OK, I just read somebody's post that makes me think they have no idea what "top 10" means - they had teams in their top 10 who did not win the World Series, but did not include the team that beat them! Now, I understand that the "best team" on paper does not always win the World Series (like in 2009 ;) ), but to be considered a "best team" it seems a requirement that you did put it together and win the World Series - or at least lost to a team higher on the list. With that said, here's my list:
10. 1993 Blue Jays
9. 1970 Orioles
8. 1998 Yankees
7. 1918 Red Sox
6. 1939 Yankees
5. 1961 Yankees
4. 1974 A's
3. 1976 Reds
2. 1927 Yankees
1. 1908 Cubs
It galls me to have more than one Yankee team and no Phillies - but depending on what the Phillies do in the next couple of years, they could crack this list - all of these teams were multiple series winners.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Book Review: CrossTalk - Where Life and Scripture Meet
CrossTalk: Where Life and Scripture Meet by Mike Emlet
OK, another book from CCEF that cracks my top 10 all time books. I'm going to have to make it officially a top 20 books just to keep some other authors visible ...
To sum up a response to this book, I say “Wow !" I wish I had read this book years ago, but I doubt I was ready for it – in any case, the Lord is sovereign and I have read this book (and it has been published) in His timing, which is perfect. I have lived as a perfectionist, as someone who functionally based my justification on my supposed sanctification, and I have lived in a community where the Bible is always reduced to “rules.” It has been difficult to realize that I am always looking for the “call” on someone’s life – mine or a friend’s – and that much of my personal ministry was looking for “corrective verses” instead of the “whole-istic” view of ministry presented in Scripture. It was like being in a band where on the flat notes could be struck, and thinking that this was the only kind of music there was.
I have struggled even in my own reading of scripture not to turn everything into a demand, into a rule that needed to be followed in order for “approval” to be had. The first chapter continued to whet my appetite for more – something that CCEF resources have been doing for a couple of years now. The imagery of ditches and canyons struck home – I wanted everything to be a ditch, and I felt inadequate for anything wider than a few inches. Saying to me that the Bible is NOT primarily a book of do’s and don’ts has felt like making the Bible a foreign book – if THAT was not what it was for, how do I understand it? But then to go even further and say that the Bible is not primarily a book of timeless principles for the problems of life – well, statements like that will get you labeled with the “L” word. And yet, there is something that rings true, something that warms my heart, something that creates longing in me when I see what is meant by the proper use of Scripture in ministry. As I am learning in my Prolegomena class, it is improper for me to sit in and judge Scripture, and so I must confess that my feeling of “rightness” has no impact on the actual rightness or wrongness of any method, and yet I do want to affirm that this approach seems to be more in line with the Jesus I see ministering to others rather than the people I see around and including me.
The idea of meta-narratives, of seeing myself and others within a story that is part of a larger story seems quite revolutionary to me – and yet, by transferring my gaze off of my own little world, I gain an others-centered perspective that keeps me from spiraling in on myself. By explicitly focusing on the saint-sufferer-sinner model, it prevents me from falling back into old habits – of merely attacking the points of sin. I am reminded to see people as God’s beloved children, being redeemed, who suffer due to their own sin and the sin of others – and not just as projects who need fixing. I love the concrete examples that are given of using a passage from the Old and New Testament in a ministry setting – and not just “easy application” passages. This again seems to resonate in my heart with a “I knew there was something better out there but couldn’t find it” response.
I find myself longing for the time to re-read this book and to sit down and think through specific ministry situations with the framework it presents. Quite frankly, at this stage of my life - I find that I have little time for anything. And yet, I am smack in the middle of ministry – so much so that I desperately need to make time for this. Most of all, I want time to go through Scripture and change my view from a “rule-search” or a “principle-search” to a search for Christ. It really is He that I want most of all, and yet so much gets in the way – including myself. I think this book will get worn out from my use – at least I hope so – and I want to be able to incorporate it into the “second-nature” of my thinking.
OK, another book from CCEF that cracks my top 10 all time books. I'm going to have to make it officially a top 20 books just to keep some other authors visible ...
To sum up a response to this book, I say “Wow !" I wish I had read this book years ago, but I doubt I was ready for it – in any case, the Lord is sovereign and I have read this book (and it has been published) in His timing, which is perfect. I have lived as a perfectionist, as someone who functionally based my justification on my supposed sanctification, and I have lived in a community where the Bible is always reduced to “rules.” It has been difficult to realize that I am always looking for the “call” on someone’s life – mine or a friend’s – and that much of my personal ministry was looking for “corrective verses” instead of the “whole-istic” view of ministry presented in Scripture. It was like being in a band where on the flat notes could be struck, and thinking that this was the only kind of music there was.
I have struggled even in my own reading of scripture not to turn everything into a demand, into a rule that needed to be followed in order for “approval” to be had. The first chapter continued to whet my appetite for more – something that CCEF resources have been doing for a couple of years now. The imagery of ditches and canyons struck home – I wanted everything to be a ditch, and I felt inadequate for anything wider than a few inches. Saying to me that the Bible is NOT primarily a book of do’s and don’ts has felt like making the Bible a foreign book – if THAT was not what it was for, how do I understand it? But then to go even further and say that the Bible is not primarily a book of timeless principles for the problems of life – well, statements like that will get you labeled with the “L” word. And yet, there is something that rings true, something that warms my heart, something that creates longing in me when I see what is meant by the proper use of Scripture in ministry. As I am learning in my Prolegomena class, it is improper for me to sit in and judge Scripture, and so I must confess that my feeling of “rightness” has no impact on the actual rightness or wrongness of any method, and yet I do want to affirm that this approach seems to be more in line with the Jesus I see ministering to others rather than the people I see around and including me.
The idea of meta-narratives, of seeing myself and others within a story that is part of a larger story seems quite revolutionary to me – and yet, by transferring my gaze off of my own little world, I gain an others-centered perspective that keeps me from spiraling in on myself. By explicitly focusing on the saint-sufferer-sinner model, it prevents me from falling back into old habits – of merely attacking the points of sin. I am reminded to see people as God’s beloved children, being redeemed, who suffer due to their own sin and the sin of others – and not just as projects who need fixing. I love the concrete examples that are given of using a passage from the Old and New Testament in a ministry setting – and not just “easy application” passages. This again seems to resonate in my heart with a “I knew there was something better out there but couldn’t find it” response.
I find myself longing for the time to re-read this book and to sit down and think through specific ministry situations with the framework it presents. Quite frankly, at this stage of my life - I find that I have little time for anything. And yet, I am smack in the middle of ministry – so much so that I desperately need to make time for this. Most of all, I want time to go through Scripture and change my view from a “rule-search” or a “principle-search” to a search for Christ. It really is He that I want most of all, and yet so much gets in the way – including myself. I think this book will get worn out from my use – at least I hope so – and I want to be able to incorporate it into the “second-nature” of my thinking.
Tiger and me ...
It appears Tiger Woods is human after all. Oh, there was never really any doubt, but as we do far too often in our culture, we place athletes and celebreties on pedastals where they should not be and then revel in their fall. I don't know much about Tiger, and I'm not much of a golf fan, but I do feel for him. Don't get me wrong, what he apparently did was wrong and I have far more empathy for his wife than for him. And yet ... I understand. Our desires are insatiable. Here is a man married to someone who was a model, if not a supermodel. Our culture tells us that he should be the happiest man on earth. He has money, fame, a beautiful wife, the envy of much of the world, and he gets to play a game for a living. And yet, it was not (apparently) enough.
These things never are enough to satisfy our hearts, our longings - and our desires can outgrow the ability for anything to satisfy them. We see this play out in the news (and the tabloids) time and time again. The human condition is one of searching, of longing, of wanting, of needing ... yet being unfulfilled. We have brought it on ourselves, yet we refuse to hear the solution. We suppress what is readily apparent about the universe because we like our sin. We don't want to be accountable to anyone or anything outside ourselves. We certainly don't want to hear that our lives will be evaluated for what they were in the end ...
I'm not sure women appreciate the all-consuming nature of lust. There are probably some women who do, but as a whole, the reactions I have seen from women lead me to say that they don't get it. Why, for instance, would Tiger stray from a supermodel wife? Isn't that enough? Could he possibly want more than that? Yes. It is, in a very real way, like an analogy to food I heard. You could put the best piece of apple pie ever made beforre a hungry man and let him eat it. He could take his time, savoring each bite with the most appropriate beverage ever devised. Maybe he takes an hour to eat that pie. When he's all done, he sits back and reflects on the best piece of apple pie ever made. Could he possibly want more after that? If someone came along with a store bought cherry pie, could he possibly want that? Yes, we all know full well that one (male or female) could have a desire to eat that cherry pie even after finishing off the best piece of apple pie ever made. Why? Because our desires, ultimately, are insatiable.
There must be something else that captures our hearts more than our desires - or we will destroy our lives. Whether through an affair or over-indulgin in pie, we all die a slow death this way. Tiger, what you (apparently) did was hurtful, dumb, and sin. You and I both need a Savior. Without Him, we shall be consumed ...
These things never are enough to satisfy our hearts, our longings - and our desires can outgrow the ability for anything to satisfy them. We see this play out in the news (and the tabloids) time and time again. The human condition is one of searching, of longing, of wanting, of needing ... yet being unfulfilled. We have brought it on ourselves, yet we refuse to hear the solution. We suppress what is readily apparent about the universe because we like our sin. We don't want to be accountable to anyone or anything outside ourselves. We certainly don't want to hear that our lives will be evaluated for what they were in the end ...
I'm not sure women appreciate the all-consuming nature of lust. There are probably some women who do, but as a whole, the reactions I have seen from women lead me to say that they don't get it. Why, for instance, would Tiger stray from a supermodel wife? Isn't that enough? Could he possibly want more than that? Yes. It is, in a very real way, like an analogy to food I heard. You could put the best piece of apple pie ever made beforre a hungry man and let him eat it. He could take his time, savoring each bite with the most appropriate beverage ever devised. Maybe he takes an hour to eat that pie. When he's all done, he sits back and reflects on the best piece of apple pie ever made. Could he possibly want more after that? If someone came along with a store bought cherry pie, could he possibly want that? Yes, we all know full well that one (male or female) could have a desire to eat that cherry pie even after finishing off the best piece of apple pie ever made. Why? Because our desires, ultimately, are insatiable.
There must be something else that captures our hearts more than our desires - or we will destroy our lives. Whether through an affair or over-indulgin in pie, we all die a slow death this way. Tiger, what you (apparently) did was hurtful, dumb, and sin. You and I both need a Savior. Without Him, we shall be consumed ...
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