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in the hood.

Three years ago today, I stood in the midst of change. I had just begun my new position as full time youth pastor at Moundford Free Methodist Church, after spending over a year in sales and part time ministry. We were expecting our first child, a daughter, who was to arrive in August of 2006. We were excited to finally begin “arriving” in many ways, at a new stage in our life together as the Anderson family. We didn’t know what to expect in many ways, and were not completely sure what was still in store for us.


Here we are, three years later. We have three incredible daughters, who continue to teach us just as much as we could ever teach them. Sure, there are rough days and nights. Soft cries in the middle of the night yield to tantrums over a shared toy. Yellow poop and spit-up turn into giant messes and vomit.

But that’s not all.

Because baby giggles transform into waves of childish laughter. Rolling over turns into dancing in circles around the living room. Standing for the first time grows into jumping on daddy’s belly.

Saying “ah yuv yoo” knowing it makes mommy and daddy smile, turns into saying “I Love You” – and understanding that it means something pretty special. Knowing daddy and mommy love you in return, and you are part of something safe and incredibly dear to us.

I know this day is primarily about recognizing fathers, and how great we are.
I won’t deny my family that opportunity. 🙂

But I also think it’s a great day to pause, and be enormously thankful for the experience of fatherhood I’ve been granted. I pray it continues to lead me towards God in many new and unpredictable ways…

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randomness: June 2009 edition

For the sake of concise blogging, here are a few random updates that would have each been a bit too short for their own post:

1. A friend was at the zoo in Indy with their family. They overheard the woman near them call her son “Wick”. They commented on the name, and asked the woman where she got it. The woman then told her the story of going into labor DURING WHEEL OF FORTUNE, where she joked with her husband that if “that guy” won, they’d name their son after him. Well….I won. 🙂 I now have a Hoosier named after me. Woot.

2. I’m FINALLY GETTING ORDAINED!! That’s right, after 4 years of school, and over 6 years of active ministry and a few more classes to top it off……next Saturday, June 27th at 9am at the Greenville Free Methodist Church. You’re invited to come and hoot and holler (or wear a tie and pray fervently over me) – however you’re inclined to celebrate. 🙂

3. I finally watched the movie “Sleeping Beauty” in its entirety for the first time. One would assume I’d already seen such a Disney Classic at some point in my lifetime. I assumed the same thing. Until I started it for Addie, I realized I knew the basic premise of the story, but had never watched it. My opinion? I’m a bit offended.
For over two years now, my life has begun to dive into the depths of that “pink aisle” in every stores’ toy section. You know about it. If you have sons, or no children, you probably cringe a little when you see it out of the corner of your eye, and keep walking. That’s what I used to do. Now, it’s our favorite aisle.
I’ve learned a bit about every toy marketed to young girls. A large portion of which, have been “princess” themed dolls and their paraphernalia lately. Names being inconsequential, the characters are often reduced to the two-year old language of “Blue Princess”, “Pink Princess”, “Yellow Princess”, etc. We all know almost without thinking:

Blue Princess = Cinderella
Pink Princess = Sleeping Beauty
Yellow Princess = Belle (from Beauty and the Beast)

But I will now expose Walt Disney for the scam that he is. Ready for this? Cinderella wears a WHITE dress to the ball. It only LOOKS blue in a few scenes, because of the lighting. Now that you’re either crying on the floor, or at least seated, I have another whammy for you…

Sleeping Beauty wears a BLUE dress for MOST of the movie! (gasp)
The fairies are fighting over what color of dress she should have. It begins pink, and they change back and forth and back and forth (which is how the crow found the cabin in the woods), but eventually it stays BLUE for most of the movie. Until the final scene where they alternate once more, ending in pink as the book closes. But that’s not enough to call it a pink dress. It should be blue. If anything, it should be some sort of color-changing dress in different temperatured waters.

The nerve of those toy companies.

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the beef.

So I’ve finally finished with Piper’s book. Honestly, I’m glad I read it. It has quite a bit of decent study on scriptures relevant to the theme of justification, with a variety of approaches to each. But I was a bit disappointed still with how he went about the book. The repetition of statements, of quotes from NT Wright, assumptions he makes about what Wright “would say” about something, and his undercover slams on Wright (disguised as mere “cautionary”) – I really wish the two guys would have just gotten together and written a book on their differing views. It would have been more beneficial, at least to my opinion of John Piper.

If you want to read his book to take a wide array of texts and information and views on the scriptures where Paul or early Christians discuss justification – get it.

But if you’re simply looking for what the MEAT of his problems with Wright come from? Check out pages 174 and 175. The key text is 2 Corinthians 5:21. The key problem is how they both define/interpret “dikaiosune theou” (righteousness of God).

Looking forward to starting NT Wright’s book. Just looking at the table of contents gets me excited that this will be less about defending himself against Piper, or even accusing Piper of bad biblical interpretation and justifying himself, etc…..than it will be just straight up study and exegesis of important scriptures.

That will be refreshing. 🙂