Closing Time

"You don't have to go home, but you can't stay here."

I'm leaving blogger for many reasons.

1. Blogger ate 4 posts and held them hostage for half a week.
2. Blogger has very limited back-door options.
3. I need a clean slate.
4. Blogger is a great intro tool to blogging. But it's time to put on the big boy pants at wordpress.

So, if you ever want to hear from me again, it won't be from this blog. I'm trying to start a regularly-updated, content-heavy blog on wordpress. Check it out below.

Go to my new blog: Sincerely Bryce.

Be sure and update your readers! Push this button to add my new blog to your reader!

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Goodbye blogger. But not goodbye readers!

Bryce

-- Timeout Blogger! --

All of this Blogger drama has been getting to me. Last week, four posts were almost deleted while blogger underwent 'maintence'!

I'm taking a short break. Besides, I've been thinking of changing the blog site to wordpress or posterous.

Until things get sorted out, chew on this - the first poem published by Piper in 1969 for $5.

In that land
Were some birds
And some grass
And very much dust
And a number of common folk
Wit a lot of simplicity
And wisdom;
      So it was not unnatural
        That they should expect
The grass to wither
And the birds to fall dead from the sky
When one of their friends,
Looking over his shoulder
Somehow like an ordinary man,
Said,
“Before Abraham was, I  AM.”

LATE POST: Friday Music - Lecrae

*This is from Friday, but blogger 'lost' my posts until now!*



Rehab - $5 on Amazon.com

I used to hate rap. There was no point to it. Then, I found Lecrae - a Christian rapper who occasionally outsells secular artists.

Lecrae's newest album, Rehab, is one of his best. Like his previous one, Rebel, Lecrae uses every lyric to pack in theological truths and ideas.

Some good tracks are "Killa" - about the destruction from lust; "Just Like You" - a look into identity; and the Star-Wars-quoting-fun "40 Deep".

Lecrae delivers another great album and continues to swim against rap's dark culture, creatig songs that edify and point people to Christ





Lyrics from "Just Like You"

I was created by God but I ain't wanna be like Him, I wanna be Him. The Jack Sparrow of my Carribean...
Then in steps Jesus. All men were created to lead, but we needed somebody to lead us. More than a teacher, but somebody to buy us back from the darkness, you can say He redeemed us.
Taught us that real leaders follow God, finish the work cause we on our job...

LATE POST: Mindless Monday Fun:Animal Edition

*This was from yesterday, but blogger ate all of posts. Still funny though.*

Why are animal voiceovers so funny?



There's a whole series of these from BBC, which are surprisingly addicting:

Piper's Principles II: Is God Happy?

Last week, I began to look at some major points in John Piper's book Desiring God. We looked at his book's foundation principle:

The chief end of man is to glorify God by enjoying Him forever. (p. 18)

This week, I want to address this question: If we are going to find joy and happiness in God, how do we know that God is happy? We've failed to find happiness in pleasures here, how do we know He won't fail us too?

----- | Sovereignty | -----

The answer lies in God's absolute sovereignty.

But the foundation of the happiness of God is the sovereignty of God: "Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases." (Psalm 115:3). If God were not sovereign, if the world He made were out of control, frustrating His design again and again, God would not be happy. (p. 33)

The verse he mentions, and many others, teach the idea that God is in absolute control of every atom, event, and power in the universe. I love Piper's next point:

In the end, one must finally come to see that if there is a God in heaven, there is no such thing as mere coincidence, not even in the smallest affairs of life: "The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord" (Proverbs 16:33). Not one sparrow "will fall to the ground without your Father's will" (Matthew 10:29). (p 37)

Knowing this, we can never think that we are in the wrong place, or are not where we should be. Every "chance" encounter stops being "chance" and starts being "divinely appointed." He knows where we are, and has us there for a reason! His sovereignty leaves no room for coincidences.

----- | The Unanswered Question | -----

The lingering question therefore is this: If God is sovereign, why do bad things happen? Why is there evil? Why can't he just stop all evil?

Some people would argue that God is not happy. They would point to the evil acts of men, natural disasters, and the fact that Satan is somehow "winning" here on earth. How could God be happy with the state of things? How could he be happy when bad things happen to his creation?

I have two answers for you.

First, Piper would point you to the death of Jesus Christ. A man was falsely accused, beaten, ridiculed, and murdered - yet this was God's will! Moreover, out of all the evilness, betrayal and darkness, God used these evil things to bring forth a way of grace to mankind. The gospel is a constant reminder that God sees evil and is saying "I know, I know... but just wait until you see what I am doing!" If we see anything in the Bible, it is the continuing theme of goodness coming from evil.

People lift their hand to rebel against the Most High only to find that their rebellion is unwitting service in the wonderful designs of God. (p 35)

The second answer comes is not from Piper, but from Lecrae, a Christian rapper. He takes a different approach on the problem of evil:

Look man, some people say that God ain't real because they don't see how a good God could exist with all this evil in the world. If God is real, then He should stop all this evil, cause He's all powerful right?

What is evil though? It's anything that's against God. It's anything morally bad or wrong. It's murder, rape, stealing, lying, cheating. But if we want God to stop evil, do we want Him to stop it all, or just a little bit of it? If He stops us from doing evil things, what about lying? Or what about all evil thoughts? I mean where do you stop? The murder level, the lying level, or the thinking level? If we want Him to stop evil, we gotta be consistent, we can't just pick and choose. That means you and I would be eliminated right? Because we think evil stuff. If that's true, we should be eliminated. But thanks be to God that Jesus stepped in to save us from our sin. Christ died for all evilness. Repent, and turn to Jesus. - lyrics from "Truth" 

So, yes. We can all agree that evil things happen. But if we want God to just destroy all evildoers - we would all be destroyed!

God is sovereign, and He does as He pleases. He is utterly happy (wouldn't you be happy if your will could never be stopped?). And so, Piper argues, we have a sure foundation and source of happiness in this incredible Being.

Podcast: Jesus Plus Nothing Equals Everything

This Sunday, we had a guest pastor give this sermon at the Village Church. It's a fantastic message on the centrality of the gospel:

Tulian Tchividian - Jesus Plus Nothing Equals Everything 

[If this link doesn't work, just go to the main site, and find the one from May 7, 2011]

Tuesday News Roundup

Two Muslim Imams Kicked Off Flight - Last Friday, after going through security and a secondary screening, a pilot in Tennessee refused to take off unless two high-ranking Muslims were removed from the plane. They were headed to North Carolina, ironically, to attend a conference on "prejudice against Muslims, or Islamaphobia." This is disgraceful and cannot happen in our country.

SlutWalk Marches - A police officer in Toronto sparked 'SlutWalk' marches in Toronto and Boston with one bad comment. The walks are a protest against blaming sexual assault victims for the crimes against them. What did he say?

"You know, I think we're beating around the bush here. I've been told I'm not supposed to say this - however, women should avoid dressing like sluts in order not to be victimized".              - Constable Michael Sanguinetti 

Syria's Decline - Tanks v. protesters. No, not in Libya, but in a grim situation developing in Syria. Things are looking worse as one Syrian rights group claims 800 civilians have died in fighting...