A Call to War

Please note that in this post I am speaking in general terms about events like 9/11, but I do not at all wish to detract from the very important duty held by every American to remember the brave and courageous individuals who chose honor over life on that day, and on many days like it, throughout our nation's history.  Their legacy should be treasured and honored by every one of us.
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What exactly is it that we remember on September 11th?  What is it that we constantly remind ourselves and one another to "Never Forget"?

On September 11th, this year, I received a soundtrack I had ordered; the music from the film United 93.  On the back of the case, the dedication is begun thus: "This music is a prayer for peace..."

And I am left to ask- a prayer to whom?

I love America.  But in times like these, it is worth asking- what is America?

I love America like Maximus loved the dream that was Rome.

America represents so many wonderful and precious things, and for years has been the bastion of Christian civilization- a city on a hill sending the darkness into terrified retreat before the light of freedom, truth, and law, all of which stem from the Holy Word of God.  And I love those things.  I am, by God's grace, ready to die for those things.  And I love the dream that was America.  And I am ready to die for that dream.

But America is not what she used to be.  Shackled by oppressive government, muzzled by political correctness, and, worst of all, gradually succumbing to a cancer of the soul, America is dying the long, painful death of a nation whose sturdy foundations are slowly crumbling beneath the deteriorating shambles on top.

And all the patriotism in the world, all the bumper-stickers and troop-supporting and #neverforget- they are powerless to change that fact.  Electing Romney instead of Obama might stick some bungee cords on the burning wreckage, but in the long term it is all coming down anyway.

So when days like 9/11 come up, and the cries to remember and the cheers for the American spirit and all the happy hoopla and empty jingoism of today's great American facade explode across social media, I find myself at a loss for words.

The true patriot, it has been said, will not say "my country, right or wrong."  He will say "my country- when right, to be kept right; when wrong, to be made right."

Real patriots are honest, not blind.  So let's be honest.

- Islam (and it's not radical Islam; it's true Islam) is on the rise, flexing its tyrannical muscles and slashing and burning and beheading as it marches over lands protected by Crusaders and forsaken by their children.

- The entire political structure of our nation has hit a point of self-perpetuating implosion.  The economy still has some foundational pieces left, creaking and groaning under the weight of tyranny, and weakening from within because of the rot of moral decay; it is only a matter of time before Atlas shrugs.

- Christendom as a whole- Western civilization, the beacon and anchor of the prosperous world- is committing a convenient suicide, slaughtering millions of their own children and "controlling" the rest from ever entering the world.  We may say with pride that no enemy is necessary; we have found a way to dwindle ourselves into nothing on our own.  If Islam weren't such a bloodthirsty religion, they could wait a few years and rule the world anyway, given the drastic multiplication of their families and the rapid subtraction of ours.

Meanwhile, the Church of Jesus Christ has largely forsaken His Word, throwing the Lion of Scripture into the cage of dispensationalism, retreating from the head of the culture to pass out Gospel tracts among those at the tail.

Judgment starts in the house of God (1 Pet. 4:17), and when we look at the nation we, the Church, have built for ourselves, or rather destroyed for ourselves, this truth should make us tremble.  For "culture is religion externalized," and the culture of America is American Christendom externalized.

To return to my newly acquired CD, the "prayer for peace" is representative of the broader state of "good-ol-boy" religious America.  We're a big fan of "God," though we're generally pretty good about being ambiguous as to his identity, and we hope "God" blesses America, and we send both prayers and good feelings and thoughts to our neighbor in need, and our politicians are good church-going folk, and we are all happily happy in our politically correct mess of religious pottage.

Oh yeah, and we pray for peace.

Problem is, this world is a world at war.  Since the fall of man it has been the children of the woman against the children of the serpent.  Peace is a wonderful thing, but true peace will only happen after complete victory.  Until then, we need to keep the Crusader cross painted bright across our shields, our swords sharp, our arms strong- both physically and spiritually.  Spiritually, for offense, for the Gospel will conquer (Matthew 16:18); physically, for defense, for the godless will kill (Proverb 8:36).

Islam will not hesitate to behead me, or you, or our loved ones.  Humanism generally prefers something more sterile, like abortion, or gas chambers, or euthanasia.  Socialism is happy just to kill the society and leave everyone in it to scrape out whatever existence they can.

But they're all at war against Christ.

What is the solution?  Violence?

No!  Not at all.  Christians should be ready to take up physical arms and shed real blood in real battle if the time comes where they must do so in defense of the innocent.  But Christianity, unlike Islam or Marxism, was never to be propagated by the sword.  The solution is to fulfill the two primary missions of Christendom- the Dominion Mandate, and the Great Commission.  Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; go therefore and make disciples of all nations, and teach them to observe all- all- that Jesus has commanded.

We must have kids, and teach them.  We must love people.  Preach the Gospel.  Live the Gospel.  Grab a trowel and spread the Gospel thickly into every little crack and cranny of life.  Make disciples, not just converts.  Run for office, and make Scripture our platform.  Vote according to Biblical principle, not just conservative ideals.  Engage the culture.  Make the movies, write the music and the books, paint the pictures, tell the stories, take the helm for the Glory, by the Grace, and under the Word of Christ.

The gates of hell cannot prevail against the faithful Church of God.  So if the gates of hell are prevailing, then we need only look at ourselves.  How are we failing in our duty?

There are a few that come readily to my mind; a few gaping holes in the walls of Jerusalem that the reformer-Nehemiahs of today have the opportunity to repair.

- We are ashamed of God's Law, and we are afraid to bring The Bible into the political realm.  We have a cart-before-horse perception of the "separation of Church and State," and it has rendered the Church's influence on American politics largely impotent.

- This has left us, politically, advocating a spayed-and-neutered "conservatism" which tries to adhere to a form of Godliness while denying its power, which is God's Word; the result is just a cleaned-up humanism which, rather than warring against the advance of the realm of darkness, jumps into its sandbox in hopes of slowing its progress on the tower of Babel.

- We have a truncated view of the Gospel.  Instead of a multi-generational, dominion-taking, life-and-world-changing Message, we have reduced It to a matter of "praying a prayer," going to church on Sundays, and exchanging swear words for bywords.  We have made the Gospel into an invitation to a party instead of a call to war.

- Maybe that's the biggest thing.  I think we've lost sight of the antithesis.  We've so highly spiritualized Christianity that we struggle to see Its ramifications for the myriad speculations and lofty things raised up against the knowledge of God which swirl around us day-in and day-out.  Until we realize that we are in the war, we will continue to lose it.  The movies we watch, the food we eat, the jokes we tell, the very way that our children learn math- this is all part of the war, and we must learn to identify it as such and take it captive to the obedience of Christ.

The twin towers were a symbol, and their fall was also symbolic.  Prophetic, even.  That is America's future, unless we repent.

So when we remember the tragedy of September 11th, let us not remember it with the pride of a nation of overcomers looking back on another trial we have surmounted.  Let us remember, and shudder, knowing that, unless we repent and return to the ways and the Word of God, that was only the prelude to the nightmarish symphony that is the future of America.

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P.S. There is hope.  Lots of hope.  God is doing amazing things in our country, and I'm excited to see His Hand moving and reforming and building the new even as the old collapses around it.  But hope is to be found in Christ, His Word, His Church, His War- not in conservatism or patriotism as an ideal apart from Him.  And that, in a nutshell, is the entire sum of what I'm saying with this post!

Marshmallow Boy

How many young men out there have big dreams for the Kingdom of God?

How many of those young men are actually doing big things for the Kingdom of God?

I myself have wrestled with this; I've talked to brothers in Christ about it; the recent Southwest Family Vision Conference put an exclamation point on it.  

"In all labor, there is profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty."  That's how Solomon put it.  Mike Wazowski took a more in-your-face approach- "Less talk, more pain, marshmallow boy!"

Guys, we're getting old quick.  If you're like me, you probably have big goals and dreams.  I want to marry young, have a boatload (read: army) of kids, be an elder in my church, a successful entrepreneur and businessman, maybe write a few books...

Those dreams are great.  Taking those dreams out of the metaphysical realm and applying them to our daily decisions, however, is not an easy task. 

We’ve all heard of the “starving artists”; people who, ostensibly for the noble love of their craft, are still flipping burgers at 30 years of age, eking out a living so they can chase their dream.  And our culture tells us that this is a noble thing.

I don’t think Scripture agrees with our culture, though.

As young men, we all have a huge calling as members of the Body of Christ.  We can’t be spinning our wheels; we can’t be wasting God's time (Eph. 5:16).  We’re in the middle of a war, and we’re at a cataclysmic point in that war.  This is not a time for apathetic, lackadaisical manhood.

We can't be playing video games and watching movies.  Rome is burning, and we, the young men, who should be using our youthful vigor to build the Church of Christ and tear down the gates of hell, are fiddling around on our Xbox.

Now is the time to be seeking God, building foundations for our families-to-be, working, working, and working.  Now is the time to be getting married.  Now is the time to draw swords and leap into the colosseum of Reality.  Now is the time to be doing manly things.  Not tomorrow.  Not next week or next year.  We don't have time to waste.  We must assume the responsibilities of manhood.  We are the next wave, and we are sorely needed on the forefront.

We need to be focused leaders-in-training, loving our local churches, praying, studying, honoring our parents, investing in our families, making the most of our single years (and trying to bring them to a rapid conclusion!), paying our own bills, starting the next generation of Christian households, cutting out the good to invest in the best.

Or, as Kipling put it, filling every unforgiving minute with sixty seconds of distance run.

So guys- men- what are you doing?  Are your works and your words matching each other?  Are you a man, or an adolescent?  Has God called you to marriage?  Then what are you waiting for?  Does something prevent you?  Then what are you doing to eliminate that barrier?  Are you paying your own bills?  Driving your own car?  Are you contributing to your local church?  Are you making disciples and being discipled?

Are you working, or wishing?

Please pray for me on this.  I need it.  I want to be a faithful warrior- not one who spent so much time sharpening his sword that he never actually joined the fight.

All it takes is a little sleep, a little slumber, a little free time, a little dreaming, and enough busy work to make us feel like we're actually accomplishing something, and ten years of marriage and five kids have been lost in the great black hole of "could have been."

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Many a man claims to manhood,

Many a runner to run,

Many a runner to finish the race,

Which yet he has hardly begun.

Many a man is convinced

That what he's done is good enough,

Many a man has calmly called quits

Just because the going got rough.

Many a man has spent many a year

Dreaming his life's thrilling plot,

And come to the end and realized

He'd already done it- or not.

Yet there are a few who have chosen,

By the Grace which God chose to outpour,

To turn the few talents they're given,

To run 'til they can run no more,

To forsake the good for the better,

And the better for that which is best;

Spend six full days upon labor,

And the seventh on diligent rest;

Rather to work for slight profit,

Than talk of great things and have none;

Spend their time waking than dreaming;

Embracing the sweat and the sun;

To live out their life to its fullest,

And breathless, arrive at the end,

Knowing they've done, and not talked about doing,

Chose to climb, even slow, ne'er descend.

Few men can say this, for most, in their prime,

Succumbed to the comforting whisper of time,

Which says that tomorrow will gladly fulfill

Whatever today is too difficult still.

But that far-seeing man who prays for the grace,

To redeem the time he may run,

That is the man at whom history quakes,

That is the man who has won.

Lessons, Providences, and Tomorrow

I guess I blinked.

I'm almost 20 now.

I have 6 little siblings... becoming progressively less little.

When the clock strikes 12 tonight, another year will have melted from the life ahead of me into the life behind me, trickling at the rate of 24 hours a day through an hourglass that will never be turned upside-down.

It wasn't long ago that I wrote about the runner's two greatest fears, as we began the race of 2013.

Tonight, we will all cross the finish line of that race, and the starting line of a new one.

We have the opportunity to, at once, remember, through the bittersweet lens of hindsight, the great and remarkable providences of God in our lives, and to set forth with the wide-eyed excitement of a faithful child on a new adventure.

Scripture repeatedly exhorts us to pass on landmarks to our children; to remember the great providences of God to the next generation (Deuteronomy 6).  Here, I'm going to chronicle a few of the signal providences God worked in my life throughout 2013.

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This year I began participating in obstacle races, building great memories with friends and my Dad along the way.  God also used one of my obstacle racing experiences to teach me about marriage.

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This year I had two life-threatening experiences.  God's mercies were made abundantly evident in each case; the lessons to be learned were equally evident.  You can read about the first one here.  The second happened just last week; returning from helping a family remove sheet metal from an old building, I was driving a friend's car at a speed that was unwise on the dirt road we were traveling.  Three overcorrections, two seconds, one turn-too-late, and in little more than the time it took me to wonder "is this really happening?", the car was on its side spanning the ditch on the side of the road.

I never considered myself the immature, foolish teenage guy that is the paragon of youthful short-sightedness.

I guess that was the problem.

There are a few lessons to be taken from this experience for me which I hope to communicate to all my readers- especially other young men like myself.  The first, and most obvious, is- always wear your seat-belt.  This may sound trite; let me tell a bit about my experience and you might see just how important that decision was in my case.

I wear glasses, as a general rule, when I'm driving; so I was during the crash.  The windows of the car were open.  About fifteen minutes after the accident, the young man who was riding with me set my glasses case in the trunk as he was cleaning up the mess inside the car, and I realized- my glasses were no longer on my face.  We found them sitting on a rock near the crash site; I can only conclude that they flew off of my face and out of the window in the incident.  That gives a good gauge by which to judge just the kind of condition I would have been in if I had not been wearing my seat-belt.

A wreck like that could easily have had severe consequences; it is by the mercy of God that I'm typing this while sitting in an office chair and not a wheelchair.  In God's providential kindness, my friend and I both walked away from the scene.

The bigger lesson from this ordeal, however, is the need for young men like myself to heed instruction; to gain "grandpa wisdom at daddy age," as my father says.

We had already fishtailed; I had already lost control on a different turn and bumped off of the dirt bank on the side.  A wiser man would have said "if there were a ditch rather than a bank, the consequences would have been much more severe; we should slow down."  I was not that wiser man.

I have been warned repeatedly about the dangers that come with young men who fail to ask themselves "what could happen if..?"  Yet when push came to shove I was one of those young men, and I only recognized it in myself after the fact.  Oh, God, I pray- let me learn my lesson now!  Let me remember this and not put You to the test again!

Perhaps the greatest irony of the event was that my friend and I had been meditating on Proverbs during the drive to the location in the morning, and again on the trip home that resulted in this crash.  We were mulling over the very Scriptures that we were violating in our unwise roadway behavior.

God is merciful.  I am grateful.

Please.  Please.  Learn from me.  Don't learn like me.

Oh, and the glasses?

Not a scratch.

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We got to host the Jost family on their tour this year; made a movie together with them; had some good ol' manly fun together with the guys.

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Attended the inaugural Arizona Patriot Academy.

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I made an adjustment to my brand, going from clean-shaven to a light beard.

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Attended the final San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival (final for now, at least) with my dad and my sister; that was an incredible experience.  So many friends; so many Providences; so many stories.

While there, got to meet with a lot of great musical friends from the Rhapsodize Music Network.

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Speaking of the Rhapsodize Music Network... get yours on iTunes, AmazonMp3, Spotify, and elsewhere!  Let me know if you want a physical CD.

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Went on my first mission trip to a hospital in Mexico, helping to get it fully-functional.

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Last week, Dad preached a great sermon on time stewardship.  Got me fired up to set goals for 2014.  

"Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men, but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil. So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is." - Eph. 5:15-17

Thusly, I have set goals for 2014; praying for the grace of God to grant me a warrior's mentality to accomplish them.  I'm not going to list them all, but I'll list a few, and you're welcome to check in on my progress, as well as share your goals in the comments.

- Read "The Institutes of Biblical Law" by R.J. Rushdoony

- Learn Spanish to the level where I can converse, read, and write fluently

- Learn First-Aid

- 25 pull-ups 

- 50 push-ups

- 5 muscle-ups

- Cold showers 3x/week

- Go to bed at 9:30 and wake up at 5:30, and start preparing for bed at 9, M-F

- Don't go to social media sites (Twitter, Facebook, etc.) unless I have content to post

May 2014 feature the sounds of cheering and laughter and the gates of hell groaning and cracking and crumbling to dust.  May the giggling voices of a thousand babies be born into Kingdom households; may the tearful joy of a thousand souls reborn join the chorus.  May the Word of Christ pervade our land as the waters cover the sea.  May we be faithful to turn every breath we are given into a song or a step for the glory of our King.

Why Bother with Mother's Day?

Proverbs 31 - Kinetic Typography from Jeremiah Warren on Vimeo.

Mother's Day rolls around once a year.  What exactly is this ritual?  What purpose does it serve?  In a society that increasingly looks down on motherhood, despises the covenant of marriage, spurns the blessing of children, and destroys the distinctions both physical and occupational between men and women- why bother?  Is this another leftover from the Christian feast of our forefathers?  Is this just one more bloom from the springtime of Christianity that simply hasn't yet been successfully scorched by the humanistic heat of the Marxist summer?  I think so.

Because, really, if we don't like motherhood, why do we celebrate it?  Or is it really motherhood that we're celebrating?

"Even bad men love their mommas."

We all know that it is a good thing to have a day for recognizing all of the vastly under-appreciated labor that mothers do for their children, to step back, look at all of the little and insignificant things that our mom did for us that seem so small in themselves but amount to a staggering collection, and to say "thanks, Mom!"

Do we see beyond the simple (precious) fact that our mothers love us, anymore?  Do we see the immense power that lies in the hands of faithful mothers?  Do we fully understand the earth-shattering ramifications of the well-worn adage that "the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world"?  Do we treasure the awesome calling of running a home?

Our world downplays this calling.  "Housewife" is now an insult, and "stay-at-home mom" means "lazy slob" or perhaps "abused weakling."  We celebrate Mother's Day, but not because motherhood is awesome.  We just happen to like our moms.

I hope that we as Christians see more to motherhood than just "thanks, Mom."

Dad has often said that women (as mothers) are "one generation removed."  While the men are pressing God's Word into the city gates, the women are at home, raising the next generation of leaders to do the same.

Somehow we see this as so derogatory- so shameful- so second-class and subservient.

That's a humanistic thought that needs taken captive.

(This statement, by the way, is not meant to downplay the roles which men have in the raising of the next generation, nor which women have in here-and-now discipleship pursuits, but rather to point out a pattern that we see in Scripture- in Pr. 31:23 and 26, for instance.)

Often, when I hear the power of Godly womanhood extolled, I feel like we are doing it simply to placate the latent feminism that rears its head when Biblical gender roles are discussed.

Not today.  I ain't placatin' nothin'.

Godly womanhood is powerful.  Immensely powerful.  Motherhood- the simple act of bringing a living being, a soul, a person created in The Image of God, into this world- is a gift and a treasure.  To be so intimately involved in the shaping of the next generation is an opportunity that no social worker, schoolteacher, nanny, or babysitter can ever dream of having.  The power that rests in the hands of mothers across this nation dwarfs that of any government agency or media enterprise (even in spite of our best efforts to relinquish that power to the state via the school system).

This nation needs more women who will forsake the lies of feminism, reject the opinion of a godless culture, and come home.

This nation needs more women who will pour themselves into raising the next generation for Christ.

This nation needs more women like my mom.

I spoke above about how important it is that we have not just an appreciation for our mothers but a deep passion for the power of Godly womanhood.  While I do believe this, it in no way detracts from the importance and value of recognizing the one mother that God has given to each of us.  Mother's Day is a great opportunity to do this- to "arise and call her blessed," and to respect and acknowledge the massive amount of labor and love that our mothers have poured into us.  In that vein, I want to praise my mother in the city gates a little bit, here.  :-D

Here are three of the biggest things that I admire in my mother, and wish to apply to my own life:

1. Faith - Scriptural submission in a marriage relationship is not a simple matter of a wife gritting her teeth and begrudgingly following the lead of her husband.  Some of the biggest decisions in our family's history, some of the most scary leaps of faith that Dad has led us to, were opportunities for Mom to do this- to react in fear or stubbornness, to resist or remonstrate.  She didn't do this.  Her confident, supportive attitude towards my father throughout these times is a legacy that I treasure.
2. Frugality - Mom's ability to stretch a penny is legendary in our circles.  For some people, careful spending might seem shameful ("You shop at GOODWILL?" followed by a shocked expression).  Not in our house.  In our house we have a name for penny-pinching- we call it good stewardship.  Mom's a master at it, and it has been a major asset to the family over the years.
3. Depth - I asked my sisters for some of the things that they admired about Mom, and when they said this I realized how true it was.  Mom has never been concerned about what other people think.  This has, perhaps, its fullest ramifications in the simple fact that Mom embraces her calling as a homemaker, wife, and mother wholeheartedly and vigorously- in the face of a culture that despises everything that she stands for.  Her desire to please God rather than man has allowed her to support Dad even when friends and relatives thought he was crazy.  This depth of character also manifests itself in smaller ways.  No matter where it comes out, though, it is a blessing.

Oh, and it sounds trite, but she's an awesome cook, too.

Long story short, if an excellent wife is worth far more than rubies, then my Dad is a rich man.

Thanks, Mom!  I love you.  Happy Mother's Day.  :-)

A New Year in View

Today the sun sets on another year.

Repeatedly Scripture exhorts the people of God to remember. As this year comes to a close, it provides an opportune, if somewhat arbitrary place in time to set up stones of remembrance. The Hand of God has done much, and it behooves those who desire to see a faithful progeny to record these events that their children and grandchildren may remember.

"Let this be a sign among you, so that when your children ask later, saying, ‘What do these stones mean to you?’ then you shall say to them, ‘Because the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD; when it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off.’ So these stones shall become a memorial to the sons of Israel forever." - Joshua 4:6-7

So while I hope that any who read this will be edified, this post is for myself and for my family, both present and (LORD willing) future.

Over the past year, our great God has providentially brought to pass many things, only a few of which I shall mention below.

We moved from our previous home of five years into a house that God provided through a family in our church, and thus became debt free (if officially homeless :-). Little brother number two was born in April. After this, Mom went through a time of being bedridden. Praise God, it was not nearly as long as it could have been, and she has been back to full health for quite some time now. I got the Complete Composer's Collection, and our family also purchased another Macintosh for our business endeavors. Our church began meeting in a school building when we had previously been meeting in homes. The LORD has brought me multiple business opportunities, and I have worked on a variety of films- including multiple projects that I'm working on right now. We were able to spend much time together with both sets of our grandparents. Dad's father died, and Dad performed the funeral service back in Indiana. We commemorated one sister's coming-of-age with a "Milestone Celebration," and another sister was baptized. Dad and I met with Mark Rushdoony this very morning.

I asked him what he would say to the next generation if he could say one thing. While I can't quote his answer word-for-word, I shall paraphrase it. He said that we must remember to not be focused on one specific area of life, like politics or family, in such a way that we lose sight of The Kingdom. We must seek first The Kingdom. It is crucial that the next generation learns this!

This brings me to the spiritual growth which has been worked in our family by God in His mercy. This year I've wrestled through the doctrine of The Trinity and had legalisms exposed that were hiding in the wings of my presuppositions. Praise God- may we never stop growing.

This is just a sampling of the many works of God. May we always remember!

This time of year also lends itself well to the setting of goals- the casting of vision for the future. Some might call them "New Year's Resolutions." Regardless of the term used, "In all labor there is profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty." (Pr. 14:23)

Setting achievable, practical goals, with a time-frame in which they must be accomplished and incremental steps leading to their completion, can help to keep the goal-setter on track, so that they are laboring toward their goals instead of merely talking. Ultimately, of course, a goal is only going to be fulfilled that is according to the sovereign plan of God- every plan for the future must be understood in the context of "if The LORD wills." However, that should not be a deterrent from prayerfully setting goals and working towards them.

So here are some of my personal goals for 2012.

I hope to release three albums this year, if The LORD sees fit. More updates on that to follow. I would also like to be prepared to provide for a wife. I want to get back to practicing the piano consistently, and would like to practice for ten hours each week, minimum, except on weeks with important holidays or on vacation. I am sure that I won't make it every week, but I want to strive for it. I also want to exercise consistently. I'd like to release the first book in a piano curriculum. Lastly, I want to be consistently memorizing Scripture.

You are welcome to hold me to these!

So now I ask you this:

What are your plans for 2012- how is God leading you?

What are your memories from 2011- what has God done in your life?

What are you doing right now to pass on the legacy of God's mighty acts of providence to the next generation?

Tomorrow the sun rises on another year. May it be a year filled with production for The King and His Kingdom. May each unforgiving minute of 2012 be filled with "sixty seconds of distance run."

Dad, I remember...

Dad, I remember...
(A collage of memories for Fathers' Day, in honor of my Dad)

G. A. Hudelson

The time we had those frosties,
Almost cold enough for snow,
Outside Wendy's with no shirts on,
We'd call that naked, now!

Then there was the time that you
And friendly Uncle Bill
Were playing shuffleboard and I
Suddenly felt a thrill

And you carried me inside
And saved me from the bees-
I remember shoveling gravel,
Breaking a window, cutting trees,

Debating hefty topics,
Making films and building nations,
Crying on your shoulder as
I feared for my salvation,

Studying and praying hard,
Striving for the vision
Of the children who are yet to come,
And who must make their own decision,

To follow in the footsteps of
The vision that you've forged,
A choice to remain faithful
To the covenant of our Lord,

A choice made only by The Grace
Of the Sovereign God that chose to place
Together all us Hudelsons-
Oh that this would be the case!

The times when we'd work out with Tony-
That was quite the exercise-
Wakeboards, Latin, and shooting hoops-
You were too skilled, to my demise-

The times that we rejoiced and cheered,
The days of rest and celebration,
Ebenezers of remembrance and
Moments of commemoration

The times I failed to honor you-
The times that I'd repent-
The times that you would do the same,
Modeling a godly heart that was rent,

Those times that we were happy and
Those times that we were sad-
And as I look back on it all-
I'm glad that you're my Dad.

I love you Dad.

Delighted to Obey

I've often thought how silly the Israelites of the Old Testament seem. How could they have so often rejected The God that so often rescued them? Over and over and over they call out to Him, He saves them, and then they leave Him, and then He punishes them, and then they call out to Him, and then He saves them, and then they leave Him again. How could they be so... sinful? So foolish? Then today it hit me... we do the same thing.

Think of this great nation America. Founded as a Christian nation which Almighty God delivered from tyranny by great wonders of His Providence, how many times have we left Him, and how many times have we repented after receiving our just recompense, and how many times have we left Him again?

And how many times have we only "repented" on a shallow and emotional level? After 9/11, the churches were filled, surely. So why do we continue to retrograde?

Maybe because the foundations are destroyed. The family has been splintered. And now, we have a truly irrelevant "Christianity," one which conforms to the world in a vain attempt to bring the world to conform to Christ. One which is more man-centered than God-centered, more fun than faithful, more enticing than confronting, more worldly than Scriptural- in other words, a "Christianity" which has forsaken its savor in hopes of getting itself sprinkled onto the world. We are determined to use whatever means necessary to achieve a good end- but by compromising God's Ways of doing things, we cannot but compromise the things themselves.

This is irrelevance and impotence- we reject God's Law as too hard, and we choose the easy, painless, broad path. And in so doing we have sold our birthright to satiate our hunger.

Oh, the assembly of believers is a beautiful and joyous thing! "Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity." But true unity is forged around a core of Truth and a unified vision- not around a lack of a Standard. Chesterton said that "Tolerance is the virtue of a man without convictions." Is the Church slipping to that degraded state today?

It is fitting that this post should fall so near to Father's Day. The father plays a crucial role in the process either of true repentance or lack thereof. I thank God for a father who leads in the old paths, the paths of God, unafraid to shed tradition and to "offend," but rather afraid to disobey God. And not only afraid to disobey God, but excited and delighted to obey Him.

We need more men to take up the torch, to return to God's Word, to do God's Work God's Way.

We need more men who are delighted to obey.

"All that is human must retrograde if it does not advance."

~ Edward Gibbon

Legacy

Legacy

G. A. Hudelson
9/10/08

I come to tell you of myself,
A venture not of pride,
But a tale of glory, and of Truth,
To give my children when I’ve died.

I cannot speak highly of myself,
For I would be at a loss for words,
But I shall tell you what is True,
To affirm what you may have heard.

I am a warrior, even now,
Though still within my youth,
A soldier of The Cross,
Fighting for my LORD, Who is The Truth.

I fight a bloody battle, now,
Against the crimson night,
Following my Great King Jesus Christ,
The Leader of The Light

And my children, when you read this,
I want you then to say,
“My father served his LORD The King,
From day to bloody day,

“And he fought many a battle,
So that with him I would sing,
‘Jesus is my Master,
And my father’s LORD my King!’”

And now I stand on the bloody battle field,
That my father for me won,
And remember the splendid and the great
Things that he for King has done,

And I know that our King’s victory,
Has only just begun,
And so I fight, and boldly,
And I fight for you, my son,

That one day you, like me, may stand,
Before our mighty foe,
Stand for your wife and family
That this dark world may know,

That my father served A Greater King,
And for Him I have died,
And now my children, ‘tis your turn,
To fight together, side by side,

And if you stand true, for my King,
Then I shall testify,
If all my life was meaningless-
For that, I’d gladly die!