Tawny Frogmouth!

One blessing about living in Australia is the benefit of living in close proximity to natural wildlife.  When the boys arrived home from school today they shouted in excitement, "We found a tawny frogmouth!"  My favorite bird is the tawny frogmouth, followed very closely by the kookaburra.  Tawny's have very expressive faces and have an amazing defense behaviour that imitates a tree branch (very convincing!).  They also can be quite tame and allow you to pet them as they flash their bright yellow eyes.  The boys led Laura and me down the street and showed us a juvenile bird.

When we first approached the bird, he acted like he didn't see us.  But when we came nearer, he opened his eyes and showed us his very large, red mouth.  He almost looked like a fuzzy bird version of a triceratops when he puffed himself up!

Many people in Australia volunteer to look after injured native wildlife and lost birds like this one.  If you find one of these birds and it's making hungry croaking noises, raw mince (ground meat) is a good thing to feed them. 

After dinner we saw some people congregating around the bird and a man was holding it.  The boys ran over to investigate and discovered the man is a volunteer who looks after lost or injured animals.  With the bird resting comfortably in capable hands, the story has a happy ending.

What a treasure life is!  Thank God for all the beautiful wonders He has created and allows us to enjoy - sometimes right outside your door!

My Baseball Story

Because this blog is open to the public, it is possible people may read this blog without knowing me personally.  This blog serves several functions:  to glorify God, as a vehicle to express truths God impresses upon me, to communicate thoughts, and to bless others.  As a pastor I am always looking to relate and apply biblical truth through common things.  Though I am called to be a pastor, I also have the privilege to be a Christian, husband, dad, brother, teammate, and gaming enthusiast.  I am a regular human being, not some self-proclaimed spiritual master.  Sometimes a story is a descriptive way to introduce people to yourself.  Well, here goes.

As a kid, I played baseball for about six seasons.  My best years playing ball stretched from age 12 to 14.  Pretty depressing that my best days were over by 14!  I was known around the league for my pitching, relying heavily upon a devastating overhand curve that gave people fits.  I hit for a decent average but never with much power.  My dad would yell, "Down and hard!"  My swing was built for contact, and I never swung for the fence.  In the snack bar there was a board that listed all the players who had hit home runs during the season.  Some guys hit 10 or more, but I was fortunate to bounce one off the top of the fence.  Hitting the fence didn't put your name on the board.

Me and my brother would play home run derby for hours in the back yard.  We would choose our three favorite players and see who could hit more homers.  A telephone line ran high through the air in the center of the yard.  Over the line was a home run but over the fence was an out.  My brother would be Andre Dawson and Don Mattingly while I was partial to Fred McGriff and Chet Lemon.  The funny thing is, Chet Lemon wasn't really a power hitter and I never saw him play because he was in the American League.  But I had a baseball card of him with a picture of his amazing swing.  Like most kids, I always fantasized about what it would feel like to hit a home run.  In practice I had hit some, but it wasn't the same as in a game.  When I was 15 I tried out for JV and was cut.  It was in the tryout that I felt something go wrong in my shoulder when throwing from the outfield.  My pride and shoulder were hurt, and I was glad to put an end to my baseball career - or so I thought!

I worked construction for a large part of my adult life and shoulder pain was a constant companion.  It would hurt worse some days than others, but I did my best to ignore it.  Most of the time I was successful.  Last year about this time was when the pain was at the worst.  I was so weakened by the pain that I could not do a single push up!  For years I had done 40 - 50 push ups in a row right before bed.  But the pain was so overwhelming that push ups were impossible.  I prayed, "God, please heal this shoulder.  I know it's your will to heal.  Please be merciful to me."  A couple months after this our family moved to Australia.

Slowly, very slowly, the shoulder began to feel better.  Five months ago I bought a barbell and 70 kilos of weight and started working out with low weight and high reps.  The shoulder still hurt, but I was able to do what I had not done for over a year.  It wasn't long after I started exercising that a brother from church suggested that we play in a seniors baseball league.  I was intrigued at the thought.  But what about the shoulder?  Would I be able to play with any amount of proficiency?  After Laura and I discussed the opportunity, it was settled:  the Grisez boys and dad would all play baseball.  Of all the sports available in Australia baseball was the sport we had all played most.

Now what were my honest expectations?  I needed to remind myself I am 36 years old, not 14!  22 years had elapsed since I put a ball off the top of the fence.  I would have to be patient, build arm strength, work out my mechanics at the plate, have fun and do my best.  Pitching was out of the question - well, maybe I could pitch if I limited myself to one inning.  My goal was to hit a home run.  Laura and I were talking one day and I mused out loud, "You know what, Laura?  I've got this giant gorilla on my back.  To this day I have still never hit a home run over the fence in a real game.  I've had in-the-park homers and some messing around with friends, but never in a real game.  But I know I've got it in me.  I know I have the power - I just have to execute!"  She said without hesitation, "Well if you've never done it before when you were young and fit, what makes you think you can do it now?"  I feigned insult, of course.  "Are you saying that I'm old and fat?"  We both laughed hysterically.  And then I proceeded to tell everyone what a tactful wife I have! :)

The first game I pitched one inning.  The second game I pitched two innings.  My shoulder was pretty sore, but surprisingly I was still able to pitch and started to improve.  My velocity was nothing special but my accuracy was improving.  Fast forward to the seventh game of the season.  We were playing the Castle Hill Knights, the team that thumped us hard the first game of the season.  I started the game, pitched almost 5 full innings, and earned the win.  But that's not the reason why I'm still smiling about it right now:  I hit a home run!  It was a no-doubter to left field, easily clearing the six-foot fence.  I absolutely smashed it on the screws, perfect trajectory, and saw the ball fly into the bush of Fred Catterson Reserve.  I haven't felt that much adrenalin in a long time as I circled the bases, probably acting like I had never hit a home run in my life.  Oh wait, that's right - I hadn't!  It was amazing and I'm still praising God for that moment.

As our family drove home from church the next day I told Laura, "You know, I think I might go back to the field to see if I can find that home run ball."  After lunch the boys and I hopped in the car and headed back to the field where dreams became reality to a 36 year-old washed-up ballplayer.  I stood at the plate and envisioned where we saw it go into the bush.  Did I expect to find the ball?  I figured we had little chance but it would be worth it.  A bunch of kids had looked for it without success.  Zed, Abel, and I walked to the spot and started our search.  Within a minute, we found the ball!  Since I was pitching I knew the kind of balls we were using and the ball had a fresh grass stain on it.  I put the ball in my pocket and then we decided to keep on looking - maybe we could find a few other souvenirs.  It turns out we found 9 baseballs in total (quality ranging from good to very poor!) and a golf ball.

It struck me that we came to the ballpark hoping to find a single ball and we found 9!  I started the season thinking that I would have to limit myself to one inning maximum (if I pitched at all) and I pitched almost 5 innings in a single game!  There was a day when I could not do a single push up, and months later I hit a home run over the fence in a real game.  I thought my baseball career was over at 15 because of a shoulder injury and now my career has seen an unfathomable resurgence!  Ephesians 3:20-21 reads, "Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, ²¹ to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen."  That is the God I serve, the Creator and Sustainer of all things, the One who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think!  You know what?  My shoulder still hurts - and so does my left hamstring, calf, and ankle, and my right wrist!  But glory to God!  He's given me the great blessing and privilege to be a teammate and fulfill a silly childhood dream of hitting a home run in a country where I never dreamt I'd live and love as my own.

The application?  Give God the glory and never place limits on what He can or will do.  He does exceedingly, abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the same power which raised Christ from the dead and has regenerated us by grace.  Taste and see!  Isn't grace the sweetest thing you've ever tasted?

Pressed Sawdust

What passes for preaching these days can be easily confused with modern motivational speakers.  I watched for a minute or two this morning before heading off to church.  What I saw was a highlight reel of well-known preachers camping on the theme of self-empowerment.  Every sound bite was uttered to bolster my self-worth.  There was never even an attempt to reference scripture.  The highlight reel was designed to stir my emotions as various preachers delivered messages with sensational gravity and profound pauses.  One of the pastors informed me and many others that the devil is scared out of his wits because of my power.  The problem is, there was no theology and little truth in anything I heard.  This humanistic distortion has permeated much of the preaching people are exposed to on television.  A tiny shred of truth is a whole lie.

The primary danger the modern church faces is one of the most ancient:  the departure from preaching God's Word.  When the foundation is no longer Jesus Christ and Him crucified; if sin, law, grace, love, future judgment, and the blood of Jesus are strangely absent from sermon after sermon, then it would be better not to preach at all.  Though we live in a day when many people daily have an abundance of food on their tables, the words of Amos 8:11 have been fulfilled before our eyes:  "Behold, the days are coming," says the Lord GOD, "that I will send a famine on the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD."  Turn on the television any Sunday morning and preaching likely will be found.  Drive down main roads in many cities and it is not hard to find a church.  But will you be treated to the pure meat and milk of the Word - or humanism distilled with Christian jargon and maybe a token paraphrased verse from the Bible?

I appreciate the different styles of preaching even as hungry people enjoy different styles of cooking.  But we're all after the same thing no matter the presentation:  fresh ingredients, delicious fruit and vegetables, quality cuts of meat, savory, sweet, or spicy sauces, tender pasta, decadent desserts.  If you were to substitute sawdust for the meat, people would instantly know something was dreadfully wrong.  But spiritually speaking, pressed sawdust with the sauce of positive thinking passes for meat all the time.  People don't know the difference because they've never had the real thing.  They have never been taught to read and study their Bibles outside of a Sunday morning.  Showy emotionalism has become a substitute for spiritual vitality, and church is an opportunity to rev up to get through another week.  This kind of church is no better than a drug that pumps you up until you hit the wall.  It leaves you empty and craving a fix - a fix that more and more isn't getting the job done.

Back to that preacher's claim:  is the devil really scared of me?  Not at all.  He could pop me in his mouth like chewing gum and blow a bubble.  But the devil understands the authority of Jesus Christ as the Messiah, God made flesh.  And when Jesus Christ saves a man through His shed blood by grace through faith, the Holy Spirit regenerates and resides inside that man.  Jesus therefore gives authority to born again Christians over all the powers of darkness.  But the preacher on TV said that I frighten the devil!  I wonder where that is written in the Bible.  James 4:6-7 reads, "But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble." ⁷ Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you."  The Bible tells me Satan is as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour (1 Pet. 5:8-9).  There is no being more proud than Satan, though man tries very hard.  All are exhorted to submit to God in humility.  Only those who are in Christ can resist the devil by God's grace, and then the devil will flee.  Satan likes nothing more than fools strutting around full of themselves rather than being filled with the Holy Spirit.  Last time I checked, lions aren't afraid of sheep.  But they are afraid of the Good Shepherd.  When He throws a blow, He doesn't miss. 

Never stray from expository Bible preaching.  Even more important, never be fooled into thinking that preaching is a substitute for your own study of the Bible.  When we open God's Word in faith, seeking His face in humility, that is the primary way God will speak to us through the power of the Holy Spirit.  Hosea 10:12 is a fitting exhortation for us all:  "Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the LORD, till He comes and rains righteousness on you."  God's Word is like good seed.  If we will repent and prepare our hearts to seek the LORD, His good Word will take root in our hearts and produce much fruit.  Plant all the pressed sawdust you want, but it will never grow.  It's hardly fit for the fire.  Let's choose to eat quality meat instead!

The Stubborn Domino

I have always had a deep interest and appreciation for science.  Scientific discovery has led to improvements in nearly every facet of daily life.  Technology, medicine, media, agriculture, manufacturing, and recreation have all benefited greatly from scientific study.  But science, even in its modern glory, is not able to adequately answer all the questions we pose as curious human beings.  Science often proves up to the task of answering "how," but rarely answers "why?"  Science is unable to answer definitively the question of how the world came into being.  No one today can make that claim scientifically.  It is not able to answer the deeper questions either, like "Why did the world come into being?"

When I went to university, I remember a lecture given by my geology professor that went something like this:  "Just imagine:  billions of years ago, there was an incredible amount of energy and matter.  At some point the 'big bang' occurred and the stars and planets were formed.  Through evolutionary process over billions of years, chemicals and amino acids developed into the first living cell.  Over many more years, through random natural process, cells evolved through natural selection to produce the rich varieties of life forms we see today."  I thought the first words of the lecture were the most compelling:  "Just imagine."  It was evident my professor truly believed what she taught based upon the evidence presented to her.  Because she relied upon diagrams, textbooks, and papers written by others, realizing her own research had a potential degree for error, was not alive billions of years ago, nor can perfectly prove scientifically the exact conditions which existed at that time, there is a degree of faith in her depiction.  This is true for everyone, me included.

From our modern vantage point, looking back as we follow the evolutionary model presented by the majority of scientists today, the steps to our evolution could be compared to a line of dominoes which diverged from a single row into many rows.  Single cells became more complex and adapted different abilities which gave rise to new kinds of plants, animals, and people.  Science seeks to describe through evidence how the dominoes fell, how one species produced another.  But let us stand all the dominoes up again and go back to the very beginning of the imaginative, elegant tale.  Where did the energy, matter, and information come from represented in that first domino?  How did the first domino fall?  Why would it fall?  The Law of the Conservation of Energy tells us that energy is neither created or destroyed but can be converted from one form to another.  The Law of the Conservation of Momentum reminds us that unlike the dominoes which only fall in a single predictable direction, mass and energy can go in any direction!  If that is the case, it is difficult for me to imagine that a domino able to go in any direction in a three-dimensional environment could possibly hit the next one to continue the process.

But back to that stubborn first domino!  Without describing what substances of which it was comprised, without trying to imagine where the mass, energy, and information originated from, without discussing why it appeared at all, let us consider how it first moved.  Dominoes stand until they are pushed.  If the table on which they are set it kicked or accidentally bumped by a knee, random dominoes out of sequence fall and the process must be restarted.  But to follow the evolutionary model, a domino cannot fall until necessary conditions have been met.  So how did the first domino fall?  No one knows, and no one will ever know exactly - by the scientific method, that is.

The reason why I find the biblical account of creation by God so compelling is not because it tells us how God made things.  Who but God can know the science behind what it takes to speak things into existence from nothing!  Nor does the Bible specifically say when the galaxies, stars, and planets were created.  But the Bible tells us about Who created things, the intelligence behind the order we see in the world.  And the Bible even explains why God created all living things and man in His image:  Colossians 1:16-17 reads, "For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. ¹⁷ And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist."  God created all things because it pleased Him to do so.  Revelation 4:11 contains the proper response of man for all God has done:  "You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and by Your will they exist and were created."

I am filled with wonder when I consider the works of God's hands both in heaven and on earth.  I am amazed both by astronomy and the complexity of cells.  I am struck by the beauty and vibrancy in nature:  the plumage of a bird, the symmetry of a flower, the clear blue of the sea, the white puffy clouds morphing in the sky.  I don't presume to know how God imagines or works His wonders, but I rejoice in the revelation of God through nature and scripture.  Psalm 19:1-3 reads, "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork. ² Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge. ³ There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard."  Knowing God makes me want to dig deeper into science so I might marvel more intelligently concerning His wisdom and wonders!