

June 19th: Fly from Tel Aviv to Larnaca

June 19th - July 12th: Cyprus Mission Team

July 13th - 19th: At home

July 19th - 25th: RPCNA International Conference

July 25th - August  16th: White Lake, NY, Mission Team

Zachary and I will be together for all of this except White Lake and my week at home.

With summer fast approaching, I need to do a better job of keeping up with my friends and family. Since I am living in Louisville this semester, I haven’t seen or chatted with most of you in a long while. Y’all really need to nag me a bit more so I don’t get bored :-). In reality, I’m not the least bit bored. Besides working full time for my co-op with GE (and a bit of overtime), I’ve kept very busy preparing for this summer. Read all about it in my letter. I am looking forward to using my summer in service to my Lord Jesus Christ, by working with Grace and Truth Reformed Baptist Church in Rishion LeTsion, Israel, and with Trinity Christian Community Fellowship in Larnaca, Cyprus. RP Missions, the organization sending these mission teams, is under the authority of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America, and is committed (as I am) to working in missions alongside local congregations.

Be sure to bookmark this blog (or subscribe to my RSS feed), because I will be posting regularly as I prepare to leave and while I am away from home.  I created a page dedicated to my summer travels. It has instructions on how to donate toward the $3600 I need for my flight, lodging, meals, and other expenses.  I will also be adding some special features such as an interactive map of my travels.  I’ll post pictures as soon as I can!  I would love to hear what the Lord has been doing in your life, so make sure to see my contact page and drop me a note or give me a call.

-A

Christianaudio.com is offering Martin Luther in His Own Words as the free audiobook download of the month.  Use the coupon code MAY2008 at checkout and enjoy the following six works of this fiesty reformer in audio format: The Small Catechism, Ninety-Five Theses, On Faith and Coming to Christ, On Confession and the Lord’s Supper, On the Office of Preaching, Excerpt from Luther’s Tower Experience, and The Last Written Words of Luther.

Thanks to radio station WJIE, I was able to get a free ticket to watch Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, which debuted in theaters today. I was planning on buying a ticket, but it was sold out. Apparently, WJIE bought out all the tickets and was giving them away at the door. Expelled is a documentary narrated by Ben Stein, who investigates the expulsion from academia of anyone who dares to question the scientific dogma of Darwinism. The documentary reveals the blatant arrogance of Darwinists and their absurd arguments by letting the top minds speak for themselves. Renowned scientists would rather speculate about the origin of life than admit they don’t know. Repeatedly, they claim they know that all life evolved from a single-cell ancestor, which spontaneously generated from inorganic material. Yet, when pressed, they do not know how this happened. Science literally means ‘knowledge’. If these useless tax-siphoners do not actually know how life came about, they are not scientists, but speculating ignorami. Because they teach their fantasy as doctrine, they are blind guides of the blind. They will stumble into the pit together.

Most intelligent design proponents, including those in Expelled, divorce intelligent design from creationism. They say that intelligent design only works to prove a designer exists, with no indication of who that designer is. Although the arguments presented for intelligent design are valid, intelligent design by itself is insufficient. Holding to intelligent design is pointless, unless one also embraces the Creator of heaven and earth as He is revealed in the Old and New Testaments. A nonChristian ID proponent will receive condemnation beside a blaspheming atheist like Richard Dawkins. While Christians must continue to confront the lies of the evil one on all fronts, I am convinced that the ID camp has their tanks on the wrong battlefront. The arguments of ID will never convince anyone of the redemption found in Christ. Thus, if we want to change the hearts of scientists and of our nation, we must preach the gospel from the word of God. Arguing ID is a useful defensive technique, but it utterly fails as an offensive weapon.

I would highly recommend watching this movie. I’ve embedded below a video where R.C. Sproul interviews Ben Stein.

Christianaudio.com made an excellent choice for March’s free download of the month. Confessions of the Reformed Church audiobook is $16.99 at the Westminster Theological Seminary bookstore, but free at christianaudio.com during the month of March. Just enter the coupon code MAR2008 during checkout. This audiobook contains the Westminster, Augsburg, and Heidelberg Confessions. Start your downloaders and listen to these faithful and historic confessions which summarize the doctrines taught in scripture for which our forefathers fought and died.

Again, I slip in a post just before the end of the month. Why do I always procrastinate? Because I habitually neglect to think of time in context of eternity and I forgot who owns time. My time is not my own. Martin Luther had it right: “There are two days on my calendar: today and that day [the day of the LORD].” Both of those days belong to the LORD, and I have woefully spent too many todays in chasing after the wind. Even my pursuits that are not inherently vain, I promptly vanitize, by seeking in them my own glory, instead of seeking the glory of my LORD. Yet my LORD has taught me wisdom, by revealing the folly of my ways and the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus. I have learned much in the past year, and foremost of all, I have learned how little I know. Knowledge puffs up. I have a tendency to become puffed up with knowledge. And this knowledge is mere vanity. Truly the fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge and the only remedy for puffyheads.

The 2008 Covenanter Young Adult Winter Conference is still ingrained in my head. David Hanson expounded on the book of Job, which, until then, I had only understood in the broadest sense. I understood that Job did not suffer on account of his own sin, that his friends were wrong, and that God confirmed what Job said to be true. Yet much of what Job’s friends said appeared to be true. And if Job spoke of God what is right, why did Job repent in dust and ashes, and why did the LORD answer Job as if Job was in error? By and large the book remained a mystery to me, until David explained that Job’s error was in claiming a right before God and demanding an answer to the question “Why?”. Job’s three friends were wrong because they arrogantly purported to know the ways of God. They reduced God’s works to a simplistic outward blessing of the righteous and judgment of the wicked. Who were they to distinguish the hearts of the righteous and the wicked by counting physical blessings? Their tactic of accusing Job of gross sin is rebuffed by Elihu, the godly young man who rightly challenges Job’s audacious demand for an answer from God. Even an upright man like Job has no standing before God on his own righteousness. Thus God does not answer the “Why?” question. He answers with His own questions—questions which Job is incapable of answering.  While revealing Himself to Job, the LORD establishes the awe of His character which surpasses understanding.  This is what all men need to see.  They must be awed by the wisdom and power of the LORD.  They must be stricken dumb in terror before the LORD.  This is especially difficult for men who think they know it all, who multiply words without knowledge, who judge God for not answering the “Why?” question.

In light of this, we must rethink the American idea of wasteful and productive time.  Staying busy by filling every minute of time is not the solution. When Job’s friends came to comfort him, the first thing they did was sit on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights without saying a word.  This was the best comfort they were to him, before they began attacking and accusing him.  Similarly, stopping the busyness and thinking upon and waiting upon the LORD will prove more productive than tearing into our mountain of tasks with the haphazard fury of a hurricane.  Elihu, the one who sat and listened through the entire discourses of Job and his three friends, wisely waited to speak last when his pointed words were carefully crafted to expound wisdom to those who ought to have been wiser than himself.  Often we are preoccupied with doing good things, instead of obeying the LORD’s command to “be still and know that I AM God.”  May the distractions cease, and the doing of good works flow from knowing the LORD is holy.