Dr. SamLam

Study Hard,

SamLam

An article in Bible Study Magazine suggests that perhaps He did. Samuel Lamerson, Dean of Faculty and Associate Professor of New Testament at Knox Seminary in Fort Lauderdale, proposes that perhaps the disconnect between us and the funnier comments and stories Jesus told is cultural—maybe we just don’t understand what they would have found funny in Palestine 2,000 years ago. He also suggests that perhaps we just don’t like the idea of a jovial Jesus and prefer to picture our Savior as a “man of many sorrows, acquainted with grief.” Lamerson walks us through some examples of stories Jesus told which his listeners would have found humor in, showing that Jesus may have been a little more wry than we would typically admit.

If you would like to read the article, point your browser to

http://www.biblestudymagazine.com/preview/

Please let me know what you think.  Thanks much.

SamLam

A large greyhound wandered into the yard one day and I went out and looked at him.  He sat down and started talking to me (it’s my story and I can have talking dogs).  He told me that he used to be a race dog at the local greyhound track and that he had been very, very good.  As a matter of fact he told me that he was one of the best greyhound racers ever.
I asked him if he was still racing.  He looked at me with those big dog eyes and said “nope, I quit.” I asked him if he had physical problems and he said “nope, I quit.” I asked him if he had been slowing down, and he said “nope, I quit.” Well, if there were no problems why did you quit, I asked?
He said “You know all my life I was chasing that rabbit.  I worked harder and harder to get faster and faster and I chased that rabbit.  Then one day I caught it and you know what?  It wasn’t real!”

Let him who has ears to hear, hear.

Richard Rich: If I was, who would know it?

Sir Thomas More: You; your pupils; your friends; God. Not a bad public, that.

– A Man for All Seasons,

It might have been because I am turning fifty in a few weeks. It might have been because I don’t sleep well when I have a plane to catch early the next morning. Whatever it was, it was a nightmare.
I found myself fifty years in the future, visiting Knox Seminary. I went to a Greek class to see how things had changed and was not surprised that things had not changed much. I asked the students about Greek professors at Knox “back in the day.” One student remembered that the first Greek professor had be Dr. George Knight; another remembered that Dr. Fowler White had taught Greek and both professors were spoken of with great reverence. I asked them if they had heard of Dr. Lamerson. “No, no that name doesn’t ring a bell” was the answer again and again. I asked if they had ever used Dr. Lamerson’s book on English Grammar for students of New Testament Greek. “Never heard of that book” came the reply.
I made my way across the street to Coral Ridge. I asked those who were there how things were going. “Well” they said, “not without our difficulties, but God is still blessing us after all these years.” I asked about the new pastor and received glowing reports. Then I asked if they might remember the person who preached as interim in between Dr. Kennedy and Tullian. “I didn’t know that there was such a person” came the reply. I thought that some of the difficulties during that time came because Tullian followed right after Dr. Kennedy. If there was someone as an interim it must have only been for a few weeks because we don’t remember anything about him.”
Yes it was a nightmare, and yes it plays to all of the worries that I have about not having really accomplished anything for the kingdom. But that wasn’t the end. As I was walking out, I saw an older gentleman who looked somewhat familiar. I asked him if he had ever heard of Dr. Lamerson. “No, though it sounds a little bit familiar” he said. Pastor Sam, I said, that is what most called him.
His eyes lit up, and he exclaimed “Pastor Sam, of course! He taught me fifth grade Sunday School and played dodge ball with us on Wednesday nights. I liked that guy because he almost never got mad even when we drilled him right in the head with the ball. After we played dodge ball we would have a Bible study. He’s the reason that I kept coming to church when I was a teenager. I remembered the lessons he had taught us from the Scripture.”
If I accomplish nothing more for the Kingdom than that; that’s enough. It doesn’t matter if they remember me, as long as they remember the Lord. That’s enough.

Romans 13:1-3
Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. 3 For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same.

I know that Paul was in prison when he wrote the book of Romans, but it was not for calling for the death of Caesar.  The government at the time of the Apostle was wicked, corrupt, and totally anti-Christian.  Yet God calls for us to be subject to the governing authorities.

You can read about the prayer, as well as other “issues” (issues nothing, this man has an entire subscription) that this pastor has had here:

http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/godingovernment/2009/06/former_sbc_official_prays_for_obamas_death.html

If you want to actually hear him defend his position, you can listen here:

http://crooksandliars.com/john-amato/pastor-drake-prays-obamas-death-im-not

I know, I know, I need to get out more.

My son Josiah left today for San Diego where he will be for a month of training, after which, until Christmas, he will be part of a team that travels the New England area raising awareness of the problems generated by children being used as soldiers in Uganda.  The organization for which he works is called “Invisible Children.” When seeing him off today, it was really, really tough.  I came back into the house after seeing him leave and burst into tears, weeping like a little girl.  My little beagle Mo tried to dry my tears by licking them off and I was reminded of two things: A dog saved my life; the history of the world was changed by cheap thread; and we must depend upon the providence of God for the protection of those whom we love (I often make unusual links between ideas, it’s due in part, to the fact that I have many, many characters living rent free inside my mind.  Many of these characters make themselves know when I do ventriloquism).

The story of the history of the world beingchanged drastically by the use of cheap Egyptian thread is an old one.  Remember that Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers.  Becoming a slave of the very powerful leader “Potiphar” where he was made the second in command over much of the empire.  Joseph was a very handsome man according to the apocryphal book “Joseph and Asneth” which answers the question of why Joseph, a fine Jewish boy would marry an Egyptian girl (Even the ancients had trouble with teaching their children whom they should and should not marry.  I can imagine Jewish mothers telling their sons not to marry a non-Jewish girl and hearing the answer “But Joseph did it!” The book Joseph and Asneth answers the problem by telling of Asneth’s conversion to the Hebrew God.)

Joseph’s looks get him into trouble when Potiphar’s wife tries to seduce him while the master of the house is away.  Joseph will have none of that and eventually flees from the “shameless hussy” (as my father would have said) who holds on to Joseph’s cloak (a garment that was the main article of clothing).  Because of the cheap Egyptian thread, the cloak tears and is left with Potiphar’s wife who uses it to claim attempted rape.  Joseph is thrown into prison for a crime he did not commit.  Through a series of incredible events orchestrated by God in which getting thrown into prison was critically important (Read Genesis 30-50 for the entire story), Joseph eventually becomes second in command in the entire land of Egypt.  Through this, Joseph saves his brothers and family from starving, thus saving the entire race of Israel, and by default, the people of God.  That is correct; the existence of the people of God, the nation of Israel in the Hebrew Bible comes down to a cheap piece of thread and an unfair prison sentence.  God is in control of even the little things.  As Joseph says to his brothers who sold him into slavery, “you meant it for evil, but God meant it for good.” (Gen. 50:20) The fact is, as the Joseph story shows time and time again, there are no little things.

The history of my life was changed drastically by a dog.  I remember my father telling me of a dog he had whom he loved greatly.  My father grew up in Indiantown in the 1920s (moving there from Arcadia in a covered wagon) and did a lot of hunting out in the swamps.  One day, in 1925, as he and his beloved dog were walking through some saw-grass, a surprised diamondback rattlesnake lunged to strike at my 15 year old father.  My dad, never tiring of the story told how his dog jumped in front of the snake and took the bite and died.  My father survived because of a dog who took his snake bite.  I exist today because of a dog who took his snake bite.  In a world run by God, there are no little things.
So while I will worry about my boy, I will also trust the God of cheap Egyptian thread and life saving dogs to take care of him.  Perhaps the Lord will send some thread, a dog, or who knows what else to keep him safe, but I will be praying mightily for him.

One of the greatest gifts that a parent can give to a child is trust.  Both of my children, Charity and Josiah, have earned my trust.  I love them with an incredibly strong love and would do anything to keep them from being hurt.  I am not, however, able to control everything.  That is the reason that I turn to my heavenly father who controls not only the “big things” like the hearts of kings (Proverbs 21:1 The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD like channels of water; he turns it wherever he wants. NET Bible) but also the small things, right down to the throwing of dice (Proverbs 16:33 The dice are thrown into the lap, but their every decision is from the LORD. NET Bible).

The pain at seeing Josiah leave today, only for sixth months and for a very safe and wonderful activity, reminds me afresh of the incredible sacrifice that our heavenly Father made for us when he sent his son.  What an incredible thing to think that our Father sent his son on a trip that was anything but safe, and which had as its basis nothing but grace.  Jesus came to die, sent by his father who knew the terrible pain, humiliation, and spiritual hardship that he was to face; for us.

I’ll be waiting anxiously until Josiah gets home; taking comfort in the fact that God is watching over him. He is, as Peter reminds us the shepherd of our souls (1 Peter 2:25 For you were going astray like sheep but now you have turned back to the shepherd and guardian of your souls.NET Bible)
But even more than that I take comfort in the fact that I have a Father and a Savior who will be waiting for me until I get home.  I will not be going home a minute before my time, nor can I survive a second after it.  It is all worked out down to the last detail.  There are no small things with God.  I am very thankful for that.  The last thing I said to Josiah was a phrase that my mother used to say to me, “I love you, now don’t forget who you belong to” (I know that it is grammatically incorrect, but I am not going to correct my mother).  She meant not just to remember that my father had worked very hard to keep his name unsullied and a thing of honor, but that I was also a child of the heavenly father and that what I did reflected on God as well as my earthly father.

God has some great plans for both of my children.  No matter what career they decide to pursue, the most important thing they can remember is to never “forget who they belong to.” All else is small in comparison.  As Charity works on her master’s degree in social work so that she can be an instrument of grace in a broken world and as Josiah speaks for those who cannot speak for themselves, I could not be more proud.  God has been so gracious to give me such great and beautiful children (the credit goes to the Lord’s goodness and to Cindy’s incredible parenting skills, I shudder to think what they might be like without my unbelievably patient wife who has parented me as much as the kids (lines like “honey I don’t think hanging off the roof on a rope with a running chain-saw is a good idea” come to mind).

After seeing Josiah off this morning, having my tears dried by my little buddy “Mo” I wondered what the dogs must think when someone leaves like that.  It reminded me of a paragraph from a book called The Year of Jublio by Howard Bahr.  In the scene a young man is leaving his home to become a confederate soldier.  As he leaves his old dog follows him up the road:

The dog had been old, toothless, feeble, but she had followed the boy when he left for the war, had stumbled blindly down the lane after him until the future soldier stopped and knelt and petted her , said “Go home, France-you can’t follow where I’m going.” The boy had gone, quickly, not looking back, and the dog had sat in the road and nodded her head, swayed her grey muzzle back and forth trying to find him again, until father had lifted the old dog up and carried her home, still looking for the boy.

I am looking for the day when we will all be carried by our Father to the “city that has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.” No more separation.  That will be a great day!  All because a father selflessly sent his son to an unworthy group, to give them an unparalleled gift.  There are no little things with God.
Please pray for my boy as he travels and I’ll try to “man up” and not cry if you ask me about him.  More importantly pray for the gospel to go forth in a mighty way as the news of the greatest Father continues to be spread.

For the Lamb,

DSL

As most of you who know me know, I read a lot. Usually three to four books a week, sometimes more, sometimes less depending on how life is treating me.  I wanted to bring to your attention a couple of new books that I just finished reading that were very good.

On the Christian front, the book Risking the Truth by Martin Downes is a book of interviews with pastors and scholars on the nature and problem of error in the church.  This work is really helpful on a number of levels.  It is a very interesting way to deal with such subjects at the New Perspective on Paul, Annihalationism, End Times, and other issues.  As is to be expected in a book like this, the interviews range from very strong and helpful (Horton, Duncan) to not as clear and not so helpful.  All in all this is a very good place to start if you would like to know more about current issues in theology that are making their way into the church.

The second book is as far away from the first as is possible.  It is a novel that contains some adult language as well as adult themes (death of children, war, the holocaust).  The book is called The Book Thief and is narrated by the character of death.  On every page I found beautifully written sentences and the story carried me along like a magic carpet.  It is the story of a girl who loves books (thus the theme of this blog) and who sees the power of words in the books that she reads as well as in the speeches of Adolf Hitler.
The story is deeply moving and wonderfully redemptive in many ways.  It is a rare thing for me to miss “characters” after a book is over.  I miss Rudy and the book thief.  If you love good writing and a good story, I believe that you will miss them as well.

Pick up a good book and read it, but don’t forget that the greatest of books has been given to us by our Father in heaven.  Don’t neglect THE book for other books (I speak to myself here).  Whether you read electronic books, or still prefer the old fashioned paper kind, remember that words have power.  Never forget that The Word is most powerful, has become flesh and dwelt among us, and has made it possible for us to be seen righteous in front of a perfect and holy God.  The Word is powerful!

Here is the story:

… And Harlots
July 13
Eva J. Alexander was born to believing parents in Chennai, India, and born again at age 12 during a Billy Graham meeting. In 1963, she married R. D. Alexander, and the two took positions with the Indian government. Eva’s job exposed her to the plight of women in her country, and she began speaking out about their status and suffering. For awhile, she became so socially active that her spiritual life suffered. Politics became more important than religion.
But the Lord sent a serious illness that brought her to her knees. “God, if you’re real,” she prayed, hovering near death in the hospital, “do not allow me to die. I will serve you.” Returning home, Eva began reading her Bible again and two words in Matthew 21:31 tore through her mind like torpedoes—and harlots. Jesus wanted to bring harlots into His kingdom.
A week later, a nearby pastor told her of a prostitute who had run away from the brothels, and he asked Eva to provide a room for her. “I can’t,” said Eva. “You keep her.” Eva had a husband and four children at home, including two teenage sons. But the Lord again brought Matthew 21:31 to mind, and Eva relented.
Her family was aghast: “What is this? You’re turning our house into a brothel!” But their attitudes soon changed, and they accepted this ministry as coming from God. Other girls began showing up, and the Alexander home became a rehabilitation center. Police officers and prisons referred troubled women to Eva, and today up to 15 women live in the Alexander home at any one time. The Alexanders provide medical treatment, job training, and a strong gospel witness. Eva has started a home for the children of prostitutes where 60 children, age 12 months to 13 years, find refuge.
Her husband and children joined her work, and, spurred on by Matthew 21:31, they are bringing many harlots into the Kingdom. *
Today’s Suggested Reading Matthew 21:28–32
Jesus said unto them, “Assuredly, I say to you that tax collectors and harlots enter the kingdom of God before you.” Matthew 21:31

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James 1:26 If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is useless. 27 Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.

I was reminded of this passage lately because my son, Josiah, is getting ready to leave home for several months.  He will be working for an organization that does exactly what James is speaking of, helps orphans.  I am really proud of both of my children and the way that they have decided to do kingdom work.  Charity is now a social worker (having just graduated with a degree in social work) and Josiah is now working to help children who cannot help themselves. 

If you would like to know more about what Josiah is doing, and maybe even help out a little, check out his blog at http://brosiah.blogspot.com/2009/06/so.html I think that you will see why I am so proud.

Real Christianity does something.  James is clear about that.  So let us all not just sit here, but do something for the kingdom!

For the Lamb,

SamLam

The next day I taught again in the morning but by this time I had abandoned my lesson plans.  I didn’t feel like my teaching on Bible study methods was really getting through to the students so I asked them, through my fantastic interpreter, Professor Kim (a true genius and a great scholar as well as the kindest host that I could imagine).  I was told that they would like to hear some American sermons so I would do a sermon, answer questions about the exegesis, preparation, and delivery, and they try to tie it in to the lessons that I was teaching about the methods of Bible study.  It seemed as if I was beginning to communicate a little so I was glad to have made the change.
Time for lunch came on Thursday and I had been promised that we would be taken out to a special restaurant that serves dog.  There are a couple of things that are important.  First, they all wanted me to make sure that I alerted everyone to the fact that they do not eat pet dogs.  The dog that they eat is raised for food, much like a pig or a cow would be.  Second, the restaurants’ that serve dog are few, and very low key.  We went down an alley and into a sort of hall to get to the place and there was not a westerner nor a scrap of English to be found.
The pot of meat came to the table where it was kept hot by a heating element.  The pot was filled with some sort of greens with strips of meat on top.  This was the “Korean Beef” that we had heard so much about.  I got my chopsticks ready (there were never forks on the table) and put a little of the meat on some rice, dipped it into a sauce that had been mixed for me by Dr. Sohn and took my first bite of dog.  I have to tell you that it was a case of mind over matter.  I could not think about the fact that I was eating dog while I was chewing.

The meat was a little fatty and greasy.  When I asked for a knife to cut off the fat I was brought a pair of scissors.  It was certainly not the worst meal that I have ever had, but I can’t say that I like dog or would ever want to eat it again.  It was an experience, and our clothes smelled like dog for the rest of the day.  Just a little reminder of what had happened.  I let Mo smell the shirt when we came home and he seemed quite puzzled by the scent coming from that article of clothing. Here is Professor Kim pointing at the dog.

The next morning was my last class and after giving them a final sermon, complete with the story of Lonnie the bus driver and his “I’ll see you at the party” line, I told them that I would see them all at the party; the great feast where we will no longer be separated by language, race, or color but will all be sitting down at the supper of the Christ as members of the Kingdom.
After I finished, the students gave me wonderful gifts.  The first was a box of beautiful handkerchiefs that were silk and will add a wonderful touch of class to my suit or a magic trick needing a handkerchief.  One student gave me a beautiful dress shirt, asking me if I wore size 100.  I told him I thought so, not knowing what else to say, and amazingly the shirt fits very well.  Professor Kim gave me an RTS Korea memory stick in addition to the RTS Korea book stand (the nicest book stand that I have, and I am have a lot of book stands) that he had given me earlier in the week.
We took pictures of the class, hugged our goodbyes and I genuinely felt the love of Christ in that room.  A wonderful thing was to realize that no matter where one is in the world, the symbol of the cross (which can be seen all over Seoul) brings together the members of the kingdom.  I loved those men, even though I could not communicate directly with them and I pray that the Lord will use their work greatly for them.

I was finished teaching for the week, so the kids and I took the subway (very clean, safe and easy to use) to an area where there were many tourists and lots of things for sale.  I did find out that during the rush hour there is a professional “pusher” to get the people into the cars.  His job is to push people into the car until there is absolutely no more room.  We rode during off hours so it was not so crowded, though if we were fortunate enough to get a seat, we noticed that the locals would move away from us whenever they could.  We were told that there was much fear of the “swine flu” from Americans and this may have been the reason.
The tourist area had all kinds of things for sale.  I bought a hanging painting of a tiger and a rabbit smoking a pipe together.  I don’t know why, but I just thought “where else are you going to get a hanging painting of a tiger and a rabbit smoking a pipe.” We saw a demonstration of Korean candy making from honey and nuts.  The candy was actually very good.
To give you an idea of how kind the general person was, I walked up to a stand looking for water.  The stand only sold some kind of honey juice which I didn’t want.  I saw some water in the refrigerator behind the juice dispenser, and thinking that the owner didn’t understand what I wanted I pointed to the water.  She took out the bottle (I realized at that point that it was her personal water) and poured me a cupful, then refused when I offered her money.  I wonder how many American street vendors would do that for a person who could not even speak the language.
I took a taxi back to the hotel (taxi service was very inexpensive, a thirty minute ride for six dollars) and slept, still feeling like I had never really gotten the time change worked out.  I’ll write about visiting the market on Saturday, and the trip home in the next few days.

First of all let me apologize for taking so long to get these up.  A fourteen hour time difference takes a while to get used to, and when you have gone for nine days and then come back you get just enough adjustment to the Korean time before you leave to come back to EST.
On Monday morning I tried to sleep in, attempting to get on Korean time.  I was picked up for lunch by my van driver and my translator, the most wonderful Professor Kim, who is finishing his dissertation at the University of Chicago.  Kim was not only our guide, translator, friend, but also our protector for the week, making sure that we were not forced to engage in any Korean meals or customs that we were not comfortable with.
I was taken for lunch, along with Charity and Josiah, to a special “buffet” in downtown Seoul.  My host was my former student and friend Sung Cho (called “little Cho” to differentiate him from his father “Old Cho”).  This was a truly cosmopolitan experience.  Walking around the restaurant, I saw squid, eel, duck, seeweed, cookies, ice cream (without the beans, thankfully), and many many types of raw seafood.
I braved the squid, eel, seeweed (not good) but mostly ate the duck with Korean bread and sauce and filled up on cookies and ice cream.  The squid area had not only tenticles, but also the entire squid body that one could take if you were a real squid lover.
After lunch we moved hotels because I thought that the AC in the first hotel was not working.  The second hotel was in the middle of the city.  At this hotel we could walk down the street to the McDonalds as well as many street vendors (all illegal I later found out).  The McDonalds was a saving grace.  I can’t remember the last time that I ate a Big Mac and enjoyed it so much.
I began my class in the afternoon, meeting my students and trying to find out what level they were at and what I could teach that would be helpful to them.  I began with teaching a 12 step process to use when preparing a message.  I find teaching through an interpreter (I think this is a better word than translator) very draining.  It is difficult to stop every sentence or so and wait for the translation.  It makes it very difficult to get any rhythm going, and almost impossible to use any humor.
I taught for three or four hours and went home exhausted to the second hotel.  It was just as hot in there as when I left.  It was then that I came to realize that the Korean law calls for no thermostat to be set below 80 degrees in a public building.  It was a very hot week!
Tuesday morning I was back for more teaching and made an attempt to download a Korean Bible from Logos so that the students could see the Korean translation as I spoke about the text.  Unfortunately I was unable to make the download work so they were forced to look at the English, which was as helpful as me looking at the Korean.  Tuesday afternoon I went home and slept because of a headache, caused I was told, by the time difference.
Wednesday was a very busy day.  I taught all day and then we picked up Charity and Josiah for a trip to a church outside of Seoul.  After about an hour and a half van ride, we arrived at the church and were taken to a traditional Korean dinner.  We took our shoes off at the door, sat on the floor, and immediately the food started coming.  As you can see by the pictures, the food just kept coming and coming and coming.  I have never seen so much food in my life.  Just when we thought that the mean was over, there would be another set of dishes brought out.  At the end there were over 40 dishes on the table.  Here are a couple of pictures from this restaurant.

Here I am sitting on the floor with the other pastors: Old Cho, myself, Dr. Sohn, and the host pastor

Here are the 40 dishes from the meal

Here is a particularly tasty dish.

I must commend both Charity and Josiah (who were the best traveling companions ever) because they ate whatever we had, no matter what it looked like or tasted like.  We did our best to fit in and eat like locals.

After the meal (I didn’t each much because it was a lot of raw fish), we went to the church.  I preached (very hot in the church but only Charity, Josiah and I seemed to notice it).  I never know how much good I am doing or how the message is coming across so preaching in a different language is quite a challenge.
After the service, we go back to the pastor’s office where there is more food for us.  We were then given a book by the pastor (in Korean, I reciprocated with a couple of DVDs from Coral Ridge Ministries that feature me on the Historical Jesus) and an envelope with cash.  The churches are very gracious and generous to visiting speakers.
That was about it for Wednesday.  I’ll leave Thursday for tomorrow, since that was the day we went to the dog restaurant.

For the Lamb,
DSL

I had been asked to teach and preach in Korea by Reformed Theological Seminary of Seoul, with whom Knox enjoys a partnership.  I was to go to Korea for eight or nine days and teach a class, speak to local churches, and meet the professors from our sister school.  We arrived in Korea on Saturday night after leaving W. Palm at seven A.M. on Friday.  The flight from Atlanta to Inchon airport (about an hour from Seoul) was fourteen hours straight.  That is the longest flight that I have ever taken.
Upon arriving, before Charity, Josiah, and I could get out of the airport a passport was misplaced by one of us (who shall remain nameless).  By the time we realized it, we were a train ride away from the area where the passport had been laid down on a bench a forgotten (not that hard to do when you have been on the road for over 25 hours).  A Korean policeman, complete with gun, was not happy to have three Americans standing around looking through their luggage for a lost passport.  The passport had been left lying on a bench at the last stop of the train.  Unfortunately, we were not allowed to get back on the train.  After some serious attempts to communicate, and English speaking helper was called, others were sent to the bench and the passport was given back to us.  A breath of a sigh of relief and a reminder that the passport had to be guided more carefully than money.
We were picked up by my friend and translator, Professor Kim from RTS Korea where I would be teaching.  Kim speaks perfect English and was a wonderful host and tour guide during the week.  The seminary driver took us to our hotel room where we were given a half an hour to shower before being taken out to dinner by our hosts.
The bath/shower in this particular hotel was very different.  To start with it was made for someone the size of Frodo Baggins.  You can see the picture below, with Josiah sitting in the tub.  Notice that there is no shower curtain.

At supper we ordered and began to see that the size portions in Korea are very different from those in the US.  I was not very hungry, because of being so tired, so I only had a bowl of soup.  The rest ordered some sort of cooked beef.  When the plate came, I thought that it would be for the whole table to share.  Turns out that this was just Charity’s portion.  People eat in Korea, yet none of them seem to be overweight.  I don’t know if this is because of the type of food they eat, the fact that they walk a great deal more, or just good genetics.  Whatever it was, I was constantly amazed at how much food was served.  At this dinner we were joined by Dr. Sohn, the president of the seminary and Dr. Cho (called “Old Cho” to distinguish him from his son “little Cho”).  Considering that it was four o’clock in the morning US time, we did pretty well eating supper.

The next morning I started realizing that the AC did not seem to be working.  We opened the windows and put a fan on so things were not quite so bad.  We took a walk to a small family mart store and bought a few snacks, including dried squid, Korean soda, and some local cookies and chips.
In a couple of hours we were picked up for my first official duty.  I was to preach at a large Korean church (through my interpreter of course).  The message seemed to go OK; though speaking through an interpreter is very, very difficult.  It is impossible to get any kind of a rhythm of speech going, and none of my humor translated which left me at a decided disadvantage.

An interesting thing about preaching was that as one steps onto the preaching platform, you take your shoes off.  This is a reminder that the preacher stands on “holy ground” as he delivers the word of God.  There are slippers to wear, as there are in many places.  The picture below shows the slippers in the hotel room.

After church we went on a tour of the church which had several tall buildings with rooms used for prayer, youth group, a cafeteria, and even a driving range cage (golf is very big in Korea for the upper level economic people).  All of these things were free to church members.
After the tour of the church we sat down in a small, excusive “restaurant” where we ate lunch.  After traveling and preaching, I was not very hungry but ate a little.  It was then that I had my first experience with “Old Cho” telling me that I needed to each much more. Cho also has an interesting philosophy about eating sugar.  He puts about ten spoonfuls of sugar in his coffee, not to mention sugar on virtually everything else he eats.  He believes that “sugar makes you live longer.” It seems to be working for him.  He is over 70 years old and in great health.
After the meal, we were offered some special “Korean Ice Cream.” I thought, “finally something that I can really enjoy.” When the ice cream came, it looked really good.  It was ice chips with whipped cream, some sort of ice cream type substance and lots of fruit.  I took my first bite and tasted something unusual.  Black beans.  Yes black beans in the ice cream.  Needless to say, I ate what I could without eating any of the black beans, but it was not what we think of as ice cream.

After lunch we were taken back to the pastor’s office, who was a graduate of Knox’s Korean D.Min program.  He proudly showed us a photo of him receiving his diploma from Dr. Kennedy (who is loved and revered among evangelicals in Korea).  We were given a gift of some very, very nice Korean skin soap as well as an exceptionally gracious honorarium.  Here is a picture of all of us after the service.  Charity, Josiah and I are in the front, just in case you can’t tell.

After church, we learned that we would be taken to “Lotte World” the premier Korean amusement park.  The only strange thing was that we were going straight there in what my mother would call our “Sunday go-to-meetin” clothes.  So we walked around Lotte world, a sort of scaled down Disney world, in our good clothes.  One of the funniest moments was the list of rules for one ride.  Look carefully at the rules toward the bottom and see if you spot what might be some sort of a mis-translation.

Here is a picture of us at Lotte World.  Does it remind you of anything?

Finally at about four in the morning our time we had seen enough.  Our host, the ever gracious and kind Professor Kim, allowed us to get a cab back to the hotel which took about an hour or so and cost less than twenty dollars US.
We all slept like the dead until about three o’clock in the morning when we woke up and had trouble going back to sleep.  The fact that the AC did not seem to be working may have had something to do with this.  Professor Kim spoke to the desk about the AC but to no avail and so we decided to move to a hotel that was in downtown Seoul for better AC. More about that move and the AC in Korea tomorrow.

That is the end of day one, day two coming soon.  Don’t miss the stories of the many strange things that we ate (including dog) and experienced the rest of the week.

Glad to be back in the USA,
DSL

More Tomorrow (or whatever, I am not quite straightend out on my days yet)

DSL

DSL

DSL

DSL

Chartiy, Josiah and I will be traveling to Seoul, Korea this week to teach, preach and experience the work of the Lord in Korea. I would appreciate your prayers, both as I leave Knox (tomorrow, June 3) which has a number of things that I should have finished before I left, and my work in Korea where i will be teaching James and a course on “how to study the Bible.”
the difficulty will be in my teaching for eight hours a day, preaching at least three times while i am there, and no making any huge cultural gaffs to ruin our Korean relationship.
I am very thankful for the opportunity to be a part of this spreading of the kingdom, as well as showing my kids the incredible depth of Christian commitment in South Korea. I’ll try to send photos every day of so, with funny stories about the mistakes that I have made over in that country.  I will arrive on Saturday late afternoon and be preaching on Sunday morning with a 13 hour time differnce.  On Monay I wlll begin my gueling five day teaching schedule. 

I know that the Lord is sovereign and that he will take care of us, but if you think of sending a few prayers that way, I would appreciate it.

Your friend in the Lord

sam ramerson/more to follow in a few days. 

For the Lamb,

DSL

Conover says “But I knew that he wouldn’t be back; he was just avoiding a good-bye.  One reason he wouldn’t come back was that , in his grief he had told me too much and would be embarrassed to see me again.  But the more important reason perhaps lay in the words he had spoken, some of the most meaningful I had heard from a tramp.  If tramps avoided using names, didn’t do each other favors, seldom inquired after another’s well-being, and chose to make theirs a world without good-byes, perhaps it was because they had been hurt.  Perhaps, like Monty, they were scared of making friends because they were scared of losing them.  When you lost a good friend, you lost a part of yourself.  When you lost too many good friends, maybe there stopped being a part of you that could be shared; you just got used up.
I looked out over the figures in the grass at Wino Park.  Among the tramps were some real bruisers, that was certain, but there were also men who had been badly bruised.”

The world is filled with bruised people.  The only balm is found in Gilead.  It is easy to look at those who are less fortunate than we are and speak about how they should “work harder, be better people, or turn their lives around.” It is much more difficult to look at them and know, really know, that we are just like them except for the grace of God.  What can we do to ease the bruises of someone today?

DSL

With that out of the way, let me tell you a little bit about why I love Ron so much.  Ron came to work at the church shortly after I did, which makes us the two ministers who have been at Coral Ridge the longest (I came in June of 1997 and Ron shortly thereafter).  In all the time that I have been here I have never seen Ron lose his temper despite the incredible pressure that was placed upon him.  I have never seen him act unkindly tword anyone, no matter what they had done to him, and I could tell you story after story of the vicious things that were said to and about Ron as he tried to do what was best for Christ and his church.  No matter what kind of machinations seemed to be going on by those who wanted to cause him problems, Ron always seemed to be calmly waiting upon the Lord with no worries and no sense of hurry or rush.

While I am glad to see Ron get to spend more time with Mrs. Siegenthaler and his son, daughter, and grandchildren, I am sorry to lose him as a partner in the ministry.  I have learned so much from him.  He taught me that no matter what evil may come, God’s people depend upon God and not upon politics; that the desire for revenge is always wrong no matter how much I have been wronged; that waiting on the Lord is never a foolish strategy; and that true sanctification is possible though I doubt that I will ever reach it.  Ron Siegenthaler is the kind of man I want to be when I grow up.

I will miss you greatly Ron.  You were a true friend, mentor, and man of God.  May the Lord bless you greatly as you enter into a well deserved rest.  You will never know how much you have blessed me and taught me and how much richer I am for having served with you.

Your younger, less sanctified, more needy brother in the Lord, May God’s Love be with you always

SamLam

I know that there aren’t many of you for whom this makes any difference, but if it does, I hope these messages will be a blessing. I will be preaching at St. Andrews Presbyterian on the 26 and will be speaking from Matthew 22:15-33 (the question of paying taxes where Jesus asks who is on the coin). The title of the message will be “Show me the Money.” I’ll put it up as soon as I can after the service.

Many blessings,

DSL

Luke 22:44-7

We are fascinated with the last words of famous people. Being a good southern boy my father taught me the last words of Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, who went back to his youth and said “Let us cross over the river and rest under the shade of the trees.”
Oscar Wilde, looking around the room ended his earthly life by saying, “Either that wallpaper goes or I do.”
The Rev. Bob Jones Sr., speaking to his wife said “Elizabeth, get my shoes, I have to go preach.”
Charles Schultz, the creator of Peanuts comic strip, said “That poor little boy; he never did get to kick the football.
Today we read the last words of God incarnate, Jesus of Nazareth.

Luke 23:44-49 44 And it was about the sixth hour, and there was a darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. 45 And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst. 46 And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost. 47 Now when the centurion saw what was done, he glorified God, saying, Certainly this was a righteous man. What do these words teach us? What do the last words of Jesus before he dies give us, or demand of us who are alive on this Good Friday? Two things:

1. They give us a great comfort.

In the midst of the apocalyptic events that were happening, Jesus calmly calls upon his father. Note that he realizes that his hope lies not in the strength of armies, not in the power of governments, not in the security of money, but in his father.
Jesus has spoken directly to his father in the first word. He now returns in the last word. As the sun is darkened, as the veil is rent from top to bottom, as the dead rise from their graves and go into the city of Jerusalem, Jesus finds comfort from his father.
There are those of you here today who need comforting. It may be that your problems are physical and that you are in pain, turn to the Father though the pain of his son. It may be that your problems are familial, your son or daughter has done or said something that you never imagined possible. Turn to your father who will always support his children. It may be that your problems are financial; turn to the one who paid it all.
This cry of Jesus comes to us as an echo of the septuagental version of Psalm 30 and verse six. It was this Psalm that young men and women said before going to sleep so that they might have a peaceful night of rest.
Real peace comes only through the prince of peace. The one who hung on the cross and endured both the physical and spiritual pain for his children.
Are you one of his children? These last words not only give us great comfort, but they demand something from us.

2. They demand a great confession.

Notice that the roman guard makes a great confession here. He sees that Jesus is truly the son of God. He calls him a “Righteous one” indicating that he now realizes that this Jesus was indeed the person whom he claimed to be. He realizes that what Jesus has done here on this cross is not simply an example, even the supreme example of some general truth.
Jesus stands before us as a flashing neon sign that the world is not simply perplexed, needing good advice; nor simply misguided, needing good leadership; nor simply mistaken, needing good examples.
The world is sick and needs to be healed; it is sinful and needs to be forgiven; it is desperate and needs the in-breaking of the Kingdom of heaven. That is why the drama played out on good Friday and Easter Sunday is the most important thing in the history of mankind.
Our Lord stands before each of you today. You must make a decision, you cannot, just as Pilate could not, put off a decision. He is a righteous man, the son of God, the savior of the world and he stands before you today. Will you, like the centurion believe that he is a righteous man? Or will you walk out and ignore the fact that the great God of the universe died to give his people life.
You who need comfort- turn to Jesus. But you must realize that the greatest comfort comes in the form of forgiveness of sin through this righteous man whose name is Jesus of Nazareth. Please do not walk out of here today without making this great confession.

Here he is in all of his cuteness.  Sox (about 12) and Mo are not quite sure that they want a puppy running around the house at this point, but I think they will get used to it.

For all creatures, great and small,

DSL

There are a few people to whom I owe special thanks: to my friend, colleague, and brother in the: Lord, Dr. Warren Gage. Without him I don’t think I would have made it through some of the trials that came along with the job of morning preaching. To my mentor, and beloved minister at Coral Ridge, Rev. Ron Seigenthaler (I hope I spelled that correctly). Ron is indeed the consummate minister and a wonderful example to all of those he comes in contact with. To my kids, Charity and Josiah, who put up with their dad being gone on Saturdays, on Sundays, and many other days because of the pressure of the next sermon. To my wife Cindy, without whom I would be standing in front of a bridge with a sign that says “will read ancient Greek for food.” To the folks at CRPC, you have been so kind, gracious and loving to a guy who was just a “cardboard” fill-in. Thanks so much for all of the letters, cards, gifts, and especially the prayers. To my friend Buz McNutt who had encouraged me greatly during times of difficulty. I could go on, but mostly I owe thanks to the Lord Jesus Christ who chose to take a funny little man and use him to speak to thousands of people. This is none of my doing, and if you have been blessed it is all the Lord.

I will still be around CRPC, teaching at Knox, attending services and supporting our new pastor in whatever way that I can. The time I spent in the pulpit will be a great memory of what the Lord can do with a person who is not very good, but tries the best he can.

At the end of one of the Indiana Jones movie a character says to Jones “I am missing you already.” To the congregation of CRPC I say, “I am missing you already.” You have been a congregation that any minister would love to have. You have been supportive, loving, generous, and unbelievably kind to this strange little man. You’re the best. So long, and thanks for all the fish!

John 21:1-14- So Long and Thanks for all the Fish! 02 John 21_1-14.mp3

Your friend who has done the best he could with what he had,

SamLam

It occurred to me after reading your blog that I might have something valuable to say to
students in a seminary. Particularly since I am I one of the individuals in the trenches--
someone with a fair amount of theological knowledge and the scars that come from
being in the real world.

The first thing I would tell them is that they need to be fearless.

Fearless not only of physical danger, but also fearless of walking into Watts, Mexico,
a lecture by a well known atheist or even a gay bar if that’s where they want to minister.

Fearless of what people might think when they host a party at their house in which
homeless people, atheists, liberals or teenagers that dress like vampires are invited.

Fearless of the disease and illnesses they might contract when they hug a homeless
person. Fearless of the fact that their congregation might leave when they hear real
truth.

They should not fear to be a democrat, republican or even a libertarian if that is
what Biblical Truth and their conscious leads them.

They should not fear where their next dollar comes from if they gave their last
cent to feed someone else.

They should not fear hurricanes, famine, terrorist attacks, taxes or big government
and they should not worry about whether or not banks will fail or whether religious
freedoms will be suppressed or even about religious persecutions.

And most importantly, they should not fear to balance the Gospel with the doctrine
of repentance.

Now when I say fearless, I don’t mean senseless bravado. Certainly it is human to
feel fear in grave situations. However there is a big difference in feeling fear
and letting fear make your decisions for you.

The only fear that should control their decisions is the fear of God. And in
that sense, I find there to be very, very few fearless Pastors.

If we had more of these, I think Christianity might actually get a little more
respect in the world. And at the very least, more people would listen.

The second thing I would tell them is that the way to change the world
through God is by individual action. You’ve often heard that to change
the world, you need to do it one person at a time. That is only partially
true. In order to change the world, you need to teach people to do it
one person at a time. Then those people will will do it for two more.
Then those two will do it for four more. It will continue in a geometrical
progression. (Sorry for the math term...)

I can’t find anywhere in the Bible in which God said things like

“Debate with Katie Couric!”
“Spend millions to defeat Gay Marriage!”
“Affiliate with Conservative Republicans!”
“Take your kids out of public schools!”
“Build a Mega-Church!”

What I see in the Bible are things like

“Feed the hungry.”
“Shelter the homeless.”
“Spread the Gospel.”
“Speak the truth.”
“Minster to the sick.”
“Take care of widows and orphans.”

and

“Teach others to do the same.”

I solidly believe that if every minister of the Gospel were to be completely focused on the
second list and consistently, loudly and boldly stuck to teaching their congregations to do
the same, the results would be amazing.

The hungry and homeless would see that faith does something-- it has tangible results.
More people would see the lies and mistruths of the media. Sick people would know
that they have the opportunity to choose to be with God when they die. And many
politicians would recognize that the Truth of God is a force that cannot be stopped.

It’s hard to hear truth when you don’t know where your next meal is coming from or whether you’ll have a home tomorrow.
It’s even harder to give examples of what God’s truth can do in the real world if we don’t act on God’s truth.

God can take care of the politicians, the media, the government and the public schools as long as the
truth of the gospel gets to more and more people.

I listen to a lot of Christian Radio and I hear less and less of the Gospel. I hear lots of stuff on how to
make better families, how Jay Sekulow is going to the supreme court so our kids can take their Bibles
to school and how serving God requires you to be politically active.

You know what I don’t hear?

I don’t hear anything about how or what I can do to feed the homeless, take care of widows & orphans, teach my
kids how to demonstrate the truth to their classmates or how I can visit terminally ill people in the hospital so
I can tell them they have a choice. Giving money to foreign missions is honorable, but in this country, millions of people
are starving, have no clean water and live in abject poverty. If those people became disciples of Christ and
were then dedicated to converting people to Christ in the same way they were, there would be no stopping
America to becoming a Christian Nation once more.

When I had money, I wouldn’t go anywhere without a trunk full of non-perishable food and paper bags.
When I saw a homeless person I would stop and give them at a full meal (sometimes two) that’s easy to carry.
I even put napkins, plastic forks and clean water in the bags. My unit cost for that was about five to six
bucks. I did not preach, but every single one of them said thank you. And the only message I gave them
was that Jesus told me to do it.

What if 50% of the people who go to church now were to do that instead of buying a gaming console for
their kids this Christmas? Instead, they’re encouraged to give money to the Church so OTHER people can
do it. That has to stop. People in congregations need to get their hands dirty. They need to learn to be
fearless and take action. And they need to be taught that by fearless Pastors.

Christians like me who live in the trenches and have the scars to prove it most often are not ideal members
of your congregation-- because the evidence of the scars are still there. Sometimes we smoke, make the
mistake of swearing when we hit our thumb and cut off other people in traffic. But God can still work
through us in a powerful way. We are far from perfect, but that means that when we interact with people
they will see that and relate to us. And then when they see how God demonstrates his love through us,
they will realize that God can change them as well. This doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try and quit smoking,
clean up our language and drive better-- it means that God’s power can be communicated through
flawed people. I can only find one instance in the Bible where God used a perfect man to demonstrate
his love: Jesus. Everyone else he chose had character flaws and most of them were BIG character flaws.
he used murderers, liars and even people who didn’t want to serve him. Those people were changed,
but not all at once and God did not require all of their bad habits to be gone before he used them.

And although this may not be a legitimate excuse-- we soldiers often miss church because we don’t feel like
we fit in, because we get tired of seeing lots of people talking about the power of God but when we
go home our neighbors house is still up for foreclosure, homeless people still need food and our
brother-in-law still has cancer. And we want to DO something. We pray for them, but we live with
a little voice in our head that says:

Prayer without action won’t get the job done, because that’s not the way God works.

Yes, God can work miracles and if he chose to do so, he could end hunger, cancer and financial disaster
and any other evil.

But he chose us. He wants us to demonstrate His power by getting our hands dirty. He wants us to
look a homeless person in the eye as we hand them food. He wants us to help fix an older person’s
run down home. He wants us to take a few kids who don’t have Dads to the arcade. And He wants
it all done with no fanfare, no flyers and no glory for the people who do it. One on one. And then,
when the occasional person asks why we do it we can just say “Jesus told me to do it” and from that
point on, God will take care of the rest. No preaching, no quoting the Bible and no tracts. If God
chooses to work on their hearts, they’ll ask a question, initiate a conversation or will seek Him
in other ways. Personally demonstrating the power of the Gospel on an individual basis is what
makes people open to hearing the Gospel.

I am not a pastor.
I am not a church leader.
I am not a trained theologian.
I didn’t even go to Bible College.

I am a soldier of the real world who has seen and felt real pain, hunger, suffering, anger, hatred,
prejudice and financial disasters. And there are thousands upon thousands of people like me out
here who know and feel the same things. As a pastor, your job should be to use battle scarred,
grizzled veterans like me to create even more of us. If you do that, our numbers will increase
exponentially.

Listen to us, educate us and put us out in the battle where we belong. Please.

Steven Youell

38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,
39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

This is a word of hope in the midst of terrible tragedy and that is what the Gospel is: hope for those who don’t deserve it, but who are clothed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ.  I am thankful that God gave me the opportunity to speak the message of the gospel to that room full of people last night, and thankful for the tools like Logos that help me to find the right words when I most need them.

DrSamLam

Since, as most of you know, CRPC has a new pastor who will be starting on Easter Sunday, my time as the “Fill in Guy” (the cardboard over the broken window) is coming to a close.  I have a couple of more weeks and then Coral Ridge will be blessed to have a real pastor delivering the messages on Sunday morning.  Because of this I am trying to get the final few sermons up on the site just in case anyone except my favorite boy (Josiah, my son who when he is away listens to his old man on his IPhone) might want to get a copy.
Yesterday I preached on the parable of the wicked tenants and I will get that up tomorrow or Wednesday, next week I will be preaching on the parable of the wedding feast that begins Matthew 22 and that will be it for the Matthew sermons for now.  I will have a special Palm Sunday sermon to end up my time as the morning preacher.
While I am excited to see what God is going to do through the new pastor (see his blog at http://www.newcitypres.com/blog/ ) for more information about what God is doing at CRPC through our new pastor, Rev. Tullian Tchividjian, I am also a tiny bit sad to leave the pulpit.  I said from the very begining that I was not called to the the pastor of that church and I have remained firm in that knowledge.  God has called me to be a professor at Knox seminary.  I love teaching, studying, and interacting with my students.  But I have also loved my time bringing the word to the wonderful people at CRPC.  I would never be so foolish as to think that I was anything more than a “fill-in,” I am proud to have been the “fill-in that God used for these two years.

I don’t deserve the honor that filling the pulpit has brought me, but I have tried to let all that go and honor the Lord.  I haven’t done much, preached a few sermons, brought a few moments of laughter, and hopefully taught some things about the Gospel of Matthew, not much in the grand scheme of things, but the Lord is good and I am glad that he called me “off the bench” for a little while to be the cardboard in the window until we could get some real glass (there is an old joke in there for you, if you don’t remember I’ll tell it either this Sunday or next).

All Glory for the Lamb,

Pastor Sam

This is quite a finding.  What would you do?

DSL

It was a great joy the other day when I received a copy of Fred’s new book.  The book is called Busted: Exposing Popular Myths about Christianity and is a great work to give to your skeptical relative, neighbor, or spouse.  The book deals with such myths as: “The Gospels are not Reliable: Too Many Years Went By Before They Were Written;” “Powerful Political and Church Leaders Chose Which Books to Include in the Bible;” “Jesus Never Claimed to Be God;” “Jews, Christians, and Muslims All Worship the Same God;” and many, many others.

If you wonder about myths such as these or know someone who does, this is the book you want to get.  It is written in non scholarly languange, but written by a scholar who knows the issues very well.  I hope you will click on Busted: Exposing Myths About Christianity and pick up a copy for that skeptical person in your life.  You will not be sorry and you will be supporting one of the greatest guys I know, my buddy Fred. 

I’ll make you this deal.  If you don’t like the book, I’ll buy it back from you.  You can’t lose on a deal like that, and I am sure that you and your skeptical friends will have some questions answerd through this insightful new book.

Tolle Lege,

DrSamLam

The Look. Appearance and physical presence, such as dress, grooming and body language, all of these add up. Dress to feel confident and to remove barriers between yourself and others, whether it is in a one-on-one conversation or in your pulpit. Keep your body language relaxed, not rigid. Remember that tone of voice is part of your body language, as well.

The Language. Speak in a way appropriate for the setting. Consider the words you choose, how well you think on your feet and your clarity—these convey a strong impression.

Likeability, as defined by the leader’s personality and the chemistry that leaders create between themselves and others. Have the courage to be transparent, even vulnerable. Be courteous, share your sense of humor and show humility.

Character, Values and Integrity. This is a matter of action, not words. Standing by one’s values in the clutch makes a strong impression.

Competence. Your skill and track record of results can lead to strong credibility, but arrogance about these—even perceived arrogance—will have a detrimental effect.

Nonprofit Times 8/25/08

One of the things that bothers me about this, and maybe it shouldn’t because it is not specific to churches, is that it says nothing about handling the Word accurately or carefully.  We all know of very large churches that grow and grow and grow and yet when we listen to the sermons there seems to be no “there” there.  I am convinced that until leaders return to the true source of strength, power, and truth: the Scripture, that the work will be nothing more than a house of cards.
I am reading a great novel about this very subject right now.  It has to do with a real estate salesman who decides that he needs a niche market.  He turns to the Christian Business Directory despite the fact that he knows nothing about being a Christain.  Later he begins attending church to meet more potential clients and eventually becomes convinced that he could start a church as well as anyone.  What happens is truly fascinating, funny, and disturbing all at once.  If you would like to have your bubble pierced or your boundaries pushed a little bit about what really makes a good leader, check out The Almost True Story of Ryan Fisher (click there to see or order the book on Amazon).  I think that you will find it insightful and full of leadership parables that you won’t find anywhere else.

DrSamLam

From Abraham to Dante, it seems as if there is a secret desire in many of us to go home again. This accounts for our seeking things from our childhood, visiting places that we now see are outdated, but visit again to relive the way that we felt when we were younger. As many of you know I grew up in a home filled with books and perhaps my love of books is a way for me to go home again. When a book comes out from an author who’s first book moved me to tears, and the book is titled “Home” then I knew I needed to read it.

It is just as good as its predecessor, Gilead, the story of an older minister writing to his young son whom he knows he will not live to teach the lessons of life. Home ( Home by Marilynne Robinson if you click on this to purchase the book I get a few pennies from Amazon, Thanks) takes place in Gilead again and has such beautiful prose as to bring you back to that house in which you grew up.

When Glory returns home to stay with her aging father who lives alone since his wife and her mother died she sees the old house and thinks: “More frequently since his wife died he spoke of the house as if it were an old wife, beautiful for every comfort it had offered, every grace through all the long years. It was a beauty that would not be apparent to every eye. . . ‘Such times you had!’ her father said, as if the present slight desolation were confetti and candy wrappers left after the passing of some glorious parade.” I don’t know about you, but I grew up in an old wooden frame house that this passage brings back to me with such clarity that it is almost painful.

One day Glory’s father and another older and retired minister friend are playing checkers.and they laugh hysterically at a story from their seminary days. “The joke seemed to be that they were very young and now they were very old, and that they had been the same day after day and were somehow at the end of it all so utterly changed.”

You don’t get writing like that from many people. Some novels are plot driven and some are character driven and some just float along as if on a magic feather of words that transform the story from the page to our memory. These stories, few and far between, remind us of who we are and of who we ought to be; more than that, these great stories remind us of who we will be one day.

Looking for the New City and the Perfect Kingdom,

DrSamLam

He did wear a monkey outfit for “Creation Celebration” (our version of Halloween) but I don’t see how that would cause the corn chip smell.  Banannas maybe.

I am just wondering if that is something that is unique to Mo or if some other dogs feet smell like corn chips.  Could you do me a favor and check on that for me?  Just let me know with a comment here.  Don’t forget that because of spam I had to monitor the comments and allow them and sometimes it takes me a couple of days.  Happy sniffing.

Today I had to do one of the most difficult things that I have ever had to do. Our golden retriever “Buddy” has been having trouble getting around for some time. Over the last several days it has become clear that he can no longer even stand without help. The time had come for him to be put out of his pain. Today Josiah and I carried him to the car, took him to the vet, laid him down on a blanket on the floor and waited beside him while he was given a shot that enabled him to drift calmly off to sleep, never to wake again. It is at times like this that we remember what good friends our dogs are. No matter what kind of a day we have they meet us at the door as if we are the greatest person in the world; no matter what other people say about us they are always our friend; no matter how angry we might get about a broken vase or tipped garbage can, they are always ready to welcome us back with a wagging tail and a slobbery kiss. Buddy was a wonderful dog and it was a terribly sad time when he couldn’t get up and wag his tail, but it reminds us all that we live in a broken world.

In Mark’s version of the Temptation narrative there is a wonderful little statement about Jesus. Mark says that Jesus was “with the animals” (my translation). There are a variety of ideas about what that passage means, but here is mine: Jesus had defeated Satan and there was for a small time a taste of Eden on Earth. The animals no longer sought to harm or kill each other or a human but lived in harmony. It is a glimmer of what the new heaven and earth will be. We walked out of the vet’s office with tears, leaving behind a friend of many years, yet we know that one day the world will not be this way, one day the world will be changed, one day the world will be what it should be. I look forward to that world and though I have very little theological basis for it, I hope Buddy will be there. At the end of the book of Jonah God does seem to say that he has special mercy on animals. I hope so, but that is all it is.

In honor of Buddy, what follows is part of a chapter from my book on Greek grammar. I like to think that he would have been pleased to be of help, even after he was gone.

We have a new resident at our house. He was a gift from the humane society and his name is “Buddy.” Buddy is a large, beautiful Golden Retriever. The problem is that Buddy seems to have been mistreated by his former owner which has led to certain eccentric behaviors. He has a great deal of difficulty going through doors (a very serious problem for a dog who needs to go outside); he walks around the house most of the time with all the grace of a pig on ice skates, his feet slipping and sliding with every step; lastly he is deathly afraid of thunderstorms. A fact which we discovered when we came home to find the cat door torn off its hinges and resting around Buddy’s neck like some sort of a square collar. In short, Buddy can be a nuisance, which is, I am sure, why his former owners gave him away.

We have kept Buddy, though I have often been tempted (and yes even threatened) to take him back to the pound. I suppose that I have not taken him back to the pound because he needs us. And in truth we need him to remind us of what God has done for us. He has taken us into his family, and even though we are fearful, less than graceful, and we even break things, he still loves us.
The message of Christianity is that we all belong in the pound. But we have been adopted into the family of God through the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let us be thankful to God for the ultimate sacrifice of his son, Jesus.

So Long Buddy,

Anastasia, Anastasia, Anastasia

Having a good interpreter is a very important part of the class and Kowoon was a great help. He not only interpreted, but helped explain what sometimes I did not make clear. He is finishing up a Ph.D. at the University of Chicago and I believe he is destined to be one of the great scholars of the next generation.

The class was not able to speak English, hence the need for Kowoon, but they were a wonderful group of pastors from both large and small churches. They were very encouraging to me about my lectures and spoke very kindly to me about how much they liked me (I think this is a cultural thing, they must say this to all professors).

Here is a picture of the class. I am the one in the middle with the glasses.

One of the things that the class enjoyed was the magic that I did for them during the breaks. I taught them a couple of small tricks and they were thrilled with the sharing of knowledge. After a while they even learned that it was OK to laugh at me. I don’t think that there is much laughing at professors in Korea but I was able to loosen them up by the end of the week together.

I have been invited to give a week’s worth of lectures in Korea during June. I think that this will be a wonderful opportunity. I am planning on going and taking both Charity and Josiah (Cindy has decided that she does not want to go, it may be because of what I will tell you next). They have promised me that they will take me to a restaurant that serves “dog.” They assured me that they do not eat pets, but only farm animals raised for that purpose. The thing is that they have let me know that they will not tell me what we are eating until after the meal is over.

So, I am very excited and was greatly blessed by being with my brothers from across the world. Korea is about 60% Presbyterian so it will be a very different kind of culture. If the Lord works out all of the details and I am able to attend, I will be sure to blog “live from Korea.: I’ll even let you know what dog tastes like. It brings a whole new meaning to the phrase “dog lover” doesn’t it? I showed them a picture of Mo and Soxs and they immediatly said “Ah, Beagle! Beagle! We never eating the beagle!” so that helped some.

Different cultures, but one Lord and I assure you that they all loved the Lord greatly. I look forward not only to lecturing there, but to the day when there will be no more language barrier.

Let us all look forward to the day when all God’s children will be gathered together and sing in one language: “Amazing Grace, How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me . . .”

Until that day,

SamLam

In one of the Indiana Jones movies Indiana is getting ready to take off in a plane and one of his side kicks, at the end of the movie stands on the dock, a big bearded hulk of a man, almost in tears and says “I am missing you already.” I know how he felt. My kids went back to school this weekend.

It’s at times like this that I remember all of those times when I was asked to play ball out in the yard and I had to work on a sermon or a paper; when I was asked to take one or both of them to the movies and I had to read some two-thousand year old book in a dead language; when they wanted to play a board game and I had to go to bed early so that I could get up for an early morning meeting.

Don’t get me wrong, we played plenty of ball in the yard, watched a lot of movies, and played a lot of games, but now it seems like I could have done more. Now it seems like I am the one saying “Hey, you guys want to go to the movies?” and sometimes I hear “We can’t go right now, we have a test tomorrow or a paper due.” Turnabout is fair play I suppose and I am thankful that they still come to me for help on their Bible papers (even if the profs sometimes question them about the depth of their insights). I feel that kind of help is the least payback I can give them for the hours I spent working on some obscure Greek grammar issue instead of playing ball.

It’s all about balance and many times I am not sure that I achieved it. So I offer the only advice that I can to all of you who have young children. Spend all of the time that you can with them because they will be gone before you know it and you will wonder where all that time went. It seems like only a few years ago we had a great big wooden stork in our yard that said “It’s a Gril” (the guy who made it for us wasn’t from this country). Now the gril has moved out and is about to graduate from college and maybe even get a grilling license of her own. My boy is studying Bible and thinks he may be called to the ministry ( I am trying to talk him out of it, showing him some of the mail I get at Coral Ridge seems to help a little). I guess I fear how poor a job I have done raising them and I am really selfish. I want them around forever. Alas that just doesn’t happen. At least, God willing, I will get to be in their lives longer than my parents were in my life.

So they are back in school. And me, me; I am missing them already,

DSL

The above is a picture of my brother Steve. My apologies if it takes a while to load. I was having trouble turning it into a gif file tonight for some reason. If you can’t see it, go to my web site and it should load much more quickly. My brother is a bit older than I was and was a paratrooper in the army when I was a very small child. since my father was older my brother took the job of teaching me many of the things that my father couldn’t. He taught me to fish, including letting me fall into the water once when I was six, he taught me what little I know about fixing cars, he taught me me a lot about life, business, and I still consider time spent with him to be priceless. In short he was what everyone wants in a big brother. A teacher, a mentor, a reader of scary stories to very young children (I still remember spending the night over at his house after he was newly married and I was about nine or ten and he read me a story of a killer who carried around a head in a bowling ball bag; I still hate bowling to this day). Of course I did things like this to my own son, it’s a rite of passage and now he hates bowling.

My point here, and I do have one, is that one day, years ago, an elderly may came up to me and started giving me loads of compliments. He went on and on and on about how he appreciated what a good guy I was and how I had been such a help to him and how valuable I was to the church. I was taking all of this in and doing all that I could to not let it get to me, but enjoying it nonetheless. As the older gentleman finished his long, involved, list of compliment’s I stood there with my toe in the dirt looking down saying aw shucks. He then looked at me and said words that I will never forget. “I’ll see you later Steve.”

It was at that point that I remembered my dad’s advice that “you are only as good as your last sermon, and often not for that long.” John Piper says that “God hides much of the results of our work from us because the glory is due to him and not for ourselves.” I try not to take anyone’s compliment too seriously because I know that it is very likely that they have the wrong name.

That’s not a bad lesson. My brother deserved the compliment more than I did anyway. He is a great brother and I thank God for what I have learned, and continue to learn from him.

As my great Greek teacher Dr. Murray Harris always said “The greatest compliment anyone can pay you in the church is to be mistaken for the janitor.”

Joe the Janitor,

SL

Again, any value in these is only because of the grace of God.

For the Lamb,

SL

Christmas Sermon 1: Why Jesus Came- To Teach Us Love 02 Christmas_ Why Jesus Came 1.mp3

Christmas Sermon 2: Why Jesus Came- To Teach Us Discipleship 02 Christmas Sermon 2_ Galatians 4_1.mp3

Christmas Eve Sermon, Christmas 2008 01 Christmas Eve Sermon.mp3

Continually amazed at how God uses a broken, bent, and unworthy vessel like me,

SamLam

This seems like an easy question, after all we learned them in Sunday School or something like that.  I still remember my own perplexity when my friend and co-worker in children’s ministries, Linda, brought me a pencil that we had been handing out to the kids who learned to recite the commandments.  She told me that a parent had complained that the pencil did not have the “real” commandments on it.  I looked at it carefully (something that I should have done earlier) and realized what had happened.  We had bought pencils from a different tradition.

Did you know that the commandments are numbered differently by the Jewish, Catholic, and non-Catholic traditions? While all look to Exodus 20:2-17 for the commandments, not all see the same commandments. The Jewish tradition usually speaks of the 10 “words” rather than commandments and thus start with “I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt.” While the Christian tradition would see this as an introduction rather than a commandment.  That explains why the Jewish tradition is different, what about the Catholic tradition?

The Roman Catholic tradition sees the first commandment as what we would call the second one.  In order to get 10, and there must be 10 because Exodus 34:28 and Deut. 10:4 speak about the 10 “words” or “statements” that were given to Moses, split up what we would see as the last commandment.  That is we would see “Thou shalt not covet . . .” as all one commandment.  The Roman Catholic system of numbering splits up the “thou shalt not covet your neighbor’s house” from the rest of the “thou shalt not covets.”

So now you know, there are different ways of numbering the 10 commandments.  All of this of course is of much smaller importance than the question, “how are you doing obeying them?” If you need help, that is why Christ came.  He obeyed what you didn’t.

Look to the Lamb,

DSL

PS I was thinking about all of this because of an article in the newest version of Bible Study Magazine from Logos.  For more information about this great tool for the study of the word point your browser to http://www.biblestudymagazine.com Let them know that DrSamLam sent you.

As you might imagine I received a lot of books for Christmas.  As I get older and accumulate more and more books I realize that one day I will lay a book down for the last time and will leave someone else all of these wonderful treasures. It is highly unlikely that they will feel the same way that I do about them.  They will not remember the trips that each book represents, the travels to old, musty, used bookstores where I found these treasures.  The squeals of delight (manly squeals, not little girl squeals) when I came across something that I had been looking for and found it at a much lower price than I could have imagined.  These books will likely be a burden to someone someday.

This tempts me to start giving them away.  I was a teaching assistant to Dr. Murry Harris who gave most of his library to a seminary in a third world country when he stopped teaching.  He didn’t want to keep them and burden his family and the movers with dragging the things half way around the world.  The problem is that I don’t know if I can give them away or not.  I’m a little too attached to them. Giving them away is like giving away the memory of that trip to Grand Rapids when my friend Doug and I got up early, before daylight, wanting to get to the best places before they opened.  It was like a hunting trip for other guys.  On the way home we were flush with the success of our finds and with the tales about how we had found a great deal on a Robertson’s grammar or a copy of Bultmann’s work on the Synoptics.  The hunt was as great as the find and if I gave up the book I would be giving up the memories.  I can’t bring myself to do that.

The thing is that the new year reminds us that they don’t last forever.  There will come a day when there will be no more books to be read and no more trips to be taken.  In that day we must ask ourselves what we have done for the kingdom of Heaven.  Reading books is a great thing.  I love it.  But what will last?  The book will last a long time.  Probably longer than you if it is cared for properly.  But your actions, how long will they last?  Make them last forever.

Happy New Year

SamLam

Of course all of this is really moot, because we would never be able to prove that a letter was actually written by the Apostle. The real question is, “What happened to other letters and books that were not included in the canon?” Most, if not all of them are still around and you can read them if you like. There are a couple of places where you can find more information about the process of what has come to be called “canonization.” First is an article in the newly started magazine BIBLE STUDY published by Logos software. If you would like to subscribe to this very good magazine, please just click through to the chart at the end of the blog. The second place to go, and this will be much more complete, is a book by the great scholar F. F. Bruce called The Canon of Scripture. Bruce will go into a great deal of detail about how the process took place and what books were left out and why.

Below you will find a link to a chart that will show you most of the books that were under consideration in the OT and NT canon. Click through to see the chart and to find out how to subscribe to the new magazine. It’s well worth the price.

Have a great new year,

DSL

It was actually a story with many redeeming images.

Yesterday Josiah and I started out on a journey looking for used bookstores.  In one area we found not only a used bookstore but the only “earwax cafe” that I have ever seen.

We also took a tour of Moody Institute and the Moody Church.  It was a wonderful experience and the museum of D. L. Moody reminded me of what could be done for Dr. Kennedy.  Here is Josiah standing in front of Moody.

Here is a picture of Boo beside a huge gingerbread house.  I was later thrown out of the place for trying to eat it.

I will be working on the sermon for Sunday while I am here in the hotel.  It will be on Galatians 4:4 and particularly on the phrase “the fullness of time was come.” Why did God decide that it was time for Christ to come during the time that he did?  Why not now?  After all if Christ had come now, all of his miracles could have been documented on youtube, his resurrection could have been covered on CNN, his story would have been world famous and everyone would have been speaking of him.  Why didn’t God wait until now instead of way back then?
That will the topic of the question of what it means when Paul speaks of “the fullness of time.”

Pictures to follow (of Chicago, not of the fullness of time).

SamLam

At the end of the first chapter, Thyla Tharp (the author) tells the story of a writer named Paul Auster.  When Auster was a child his parents took him to a NY Giants game.  After the game, waiting outside the clubhouse the great outfielder Willie Mays came out to make his way home.  Auster quietly made his way up to Mays and asked for an autograph.  Mays said “Sure, sure kid.  You got a pencil?” Try as they might neither Auster’s parents nor he could come up with a pencil.  Auster went home without an autograph, but vowed never in his life to be caught again without a pencil.  That, he tells his children, is why he became a writer, because he never left home without a writing utensil.

This leads me to my point (and I do have one).  What is your pencil?  What is it that is so much a part of you that you should never leave the house without it?  What has God gifted you with in such a way that you should work on it all of the time?  For me it is the Scripture.  My life has been spent, in one way or another, studying the text of the Bible.  I don’t leave home without it.  It is on my phone, my IPod and almost always in my brief case.  The study and teaching of the Scripture is what God made me to do.  What about you?

What is your pencil?

DrSamLam

The value of the Word series is that the set is not written by one or two persons.  In today’s world of biblical studies, one cannot keep up with the work that is being done on every front.  This leads to, for better or worse, specialization in the area of these studies.  Each of the Word series is written by a person who is an expert in the particular book or books that the commentary covers.  For example, Donald Hagner writes the two-volume work on Matthew.  It is, along with the ICC work by Davies and Allison, one of the finest commentaries available on Matthew today.  Virtually each of these works is of this caliber.  The bibliography is incredible, the comments usually conservative, yet dealing with critical issues, and the comments on the original language often very insightful.  Though clearly very expensive, this set will have lasting value.

I often tell my students not to purchase sets of commentaries.  I tell them this because so many sets are written by one or two authors.  Buying the Word set is like getting one of the world’s leading experts on each book of the Bible to lead you through the original text.

I know that there are not many who would be thrilled to receive a set of commentaries under their tree, but those that would will love the Word Series.  Just a suggestion from me to you who are looking for something great for that pastor, seminary student, or serious Bible student.  Every time they use this set they will “rise up and call you blessed.”

I have to go and get my hand written page of sermon notes from Charles Spurgeon (yes, I found one on Ebay for a fantastic price) framed.  Stop by my office and you can touch it for a few years off of purgatory (only kidding, don’t get the heresy charges started yet).

Have a great day after thanksgiving and if you are at Coral Ridge on Sunday I’ll be starting a four part series on “Why Jesus Came.” I want to consider the question of why Jesus didn’t just show up as an adult and die on the cross?  He lived a full life until his crucifixion.  Why was that?  Several reasons I think, and I’ll share some with you on Sunday.

Be Blessed,

DSL

Here is a photo of me delivering my paper.

DrSamLam

Attending my paper was the great scholar, Dr. Bruce Waltke.  Dr. Waltke is one of the most respected reformed scholars in the country and I was thrilled, yet frightened to see him come walking into my presentation.  Here is a shot of Dr. Waltke speaking to me after the paper.  He is very, very kind and spoke well of my work despite my own feelings about the paper’s shortcomings.  Dr. Waltke is the gentleman with the glasses, facing me.

I always stay with one of my dear friends from my Ph.D. days in Chicago.  Here is a picture of my friend Fred and myself.  Fred is an assistant pastor at a church called “The Chapel” in the North Shore area of Chicago.

Of course one of the things that I did at both seminars was buy books.  Because the publishers know that selling theological books to professors may lead to that text being adopted as a required book and thus many more sales.  For this reason books are usually discounted by as much as 50%.  This, along with the fact that many new books are rolled out at this time and some even given away, leads to several heavy suitcases on the return trip.  Here are some photos of the books that I picked up.  You will notice books on Greek, theology, preaching, etc.

The paper that I wrote and delivered had to do with what is called the “longer ending of Mark.” If you look at Mark 16 in your Bible, you will note that may English versions will state that the verses that occur after 16:8 are not found in the “earliest and best manuscripts” as well as some notes stating that the vocabulary and syntax being “non-Markan.”

My paper argued that the statements about the vocabulary and syntax being “un-Markan” are overstated at best and simply wrong at worst.  I pointed out that there are many passages in Mark’s gospel with the same number or a higher number of unusual vocabulary.  In addition I pointed out that the stylistic problems that are sometimes used to argue against the authenticity of the passage are not that different from many other (non questioned) passages in Mark’s gospel.

I also had a great time visiting with my friend Scot McKnight.  His new book, The Blue Parakeet is a wonderful book about how to read the Bible.  I’ll blog about some of the great things in the book, as well as a few things that I strongly disagree with, but overall this is one of the best books for a non-scholar on how to read the Bible to come out in years.  I will try to write a review, along with providing a link to both Scot’s blog and to the book.

I’ll write more about the paper and the event later, but for those of you at Coral Ridge, at least you now know why I wasn’t there this Sunday and that I wasn’t just out fooling around.  I missed all of you and look forward to a Christmas series on “Why Jesus Came.” More about that in a day or so as well.

Blessings,

Have a great Hal err Reformation Day, I’ll be around the church tonight with shows at seven, seven-forty five, and eight twenty.  Stop by and say hello to my best friend Calvin.

This message has been brought to you by CANDY CORN, the official snack of the Reformation.

SamLam

First I had a great time because I was with Josiah.  We just don’t get to spend enough time together, with my busy schedule and his starting college and living in the dorms I have really been missing spending some time together.  No matter what the score of the game, it was great just to be with him.  Second, it was great to be at Wrigley.  Sure, our seats weren’t the greatest, and I had to lean out to look around a pole in order to see home plate, but I still say that there is no better place in the world to watch a game than Wrigley.  It was a cool Chicago night and the place was packed with Cub fans (nary a Dodger’s cap or shirt to be seen) who wanted nothing more than to see their team draw even in the series.  The ivy was starting to turn, and the rooftops were packed, in what many hoped would be a chance for the Cubs to draw even in the series.  Wrigley field, est. 1914, is a real baseball field (even though they have added lights), not some carpeted cement dome.

Third I had a great time going back to see the place where we lived while I was working on my Ph.D.  I took Josiah back to his old first-grade school and he said “I remember it being a lot bigger.” A typical memory I think.  In a candy store that we frequented he remembered that one day when he was five I had refused to let him get a bag of “Big League Chew” chewing gum (maybe I thought it would lead to chewing tobacco) so I bought him a package to wipe that memory away.  I remembered playing ball with Charity and Josiah out in a back yard that now looks overgrown and yes, much smaller.

Mostly, it was a wonderful time because it seems like such a crazy thing to do.  To fly halfway across the country to see one game, who does something like that?  A crazy person.  My hope is that in fifty years, when Josiah is telling stories to his grandchildren, he will remember to tell them that yes, sometimes his dad was busy because of the ministry, sometimes he had to miss a few things because of the church, but there were other times . . . and then he will launch into the tale about the time he and his old man flew to Chicago to watch the Cubs play in one playoff game. 

Those are great memories.  The score doesn’t matter, it’s the trip, . . . it’s the game, . . .  it’s the memories.  Don’t let the score scare you, sometimes you just need to take off and go to the game.

If you happen to be watching the game (Thursday at 1:00) I will be the one wearing the Cubs hat (OK, me and about 50,000 other people).  At this point I am just thrilled to be going.  It is an incredible thing to be at Wrigley with a packed house cheering for the Cubs.

I’ll let you know more later.

DSL

I guess I should expect these kinds of things to happen.  After all Chicago is the team that just can’t seem to put it all together.  If I believed in curses (and I don’t) Chicago is the team that I would say is cursed.  One doesn’t have to go back too many years to remember the Bartman story.  One fan getting a little too excited and reaching out into the field for what would have been the third and last out and would have sent the Cubs to the world series for the first time since 1907, but once the ball was tipped, and the Marlins caught up and eventually won that game at Wrigley, you could see it on the faces of the players and the fans.  Not again, please not again.  But it did happen again and the Marlins came back to win the next night and the series.

It shows us how small and unreal our control of our life really is.  The fan who reached for the ball had to move from Chicago because of death threats.  Never mind that the real reason the Cubs lost that game was an error on a crucial play with two outs. We find it hard to admit to ourselves that we are not in control, but we aren’t.  We can’t fix the financial problems the country is in, we can’t stop terrorist attacks, and we can’t end wars, sickness, or dying.

But somehow we go on living.  Those of us who are Christians go on living because we are waiting for the great and coming day.  Those who are not Christians find some sign of help or hope in something that won’t really last.  And the Cubs, they keep on playing.  The fans keep on hoping that this is the year.  This year there will not be a dropped fly ball in left field for what should have been the last out of the season, causing a one game playoff.  This year there will be no goat kicked out of the stadium, no owner to place a curse, and no fan to tip the fly ball.  Cub fans live on hope.  Christians live on a hope that is much greater.

So at incredible odds my name was chosen to get tickets and somehow (I am still not exactly sure how) I lost my chance, I still have hope.  I put my name in for the League Championship Series and I can always hope that the Cubs will win the Division series and that lightening will strike twice in the choosing of my name.  If the Cubs don’t win (I doubt that) or if my name doesn’t, against all odds, get chosen again, I still have hope.  The hope of a new heaven and a new earth, where there will be no errors, no interference from the fans, and no fools who didn’t get the tickets when they had the chance.  That’s the kind of world I’m talking about.  It’s coming.  Be ready.

Play Fair,

DrSamLam θεόρακα (God’s Fool)

I received some great news today.  As many of you know, I have been a Cubs fan since I lived in Chicago.  Boo and Buba (back when they were not embarrassed by those names) and I used to ride the “el” down to Wrigley to watch a game, buy peanuts on the train, and generally have a great time.  As I am sure everyone now knows the Cubs are in the playoffs with one of the two best records in baseball and I am willing to say something that no Cubs fan has said before:  “this may be the year.” The great thing about the Cubs is that instead of just opening the phone lines and letting all of the professional ticket buyers get the tickets, who then sell them for much higher rates and get around the anti-scalping laws by offering a free “commemorative bottle of water” with the tickets, the Cubs allow the fans to sign up for a lottery system in which a certain number of fans names get picked and they get to purchase two tickets to one game.  A much better and fairer system.

I say all of that to say that waiting for me today was an email telling me that out of the hundreds of thousands of names that were submitted, mine was one of the ones that was picked to be able to buy two tickets.  I will get a special password on Tuesday and be able to purchase two tickets to one of the Division Series games.  It was a really, really tough call as to whom I should take, Charity or Josiah.  Alas I had to take Josiah.  Baseball is a father son thing, but if he can’t go, Charity already has dibs on the second ticket.  Now I have to try to get online before the all that is left are the most expensive tickets, find cheap flights to and from Chicago, find a rental car or someone who will lend me a car, find a friend to bum a couch or a floor from, find someone to teach my classes for whatever day or days I will be gone, but other than that it should be easy.  I think that the fact that my name was chosen might mean that I am supposed to go, although I have not had a dream in which I heard a voice that said “If you build it, they will come.” Then again, with plane flight charges being what they are, rental cars being at a high rate with lots of people in the city, I might just be dreaming.  But at least I can dream until Tuesday and that is a good thing.  Nothing wrong with dreaming of a great time in these difficult times in which we live. 

Sometimes dreaming is all we can do, but then God comes along and we realize that his answers were so much better than our dreams that we just sit back and say “This is incredible!” or every once in a century “Cubs Win! Cubs Win! Cubs Win!

At Least Till Tuesday I’ll be
SamHeadedToChicagoLam

I first started pastoring a church by helping my father when I would come home from college for the summer.  As some of you might remember my father was older (50) when I was born so by the time I graduated from college he was 71 and I was drafted to do much of the work at the church.  Only a few years later he had a stroke and passed away, about six months after my mom had died and I was left, at about 24 or so with a church and no real idea of what I was doing.

The building that we were in had been built by the church back when it was young and vibrant; growing and strong.  At that time the neighborhood had been middle class and the church had been 350-400 strong. The decline in the church and the neighborhood started long before I was working there, but I became a convenient scapegoat.  Since the building still had a sizeable mortgage it was difficult to keep everything paid with the shrinking congregation.

As time went on more and more of the older people began to say that I was “not like my dad” and leave the church.  Meanwhile my efforts to recruit from the neighborhood were next to impossible because it had become much different in both race and economic status.  I remember many, many mornings cleaning crack pipes off of the front of the church before going inside and answering the door several times during the day to those who needed “gas money,” “money for a fan belt” or any other scheme they could think of to buy another crack rock.  The church was getting broken into pretty regularly.  Once the communion set was even stolen.

While our crowds were shrinking, a Haitian church down the street was bursting at the seams.  I thought, why not sell the church building to the Haitians, who could use it more than we could, and take the money and move out west into an area where more of our members actually lived.  When I brought the idea up some of the members acted as if I had wanted us to apply for a liquor license (which is worse than almost anything in the Baptist church, first comes liquor, then that leads to dancing). 

After some pretty ugly business meetings and some people showing up to vote whom I hadn’t seen in thirty years, we finally voted to sell the building.  What really bothered me was the number of people who kept coming up to me saying “its really sad that you’ve got to sell the church.” WE ARE NOT SELLING THE CHURCH! I would tell them, we are moving.  They just could not wrap their heads around the difference between the building and the church.

We did move, I worked hard to try to get things going but they never really took off.  I later came to realize that once a church starts into serious decline like it had long before I had started there, it is almost impossible to turn it around.  I gave it my best shot and still feel a lot of guilt about not making it work.  I still think sometimes that if I had worked a little harder, or tried some other program, or done more EE, or something else that maybe the church would have grown.  I am Calvinistic enough to know better, but our guilt doesn’t always allow us to be rational.

One of the most important things that I learned in that experience is not to follow a great and well loved pastor, even if he is your father.  You cannot win.  If you change things you have no respect.  If you leave things the same, it is your fault that the place is going downhill.  I learned that lesson well and will never make that mistake again, I can assure you.

Every May, the first Sunday, the church had what was called “Home Coming Day” in which old members would come back, there would be dinner on the grounds, etc.  It had been in times past, an incredible day when people would come from out of town and old friends would gather.  It became less and less of that as the friends got older and older.  In 1995 it was the 50th anniversary of the church. Also in 1995 I had told the church that I was going to be leaving the pastorate to work on my Ph.D.  I was to be moving to Chicago in a few weeks and so that homecoming day was the last one for me, and it would be the first time that the church would be without a pastor named Lamerson.  I remember it well and I had written a poem for the occasion.

Now let me tell you that I am not a poet.  I don’t know about meter, feet, iambic pentameter or any of those things but writing the poem was sort of therapeutic for me.  With that backstory, I am putting my work on the board and asking you not to laugh at it.  It is not good, not even mediocre, in fact it is pretty embarrassing, but it reminds me of the story that used to be mine.

It’s hard to believe that it’s been fifty years
Since the church started, amidst laughter and tears
There were those who said that it never would last
This work of the Lord that is now standing fast

It began as a dream and an answer to prayer
For the founder and others who met with him there
They said God had called him to start a new labor
Ignore Him they couldn’t for He had brought favor
On this small band of people now meeting with purpose
As they prayed and they worked, God blessed this service

They called a young man to lead them that day
And no one could know what results that would pay
As he preached and he called on those he did know
And slowly but surely the group was to grow

They grew even more as word got around
Word of a new church on the west side of town
Many were touched by the words of the pastor
And when they touched others, it grew even faster
Til finally one day he met with the board,
“We’ll build a new building, we’ll just trust the Lord”

And build it they did, with a great deal of speed
“We will look to the Lord to supply what we need”
The building was built and the people all came
To see this big structure and worship His name

As the pastor grew older, the people grew sad
A new young man came, “He’s not like his dad”
“He’s new and he’s different” the people would say
“We’ve done this for years, but never that way”
And slowly they left with a word here and there
“His father was better, he just doesn’t care”

The young man was trying to do what he could
He preached them the Scriptures as he knew that he should
But ever so slowly the truth was made clear
If change did not happen, then death was soon near

Some said they should move and the young man agreed
“This building’s too big, it’s more space than we need”
But others were mad and some misunderstood
In spite of it all he did what he could
But many were angry, and some caused great strife
In this move to the west, the church fought for her life

Now some things are different, things are not the same
Some long for the old days when things had not changed
Others stand far off and cackle with glee
“The church will now die, should’ve listened to me”

God’s church marches on in spite of it all
The Kingdom goes forth Summer, Winter, and Fall
It cannot be stopped by the work of mere mortals
The work is of God looking down from the portals
Of heaven is He and those others who call
That this is Christ’s church, no matter how small

It’s hard to believe that it’s been fifty years
So much has been great, yet so many tears
The young man is leaving in this fiftieth year
But God isn’t going, He will always be here

Onward . . . .

Luzene and Ruth Lamerson’s youngest boy

The episode of Tim Riley’s bar is one in which a middle age man begins to face his mortality as a result of the tearing down of a local neighborhood bar in which many of his greatest memories have taken place; his first date, his welcome home after the war, and his meetings with his father.  At the point of the story he finds himself alone and the tearing down of the bar seems to be the tearing down of a part of his past that can never be recaptured.  You can watch the episode in one of two ways: One you can purchase the series, and there are some great stories here, from Amazon by clicking this link.  The other way is to watch it on you tube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuWX4ZZv2YQ&feature=related) which cuts you out of a lot of the background that the DVD collection provides.

I of course recommend getting the entire season.  There are some real gems if you like fantasy and soft sci-fi.

As to the story at hand, the hero sees his favorite watering hole being torn down and realizes that he must say goodbye to many things that he has loved.  Here is my updated version: Goodbye Andy Griffith and Opie, and Barny nipping it in the bud; Goodbye picking up hitchhiker because the person probably just needed a ride; Goodbye trusting a man just because he was a minister; So long to your favorite athlete who stayed with his team because he loved it, not because of money; Goodbye to the time when America was looked upon as a nation that would always be the land that did the right and moral thing with prisoners of war; and more and more, goodbye to the church where, like at Cheers, everybody knows your name.  We have torn down a lot of buildings over the years but the questions is, are we really any better off?

We can microwave our dinners, set our coffee pots to percolate before we get up, and even have books read to us while we do other things.  We have more time saving devices than any culture in the history of civilization, but what do we do with that time?

This afternoon I was able to see some of the fruit of my time.  Two of my former students Eric and Tommy passed their ordination exams at presbytery.  For those of you not familiar with our system of government, this is a big deal.  I didn’t have much to do with either of these two men passing their exam.  I taught them a few things, but these are men whose gifts are great and far outshine the small things that I helped them with.  As I saw them pass the exam, I was proud.  I felt like I was perhaps a small brick, or better a little piece of morter in the building of their lives.  I was so proud of them.  If all that I do in my life is influence students like Tommy and Erick (and believe me there are many professors who likely had much more influence than I) it will be a building project that I am proud of.  No matter when my building comes down.

A building showing its age,

DrSamLam

Years ago there was at my father’s church a building that we called, appropriately enough, “the old building.” It had been the place where the first church had started and over the years had become more and more of a problem.  The roof leaked, the water pooled in the floor when there was a bad rain, there was no way to properly lock the place up, it was time for it to go.  I remember when it finally came time to tear that old building down what an emotional experience it was for me. The day before the demolition company came I walked through the twenty or so rooms looking around and was flooded with memories of what had happened in those rooms.  I had been in sixth grade Sunday School and won a fishing trip for memorizing the books of the Bible; I had sat in the big room watching movies (or films as we were required to call them) like “Thief in the Night” and “If the footman Tire You (a film so violent that it would receive at least a pg13 today); I had come to know much about the Lord’s grace and love in those rooms many times through the words of my Dad or Mom.  In another day the rooms would be gone, the building would cease to exist.  In another fifteen or twenty years very few people would even remember that building.

I realized then that I needed to live my life so that when the building is gone I will have left something behind.  Maybe just a small footprint of a few blogs on a website, maybe a couple of sermons that someone found helpful, or maybe just a life that was honorable to our Lord, but something.  If you happen to drive by a building that is being torn down, think about what that building accomplished in its day.  What did it mean to those who used it?  Will the memory last?  Then think of your own activities, the building that you are housed in is someday going to come down.  Will anyone remember having visited it?  I’m trying, despite my building being a little broken down.  And You?

Onward . . .

DrSamLam

Onward to greater exegesis . . .

DrSamLam

Now let me tell you that since I started preaching regularly at Coral Ridge, I have had my share of criticism.  I have been criticized for not preaching patriotic sermons on patriotic Sundays; I have been criticized for using too much humor; I have been criticized for not lifting up Mary the mother of Christ on Mother’s Day; I have been criticized for telling too many stories; and I have been criticized for not letting other ministers have a chance at preaching (I have no control over that and only preach when I am asked, I do what I am told).  One thing that I have not been criticized for, until this morning, was not having enough exegesis (a fancy word for Bible teaching).  This morning though, right before I was to deliver the word, I heard “I don’t mean to be critical, but you need more exegesis.”

One of the things that I try hard, very hard to do is to make sure that I spend time studying and seeking to understand what the text has to say.  I translate the text from the Greek, look at the parallel passages in Mark and Luke in Greek, look at what seven or eight different Greek grammars have to say about each verse, read the best (the most careful with the Greek text) commentaries, and work really hard to try to understand what the background of the text is as well as trying to study all of the cultural elements (like buried treasure, fishing boats, the first century view of divorce, etc.).  I expect to be criticized about most other things and most of the time I probably deserve it, but if there is anything that I try to make sure of it is that I teach what the passage has to say.

In thinking about all of this I thought that I would give you a few tips on how best to help your pastor if you have something that he should hear:

1.  Don’t tell him on Sunday morning before he is about to preach.  I can only speak for myself, but every Sunday I am walking a fine line between stepping into the pulpit and running away to see if I can get into the witness protection program.  Don’t give anyone any more to think about before the message than he already has.

2.  Offer something constructive.  “You need more exegesis” offers nothing helpful.  “I am troubled by you making fun of yourself so much, do you think that you might be able to cut back on that a little?” (I’ve heard this from five or six people who truly had my best interest in mind) This comment is much softer, kinder, and not even a criticism, but a genuine constructive comment that can be worked on.  This kind of thing comes from a person who cares and wants to help, a purely negative jibe is not the same

3. If you offer your comment in writing, sign your name.  There is nothing worse than a nameless person who throws a hand-grenade without even owning up to it.

4.  Don’t underestimate how much damage your comments can do.  James says that the tongue is like a small match, capable of creating great fires.  Only those who have worked hard, only to see their work criticized by mean statements can tell how these comments can be like a splinter in the soul.

Well, I have the week off next week for a guest speaker.  Maybe I’ll be able to get my exegesis in order by the next time I am up.  Then again, maybe I should stick to Vacation Bible School where the kids tell you exactly what they think with real honesty.  When they say they love it, you know they do.

There is a saying in ministerial circles: “Never resign on a Sunday or Monday.” Give yourself a little space to think about those comments.  I’ll be thinking . . .

DrSamLam

I say that because Bill cropped this shot of the prodigal’s father and a close up of his hands.  For those of you who didn’t read my blog about this painting, go back and read it, it is only a couple of forms back.  This shot will give you a little better look at the hands of the father on the kneeling son.

Luke 15:11. He went on to say, “A man had two sons. The younger one said to his father, ‘Dad, give me my share of the business.’ So he split up the business between them. Not so long after that the younger one packed up all his stuff and took off for a foreign land, where he threw his money away living like a fool. Soon he ran out of cash, and on top of that, the country was in a deep depression. So he was really hard up. He finally landed a job with one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into the fields to feed hogs! And he was hungry enough to tank up on the slop the hogs were eating. Nobody was giving him even a hand-out.
“One day an idea bowled him over. ‘A lot of my father’s hired hands have more than enough bread to eat, and out here I’m starving in this depression. I’m gonna get up and go to my father and say, ‘Dad, I’ve sinned against God and you, and am no longer fit to be called your son—just make me one of your hired hands.’
“So he got up and came to his father. While he was some distance down the road, his father saw him and was moved to tears. He ran to him and hugged him and kissed him and kissed him.
“The boy said, ‘Dad, I’ve sinned against God and you, and I’m not fit to be your son any more—’ But the father said to his servants, ‘You all run quick and get the best suit you can find and put it on him. Get his family ring for his hand and some dress shoes for his feet. Then I want you to bring that stall-fed steer and butcher it, and let’s all eat and whoop it up, because this son of mine was given up for dead, and he’s still alive; he was lost and is now found.’ And they began to whoop it up.
“But his older son was out in the field. When he came in and got almost home, he heard the music and the dancing, and he called one of the little boys and asked him what in the world was going on. The little boy said, ‘Why, your brother has come home, and your daddy has butchered the stall-fed steer, because he got him back safe and sound. At this he blew his top, and wouldn’t go in. His father went out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father, ‘Look here, all these years I’ve slaved for you, and never once went contrary to your orders. And yet, at no time have you ever given me so much as a baby goat with which to pitch a party for my friends. But when this son of yours—who has squandered the business on whores—comes home, you butcher for him the stall-fed steer.’ But he said to him, ‘My boy, my dear boy, you are with me all the time, and what’s mine is yours. But I just can’t help getting happy and whooping it up, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive; he was lost and has been found.’ ”

Jordan, C. (2004). The cotton patch gospel.  Macon, Ga.: Smyth & Helwys Pub.

Here is a copy of the famous painting called ‘The Return of the Prodigal’ by Rembrandt:

A couple of interesting things about this painting.  One is that the prodigals face is unseen.  I think that is to remind us that this is our face.  In the midst of this heartrending scene, we all, who depend upon the grace of God are in the middle.  Not proud because we have forgiven someone else, but thankful because we have been forgiven.  Until we realize how much we have been forgiven of, it is impossible for us to show the kind of forgiveness that we should to others.

A second thing, and maybe this is just me, but look at the father’s hands.  It seems that the left hand sits on the shoulder of the boy with great strength, it is a powerful, manly hand.  The right hand, situated between the returning prodigals shoulder blades seems almost feminine.  It is a picture of the justice and mercy of our father.  A strong hand of justice that did not just “forget about” our sin, but required payment be made (in the form of our Lord); a gentle hand of love that does not overlook justice, but makes a way for the prodigals to make a way back home in spite of our having wasted our money. 

This story and thus this painting speaks to me in a way that the phrase “God loves you” does not.  Maybe it’s just me, but somehow I hope not.  Somehow I think that there are lots of us who have hearts of poets who are spoken to by stories, songs, and paintings.  Maybe you have one of those inside you.  Let your story, your song, your poem out; for the glory of God and the blessing of those of us who are a little different.

Knox Seminary’s incurable story lover,
DrSamLam

For the Lamb,

DrSamLam

I look forward to seeing you in class where we will use a variety of teaching methods, from video, forum discussions, reading and listening to debates, and thinking deeply about the truth that is set before us.

All of that to say that I have been doing CRPCs Vacation Bible School for the last 13 years and have done a lot of the same stuff with a lot of the same puppets for all of that time.  Many of the older kids know my stuff as well as I do. This years theme is outer space and I will be “Space Man Sam” (not an entirely bad title for me I am told by some).  I decided since this year’s theme is outer space that I would get an alien puppet.  I actually waited until the last minute, but I bought one today from EBay.  I don’t want to spoil the whole surprise, but here is a shot of his face.

Let me know what you think.  I don’t have him yet, but I’ll let you know how he acts, sounds, and what his personality is like once he arrives.  If you are around Ft. Lauderdale in a few weeks and would like to help out or just stop by for VBS, call Coral Ridge at 954 771-8840 for more details.  I remember VBS as one of the great times of my life as a child and I want to pass that on to the kids at Coral Ridge.  I want them to leave thinking, this is a great place to be; I really like coming to church.  I’ll let you know how that turns out.

DrSamLam
AKA “The Space Man”

The problem, you see, is that I would rather not have broadcast that to everyone who reads the blog, but because I didn’t know how everything works I was pretty much forced to.  I think sometimes that is a good thing.  I am reading a funny, but also pointed book now called Rapture Ready: Adventures in the Parallel Universe of Christian Pop Culture by Daniel Radosh (I found out about the book though a mention in a libertarian magazine that I subscribe to, this month it arrived with UFO magazine and Genii: The magazine for Conjurers, I think my post-man may be a little afraid of me).  Radosh follows one of his family members to a Christian concert for the first time and finds evangelicalism a rather strange subculture for a person who is not a Christian.  He then attends “Christian” concerts, book conventions, abstinence get togethers (it just doesn’t seem right to call it an abstinence show), comedy nights, and even Christian wrestling matches.  One of the things that I was struck with as I read the book was how often we evangelicals are not really honest.  Not honest with others and more often not honest with ourselves.  There is no lack of examples in the book of twisted statistics and sometimes downright lies that are accepted by the community when “used for good.”

Somehow I think that honesty and openness is a better tactic than many of those that I read about being used by my brothers and sisters.  Don’t get me wrong.  The whole point of this piece is that I would rather not show my mistakes to the world and in many ways I think that is a good thing.  But in many ways I think that we have to be willing to admit that we Christians fail, often, and that God loves us in spite of that, in spite of our spelling errors, our lack of love, our hateful mean-spirited ways, and our less than Christian and sometimes anti-Christian actions.

The truth is, we are all broken.  Some of us hide it pretty well, but for others there is no spell checker in the world than can hide the brokenness that is written on their face.  I can’t help but think of the great Derek Webb song “They’ll know us by the T shirts that we wear”
They’ll know us by the T shirts that we wear
They’ll know us by the way we point and stare
At anyone whose sin is worse than ours and who cannot hide the scars
of this sin that we all bear

Can’t we do a little better job at showing the love of Christ to those that are around us? 

Just a thought, Your mileage may vary,

DrSAmLam

My theory is that problems build up like burdens on a proverbial camel.  They come a little at a time, more and more until one day, the unlucky person who happens to be in the one who finally pushes the one burden, problem, or issue that just sends someone over the edge.  Maybe you’ve seen that person.  Maybe you’ve even been that person.  I have a tendency to let small things bother me, but not to tell anyone.  As I teach at Knox Seminary sometimes I let some small student issue bother me much more than it should.  At the church sometimes the slightest complaint can send me into a tailspin.

But I should be better.  I should be

In the church this is not a good thing.  We should, in obedience to Matthew 18, be willing to speak to a brother or sister who has offended us or if we are not willing to speak to them, then to let it go.  If we are not willing to speak to a person whom we think has wronged us, how can the matter ever be settled?  This is a difficult issue and I am in no way saying that I have always or even nearly always done the right thing, but I can say that I believe that I know what the right thing is.  Relationships are often damaged forever by the failure of individuals to come to one another and speak.  To say to a person “I feel that you have hurt me in doing this . . . “ is to force them to come to grips with the fact that wronging another human being is a sin.

These things are hard, though.  Sometimes the person feels terribly offended and some sort of war starts.  Casualties arise that no-one could have seen and battles rage on for years over things that should have been settled in seconds if not minutes.  It seems that we who are members of Christ’s church should be better than that.  It seems like we ought to conduct ourselves in a way that is different from those who don’t know the grace of the saviour.

I have often thought that those who claim to hold to the doctrines of Grace (Calvinism) are sometimes the most ungracious of people.  How can we understand grace so well in our minds and yet not have one whit of an idea of how it works out in our lives?  Put more starkly how can we speak with such eloquence about grace and live with such evil in our hearts?  Shouldn’t the church be making more of a difference?

I think that it does make a difference.  After all who knows how mean I would be if I were not a Christian?  But I think that we all need to examine our lives and ask ourselves about our own grace.  Are we willing to be gracious to others and if not what does Matthew, at the end of his 18th chapter, have to say to us?  What do we say to ourselves when we say the Lord’s prayer (forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtor’s).  I ought to be more gracious.  I ought not to let things get to me.  I ought to show the gentleness of Christ more in the way I act.  Perhaps that is what is wrong with our Christianity.  It is not that it is not working, it is that we are not changed.

Just a thought,

DrSamLam

This picture is from my hotel room in Dallas.  To the left you can see the book depository and the road on which the murder of JFK took place.  It was an eerie feeling looking out at that scene all these years later.

I have been doing a lot of thinking about the JFK assassination since visiting Dealy plaza.  I’ll share my thoughts l’ll share my thoughts later.  For now, don’t ride around in any open limousines.

DrSamLam

This is a close up of the window from which the shots were fired, notice the boxes piled up, in the same way they were on the day of the shooting.

This is a shot of the map showing the parade route which led JFK onto this road.

Here you see a historic marker at the foot of the book depository.  Notice that the word “allegedly” has been underlined by lots of scratches.

Here are Seminary President David Nicholas and COO Buz McNutt standing on the very X where the head shot hit JFK.  There is no fear in Knox leadership.

I will tell you more about the people I met on the grassy knoll later on.  It was quite a trip, in more ways than one.

DrSamLam

Here is a picture of the graduates who were at the lunch.

God is doing some wonderful things at Knox seminary and I am excited to be on board.  There are new classes being formed, a new track in “Leadership” being developed, and some great new students are enrolling.  I can’t wait till classes start in the fall.  This has been a year with a lot of controversy at Knox and Coral Ridge, but I know that God is in control and is going to do things that we can only dream about.  As we teach young people about the truth of reformed theology, I expect to see God move in a mighty way.  I am proud to have graduated from Knox and proud to be a part of the seminary right now.  Stay tuned to see the blessings that God pours out.

DrSamLam

The next is standing on the X looking up at the school book depository from where the shots were fired.

Next is Jim Dietz, my fellow conspirator at Knox and roommate here in Dallas, and myself standing on the “grassy knoll.”

Last is the fence behind which the gentleman whom you may not be able to see in the picture, is telling me that the fatal shot came from, finally killing the president. 

It was a very interesting time.  I’ll tell you all about it later, but for now, I can mark another thing off my list.  Now if I can just get to a snake-handling service maybe I can mark off two in one trip.

DrSamLam

I am writing this under the influence of some pain medication, so please don’t take all that I say in this post as being written without a tongue in a fairly sore cheek.  some of it, however, is really serious.  I’ll leave it up to you to decide which is which.

Thanks to all of you for your prayers and helpfully comments.  I will give you a full report tomorrow, as well as owning up to another of my quirky interests: Bigfoot.

Until tomorrow, Onward . . .

DrSamLam

Thanks Much

DrSamLam

Since this is the end of the semester, the end of the school year (perhaps the most difficult school year of my entire life), the end of softball season, and even the end of my son’s high school education I have been thinking a lot lately about what it means to end.

Some things we don’t like to end, and as I have said in another post, even things that we don’t like, we never do anything, knowingly, for the last time without a feeling of sadness.  I had not played softball in almost fifteen years but I was convinced to come out and play in the church league this year with Josiah.  He is much, much better already than I ever was or ever will be, and when the last game came around, despite the fact that I played terribly, perhaps the worst player in the league, I still hated for it to end. 

It was fun.  It was community.  It was people encouraging each other, laughing and crying, shouting and yelling.  It was a wonderful time and no matter how many times I fell down (at least once a game); no matter how many times I ran up on the person who was on base in front of me (three games in a row); no matter how many times I struck out swinging in slow pitch softball (too many to count) I still had fun.  Isn’t that what church is supposed to be like?

Ending though is not just about stopping wherever you are; it takes real planning, endurance, and practice to end well.  At the end of the school year I always think back to the start of the year and realize how many students started out in my Greek class and then dropped out (usually about 25%).  I think about how so many of them come into class the first day and tell me how excited they are and how they are going to work as hard as they need to in order to do well in the class; then a few weeks go by and the material becomes a little more difficult, the vocabulary becomes a higher number of words, the number of inflected forms becomes more complex and some of those who said they were going to do whatever they could, drop the class.  They failed to end well.

The same was true of the softball season.  Some of those players who had shown a great deal of control all season, when it came to the championship game, lost that control.  This loss of control cost much more than the game, it cost them their testimony.  After such a wonderful season, why not finish well?  Because finishing well is hard.

We are all ending something and starting something else.  God calls us to end what we started well, so that we can start something new properly.  Sure, this was a tough year in many different ways, but God does not call us to finish well when things go well, but to finish well when things are difficult.

Some of us have more yesterdays than tomorrows in our lives.  We know that we will one day be finishing up not just a school year or a softball season, but our time here on earth.  What do you want to be said about you?  How about “ was the kind of person who could be depended on not just to start with enthusiasm, but to finish well.” With the blessing of our Lord Christ, we come to “the end” and hear a “well done . . .”

Finish Well,

DrSamLam

The leadership development organization Growing Leaders recently asked focus groups of young adults (ages 16-24) how they prefer to receive communication. Their order of preference: text messages, MySpace and/or Facebook, podcasts, instant messaging, cell phone, CDs, DVDs and Email.
Pastor’s Weekly Briefing 4/4/08

Americans named the Bible as their favorite book of all time, according to a Harris Poll. In addition to being the #1 book overall, the Bible also came in first across the board with all demographic groups. An estimated 92% of Americans own a Bible; the average household owns four. The New Yorker estimates Bible publishers sell 25 million copies a year. But just 45% of Americans read it in a typical week, says the Barna Research Group. In the poll, Margaret Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind was the nation’s second favorite read, while J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings fantasy series nabbed third.
Christian Post 4/8/08

Evangelical leaders were asked, “What is your preferred English Bible translation?” and were left to write in their response. 49% named only the NIV as their preferred translation, while another 18% named a second translation along with the NIV. Other versions listed included the New Living Translation, The Message, the New English Bible, the New Testament in Modern English (J.B. Phillips, 1962) and the King James Version.
Christian Post 4/11/0

Although Amazon.com hasn’t released sales figures for its e-book reader Kindle, it reports supply is not keeping up with demand. The International Digital Publishing Forum says e-book sales have risen from $6 million in ’02 to $33 million in ’07. Those numbers do not include many smaller publishers or library and educational purchases, so the download market is likely far larger. Publishers are reluctant to discuss sales figures but say they’ve seen double digit increases in e-book sales since the 11/07 Kindle release.
USA Today 4/4/08

A story is told of a South American tribe that went on a long journey. They’d walk for days without stopping, then all of a sudden stop, sit down and rest, and make camp for a couple of days before going any further. They explained to Westerners that they needed the time of rest so that their souls could catch up with them. What about you? Are you working so hard you’ve forgotten to let your soul catch up now and then? Are you feeling like your work is soul-less and little more than a method of producing a paycheck? Make it a habit to embrace Sabbath days and times in your life. Wisdom, peace, contentment and insight about investing your life in fulfilling work will grow in those times. Carve out those times for restoration and spiritual breathing. Even Jesus got away from the crowds periodically.
Adapted from No More Mondays, Dan Miller, WaterBrook 2008

How do any or all of these disparate pieces of news affect the way that Christians are going to share the gospel?  How does it affect the way that seminaries should be training their students?  Some of these issues are here to stay and not using them in the church, or not using them to train new students, is missing a serious opportunity.  The church and seminary should be ahead of, not behind the curve in methods of sharing the gospel.

I am really excited about the direction that Knox Seminary is going.  There are some great things happening here, and I am really glad to be a part of the school.  This is not meant to reflect badly on the old administration or faculty, but things are different and I think a fresh wind is blowing that will help Knox train some great students for the future.  I’ll write more about how this brings me both sadness and excitement in a post in a couple of days, so don’t send any critical letters yet.  Save them up.

For now, I wonder what you think about these news items and how you think that the Gospel is and will be influenced by these new pieces of information.  Put up your comments, I will OK them and put them up as soon as I can (usually within a couple of hours) and agree or disagree this can be a healthy place of discourse.

I really want to hear from you, especially if you disagree with me.

Onward,

DrSamLam

Logos has a different way of offering new products. It is called “Pre-Pub Specials.” What happens is that a product is offered at a substantial discount if a buyer is willing to commit to the product before it is actually in production. In this way the company can see if the demand will meet the costs for some of these obscure titles.

I have had a few of my pre-pubs come in lately:

The Cotton Patch Version- This is a particular version of the Bible which I have already blogged about so I won’t say any more about it here.

A Handbook of Classical Rhetoric in the Hellenistic Period. This is a wonderful collection of essays on rhetoric (public speaking and argumentation). There are articles on memory, the voice, gestures, as well as articles on the difference between Aristotle’s and Cicero’s style of speaking and teaching speaking.

Three things which I am really anxiously waiting for:

Jesus and the Victory of God by N. T. Wright. I still remember the day that I bought this book from the bookstore at Trinity. As I read it, my understanding of the New Testament was opened in a way that no other book has succeeded in doing. This is a masterpiece of biblical theology. Sure there are places that will make the evangelical nervous (I note them in my review of the book for JETS if you want to search it out), but this is a great book about what Jesus came to do, and what Jesus actually did. I am surprised that it has taken so long to get up to release point.

The JBL Collection. For $99.00 I feel like this is a steal. There are so many good articles in JBL (Journal of Biblical Literature) and to have them all searchable on ones own hard drive seems to me a treasure worth selling a piece of land for. This pre-pub has been particularly slow for some reason and I am just stunned about that.

The Lexham Discourse Greek New Testament. If you have been to the Logos site you will have seen my highest recommendation for this tool. I truly believe that this is going to be one of the most helpful tools for the pastor and the serious Bible student to come along in a very long time. Again, I don’t know why the pre-pub is taking so long.

Perhaps this post shows my impatience. It shows that I want it all right now and that I can’t be satisfied with the thousands of books that I have on Logos now and the thousands of books that I have on shelves in my office as I type this. I am looking for the next thing. I have a friend who is a marketer who told me that the average purchaer of a diet will buy another diet before the first one arrives in the mail. We all want our problems solved, our pain taken away, and we want it now.

That desire is not wrong. It’s just misplaced. A new book from Logos, or a new diet is not going to ultimately fill the void. The desire for perfection can only be filled by Christ and by the heavenly city. So now we wait, knowing that one day we move to a new apartment where the roof doesn’t leak, the neighbors aren’t noisy and the grass grows only as long as we want it to. A city that has no graveyards, hospitals, or funeral homes. A city of perfection which we long for now, but which we will get another day. And so we wait and try to make small things fill a big void, but deep down knowing that there will come a time when our longing will be met with fulfillment.

I long for that day. I hope you do. I hope that if you use Logos software it makes you love Christ more, praise God more, desire the Spirit more, and long for the new city more.

Onward to the city with no police,

DrSamLam