It’s the 25th year of the Symposium, and they’re expecting a record-setting 1800 attendees from all over the world – from over 30 countries and 40 denominations, 300 high school, college and seminary students. I’m sure N.T. Wright and Walter Brueggemann (the headliners) were one reason for the high attendance this year. All of the worship services and the N.T. Wright plenary address will be live video-streamed from our website (worship.calvin.edu) so you can join us from home!

We’ll be back in the wee early hours of Sunday morning, and yes I’m preaching – so keep us all in your prayers.

The reason I’m thinking about that is that when I read CT’s list, I realized not many of the ten items were familiar to me. Is it possible that I missed 60% of the most important things that happened last year while I was blogging?

Go ahead – make your top ten list (if you can come up with ten), and compare it to CT’s. You’ll find it here.

I’ve often thought, and said, that when someone you love dies, a part of you dies with them. The “grieving process” then can be seen as Jesus’ way of bringing you back to life. But RC Jr has a different, and fuller, take on that. In his blog article “My Better Half” on the Ligonier Ministries website (click here) he says this:

We are not commanded to live as if we were one flesh. Instead we are told that such is the actual truth. The one-flesh reality means that I haven’t just lost the love of my life, but half of me. How could I recognize me, when I am now only half the man I once was? It isn’t quite accurate to say that when she drew her last breath a part of me died. Instead, half of me died.

The good news, however, is the same. Half of me has died, and is with Jesus. Half of me has no melancholy, but only joy. Half of me cries no more. Half of me sins no more. Half of me loves me, and the children, with a perfect love. Mourning, over the coming weeks and months, will move to dancing, as this half of me begins to more deeply believe the blessings I have in my better half.

I love Denise all the way to heaven and back. She in turn loves me all the way from heaven and back. And Jesus loves us both as the great bridge that not only brought us together, but keeps us together. May these gospel truths give me gentle sleep tonight.

For more from RC Sproul Jr’s blog, go here. And may it bless you.

So, this coming week, Romans 8:18-30. Verse 17 ends with the idea that, if we are Christ’s, we share his sufferings. So now Paul turns to put those sufferings into a larger perspective, and to provide some assurance for fellow Christian sufferers. I see 3 (of course!) points:

• Verses 18-22 our suffering is just a part of the suffering of all creation; we’re not alone in this – we’re part of the creation that has been subjected to futility and knows it isn’t meant for futility
• Verses 23-27 the groaning of our suffering is itself a sign that the Holy Spirit is with us – folks who are walking in the flesh don’t have these desires and groanings. In fact, the Spirit helps us not by removing our groanings but by groaning Himself on our behalf (verse 26)
• Verses 28-30 it all works for good (eventually) because God has predestined it all; and that predestining leads to glorification.

This is kind of a first blush take on the passage – if you have comments pro or con, I’d like to hear them!

I’ve noticed many folks, including myself, feel like their main problem is that they’re too busy busy busy. I look at my own life and think “yep, you’re too busy…worshiping your idols.” The problem is not the amount of energy being expended. The problem is what it’s being expended on. The busyness and frazzledness and fragmentation we feel are NOT the problem – they’re the symptoms. If we keep “fixing” the symptom, we’ll never get to the real problem that’s causing the symptoms.

Point being that we often don’t realize what we really need. Especially if the light of the gospel has not shined on us.

Here’s Murray’s conclusion:

When the rich young ruler came with questions about the lack in his life and about how to gain eternal life, Jesus did not answer him directly. Instead, He started asking him about the commandments. It’s almost as if he was saying, “Wrong questions! Here, let me supply the ones you should be concerned about.”

Again with Nicodemus, Jesus interrupted Nicodemus’s introduction with a question that Nicodemus had clearly never even thought of before.

Sometimes we have to destroy the unbelievers’ bridges to nowhere, and start boring tunnels into their deepest problems.

November AGR’s

• St. Louis market (4 casinos) – $71,912,000 (up 4.1%)
• Kansas City market (4 casinos) – $56,549,000 (up 1.0%)
• Out State market (4 casinos) – $15,262,000
• Statewide total – $143,724.000 (up 2.4%)

Ah, but doesn’t all that money we pour into casinos help our schools and government? Yes it does. The November report shows that of the $143 million noted above, $27 million went to education, $3 million went to local government (remember that this is statewide Missouri). Together that’s about 21%.

In my opinion it’s not that we love education, it’s that we love entertainment. It’s not that we love our kids, it’s that we love ourselves. I don’t think money=success in schools, but wouldn’t it be interesting to see what would happen to our schools if we poured $71,000,000 a MONTH into them?