two-age website now two-age.biblicaltheology.org

Before my wife and I jet off to Tanzania in January, I thought I'd spend a little time to get the site contents of (formerly) two-age.org back online for anyone interested.

http://two-age.biblicaltheology.org/
"Biblical Theology and Redemptive Historical Hermeneutics" (for fans of Geerhardus Vos, Gaffin, Ridderbos, etc.)

The website content hasn't been updated since 2006, so it is not very NPP or FV aware. Despite its age and shortcomings, I've heard it still has one of most comprehensive recommended reading lists available for Biblical Theology. So I hope it remains useful for you.

http://two-age.biblicaltheology.org/recommended_reading.htm
http://two-age.biblicaltheology.org/recommended_works/commentaries.htm

In Christ,
Eric Pyle
http://ericlovesallison.org/Wycliffe/

wedding & work update, change of address

Twelve Days to go!
Wow, only twelve days until Allison and I get married! We invite all of our friends to join us in "counting down the days" by visiting our wedding webpage. There you can read a little bit about each of us and how God brought us together.(http://www.theknot.com/ourwedding/AllisonBryant&EricPyle)We'd love for you to sign our Guestbook and RSVP if you're planning to come celebrate in Norman, OK. There is also information on the time, directions, and gift registries on the Details for Our Guests page.

Where has the time gone? Here have been some of the things occupying our time in the final weeks before our marriage: marriage counseling sessions and homework, engagement photos, gathering addresses for invitations, bridal showers, ordering my suit and having the pants hemmed, finding ties for the men to match the bridesmaid gowns, organizing the wedding music, ceremony and vows, picking out wedding bands, opening gifts, and writing thank-you notes. We still need to take care of many other details! Please keep us in your prayers!

Honeymoon Plans
Many of you have been curious about our honeymoon. We're going to Greece! Three nights in Santorini and three nights in Athens. Allison has already been trying to learn modern Greek through audio lessons. She really does have a knack for picking up languages. I'm impressed (and glad she'll be tagging along with me)!

My New Address: Eric Pyle, 602 Madison Ct, Duncanville, TX 75137-2537. Our first few months we will be house-sitting close to where I work. This is a tremendous blessing for us as we start our new life together financially and try to figure out a budget that will work for us in the upcoming year. I'm now in the process of moving. Allison has already found a roommate to take her place where she's renting. We covet your prayers for our new life together!

My Office Space
Our next corporate release of Fieldworks is expected to be available at the beginning of 2009. Our software development has moved from bug fixing to allowing some final improvements. Most programmers enjoy making improvements because you get the opportunity to make software do something that has never been done before. Wycliffe Bible Translators provide direct feedback for how we can make their work more effective and efficient. It's exciting to empower missionaries to do things with their knowledge of languages that they've never been able to do before with computers!

We recently heard the news that Fieldworks Language Explorer (FLEx), our Dictionary & Grammar tool, is now being employed for at least 24 language projects in Western Africa. Would you believe those 24 languages account for around 5 million people who have Scripture needs?

FLEx astounds some old friends. Kim and Tony, friends of mine from high school, are now Southern Baptist missionaries in Southeast Asia. Listen to Kim's response when she recently encountered our software: "I just saw your FieldWorks Language Explorer in action!! There is an SIL guy that is going to be moving [here] soon, and he is looking for a house. He just turned on his computer to show us how it works. It is amazing! [My husband] Tony is even getting ready to download it now. It was so neat to hear him talk about the program and then realize that it is the program you have been working on!!" -- Kim

Company Matching Gifts Program Now Available! Many of you may be able to obtain forms from your employer for matching your donations to charitable organizations. If you're interested in submitting a form to match your contribution to my ministry, please contact me for more information!

Yours eternally in Christ,
Eric D. Pyle

Webpage : http://www.opcNorman.org/Wycliffe/EricPyle/
Personal Address : 602 Madison Ct, Duncanville, TX 75137 (469-222-2865)
Wycliffe Bible Translators : P.O. Box 628200, Orlando, Florida 32862-8200

the big day is coming!

A Match Made Under Heaven, July 5 2008, San Antonio, TX
Tonight, Allison and I sat down beside the Riverwalk. The stars had emerged to watch us from beneath the evening clouds after a calm summer shower. Allison, in the dark, only saw their usual twinkling performance. The stars, however, were winking at me knowingly. “I am so thankful God has brought us together. I think we would serve well together for His kingdom. I don’t want to imagine a future where that is not so.” Then I knelt. Taking her hand, I kissed it. “I love you.” With a gaze and a smile, Allison echoed the sentiment. It was our first exchange of these words. Reaching into my pocket, I retrieved for her the star I had chosen for her. “Allison Haley Bryant, will you marry me?”

Can you believe I'm getting married!? Thank you all for your perseverance in prayer for me all these years. God in the wisdom of His timing and love is wonderfully answering your prayers, far beyond what I ever imagined to think and ask for. Please pray for the planning and provisions for our wedding and future life together. If you’d like a wedding invitation, please let me know, especially if you’re out of town. The wedding will be in Norman, OK on Saturday, Nov 29. Stay tuned for further details!

Allison and I both recently
graduated with Master’s degrees

incredible

[new rankings on imdb.com]

[rank, rating, title(year), votes]
1. 9.4 The Dark Knight (2008) 115,340
2. 9.1 The Godfather (1972) 293,920
3. 9.1The Shawshank Redemption (1994) 344,106
4. 9.0 The Godfather: Part II (1974) 167,872
5. 8.9 Buono, il brutto, il cattivo., Il (1966) 98,403
6. 8.9 Pulp Fiction (1994)295,321

"if you had thirty-two dollars..."

You've heard people ask, "What would you do if you had a million dollars?" Us missionaries apparently have our own "all too true" version of that question. Last week at a fiesta dinner for Ben Mikesell's thirty-second birthday someone posed the question, "If you had $32, what would you buy Ben for his birthday?"

One thoughtfully suggested he'd mail-order a Russian bride. (I wondered if that would cover the cost of shipping.) I imagined the book, Calvinism for Dummies. Ben actually seemed interested. Some said, "Forget Ben...I'd buy myself groceries" or "I'd buy some gas to drive back home."

I am graduating!

Dear friends,

Graduation announcement
I am happy to announce that I will be flying to Philadelphia to graduate on Thursday, May 22 from Westminster Theological Seminary with a Master of Arts in Religion (General Studies). Commencement details are online: http://www.wts.edu/stayinformed/view.html?id=79 . Many of you know that I have been taking seminary classes part-time in Dallas since the summer of '99. It's hard to believe I've been a graduate student for nine years! "So, what's next?" My seminary education fits well with my current "career track" of assisting others with Bible translation efforts, even by software development. I don't have any major changes planned for the near future, but I am now at a point where I can consider furthering my education in linguistics in hopes to be of greater assistance. Stay tuned and in prayer!

Tool promises to yield more natural sounding Bible translations
This year I helped to implement a promising new discourse charting tool for translators. "The discourse charting tool will have a massive impact on the way we analyze texts. It's easy to use and it quickly shows us what we need to see. It will give us greater access to understanding what constitutes naturalness in a given language and that knowledge will have direct benefits in the smoothness and naturalness of our Bible translations." -- Danny Foster, Uganda-Tanzania Branch Training Coordinator (http://www.thetask.net)

New partners in Bible translation
Since the beginning of the year, I've been blessed to receive six new partners who are coming alongside me. In addition to the new partners, I've received a number of one-time gifts. Both are an encouragement as I continue to pray for God to provide the remaining $1000/mo for my monthly support quota so I may devote full time to writing software that assists Bible translation projects worldwide. The software I help develop is already making impact around the world, but there's still plenty of work to be done! Would you join with us in our hope to see the Bible written for millions of people that need it? http://www.wycliffe.org/Donate/MissionaryMinistries.aspx

Yours in His faithfulness,
Eric D. Pyle

ps. Did you know? Shopping at Kroger can help train future Wycliffe missionaries in linguistics! Follow the link below and print off the bar code for the Graduate Institute of Applied Linguistics so it may be scanned and registered with your Kroger Plus card: http://www.krogerneighbortoneighbor.com/pdf/10000080506.pdf (Only valid for stores in Texas and Louisiana.)

Webpage: http://www.opcNorman.org/Wycliffe/EricPyle/
Personal Address: 1520 Bradford St, Irving, TX 75061 (469-222-2865)
Wycliffe Bible Translators: P.O. Box 628200, Orlando, Florida 32862-8200

The Sabbath was made for Man (Isaiah 56)

Yahweh promises blessing to the man who keeps justice and does righteousness. Here, as in Mark 8:1-6, keeping justice and doing righteousness takes a surprising Sabbath-keeping shape. It shouldn't have been all that surprising. Deut 5:12-15 prescribes the Sabbath as being also for the foreigners among Israel. The shalom of the land was to be a catholic experience. Remembering the Sabbath meant rehearsing Israel's own outcast identity, and God's redemptive exodus activity: "you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm." So, the primary public holiness sign for God's elect priesthood for the nations leaves the transgression of partiality without excuse.

When the Pharisees read Isaiah's, "blessed is the man who does this, and the son of man who holds it fast, who keeps the Sabbath, not profaning it, and keeps his hand from doing any evil," they saw this as a divine right to cross their hands against anyone not sitting on their hands, especially when it came to touching someone with an unclean hand. The holiness laws maintaining ceremonial cleanness were read to promote partiality on a liberal basis, a virtue of zealousness for Yahweh.

Both Isaiah and Jesus overturn the table-manners of that brand of Sabbath keeping, especially on the dawn of the new creation. Keeping one's hand from doing just acts of covenant mercy effectively breaks the Spirit of "keeping his hand from doing any evil"...this partiality and mercy-forgetting has ironic murderous (not to mention Sabbath-breaking) consequences for Israel. Thus not only would the hard-heartedness of authorities lead to the oversighted death of just, covenantally-merciful men (Is 57:1), in the fullness of time, it would lead to the Pharisees' purposeful plot to kill God's son, Jesus, Lord of the Sabbath (Mark 3:6, cf. James 2:1-12). (The Apostle Paul, in Romans 2, makes much the same argument with respect to what it means to be truly circumcised in the new creation: law-keeping was intended from the beginning to take a catholic-circumcision shape, signalling God's future inclusion of Gentiles via the fulfillment of the Abrahamic promise in Christ. To zealously apply 'circumcision' in ignorance of the universal communal implications of the promise of Christ to address the universal problem of sin was to effectively render oneself uncircumsized. Rom 2.23-29)

In contrast to their elitist table manners, Yahweh promises a special place in his house and sets his Sabbath-feast table for the outcasts (vss 3-7). He demands a liberal application of full acceptance to all Sabbath-keepers, those tempted to feel the inevitability of a loss of covenant communion, especially in the face of an overwhelming deluge of wrath to come. Isaiah exhorts Israel to speak Yahweh's justice for outcasts in Israel, comforting such ones that Yahweh will provide room in His house for covenant-keeping foreigners and eunuchs. To those who were considered (even to themselves) to be less than human, fated to be cut off from among his people, to them Yahweh promises "blessed is the man." (cf. Matthew 5:3ff).

In stubborn ignorance to such a suprising vision of welcome and impending wrath, Israel's leaders had prepared their own table to celebrate a counterfeit Sabbath feast (vss 56.10-12). They counterfeit Sabbath rest with their "love of slumber." Their love of wine likewise counterfeits the Sabbath sign of the enjoyment of the completion of havest labors from a blessed land. Their laborless loss of distinction between today and tomorrow profanes the holiness of the Sabbath, separated from the other six days, which signified that the eternal Sabbath rest was yet to come for God's people.

In effort to preserve their own names and territories, the leaders of Israel, appointed as shepherds, rendered themselves to be less than human. Isaiah likens them to barkless dogs, blind to the coming judgment upon the land because of their Sabbath-breaking injustices and foolishness. Israel, who had been called to be the "blessed man," God's image, ruling over and on behalf of the nations is going to be given over to the ravaging of power-hungry nations, whom they now resemble; their countfeit Sabbath feast only renders them fit food for the beasts (vs. 9).

one corinthians thirteen

though i must suffer, i believe
though it will hurt, i hope
Love, though it kills you

2007 Annual Report

Dear friends,

Thank you for all your prayers and support in 2007! My Annual Report for 2007 is now ready for your review. Please take a moment to read how God has used your help last year and how He is calling me to further serve churches this coming year and depend upon His help.

http://www.opcnorman.org/Wycliffe/EricPyle/newsletters/heart_lang_exp_feb08.pdf
(also downloadable from my webpage)
http://www.opcnorman.org/Wycliffe/EricPyle/#Communications

• Fieldworks 5.0 has been released!
• Appreciation from our President
• Pledges met for 2007
• Important partnership needs for 2008
• Plans and prayer requests

Yours in His Kingdom,
Eric D. Pyle

ps. If you're interested in more frequent casual interaction, I'd love to have you as a friend on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/people/Eric_Pyle/730925814

Webpage : http://www.opcNorman.org/Wycliffe/EricPyle/
Personal Address : 1520 Bradford St, Irving, TX 75061 (469-222-2865)
Wycliffe Bible Translators : P.O. Box 628200, Orlando, Florida 32862-8200

purple hearts

Cupid points, arrows spent
men pour lemminglike o'er the cliff as a waterfall
whilst Ivory Towers peer over gates shut
like a babe refusing bottled milk.
Adam slept. Jesus wept. We must step
headlong dashed upon the Rock.
Rib breaks. Spirit spake. Last Adam wakes.
Thus, we all shall new flesh take.

Sooner omnipresence

As I look forward to the Sooners beating Missouri tonight for the Big 12 Championship, I realize this season has been different from all other seasons for me as a fan. I've typically only watched OU games in the past, but this year, due to the ranking system, I've realized that the Sooners have been playing "in spirit" in every game, even when/where they are not taking the field. As a result, I've watched many more college games this year, routing for "our" team, in matches like Texas A&M vs Texas, and Kansas vs. LSU.

Thanksgiving newsletter

Beloved,

I have much to be thankful for this year. My Thanksgiving newsletter highlights just a few of them:

http://www.opcnorman.org/Wycliffe/EricPyle/newsletters/heart_lang_exp_nov07.pdf
(also downloadable here)
http://www.opcnorman.org/Wycliffe/EricPyle/#Communications

• Fieldworks Thanksgiving
• Book Ends (seminary)
• Check IT Out in Hudson Valley, NY
• Important new partership opportunity (financial need)
• Prayer requests

Thankfully yours in Him,

Eric D. Pyle

ps. If you're using Acrobat Reader 7.0, clicking on my email "eric_pyle@wycliffe.org" at the bottom of the pdf seems to result in "pyle@wycliffe.org" which is incorrect. Please use "eric_pyle@wycliffe.org".

Webpage : http://www.opcNorman.org/Wycliffe/EricPyle/
Personal Address : 1520 Bradford St, Irving, TX 75061 (469-222-2865)
Wycliffe Bible Translators : P.O. Box 628200, Orlando, Florida 32862-8200

[PTC 301-Ed Welch] What are five distinctive features of biblical counseling? (final exam study guide)

1. What are the distinctive features of biblical counseling?
**Make one of those features its approach to secular literature.

1) Coram Deo - Regardless of circumstances, we live all of life before God (and His word).
· God has spoken, not in every detail of life, but to the heart of every human problem.
§ **Open to reading all secular literature, but Scripture as foundation/standard over all.
§ We don’t live in a bifurcated world Or a tripart body.
People’s actions/attitudes towards others say something about their relationship to God.
God speaks profoundly on these issues and accessibly.
2) Christ and Him crucified is the answer to all counseling problems.
· The deepest human problem is sin, not suffering.
· Suffering has become the solution for becoming truly human in a world of sin
3) All people are essentially the same, and struggle with the same basic problems.
Mystifying cases have some root connection to these basic human problems.
4) Our approach is profound and highly accessible. A child can do it.
5) Active heart. Battlefield for worship. Progressive sanctification.

[PTC 301-Ed Welch] ANOREXIA: final exam study guide - outline

5) Anorexia

a) Brief Description
• Anorexia is an expression of the heart to refuse to be in need, and a desire to be in control.

b) The Most important Question/Feature/Issue to consider
Control. A person uses food to find a system how to do life apart from God and apart from others. It’s a secret world where a person is their own god.

c) Issues you need to be particularly alert to in your relationship with the counselee
• Perfectionism/Legalism. They are burdened by expectations and laws of other people. They want a world where they can set their own laws.
• Privacy. They want a world under their control apart from others. Eating has a public social dimension with its own customs/expectations.

d) One significant biblical text relevant to the problem area, why the text is relevant.
• Galatians 2: withdrawal from table fellowship.

e) A biblical conceptualization (Causes? Roots?)
• Attention.
• Sexlessness. I want to get rid of my feminity.
• A means to be in control. Victim to being overly-controlled.
• Guilt – self-punishment.

f) Two homework assignments showing awareness of uniqueness of the problem.
1) Asking them to pray publically acknowledging their need for Jesus.
2) Set small goals to gradually increase food eating and eating with others.

g) Your basic method of approach

1) Have they been victimized? How does has life been treating you?
2) Talk about God – offer a path/vision to come along side.
His sovereignty/sufficiency vs. autonomy/legalisms.
They don’t need laws/structure.
They need Jesus.
His grace in establishing righteousness vs. perfectionism.
His beauty vs. beauty is only physical.

revised chiastic structure for Sermon on the Mount

Here is my revised chiastic structure for the Sermon on the Mount. I'm not sure it's possible to be satisfied with one, since there seems to be multiple overlapping parallels.

[4:23-25] <Narrative> Great crowds follow Jesus for healing.
A. [5.01-02] <Narrative> - He ascends to catechize his disciples.

B. [5:03-10] Final blessing-mercy-peace for persecuted bearers of God's rule in Christ

C. [5:11-16] New covenant prophets/priests/kings to yield God's glory among men

D. [5:17- 48] Christ came to fulfill the Law and the Prophets in us.

E. [6:01-18] Give, Pray, Fast in secret towards our Father.
E. [6:19-34] Store-up treasure in heaven / Seek first His Kingdom.

D. [7:01-12] Do unto others...for this is the Law and the Prophets.

C. [7:13-20] Beware of false prophets known by their fruits

B. [7:21-27] Final destruction for those who turn away from Christ's word

A. [7:28-29] <Narrative> - The crowds marvel at Jesus' authority.
[8:01] <Narrative> - Great crowds follow him for healing after he descends.

Another viable chiastic structure I've heard is to take the first eight beatitudes (5:3-10) as an outline for the entire sermon on the mount. Thus, the rest of the sermon on the mount as an exposition of each of those points in reverse order.

[PTC 301-Ed Welch] FEAR: final exam study guide - outline

4) Fear
a) Brief Description
Fear is the result of threatening circumstances in which it doesn’t seem like God’s presence matters, He doesn’t care or He is powerless to deliver. Thus, fear provides opportunity to trust in God to be with us to deliver from danger, or to deliver us through it.

b) The Most important Question/Feature/Issue to consider
Idolatry.
• Cause: People who trust in something that cannot provide eternal power/security will live in fear of losing it.
• Effect: People who are afraid of being in danger or feel threatened will often seek security in something other than God (e.g. medication).

c) Issues you need to be particularly alert to in your relationship with the counselee

• Idolatry. Trusting anything in the world to protect/deliver/gain-success.
• Fear flees, forgetting God. Fear wants to run, it doesn’t pause to remember God’s character and promises.
• Self-protection. A fearful person will be tempted to protect something he loves, even if means harming others or neglecting to help others.

d) One significant biblical text relevant to the problem area, why the text is relevant.
Matthew 5-7. (Sermon on the Mount)
Allegiance to Christ will result in persecution/loss of status/property. The sermon provides a host of reasons why we can trust our Father with our obedience to Christ in all circumstances, namely favor with God provides a kingdom that can never be lost.

e) A biblical conceptualization (Causes? Roots?)
1) fear of enemies, real & perceived.
2) death and its associates.
It feels like God is far away, like he is not protecting me.
3) trusting in Idols
Something I depended upon let me down.
4) the past being repeated.
I’ve been hurt before, and don’t trust you.
5) being alone.

f) Two homework assignments showing awareness of uniqueness of the problem.
1) Journal seeing the evidence of God in your life.
2) Study “I will be with you” passages.

g) Your basic method of approach
• First, I would determine the prominent cause of fear, if possible.
• Then I would re-imagine about what it would look like to trust and obey God when that occasion arises and grace is needed for that moment, looking for the Spirit’s progressive sanctification.
• Then, I would establish a study for focusing upon what it means for God to promise to “be with you” in the midst of the situation, and the response that entails for the person.

x) God gives grace for today. Don’t worry about not being able to face fears tomorrow.

[PTC 301-Ed Welch] ANGER: final exam study guide - outline

3) Anger
a) Brief Description
Anger exposes the heart’s allegiance to what a person considers is right and wrong. It says that your allegiance is primarily for your own welfare and pleasure. Usually anger against others reveals anger against God. Anger says, “God is not good/just” or “God does not give me what I want, when I want it.” God’s anger is not comparable with human experience: slow, loving, directed towards Jesus.

b) The Most important Question/Feature/Issue to consider
Anger illustrates the noetic effects of sin: Anger makes people foolish.
Anger blinds. Angry people often don’t know they are angry.

c) Issues you need to be particularly alert to in your relationship with the counselee

• Humility/Love. Angry people will tend to make you angry or cower.
• Thermometer. Anger has different degrees: hot (overt) anger; cold (covert) anger.
• Righteous indignation tends to be short-lived.
• Self-righteousness. Anger is usually saying more about what a person wants to bring about for himself.

d) One significant biblical text relevant to the problem area, why the text is relevant.

• Anger against a brother can feel right, or indifferent to your relationship with God, but actually reveals your relationship to God.

• 1 John 2:9 Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness…
• 1 John 2:11 But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

e) A biblical conceptualization (Causes? Roots?)

What is anger saying?
A. (Victim) I am afraid, I have been hurt, I feel alone, powerless.
B. Expressing a moral judgment, I am right, you are wrong.
C. … and I am authorized to punish you.
D. I am jealous: I deserve it, you don’t.
E. I am guilty.
F. I want to treat others how I’ve been treated.
G. Leave me alone. I am tired.

f) Two homework assignments showing awareness of uniqueness of the problem.
1) Ask others “how have I been angry today?”
2) In anger, ask how you can still love the person.

g) Your basic method of approach

1) First, I would determine what anger is saying. Why are they angry? This would help determine whether anger is the root problem.
2) Then, I would invite them to understand how their anger affects other people around them, since they probably don’t see the damage they are doing.
3) Then, I would have them focus on their relationship to God; remind them of God’s character: his goodness, love, righteousness, graciousness, humility in Christ. What is God’s anger like? What is Christ like?
4) Then, I would look for little ways in which that Christ-likeness can make a change in how he relates to others over time, and point out the work of the Spirit in these areas.

[PTC 301-Ed Welch] SUFFERING: final exam study guide - outline

2) Suffering
a) Brief Description
Suffering tests our heart to trust God’s presence in purposing good and God’s faithfulness to show mercy. God has revealed Himself particularly through human suffering. The Son fully experiences suffering to bring about salvation. God uses suffering to make us more like Christ and to give us the hope of a new creation.

b) The Most important Question/Feature/Issue to consider
• Practical Deism. In suffering God may seem like He is hiding or doesn’t care about mercy and compassion.
• Can I trust Him?
• Who is this God?

c) Issues you need to be particularly alert to in your relationship with the counselee

• Compassion: Be compassionate, regardless of cause of suffering. Be careful not to ignore/minimize it.
• Judgmentalism. Resist the temptation to be quick in making definitive connection between a person’s suffering and personal sin, unless it’s obvious to everyone.
• Sin. Suffering will always seem to eclipse the problem of sin. Forgiveness/cleansing of sins runs a bit deeper than the alleviation of suffering.
• Christ suffered. A person’s suffering will seem to eclipse the suffering of Christ. Christ’s suffering is greater than our own. He draws near to sufferers.

d) One significant biblical text relevant to the problem area, why the text is relevant.

• Hebrews 2:10 – “In bringing many sons to glory it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering.”

• Jesus’ obedience as a Son was perfected through suffering so that He might know how to minister to us in our sufferings and temptations. Suffering is a sanctifying agent.

e) A biblical conceptualization (Causes? Roots?)
a) There are multiple causes for each grief.
A prominent cause is not always known.
b) God, Satan, other people, Adam’s curse/disease, human heart.

f) Two homework assignments showing awareness of uniqueness of the problem.
1) use Psalms to direct our faith in suffering to God who hears.
2) Study “suffering” passages in relationship to hope/joy for future.
g) Your basic method of approach

1) First, I would towards the person in love/compassion, to mourn, pray, encourage, help.
2) Then, I would try to determine a prominent cause for a place to start in counseling.
3) Then, I would encourage a person to speak their suffering to God (esp. through the psalms.)
4) Then, I would encourage a person to recognize Jesus’ experience of suffering as representing/fulfilling human suffering so that the ministry of His Spirit might change human suffering into a means of life/hope/glory.

of men and angels

forgiveness separates the men from the angels. sometimes i think it is well worth the fall.

culture shock: a new jersey farewell

On my way back to Philly from a Check-IT-Out conference in Hudson Valley, NY on Sunday, Jim Moore and I stopped at a full-service gas station to fill our rental vehicle up. I was confused, since I had thought we had planned to come down I-95, and I had planned to rendezvous with a friend on the north side of Philly. Jim had made alternate plans, but we hadn't discussed it. So I asked Jim to ask our attendant where we were on the map, just to make sure we were as far south as he thought we were. The attendant shook his head saying, "Ah, Jeez. Look, go down the road to exit 3 and ask someone there where you are in the map."

Quite a different response from what I've been accustomed to in Texas and Oklahoma. If you're lost you ask people at gas-stations. That's just common sense. And people who do full service are typically very friendly and helpful, tip-worthy service. I later discovered that NJ enforces full-service pumps by law. So, I guess the guy's just "doing his job."