I’m in the mood to laugh today all of a sudden. One of the funniest guys I’ve ever heard in my life is Brian Regan. I just posted his website as one of my links. I heard him last year at the Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom in NH last summer with my dad, sister, and some my sister’s friends. I swear, after 10 minutes I was in tears and it felt like I just did 100 crunches. After the full 2 hours or whatever it was, I had all but lost my voice and I was exhausted. I had never laughed so hard or so long. Anyhow, I never looked in up online, so I decided to and I found both his website (linked on the right) and a fairly good fan website where you can download some audio clips(http://www.brian-regan.com). And the nice thing about him is that he is virtually clean. No cussing or filthy sex jokes. It was generally wholesome. A kid at work also alerted me to the comedy of Dane Cook (http://www.danecook.com). He seems pretty funny too, but his stuff is a little too edgy to be playing at work.

It seems like this is a season of a new things. Many times when people as me how I’m doing, I’m tempted to respond with the SSDD classic (Same S- Different Day). Maybe that can summarize things a lot of times. But this week there are many new things.

First, my church is meeting in a new building. We just began this on Sunday. We are now meeting in the YMCA intead of the good old Timony Grammar School. I like the new setting, it’s in a busier area, so there is better opportunity for growth and potential for certain social functions. I was privledged to be escorted by Danny O on Sunday morning. He was nice enough to pick me up in my neck of the woods and then let me recline at their table with them, as well as crash on their couch. We may do the same this coming week. I really feel God loving me through saints like Danny who have been stepping up to help me out. Nothing like feeling love from such high quality and high class folks like Danny and fam. Good old Moses was kind enough to give me a ride home also, but he would not let me buy him or Karan a meal or a beer.

Second, I started a new semester so now I’ve got more work ahead of me than I can hope to accomplish. I’ve got Exegesis of Galatians, Personal Evangelism, Christian Ethics, World Mission of the Church , Church History II, and Pastoral Counseling. Yeah, that’s right 6 classes, and I work full-time second shift. Exactly.

Third, Kalila and I were brainstorming last night about not doing a big reception, but limiting it to the closest people (i.e. just a few more than would be at the rehearsal dinner). This would be at the Wildhorse Cafe, so we wouldn’t have to worry about doing any cleaning or orchestrating any food. We are toying with the logistics, but it’s something we both want to do. This will move our wedding to around 5 pm and the reception to 6:30 or 7:00. This is certainly a new direction and we are exploring all the implications still.

I’m listening to “One” by U2 right now. I think it is one of the best songs I’ve ever heard. Axle Rose said it was the greatest song he’s ever heard. That means a lot coming from Axle.

I would like to take a week or two off sometime. I am really feeling bogged down (no pun intended since my team is the Cranberry team). The problem is that I can’t afford to and I need to save time off for wedding time. Must find rest in Christ.

Here is a recent review that I just did of C.J. Mahaney’s, “The Cross-Centered Life”:

As one whose church is under the authority of C.J. it is pleasure to be continually inculcated with the gospel. He is as relentless in person as he is in this book of interogating the people of God with the gospel. This is a great gift book because of its readability and brevity. However, such a topic that C.J. is trying to address may beggar further extension. Sometimes we can inadvertently create buzz words that lack significance because of repetition with no variety. I fear that may result from the “cross-centered” model. People could confuse the idea of “cross-centeredness” with “cross-onlyness” assuming that if you have not mentioned the cross or some element of redemption, then it is inadequate. The danger with even the title is to accent the event rather than the person (Christ); the means rather than the end. Also, we are faced with the choice of being redemption-centered merely, rather than wholy God-centered; since God is doing other things apart from saving people (i.e. judging people). This book would be best supplemented with John Piper’s “Pleasures of God”.

I was just having a discussion about this with my friend Dave Scoggins today. He actually brought it up, but this is something I’ve been thinking about ever since I heard of this book and the SGM mentality. I really think that the way that C.J. presents this model, redemption/man seems to be what God is centered on. Is God cross-centered? No, God is God-centered. Thus man should be God-centered. Bottom line. The cross is a means to an end; it is the ratifying event of the New Covenant, the absorbtion of depravity and judgment for all who believe, and the penultimate expression of God. Now God forbid that we boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ (Galatians 6:14). But we boast in the cross for what it purchased for us. All boasting is cross boasting. It purchased everything we experience that is good, and everything painful God takes and turns for our good. God designed the cross, though, so let’s center on him. Let’s give him his place. Let’s make him supreme, because that’s what he designed the cross for; to satisfy himself and enjoy himself. You can download Piper’s sermon on boasting in the cross at http://www.biblicalpreaching.info/bpaudio/piper/021300.mp3. It is an epoch making sermon. I’ve listened to it 50 times. Seriously, check it out. It has shaped much of my thinking about the cross.