An Illustrated Bible Background Commentary

I have been given the opportunity to review one volume out of a set of five Old Testament commentaries that have recently been published: Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary. As I will be teaching Isaiah next year, I jumped at the chance to review Volume 4, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel.
First impression: the “illustrated” aspect of this commentary is done well as the photographs displaying the landscape, cultural artifacts, murals and museum pieces give additional perspective to ancient scripture. The photographs are complemented with drawings and graphs to help with the history and setting of the particular passage.
This set of commentaries would make a great set to place next to your primary commentaries as they add some visual life and background insight that can make your study or teaching crisp with detail. For example, when Jeremiah prophesies about the new covenant God will make with his people, he writes in 31:33, “I will put my law within them and I will write it on their hearts.” The ancient inhabitants of Judah would have had understood this, perhaps, a bit differently than us, for the pagan cultures that surrounded them practiced Extispicy. Extispicy is the practice of slaughtering a young ram to dissect it and “read” the message from the god(s) written on the liver, lungs, colon or heart. Jeremiah proclaims the Israelite’s hearts had been inscribed with sin, but the new covenant will be written by God and has to do with our insides. God will forgive and “remember their sin no more” (Jer. 31:34).
This little section enriched my understanding, for when I teach on this passage, I will ask the application question: “When you die, and your heart is read by your Creator, what will it have written on it?

July 4th in Eugene; then and now

2007
2008
2009

Tim Tebow - Man of Many Missions

On the Light Rail, on my way home from
work, I read from David Wells' book, The Courage to Be Protestant:

"God is not only near to us and related to us through creation and his preservation of it, but he also rules over all of life, guides it to the the end he has in mind for it, and holds all people accountable for their lives."

From this quote, I was convicted on how I segregate my own inner spiritual life from my outside living-in-the-real-world-life; they do not always match up.

I walk in the front door of my home, kiss my wife, rough up my two sons in an affectionate loving manner and spot the latest Sports Illustrated on the counter. It is good to be home. On the cover is Tim Tebow, not his first time to grace the cover of SI, but the main story on him is great, for it portrays a man who lives his life in truth - he serves a God who rules over all of life. I am encouraged. The author of the story, Austin Murphy writes:

"Having covered Tim for three years, I would say he's the most effective ambassador-warrior for his faith I've come across in 25 years at SI. Why? A big reason, Tebow believes, is his style of play."

To read the full story go here.

Uganda Trip Makes Army Web Site

The U.S. Army posted an article on my Uganda trip.

Uganda - A Trip "Well" Worth It (part 2 of 3)

Friday, 8 May 2009, our next possible well location is around 45 minutes northeast of Gulu. This is the home village of Pastor Alfred. Alfred interpreted for me the day I spoke at the youth conference. He is a kind-hearted, engaging man who has a heart to serve God.

Two young men from Gulu Baptist Church, Kimara (photo above) and Martin, join us again for the day. Hal and I are teaching these guys how to do this on their own, for we will leave the equipment with the church. They are both quick learners, hard workers with strong backs (very helpful when auguring by hand) and posses a common faith in a great God.

Martin, at the age of fourteen, was kidnapped by the Lord's Resistant Army (LRA). The LRA is a rebel guerilla-type-army based out of Southern Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and northern Uganda. They are responsible for inflicting great evil in the last two decades.


I did not ask Martin many details, but for five years he was forced to fight and at the age of nineteen, risking his life, he escaped on his own. The grace of God reached into the the soul of Martin, a choice of belief was made and Martin became a Christian.

I travel to the other side of the world, meet up with two guys who have backgrounds as different as our skin color, and I find I have more in common with them than many of the people I work with daily - the reason: we know and serve the living God.

A photo of Martin below at typical drinking water source.


A couple other Africans join us from a local village and we hike out to investigate the likelihood of placing a well.

A short twenty minute hike and we are ready to drill once more. Through my work back home, I have overseen the drilling of over 100 wells and not once did I ever think about praying beforehand. In Uganda we pray before we drill – I like it.

We auger down throughout the morning and the formation shows moisture, but not enough to yield substantial water.

We move to a topographically lower area and start the slow process of hand auguring again. Not much better, but a couple hours into it Hal heads of with a local who is going to show him a water source. We finish off the day with the same results as the day before: hard work to produce a four-inch diameter hole extending down into the ground that does not give enough water for a well. Hal brings encouragement that evening with the report of the site he observed.


Saturday, 8 May, we make the trek back out to our next location - not far from the previous day's location.
Two feet below ground surface, we hit water - not that big of a deal if the formation does not transmit the groundwater to sustain a continual pumping. As the auger makes its way down, and we inspect the material we are pulling up, enough sand is mixed in with the clay to indicate this could be a "producer". We drill over 30 feet below ground surface.

The sun goes down, as does our physical work, for the day. The church has asked me to give the message at their Sunday morning service; when the body of Christ asks me to do something I must have a good reason to say no. I have reasons, but none are good. One lesson I am learning over the years, or truthfully decades: my action is not to be driven by my desire; my action is to be driven by God's desire.

Usually it takes me at least ten hours to prepare a 40-minute lecture for BSF. My weekly effort for BSF includes a computer, commentaries, a bible with cross references, a wealth of wisdom from the men I study with, my wife and electricity. I have none of these as I sit down at the white plastic table in the hotel lobby with a flashlight, pen, paper and Bible at 8:10 P.M.

The next four hours in the dark are memorable as I pray and work through God's word. God is faithful and helps me get down on paper what I will speak in the morning. The sermon comes together from Numbers 21:4-9 - Moses lifting up the bronze serpent in the wilderness. The text sounds like witchcraft and, hopefully, will engage the listener. Most Ugandans in this area have spiritually come out of witchcraft and currently live among it in their villages. The symbol of evil, a snake, is fashioned by Moses lifted up on a pole and any Israelite who looks at it will be saved from the plague that is killing them. The symbolism does not make much sense until around a thousand years later when a homeless Jew, who is getting everyones attention through his incredible teaching and healing, is asked privately by a Jewish ruler named Nicodemus, "Who are you?" Jesus tells the Jewish ruler, "I am the snake Moses lifted up."

Sunday, 9 May.

Jesus becomes the snake, he takes on evil, my evil, your evil, he becomes a curse, he is lifted up on a pole and all of us who are dying need to look at this for life. Jesus explains this in John 3:14,15 and then he states perhaps the most well known verse in the Bible, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life."

The pastor interpreting for me continues on with an invitation after I finish and step down. A few people come forward to pray with some pastors - for what I do not know, perhaps God called them, they responded and they tasted the living water God offers: life through Jesus. One does not need a hand auger to get to that water.

Uganda Trip - the First Half

Thank you friends and family for your prayer and financial support for Uganda 2009.

Short version: Great trip; Hal and I located, augured by hand and installed a well with a manual pump to supply some people with clean water.

Long version: 1 May - Arrived at Entebbe International at 7:30 A.M. Our checked-in baggage included the equipment needed for hand drilling a well, thus it was good to see all six of our bags arrive. We took a taxi up to Kampala (Capital City of Uganda) to Darrie and Debbie Turner's home. Dad and Mom know the Turners, for they are from the Portland area, and my parents have been supporting and following the Turner's missionary ministry for over a decade.

To reinforce the notion that this large world can be small, a team of men were at the Turners and were getting ready to fly out - they had been helping Darrie build a beefed-up electric fence to keep the elephants from eating and destroying the garden at a Bible school. The garden produce is vital for supplying the students with food as they attend the Bible School. The men helping were from the Coos Bay, Oregon. The youth pastor of the group, originally from Esticada, was a former High School student of my brother-in-law Chad.

For the next couple of days, we procured a pump, well casing and supplies (no small feat in a developing country), Hal reunited with numerous friends and we attended Kampala Baptist Church on Sunday.

Engineering Ministry International (eMi) loaned us a water level indicator (this instrument is helpful in well development) and it was good to meet some of their top-shelf engineers and hear about the projects they were working on in Uganda.

Monday evening provided one of the highlights of my trip: I attended a men's BSF class. For the first time in a very long time I was able to attend as a member. The Kampala class is similar in size to our Sacramento class - around 300 men. The discussion leader of the group I was placed in, a local MD, did a superb job with the group. It was sobering for an American to hear some of the weekly struggles of these men - they identify with the Israelites wandering in the wilderness in a manner I cannot. The Teaching Leader's (TL) name was Patrick . After enjoying and being challenged by his lecture, I approached him, identified myself as a fellow TL - his eyes came alive as we shared about the classes we serve. With all the sights and stories and poverty I came into contact with on this trip, I cried twice (some of this may be blamed on lack of sleep): once was being a part of a worship service with the Africans in Gulu and the other was while I was praying for Patrick and the BSF class in Kampala that evening.

Tuesday, 5 May, we departed the big city and the hospitality of the Turners for Gulu - six hours to the north. The Turners loaned us their four-cylinder, four-wheel drive; with well casing and pump rod straped to the top we made the journey. Our new home is to be Hotel Roma - a small concrete block room, populated with cockroaches, no ventilation, intermittent power and mosquito nets with as many holes as a Barry Bonds steroid denial. It did have a toilet and thus no complaints from me about the room.

Wednesday, 6 May, was to be our first day in getting out into the brush to look at some possible well locations. The church was holding a youth conference in one of the Internally Displaced Person (IDP) Camps - families have been living in these camps for years as they were displaced from there home villages by the waring rebel army. The church asked me to to speak at the youth rally on marriage. Through an interpreter, I spoke on the Old and New Covenant God made with us, how the covenants build on each other and give us a picture of the future. Then I tied in another covenant: the marriage covenant and how it also points to something bigger - the covenant Jesus has with his bride (the church). The relationship agreement of marriage is to be taken very seriously, and thus placed above our own selfish desires. It is a common practice in Northern Uganda for a husband to "return" his wife to her family, and get a refund for the price he paid if she does not produce a child with in a year or two. The church was doing a good work by holding a youth conference on marriage.

Literally, moments after I finished speaking, and Hal was giving an illustration on marriage, my lower GI tract was introduced to a small African organism. The meeting did not go well. I spent the next half-hour squatting over a hole in the ground as my inside expressed its anger at meeting this new acquaintance. Hal, who knew the drill from previous trips to Uganda, got me back to Gulu, straight to a pharmacy (no prescription necessary in this country) and I was back to working order in no time. I did have to miss the meeting with the church pastors that evening to discuss our plans for locating and installing a well as I spent the evening in the hotel room. The toilet was a great luxury.

The next day we traveled north of Gulu for a couple of hours until the dirt road transitioned into a walking trail and we came to the home village of David - one of the pastors of the church. This was off the beaten path. As with all the villages outside of the Gulu, sun-dried clay bricks held up a thatched roof to make the circular huts composing the living quarters for the families. First impression: the amount of children numbered or out numbered the adults and the poverty was profound. A number of the children had no clothes; I tried to make a point of ignoring the action of some of the older boys I was conversing with as they attempted to cover their nakedness with the rags they wore. The lack of pigment in my skin is not something the children saw often and some, it appeared, saw a white man for the first time as a couple of the younger children starred with wide eyes and broke out in frightened crying as they ran off to their mothers.

From the village, we hiked for a mile or two out into the brush to observe a potential well location. A stream provides surface water that keeps the people living. Near the stream, and topographically above the flood level, we augured down for an hour or so to explore the possibility of placing a well. Not feasible at this location for the groundwater was too low and soil too rocky for our low technology. The day was not wasted, for Pastor David walked us over to a tree and explained this was the tree his mother knelt down and accepted Jesus as her
God and Savior. I will gladly give up a day to see and hear the story of a soul coming together with my living God. I look forward to meeting David's Mother in eternity and I can let her know I visited the tree were her life begin.

Uganda Update - 6 May

Not much time to make a post, but we have made it to Gulu in N. Uganda. Stories to tell later from the past week in making it here. As they say here: nothing going normal is a normal day.

Some impressions: absolute poverty...beautiful country...God works in many many lives (their stories are encouraging).

We will scout some locations tomorrow for installing the well. Pray for God to give a couple geologist a good eye for where this will work the best and fulfill the greatest need. Pray we are true representatives of the love of God. Also, I just got hit with an intestinal bug, as I had to run out of a youth service we attended this morning and spent the next half hour over a hole in the ground in a grass hut four feet tall. Hopefully the drugs kick in soon. I most likely caught this from all the hands I have shaken and you eat food here with your hands (no silver ware).

Uganda Plan

I am off to Uganda. If you think about Hal and I please pray for saftey, health and effective use of our time and efforts to do a good work for God.




Itinerary:

· April 29: TRAVEL DAY depart from San Francisco 6:50 p.m.
· May 1: TRAVEL DAY arrive in Entebbe, Uganda 7:45 a.m.
· May 1 – 3: get our internal clocks turned around and gather materials, filter sand/gravel for filters in Kampala, worship with Kampala International University students
· May 4 or 5: TRAVEL DAY - drive to Gulu, approximately 6 hours north of Kampala
· May 6 – 7: scout locations for filter/well, hand-drill test borings, possibly around Gulu, Pader, or Kitkum; meet with local Christians at Gulu Baptist Church
· May 8-11: install filter(s)/well(s) in best locations, worship with local believers
· May 12: TRAVEL DAY - drive to Kampala
· May 13: TRAVEL DAY for Tim – departs from Entebbe, Uganda 9:05 a.m. (arrives in San Francisco May 14 at 2:25 p.m.)

Uganda Bound

My triceps are still a little sore; Saturday morning, a fellow geologist from church and I hand-augured twenty-two feet below ground surface and installed a well in the backyard of a friend.

The purpose: this was a dress rehearsal for what we hope to accomplish in northern Uganda. We are physically prepared.

The well we installed Saturday produced two gallons per minute - perfect for a well that will be finished off with a hand pump and provide clean water for a small village.

In one week I will be traveling to Africa - this is made possible by family and friends who have contributed financially - Thank You!

Please pray for Hal Hansen and I as we prepare for the ultimate goal of this trip, not only finding and bringing to the surface clean physical water, but pure spiritual water that gives life to the soul.

Please pray for (1) our spiritual preparation and protection this week before we depart, (2) God to be working now in the Ugandan men and women we will come into contact with in the field and (3) for unity in our families before separation.

Susan Boyle on Britain's Got Talent

Does not God do this with Israel - strength and beauty comes out of the unexpected - does not God do this with all his children who allow God to work through them?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXX_gMFeWlc

HT: Justin Tayl0r

A Wedding Weekend

April Fourth, in the year of our Lord 2009, Sam and Heather became one - God did this. Some photos (click on them to enlarge) surrounding the celebrated event:

Rob, Julie, Nate, Chet, Maia and Tyler.

Chad, Crissa, Luke and Hannah in front of their 32' Ford.

We are happy to be a part of it

A kiss

A toast to my brother: I believe I said about half of what I planned and I did not finish it off the way I thought I was going to, but I hope truth was conveyed through my words that Sam is a guy who will cramp you up because you are laughing so hard at his antics, but he will also draw your thoughts to the eternal with depth that can only come from God. Heather got a good one.

Johnny Cash

The following post on Johnny Cash, a man who continues to speak to me on my iPod, is worthy to pass on to you: Justin Taylor provides some good links here.

I would like to see the worship leaders in our Churches be a little more Cash-like; two examples:

and

A Fast Guy on a Bike

Lance made his return to the cycling world today in Sacramento:

Mark Driscoll

Love him or hate him the Seattle preacher, Mark Driscoll, is not afraid to throw it out there.

Susan and I heard him speak in Minneapolis last year on "How Sharp the Edge? Christ, Controversy and Cutting Words", you can watch it or listen here.

If you want to see him on CNN click here or on Nightline a couple of weeks ago:

Christmas in Underwood, WA

Some family photos from Christmas time:View from the front Window

Christmas Dinner

Jacob, Hannah and Ryan


Papa, Ryan and Big Brown


Uncle Sam with Luke, Ryan, Hannah and Jacob


Ryan, Hannah and Jacob (they wanted to know what it felt like to be trapped in an avalanche)

Ryan is Three and Rolling on Two

Kurt Warner

One of the upcoming Superbowl quarterbacks reminds me a little of King David: a teenage boy bagging bears and lions as he made his living in the hills of Israel living with sheep. He was unexpectedly grabbed and ordained the new King of Israel.

Kurt Warner was bagging groceries in Ceder Rapids Iowa as he made his living after washing out of football. He was unexpectedly grabbed and now will make his second Super Bowl appearance.

I read this story a couple weeks ago and identified with Kurt as he struggles with communicating his love for Jesus, but at the same time struggling with the fact that Jesus is offensive and repels people: he invited his entire team over for a party but only a handful showed up. Kurt inquired of a teammate and the prevailing view was they were afraid he was going to get up on a podium and preach at them.

Fortunately, we have been given Jesus' Spirit and it has the same effect as 2,000 years ago: draws some in like a magnet and others do not only not want to show up at your party, they want to murder you.

Some people love Kurt Warner and some hate him; then (2000 years ago) and now - not much has changed.

The Shack: The Good, the Bad and the Scary

This is by no means a thorough review of the book. I promised my cousin I would read it, for he is friends with the author. The thoughts I posted in an earlier blog have not changed. The following are some current thoughts from a small man with a big God:

The Scary
To build a false image of God is not just sloppy writing, but scary. The author builds this she-male god in a gripping manner, but constructs some subtle falsity into the image: Papa (this is God if you have not read the book) is portrayed as not just peace-loving (which is true), but anti-violent. Papa detests the gun as she holds it out at arms length.

God is a great warrior. Listen to Moses worship God on the shore of the Sea of Reeds after the exodus from Egypt. God, with his creation-power, gives salvation to his new chosen nation with violence that surpasses what any gun could do:

The Lord is a man of war;the Lord is his name. (Exodus 15:3)
Your right hand, O Lord, glorious in power,your right hand, O Lord, shatters the enemy.In the greatness of your majesty you overthrow your adversaries;you send out your fury; it consumes them like stubble. (Exodus 15:6,7)(ESV)

The Shack scares me, for an image of God has been erected that takes God’s glory, his powerful right hand that inflicts violence, and portrays the glorious hand of God falsely.

I am not condoning violence or guns, for I doubt we will see either in God’s ultimate kingdom. More important than societal problems, or my feelings, is the image of God – never add to it and make God into something he is not. Sometimes God deals with this by his right hand.

The Bad
God created man and woman in his image; every race and gender bares a resemblance to their creator. Though God is spirit and is not composed of the mass of biology we live in, he does have an image – Moses is a witness to this and his face fell to the ground when he saw God’s back. God’s image is important - he has one and it is good to be cautious on how one portrays it.

I can identify with the author in desiring to paint a picture of God as an African-American woman: my next door neighbor is one and her love and service to our family will echo into eternity. There are four women I kiss: my wife (of course) my Mom, my Mother-in-law and my neighbor of whom I speak. This African-American woman demonstrates God’s love in a manner that we could all learn from. I have learned much more from her than a love for collard greens.

Nonetheless, I believe it is good to not venture from Jesus’ example of painting the picture of God as anyone other than the Father.

The Good
The author does a great job of answering the age old question, “how could a good God allow evil?” He also gives the reader a grasp of a world existing beyond our myopic view.

I loved the scene were Mack has been introduced to the Trinity. They explain who they all are and in a puzzled manner he looks from one to the other and asks, “Which one of you is God?” They all answer in unison, “I AM”.

Uncharacteristically, I cried as I read a part of this book: Mack was preparing to leave his incredible experience, just before he departed Jesus met him in a room and on the table were bread and a cup of wine. Someday we (if you are a believer) will share bread and wine together with Jesus. The thought of what it represents and anticipation of the future event brought emotion.

If you desire, comment with your thoughts, for I would be interested to hear them.