Timothy's Thoughts

N ever do today what can be put off until tomorrow.” I don’t know who first said that, but I often find myself doing it. I set up these tasks in Outlook to remind me when it is time to do certain things. That’s helpful when it may be a year between each time the task must be done. The only problem is that Outlook has a snooze button. Rather than doing the task when it pops up, I put it off a few days. I have one task that I’ve been putting off all summer. One task was scheduled to show up at the first of July. I didn’t actually do it until yesterday. The thing is, I hate procrastination. I put something off and the whole time I’m telling myself that I need to get it done or it will be late. It is so much easier when I just do the task and get it out of the way. I know this, but I still put things off. And it’s not like there are other things that are pressing for my time. Occasionally, that is true, but I could make time for the things I need to do and then I would be free to relax w...

D o you respect other people? Do you respect their right to have a different opinion than you? Of course you do. But do you respect their opinions? Before you say yes, stop and think about that one. We respect people because they are our equals. We all came into this world with nothing and we will leave it with nothing. When it is all said and done, we’re all the same. We respect people’s right to have a different opinion because we recognize that we ourselves are sometimes wrong. Even if we know that all evidence supports what we believe, we can appreciate that other people may have trouble accepting the proof that exists. But respecting another person’s opinions is something different. Respect refers to esteeming or admiring something. It carries with it the idea that we value the thing we respect. It makes sense for us to value people. It makes sense to value a person’s rights. The question is, how do we measure the worth of an individual opinion? The court system has no probl...

I left a comment on a recent news article, “I was not aware The Jim Henson Company supported homosexuality. I’m very sorry to hear that.” This brought the ire of some homosexuals who had also read the article. But they used words like bigot and homophobic . One of them took it upon himself to tell me that no one cared about me either. This after he had already told someone else who had commented on the article that no one cared about him. I’ve come to the conclusion that some people hate me. They really, really hate me. And they don’t even know me. How are we to deal with this? By now, you’ve heard that the Bible teaches that we are to love everyone. If you haven’t, just go look at your enemy’s website. He’ll be sure to tell you that. But let’s look at what Jesus said: Ye have heard it said, “Thou shalt love they neighbor, and hate thine enemy.” But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully us...

M any Christian authors have the idea that they will use their skill at writing to win the lost for Christ. It may be that they don’t like the idea of knocking on a stranger’s door or maybe they fear teaching a Sunday school class, or maybe the just feel that is the best way to use their talent. I can’t say it is a bad idea, but how do we do it? I’ve seen a few bad examples. Overall, I enjoyed Lori Wick’s novel, The Princess , but I hated the come to Jesus scene. It seemed to me that everyone in the book was saved, so somewhere in the middle of the book Lori Wick introduces a character who isn’t. He is a young boy and he has a family member in the hospital. He does little to move the plot along, but he gives the main characters the opportunity to tell someone how to be saved. I particularly hate that because during what could arguably be the most important scene a reader could read, the reader is anxiously wondering how long before the author will get back to the story. How do we f...

H ow often have we heard that the reader must identify with the protagonist? He must be a likeable character—save the cat and all of that. But what about the villain? We often see villains as evil itself. And as we think about the perfect villain we may come up with a character that we despise in the worst sort of way. This is not the way to write a book. The villain is the most important character in a story. Even when he isn’t in a scene, he is driving what happens. Look at Satan, the great villain of the Bible. Remove him and the story would be very different. Eve would’ve never eaten the forbidden fruit. Job wouldn’t have suffered. Israel wouldn’t have turned against God. Jesus wouldn’t have died. Victory over dead would have never occurred. But with him there, we see how great a victory it is that Jesus accomplished. We may question why God has allowed Satan to do what he does, but that may be our answer. Satan shows us contrast between evil and good. Now, stop and think why t...

T hose of you who read yesterday’s post know where I stand on the Chick-fil-a issue. I’ve probably said more than enough on the core issue, but as a writer, I see something more interesting at play here. Who is the villain? Often, we think of the villain as the bad guy who eats nails for breakfast and has no purpose other than to make the life of the hero difficult. In real life, that character doesn’t exist and we certainly don’t see it in the Chick-fil-a situation. Let’s look at the cast of characters. First, there is Dan Cathy who said nothing about homosexuality at all, but stated that they were guilty as charged in their support for the traditional family. There is the news media, who took that statement and turned it into a statement about homosexuality. There is Lisa Henson of The Jim Henson Company who has decided to terminate The Jim Henson Company’s relationship with Chick-fil-a. Lastly, let’s consider Boston Mayor Tom Menino, who today is taking heat from the Boston Herald...

T he great topic of discussion last week was Chick-fil-a and their position on gay marriage. The really silly thing is that they never said anything about gay marriage. All that was said was that they were in favor of the traditional marriage. The news media blew that way out of proportion and accused them of hating gays. So now, we have people who ought to be ashamed of themselves firing shots at Chick-fil-a’s stand for godly business practices. We have people like the mayor of Boston saying that he won’t allow Chick-fil-a to open a restaurant in Boston. That is un-American, but that isn’t even the most disturbing thing. In all the discussion last week, the thing I found most disturbing was reports of The Jim Henson Company cutting their ties with Chick-fil-a and giving the money they had received from Chick-fil-a to G.L.A.A.D. My first thought was, “You mean the Muppet people?” I thought back on watching the Muppets as a kid. And I thought about Labyrinth . At one time, that was my...

O nce again, the Boy Scouts of America has upheld the ban on homosexual leaders. Though the board’s decision was unanimous, it saddens me to see that the news media is reporting that two of its members, James Turley and Randall Stephenson have indicated a desire to change the policy. Even though I spent only a few months in the program, as a former Boy Scout, I see great value in the things Scout leaders teach the boys they mentor. To me, that is the crux of this issue; leaders are mentors. I’m reminded of the instructions Paul gave to Timothy and Titus concerning the qualifications of church leaders. Today, people want to measure a preacher by how well he preaches or how much education he has had. That’s not to say that is wrong, if that involves his doctrine, but one of the things Paul said was that a man should rule his house well. He also said that he must be the husband of one wife. What a man does in his home is important because it indicates how a man will lead the church. Lea...

C omputers have changed significantly over the years. When I was a kid, we had a computer at home, but most of my friends didn’t. These days, people carry more computing power around in their pockets than we had available to us on our computer. Back then, people were convinced that they would lose their jobs to a computer. Today, most people wouldn’t know how to do their job if they didn’t have a computer. But there are also many ways that computers have stayed the same. For all the improvements we’ve seen in computers, the job for the man behind the curtain hasn’t changed all that much. When I was a kid, I was using BASIC to program the TRS-80. The Commodore 64s also used a form of BASIC. Later, when I went to college, I began to learn other languages. We started out with Modula-2, then it was C, a slew of other languages and before I graduated I had learned C++ and Java. There are even more languages today, but one thing I’ve learned is that computer languages are very similar to e...

O il is an interesting thing. A single drop in just the right spot can make a huge difference to the world. I’ve been riding my bicycle recently. My bike is over ten years old and has seen better days. I replaced the cables last year, but they’re starting to rust again. I recently had to replace the tires. The latest problem was a squeaky wheel. Everything seemed fine while I was riding, but when I would come to a stop, it would make a noise loud enough that the neighbors would look up from what they were doing. A little oil and the problem went away. Once more, I feel more comfortable about waiting to buy a new bicycle. Sometimes we feel unimportant. We look around us at people who seem to be doing more, accomplishing more, making more money, and we wonder why we aren’t them. The things we do go unnoticed while the things they do are awarded with high praise. We need to learn to be like that drop of oil. A small thing done in the right place and in the right time can change the worl...

I t worries me that so many people assume that the people who provide the most platitudes are the most spiritual. How often have we seen people going through a tough time and someone tells them, “God will see you through.” Or we ask someone how they are doing and they say something like, “God’s been good to me.” We walk away thinking, “That person is unashamed of his faith.” Until recently, I hadn’t given it much thought. These people used phrases that I normally don’t, but if they’re comfortable with it, what’s wrong with it? Then in Sunday School I heard someone talking about people some of these people being much more spiritual than most of us. “I don’t think I could ever reach that level of spirituality.” And I began to realize that people are measuring spirituality by personality rather than faith. While it is true that “God will see you through” and “God’s been good to me,” the words are weak if they don’t have specific meaning behind them. In reading the Bible, we find that ...

L ike most people in the United States, I’ve been trying to lose weight. How much weight? I don’t know. I haven’t stepped on the scales. But I’ve been having some success. I’ve noticed my clothes fitting better and I was feeling pretty good about it. Well, I was until I pulled one particular pair of jeans out of the closet. The tag says they are the same size as I wear every day, but when I put them on, they didn’t fit. I could fasten them, which is better than the last time I tried them, but they still don’t fit. Funny how a pair of jeans can change you outlook. Our expectations flavor how we feel about things. I put those jeans on with the expectation that they would fit, since I had accomplished so much. When they didn’t, I felt like I hadn’t accomplished anything. I think the same goes for authors. An author writes a book and feels a great sense of accomplishment. It takes a lot of time and effort to write a book. When you finish one, you feel great. Then the author sends it out ...

NOTE: In order to discuss the topic, the following contains some language that is improper in polite conversation. A recent discussion got me thinking about the use of profanity in Christian writing. The discussion was on Steve Laube’s blog and it was triggered by an article by Rachel Held Evans . To put it simply, Rachel Held Evans doesn’t like it that Christian bookstores, like Lifeway, are removing books and movies from their shelves because of profanity in the material. It has been common practice for a long time for Christian bookstores to be selective about the literature they sell. And more than a few kids have had the experience of their Christian parents washing their mouths out with soap. The question is, which is right? Is the long held assumption that we shouldn’t use profanity correct or is there some basis for Rachel Held Evans’ crusade for profanity in Christian literature. The only way to answer this is to go to the Bible. Without it, it becomes a matter of person...

M oney is like water. It only has real power when it is in motion. I grew up near the Mississippi River, but I also grew up near a swamp. The swamp just sits there and grows stale. The Mississippi River is constantly flowing with millions of gallons of water. One might wander where all that water comes from. It comes from a bunch of smaller rivers and streams, which are fed by rain water. And rain comes from clouds which come from the ocean evaporating. But the ocean is filled by rivers like the Mississippi. You’ve heard it all before. It is just one big cycle. And so it is with money. Big corporations pay their workers, who go out and buy things from store owners, who buy things from big corporations. We use terms like trickle up economics and trickle down economics to address the question of whether money flows from companies to the people or from the people to the companies. Usually, we are asking the question of whether it would be better to give corporations money or to give...

The Kingdom of Heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till the whole was leavened. – Matthew 13:33 J esus spent a great deal of time talking about “the Kingdom of Heaven”. This is one of the shortest stories he told about it. You might ask what “the Kingdom of Heaven” is. The best I can tell, the Kingdom of Heaven is closely related to what many people call “the church” today. It seems to be all the Christians in the entire world. This is different from what Jesus called the church or the assembly, which is a local body that assembles together for worship and service. Even so, “the Kingdom” includes us. In the Bible leaven is symbolic of some evil. It is the nature of sin to start small and grow into something big. The same is true of leaven. In this case, we see a small amount leavening three measures of meal. The Jews Jesus was speaking to would have recognized the three measures as being the amount needed for the feast of unleavened brea...

T hese days it is in vogue to wear any old thing to church. At some point people decided that it would be good to dress down for church because we don’t want other people feeling uncomfortable. After all, we aren’t supposed to be trying to impress other people by what we wear to church anyway. It is God we are to worship. It sounds good, but I don’t think that argument holds water. First, I’m a guy and I don’t spend a lot of time trying to impress people with what I wear. I’m sure some people do, but I don’t think dressing down will change people’s desire to impress those around them. If it isn’t with their clothes, they’ll find something else for that purpose. Second, how many people do you know of that will refuse to go to church because the people dress too fancy? I’ve heard people use that excuse, but I’ve also seen people with very little come to church anyway. But here’s what really gets me. If a person were invited to the White House, no matter which party’s candidate were...

M y pastor asked me to transfer a VHS tape to a DVD. The main reason he wanted this done was because VCRs are less commonly used than they used to be. I told him I would see what I could do. My first concern was that the equipment wouldn’t allow me to make the transfer. Many VHS tapes have a message encoded into the tape that tells the recording equipment not to store the video. Once I determined this was not the case with this video, I sent a request to the copyright owner for permission to copy the video. The copyright owner for this video is a company that has a website. Their contact page consists of a form into which you can put your personal information and a message, and a mailing address. Hoping for a quick response, I used the form. I submitted the request on a Saturday, so I didn’t expect a response till Monday, but this particular company isn’t the kind that would have a lot of correspondence, so I expected to receive an e-mail on Monday. Monday came and went. Tuesday came...

A fter several years of having the same website design, I’m sure our church website is due for a change. As website designs go, it has held up very well. That’s part of why I’m struggling with creating a new design. As is, it has all the things, and more, that you would expect from a church website design, so it isn’t easy to identify problems that need to be fixed. Mike Anderson, one of the developers of MarsHill.com, recently blogged about 5 Principles of Church Website Design . They are: Tell Them Why You Exist Give ’Em A Hook Cast A Wide Net Don’t Fake A Vibe Show The Story I’ve talked about all of these before in previous posts or in the book, in one form or another. Today, I want to focus on the first one. Mike Anderson’s solution was to put the statement “It’s all about Jesus” under the name of the church. My question is, is this enough? Granted, Mars Hill is not one church but several under one name, so we can expect they may have different needs and different goals than a...

N o matter how many times you read it, the Bible always has something that you haven’t seen before. Sometimes it is some deeper meaning that you haven’t seen. Sometimes it is something simple that you just hadn’t noticed before. This was the case for me last Wednesday night. We all know that God has many names. Perhaps you’ve participated in a worship service in which banners showing the names of God are carried in. You probably saw names like Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Prince of Peace, Jehovah, Emmanuel, Jesus, the Everlasting Father. There are so many beautiful names of God. Each one tells us something about the nature of God. It is an act of worship just to see those names before us and to read them off. But there’s one name for God that you aren’t likely to see on one of those banners. I believe it is God’s most unusual name. I don’t know why I hadn’t noticed it before. We were studying a passage that I’d read multiple times before. We were looking at the passage...

R ecently, I read an article by Tony Reinke that compared homosexuality to idolatry and made the argument that it leads to unhappiness. I don’t want to dwell on the issue of homosexuality alone, but broaden the discussion to all sin. So often, the basis for immorality is that it makes people happy. Two teenagers go out on a date and end up in bed together, but they enjoyed it, so what’s wrong with that? It is a childish argument. We’ve often heard children say to their parents, “you just don’t want me to have any fun.” And on the basis that immoral activity is fun (which is usually is when we’re doing it), it seems that morality is not fun. So we end up arguing for moral action on the basis that it is what God commands. It becomes a legalistic argument and we are trying to make it to people who have no concern for what God’s law says. What are we doing?! Have we forgotten the songs we learned growing up? “There is joy in serving Jesus!” “I’ve got the joy, joy, joy, joy, down in my ...