Last week I attended the Presbytery of the Southwest (PCA) meeting with Pastors Phil Kruis and Luke Evans, Parker Tenet who is the University of Arizona RUF minister, and Ruling Elders Dean Saxton and Paul Marien in Alamogordo, NM.

I really enjoy attending Presbytery, call me crazy, but I am one of those weird guys that actually enjoys it.  Presbyterianism is, I believe, the most biblical model and the most effective for church leadership, disciple, and shepherding.  It is a beautiful thing really! At this meeting there was a lot of laughs, a lot of business was done, and it was obvious that these men really love one another. There are a lot of exciting things happening right now in the presbytery and a lot of opportunities for growth for the Kingdom of God. The Rincon Mountain contingent had a wonderful time of fellowship while together in Alamogordo.  We really appreciated the hospitality of Phil’s in-laws who put up with us for a couple of nights and were really wonderful.  At the meeting as well, one of the pastor’s gave a talk on Nietzsche, postmodernism, and how the pastor should interact with the culture. It was a really intriguing talk.  (Listen to it below)

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These are some pictures from a recent hike up Mt. Wrightson. The hike is a total of around 10.8 miles if you take the Old Baldy trail and has close to 4000 feet of elevation gain. The views are spectacular! The hike is strenuous but worth it for the views.

The nearby observatory

A view west toward Green Valley, notice the mine trailings

A view up to the peak of Mt. Wrightson (in March 08)

Wild Turkeys

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The Mosin-Nagant is the first firearm I have ever bought. It has a date stamp of 1942, and was made in the former Soviet Union. I’m have never really been “into” guns, but for me, this is a very interesting gun with an interesting history. The Mosin-Nagant is a bolt action internal magazine fed, military rifle used by the Russian Imperial Army and later the Soviet Union. The rifle’s initial design in 1891 was a compromise between the two designs submitted by Sergei Ivanovich Mosin, and Léon Nagant, who was a Belgian. Mosin’s rifle was used with a Nagant designed feed mechanism and the 3-line rifle, Model 1891 was born. The particular rifle pictured is a M91/30 model. It fires a 7.62×54r round, hold 5 rounds, and can be loaded with “sticky clips”. When the Soviet Union was invaded by Nazi Germany in 1941, the Mosin-Nagant was the standard issue rifle given to Soviet troops. With a scope the Mosin was deadly as a sniper rifle. The movie Enemy at the Gates features the Mosin-Nagant as the deadly accurate sniper rifle that it was. The great thing about these rifles for the collector today is that they are relatively cheap to purchase. Whether a person wants to collect antique firearms, are looking for a hunting rifle, or just a cheap gun to blast some lead, the Mosin-Nagant is a good military surplus to buy. It looks good, is accurate, does not have a lot of kick, has cheap ammo, and is just plain fun to shoot.

For more information about the history of the Mosin-Nagant or the different models that are out there, visit these informative sites:

• Mosin-Nagant.net
• 7.62×54R.net
• Russian-Mosin-Nagant.Com

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My sweet niece

Andrea with Ireen

SO happy

I see you!

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The other day I had an interesting discussion. Really, it was a debate on the sovereignty of God. It was said to me: “God only knows about what is going to happen, but does not control things.” Well, naturally I reject this line of thinking and said so, but it got me to thinking about God’s sovereign control of the world and man’s responsibility. For most people, the idea that we are not in total control of our lives, but that God is in control, is incongruous. In the discussion I had, it was said that a loving God would not allow bad things to happen, and so man must have free will. I brought up the point that the Bible says we are predestined, to which I was told that only means God’s foreknowledge, does not involve His decrees. Predestination does involve God’s decrees though, “By predestination we mean the eternal decree of God, by which he determined with himself whatever he wished to happen with regard to every man.” (John Calvin-Institutes of the Christian Religion 3.21.5) In Romans 8:29-30 “For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; 30 and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified” (NASB). Why if predestination means only foreknowledge does Paul repeat himself? Clearly the Holy Spirit through the Apostle Paul has something else in mind. Look at Psalm 115, it is all about God’s sovereignty. God created the world and everything in it (Gen. 1:1; II Kings 19:15; Job 26:13; 38:4; Prov. 3:19; Isa. 42:5; 44:6; 45:12; 66:2; Jonah 1:9; John 1:1; Rev. 1:8; 3:14; 4:11). God is in control of everything that happens in the world. He rules over the kingdoms of men and gives them over to whomsoever He wills (Isa. 54:5; Dan. 4:17, 25). John Murray said it this way:

God’s sovereignty consists in the all-pervasive and efficient exercise of government. It is not simply that God is the owner of all. Nor is it simply that He has the right of dominion and rule over all. But it is that he also exercises government over all in accordance with His perfections and in accordance with the prerogatives that are His because of His ownership of all and the right of dominion over all. This sovereignty He exercises with omnipotent and irresistible efficiency. The mighty hand of God is the executor of His will. He is the great, the mighty, the terrible. He rideth upon the heavens and in His excellency on the skies.

(The Sovereignty of God in Salvation-John Murray)

The problem with God being is control, some try to say, is that if God is sovereign, then He would also have to be the author of evil and sin. They can not see how a loving God would allow bad things to happen to good people. First off, of course we know that there are no “good people” in the world, but secondly that is the wrong conclusion. The Bible very clearly shows throughout that although God allow and uses bad things and sin to accomplish his will, he is not the author of sin or evil. Theologians have argued over this for centuries and so I don’t expect I can fully answer this issue here. Which brings me to the final “argument” that was thrown at me and that is that; “there are many ways to interpret the Bible and many versions of the Bible.” My answer to this is there is only one way to interpret the Bible and there is only one Bible. Sure there are variations in some versions, but versions that were properly translated from the Greek using excepted scholarship say the same things. I realize this is a very loaded statement. But what the line of argument that there are many versions and interpretations is really saying is that fundamentally, the Bible cannot be trusted, but my opinion can be trusted. I think it is this way, thus it must be. Man has place himself in the place of God and are a law unto themselves. Both the Old and New Testaments are full of the glory and sovereignty of God. He determines by his decrees what is going to happen, and it comes to pass. God is never surprised, alarmed, frustrated, or defeated by circumstances of sin or by man’s rebellion. “Our God is in heaven and He does as he pleases.” (Psalm 115)

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John Piper has a really interesting article on preaching on concept and not simply contextualization. The adventure of preaching sometimes is taking the Biblical truths we work through in the study and bringing it out in a helpful way in the pulpit. There are many books and theories as to how best preach. I think it is safe to say that the key to Biblical preaching is through great preparation and pray. Here is a quote from Piper’s article.

We must pray and preach so that a new mental framework is created for seeing the world. Ultimately, this is not our doing. God must do it. The categories that make the biblical message look foolish are deeply rooted in sinful human nature.

The preacher must work to change the minds of his people to have the outlook of the Bible, but he must first pray to have his heart and mind changed by God through his study of God’s Word. There are Biblical truths that are hard to understand and even harder to accept because of our sinfulness. The man who preaches must struggle with them himself before he can preach them. Easy to say, much harder to do. Pray for those who preach the Word.

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Becoming a parent is an exciting and joyous thing. . . it is also a scary thing. The realization that we are bringing another human being into the world bears an enormous responsibility. Sarah and I have been discussing our philosophy of parenting. What I think both of us realize is that it is easier to talk about and will be harder to do, but at least we are talking and planning. I mean let’s face it, we will most assuredly mess up somewhere along the way. We desire to do much to raise our children in the fear and admonition of the Lord, and we want to provide a loving environment for our kids, but I know that we will make mistakes (and we will do somethings right too). We are thankful that we have many lessons that we have gleaned from our own parents that will help us parent our children. It is hard to believe that in only 2 short months, we will have our first born. When I hold that little one in my arms and look into her (?) eyes, it will be . . . wow! There is so much I want to do, I can hardly wait! Please keep us in prayer that the delivery goes well and that we will be good parents to this new little life, this image bearer of the King.

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So I was talking to my parents today and the first thing my dad says is “If we lose our connection, it’s because they are cutting off electricity for hours at a time here”. About 10 minutes into our conversation, sure enough, the connection was gone. Unfortunately, for them, it is 4:30, time for dinner. This is the 3^rd day of electricity shortages. And this from a country that is supposed to host the World Cup in 2010 – yes, South Africa! Apparently, people have been warning that this would happen and now it has. The domino effect has already started. Hospitals are being closed due to a lack of electricity. Mines are being shut down due to a lack of electricity. If mines are being shut down, the mines are losing LOTS of money (isn’t diamonds what South Africa is known for?). Then the workers are not getting paid because the mine can’t afford to pay them if the mine isn’t producing. My mind is racing with the implications of being without electricity. Can businesses continue without power for their computers? What happens when there isn’t medical care because there is not sufficient electricity? Unless something is done soon, the country will dissolve back into the status of a 3^rd world country. So what happens to the World Cup? Can South Africa truly afford to focus on this when their own people don’t even have electricity?

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One of the really cool and amazing things about starting a website/blog is how quickly people seem to find it. One of the tools that We used on this site, on rinconpres.org, as well as many other sites I have worked on is Google Analytics. Google Analytics allows the webmaster to see who comes to the site, how long they stay there and what they are interested in seeing. It’s kind of neat to know that someone across the country or around the world is looking at your site. We have told some of our friends and family about the site, but it already looks like some other’s have stumbled onto it as well.

Here’s a screen shot of one of the screens that we see when looking at Google Analytics.

The system shows how people find your site (what keywords do they use, and who is linked to your site and sends referrals to it), how people navigate through the site, and what do they do while they are there. You can even pinpoint where a person is at, who their internet provider is and what their screen resolution and operating system is. Google Analytics is great for people who have a business site, or are just curious at who is looking at the content of their site or blog and what they are looking at there. If you want to take a tour of Google Analytics, click here. Thanks for visiting our site. Next time you come to visit, drop us a note and let us know how you are in the comments box and happy clicking!

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