“The divorce rate is higher for Christians than non-Christians”

“Young people are leaving the church in mass numbers”

I’ve heard these statistics for a decade now, from church leaders all across America who believe that our nation is quickly dying as a religious power in the world. Unfortunately, most of these numbers are poorly researched and should not be advertised. We should be working hard as a church to win people and disciple them properly, but we should not be doing so out of fear that our way of life is dying…fearful action is no way to pursue the Lord’s work.

Finally, someone has seen fit to stand up and provide good statistics. Sociologist Bradley R. E. Wright is publishing a work based on some more solid studies to help correct some of the statistical errors that our nation has come to believe, and in doing so, he may well change our perception of Christianity.

Keep an eye out for his book, Christians Are Hate-Filled Hypocrites … and Other Lies You’ve Been Told

and read the article by Christian Post here, if you want more information…

The games are definitely filled with mixed emotions for me. There are so many excellent players and such great teamwork among the players that I find it thrilling to watch. In my opinion, soccer is the greatest sport out there: it requires an extreme amount of physical endurance to play nonstop for 1.5-2 hours, it demands that people communicate and interact as a team on the fly (rather than being dependent upon direction from coaches every 5 minutes), and grips the attention and devotion of people all across the world like no other sport.

Unfortunately, it also places a lot of authority on the fallible and limited perspective of 3 referees, who are often dishonest, blind, or deceived without any chance of their being a challenge to their decisions…and it reveals the extreme lengths of cheating and dishonesty that players will go to in order to get a call in their team’s favor. No example is more vivid than the most recent game with Ghana and Uruguay, where the Uruguay player used his hand to knock the game-winning goal for Ghana out of the game, causing Uruguay to win. It’s an illegal move: something I would consider far below a player’s character…and yet we’ve seen plenty of character revealing plays in the last few weeks, as teams will do anything to win.

Well, what can I say? I’ll keep watching. I don’t hate it enough to ignore it. Teamwork, endurance, and skill are too amazing not to watch. I just hope that in my life and in my ministry, I continue to get to work in teams that are as good as these World Cup competitors. Success is a team effort: in my life and in the World Cup. I’m grateful for the teams I have had in my life already: a loving family, an amazing church, great schools, great neighbors, and unbelievable friends.

The events are still so sudden that they seem unreal for everyone, especially for his mother and father. It’s hard to grasp, and hard to justify the way a life so young can end so suddenly in our modern world. Worse yet, it’s difficult for me to see how we can say goodbye to such a special person in a number of hours…it seems that we should spend days processing this and comforting one another.

During this time of thoughts and questions, I am surprised to see the relevance of my studies: I’ve been translating the book of Ruth this month, a book where a mother looses her husband and two sons. Naomi’s reaction is nothing short of ours: she’s bitter, and she blames God for making her that way. It’s situations like this that I believe God is ok with our anger…and he’s ok with us expressing that anger. The important thing is that we keep our lives open to His response. We cannot shut ourselves off to His voice. He is secure enough not to be angry in response. He will reassure us of His kindness, His trustworthyness, and His love until we see Him again.

Times like these remind me of one favorite song, which I’ll share with you in video and in lyrics:

Wilderness: The Supertones

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click Here for Lyrics
Supertones – Wilderness Lyrics

The rain falls on the righteous and the wicked
Mine is not to reason why this is
In this I rest in this I find my refuge
That my thoughts and ways are not His
I spend my life on looking up the answers
It’s rare that I can’t find a reason why
But reasons fail at children without mothers
His plan is more than I can know…

Have you ever held in doubt
What this life is all about?
Have you questioned all these things that seem important to us?
Do you really wanna know
Or are you a little scared…
You’re afraid that God is not exactly what you’d had Him be
What should I hold to
and what should I do?
How do I know if anything’s true?
I’m somewhere in-between Canaan and Egypt
A place called the wilderness

I’m not one who always trusts their feelings
I don’t believe in what you’d call blind faith
But faith that you can do all that you promised
And you said it all works for good
It’s safe to say I don’t see the big picture
I can’t see the forest for the trees
And if five hundred lives
Were mine to get to know
You all could be spent on just this…

(bridge)

God do you really understand what it’s like to be a man?
Have You ever felt the weight of loving all the things you Hate?
Have You struggled?
Have You worried?
How can You sympathize?

I have spoken much too soon put my hand over my mouth
I can’t contend with You
Your ways are so much higher
And we pass through the fire that Christ endured before us
When You were in the wilderness

Click here to view the embedded video.

If you would like some more perspective on socialized healthcare, please see my previous video post on the subject, along with this post, by Jeremiah Krieger.