There was one simple, very important thing, however, that existed even before the first drawing. It was a picture - not a real picture you could show someone or scan in a computer - it was a picture in my head. For the next 5+ years, I would spend countless hours in the basement creating that picture. Whenever people would come to see the project, I’d give them the “virtual tour.”

“There’s going to be a hallway here, that’s the kitchen, picture the counters there, with the sink here, and the fridge over there.” As we walk down the virtual hall, “Here’s the bathroom, with the double pedestal sinks here, and shower there. Over here is the theater room….” and on the tour goes. Early on lookers must have thought I was crazy as they looked at concrete footings on top of dirt and looked at the three foot crawl space occupying half my “basement.” I would point to what seemed like a mountain in the early phases and tell them about the various rooms planning to take the dirt’s place. I had a vision.

In the last few months I’ve gotten the sheetrock done, taped, textured, and soon the concrete floors will be put in! Obviously I’m very excited! Someone recently said, “Man, it sure does look different!” I actually had to stop and think to myself, “Yeah, I guess it does.”

See, it actually looks familiar to me! It looks familiar to me because I’ve been looking at it in my head for the last 5 years. This, of course, has huge spiritual connotations.

1. God began working on you (and me) long before you (or anyone else) could tell.

Just like when I began working on my project long before I got the first permit, God has been at work in our lives long before we see the actual evidence. God was preparing you for a relationship with Him before you even knew of Him. He allowed things into your life, sent people into your life…He was planning your journey! In Galatians 1:15-16, Paul said ‘But when God, who set me apart from birth and called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not consult any man.’

What is true of Paul is also true of you and I. God has a plan, He has put his mark on us, He’s been working on us long before we knew!

2. God doesn’t see you as you are now, but rather as what He will make you into.

Just as I had that picture of my basement in my head, God has a picture of what you will become as well. Jesus is that picture! By this I do not mean you’ll wear Jesus sandals and have a long beard. What I mean is that when God sees you, He doesn’t see your sin, your fallen state, and your weaknesses. What He sees is the righteousness of Christ. In Colossians 1:2 Paul said, ‘Once you were alienated from God and were enemies (of God) in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation…’

 Let me tell you what this does NOT mean:

- God is not faking Himself out

- He isn’t pretending our sin never existed

Remember, God is outside of time. God created time. He looks down on all of time, past, present, and future, and sees it all, right now! So, just as I constantly looked at my basement as if it was already finished, God looks at you as if you have already been completed! In a REAL sense, you are already what He sees, you just can’t see it! IF you have given your life to Christ and been born again, YOU HAVE THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF CHRIST, NOW! So, the process we are involved in is that of becoming what we already are. Spiritually, we have been born again, made into a new creature. Physically, we still live in a fallen world, and have fallen bodies. The rest of our life is the process of living out that which took place inside of us. Find your true, new identity: you are not your past - you are your future. In Philippians 3:20 Paul said, ‘But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.’

3. Until He takes us home, the transformation process will take time, lots of time!

I gave up keeping track of how many hours I have labored in my basement. I have been working for over 5 years to get it to the state it is at now. This takes time! In fact, I had extended my permits so many times they told me they would no longer extend them. I recently had to go down and reapply for the permits.

This is also true with God’s work in us. I came to faith in Christ during the summer of 1987. I have been continually becoming more like Jesus since then. I have a long way to go, though! Becoming like Christ is a lifelong process! Be patient. Don’t get discouraged if you don’t feel more spiritual today than you did yesterday. Look at the big picture. Does your life reflect Christ more today than it did last year? Two years ago? That should be the true measurement. Again, in Philippians 1: 6, Paul said, ‘…be confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.’ And Romans 8:29, ‘For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son …”

4. The process involved removing a bunch of stuff from your life that doesn’t belong there, and putting stuff in that DOES belong there.

Like I mentioned, I had to remove 10 dump truck loads of dirt, in order to have a full basement. This was an incremental process, because my house was still on top of the basement, and I didn’t really want it caving in (I would have lost serious points with my wife!). So, I would dig a little, then replace that dirt with concrete, then dig some more, and do more concrete. All the while using tons of beams and boards to brace the otherwise structurally undermined home.

What is God wanting to remove from your life, and what is He wanting to replace it with? Generally speaking I know that God has removed much of my old self, and replaced it with the newness of Christ. Specifically…He’s removed selfishness, codependency, worldly ways of thinking, and so much more! What’s He replaced it with? A life built on a foundation much stronger than dirt - my life is based on the Rock! In Colossians 3:5-10, Paul said, Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature; sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these; anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.’

5. You can’t do it alone!

There were several points along the way that I just could not muster enough time, motivation, or skill to work on the basement anymore. I didn’t give up during those times - I called for help. Digger Dan (as I affectionately began to call him) did a great job removing large quantities of dirt, Jeff Morris did a great job on my stairs, my older brother helped me frame and sheetrock, my buddy Jesse helped me with the HVAC, and countless other people. I’m not ashamed that I needed help. I’m thankful to God that he has put people in my life to share the load.

I’m convinced that you and I both cannot become who God wants us to be without the help and support of people in our life. Don’t be afraid to ask for help, to lean on those around you. Yes, this is YOUR journey, and it does require hard work, but don’t try to go it alone! In Proverbs 15:22, Solomon (not Paul!) said, ‘Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed.’ Paul did write Ephesians 4:25, however, where it says, ‘Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body.’

6. You’re never really done.

My floors will be in soon, my walls will get painted. But then I have months and months of work to do installing fixtures and moving stuff around. Then once our bank account recovers a bit we’ll have doors, trim, appliances, counters, etc. to install. Then we’ll have tons of other stuff, I’m sure. Oh, and I’m already “picturing” my wife’s walk in closet addition, and a mud room built off our front door.

Freaks like me are never really “done.” Thankfully, that’s ok with my wife. It should be ok with you, too, that God is not really ever going to be done working on you, either. Discipleship (becoming like Christ) is a lifelong process. It isn’t finished until you graduate from this earth and enter into eternity. So, keep pressing on! The Gospel of John, 12: 35 & 36 says, ‘Then Jesus told them, “You are going to have the light just a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, before darkness overtakes you. The man who walks in the dark does not know where he is going. Put your trust in the light while you have it, so that you may become sons of the light.” ‘ And, ‘Hebrews 12:1-3, ‘Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.’

I told him he was on the right track, but that we had actually tried that, apparently without much success. I suggested that we also take some of the time he would spend at a friend’s house, or watching TV, and use that for reading and so on. I further suggested that this should be in effect until he completed a full week of school without any forgotten homework, incomplete homework, or names on the board.

I could see the weight of this discipline settling on him physically. This was a hard pill to swallow, for sure. Apparently I was not the only one that saw this. I had forgotten that Cai and Sawyer were there also. Quite sheepishly, Sawyer raised his hand, and asked, “Dad, can I take his punishment for him?”

I do not think Sawyer knew at that moment just how Christ-like he was. Choking back the tears, I asked Sawyer why he offered to do that. “For two reasons, I guess. One is because I don’t like to see Gavyn so sad. The other one is that it the punishment would not be as hard for me as it is for him.”

In theological terms we call this a substitutionary sacrifice. Jesus was the lamb that was offered for our sin. If you think about it, the reasons could be seen as similar. Jesus does not want us to be miserable, which we are without Him. Also, Jesus was more able to accept the punishment for our sin than we are. Who would have thought that such accurate theology would reside in the heart of a six year old youngest brother! He desired to be the propitiation between me and his brother.

We ought to be so thankful to Jesus for taking our punishment. I imagine that too many of us trudge through life in misery, feeling as though we’ve been defeated by the world.  Jesus took the punishment for our sin. How happy Gavyn must have felt to hear Sawyer speak those words! Even more so, how happy ought we feel when we hear Paul tell us in his letter to the Corinthians, “He made Him who knew no sin to become sin on our behalf, so we could attain the righteousness of Christ” (Paraphrase).

BTW – If you were me, would you have let Sawyer go through with it? Do you think I did?

The Apocrypha was part of the Septuagint (Greek translation of Old Testament). The Apocrypha contains a lot of books that cover the intertestamental period - the time after the last book of the OT (Malachi) and the first book of the NT. This period of time is approximately 400 years, and the most common books of the Apocrypha include 1 & 2 Maccabees, which details the struggle for freedom that the nation of Israel fought, led by Judas Maccabees.

For the most part the Apocrypha was considered historically but not spiritually relevant to the church, which is why it was never included in the Bible as authoritative on equal with the Bible. Because of the historic value the Apocrypha was included between the OT and NT all the way up to the time of the Luther’s Reformation. There were quite a few heretical Catholic teachings based on the Apocrypha (which was labeled as such during the Reformation period). Interestingly, the NT quotes the Apocrypha quite a few times. Immediately following the Reformation, the Catholic church canonized certain Apocryphal works. Interestingly, ones that supported doctrines that Luther was opposed to (salvation by works, etc). In short, the Apocrypha was never understood to be equal to the Holy Scriptures.

The Jews never did accept these books as “on par” with Holy (OT) Scripture. They saw them as historical, informative, inspirational, culturally relevant, but not Authoritatively the Word of God. Some of the main reasons they are not included in the Cannon (and, inversely, others are)

1. Apocrypha does not claim to be Holy Scripture
2. Apocrypha contains inaccuracies (Tobit, Judith)
3. Apocrypha teaches doctrine that contradicts the rest of the accepted cannon of Scripture (IE, prayer for the dead, 2 Macc. 12:45-46.

The Pseudopigraphia is a different story, however. The word “Pseudopigraphia” was given to the collection of books thought to be written by someone who claimed to be someone else. Psuedo = “false,” grapha = “writings.” This does not mean the content is necessarily untrue, but rather the authorship is called into question. The most popular example is 1 Enoch. The prevailing thought on it (and the rest of the Pseudopigraphia) is that it was not actually written by Enoch, but rather someone else, from a much more current time period. The use of an “alias” like this was not too uncommon, but it is important to note that the NT does not do this. When we read, “Paul, a bond servant of Jesus, to the church of…” we can be assured it is actually Paul writing this, not some other person who just wanted his thoughts to be taken more seriously, so he used the name of a famous person.

Apparently some of the Pseudepigraphal writings were discovered in the Qumran area, along with the Dead Sea Scrolls, which means they predate Christianity, which may lend more reliability to the original authorship of some of them. Remember, we don’t have the ACTUAL writings that Paul or anyone else wrote by their own hand. What we have is copies that were made by other people. They were copies of an actual accurate writing, however. This “could” be the case with “some” of the Pseudepigrapha.

Well, I guess that’s good to get the conversation going, anyway! A LOT MORE information can be found here:

http://www.bible-researcher. com/canon.html

I welcome any questions and or discussion on the subject!

Ian

As to tithing, the perspective that one needs to have is that all we have comes from Him and is on loan from Him. So if you were to say, “Give God what is His first and then use the rest for our needs” you’d need to understand It’s all His! Here is a brief sketch of some of the key things to consider in the topic of tithing:

• Does the New Testament REQUIRE a believer to “tithe” per se’ as the Old Testament required a Jew/God Fearer to tithe?
• Is there a biblical difference between tithe and offering? Is this difference only found in the OT or NT?
• What does the NT teach about giving?
• What sort of attitude should I have regarding $?
  

Ok, so, that’s my list of issues when it comes to “tithing.” The concept of tithing originated with Abraham, when he defeated the kings who had taken his nephew Lot and his family captive, along with all the bounty. Abraham gave one tenth of the spoils of that victory to Melchizadek, king of Salem. The only other place he is mentioned is in Hebrews, where we learn that he has no mentionable origin of family. There is some speculation that he is the preincarnate Christ or something like that. The story is in Gen. 14

Anyway, in the OT they were commanded to SEVERAL ”tenths.” A few things to Keep in mind:

• The OT Law doesn’t speak much of giving money, because they lived in an agrarian society (at least at the time the law was given.
• The tithe was to support the Levites, because they didn’t have an inheritance in the land
• The tithe was to support the poor
• Israel was a theocracy, so this could correlate to governmental taxation (but then, when they were under the Roman government, they still tithed).

So, Lev. 27:33 shows the tithe to be annual and agrarian. Numers 18:21-24 indicates that the tithe is to support the Levites, because they had no land to grow crops or raise flocks.

There is an additional tithe mentioned in Duet 14:22-27 that seems to be put in place for people to be able to afford the required annual pilgrimage(s) to Jerusalem to engage in the feasts. This was so they could ENJOY GOD, AND WAS TO BE USED AT THEIR DISCRETION, TO A POINT.

Duet 14:28-29 mentions a tithe to be done every 3rd year, for the use of caring for the poor.

if you were to add all this up, it would be like 23-24%.


Notice that this tithing was not optional! Also notice in Malachi 3:8-12, God says, Why are you robbing me!” (check out the message someone gave at the church a while back, “oracles from Malachi” a two part series, really good, given while i was in Mexico. It addresses that passage quite well.)

in the NT actual tithing is mentioned a few times:
In Matt 23:23 and Luke 18:12 Jesus addresses people who were tithing “correctly” but were self righteous or looking for loopholes so they could tithe less.

The NT never commands a believer to tithe a certain amount. We are instructed about the heart we have regarding material possessions, however. Paul in 2 Corinthians 9:7 says that each person should give as they are able, but not out of compulsion, but rather out of gladness. We are given the contrasting examples of Barnabas and Annaias/Saphirah in the book of Acts (end of chapter 4 and on into chapter 5). Barnabas lived life with his hands open, everything he had was available to God and to the saints. Annaias and SAphirah loved money and wanted to keep some of it for themselves, while appearing to be like Barnabas.

A person who is blessed materially by God may be able to give 20, 30, 40, or even 80 or 90% of their income, and still live well. I would like to think that if I won the lottery I’d still drive the same cars, live in the same house, and wear the same clothes. I’d give a lot of $ to the church and other worth while causes, probably more than 10%.

Other people who can barely make ends meet may not even be able to give 2, 3, or 5%. The attitdue of both people should be the same, though. “All that I have is on loan from Him. All I need is provided by Him.” Paul does command people to give proportionately to their prosperity (1 Cor 16:1-2)

My only word of caution would be if you find yourself saying, ”we just can’t afford to tithe right now” make sure you are living as though all you have belongs to Him. I’m not saying a person should only eat Top Ramen, cancel their cell phone, home phone, tv, sell their car, and never spend any money on anything except food clothing and shelter - THEN if there is anything left over, AFTER giving to God, THEN you can spend some on yourself. I would caution, however, to evaluate priorities. Do I really put God first? Does that extend to how I spend my money? Where our treasure is, there our heart is also. If I say I can’t afford to give back anything He’s given me, but then they go out to the movies several times a month, eat fast food for lunch several times a week, and indulge in various hobbies and expensive recreation activities, what does my lifestyle say about how important God is to me?
Why should we give, then, as NT believers? To meet needs of other believers (Acts 2:44-45) and to meet needs those in ministry (1 Tim 5:17-18 & 1 Cor 9:6-14)

I have given several message in the book of acts that discusses giving, as a side note. “Barnabas the encourager” is one that is currently available on the website, there are others from earlier that are available via the podcast.

Anxious to hear your thoughts,

Ian

 Why would some say that 1st century believers believed in ghosts?

Did they actually believe in ghosts?

What does the bible say about ghosts?

why does it seem the 1st century believers believed in ghosts?

There are two main stories that come to mind. The first one is when Jesus came to the disciples walking on water. The story is found in Matthew 14 and Mark 6. In Matt 14:26 and Mark 6:49 the Word tells is that when they saw Jesus, they thought it was a ghost. 

 The Greek word translated as “ghost” in both these passages is fantasma transliterated it would be “phantasma” which is where we get “phantom.” 

 Sounds like they thought it was His ghost, doesn’t it? What are your thoughts?

The other story of interest is found in Acts 12 (one we just studied in church recently, check out the message at our home page if you’re interested). Peter is freed from prison and goes to Mary’s house, where the disciples are praying (assumably for him). He knocks at the gate and Rhoda, a servant girl, hears him, goes and tells the church gathered there, and they respond by saying, “it is his angel.” (Acts 12:15). The Greek there is aggeloV transliterated this is angelos, where we get angel, specifically, “messenger” in the New Testament. the phrase in that passage is interesting though. it says, “the angel of him.” ( aggeloV autou ) Could it be that they thought he had died at the hand of Herod and his angel/ghost had come to them? Or did they think this was his “guardian angel”?

Matthew 18:10 is relevant here.

“See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven continually see the face of My Father who is in heaven. ”

 The Greek there referring to “their angels” is aggeloi (plural of angelos) autwn (plural of his, “their”). So the Greek would be “the angel of them.”

 Comparing the two passages, it seems that “his angel” in Acts 12 and “their angels” in Matthew 18 are referring to the same concept. The question is, are these passages referring to an apparition, or a guardian angel. I lean toward the guardian angel concept, because if it meant otherwise, it could have used the word “phantom.”

 This doesn’t explain the fact that they thought Jesus appearing on the water as a phantom. Notice it says, “a phantom.” not “HIS phantom.” They thought it was some sort of spiritual apparition, but not necessarily HIS “ghost.”

what does the bible say about disembodied spirits?

My favorite passages to go to here are Hebrews 9:27

“And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this {comes} judgment,”

and

2 Corinthians 5:8

“we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.”

This indicates we die, enter into eternity, and receive judgment.

What about alleged ghost sitings, then? I my suggestion is that they are either demons pretending, in order to lead people astray, or people putting forth a hoax.

What do you think?

~Ian

This is not at all the case. The statement in question was made when I was emphasizing the significance of Barnabas being a “team player.” He was more than willing to recruit someone to his team, even if that someone was of such a high caliber that it would mean Barnabas would fade into the background.

Obviously God’s hand was in it, God had selected Paul and had plans for Paul to become His INSPIRED author of much of the NT.

Hope that clears things up. Please fire away with any questions, and keep on encouraging!

 There are several passages that discuss a gentile converting to Judiasm.

 Let’s begin in Deuteronomy 23:1. it says, “No one who is emasculated or has his male organ cut off shall enter the assembly of the LORD”

The main question that needs to be answered about this passage is what does it mean when it says, “enter the assembly of the Lord.” It could mean the gathering of Israelites together for religious purposes. It could also be referring to the physical Temple itself. It can also refer to the Nation of Israel in general, as it seems to in Numbers 16:1-3, where the rebellion of Korah is detailed, and Korah is quoted as questioning Moses and Aaron saying, “why have you set yourselves up above the Assembly of the Lord?” (verse 3, paraphrased). The previous verses are clear, Korah is saying, “All of the Nation of Israel is holy and chosen by YHWH, what makes you so special?”

If this is the meaning in Numbers 23, it is likely teaching that a gentile cannot “become” Jewish if he fits the description of someone found in Numbers 23. If this passage is referrng to Assembly of the Lord, it could be referring to Jew and/or Gentile not being allowed to enter God’s prescense in their “imperfect” condition. It could also be referring

Another interesting passage is Isaiah 63:1-6, where God seems to affirm His acceptance of Eunuchs who love Him. Should this influence the way we interpret the Numbers passage?

What are your thoughts?

 For me the dilema started with the division of labor concept. It came at a time in our life when as a married couple we were both working full time. Obviously it is not reasonable of me to assume that she would do ALL the household chores while holding down a full time job. So, we did our best to share the burden. I of course did the laundry. She did the dishes, yada yada yada. I found that things worked better if I helped her with the dishes on a “supplimental” basis. In turn she said she’d help with the laundry, when she could. So she said, “why don’t you put the clean laundry on the couch, then I’ll fold it while I watch tv or something.”

It was a great idea, great gesture, but didnt’ really work out. The couch began to eat laundry, laundry began to be sat on, spread around the living room, wrinkled, made dirty, and back in my cycle, without ever being warn.

So we went through several variations of an attempt to share the folding responsibility and quite frankly, nothing worked. So here’s what I came up with that does work: I have 3 bins (you’ve probably noticed I like bins for laundry!) for each person. 1 for shirts, one for socks/undies/pj’s, and 1 4 pants. I also have a place to hang clothes on clothes hangers, and several bins for towels, rags, sheets, etc - all of this within 3 feet of the washer/dryer. so, as soon as a load is done drying I take the clothes out, fold/sort/hang, and then cycle the laundry. doesn’t really take that long, and the beauty is - whenever the bins get full, I just announce to the family “Come and get your laundry.” They file out to the garage and I hand them their bin, they go and put it away (it doesn’t end up on the floor, in the couch, or wherever else). They bring me an empty bin, I give them the next full bin…easy money!

it is a little extra work for me, but the peace of mind and lack of frustration is well worth it. It is the result of trial and error combined with a little proactivity. We as humans do most stuff by tial and error actually. I think we could use some more proactivity as well. In a world that champions delegation and such, I’d like to remind us that there are some things that are just worth doing ourselves!

OK, who am I fooling…most guys would just say, “aw, heck, I just wash it all in cold.” I’ve even met a few people of the female persuasion that make this confession. Ouch…man, I wish I could open their eyes, I wish I could cause them to see the value, importance, and pure joy one can derive from doing things the right way (hey…that applies to more than laundry, doesn’t it! People who live life w/out Jesus do not realize they are not doing it right, and that there is a better way, a way that is more fulfilling than they ever imagined. We, as Christians, should desire to show them that way!)

 Anyway, in my garage, just to the right of my stack-able washer dryer, is a 6 bin laundry sortation system. My middle child has the chore of bringing all the dirty laundry from all the baskets out to the garage, where I sort it. Each of the bins is labeled, starting with the top left, moving down, then across: bleach, cold light, cold dark, warm dark, warm light, hang dry.

 Those are my 6 primary categories. If I had room, I’d create two more (which I plan to do when I build my laundry room in the basement). They would separate jeans & towels from the cold dark/warm dark, because the jeans/towels are to be washed separately (cotton sturdy) from the other clothing (perm. press). anyway, getting ahead of myself there.

 Why bother with the sorting? several key reasons.

More effective cleaning

See, if you wash your hands with cold water (even using soap), they do not get 100% clean. Try it some time. wash with cold water and then go ahead and dry your hands on your nice white towel. It will be brown with the dirt left on your hands. YUCK. Wash your hands with warm water, and more dirt comes off. Warm water breaks dirt down better, that’s just the physics of it. So, if you can wash your clothes in warm or hot water, you should.

There are some types of cloth that should not be washed in warm/hot, because it may also cause the colors to bleed/fade or the fabric to shrink. This is why tag reading is important, even for an advanced launderer, like me. More on that in a moment, though.

Longer lasting clothing

Gunk builds up on clothing that isn’t washed properly, causing the clothing to need to be discarded prematurely. This is evidenced in clothing looking dingy, showing pit stains and the like. 

Here’s what I do when sorting laundry:

1. all white cotton items get bleached (towels, socks, undies, rags, etc)
2. all dark towels, socks, undies automatically go to warm dark
3. all “dry clean only” and hang/lay flat to dry stuff goes to the hang dry, which, after being washed, does not go in the dryer (shrinkage = bad)
4. all other items go to their tag specified area, either cold light/dark or warm light/dark.

A word on tag reading:

I am amazed at how many people don’t know how to read clothing tags. First of all, if the instructive tag is not located at the back of the neck/waist, look in the side inseam for shirts and near the pockets for the pants. Once locating the tag, it may not have clearly disclosed instructions. There’s a secret code, using dots and geometric shapes.

If you look at the shapes on the tag, there is one that is clearly a washing machine, and the other is clearly a dryer. I’ll let you figure out which is which (I can’t spell it all out, what fun would that be!). Inside the shapes you’ll see either 1, 2, or three dots. 1 dot means “low,” 2 = “medium,” 3 = “high.” You could substitute hot for high, warm for medium, and so on. My guess is that they invented this system of symbols for the illiterate yet meticulous launderers out there (insert sarcasm here).

 If you’re an astute launderer and reading this with a critical eye, you may be asking yourself why I would put a dry clean only item in the washing machine. I’m glad you asked. I have three reasons.

1. Lazy - I don’t feel like going to the dry cleaners.
2. Snobby - If a piece of clothing really does need to be dry cleaned, its not worth my time.
3. Sneaky - most “dry clean only” can be washed on a delicate cycle and hung to dry. Your local dry cleaner doesn’t want you to know that! (great, now the DCAOA - Dry Cleaner Association Of America - has a price on my head!)

I should issue a warning about tags, though. A lot of tags say, “wash inside out.” I think that’s dumb. most dirt ends up on the outside of the clothing…unless you emit a medically questionably large amount of toxic foulness…so the thing is, why hide all the dirt on the inside by making it inside out. A lot of the reason tags say this is because they want to protect the print, embroidery, or fancy sequins on the garment. If there are a bunch of sequins you should throw it away - i mean - turn it inside out. Otherwise, don’t worry about it. My experience is that turning it inside out is more important for the drying phase, so that is when you’d want to turn it inside out, after washing it.

In closing, while I sort, I also “fix.” I uncrumple socks, make clothing be right side out, fasten clasps on bras, and close Velcro. I do this because bra clasps and Velcro can really garble up a good batch of laundry.

As promised (if you’re still reading this, which you’re probably not), here are a few life connections.

1. If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing right. This applies to more than laundry.
2. No body wants to walk around feeling dirty. Let that soak in (no pun intended). How often to you walk around feeling spiritual fouled up? Why not get clean? Why not go strait to Jesus, every time you get gunked up by the world, and allow Him to spray-n-wash you (metaphorically speaking)? And, why not share this great feeling with others?
3. In life you can’t just cram everything into one bucket, press the “old” button, and expect it to be right. There are things in life that need to be dealt with separately, specifically, intentionally. Marriage, kids, finances, God…you can’t cram all that into the bucket labeled “life” and expect it to work out. I’m not saying you should compartmentalize your life, but you should give each compartment it’s propper due.

In closing (hey, didn’t I already say that?) - Take the time you spend sorting laundry and pray for the people that wear/use that clothing. It makes the task seem much more significant!

Till next time,

Laundry obsessed pastor guy

So, I read the directions, and I started doing laundry. At the time, she had no idea what a laundry monster she had created!  Fast forward to me being 20 years old, picking up my fiance’ to go do a date or something. She says, “oh, wait just one second, I need to go put in a load of laundry.” Being curious, I followed her into the basement. What I saw was a horror that causes me to shudder to this very day! She picked up a mountain of clearly unsorted laundry and began to stuff it into a *gulp* toploading washing machine. The mountain must have been 5 feet square, and at least 3 1/2 feet tall. it had socks all curled up, shirts and pants partly inside out, and all different colors and types of clothing in it - whites, darks, perm. press, cotton sturdy, and probably even some delicate/hang dry. She crammed them all in there, to the point where the lid wouldn’t stay shut. This presented a problem for her, because it was the type of model that wouldn’t run unless the lid is shut. Not being daunted, she sprinkled a little soap on the top, forced the lid shut, and sat up on there. Then, without any bashfulness she said, “It will just take a minute for it all to settle in, then we can go.”

I was speachless! She had obviously done this before. I tell you what, I would not have been surprised if the clothes at the bottom were never touched by water or soap, they were crammed in there so tight!

At that very moment I decided that if we were to be married, I would would have to have exclusive access to all things laundry in our home (she readily agreed). So, though I live in this earth (a fallen, dirty world to be sure) I have the blessed opportunity to remove this world’s dirtiness from the clothing my family wears. In the blog posts to ensue, I’ll provide a window into the the twisted mind of the pastor-husband that obsesses about laundry. I’ll share my strategies, methods, principles, and paradygms that I base my laundry world on. I plan on taking you through a journey of a standard laundry cyle, beginning with sortation, then strategy of load order, folding, putting away, and then special circumstances. Lest you think this will be a mere trestise on laundry, I’ll share with you the plethora of spiritual symbolism inherent in proper laundry procedures.

 Until then,

 Ian