Carpooling

If you're interested in carpooling to the funeral on Friday, please call or email me. Rass and I will be going down there together and will have room for more.

In Christ,
ben

A Note from Nick and Directions to the Funeral

For those of us not on the fraternity list serv, here are directions to the church. Just enter in the church name on mapquest if these directions don't work for you.

-Rass

heres the info about tomorrow...
thanks for all the help from me and Jill
-Nick

Date: Thu, 29 Sep 2005 13:03:42 -0400
From: Nicholas John Roecker bronco94@UGA.EDU
Subject: Thanks
To: BETA@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Hello guys,
Jill and I very much appreciate all the emails and calls we
have received from you guys. This is a terrible tragedy and
a huge loss for Jill and her sister. For those of you who
don't know, Jill lost her father over 4 years ago to cystic
fibrosis. The service is set for tomorrow at 11:00 AM at
Roswell United Methodist Church. All are invited.
Even though many of you only knew her indirectly through me,
I means so much to her to see all the love and support from
all the guys in the chapter.
On another note, I left Macon without getting black shoes and
a black belt. I need around size 12 shoes, and a size 36
belt. If anyone can help me with this, call Jordan and let
him know. They of course will be returned following the
service. Thanks.
Nick Roecker
Here are directions to the church
Roswell United Methodist Church
Here's directions:
Exit GA 400 onto Holcomb Bridge, exit 7B, going West. Go
approximately 1 mile and turn left onto Warsaw Rd (the road
name will change to Norcross). Go about 1.5 miles and turn
left at the light onto Atlanta Street (Alpharetta Hwy & Hwy
9). Be in far right hand lane and at the next light go
straight through the intersection onto Magnolia St. After one
short block, turn left onto Mimosa Blvd. at the light. The
service is in the Chapel, which is a big white building near
to Mimosa Blvd. Hopefully there will be signs.

Keep Jill and Nick in your prayers

I'm sure you've all heard the news by now. It is vitally important that we pray for Jill, Jen, and Nick in this extremely hard/sad/angry time. I'm not sure how I would handle this if it were to happen to me. Pray that God would be very real to both families (Jill's and the other driver) throughout this entire thing. That's all.

Das Ist Gut

Welcome, Robert!!!

"God loads the clouds with moisture;

He scatters His lightening through them.

At His direction they swirl around

over the face of the whole earth

to do whatever He commands them.

He brings the clouds to punish men,

or to water His earth and show His love.

(Job 37:11-13 NIV)

~

The SOVEREIGN LORD: "Can you raise your voice to

the clouds and cover yourself with a flood of water?

Do you send the lightning bolts on their way?

Do they report to you, 'Here we are'?"

~

Job: "You asked, 'Who is this that obscures

my counsel without knowledge?'

Surely I spoke of things I did not understand,

things too wonderful for me to know...

My ears had heard of you

but now my eyes have seen you.

Therefore, I despise myself

and repent in dust and ashes."

(Job 38)

They said it better

"Impress the young convert from the very beginning with the conviction that God has called him into His kingdom to struggle with the corruptions of his heart." - William Sprague

"Faith, without trouble or fighting, is a suspicious faith; for true faith is a fighting, wrestling faith." - Ralph Erskine

Mock--ing--bird--yeah

Yeah! Thanks for the reminder of reality in regards to our reflex response of thinking God or His ways can be understood by our feeble minds. We see but one fleck of paint of the Sistine Chapel and think we understand enough to describe the entire, magnificent, awesome masterpiece.

Job's confession, "Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know..." is something I must often confess in shame, myself. I'm excited to be learning so much right now about sanctification and knowledge of God...but pride introduces itself so sublty, quickly and poisonously and I think I sufficiently "understand" this God who pursues me, who formed me.

We should all fall in the dust in trembling humility when we hear God ask us: "Who endowed the heart with wisdom or gave understanding to the mind?" (Job 38:36). We know the answer, it is written in the depths of our heart. He is the owner and bestower of all things. Wisdom and understanding are His to give and His to withhold. Praise God for condescending to us with "baby talk"...it's the only tounge we comprehend.

Derek Webb has an analogy he uses in one of his songs coming out in December (a few of us went up to see him at Covenant College, Chattanooga last weekend): we are all mocking birds. The mocking bird has no song of its own, it simply repeats the songs of other birds that it hears around it. Funny thing is that if no other birds are around, the mocking bird doesn't sing. In a way, old Derek's right, we 'sing' only that which we hear the Spirit singing. Apart from mimicking what we've received in gracious revelation, we have no song to sing. Oh, that we'd listen more carefully to the songs of God's Spirit in us, that we might remember the tune and sing it for others!

"He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the LORD." Psalm 40:3

Prayer Group Update

Hey dudes,

I'm gonna try to make this brief because I don't have the wherewithal to pump out a thesis right now. This update is both for us in Athens and also for Brent, Jimbo, and Nick alike...because our bond is not geographic proximity, but rather is hope in Christ and His real and radical work in each of our lives.

So, now to the message. Those of us at prayer group the other night came to the conclusion that we desire to be a bit more intentional and deliberate with the time we have together Tuesday nights praying as a group. We want to use some time each week to discuss and engage scripture that deals with prayer. Each week, we'll be looking at a selection of scripture (which will be posted ahead of time on this site) and briefly discuss how prayer saturated Christ's life and why it is a necessity for our lives, as well. Finally, we desire that the Spirit would patiently instruct us so that scripture would more and more inform and guide our supplication, adoration, intercession, confession, and thanksgiving to the Father in prayer.

In the context of scripture, we will be wrestling with some difficult questions I trust many of us don't know answers to: How are we commanded to pray?; Why does a Sovereign God require His sons to petition Him for their needs and desires?; What, specifically, are we commanded to pray for and who, specifically, are we commanded to pray for?; Who do we pray to, the Father, Son, or Holy Spirit?; What do we do when we feel our prayers are not being answered?; How do we pray with the daring confidence to believe we have received what we ask for before even asking for it?; Why do we pray in secret, alone?; Why and when is it appropriate to pray in union with other believers?; How do we pray according to God's will?; and the question that will answer all preceding questions...How did Christ commune with His Father in prayer?

For those who want to do a little extra reading that parallels what we'll be discussing, there is a book we will be referencing quite abit in our discussions. It is Andrew Murray's "Believing Prayer". The chapters are about 5 pages a piece, and Murray does an amazing job of explaining the privilege, necessity, and calling of prayer in our lives as individuals and as a body of believers. To be sure, what Murray is promoting is not a legalistic call to make God happy by praying each night, but rather is a pleading call to use the gracious means God has freely given us to know Him more deeply and to grow our meager faith. If you want to purchase the book to read along, it is $6 and can be found at http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/product?item_no=29037&netp_id=332583&event=ESRCN&item_code=WW.

The idea is that this blogsite can be used to "continue the discussion" each week, as we will only have about 20 minutes each week to discuss in the group. We can post questions for discussion, reactions to what we've read, or other general thoughts/applications/stories. Long story short, it will be a great way to connect you guys scattered across the country to what the guys back here are studying and praying about. I hope this works. In the mean time, please be praying that God would increase our view of prayer and cause us to become men so reliant on Him that we have no other desire other than to continually commune with Him in prayer.

Oops, turns out I did have the energy for a marathon post. Sorry about that...take care.

Pearls Before Swine

Question: What does it mean that we are commanded by Christ to not "cast our pearls before pigs" or "give to dogs what is holy" (Matthew 7:6)? I recognize the "pearl" is the gospel and "pigs" and "dogs" are non-believers who resist the Gospel to our faces. Does this mean what I think it does: that we are to cease and desist preaching the Gospel to those in our spheres of influence who react to it with scorn, mocking, and/or contempt? The book of Acts shows that Paul refused to preach to the Jews after they kept rejecting the Gospel. Instead, they preached to the gentiles, who believed (Acts 18:5-11).

What does this look like in real life and in our spheres? What implications does it have in some of our relationships with hostile non-believers? Didn't we all once respond to the Gospel hostily and with scorn and contempt when we were enemies of God ourselves? What do y'all think? What does scripture say?

Road Trip: St. Louis

Sounds like an MTV show, no?

Ben and I are organizing a road trip (technically, an air trip) to see Mr. Jennings in St. Loo-ee. I spoke to Brent this evening, and it seems that the weekend of the UGA/Arkansas game works best. Since it's expensive to fly out of Atlanta ($471 round trip), we can get cheaper roundtrip airfare on Southwest ($200+) out of Birmingham (and it's still non-stop). Here's what I found:

Depart Birmingham: FRI 21 OCT at 11:20 a.m.
Arrive St. Louis: 12:35 p.m.

What to do: Tool around with Brent for the weekend and watch the Georgia game on Saturday. Attend church with him on Sunday. We wouldn't be there in time for Friday classes or chapel. I may visit with a professor or admissions counselor in anticipation of one day (possibly) attending seminary.

Depart St. Louis: SUN 6:10 p.m.
Arrive Birmingham: 7:30 p.m.

We could rent a hotel and split the cost because 1) Brent doesn't have enough room for even one of us to crash, and 2) sharing a room wouldn't be that expensive for only 2 nights.

What do y'all think? Can any of you go? Ben and I are almost 100% committed to this date and trip. Don't ask about other flight options: Southwest is cheapest I found, and it only flies one flight each day between Birmingham and St. Louis. Driving is not an option for just a weekend trip.

Suggestions? Commitments? Regrets? Please let us know ASAP so we can lock in travel plans.

What's in a name anyway?

I have a proposed name for this blogsite that I'd like to get y'alls feedback on. It was the title of my own personal blog (on which I never actually posted anything). But, with that site now being disabled the name is open for use again. The name was: "Dying to Live". I concede its not the most clever title, not even a bit humorous, and maybe--dare I admit--cheesy sounding. Let me explain its meaning and why I feel it has significance for this group, though.

John records Christ as saying, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone: but if it dies, it bears much fruit...whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life" (John 12: 24-25). I remember that Brent used to talk about this Biblical truth a lot. In the world of the Gospel, where most everything is "upside down", death is required for life to blossom. We have a perfect example of the fruitfulness of death in the Lamb's sacrifice on Calvary. Through His death, as gruesome, shameful, and devastating as it was, came life and fruit. Each of us, every single trophy of His grace is fruit borne out of His fatal purchase on that cross. The simple truth is this: we died, were buried, and resurrected with Christ on Calvary! That is why our souls are alive today, that is why there was a time in each of our lives when God revealed Himself and life blossomed!

Now redeemed and still present on this earth, we struggle with sin and the frustrating reality that our flesh is still at war with the Spirit. John the Baptist understood the necessity of a beautiful equation revealed in scripture: We must become less so that He would become more. Like some of you, I got goose bumps when I heard Jonah, the missionary from Pakistan, say from the pulpit at Redeemer when he preached: "Death to my wishes; death to my desires!" Only the saints can revel in this cry. By God's mercy and unthinkable grace, only the saints can apprehend that life does not reside in ourselves or in the shimmering yet deceitful things of this world. The singular source of life, the exclusive fount of hope is in none but Christ Jesus.

Therefore, death to anything opposed to Christ is required; no, it is commanded, of each Christian. Paul notes, "for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live" (Romans 8:13). Again, in his letter to the church in Philipi he says something almost counter-intuitive, but still all the more precious: "For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain" (Philippians 1:21). Notice how Paul directly associates life with Christ.

Now, how does this concept of dying to live apply specifically to this group. Well, the way I see it most of what we talk about, most of the sin we struggle with, most of our questions result from a stubborn refusal to die to the things of the world, to jump off the sinful cliff of our comfort and security and into the freedom of self-abandon in Christ. We are stubborn to follow and we refuse to surrender because we forget the Gospel: Christ loved us while we were yet sinners, Christ loves and pursues us each day (even today!) while we still are sinners. Regardless of what we title this blogsite as, our encouragement must always be to point our brothers away from self and toward a God who is continually running down the long road toward a battered but hopeful prodigal.

Let us know what you think about this or other titles. Let's move ahead with getting this thing fully up and running.

In Christ I am, your brother

Potential Blog Names

OK, so no one is taking the ball and running with it. Here are some suggestions:

The Honky Hole
Jesus Junkies
P.I.T. (Preachers in Training)
Vote for Pedro


These are lame, I know, but at least they're something. What ideas to you have?

Profiles

Feel free to add to your profiles, or just link to your facebook pages. I know Ben and Brent don't have facebook pages, so blogger's profile will have to do.

Last Tuesday and stuff.

Welcome, Trey! We've almost got the whole gang here. Just Jimbo, Brent, and Jake are left, and I spoke with Brent yesterday who promised to join soon.

Last Tuesday was the first prayer group/meeting I had been to in months, and I gotta tell you--it was like drinking water from a fire hose. There truly is nothing like intentionally asking for prayer and being prayed over in love, and it is certainly Christ mediating the Father's love to us through Himself in each of us. Going with y'all to the throne room of our Father Jehovah is a privilege that I hope turns into an outright passion.

Greetings brothers

Brothers,
I finally made it. I look forward to staying in touch with everyone through this. Hope to see everyone soon.

Charles Stanley, of all people.

When God began to call me out of Egypt/ Los Angeles, He used the radio preaching ministry of Charles Stanley in a profound way. After I returned to Athens, and with my memory of Egypt still fresh, I listened to Dr. Stanley as often as I could find him on the radio. As my faith grew, and as my focus shifted to books from which to be instructed in God's ways and in knowing Him, I turned from the radio preachers because I perceived them to be less thoughtful and less powerful than what I was finding in books.

Today, however, as I stumbled onto a broadcast of Dr. Stanley, I was reminded that the Holy Spirit uses what He wants in reaching us, even Dr. Stanley.

I typed as much as I could into my phone while driving (and avoiding a wreck) because I want to share with y'all the sum of what He was saying, and it is this: If you don't trust Him, it's because you don't love Him; and if you don't love Him, it's because you don't know Him.

That is both true and extremely powerful.

If you loved Him, you would trust Him without questioning Him at all. If I asked any of y'all to do some task that required some personal sacrifice, and if I asked you to commit to doing it without telling you what it is that I wanted you to do, I would expect some or all of you to be suspicious and cautious before agreeing to do what I asked you to do. You can't fully trust that I know what is best for you, nor can you trust that I know you well enough to know what is best for you. My request, in some part if not all, will be selfish.

But God's requests are always fully selfish, asking us to do and be what benefits Him the most. And here's the kicker: He has eternally fused His own good with our good. Can you even wrap your head around that? I try to. By making our good line up with His good, everything He requires of us is for the good of us both. Given His perfect knowledge of us and our definite future, we can trust Him like we can trust no other. He knows what is best for us because He knows who we are (He created us) and what we need. He knows what we need to do because only He knows the path that is set before us, the path that we cannot avoid.

So we have no reason not to trust Him, except through hatred. If we don't love Him, we hate Him. That may not be true when it refers to other humans, but it is true when it refers to Jehovah God.

So the second point is similar: to know Him is to love Him. For a being of His nature and character, there is no other rational response. If you knew His goodness, if you felt His love, if you breathed in His mercy, and if you knew what it took for Him to do all of the above, then you would love Him with a fire that would make you look truly foolish in this world. You would talk of Him all day long, and you would run to your prayer room to spend time with Him. We ought to feel the deepest shame that this is not true of us. Yes, He has shown us mercy; but we have done much that ought to awaken our shame at not loving Him with our whole mind, heart, and body.

Praise God for His great mercy! He has provided a lamb, and He loves a whore of a bride.

But it will not always be so, and He knows it. His bride will one day love him with an intensity and devotion that has never been seen since the creation of the world. He Himself will recreate her and place this new thing within her.

Sorry: that's a tangent. My point is just this: God spoke to me today in my car through Charles Stanley, and He reminded me of some things that I had not paid attention to in a while.

To know Him is to love Him, and to love Him is to trust Him.

Hey guys

Sorry it took me a while to get onto this blog site...anyways, I hope this helps us stay in touch. For the guys who went down to Cumberland this weekend, how was it? I'm sure the fellowship was great just like on all the other ee group retreats. Alright, keep me updated with whats going on in Athens as I will update you on the Macon scene. I have found a great PCA church down here in Macon, but have only been once since I've been outta town on most weekends. All I have to do is drop Hal's name and people immediately smile and welcome me, not that they wouldnt if I didnt, but I'm just saying. It's a great church and I am looking forward to getting more into the community there. Well, I dont know how to end a blog message but here it goes...
adios

I Hope You're Happy

I joined this blogger thing. It better be good or else there will be major repurcussions-(I'm not sure what they will be, but they will be dire consequences). It's good to be back in God's country (GA). I look forward to seeing yall and staying in touch through this blog. Go Dawgs.

-Rass

Sin Nature

What do y'all think about the looting in New Orleans? How are we as Christians supposed to explain it? Is God at fault for killing those people, for devastating the area, and for allowing the looting?