Chess Puzzles!

I have always loved the game of chess. I love the complexity, the simplicity, and the strategy of the game of chess. Most people are not that interested in playing chess, so I really have not practiced that much. So I don’t think I am really all that good at playing…I just love it! But a few days ago I discovered this website, and I have really enjoyed solving the puzzles.

Chess Puzzles

I have already solved all of the “Checkmate in One” puzzles. I can’t imagine figuring out the “Checkmate in Six” puzzles! Crazy!

Can you solve any? Or do you have your own website for killing time?

tim

Some intriguing thoughts

The book of Revelation intrigues me because it seems to be so often misunderstood. Many teachers, preachers, and churches shy away from this book because of how volatile and dogmatic people are concerning this subject. The book of Revelation is also seen as a weird, confusing, and even scary book to many people. I personally cannot think of a single sermon growing up that came out of the book of Revelation. Many churches shy away from this book, and as a result, people get their theological views from pop-culture rather than biblical scholarship and church tradition.

I believe it is vital that we read and understand this book. The book of Revelation is just as inspired as the book of Romans or any other book in the biblical canon, and therefore it should be read and obeyed. We cannot steer clear of a book because it is more “difficult” to understand. This book contains wonderful words of comfort as well as words of challenge and exhortation. It is necessary that we learn to read this book.

Interpreting the book of Revelation has a lot of baggage though. For whatever reason, this book seems to be fair game for whacky hermeneutics and wild predictions of the future. This book is often studied with a different set of interpretive lenses than other books in the Bible. There are some basic tools of interpretation that just get neglected or abused when it comes to studying Revelation. For example, many read this book side-by-side with a newspaper rather than with the Old Testament. As a result of this hermeneutical mess, many people fear this book rather than feeling its comfort.

I could write a lot more about how we should understand apocalyptic imagery, prophecy, and literary genre when we study God’s Word, but I think it would be helpful for us to take a step back and see the big picture. What does God’s Word say about Christ’s coming? Look at what 2 Peter 3:10-12a says,

10 But the day of the Lord will come as unexpectedly as a thief. Then the heavens will pass away with a terrible noise, and the very elements themselves will disappear in fire, and the earth and everything on it will be found to deserve judgment.
11 Since everything around us is going to be destroyed like this, what holy and godly lives you should live, 12 looking forward to the day of God and hurrying it along.

Eschatology exists to help produce change and growth in our lives. This verse states that Christ will come like an unexpected thief—I don’t pretend to know the future. Even Jesus himself said that he does not know the day or the hour of his return—only the Father knows. God wants us to live holy lives. He wants us to have a relationship with him—to be ready. Look at this quote from Dr. Robert Lowery of Lincoln Christian Seminary,

“The bottom line is this: Whenever and wherever the Bible speaks about Christ’s final coming, its purpose is always to challenge Christians with regard to belief and behavior. Christians are to live lives which reflect that Christ has come and is coming.”

God is far more concerned with our relationship with him than he is about us knowing every detail of the future. Saint Augustine put it like this,

“He who loves the coming of the Lord is not he who affirms it is far off, nor is it he who says it is near. It is he who, whether it be far or near, awaits it with sincere faith, steadfast hope, and fervent love.”

I believe that a deeper understanding of Scripture will lead to deeper application and love for God. I hope as Christians we don’t shy away from portions of Scripture because it may make us feel uncomfortable. The book of Revelation is a message of hope, comfort, challenge, and victory—it should not be ignored.

tim

Colorado Highlights

My Colorado experience was pretty amazing. Instead of posting all the minor details, I think I’ll give you some of the highlights.

Family
I got to spend a lot of time with my big sister Laure and her husband Jonathan. We saw a ton of stuff, played lots of games, and ate a bunch of good food!

It was the first time that I was able to go out and visit them, and it was cool to see them in their home. I miss being able to spend time with them…it’s not everyday you can go up to Colorado!

Swetsville Zoo
A guy named Bill Swets lives in Fort Collins, and he has been spending his retired days welding Sculptures out of scrap metal. He has dozens of them, and it is free to go through his “Zoo.” Laure and I got to meet Bill and watch him work on his newest creation. It was a unique place to say the least!

Estes
Estes was pretty cool. We got to travel up the mountain by using these little gondola things. At the top you could purchase peanuts and feed the ground squirrels. They would walk up to you and take them right out of your hands!

Rocky Mountain National Park
I think Rocky Mountain National Park was my favorite part of my trip though. The scenery was breath-taking, and we saw tons of animals! I got up close and personal with an angry marmot, and we also saw dozens of elk! We were also able to catch a glimpse of a moose as well.

Bison Ranch
We went to a Bison Ranch in Wyoming. They take you on a little train tour and you can get right up next to the Bison. They also had a yak, some Beefallos, camels, ostriches, and llamas. Good times. We didn’t get any buffalo meat that day, but I did eat a buffalo burger later that week!

Whit’s End
I grew up listening to Adventure’s in Odyssey, and my family had every single album that came out. So it was really cool visiting Focus on the Family and going through their ice cream shop and seeing their little museum. I had a whadfamchocsod from the soda fountain with my lunch!

Garden of the gods
We didn’t spend too much time at Garden of the gods.
We had a lot of things to do in Colorado Springs that day, so we had to get moving. But it was still pretty stinken cool!

Pikes Peak
We took the cog railway up Pikes Peak. It was cool being able to listen to the tour guide give some of the details of the mountain and some of the history of exploration and stuff.

Altitude
Speaking of Pikes Peak…it turns out that being 14,110 feet above sea level will make you feel a little strange. I made sure to stay hydrated throughout the trip, but it was pretty easy to get out of breath. We went backpacking one night, and I that was one of the more intense cardio workouts that I have had in a long time!

tim

Trying to sum it all up

I have given up trying to sum up all the fun, crazy, and interesting experiences I have had recently. The month of May has been ridiculously full of stuff (traveling, weddings, family stuff etc.)

They say that a picture is worth a thousand words. Soo with that thought in mind, I have decided to post some pictures! Maybe this will sum up the last few weeks! Enjoy!

tim

Crazy Love

I recently finished reading the book, “Crazy Love” by Francis Chan. I was thinking about writing a review on the book, or posting some reflections on it, but I decided to share some quotes from it instead. I figured I would let the book speak for itself. Here are some good quotes that stuck out to me:

Isn’t it a comfort to worship a God we cannot exaggerate?

On the average day, we live caught up in ourselves. On the average day, we don’t consider God very much. On the average day, we forget that our life truly is a vapor. But there is nothing normal about today.

Over time I realized that when we love God, we naturally run to Him—frequently and zealously. Jesus didn’t command that we have a regular time with Him each day. Rather, he tells us to “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” He called this the “first and greatest commandment” (Matt. 22:37-38). The results are intimate prayer and study of His Word. Our motivation changes from guilt to love.

The very fact that a holy, eternal, all-knowing, all-powerful, merciful, fair, and just God loves and me is nothing short of astonishing.

The greatest knowledge we can ever have is knowing God treasures us.

The thought of a person calling himself a “Christian” without being a devoted follower of Christ is absurd.

But God doesn’t call us to be comfortable. He calls us to trust Him so completely that we are unafraid to put ourselves in situations where we will be in trouble if He doesn’t come through.

It is just this sort of love that is crazy to the world: true love, a kind found nowhere but through Christ.

I urge you to consider and actually live as though each person you come in contact with is Christ.

I found this book to be encouraging and challenging! I’d highly recommend it! You can check out the book’s website here if you would like.

tim

Mileage Math

I have been on the move lately. In the past three weeks I have traveled:

2,000 (+) miles on a plane to Florida for the Exponential Conference

1,000 (+) miles in my car in the past three weeks for interviews

=

3,000 (+) miles

I am definitely glad to be stationary today! My car is glad as well. While I was driving home yesterday the “Service Engine Soon” light flashed across my dashboard. Hopefully it won’t be anything too serious.

tim

Boldness

I took a ton of notes from the Exponential Conference this year. There was a ton of excellent things to chew on, but I thought I would share the sessions that made me think the most. One of those sessions was taught by Francis Chan. He talked about the Holy Spirit and boldness.

I was excited for his main session because I have heard him speak before and he was excellent. He is such an encouraging, humble, and honest speaker.

So here are my notes:

-Acts 4:13-f <– Why can’t it be like this today?
—They were “Astonished” because they had “been with Jesus”

-Today people are very well educated, but they lack boldness. We are raising terrified people.

-Verse 29. <– They prayed for MORE boldness.

-Paul also prayed for more boldness (Ephesians 6). (And Paul was really bold already)!

-We need to be praying for more boldness in our lives.
—We have so many insecurities.

-It doesn’t make sense that the Holy Spirit would change.

-Do I live like the Holy Spirit works in my life like in the book of Acts?

-If you read the Bible on an island, what would you believe, and what would you expect to see?

-What does the church in Acts really look like? <– The Church is a family.
—People are attracted to gangs because they are doing things biblically (except for the killing).

-We need to pray for boldness.
—Elijah vs. 450 Prophets of Baal

-God is a creating God. The Holy Spirit has the power to move and work in new and creative ways.

-James 5:17 <– “Elijah was a man just like us.” But he prayed.

-We must pray for boldness.

I think we are often guilty of squelching the power of the Holy Spirit. We believe the Spirit has power–But how often do we live our lives like things depends on us? I have so many insecurities. I’ll watch a guy like Francis Chan and think, “I could never be as good of a speaker or leader as he is.” And yet God is looking for people who are faithful, available, and teachable. Ministry is about what God can do through me. The power comes from God and not from me.

We often claim to have faith, but we still live a life that is “safe.” The prayer for boldness is really a prayer for an increase in faith. It is a prayer that says, “God, I believe that the Spirit really does move in powerful ways—move in me.” Will you pray for boldness today?

tim

What If?

Craig Groeschel is the lead pastor for lifechurch.tv and he spoke at one of the main session for the Exponential Conference this year. You can read my previous blog post about his book, Confessions of a Pastor if you would like.

I enjoyed the main session a lot, but he taught a workshop that really got my mind going. Here are my notes:

-Every movement starts with outlandish ideas.
-E,g. Martin Luther, Martin Luther King Jr.

-These movements always start with the question, “What If.?”

-What if what happened in the New Testament Church happened in my church?

-What if 3,000 people would accept Christ at my church in one day like in Acts 2:38?

-What if, like in Acts 2:42-46, our community would be filled with holy fear? What if people became radically different? What if God added to our churches daily? What if we believed that the church is a building and not the people of God?

-You must ask your own “What If” questions.

-Three theories about leading a movement.

1. To lead a movement you have to see things others don’t see.
-You see the trends in the culture and you ask, “What’s coming?”
-You must go where people have never been before.
-Where there is no vision the people perish
-People don’t want to join a church or a building—they want to join a movement.

2. To lead a movement you have to do what others don’t do.
-Story of the Paralytic Man in (Mark 2)
-You have to be willing to fail.
-You have to be willing to break the rules.

3. To lead a movement you have to hurt like no one else.
-People will often hurt you when you see what others don’t.
-You will often be criticized, mis-understood, fail, and feel dissatisfied.
-You have to be willing to make hard decisions.
-You will over-estimate what God wants to do in the short-run. And you will always under-estimate what God wants to do in the long run.

Groeschel is a guy with vision who thinks outside of the box. Lifechurch.tv is one of the most innovative churches in the nation, and this comes from asking the question, “What If?”

So what if? I think this is a great question because it helps us to dream. We have such small vision sometimes. Sometimes we let fear and criticism keep us from dreaming. Sometimes we have let the past dictate what we do in the present. But the question, “What If?” forces us to examine the heart of God, and seek to aggressively do whatever it takes to carry out his mission.

So what are your “What If?” questions?

tim

Expo 09!

Tomorrow morning I will be flying to Orlando for the Exponential Conference! I have been heavily anticipating this trip for some time now, and it is almost here!

Through some awesome generosity I was able to register for free. I am also going with some good friends from Suncrest as well! It should be an amazing time. I am looking forward to the speakers, the workshops, and all of the free junk that I am sure to get!

(You should also be jealous the weather is supposed to be amazing).

tim

Good Friday Reflections

When I was growing up, my sisters and I had these audio cassette tapes of dramatized Bible stories. Our favorite tape was the story of Jonah. (This was mostly because of the awesome sound effects). The sound of Jonah being spit up on dry land was hysterical! It was this great burp/vomit noise, and we thought it was just awesome. We used to rewind the tape over and over just to hear that noise!

We had several of these tapes, and we listened to them for hours and hours growing up. But the one that I remember the most was about the death and resurrection of Jesus. As a child, I never really liked this tape–It was kind of scary, unsettling, and even disturbing.

I had a hard time grasping why Jesus would allow this to happen. I knew that Jesus was the Son of God, and that he had the power to do whatever he pleased. So why didn’t Jesus stop Judas from betraying him? Why didn’t Jesus let Peter continue his assault on the soldiers who came to arrest him? Why didn’t he defend himself better at his trial? Why didn’t he stop the beatings? Why didn’t he stop the cruelty and mocking? Why didn’t he stop them from hammering nails into his hands and feet? Why? These questions were disturbing to me as a kid.

And to be honest, these questions are still disturbing to me. The cross was designed to be disturbing; it was a horrific and painful means of execution. The Romans used it to illicit fear, obedience, and intimidation. It was a brutal, bloody, and drawn-out way to kill someone. There is nothing more disturbing than the cross.

But the primary reason the cross is so disturbing is because of the ugliness of sin. As Christians I think we sometimes forget just how much God hates sin. But God hates sin so much that he sent his one and only Son to die a horrific and disturbing death on a cross–a death sentence that you and I deserve! The cross is disturbing, because our sins are disturbing. In Isaiah 53 it says,

He was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed.

I hope that on this Good Friday, you stop and reflect on the disturbing nature of sin and the cross, as well as the goodness, grace, and mercy of Jesus Christ.

tim