The Seabourns

Thoughts

Still sobering

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Tuesday was our worldwide day of prayer. It was a good time to reflect on the tumultous preceeding week. The Virginia Tech tragedy. Deaths of 3 Christians in Turkey who were involved in ministry there. The arrest of 44 Christian workers in Indonesia. These are people with names, faces, wives, children, mothers, fathers.

Towards the end of our time together, Al Denson led us in the Matt Redman song…

Blessed Be Your Name
In the land that is plentiful
Where Your streams of abundance flow
Blessed be Your name

Blessed Be Your name
When I’m found in the desert place
Though I walk through the wilderness
Blessed Be Your name

A staff friend in front of us had a hard time. They lost a baby a few months ago. But she stood there praising God singing, “Blessed be your name.” Redman’s song goes on…

Every blessing You pour out
I’ll turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord
Still I will say

Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name

Blessed be Your name
When the sun’s shining down on me
When the world’s ‘all as it should be’
Blessed be Your name

Blessed be Your name
On the road marked with suffering
Though there’s pain in the offering
Blessed be Your name

Every blessing You pour out
I’ll turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord
Still I will say

Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name

You give and take away
You give and take away
My heart will choose to say
Lord, blessed be Your name

Then today, I read the following on John Piper’s Desiring God site. Wow.

Karen Watson was a Southern Baptist missionary to Iraq killed by unknown assailants March 15, 2004. Karen left behind in an envelope that said “Open in case of death.”

Dear Pastor Phil and Pastor Roger,

You should only be opening this in the event of death.

When God calls there are no regrets. I tried to share my heart with you as much as possible, my heart for the nations. I wasn’t called to a place; I was called to Him. To obey was my objective, to suffer was expected, His glory my reward, His glory my reward . . .

The missionary heart:

* Cares more than some think is wise
* Risks more that some think is safe
* Dreams more than some think is practical
* Expects more than some think is possible.

I was called not to comfort or to success but to obedience. . . .

There is no Joy outside of knowing Jesus and serving Him. I love you two and my church family.

In His care,
Salaam, Karen

I can’t get the phrase “I wasn’t called to a place; I was called to Him” out of my mind. It resonates in my soul.

We can rest “in His care”. We can sign our lives, as Karen did, with “Salaam”. Peace. God’s supernatural peace.

The problem of evil, pain and suffering

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I receive about 10 emails a week for seekers who are exploring what it means to know and follow Jesus. Some have just recently received Christ. Some are still on their journey towards Jesus.

Some of the recurring questions I receive are in the area of “How can a good and loving God allow pain and suffering and evil?”

This is not an easy topic for mature Christians and is sometimes a stumbling block for those seeking to know our God of love and forgiveness.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer in Letters and Papers from Prison:

It is a good thing to learn early that God and suffering are not opposites but rather one and the same thing and necessarily so; for me, the idea that God himself suffers is far and away the most convincing piece of Christian doctrine.

I’ve found several things that help questioners address this important issue. Here’s an email I sent today to someone asking this question.

Dear ________,

Hi, my name is Keith and I wanted to thank you for visiting our web site.

I appreciate your desire to investigate Christianity and the claims of Christ. This is definitely not a decision to be taken lightly and if there is anything I can help you with on your spiritual journey, please let me know.

My hope and prayer for you is that you will experience God’s peace and plan for your life.

I do not want to trivialize your questions about God’s existence and the deep issues of pain and suffering. Here are some articles that I think might help you think through this very important issue. Would you read these and write me back? I would like to know what you think.

Why Would a Loving God Allow Pain and Suffering?

Is there a God?

Deliver us from evil (This website was developed by a friend of mine)

Father of mercy and love, I ask you to reveal yourself to ________ as he works through the deeply painful issues in his life. Would you please show him your love. Show him your desire to help him make sense of the pain and suffering in his life.

I look forward to hearing more from you.

On the journey with you,
Keith

Using our platform to influence others

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Have you watched the thought-provoking Web 2.0 … The Machine is Us/ing Us?

This 4 minute 31 second video clip on YouTube.com has become extremely popular. Warning: It’s really geeky, full of web terms like HTML, XML, Web 2.0, and other techie stuff.

But starting about the 3 minute mark, it turns philosophical and very thought-provoking.

I like it for another reason. It’s a great example of using free stuff to create and distribute content that has become extremely popular. He used a free screen recording toolsee below, video editing software (don’t know if it’s free or not), and free music from an Ivory Coast guy released under creative commons. It was created by an anthropology prof at Kansas State university (not your typical media producer!). As of today, it’s been viewed 1,947,333 times. It has topped the Super Bowl ad videos.

What I really like is the reminder that every one of us has a platform to influence others. This K-State prof is influencing millions of others. Have you used your platform this week?

Interesting note: I use a screen capture and editing tool called Camtasia Studio by Techsmith. I think it’s great. I’ve promoted the use of it in Campus Crusade for Christ to help educate and tech support our staff around the world. CamStudio (used by this K-State professor) which seems to be something like Camtasia Studio but in effect is the early version of Adobe Captivate which is a Camtasia Studio competitor!!! Go figure!!!

Ira Glass on Storytelling

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I just watched 4 short videos by Ira Glass on storytelling. If you write prayer letters, if you make presentations to supporting churches, if you teach Sunday School, or if you just want to improve your speaking and writing for whatever reasons, I encourage you to view these short videos. Here are my short notes for these short videos.

The basics of a good story
Two basic building blocks: (1) The anecdote. A sequence of actions. (2) The moment of reflection. Reflecting on the meaning of the story.

Finding great stories
The moment you write the story on paper or record it to video, it is trying to be a bad story. Get rid of the boring parts. Be ruthless in editing.

On good taste
The first stories you write and videos you produce will not be very good. You have good taste and want to do good work, but your skills are not honed. Persevere.

Two common pitfalls
(1) Be yourself. Don’t try to mimic others’ speaking or writing. (2) Don’t talk about yourself. Don’t turn someone’s story into an autobiographical time to talk about yourself.

I recommend these to anyone wanting to improve their storytelling, writing, or videos.

Step up by stepping down

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Kay and I attended Highland Baptist Church with Jonathan and Meredith yesterday. Their Sunday School class is studying the gospel of John. Yesterday, the focus was John 13 where Jesus washes the disciples’ feet.

The focus of the discussion was how Jesus’ stepped down to serve the disciples. The Philippians 2 kind of stepping down, out of eternity, not clinging to his divine nature. Here’s the trusted rabbi, the great teacher, the Lord washing their feet. Peter verbalized everyone’s feelings with “Lord, you are not going to wash my feet!” That’s how I’ve taught this passage before also.

But yesterday, I had another thought.

John 13:1 sets up an important background thought: “Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love.”

Here is the thought I was captivated with. What if Jesus did not step down, but rather stepped up to serving the disciples? What if serving in a lowly way as an expression of “the full extent of his love” is actually up?

God has this amazing way of turning down into up. Of turning harm into good. Of turning sacrifice into blessing.

Down to up: 1 Corinthians 1:27

But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things — and the things that are not — to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him.

Harm into good: Genesis 50:20

You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.

Sacrifice into blessing: Romans 12:1-2

I urge you, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God — this is your spiritual act of worship. … Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is — his good, pleasing and perfect will.

So, we can step up into a higher/deeper/broader/fuller understanding of love by stepping down to serve others.

Amazing, isn’t it?