Oh Boy(d)!

This past Sunday was our first Sunday of the new SS format and many of the attenders enjoyed a friendly game of Ultimate Frisbee afterwards.  I was not there, so Angela W. has graciously offered up this 100% completely accurate first-hand account of the days events:

The funny thing is . . . I didn’t even want to play in the first place.

• 85 degrees outside, with a heat index that made it feel more like 100
• A bunch of way too competitive guys who would play as if their next meal depended on whether or not they won the game
• And a stomach so full of food from the SS meal earlier that I thought I was going to fall over

But for some reason, I let myself get talked into playing anyway.  “It’s just for a while,” they said.  “It’ll be fun,” they promised.  Right.

At first it wasn’t as bad as I thought.  The guys were even behaving!  The only time I messed up was when someone tried to throw the frisbee to me overhand like a baseball – not once, but twice (we won’t name names!).  At one point, someone on my team dropped the frisbee and the other team took possession.  As our defense stepped up to the challenge their drive down the field, I found myself face to face with a sight so terrifying that it can hardly be described – the offensive force that is Adam Boyd!

Our eyes locked.  I could see that he was ready to make a big play, but I was just as ready to stop one.  He tried several times to fake a pass, only to realize that my defense was unshakable.  Unstoppable.  He pulls his arm back, ready to pass downfield, and I take a step forward to block it . . . hands held high . . . arms outstretched . . .

 . . . and I found out I wasn’t unstoppable after all.  Apparently the offensive force that is A Boyd throws a frisbee like an NFL quarterback, and my outstretched hand was just one small obstacle in the way of his receiver.  CRACK came his fist (with frisbee in hand) right onto my right hand resulting in quite an impressive fracture almost from joint to joint.  However, as I became dizzy from the pain, I remember clearly looking behind me where the frisbee had been aimed . . . and seeing it hit the ground instead of the receiver’s hands.

Score one for my unstoppable defense!

Does God Care About Sex?

Over the spring semester, we had the opportunity to see how God addresses the whole issue of human sexuality – a topic of no small interest to young adults.  My hopes are that this series of Bible studies were interesting, relevant, and helpful.  From understanding why the Bible takes the stand that it does on sexuality to redeeming singleness, from combating pornography and immodesty to reclaiming our biblical roles as men and women – there were lots of topics covered. 

The point in all of our grand discussions can be boiled down to this: if we are indeed Christians, Christ’s blood is not intended simply to save us “when we die,” but to make us “holy” now.  Or, to coin a term, to holify us.  This doesn’t happen all at once – it is a growing process.  Some of us will be further down the road in this than others.  If we are, this is no cause for pride, because it is God who has worked this into our lives.  Rather, we should gladly pass on whatever we might for the building up of our brothers and sisters. 

The Bible is clear; if we claim the redeeming merits of Christ’s atoning blood – this should have an evident impact on the way that we live.  1 Thessalonians 4:13 is unambiguous: “For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality . . .”

Likewise, Paul elsewhere states his disbelief at the Corinthians celebration of immorality.  All throughout 1 Corinthians 5-6, Paul admonishes the Corinthian church to deal with one of it’s more prominent cases.  If you stop to think about this, it sounds horribly counter-cultural.  After all, isn’t our sexuality a matter of private interest?  Not for a Christian!  The church (i.e., a public community of persons) is told to deal with a man’s sexual issues.  If you are willing to consider the weakness of your own faith, your own flesh’s ability to entice you, your utter inability to resist your own sinful desires – isn’t it a relief to know that one of God’s ordained means to help you grow and fight temptation is other Christians? 

There are some who would claim that our view of sexuality is repressive; that we are sub-human because we do not glory in an unfettered and unhindered approach to sexuality.  But that is just the opposite of the truth.  We value sexuality and hold it high as one of God’s good gifts.  The sexually promiscuous person is the one who is most lonely – hopping from bed to bed in search of God knows what.  Yet the faithful Christian can rest in embracing not just God’s gift, but His sanctions for the gifts use. 

A married couple, joined in both body and soul, is perhaps the best defense for what we mean.  My ultimate fulfillment comes not from an antiseptic hookup in which I get sexual favors.  It comes from being a husband and father the way God intended – and enjoying sex in that environment.  THAT is where the greatest blessings come from – God has granted to me the tremendous privilege of loving and enjoying my wife and kids.  Sexual fulfillment is the dessert.  Heaven forbid that I ever become like the kid who always wants to eat dessert and never wants the main course that God has cooked up for me.

Hearing + Obeying = Listening

Hopefully those of you who were in SS this past Sunday haven’t forgotten the formula already!!!  I just wanted to send a mid-week reminder to everyone to remember to be in thought this week on Dr. Henderson’s sermon from Sunday on Romans 8:28 in preparation for the next big announcement . . . .

June 22nd is the big day . . . We will be moving our Sunday School class to Sunday’s after church!  We will be meeting in the CAC for a $3 all-you-can-eat lunch around the big table while we discuss and apply the day’s sermon to our own lives.  Also, this will be the Sunday that we welcome the recently graduated Seniors as they spend the summer with us before some of them go off to college.  Stay tuned for some more information in the coming weeks on all that this move entails for you.

Tonight we continue in our discussion of the movie Expelled so be ready to chime in with your thoughts on whether or not Intelligent Design or Evolution even matters in the long run.