Why I Will Be Voting For McCain Tomorrow

I want to preface this post with two quick items. The first is an excerpt from John Eldredge's blog last Friday. The second is a video from CatholicVote.com. It's addressed to Catholics but the message is applicable to everyone.

From John Eldredge:

There is a sort of “moral equivalency” that has crept into our thinking. We’ve come to believe that one issue is just as weighty as another. Or that one set of issues balances out another. That we are free therefore to pick and choose according to those things which “matter to us.” But as believers, we know that some moral questions are far weightier than others. For example, issues of life and death are far more significant than economic reforms we might like to see.

Jesus speaks about “the weightier matters of the law” (Matt 23:23). Some things are more important than others. The Scripture does not teach a level moral playing field where all issues are the same.

The messages in the blog and video above are enough to decide this election for me. Even if I agreed with Obama on everything else (which I do not) I could not vote for him. Abortion matters. Life matters. Whether or not our leaders believe it is ok to partially deliver a baby and then kill it in a way more barbaric than I will describe here matters.

Barak Obama is more liberal than any major presidential candidate has ever been on the issue of abortion. I've heard various excuses from him and his campaign as to why he voted against the Born Alive Infant Protection Act but his excuses are empty and hollow. This bill would have prevented babies who survived an abortion from being thrown into the trash simply because they were unwanted. There is NO EXCUSE good enough for voting against that bill. There is NO EXCUSE for supporting partial birth abortion. It is evil. There is no other word to describe it. And the fact that Barak Obama's judgment is so impaired that he can't see that disqualifies him in my mind. I'll wear the single issue voter label with pride if the issue is this issue.

But there are other issues too and I want to touch on those briefly.

I'm voting for McCain because I believe in victory in Iraq. Whether we should have gone there in the first place is a great question for historical debate but we're there, thanks to the surge we're winning and we need to finish the job.

I'm voting for McCain because I believe in federalism, in the value of doing as little as possible at the federal level and leaving the rest to state and local governments. The federal government is too big. It's time to shrink it.

I'm voting for McCain because I don't think anyone should have their taxes raised no matter how rich they are.

I'm voting for McCain because I believe it is immoral for government to "spread the wealth around."

I'm voting for McCain because I believe in the second ammendment and in the defense of private gun ownership.

I'm voting for McCain because I oppose activist judges and believe we need a constructionist philosophy in our courts.

I'm voting for McCain because he understands what it means to sacrifice for his country.

I'm voting for McCain because I'm sickened by Barak Obama's messiah complex. The man's arrogance is astounding and horrifying.

I'm voting for McCain because he's capable of admitting when he's wrong. I've never once hear Obama admit he's wrong. All I ever hear from him is spin, excuses and half truths.

I'm voting for McCain because the thought of Joe Biden one breath from the presidency is almost as scary as the thought of Barak Obama in the presidency.

I'm voting for McCain because I don't think it's the federal government's job to give me health insurance.

But mostly I'm voting for McCain because he values human life. Excuse me if I sound like a broken record but I can't restate this enough. Millions of babies are being murdered every year. With Ginsburg and Stevens set to retire on the Supreme Court we have a chance to overturn Roe vs. Wade. Let's take it and begin building a culture of life in this country. Abortion matters. More than anything.

Please vote for life tomorrow.

Wild at Heart Boot Camp Review

I've been home for almost two days now and I find that I'm still struggling with how to write about what happened this last weekend. How do you describe something that can really only be experienced? How do you speak publicly about that which is deeply personal? I don't have good answers to those questions but I know that I want to, need to, tell you at least some about what happened in Colorado this last weekend.

First off, thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who prayed. This weekend was deeply opposed at every level. Our prayers were needed and they were effective. Sadly, I can also say that not everyone had the same kind of prayer coverage I did. There were guys who clearly got taken out for all or part of the weekend. I didn't and for that I thank you so much.

During the weekend, John Eldredge said a couple times, "Jesus is better than you think He is." If I was summing up what God had me realize this weekend in one sentence, that would be it. Jesus showed up in ways that I wouldn't have imagined. Before I left, God told me this weekend was about both Him caring for my heart and drawing me further up and further in. I didn't realize at the time just how closely connected those two things were. The second would not have happened without the first. God fiercely loved me this weekend. He drew out my true self in a way that I'd never experienced before. And it was good. It was very good.

I don't think we fully appreciate just how much life is available to us in this life. Yes, we're a work in process that, as Paul reminds us, won't be completed until the day of Christ. Yes, there are wounds that will not be healed until we see Heaven. Yes, the battle will continue to rage and evil will often seem dominant on the Earth. But there is an abundance that God has for us here and now and it would be an absolute tragedy if we missed that. Just how much is available? More than we think. A lot more. I tasted it this weekend. It was amazing but it was still only a taste of the riches God has for us here and now.

It was also a weekend of initiation and adventure. During the Friday morning session, John was talking about how when men speak of the best times of their lives the stories will often be stories of adventure. As he was speaking I found myself thinking that I have a few of those sort of stories but not a ton and it would sure be nice if God would provide opportunities for more. That afternoon, a group of guys and I went horseback riding. We were less than two minutes out on the trail when it started to hail. At first it was just a little and then it unleashed. The horses went nuts, running around in circles and getting ready to buck. Meanwhile, the coral had been left open slightly and a bunch of horses got out and started charging down the trail at us. The ranch hands came running down the trail screaming at us to get off the horses. Having not ridden more than a time or two I had no idea how to dismount. But I managed to half jump, half fall off the horse and get to shelter where I watched it hail so much it looked like it had snowed. Once it cleared up the ride was beautiful but my favorite part was the beginning. It was wild, it was scary and it was an absolute blast.

Another highlight from the weekend was the fellowship. You'll remember from my prayer requests that I mentioned that I was most nervous about going alone to a camp of 400 guys I didn't know. It was a complete non issue. I had so many wonderful conversations and made a lot of good friends over the weekend. One example that stands out was when I was going hiking Saturday and as I started out on one of the trails I ran into a guy I hadn't talked to before and didn't talk to after. He said hi and we proceeded to talk for the next 45 minutes about what God was doing in our lives through the weekend. It was awesome and such a gift from God.

There is so much more I could say, so many stories, so many ways God showed up in my life but there's very little that I could truly give justice to with my words. Something like this needs to be experienced and for the men reading this, I hope you do. This is not just another men's retreat or a Christian event that fades into memory as soon as it's over. What goes on at these retreats is deep restoration and healing. I watched men in their sixties and seventies find healing for wounds they have lived with their entire lives. That kind of healing, and the life God promises, is available and a Wild at Heart Boot Camp is a great place to start finding it. For the women, Ransomed Heart also does Captivating retreats a couple times a year that offer the same healing and life to the femine heart.

Remember, Jesus is better than you think He is. It's true and He is desperately waiting to prove it to you.

Wild at Heart Boot Camp

One week from today I'll be heading to Crooked Creek Ranch in Fraser, Colorado to attend Wild At Heart Boot Camp. The retreat is put on by the Ransomed Heart ministry team and is based on John Eldredge's books Wild At Heart and The Way of the Wild Heart. It's tough to boil the content of two books down into a few sentences but let me give it a shot to try and give you a better idea of what I'll be experiencing next week.

In Wild At Heart, Eldredge lays out three core desires found in the heart of every man: A Battle to Fight, A Beauty to Rescue, and An Adventure to Live. He goes into the different ways these manifest themselves in a man's life and also how the enemy has assaulted those desires using both personal experiences and our culture.

The Way of the Wild Heart takes these themes at looks at how they apply at the various stages of a mans life. The book also goes deep into the process of masculine initiation and specifically how God wants to initiate every man. It's a powerful book and one that's fascinating to revisit regularly as I see new ways God is initiating me and leading me deeper into my masculine journey.

Wild At Heart is a book that has meant a ton to me over the last several years. The great irony is that when I first saw it, I had absolutely no desire whatsoever to read it. A friend of mine had been preparing to go on a short term missions trip to Poland and, based on someone's recommendation, he'd bought several copies as gifts to give away on the trip. He hadn't had time to read it and so, knowing that I love to read, he asked me to take a look and let him know what I thought. I really wasn't interested. At the time my reading of Christian books started and stopped with C.S. Lewis. But, as a favor to my friend, I gave it a shot.

Looking back on that I'm so thankful for how God cut through my cynicism and spoke to me through the book. It took a second reading before the message really began to take root but it was that initial reading when God really began to get ahold of my heart and lead me from being just a Christian to beginning to walk intimately with Him and live deeply from the heart. It's been a long process, in many ways the messages in Eldredge's books have really only begun to come to fruition in my life over the last year. But no matter how long it's taken for what God was trying to say to sink in, my journey to finding full life in Christ all began with Wild At Heart.

It's been about four or five years since then and now I couldn't be more excited to see what He's going to do next. I really believe that this retreat is going to be a major step for me on this journey.

I've been praying about the retreat for a while now and I'd like to ask anyone who is willing to join me in the last week leading up to it as well as in the four days I'll be gone. Here are a few of my prayer requests for the camp:

• Pray against fear: I'm a big time introvert and the idea of going to a camp with 400 guys who I don't know is a little intimidating. I don't want to get in the way of what God wants to do.
• Pray that I'd be sensitive to God's voice: Pray here that I would be willing to really enter into the weekend and leave my busy, noisy life behind. It's tough to hear God when the cares of every day life and playing through my head. Pray that I can surrender those to God for the weekend (and maybe even beyond that!)
• Pray for safety: By this I mean both for me and my travels but also for Annie back home. She's seven and a half months pregnant and well it's been a very smooth pregnancy I'm still a little worried about being in the middle of nowhere in Colorado.
  
• Pray for God's agenda: I've got a lot of stuff I'd love to see happen in my life during this trip. And while that's all God, I really want to be willing to set aside my agendas and listen to what God has for me.
  
• Pray against spiritual attack: The devil hates nothing more than watching the hearts of God's children come fully alive. What happens at this retreat will be opposed! Pray for victory
• Pray for the other men and the retreat as a whole: There will be about 400 other guys there. Include them in my requests.
  
• Pray for John Eldredge and the Ransomed Heart team: I know from reading his prayer letters and his blog that these events, well very worthwhile and full of blessings, are also draining for Eldredge and his team. They fight some pretty tough spiritual battles to bring this message. Please keep them in your prayers both leading up to the camp and throughout the weekend.
  

Is There Joy In Holiness?

Of all the issues where the enemy has invested his efforts in attacking believers and The Church, the issue of personal holiness is one that has received his utmost attention and, unfortunately, one where his attacks have been very successful. That success is evidenced by the disconnect many believers feel when it comes to looking at holiness as a source of joy and life. Intellectually, it seems right. We know that God is good and therefore holiness must be a good thing. But living out the pursuit of holiness is a whole other story. So often it seems it's not life we find there, but guilt and shame and striving.

Attempting to experience holiness from a place of guilt and shame tends to force us towards one of two extremes. Some of us descend into legalism, becoming Pharisees determined to beat our sinful selves into submission. We soon discover that beating ourselves silly with God's laws isn't accomplishing what we want and so we add on new laws of our own. In Jesus' day, the Pharisees twisted and added to the laws of the Sabbath so much that the end result was to actually prevent good! Legalism can control our behavior enough to masquerade as holiness but look at the result. Is it anywhere near the life Jesus had? Is the place it leads us to even remotely desirable?

The other extreme is moral relativism. Frustrated and discouraged, we decide that a loving God couldn't possibly really expect this level of morality from us and so we twist His laws in the other direction in an attempt to make them easier. We water everything down until eventually what we're left believing is so vague it becomes meaningless. Somewhere down the road we're left with a faith that is so empty we might as well give in and become agnostics.

Most of us land somewhere in between these two extremes. Or maybe we settle on a mixture of the two. We beat the crap out of ourselves on some issues and choose to quietly ignore others. We do this because we see the extremes and imagine that true holiness lies in a happy medium. We think we should be a little legalistic and a little relativistic but not too much in either direction. If we aim for the center we're sure to get it right. Right? Unfortunately this doesn't do it either. We're left trying to balance two sinful extremes in search of hitting a mark that doesn't really exist.

But here's the good news. Real holiness is not legalism. It is not moral relativism. It is not a happy medium nor anywhere else on that infernal spectrum. It's something else entirely.

When I first began to realize this, it was difficult to believe. But when I actually read the Bible and saw what it said about holiness I found that the evidence was there. If there's nothing else but the spectrum, what are we to do with David in Psalm 119 declaring his delight and love for the law? There's no delight or love to be found in holiness while we live on the spectrum. What about connecting Jeremiah 31:33 where God promises to write His law on our hearts with Provererbs 4:23 where the heart is declared the wellspring of life? If the law is directly tied to life how do we explain that both relativism and legalism are entirely devoid of life?

Speaking of Jeremiah, that was a book I used to really struggle with. God seemed so angry throughout it. Surely this book at least must be evidence in favor of the beat yourself into submission approach to holiness. But when I read the whole book and saw God's plan for how to deal with the sin of His people I found Him declaring His unending love and promising complete and total deliverance from sin not through legalism or by denying their sin but by transforming them and restoring them. I found a God not furious with unending anger but one passionate about destroying sin completely and redeeming His people.

But even with that evidence something inside of me still hesitated. David may be able to find delight in the law but David was a remarkable guy, a man after God's own heart. Then I began to see that same view of holiness reflected outside the Bible stories. I began reading the work of men like George MacDonald and G.K. Chesterton. They delighted in their personal holiness and the process of transformation. One of my favorite songs has become Purified by Michael W. Smith. It's all about the journey towards holiness but in it there is no element of either legalism or moral relativism. There's only delight and joy at the thought of being searched and cleansed by God.

So what's the alternative? How do we move away from the spectrum and to the place where David found he could delight in the law? One of the resources that has been really helpful to me is a lecture series from John Eldredge called The Utter Relief of Holiness. Of the major themes he focuses on is moving from a behavior only approach to holiness to an inside out approach.

Now behavior certainly matters and matters a great deal. But if you listen to the way Jesus teaches, He focuses a great deal on the motives behind our behavior. The Pharisees kept the sabbath but their motivation in doing so was utterly wicked. Eldredge encourages us to begin examining motivations. Doing so is a humbling experience to be sure, but it's also an experience that's 100% covered in grace through the blood of Christ. The next step is to start realizing what wounds and sins cause us to choose those motives and then to let Christ begin to heal them.

The result is true transformation from the inside out. If we're only concerned about behavior, then beating ourselves into submission can look like the best possible option. But if we're concerned about being redeemed and made holy at the level of the heart, the only way to get there is through real transformation through Christ. The result is freedom. Suddenly what before brought shame, guilt and striving now brings delight, life and joy.

I speak as someone still very much in the middle of the journey from the spectrum to real holiness and freedom. I'm not at the level of Chesterton or MacDonald and certainly no where near where David was. But I have experienced enough of this process to testify to the power of this type of transformation. It is available. God is desperate to lead us away from the bondage of legalism and relativism and to a place of freedom and life.

A Beautiful Image

This is from John Eldredge's blog. It struck me as both beautiful and powerful. I hope it can do the same for you

So, I’m sitting up on the hillside behind our house early this morning, praying. I love to pray outside when I can, and this morning was beautiful. Anyhow, you might remember from Walking with God the story of Scout’s death (our family’s beloved golden retriever). That took place in December of ’06, and we buried Scout up on the hill in the scrub oak, near where I was praying this morning. You might also recall that we got a new puppy last summer. He’s a golden, and his name is Oban. He’s a year old now, but still very much a puppy at heart (and in the brain) and he sort of runs around while I pray and chases rocks (!?) and finds sticks and brings them back to me.

Anyhow, as I was praying I saw Oban out of the corner of my eye and turned to see what the rascal was up to. He was standing on the spot where we had buried Scout. You have to take this in visually – here is this adorable year-old golden retriever full of life and curiosity, standing in the very place of Scout, the place that commenorates his death.

I was so struck by the living, vibrant, three dimensional picture of the resurrection. We don’t always know how God restores or how he comes to fill the places of loss in our lives, but he does. He does.

This all took place in the very moment I happened to be praying through that part of my daily prayer where I am receiving the resurrection life of Jesus. It was a stunning gift from him, a living proof that life prevails. Life is the truest thing.

Summer Reading

Woo hoo! My summer vacation books showed up today! Annie and I are leaving next Friday for a couple of weeks of relaxation in the Carolinas. I'm the type of guy who likes to bring a bunch of books on a trip, not because I'm necessarily going to get to them all but because I never know what I'm going to be in the mood for at any given time. I also like to mix in several rereads. I love revisiting old stories and vacation is a great time to do so. Here's a few snippets of what I'll probably be reading over this year's vacation, starting with the new stuff first.

I'm really excited about this one. I have yet to see the HBO miniseries based on this book but I love David McCullough's writing. Adams is one of the more interesting founding fathers, but smothered between the giants of Washington and Jefferson, his presidency tends to be overlooked. I'm hoping this can help round out some of my knowledge of the early presidents


Epic is one of the few things by Eldredge I haven't read (though i have heard him do a live version of it). The basic idea is to present the Gospel as a story going back before the beginning of time, through the rebellion of Satan, to redemption on the cross and the promise of future victory.



Reading Philip K. Dick is an experience. I've never read another author quite as mind boggling as him. But it works and if you can accept the weirdness it's a blast. If you can't, best to stick to the toned down movies based on his stuff like Minority Report and Blade Runner.



I've never read anything by Brennan Manning before but I've heard enough about him to be excited about giving him a shot. His books all have very high marks on Amazon and I'm hoping he becomes another of the wonderful Christian writers I've discovered in the last year.



I've just finished reading Frank Herbert's original Dune series. This is his son's continuation/conclusion based on notes and outlines found after Herbert's death in 1986. I know there are lots of Dune fans who loathe what Brian Herbert has done by trying to finish his father's series but I'm optimistic.






I've been meaning to read the medieval mystics for a while now. I've heard great things about St. John of the Cross and this is probably his most famous book.





To be honest, I know almost nothing about this book. But it's a sci-fi classic and as a certified sci-fi nerd it qualifies as a major hole in my reading. Hopefully it's as good as the hype.






Rereads:

Shadowland by Peter Straub - Straub is probably my favorite living horror writer. I don't remember this very while but I enjoyed it the first time through. It's not as scary as his brilliant Ghost Story but it's a good book nonetheless.

L.A. Confidential by James Ellroy - The movie is better known but the book is a lot of fun too. They're pretty different from but this is one of those cases where both movie and book are equally good.

Miracles and The Problem of Pain by C.S. Lewis - These are two of Lewis's best books. It's been a while and God has taught me tons since I first read them. Hopefully I'll get even more out of them this time around

Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury - This is my favorite Bradbury novel (unless you count The Illustrated Man as a novel). It's been a while so hopefully it holds up to my memory.

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson - This is one of the great haunted house novels of all time. Over half a century later it's still very scary and a blast to read.

Solaris by Stanislaw Lem - This is a brilliant and beautiful science fiction novel. I'm one of about five people who actually liked the George Clooney movie based on it. But the book is different enough where even if you hated the movie you'll want to give this one a shot.

Striving, Rest and the Beginning of Summer

For a while now I've been signed up on the intercessor's list for Ransomed Heart Ministries. About once or twice a week John Eldredge sends out an e-mail letting those of us on the list know how we can be praying for the ministry and joining in the spiritual battles surrounding what they're doing. Occasionally he'll also add in a few other thoughts on life and what God has been showing him. The letter he sent out tonight had a paragraph I wanted to share with you:

I hope you are well. And that you are making plans to get some rest and beauty this summer. Don’t let the pace of life sweep you on, and suddenly it’s August and you realize, “Gosh, we were going to take some needed time for our hearts but now it feels too late to plan anything.” Fight for joy. (You will nearly always have to fight for joy).

This is something God has been speaking to me a lot on lately. Life is so fast. Too fast really. And the temptation to strive hits us from just about every angle.

We in the church have gotten pretty good at recognizing it in the secular world. We recognize the emptiness in making materialism our highest goal. We've seen the emptiness of lives devoted to nothing but career, or self gain, or any of the other ways we try and replace God. We get the tragedy of all that and that's good. I don't want to discount that. But at the same time we've completely missed that same attitude within the church and in ourselves.

Legalism is a part of it, but I don't think that nearly begins to cover the whole picture of what's gone wrong. In fact, it's blinded us to similar problems in our own lives. We look at Christians who've given into legalism (the ones who don't dance, play cards, or even think of drinking a drop of liquor) and we thank God we've avoided the trap.

But the problem's still there and it's different in every one of us. For some it's trying to learn enough facts and theology. For others its giving enough time and money, supporting enough good causes, volunteering enough hours. For still others it's a watered down version of legalism where we just try not to sin too much. The list goes on and on.

I'm not deriding any of that stuff. Those are good things. But where's God in the middle of it? I know He's given plenty of lip service but tacking is name onto that stuff is way different than inviting Him to be a part of it. So often those things become another way to strive, to build, to try to make our lives worthwhile, to earn our salvation.

Meanwhile Jesus is outside the empty tomb waiting for us to fall into His arms.

You see, it's not that any of that stuff is bad. It's just that when we're doing it in our own strength it gets really ugly, really fast. It becomes about what we do. Our salvation becomes based on works, not on the cross.

I believe before we can do any of that stuff, before we can really learn theology, help the needy, give our money, be transformed from our sin, before any of that we need to fall into the arms of Jesus and know the transforming power of His love.

Summer is a great time to give this a try. In our culture it's traditionally a time of rest. At some point this summer most of us will be going on a trip, hanging out with friends for a barbecue, or just spending time enjoying the beautiful weather while it lasts. But like Eldredge says, it can be gone in a flash. We can miss it just as easily through our "good works" as the rest of the world does through secular striving.

I believe God has more for us. Not just in summer but all year round. Spend some time in these next few months falling into His arms and being transformed by His love. There's nothing we can do to earn what He wants to do in our lives. It's impossible and we make a mess of trying. He wants more for you. Are you willing to get out of His way?