Pastor John’s Blog

I guess everyone has their thing – the thing that fills their thoughts when there’s nothing actively capturing their attention – the thing your mind wanders to when you let it run free. The thing you love to think about when you have a few minutes in between the things you know you have to do. For you it might be tubes or knitting or softball or cooking or baseball cards, or… books.

Just as in English, the word “saved” in the original language of the New Testament (Greek) has a range of meanings. It can mean being physically rescued from danger, like if a fireman pulls you from a burning car, or a stranger in Shoney’s gives you the Heimlich to dislodge a section of steak gristle. When we use it in church, we usually mean that someone has been rescued from the penalty of sin through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Of course with any “churchy” words we use (such as justification, sanctification, propitiation, sovereignty), we risk alienating someone who hasn’t yet learned what they mean. That’s why it’s good to take the time to define your terms, while also not discarding some of the words that help summarize profound theological truths.

Tonight we enter into another season of Fall ministry– D-Groups, AWANA, Student Ministry, all kick off TONIGHT. Of course, given we’ve had a summer break, there might be some rough going in the first week or two as we sort out rooms and tech needs and get everyone registered, but that’s okay – it’s all part of it. Sometimes you just have to push that raft out into the current and get moving in the right direction.

They say that in a triathlon it’s the transitions that make or break you. That’s where you have to make sure to keep moving and not lose time when changing from swimming clothes, to bike gear, and finally into running attire. In my brief two-event triathlon career, I believed in theory that the transitions needed to be fast, but in practice, after swimming hard in freezing open water and no wetsuit, I watched everyone run past my exhausted carcass while I fought just to walk up the sandy hill to the transition zone. I was more beached whale than blazing athlete. In theory the transitions are fast. In reality this transition zone was looking like a great place to stay a while, eat some snacks, and re-evaluate my life choices.

…One thing he modeled to me is growth. I want to be that way. I want to stay active and be growing and changing all the way up until the end. He was always a warrior, and yet I watched him grow and become more tender over time with his loved ones. It’s the Gospel that does that in our lives, that helps us grow, become more teachable, more approachable, able to admit wrong, better at extending and receiving forgiveness, and the wisdom to know how to become a tender warrior.

…I started back home, looking for it along the way. Sure enough, there it was lying by the side of the road at an intersection near our house. It looked pretty beat up. That’s one way to wear out a Bible, but there’s a much better, and slower, way. It’s the way Larry Peercy wears out his. I recently saw his Bible sitting on a table in the chapel. It had tattered pages, a faded and cracked cover and spine, and tarnished gold gilding on the sides. It was obvious he is a man who cherishes and studies God’s Word. In 1 Timothy 3:9, Paul tells Timothy that deacons “must hold the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience.” There is simply no way to hold the mystery of the faith apart from serious Scripture study. May we love God’s Word the way Larry Peercy does and wear out our copies of it the right way.

Our theme for the month of July is “Grow.” One of the commitments I’ve made this summer is to try to grow in my prayer life. I already have an established time of personal prayer in the mornings, and I often pause and pray throughout the day for various reasons, but I wanted to add a more focused time of prayer for our church. I thought I’d start small, so I added a bullet point to my daily to-do list to pray for 15 minutes in the afternoon. During that time I planned to pray specifically for the people of Valley View, both the established members and guests.

In 1987, 50 miles north of Tucson, Arizona, the Biosphere 2 was launched, an effort to study an enclosed artificial ecosystem. Every ecosystem needs trees, and trees grow rapidly in this protected environment. Everything seemed to be going great until one day some trees started falling over for no apparent reason. Jonathan Haidt in The Anxious Generation explains, “The designers had not realized that young trees need wind to grow properly. When the wind blows, it bends the tree, which tugs at the roots on the windward side and compresses the wood on the other side. In response, the root system expands to provide a firmer anchor where it is needed, and the compressed wood cells change their structure to become stronger and firmer.” (p.72)

…When I came to Valley View my main prayer was from Isaiah 61:3, that we would become “oaks of righteousness.” The challenge is that a mighty oak tree takes a long time to grow. Strength takes time. Plus it is hard to tell when an oak tree is growing. Look at it any given day and you can’t tell a difference from yesterday. Yet it is growing a little bit every day, and incremental growth is still growth.

…“Our experience has been that we need to do the opposite of that advice. It is better to speak the truth in love to people, rather than altering reality to fit their deception. That is the better way, and it’s a path that has led many to question their sinful lifestyle decisions over time.”