Life-A Powerful Ad

"I Do Solemnly Swear..."... Presidents and "Their" Bibles

I dream a lot. Just this evening, reading an article in the Wall Street Journal made my mind wander. The post shows and explains which Bibles American presidents chose to use when they are sworn into office. Some opened at random the Bible, some chose verses and some kept it closed.

So I wondered, what verse would I choose to lay my hand on? What about you? What would you choose?

I'm Off Serving The Nation... Or Should I Dodge The Draft?

I finally got my letter. Just like men used to get drafted, I received a letter from the French army and a train ticket telling me what time to show up at the train station in the city nearest my house.

Once I arrive at the base, who knows what will happen to me. They'll start filling my brain with all kinds of images of glory. Bullets, mortars, and glorious near-fatal wounds. I suppose the officers must do all they can to recruit us. 

Hopefully I'll be strong and just comply with their tests and their questioning and return home asap. I wonder, should I purposefully fail the test? Will they be used against me? In times of war, will they look back on my results to send me on suicide missions? Make me an officer? Would it be safest to play the illiterate French kid?

I guess I'll have to decide when I get there. All I know is that I'm glad this will only take a day. How did guys do it, when the draft lasted a year? Or a whole war? I hope the food is good.

2009: Another Year In France With Much Joy and Struggles

Happy New Year to all! 


I write with temperatures below freezing outside and seemingly inside. I think of 2009 and much of me does not feel any reason to rejoice or be saddened. Semantics are the only thing that have really changed. None of us, except perhaps my little sister who feels a year older, see any difference whether it is '08 or '09.
If we look at the prospects for the year, the economists (and the whole world) are pretty depressed. Yet there is no less to rejoice in today than there was yesterday. Jesus died and rose again. He lives and grace will continue to lead us on until his return.


As we make our resolutions for this new year, let us make sure they do all in our ability to give Jesus the centerpiece of our life. Let us make him look great!

Education for All? Why the Lost Try to Act Saved

This is a post that I'll have to permanently erase before I can ever run for president. I suppose that many of you reading this will also take a view contrary to the opinion expressed here. That's fine, one day you'll see the light. :-)

What is so important about the education of the poor? Why is there constantly a barrage of foundations and charities promoting education for all? On what grounds have the philanthropists of the developed world decided that Education should be the Golden Path?
What is so important about educating the poor in countries that have no education system for all? Indeed we tend to think that educating a nation will provide them with employment and rid them of poverty. Often, we only obtain the mild achievement of making poor uneducated
people become educated poor people.

Please don't misunderstand me. I believe in the need for education and will encourage it in the manners that seem most reasonable. I am forever thankful and indebted to my parents who provided me with a priceless education. Reading is perhaps the most important skill they
taught me (though critical thought is the cornerstone of all good education).
Years ago, when the only relief workers were missionaries the promotion of education made sense. Ideally, the mission would try to do two things: 1. translate the Bible into the local language and 2. teach the population to read so they could read the Bible for themselves. That was education at its core.

Now I have grown up an a completely secular society that has secularized itself to extreme proportions (so extreme that few people can understand us). It is therefore difficult for me to filter through values and ideals to pick out the biblical ones. What I do know is that my mind is left perplexed when I hear the media of my day call out for mass education. I cannot see France's educational system holding out another 15 years and I would have many opinions to
vent about it. But in a secular humanist mindset what is the purpose of educating the masses? I would like to know what is their motivation, because education as they've established in France does nothing to promote the ideals of democracy or of freedom, only a cold machine-like systematic atheism.

The World for Christ

A friend I love deeply shared with me a quote. A missionary to Japan had written on the first page of his Bible. It read:

" I for Japan

Japan for the world

The world for Christ

and All for God."

- Ganzo Uzimura -

My friend then compared the passion Uzimura had for Japan to the affection I have for my country. While I might seem to have a particular heart for the souls of my French compatriots, I cannot say that my heart for them is any stronger than for the Saoudi Arabs or the Berber or any other people group on the face of this earth. Only, by daily living among a people, the heart grows fond and cries out for a nation that is stubbornly refusing to drink water though dying in the desert of unbelief.

May we have a heart for our nations, but may we also have a global passion to see God worshiped among every people group. The greatest expression of love for a people group is not water, medicine, roads or food. If we give all these, but fail to show them the surpassing value of Christ, we have hardly begun to show them love. To love is to tell of God's grace and Jesus' love on the cross of Calvary.

Much to say but little time to write

I've been silent for several weeks now. My grandmother's death has had something to do in it, but mostly I've just allowed myself to become tired. When physically tired I'm easily discouraged and can even become depressed. Thank God I know myself now and simply do not allow myself to make life changing decisions when I am this tired, as

my feelings are all wrong.

But I've had much on my mind and much that I would have liked to write about. I just never seem to get around to putting it on paper. I'm preaching in my church this Sunday, so I will be obliged to write. I'll certainly put a summary of my sermon on the blog. It will be on Luke 7, the passage where the prostitute pours perfume on Jesus' feet. Also, rather than try to post my thoughts chronologically, the funeral has been grounds for much thought, I decided to just write.

OK, so death is gain, now what?

I've spent the last month studying the letter to the Philippians. The passage that has attracted most my attention is the following:

 "it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." Philippians 1:20-21:

I seem to know, realize and appreciate that death is a gain for me. Indeed, death will give me what I cannot have in this world, namely Jesus in full splendour and worth and the ability to appreciate him. In this world, my senses are too dulled by sin to love Jesus.

Now, I must understand what Paul meant by the other part, "To live is Christ". For Paul seemed to express that he couldn't choose between being in heaven with Jesus and staying on earth to bear fruit. For me, the choice is still too easy, so I must seek to understand what he meant.

Get the Old Ladies and You Win the War

While distributing the monthly flyer in my village, I thought of a video I'd watched. The video was made by Mars Hill Church in Seattle. On the web it is known as the "Banned Church-Planting Video" for an interesting reason...
Anyways, Mark Driscoll argues that a church-planter should strive to get the young men in their twenties. They are the innovators, the entrepreneurs, the leaders and the heads of young families. "Get the men and you win the war", says Driscoll. He is very convincing.

However, as I was doing my route in Recquignies, I was hit with the reality of my present situation. It seems that most people in the village are little old ladies, where am I supposed to find the men?
As I was talking to God about this, it hit me that Driscoll might have it all wrong. It isn't the men we need, for example, look at George Verwer's testimony. As he always tells us, some little old
lady put him on "her Holy-Ghost hit-list" (aka Prayer) and he gave his life at a evangelistic meeting.

So I felt that God might be saying to me, "get the old ladies and you
win the war..."

What of Jesus?

I had a very encouraging conversation with a classmate a few days ago. She claims to be a believer. As she told me her story, she explained that her parents were devout Catholics, but that she'd rejected God at the age of 17.

I was so excited to hear this and I gladly started asking her questions. She explained what it was that led her back to the belief that God exists. It is then that I grew curious as she described the God she believed in.

Her God didn't seem to match up with the God I knew from the Bible. Hers was more a God of common sense, as if Kant had been her mentor in her search for the divine.

The realization finally hit me, we hadn't agreed on the basics! In my eagerness to hear her story, we never spoke of sin and of Jesus. That is why I ask the question, "what of Jesus?" Is he really at the center of our lives and talk? Do we understand that all truth in the universe is defined on how they accept Jesus? 

What is a church?

If I were to ask you, what is a church? You would probably have something in mind that resembles a bit the photo. If I were to ask a passerby here in France that same question, he would certainly agree.

We're a nation with a Catholic heritage. So that photo is exactly what we understand as being a church. Its a big building, where the windows depict stories. The building isn't heated and the benches we sit on are uncommonly uncomfortable (they must do it on purpose), so

much that it comes as a relief when we stand up for part of the liturgy.
There is a priest who does his rounds. But for lack of priests and of
funds, the mass in villages is often held midweek, so that the priest
can hold mass on Sunday in a 'bigger' church. That is a church in the
minds of my people.

In my mind as well, there is often this notion that the church is a
building and something that we do on Sunday morning. God gently
reminded me of the truth during the month of August as I rediscovered
His church.

How good is good enough?

What is excellence? How do you know if you've worked hard enough and
tried hard enough? While working onboard the Doulos, I often heard
people remark in this manner. They would comment on how the task was
above them, they couldn't do it and yet, by God's grace the job was
done. I don't want to criticize this view, as I've been there many
times. But there is something in that attitude that perturbs me. It
seems to say that we should be placed in jobs that our beyond our
ability so that God is the one who does the job.
This is all very nice, but couldn't we also say that we do our best
and no matter what we do, God is the one who gave us the ability to
do and will what we did? I don't know if this makes any sense. What I
suppose I dislike is the attitude, "I'm not qualified for this, I
have no idea what I'm doing." I would contrast that with, "I can do
this. I've studied, worked myself to a place where I can confidently
say, 'I can do this, through God who strengthens me.'"

Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose. (Phil. 2v12)

This is perhaps obvious for some and dumb to others. Again, I've
spent three years with the Doulos, where we're repeatedly placed in
areas out of our expertise. But in a general way, I think we should
take some confidence in our abilities and simply work our self hard.
And when we succeed in the end, we give God all the credit.
What I mean by this is simply:
Should we have a God who uses us in our weaknesses or a God that gives us strength? Are these different or the same thing?

Why Did God Create Old-Age? (Part 3)

On what you can do when you are old and bed-ridden.

I think there is in each of us a fear of aging. We've all seen a loved one grow old, lose mental capacities or physical abilities. We've seen what's left of them as sickness and age makes a mess of their bodies. We know it to be an inevitable part of life and yet, we dread the day we'll have to fight the demon of age ourself.

For the active people out there, being bed-ridden is perhaps the most horrible thing you can imagine. Firstly because you love being up and about. Secondly, because "who then will continue on with the Lord's ministry?" Both my French grandparents are active Christians. They love Jesus and therefore have always been actively looking for ways to reach the lost and to bring hope to the hopeless. However, the drawback to this lovely mindset is that there is a dichotomy that is set up between the secular and the holy that is unbiblical. You cannot uphold that 'ministry' is more important than loving your wife and family (seeing that marriage is high in God's affections and that it is a man's responsibility before God to be a good father and husband). How can preaching be more ministry-like than putting your kids to bed? All things can and should be done to the glory of God.

So what are we to do when bed-ridden and old-age ravishing our body?

• Meditate on God (Psalm 63v6 & Psalm 4v4), considering His goodness.

• Tell the next generation about Jesus Christ (Psalm 71v18).

• Pray to God without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5v17). My grandmother is a remarkable example in this. I'm sometimes led to think that God has kept her alive because he loves to hear her pray with passion, like a 75-year old child of God.

• Rejoice always (1 Thessalonians 5v16) so that the world would know that you have a greater hope yet to come in heaven.

• Be a listening ear to those who come to find advice. Speak little, pray for wisdom and give great-God answers (Proverbs speaks of this everywhere).

Those were a few of the ideas that came to mind.

Photo: Doulos

Fear vs. Hardening

"Blessed is the man who always fears the LORD, but he who hardens his heart falls into trouble."
Proverbs 28 verse 14

During the month of August, my church is closed. So a few of us have been gathering together for fellowship on Sunday mornings. I may describe this is greater detail in some future post. The reason I mention this here is that for those of us who met up these past weeks, the fear of the Lord was a recurrent topic.

Indeed, to fear the Lord sounds strange to our contemporary ears. Its archaic, isn't it? As you probably know, King Solomon's thesis, in the book of proverbs, is that "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge" (Proverbs 1v7). However, what struck me in chapter 28 (quoted text above) is the opposition Solomon makes between fearing the Lord and having a
hardened heart. To soften your heart is to fear the Lord. To harden your heart is to ignore God and rebel against Him.
So I find this verse helpful in explaining the fear of the Lord and
thought of our conversations the past two Sundays.

Why did God Create Old-Age? (Part 2)

Counting your blessings is something we should all do. It is healthy,
normal (we're so blessed) and it glorifies God greatly as He is the
provider of all good thing.

I was taught a good lesson as I visited Mamie, my grandmother, at the
hospital. She loves reading the Bible, praying and talking, three
things I also enjoy doing. So that is what we were doing. As visiting
hours were coming to a close, we prayed with each other. Mamie, 75
years old, having known serious illness for most of my existence, was
praising God in prayer for His many blessings that know no end.
She meant it, I really believe she did. She thanked God for so many
things always returning to the greatest thing of them all: Grace in
the death of Jesus. Oh how my grandma prays! I was amazed that
despite all the pain, intense and nearly constant, she could praise
her God for all his goodness.

Why did God create old-age? Well, I don't know, but if in it, we're
able to take sickness, pain and handicap well, I think that it is a
glorifying thing. Is old-age a means for God to finish killing the
pride in our own hearts? What is it of old people that God likes?
That we recognize ourselves so dependant on Him? That we tend to
become childlike again? I don't know, but I want to learn now how to
count my blessings, so that even then, when all seems dark and pain
is so excruciatingly clear, I would praise God for Jesus. Oh let us
prepare ourselves to age well!

Photo by Dodo Egger