There were a number of names that I liked but were already taken up by friends or family members. For instance I really like the names Stephen and Timothy but I didn’t want to use those names because they are the names of two of my brothers (and oh, that timothy is one shady character, jk). There were other names that I liked but have lately had some negative connotations to me with people I have known, like David.

I’m sure that I had more rules that also drove Alina crazy through out this process, but hey, it’s all over now. So what’s in the name “Isaiah Daniel”? Well, Isaiah means “YAHWEH (or, God) is salvation”. And Daniel means “God is my judge”. I like the the idea that the names together show that God is our judge and because of His Son we have salvation. I love how they together tell a great story.

Oh, and just as a reference…
Alina means “noble or kind”
Rachael means “innocent lamb”
Dustin means “valiant fighter” (don’t believe me, check it)

So, I am a valiant fighter that defends my noble wife and innocent daughter through the strength of Yahweh my salvation.

Hmmm, sounds dramatic.

I had a week long’s jury duty about harassment. Which I now know that it is illegal and you can be sent to jail for “harassment” by simply knowing that you are annoying somebody and continuing to do it.  It doesn’t have to be threatening or intimidating, it only has to be annoying. And which one of us would not have been guilty of that from time to time? Is it criminal? Collin county thinks so. It seems that since Collin county does not have to deal with the crime that Dallas has, that they spend our tax dollars going after people who say annoying things to their ex-spouses after a bad divorce. 

Because of one stubborn juror with an ax to grind against men (because of something that happened in a divorce with her sister and her ex in a bad divorce), who trusted every piece of evidence that the state brought because she also worked for the government, we were not able to come to a unanimous verdict.  We were 5 to 1 not guilty, and the decision had to be unanimous.  So, in order to show a complete disregard for your tax dollars, the case is going to be retried in December (wasting more time for more people on something that should not end up in the courts in the first place).  Here’s hoping that the they get a unanimous verdict from people who do not come into the case with such personal baggage, and that the jurors don’t have to miss work for a week like we did.

I have also been playing Mr. Mom for the past few weeks, because Alina has been in a lot of pain lately with her pregnancy.  She has had a lot of pain that is preventing her from doing a many of the things that she normally does, so I have get to pick up the slack.  And I’ve got to admit that 1) I am enjoying doing more of the cooking and 2) that I still hate cleaning up the mess I make when I cook.  Anyway, please pray that she will be able to get some release for the pain she is feeling and for me to have the patience and grace to want and to be more helpful.

The author, Jamsco, did a good job of putting the definitions together, so I thank him.  Check out Piper Definitions, it’s not a very long post, but it sure did spark some long comments.  I know many of you think I am concisely challenged, but I’ve got nothing on a gal named Chris who commented on the post (again and again, longer and longer).

What an idiot.  I mean come on, what kind of stupid, insensitive message is that?  All that message did was make homosexuality out to be a far worse sin than any of the ones that each of the rest of us hide.  But as long as we are not gay, we don’t have to worry about hell.  And that kind of reckless attitude greatly belittles the depravity of our own sin. 

I think two things need to be understood.  First, our own sin, and especially sin that we continue to satisfy and ignore all the while that we know it is wrong and know that it pains the heart of God is just as damnable as any sin that anyone else commits, publicly or otherwise.  And the thing that makes it worse is that our gossiping, anger, lust, coveting, and judging are inexcusable because as Christians (and you would assume even more so for pastors, but I would not give so much credit to them) we should know better.  At least on the surface the people who haven’t heard the gospel and haven’t read the bible or attended church can claim that they didn’t know.  (And of course ignorance is not a good enough argument for trampling the glory of God on judgment day.)  A lot of the world can claim that they didn’t know or understand, but not us.  We know and we continue in our own sin, yet we like to attack those who continue in sin and have not met Christ.  Maybe because it makes us feel better about the skeletons in our closet when we are able to point out the sin when somebody comes out of their own closet.

Secondly, Jesus told us to love people, not hate them into the kingdom.  And hate is all I saw in that sign.  I didn’t see love, I didn’t see the gospel, all I saw bas bad news and judgment.  People aren’t saved by our judgment of them, they are saved by the love of Christ in us that brings them to the cross where God dealt His hand of judgment to Jesus and in turn gave us forgiveness.  Interestingly enough the justice of God toward sinners who are saved was purchased by Christ on the cross and we can stand before God one day pleading the blood of Christ and see no judgment.  Ironically, even though we won’t see any judgment on that day, most of us don’t shy away from dolling out judgment to others today.  Loving is not judging.  Loving is remembering and understanding the weight of the chains of sin and showing compassion to someone who is completely content to let sin win.

And remember…

6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. 11 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

Romans 5:6-11 (ESV)

So, let’s stop acting like other people are worse off than we were when we were saved.  God saved us when we were evil, not good, so why do we expect other people to get free of their sin before we show them compassion?  How about we let God grow grace in us to flow from us instead of choking it out with our arrogant and unloving remarks.

Oh, and one more thing.  Can’t churches get rid of their stupid signs?  Isn’t it time that they stop showing off their judgment and hypocrisy, and giving ammunition to those who already despise Christianity?  Yes we need to be firm about sin, but we need to be more passionate about the grace that frees people from sin, and bring Jesus to them through love, not condemn them to a life of hopelessness because we have the answer but are not willing to share.

9 He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: 10 “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ 13 But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ 14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Luke 18:9-14 (ESV)

You see, my laptop had a Dell employee’s eyelash stuck in the display. And on every bright screen it taunted and mocked me like a fly mocks a cat through the safety of a window. And I would not let that stand. So I took a screwdriver to it. But not in the the I’m-gonna-smash-my-laptop-in-with-this-screwdriver kind of way, but in the I-think-I-know-what-I’m-doing,-but-I-don’t kind of way. And in doing so, I sure taught that eyelash a lesson, it doesn’t belong in my laptop. But at the same time my computer taught me a lesson too. I could not, for all of my surgical expertise, get the monitor to work again.

Good thing the people at Dell were smarter than this end user. Were it not for the warranty I had on it and the technician who seemed disinterested at the fact that it had been opened and “serviced” by someone other than a Dell employee, I would probably be out a laptop and back to programming remotes, for work, with a hammer and chisel.

Anyway, it’s back up and going now. And if you ever hear me say that I am going to operate on my laptop again, feel free to smack me upside the head (preferably without a screwdriver in hand).

Never forget.

The second indication of my aging is a piece of mail that I received a few days ago. It looked like any other piece of junk mail, but the word “Irvine” caught my eye. Irvine was a city that I lived in while I lived in California, it was the name of the city and of the high school from which I graduated in 1998. Yep, it was junk mail advertising my 10 year high school class reunion. I say junk mail because I don’t get it. I don’t get why I would want to go back to that place. I know that some people have good memories of their high school times, but I don’t. I was just the quiet and awkward kid who sat in the back of class so I could be better ignored by the cool kids. But don’t read that as me being bitter, because it was part of what brought me and formed me into who I am today… A loud and awkward old dude.

I just hope my hair doesn’t start going gray and falling out, requiring me to use just for men and cut it with the number 1 trimmer to camouflage the fact that my appointment with a cane is getting closer every day.

Sadly it is too common for churches not to speak of Jesus, which is a tragedy akin to a wife rarely uttering the name of her own husband.  In our day when there are innumerable contradictory beliefs about who God is, Christians must be clear that their God is Jesus Christ alone so as to communicate the same central truth that scripture does.  No matter how many verses are used, the Bible has not been rightly understood or proclaimed unless Jesus is the central focus and hero.

Mark Driscoll
Vintage Jesus, pp. 66

Exactly. I think that Christians in general and many churches (if not most) have such a low view of Jesus and the gospel that we loose the power of our faith for powerless religion. I wish all Christian leaders had the same attitude that is extolled in this paragraph (and in the book as a whole), about their savior.

I would highly recommend that all Christians read this book, it would give us all a much better understanding of our hero. You can buy a copy of the book at amazon.com.