thankful for 1 Peter
This fall our church (Core Community Church) is going to track through 1 Peter. At first I had no idea what this would be about or why it might be important for our church. But in the past few weeks, my heart has grown increasingly grateful that we are going to study 1 Peter.
1 Peter is anything but a sexy book. It is simply about solid theology, submission in varying relationships, and suffering – none of which are particularly attractive to any human being. There aren’t many verses in 1 Peter that get me really excited about big things that might happen. There isn’t a boom halfway through the book that gets people out of the seats and in the aisles to cheer on the main event. The book really is about three things:
(1) truths that remain truths regardless of your circumstances,
(2) submission in differing relationships, and
(2) suffering.
But I am so thankful for this now. Here is why. In the past year, Whitney and I have encountered more suffering together than we had combined in the previous 4 years of our marriage. It has felt like one difficulty after another difficulty for a long string of months now, approaching a full year. At first it hit hard, but it seemed like a one-time shot. Then there was another huge blow to my emotions, coming from difficulties in my extended family. Since this was messing with my emotions, it was also messing with our marriage. We were simply both exhausted, especially my interior life. Then there was a slight lull in suffering while God gave us strength to give away to our new born, little baby girl. Just a few months into our daughter’s life, though, there was another blow, this time on Whitney’s side of the family. Shortly after that came two more knocks from my side of the family. Looking back at the past year, the multiple small things do seem to add up. Sickness, cancer, sin, confusion.
Just in the past few weeks, we got to see God work a beautiful miracle in the way he sold our house. In the current economy, we figured it would be nearly impossible to sell, especially considering its location. But we had a realtor come over anyway to advise us. We decided we might as well give it a shot, but before it was ever put on the market our realtor had already found a purchaser. Just yesterday we accepted the official offer, and now we await the closing date while scrambling to find another house or an apartment. The offer was amazing, and we are going to end up making a good sum of money on a house in a bad location right in the middle of a poor economy.
Previously it felt like most things in our life were like this recent sell of our house – amazing, easy, and quick. When big changes happened they were usually exciting changes full of promise. But now – in this moment – it feels like this recent sell of our house is the rare occurrence instead of the common occurrence. Whitney and I are so thankful for our house selling, and we don’t want to downplay it at all. But it is different when it is embedded against a stronger, darker background of suffering that is surrounding us.
In light of that, I am loving 1 Peter – the non-sexy, no-big-boom, truthful book about being born again by God’s word, submitting even when I don’t want to, and suffering together as a people of God. I love it. Each word is for me and Whitney.
Swimming with the Family
This afternoon Whitney and Caedmon and I went swimming at a great neighborhood pool: Miller Park Pool. We loved it. Here are a few highlights:
My son is fearless. He and I were strolling into the water, and I was thinking he would take it easy and take it slow. That is definitely what I did as a kid – way slow. So when I looked down at my swim trunks pocket, the next thing that happened really surprised me. Caedmon was running out into the water so excited to get wet. He had no idea he couldn’t swim; he had no idea that he would soon trip and go underwater; he had no idea what he was doing. He was just fearless. Who needs Daddy anyway, huh? So I grabbed him before he went under and directed him to the fun slides in the very-shallow part of the pool. He immediately – and fearlessly – went right up to the slides, went down them, and laughed the whole way. If there is a kid in this world who knows how to smile and laugh, it is my very joyful son. He laughted and splashed and slid over and over again. We had a blast. (This part of my son makes my parents and brother laught a lot; I was a timid kid, but my brother was a daring kid. So they love seeing Caedmon’s daring side.)
By far the majority of the folks at the pool were African-American. I love it! It is so good for me and for Caedmon. Every time I get around the folks in our neighborhood, I think of the picture of Revelation 7:9-10. People from every tribe, every language, every culture are going to gather together to be in awe of King Jesus. Jesus is so incredibly beautiful that every culture and language and custom of the world is going to find its greatest meaning and highest joy in Him! African-Americans will find just as much beauty and joy and worship-inspiring awe in Jesus as I will. Asians will find just as much power and majesty and bow-inducing splendor in Jesus Christ as Arabs will. And so on and so on. So every chance I get to interact and spend life with people of other cultures, I love it. After all, I will get to explore the new heavens and new earth with them forever. Why not get started now?
This is good, too, for Caedmon. I am so glad that he is growing up with people of different races and cultures. He will do well, I believe, in loving people – not loving white people or loving black people or loving poor people or loving rich people or loving tall people or loving short people or loving Asian people or loving Turkish people or loving African people. My hope is that – because of Jesus – Caedmon will excel in just loving people.
The slides were fun for Whit and me. They weren’t huge, but we did have fun. We took turns going down the adult slides and watching Caedmon on the kids’ slides. It was great to enjoy one another in this way. Thank you, Jesus, for Whitney!
I got sunburned. Of course. What else would I expect?
