Later in the same chapter, we read this:

I often get discouraged about how much apparently meaningless nonsense I have to spend my day dealing with.  There are two truths that encourage me about this at different times.  One truth is that God is sovereign over all that "nonsense" and is working every bit of it for my good (Roman 8). The other is the truth contained in this Ecclesiastes passage:  that the normal human experience involves being busy with unhappy business.   Marvelously, these two truths can work together to lift our eyes to heaven!   God is working in every detail of this world.  The world is full of unhappy striving. God is keeping me and moving me ever onward toward ever increasing joy in his glory in heaven!  

Lord, help me hold on to a vision of heaven, as I muddle and groan in the world today.

In my daily Bible reading, I came across this passage in Ecclesiastes which caused me to meditate, once again, on this principle:

All streams run to the sea,
but the sea is not full;
to the place where the streams flow,
there they flow again.
All things are full of weariness;
a man cannot utter it;
the eye is not satisfied with seeing,
nor the ear filled with hearing.
Ecc 1:7-8

The work I have to do in my life--for my job, for my ministry, for my family--is like the streams running to the sea, and sound going to the ear.    If the stream had as its goal to fill up the ocean and be done, it would be sorely disappointed, and badly confused about its purpose.   That doesn't mean that the stream's work isn't important;  it's essential.  It's just that the goal is not clearing my list, any more than the goal of listening to music or of looking at my wife as to fill my ears and eyes so that they don't ever need to listen or look again.

Praise the Lord for his wise and perfect Word, sufficient for every circumstance of life!

This Psalm was written in an agrarian context, where  provision of grain meant food on the table.  Whether or not you were a farmer, you had a direct connection to that provision as the source of life for your family.   If you work at a computer for some or most of your day and shop at a grocery store for food, you might have lost that direct connection.  These verses become pretty and tame--like a cheesy nature photograph.   So we might need to refresh our view of provision.  If God provides for your family by your work on a computer, as is the case for an increasing number of people, then we need to think about what we are harvesting from our work with the same wonder at God's provision.  If you solve problems, enter data, write grants, develop software, place inventory orders, or design machines for a living, then your computer is the pastures, meadows, and valleys that Psalm 65 is talking about.   Each line of code, text, or numbers that flows out of your fingers is like grain coming up from the ground.  I need to remember that and be in constant awe of God's majesty in provision.   As I do, my computer shouts and sings for joy at his glory!

I used Doodle to schedule meetings for the children's ministry, and almost instantly other groups at the church started asking me about it.   Even people who are slow to warm to new technologies see the beauty of this tool right away.  My brothers and sisters are starting to use it for Men's Ministry and for scheduling visitation and prayer for the sick.  Praise the Lord!  May he use it for many more good works.  So, since I had gotten so many questions, spontaneously, I thought I'd share it here too.

Doodle is free.  There is an option to register so you can manage multiple polls more easily, but a logon registration is not required.

The first is encapsulated by something that C.S. Lewis wrote in one of his poems, "Anger's the anesthetic of the mind."   That is, we feel angry to feel better.  We express anger to feel better or to fix a situation that seems wrong.  When God blessed Abel, Cain was "very angry." (Gen 4:5)  God encouraged him to "do well," (Gen 4:7) but rather than engage his mind and the Lord in how to do well, he sought a shortcut to feeling better by giving full vent to envy and resentment.   It is natural, in the flesh, to try to correct wrongs and hurts through anger.  It honestly feels like it's going to help.  This is why James needed to warn us that "the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God."   It's hard to believe that sometimes.  The feeling that our anger is productive for justice is so seductive.  But in fact, our anger is a way of numbing ourselves from the feelings with which we can cry out to God.  Anger feeds pride and circumvents sorrowful dependence.

The second (which I first learned from John Piper in Future Grace ) is that trust in God's wrath is the best antidote to anger.  Every wrong perpetrated against me or anyone else will be punished in hell.  Every one.  The punishment will either rest on the perpetrator or (if s/he embraces Christ for forgiveness and righteousness), on Jesus Christ.  Either way, justice will be done!   Paul instructs us to rest in the knowledge of God's wrath and justice: "Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” (Romans 12:19)   David knew this when he acted with unbelievable restraint and felt such unbelievable humility in the face of Saul's anger and wrongdoing.  Over and over he says to Saul, "May the Lord judge between me and you, may the Lord avenge me against you, but my hand shall not be against you." (1 Samuel 24:12).

These truths together can elucidate almost any situation that relates to anger.   They draw out the deep waters of the heart (Prov 20:5) about which we are often deceived (Jer 17:9), and point a way toward peace and purification from anger's poison.

In the interview with Mahaney, Grudem says:   "As far as human advice and counsel, I have found the system described in Getting Things Done by David Allen to be very helpful—I am just now rereading that to try to get all of my “in box” items back under control again and listed in one place, and then processed. I should add that I find effective use of time to be a continual challenge and I keep making small modifications here and there."

I have mentioned before that I approached GTD with a fair amount of skepticism because of Allen's New Age background and aims.  I'm in the middle of reading his latest book, Making it all work and I remain on guard against the promise of "Winning at the Game of Work and the Business of Life" (as the full title offers).  The Bible is about victory in life and everything else!  And because it is, there is a part of me that wants to throw into the fire any other book that makes a similar claim.   I think that part of me is righteous and I want to keep that fierce rejection of claims that compete with the Bible's claims.   And, at the same time, I have found that, as a bottom-up approach (set of tools) for managing what God puts in my life, GTD has helped me serve my family, teach, fight sin, lead, pray, and respond to the Spirit in church more effectively.  I love and desire productivity for the Lord, and want to steward his time and tasks well.  The disciplines associated with GTD are not essential for me to do that, but they do help.

So it is comforting to hear that someone whose heart and mind I admire as much as I do Grudem's has come to similar conclusions.  I do think it takes an enlightened mind and a strong foundation of faith and theology to read David Allen and remain true to Paul's exhortation in Col 2:8, "See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ."  But it is possible.  And if the heart and mind conditions are right, GTD can be a powerful tool in the hand of a Christian.

The family-inclusive small group my wife and I are working on is precisely in this model.  And I think the D6 Ministry's radical commitment to family-centeredness can challenge and inspire all churches to think outside traditional models of children's programming.   Whether or not one dives in with the kits and materials of specific ministry, that is a helpful and biblical challenge for those who desire massively productive ministry to children.

1. I am always seeking strategies for defeating sloth and distraction in my flesh. 
2. My current focus on church ministry teams has me pleading with God for a team of brothers and sisters who are in the word and praying every day because (as I've discussed in my posts on Psalm 127), the house we build will either fall down or do no lasting good unless the Lord builds it.
3. I recently listened to John Piper's annual sermon exhorting his people to faithful and fruitful prayer.  It is always one of my favorites of the year (last year's blew me away).  This year Pastor John strongly emphasized building habits around prayer, including committing to a time and place.

I've heard the exhortation for having a time and place many times, and of course it is wise.  But I also sense it is incomplete for many people.   I needed to link my disciplines to other actions and habits in my life.  For me, the most helpful strategy has been the "no email before bible" resolution.  This strategy built Psalm 127 thinking into my day--I was essentially saying to myself, "Don't fool yourself into thinking that any work or personal correspondence that is not build upon your relationship with God will be any good to anyone."    I was also trying to defeat Satan's subtle tactics to get me off track with what is most important--"just take care of this one thing and get it off your mind so you can really focus on your Bible," the devil would prompt--which of course just got me off to the races, never to return to my plan for quiet time with my Lord.

I have not always been faithful to my resolution, but it has helped a lot.  I'm considering upping the ante on it by changing some usernames or passwords to include phrases like "IvereadmyBibleGod" somewhere in them (note to hackrs:  this is an example and it won't be in any of my passwords, which will be way more disguised:).   I've also thought about a yellow sticky over the keypad of my work and cell phone that says "Remove only after daily devotions" which would require me to take it off before the Lord prior to using.  After all, the whole reason he has blessed me with a phone is so that I can do my work or ministry for Him!   How silly is it for me to use a phone without seeking him for purity and purpose in all I do?   I'd love to find a way to disable my car with a prayer detector that wouldn't let it start until I had earnestly sought Him!

Now, I know these kinds of suggestions open one to charges of legalism, which is why I LOVED Piper's direct response to this criticism in the prayer sermon this year:

You can call it that. It’s a duty the way it’s the duty of a scuba diver to put on his air tank before he goes underwater. It’s a duty the way pilots listen to air traffic controllers. It’s a duty the way soldiers in combat clean their rifles and load their guns. It’s a duty the way hungry people eat food. It’s a duty the way thirsty people drink water. It’s a duty the way a deaf man puts in his hearing aid. It’s a duty the way a diabetic takes his insulin. It’s a duty the way Pooh Bear looks for honey. It’s a duty the way pirates look for gold.

It goes without saying that just because I remove a yellow sticky from my phone, read my Bible pray, doesn't mean that my heart is with the Lord.  The habit doesn't make the heart, but not having the habit can destroy chances of developing the heart.  That is too big a risk for me.  I  fear wasting my life and time building houses, keeping watch, rising up early and going late to rest (Psalm 127:1-2) if the Lord is not in it.  I also fear for a church ministry team that would meet to talk, plan, and work without every person continually asking God for an renewed mind (Romans 12:2) and a pure heart (Psalm 51).  Join me in praying for faithfulness to core disciplines this year.

We have a large team that is responsible for a large ministry.  One of the "tools for toil" I see as potentially helpful is a collaborative project management website.   I have tested several sites, and recently found one, Pelotonics, that I think will best match with the needs of our ministry team.  I have yet to roll it out to the team, so the proof will be in the putting, but my initial work with the site has given me a favorable impression.

That impression was strengthened today with a customer support experience that surprised and challenged me.  It was so good, and put such a stake in the ground for me in terms of productivity, that I have to share it here:   I completed a technical support form on the Pelotonics website with a question I couldn't find answered on the site's forums or wiki.  Within hours, I not only had an answer by email, but the company's founder, Troy Malone, recorded a video response to my question.  The response answered my question, and went on to offer additional useful information related to it--information I had not yet thought to ask for, but which will help me down the road.  I later discovered that Mr. Malone also streams live from his office during many points in his workday to engage with and support his product's consumers.

The reason to mention it here, other than that I was thankful and impressed, is that it presents a challenge to me to think outside of the expectable and strive to surpass it. This company has decided that customer support is central to their model.  Almost every company would say that.  But this company also decided to redefine what customer support means.   From a business standpoint, it will be interesting to see how this scales when Pelotonics grows, but from a ministry standpoint, it is relevant because whatever challenge our team faces, we should ask God to show us the best way to meet it, and open our minds for him to show us something different and more glorious to him than the status quo.  I think this is particularly relevant to ministry with children, whom many churches and parents have underestimated.   Scripture memory:  how about whole books of the Bible?   Lessons:  how about systematic theology?   Sing-a-longs:  how about five verses of the great hymns?   I think our church and many of the families in our congregation do think big about our children, but I always want to be open for God to show me something bigger--even to redefine what I think of as big.

Lessons about how great God is come from the strangest places, don't they?  Ustream??  It should not be surprising, since all of creation and history are a drama that is ultimately about Him and for Him:

So there are two topics about which I'm thinking a lot right now, and will likely blog about in the near future:

1. Church team productivity.   I deeply desire for our team to be fruitful for God in every sense.  Part of the spiritual call to leadership is to steward well the time and energy God has given team members.   We want our work to matter for the kingdom.  We want to be wise and skillful for God, leveraging any available tools and resources to accomplish the work He has given us.   And we want everyone on our team to be strengthened by their service.
2. Productive avenues of teaching and discipling children.  Our church has adopted a phrase to describe our mission: "To make more and better disciples."   How do we do that more and better as a family and as a church with our children?

I'm thankful that God has shown me and my family some of what he wants us to focus on in 2009. In pursuing these callings, part of my personal discipline needs to be discerning how much will be useful to share here.  The questions I have to ask myself before opening an editor to compose a blogpost remains the same:  1. Could posting this thought/observation/link help me or someone else be more fruitful in God's kingdom?  2.  Will posting distract or strengthen me from actually doing?  We'll see how often both of these answers are yes, but I feel energized by God's leading and the synergy I'm sensing in what he is calling me, my family, and my church to right now.

That said, I do have friends and students who ask me about my set-up.   Today, a friend who recently switched to using a Mac asked me to point him in some productive directions with his new machine.   Although I never want this blog to become a "tricks and tips" site, it seems reasonable to share my response to him here, since it is directly related to productivity and is a question I get fairly often.

Because I work in front of a computer most of the day, I have tools for many different scenarios and needs.  Some scenarious come up more often than others.  For my friend, who has been a basic-level PC end-user for years, I wanted to boil things down to a short list of programs and utilities I use every day.   I also wanted to major in tools that have a free option, with only a sprinkling of premium products.  So here is what I told him.  Only read it, if you have already memorized the first verse of Psalm 127, and read at least some of my posts on prayer and productivity:

Advice to a Mac switcher interested in productivity

The Basics
Read Walt Mossberg's very basic switcher tips.
Review Apple's tutorials for switchers.

Utilities
Watch video demo of Dropbox and install on all of your machines.
Watch video tutorial, puchases, and install Textexpander.
Read wikipedia explanation of Quicksilver and install it. Once you have it installed read some of these tutorials.  Tuaw's tutorial is also helpful as a start.
Get Firefox, then install Foxmarks Bookmark Synchronizer to synchronize bookmarks across machines.
Download free version of Flip4Mac (to view Windows Media files), if that is relevant to you.

Project/Task Management
Watch the video demo, then purchase Omnifocus, my tool of choice for project/task management and review.

Tools to promote universal capture of tasks, ideas, conviction, and promptings of the Spirit
Watch the video tutorial, and install Evernote client and bookmarklet on all devices (mobile and stationary)
Get Jott to aid in universal catpure of ideas and tasks on the fly using cell phone.

Textexpander, Omnifocus have cost, rest are free with the option to purchase premium features or more space as your use and need determine.  The two applications I use everyday, but did not include on this list are 1Password and Mindmanager.   1Password is the ultimate password manager, but my friend will be moving between his Mac and a PC, and 1Password is mac-only.  If you use secure passwords, it's hard to be without them on your second computer.   Mindmanager is central to my writing, planning, presenting, and brainstorming.  Fantastic software.  However, the mac version, while still excellent, is no where near is good as the Windows version, so it didn't seem appropriate to have it on the Mac Switcher list.   In fact, even though I have Mindmanager for Mac, I usually use it on the Windows side of my machine with VMware Fusion (which is also a helpful utility I use a few times a week, but don't put it in the must-have category).

I hope this list is helpful and read its proper context and purpose:  for the glory of God in software, hardware, and all things.

• I rejoice to see theology taken seriously in academic institutions.
• I am thankful that believers are being productive in the public sphere.
• I pray that the good works of Jesus followers relieving human suffering will bring Him glory.
• I fear that the good works of Jesus followers will (at best) bring "belief" glory, or (at worst) appear to be a worthy end in themselves.  Relieving human suffering is essential and reflects a Godly weeping heart.  But the source and final goal (telos) of all good works must be the experience and glory of God.
• I am challenged and convicted to ask myself, "Do I have a lived theology that extends beyond private behavior and church service?"  With all I am called to do in God's service, how can I best respond to social injustice and pain in the wider broken world?
• I am thankful for movements in the evangelical church to respond in greater depth and number to suffering in the world.     The global diaconate at Bethlehem Baptist Church sets a worthy example in this regard.

I congratulate my alma mater and the Project on Lived Theology on their grant, and pray that God's people will give them much to write about!

Related posts:
Productivity reflections on Psalm 127
Sin is a waste of time
Who is getting things done

In response, he points readers to a series of posts by CJ Mahaney about productivity and procrastination.  I had missed these posts, so I'm grateful that Michael passed on these links, which I join Michael in commending to you.

Christianity and/or Psychology:

Christian Counseling and Education Foundation.  An excellent resource for biblical counseling books, conferences, training, and inspiration.    

Desiring God Ministries resources about Christianity and Psychology, and Biblical Counseling.  Resources here include free down-loadable audio files by some true giants of the faith (such as Erroll Hulse, Greg Livingston, and David Powlison) specifically about Christianity and Psychology from a 2001 conference on the topic hosted by John Piper and Bethlehem Baptist Church.  Note that there is also a short Q&A article in which John Piper comments on one of the key questions I addressed tonight and about which I have talked directly with Piper:  "Should Christians become secular psychologists?"

Foundations for Soul Care:  A Christian Psychology Proposal by Eric Johnson.   A monumental tome and a gift to the field.  I don't agree with Johnson on every point, but I do on most.  I haven't yet finished this massive book but I've read enough to know that this is the most thoughtful and scriptural attempt at integration I've read.

Instruments in the Redeemer's Hand:  People in need of change helping people in need of change by Paul David Tripp.   A wise and practical book for anyone with a heart to help others change.  This is explicitly not a book for professional counselors (though most of us can learn from it), but for ordinary Christians who do (and should do) most of the counseling in real life.

Psychology and Christianity: Four Views.   A much-cited book which should be read with caution.  This book needs to be on this list because it provides fertile ground for understanding the range of views on Christianity and Psychology.  But the book has problems, including the way it tends to marginalize and caricature the biblical counseling perspective.  Thoughtful Christians should be on alert for straw man arguments about biblical approaches.

Seeing With New Eyes: Counseling and the Human Condition Through the Lens of Scripture and Speaking Truth In Love both by David Powlison.  Seeing with New Eyes uses the book of Ephesians as an exemplary text for how to conceptualize the core problems human beings struggle with.   Speaking the Truth gives readers the methods and techniques of using God's word to speak into another's life.

Christian faith/Christianity and Science:

The Reason for God by Tim Keller.  I love Tim Keller because of the respect he shows people who doubt or oppose the Christian faith.  He respects them enough to both answer skeptics' questions and to challenge them to scrutinize their own assumptions and beliefs.  This is precisely the approach with which I was lead to the Lord, so I am so thankful to see it embodied here.  The Tim Keller resource page also has a number of outstanding messages that squarely address questions that thoughtful skeptics often ask such as "How an there be just one true religion?", "If God is good, why is there so much evil in the world?", and "Hasn't Christianity been an instrument for oppression?"

Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis.  A classic.  Arguments and metaphors presented in the first several chapters, especially, are among the most potent I've read.  This book turned me from mocker to seeker almost overnight.

Science and theology: An introduction by John Polkinghorne.  Polkinghorne, a renowned particle physicist, was the first Christian scientist I ever heard speak;  he gave a talk titled "Why Scientists Should Pray" at the University of Virginia (sponsored by the Center for Christian Study) in 1996.   He has written a number of thoughtful books on the nexus of science and religion, including this one which is generally regarded as this best and most accessible summary.  I do not align with Polkinghorne on every theological point, but he is brilliant and the most intellectually honest voice I've heard in the world of science and faith.

I'm looking forward to the event for several reasons.  First, I love open dialog about God in academic settings.   One of the most important early influences in my Christian life was the Center for Christian Study in Charlottesville Virginia.  The mission of the center is close to my mission in this talk: "to foster serious consideration in the university environment of a biblical worldview" and "to facilitate wise discussion of the Truth in light of the challenges of contemporary culture."   

Second, a delightful young woman who is a psychology major at the College will share her journey in making sense of Psychology in light of a recent conversion to Christianity.

Third, how I think about the topic mirrors in some ways how I think about my intersection as a Christian with the world of productivity, including GTD.   So I'm looking forward to dedicating some time to think through and formalize the principles involved a little bit more.

So if you are in relationship with the Living God of the Universe, please ask Him to give me his favor and wisdom on Wednesday night.