Like a thousand bread crumbs,
Off a fresh loaf sawed in slices,
Whipped off the cutting board
With a swift swipe of the blade,
The snow outside is laid in plumbs,
Hurled down into awkward places,
By strength no man with stern face turned
Could withstand and not be splayed.

_________

It snowed this weekend here in West Chester, PA. Not a lot, but enough to be fun. Owen got to see snow last year, but he was mostly bundled up and still getting used to being alive. This year, he found the snow loads of fun. He did this little shuffle in the snow – I can only imagine it was his way of dancing with joy at the wonder of the Arctic visit. Psalm 147 has been on my mind a good bit lately, and so my thoughts kept returning to this particularly relevant verse in our winter wonderland:

He hurls down his crystals of ice like crumbs;
who can stand before his cold?
(Psalm 147:17 ESV)

Thus, the above poem was born with a little coffee, Psalter, and Robert Frost for inspiration.

Our Senior Prom, 2003. There are other pictures, but they're ol'timey - i.e. nondigital.

Today marks a rather momentous occasion for us in the Young house. A decade ago – that’s right, 3,652 days (which is a lot) – I asked Michelle to start dating me. Now, for those who may not know, Michelle also happens to now be my wife, so this is a good celebration and not some creepy old flame I’ve held on to.

The conversation famously went like this:

Me: So… I know I’m a loser, but would you go out with me?
Michelle:…. Yes… And you’re not a loser.

As you can see, my ploy was to set up the conversation (in my truck, on the way to my house to hang out with our friends no less!) in such a way that if she declined, she’d knowingly be crushing me. I might never have recovered and very well could be babbling to the trees in the Gulf Coast somewhere if she’d responded unfavorably. But, to the estonishment of us all, the evidence that God has mercy upon poor souls, and my absolute delight, she said yes.

And now it’s been ten years. I think it’s fairly obvious to say things have changed. We’re ten years older (shockingly). Being older and a whole decade along, the news reports would have you believe we’re disenchanted with each other, less in love, and cynically resolved to quietly suffer. None are true and all are pure, hell-fire lies. We’ve known the steady, long-suffering, deep ocean of God’s grace towards us again and again. Our Father, who art in heaven, has been pleased to dwell lovingly with us mere mortals on earth. We’re more in love, and understand a wee bit better what it means to be so. I feel the increasing sense of being so undeserving of the Lord’s kindness to us, especially in our relationship these ten years.

It is now my pleasure to present another Young tradition: a poem. You may groan as old Bilbo’s audiences did, but here it is nonetheless. To my wife, on our Decade Dating Dangerous Duo Celebration.

My Journey-Feets Friend

Do you remember the timid question?
I was right to be afraid; beginnings are always treacherous,
Not knowing where your feets will lead,
Lands they’ll explore, or downs adventured,
Heights of sorrow, and depths in love;
I was right to be afraid.
But minuscule bravery birthed by love carried the query
(In that tired out, faded red pickup):
Would your feets journey with mine?
O what a dangerous beauty this decade has been,
My heart’s love, my home, my journey-feets friend.

For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.
(Matthew 13:12 ESV)

This strikes me as one of the places C.S. Lewis plants one of the major columns of this thinking. Here the Lord lays plain the mathematics of joy in the mind of God. To the one who has joy, who has happiness in God, more will be given and he will have God in abundance. But from the one who does not have God, even the joy he does have (on account of good gifts given him by God’s common grace) will be taken away. Jesus holds out joy through knowing him as the serious business of his teaching. Lewis famously remarked, “Joy is the serious business of Heaven” (Letters to Malcolm). His abundant giving isn’t sparse either – merely giving enough to satiate the hungering soul for a moment. He gives in abundance, and invites us to ask for abundance of joy.

I have to confess that I read John Piper’s Desiring God about 5 or 6 years ago, and some of the main threads about delighting in God are just now beginning to click for me. I’m a dense guy I guess. Piper open’s the book with this quote from Lewis:

Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.

(The Weight of Glory)

I’m beginning to see the connections in Christ’s teaching of invitations to himself, and invitations to a joy that’s nature is a continual dog-pile of joy. Jesus speaks to us: If you’ve seen me, for who I am, you joy will not be stolen away, but will grow in exceeding abundance. The rewards of joy in Christ’s equation are more joy. New joys. Deeper joys. All from the same Jesus (Piper). I am far too often the half-hearted creature that Lewis paints. I fool around with ambitions to appear a certain way, or have certain adorations from people, or the darker desires of my heart.

Lewis elsewhere comments that there “is a kind of happiness and wonder that makes you serious. It is too good to waste on jokes” (The Last Battle). Like the half-hearted creature I am, I am far too easily pleased to find and waste my joy on the offerings of easy, worldly joys. There is a seriousness about joy that I need. But this is the joy of the Gospel: Forgiveness of sins, cleansing of heart, and a glorious Son of Righteousness set before you for joy that is given, and given in abundance. This year, I pray I will be less satisfied with the mud pies of joy the world offers, and cash in the Lord’s promises of joy for more rewords of joy in Christ.

Thus, I’ve compiled my small list of the few books I’ve read this year into my favorites. I can’t promise the latest and greatest in the publishing world, but I’ve put together what I’ve read. Without further ado, here are my 9 and 3/4 favorite books from this year:

9 3/4 - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling

It had been several years since I’d read the Harry Potter series, and I had never read them in a single run. So I queued them up and listened through them back to back in a month, and The Deathly Hallows delivered as beautifully as ever. I won’t say much in case a non-reader stumbles upon this, but not merely is Book 7 my favorite, it’s a deeply beautiful book. It’s the stuff that epic literature was intended to be. Rowling is a masterful storyteller, with a profound sense of what she’s aiming at: The centrality of self-sacrificing love for the good of others. In sum, Jerram Barrs summarizes why I love this book.

9 - Collected Poems by Richard Wilbur

For father’s day my son got me two books, one of them was this collection of poetry by Richard Wilbur. It was a book that I read through the year – that’s kind of how poetry goes I guess – and it regularly dazzled me. I’m not a brilliant man, or even a sharp tool in the drawer, so some of his poems missed me. I blame that on me, not the poet. But when Wilbur did strike, he was shown to have an eagle’s eye for word choice and beauty. He has a way of drawing you into a moment and resting in the pleasure of it. At other times his word play is absolutely delightful. If you’re looking for a poet to help you learn to delight in the world around you, to pause more often and consider the glories of God’s spoken world, then pick up Wilbur and follow his tutoring. For a taste, this is one of my favorite poems by him: God’s Patient Stet.

8 - The Abolition of Man by C.S. Lewis

If there’s ever a man of the 20th century who saw the underbelly of his age, it was C.S. Lewis. This book has the obscure premise of critiquing a grammar book for children, and yet it is an explosively insightful and disastrous critique of the modern age. He pulls out the implications of denying universal values and how denying them changes the fundamentals in how we live. The book is very small, and yet much like the Minor Prophets, he sees right to the heart of evil in modern thinking, and pulls it into the light of day. Not merely did Lewis critique the modern world, but he helped me understand my own thinking and how the unbelief of modernism/postmodernism had infiltrated my thinking, and robbed me of joy. One of the more troubling aspects of this book is the many “predictions” of sorts that Lewis makes, and with the vantage point of a little time and history, looking back and seeing his startling accuracy.

7 - The Next Story: Life and Faith after the Digital Explosion by Tim Challies

I’m going to be posting a full review of this book soon, but suffice it to say that the tittle of the review will simply be: Hello fish, this is water. I started reading this book being concerned what my use of computers, cell phones, etc. communicated and taught our son. What I got was a sobering introduction to the air we breath. Challies has done a great service to “digital natives” like myself (people born after 1980) to help us understand not only the technology around us, but what that technologies shows us about our hearts. He helps us see how our hearts run to and then use contemporary technology, and what this exposes about our values and thinking. It truly was the sort of experience where I felt like a fish being introduced to water. Ohhh… so that’s! what’s been going on! As I said, a review forthcoming.

6 - The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distractions by Alan Jacobs

If Lewis helped me see how the modern age was influencing and stunting my joyful thinking, then Jacobs helped me see how my own presumptions had robbed my joyful reading. Jacobs is one of the most engaging and readable authors I’ve read, and he continually helps me think through life with sobriety, delight, and a little chuckle. This was another one of the gifts my son gave me for Father’s day, and I read is soon thereafter. Jacobs helped me learn to take pleasure in reading, and to make that my main goal of reading. The reality is, my reading habits and motives almost completely changed after reading this book. My guilt for “not reading enough of the right stuff” was exchanged with the pleasures of reading the delightful stuff. In many ways this book intersects some of the thinking of Lewis’s The Abolition of Man and Challies’ The Next Story.

5 - Practicing Affirmation by Sam Crabtree

I’ve reviewed this book here, so I wont say much else. What I will say is that this book has helped me to connect finding pleasure in God and delighting in his grace and activity in other people. He’s has a lasting, practical impact on how I approach my wife and friends (and strangers) with the desire to delight in God. If that’s something that interests you, check out my review for more, or just read the book.

4 - When People Are Big and God is Small by Ed Welch

I used to think that “fear of man” was something other people struggled with, primarily teenagers or overly ambitious business men. But I kept wondering why I felt anxious around friends or preoccupied with relational perceptions. All the illusions that I’m not a man pleasure shattered when I read When People Are Big and God is Small. This book has had a lasting impact on how I understand my deep sin pattern of loving the praise of man above all things. I crave the love of others deep down in my twisted heart, and fear their assessment of me. I may not tremble with anxiety about what others think, but I certainly posture like a peacock in my heart and attitude to get other’s approval. It’s the same thing. But that’s not all that’s going on – I’m dehumanizing other people to treat them like they should give me attention and serve me the love I desire. Ed Welch is a skilled physician in the Word and the human heart, and his skill is even clearer in how he guides us in finding the help and hope that the Gospel offers us. Jesus died to save crooked men like me! This book may not be the most scholarly book I’ve read this year, but it is one of the books that exegeted my heart and lead me to Christ. A lifelong skill and grace I need to grow in Christ.

3 - Tempted and Tried: Temptation and the Triumph of Chris by Russell Moore

I reviewed this book here. One of the lasting elements of this book was helping me understand the similarity between Jesus’ temptation by Satan, and my own temptations to sin. Satan offered the same reliefs to Jesus that he does to me: provision, protection, and an inheritance. But the nature of the temptation wasn’t merely the satisfaction of desires, but adoption and identity. In the temptations of Jesus, Satan was offering to adopt Jesus as his own son and be his father. It’s the same with you and me in our temptations. Dr. Moore has done a marvelous work in helping us make the theological and practical connections between the temptations Jesus faced and our own daily temptations. These fundamental and basic points in Moore’s work are regularly on my mind, almost daily, and have immensely helped me understand my own battle to kill sin.

2- Gilead by Marilynne Robinson

This is one of the most beautiful books I’ve ever read. The premise of the book is very simple: A father has a terminal diagnosis, and sits to write out his life’s reflections and final thoughts to his young son that he won’t be able to watch grow up. This novel is his letter to his son. Robinson has done a masterful job of drawing our eyes to delighting in the world around us. “This is an interesting planet. It deserves all the attention you can give it” (quote here). This work is filled with quiet, meditative, insightful, and powerful insights into God’s world. Don’t read it quickly, read it to savor. Having lately become a father, much of this book took on several layers of significance for me: as a Christian, as a son, as a father. One of the great things about this work is that Robinson has shown us what serious minded, joyful Calvinism can look like in literature without being simplistic, trite, or pedantic. That is, good’ol Calvinistic joy can look a lot like regular life, but with deeper joys and pleasures with Scripture’s glasses on.

1 - The Meaning of the Pentateuch by John Sailhamer

Rarely has a book been so stimulating and helpful on so many fronts. In one single book Sailhamer tackles hermeneutical issues, the history of biblical theology, issues in contemporary biblical theology, structure within the Pentateuch, redaction of the Old Testament, authorial intent, philosophy of language, the nature of revelation, and the meaning of the shame within the Pentateuch. I thoroughly enjoyed every one of these 600 pages. This might not be the book for every Christian to read, but I think everybody would at least benefit from reading the Introduction (free to download at WTSBooks). I’m not sure I agree with every conclusion Sailhamer leads us to in the end, but his thinking is thorough and provocative. His rigorous desire to uphold the inerrancy of Scripture and deriving all theological assertions from that reality is both clear and alluring. He pulls out several weaknesses that have snuck into contemporary formulations of the doctrine of scripture and revelation; namely, that it is the text of Scripture itself, not the history it describes that are innerrant revelation and we misplace our attention to exegete the history. Sailhamer did not merely help me get a deeper grasp on the issues surrounding the Biblical text, but he helped me stand in amazement at the picture God is telling us through the narrative of the Pentateuch and the rest of the Old Testament. He amazed me with God, and helped me mark the Biblical steps towards seeing Christ in the Pentateuch. He’s helped me to be a better Biblical thinker, and thereby, more intimately think the thoughts of God after him.

Honorable Mentions: 

• The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet by David Mitchell - A masterful story that draws you in to the 18th century Japanese world and quietly plays a chess game of culture’s colliding. Marvelous book!
• The Man Who Was Thursday by G.K. Chesterton (free!) – I read this upon Alan Jacobs’ mention of it. I was deeply engrossed with it and have gone on to read more Chesterton this year. A thrilling story with quirky characters you can’t help but be enamored with. Very much in the C.S. Lewis vein of literature.
• 100 Cupboards by N.D. Wilson - These are really good young adult fiction books that are great for family reading. There are three in this series, and all three well worth the read.

There you have it. My favorite books of 2011. If you’ve got any favorite books that you’ve read this year, I’d love to hear what they were!

Update: I’ve updated this page with the last two books on the list here. Taking Home the Gospel is free. When Sinner’s Say “I Do” is a mere $1.99. Great resources. Last update – I promise.

The Holiness of God by R.C. Sproul

Publisher Description: “Central to God’s character is the quality of holiness. Yet, even so, most people are hard-pressed to define what God’s holiness precisely is. Many preachers today avoid the topic altogether because people today don’t quite know what to do with words like “awe” or “fear.” R. C. Sproul, in this classic work, puts the holiness of God in its proper and central place in the Christian life. He paints an awe-inspiring vision of God that encourages Christian to become holy just as God is holy. Once you encounter the holiness of God, your life will never be the same.”

Plus, this is one of my wife’s favorite books. Evar. At Amazon here.

Or, if you’d prefer the hard copy: Westminster Books has it for $10.73.

Money, Possessions, and Eternity by Randy Alcorn

Publisher Description: “What does the Bible really say about money? This completely revised and updated version of the classic best-seller provides a Christian perspective about money and material possessions based on the author’s painstaking study of the Bible. Randy Alcorn uses the Scriptures to approach this often touchy subject head-on. Thought-provoking arguments challenge readers to rethink their attitudes and use their God-given resources in ways that will have an eternal impact. Alcorn deals straightforwardly with issues of materialism, stewardship, prosperity theology, debt, and more. An excellent choice for group study as well as individual financial guidance. Includes a study guide and appendix with additional resources.”

Alcorn’s magnus opus on how we think about our money in the reality of death coming our way, and then life with the Lord, is timely at this time of the year when many are getting bonuses and thinking afresh about their finances for the coming year. How shall we live before the face of the Lord? Alcorn helps us.

The Strategy of Heaven by Warren Wiersbe

Publishers Description: “Dr. Wiersbe zeroes in on Satan’s attacks as deceiver, destroyer, ruler, and accuser. He emphasizes that conquering the enemy comes by obeying God’s truth.”

I actually know very little about this book, but I know the author is a faithful man of God who’s written many helpful books.

Take up and read! Enjoy!

Added

Bringing the Gospel Home by Randy Newman

The holiday season is upon us! For some, this means more days off work and more time with family. And if you have unbelieving family members, the joy of celebrating Christmas can be mixed with anxiety and hopeful expectation—this is perhaps the best time of year to talk about Jesus.

After all, there are songs on mainstream radio proclaiming the birth of a King, whom people are coming to adore, a savior who can save us all from Satan’s power. This is the time of year when people are most open to going to a church service or watching your kids sing in a Christmas program. Yet, even during this special time of year, sharing the gospel with family can be difficult.

…Knowing many of you will have the opportunity to share the gospel this month—whether it’s with family, friends, or neighbors—we encourage you to download a free copy of Bringing the Gospel Home: Witnessing to Family, Close Friends, and Others Who Know You Well.

And whilst I’m at it, let me point you to a super awesome gargantuan deal: Amazon has Dave Harvey’s When Sinners Say “I Do” for $1.99. I mean seriously, marriage, satan, money, and the holiness of God for a mere $1.99! What are you waiting for?

And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
(Matthew 9:35-36 ESV)

Jesus has been getting the lay of the land, not merely as a man of the land, but as a man for the people. He’s a pastor, in a land filled with wandering sheep. It’s easy to get angry at dumb animals, so it’s even easier to get angry at dumb people being dumb about life. But Jesus has compassion for them. They weigh on his heart.

What’s interesting here is what Jesus commands next. He doesn’t prescribe a social agenda, or a political rally. Jesus says:

The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest” (Matt. 9:37-38).

 

Jesus prescribes pastors, missionaries, laborers for the bringing in of the Lord’s harvest of people. It’s interesting that Jesus told his disciples to “pray earnestly”. I’m not a Greek scholar, and I wouldn’t hang my hat on this too much, but this is the only instance of Jesus telling his disciples to “pray earnestly” (the parallel being Luke 10:2 – the same instance, both pre-missions statements). It initially strikes me as odd, and then strangely appropriate. God’s compassion for people isn’t expressed in petitioning Jerusalem, or fabricating unending bread and fish for the alleviation of suffering. God’s heart of compassion is expressed in his taking on of human nature, bearing our burdens, and walking along side mankind giving life and grace. This culminates in the ultimate expression of Jesus’ substitutionary death on the cross, bearing the burden of our sin’s justly deserved wrath.

Jesus, of all things to pray about, commanded “pray earnestly” for Gospel laborours as he looked out with compassion upon the lost and confused people in the crowds around him. Do you pray earnestly for your pastors? For church planters? For men in your church that God may be calling to care for the harassed and helpless harvest of people he’s longing to care for? It weighs heavily upon me in thinking about pastoral ministry and Christian faithfulness to labor for what God has on his own heart, for the helpless, harassed harvest he wants.

Pray for the helpless and harassed people in your life.

Pray for the laborers Jesus wants to raise up to care for them.

Pray to have the same heart of compassion Jesus has for people.

Get the compassion of Jesus for the one thing he said we should “pray earnestly” for.

Therefore, pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.

__________

Recommended Resources:
The Gospel According to Matthew by Leon Morris
Commentary on Matthew – The Gospel of the Kingdom by C.H. Spurgeon

Picture source. 

If you are in Christ, let it be known that the day you die it is because Christ has cashed in his claim on your joy with the Father, and has demanded his longing for your joy in his presence be satisfied. Your joy in Christ is God’s plan for you today, in all things, in all circumstances. Life tomorrow is not guaranteed. But if you do die tomorrow, you can have this hope today: The best joy is yet to come. Take comfort in this. This is what he prayed for you – the best joy today, and the best joy to come – when he prayed:

Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.
(John 17:24 ESV)

“In our world,” said Eustace, “a star is a huge ball of flaming gas.”
[Aslan:] “Even in your world, my son, that is not what a star is, but only what it is made of.”
― The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

Lewis jarred me here, and stirred me from a slumber with this line. It’s the climate of our age to define things by what they are. Atheistic materialism is the default mode of how we see the world around us – a star is a huge ball of burning gas :: a huge ball of burning gas is a star. Beyond the physics of the star, there’s nothing else to it. But Lewis jarringly pulls us back to Scripture by the mouth of Aslan.

[The Lord] determines the number of the stars;
he gives to all of them their names.
~ Psalm 147:4

Each and every star has a name – a name the Lord himself gave it. The stars of the heavens are named by God, which means, if anything, that they are more than merely huge balls of burning gas. They are named by God. Each and every star in the heavens has a name tag on it, given to it by God himself. Those stars constantly stroll the heavens calling us to speak the glories of God back to him.

I regularly frequent NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day. This is one of their latest pictures, W5: Pillars of Star Formation. Take in the wonder of this star formation – it’s not mere gas. That’s what it’s made of, but that’s not what it is. If anything, it’s named by God himself. The Lord gave this star a name, and this star has joyfully radiated the praise of the Lord of Heaven since long before we saw it, and will continue to long into the future.

Don’t succumb to the drab, weary, bland world of our age that sees a star only as a ball of burning gas. Thoughts like that poison the heart and will rot out your affections, leaving you hollow – as Lewis would say, a man without a chest.

Rather, we should see each of these gargantuan, massive, named stars hanging nimbly upon the command of Christ to exist (Hebrews 1). The Jesus who names them and owns them, is the same Jesus who tenderly cares for us. The one who names the stars more intimately cares for us. Ultimately, the stars with their beautiful names call us to look to Jesus who is “the bright morning star” (Rev. 22:16 ESV).

However, one of the valuable lessons I learned from that experience was the nature of blogs and ads. Later that day, after about 1,500 people had tuned in, a friend sent me a screen shot of my blog with the video of Joel from my post accompanied with a viagra ad underneath him! In all my life, I never knew that the blog had ads on it! So I decided it was time to get all the blogging factors under my control, and I immediately started working on getting things to where they are now.

The name
In Isa­iah 61:3, God calls his peo­ple “oaks of right­eous­ness” planted by the Lord him­self, for his own glory. The marginal reading of this verse ends by saying that these oaks of righteousness are “that he may display his beauty”. I don’t think I’m a particularly beautiful person, nor much of a mature man, but I do see that by faith I’m rooted in Christ, who is both beautiful and holy.

The idea of believers being oak trees captures many beautiful things. I grew up down south where oaks are massive, wild, and magestic. They’ve been toughened into hard, lasting wood through season after season to withstand the storms of life. And yet, they still reach towards heaven in such a gracious way that they are still the best places for tree forts and hangouts in the sky. Oaks last and thrive, and reflect the alluring, gracious beauty of the Lord. That’s what I want my life to be: lasting, thriving, and reflecting the glory of Jesus Christ.

Therefore, this blog is my small attempt to write out small thoughts of my life planted in Jesus Christ, the True Vine. My posts will gen­er­ally be devotional-type thoughts that I’ve been med­i­tat­ing on, usually in 500–800 word bites. I also post book reviews, and from time to time will put up poetry that I’ve writ­ten. I try to keep things short on this blog because I assume that you are prob­a­bly like me: lit­tle time to read long blog posts and look­ing for a lit­tle edi­fi­ca­tion to love Jesus more. I read the Puri­tans quite a bit, so a good num­ber of my posts come from them.

If that seems inter­est­ing to you, then I’d love for you to join me in read­ing along, and con­tribut­ing as you’d like.