Danes and Saints

Last week I had the priveledge of attending Bruel & Kjaer University in Copenhagen, Denmark. It's really just a sort of training class for new employees of the company. The classes covered a broad range of topics, from technical explanations of how accelermeters work to company marketing strategies. We also got to tour some sweet areas of HQ like the clean room where the condenser mics are made. Although I already knew a lot about the technical presentations, I learned a bit about company business and more importantly, I became (even more) pumped up to be working for B&K.

The best part about Denmark is the people! It seems like everyone I met there is good looking, friendly, smart, and funny. And guys, if your preference is blondes, Denmark is your jackpot. Seriously though, I enjoyed time spent with the people there way more than the time I spent sightseeing.

Here is an album of some pictures I took in Copenhagen. You gotta be a facebooker to see em though.

The 10 hour plane ride to and fro provided me with ample opportunity to finish reading a book I have been enjoying immensely as of late. The book is Godric, by Frederick Buechner. I hesitate to tell that the story revolves around a 12th century saint because such a premise sounds dry and dull. Godric is no such book. Although it is based on this historical character, Buechner brings the story to life by filling in the gaps that history leaves out. And really my primary enjoyment with the book came from Buechner's writing style, not the plot (although the story is great too). He is just as much a poet as an author. This book is already in my top 5. Here is a good review of the book. Go buy it!

State College: Not Such A Bad Place

It's starting to sink in that I'm leaving here soon. I have spent a large part of the past two years making fun of State College, yankees, and the north in general. But, I have to admit there are some things I'll truly miss here. I'll miss the serene winter nights when the moonlight is both soaked up and amplified by the snow covered earth. I'll miss the ridge of mountains that explode into view driving only a mile east of downtown. I'll miss the flashing yellow streetlights at 2am.

I'll miss E-Free. Especially all the great people I made music with there. I have never felt so appreciated as I have at this church.

I'll miss my best friends here: Chris, Jeremy, Scott, Tim, and Pete (among others).

I'll miss the E-Free softball team. As terrible as we are, we had fun losing together.

Places around town I'll miss: Otto's Pub, The State Theater (though I didn't go there as much as I would have liked), Herwig's, Faccia Luna, Pete's house, Jeremy, Chris, JJ, and Alex's apartment (specifically the den with the XBOX 360 and Halo 3).

God has been good to me here. Big suprise.

A Good Way to Live

Just wanted to share a great passage from Psalm 19 that I just read:

"The law of the Lord is perfect,
reviving the soul.
The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy
making wise the simple.
The precepts of the Lord are right,
giving joy to the heart.
The commands of the Lord are radiant,
giving light to the eyes.
The fear of the Lord is pure,
enduring forever.
The ordinances of the Lord are sure
and altogether righteous.
They are more precious than gold,
then much pure gold;
they are sweeter than honey,
than honey from the comb.
By them is your servant warned;
in keeping them there is great reward."
[Psalm 19:6-11]

I can't recall ever reading or hearing verses 7 and 8. They observe the goodness of the laws of God from a few different angles. "Reviving the soul" points out that following God's laws can bring you out of a numbed rut....something I have experienced a bit of lately. "Making wise the simple"--A simple man can obtain wisdom by simply following some outlines laid out by God. "Giving joy to the heart"--Here, the Psalmist moves from practicality to hedonism. God's laws are not just practical--they are life-giving and enjoyable. "Giving light to the eyes"--Following God's ways reveals things.

I'm having a tougher time interpreting "The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever." Anyone have any insights?

So much of Christianity today is based around feelings. So much of everything today is based around feelings. Feelings are great, and not to be ignored, but in the words of my wise friend Dave Bachman, "feelings make poor leaders". If we just "follow our heart", we have a deceitful leader.* If we decide to follow God's ways, we have the greatest leader imaginable.


*Jer 17:9

From Death to Life

Apologies for not updating recently...it's been a busy past few weeks. And the fury will not cease for at least 6 or 7 more weeks. As most of you know, I'm in the midst of pounding out a thesis. It is progressing slowly due to a nice shock wave of end-of-the-semester class assignments. But amidst all this business I had an opportunity to slip down to Atlanta for a few days to meet my new niece, Sydney Kate Burkhalter! She was brought into this world on April 16th by the brave Erin Burkhalter (with the help of David and some doctors).

Now, when I tell you she's an adorable baby, it's not just my biased uncle opinion coming out. She's a bonafide cutie. I have the pictures to prove it too, and they will be posted soon.

Many thoughts passed through my head as I held her tiny body (under 6 lb) in my arms. I thought about how she would soon grow up and show forth her own unique personality. How she would get pimples, start to like boys, and even have kids of own one day. She will be filled with all sorts of knowledge and wisdom, love and experience, and then in a few short decades, return to dust. That sort of thinking makes it a little strange to hold her.

The great theologian Jonathan Edwards believed that God has the ability to see the world through two lenses: a wide angle lens and a narrow lens. I agree with this. One one hand, God created time and is outside of time. Through a wide angle lens He sees eternity past and eternity ahead. But it is also true that He dawns the narrow lens and enters into time (hence, Jesus). Jesus weeps for Lazarus though He knows breathe will return to Lazarus's lungs in a few short moments.

Sydney will grow up and become many things. But RIGHT NOW she is an adorable little baby, completely dependant on mom and dad. Right now I can enjoying giving her her first tastes of love and affection. And it's great!

Edwards also said, "There is an admirable conjunction of diverse excellencies in Jesus Christ." I love this quote and I love this nature of my God! He sees all of time and yet enters in. He is fully God and fully man. He is the lion and the lamb.

Words will always fail, so I'll just leave you with this:

God...what an amazing dude!

Recently listening to: Jon Foreman Spring, Phil Wickham Cannons, DeVotchKa How it Ends, Coldplay Rush of Blood to the Head.

Mustang Burkhalter

My cat Mustang was put to sleep two weeks ago today. He wasn't our family's first cat, but he was the first that was "mine". At 14 years old, he lived a nice long kitty life. Most days were spent lounging around, eating, and in the later years, playing with his sister-cat Lucy (aka Queen Kong, named for her black fur and 20 pound frame). Not exactly a life full of purpose and meaning, but sufficient for a cat I suppose.

Mustang was not an especially affectionate cat. He didn't do any tricks. He ran away from me a lot. But I loved him, simply because he was mine. I didn't realize these feelings until these past two weeks. It has given me an insight--albeit on a MUCH smaller scale--of how God feels towards the Sons of Abraham. Though we aren't especially affectionate towards God (except on occasion), though we don't do as many deeds as we should, though we run away from Him constantly, He loves us simply because we are His. Because we were bought with a price.*

I have also been thinking about the finite nature of animals. Some say it is hard to grip the concept of a human's semi-infinite soul (having a beginning but no end). However, I'm having a harder time dealing with an animals finite soul. Or do they even have souls? They certainly have personality and breath in their lungs. How can a soul just cease to exist? The Bible offers little insight here.

And finally, I thought a lot about the fact that we, in essence, were killing him. At first, it didn't sit well with me. Shouldn't we be trusting God with life and death? How is this different than pulling the plug on a vegetable or abortion? God has not given us the authority to do such things. Then I remembered that God said to Adam, "Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground." Although we do not have the authority to take the life of another human, we do have authority over animals. So, we decided it was best to relieve Mustang of his pain (he had a large tumor in his spleen which was giving him jaundice).

I will miss seeing him when I come home. I'll miss him jumping into bed with me in the middle of the night. I'll miss him playfully biting my hand.

I'll still love him though, simply because he was mine.

*1 Cor. 6:20

A fallen tree and a risen awareness

So today I found out that a tree fell on the house of some of my best friends back home in Atlanta yesterday. It was about 6:30 in the morning. My friend Andrew was getting ready for work when he heard a what sounded like "a train hitting the house". The tree, a sixty year old pine, fell onto the next room over. The room belonged to another good friend of mine, Andy Rocker. The tree, about two feet in diameter, stopped about a foot and a half above Andy's legs. A little bit further and Andy would be in a wheelchair for life.....at best. I get a little choked up just thinking about what could have been.

I can't help but see the hand of the Lord in such events. As I wrote about in my last post, God uses "bad" events in our lives all the time to purify us and to bring us closer to Him. He also uses these events to keep us on our feet! We never know what's coming next in life.

James puts it this way:

"Now listen, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.' Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, 'If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that.'" -James 4:13-15 (NIV)

Now, the context of the verse is referring to the way in which people were boasting about what they would do next. But it still stands that, "you do not even know what will happen tomorrow." You don't have to tell Andrew and Andy that twice.

You can read Andrew's account by clicking here. He has a link to some pictures of their house in his blog.

And here is Andy's account with some more pictures.

I'm so thankful that God saw fit to spare my friend Andy. I'm even thankful that God chooses to keep us on our feet--to keep us aware of our daily dependance on Him.

The Good Bad Times

A couple weeks ago, I thought I was entering a season of "good times". You know how sometimes everything just seems to be going right in life? That's how I felt. I won't go into specifics, but I had plenty to be satisfied with and excited about. However, things have taken a little bit of a turn. Again, I won't go into specifics, but there have been a few circumstances which have left me feeing a little hurt and down.

This passage has been running through my head today:

"In the day of prosperity be happy, But in the day of adversity consider-- God has made the one as well as the other so that man will not discover anything that will be after him." -Ecclesiastes 7:14

As I was thinking about this verse earlier in the day, my thoughts were focused on the concept that God creates the bad times in our lives to purify us. I have always loved the visual of a flame drawing out the dross in a piece of metal such as gold. The analogy of course is that God uses pain and suffering in our lives to produce purity. But I don't think that that's what this verse is getting at. This verse states that the reason we have series of good and bad times in our lives is so that we won't know the future. Basically, we don't know whether good or bad is coming next. I suppose this keeps us on our spiritual toes--a good thing for people who get lazy and complacent easily.

Another verse that has been running through my head is this:

"And we know that in all things, God is working for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose." -Romans 8:28

This verse closer embodies the theme of this blog. I know that God is using all circumstances in my life--especially the difficult ones--for my good. To purify me. So really, how can I call these times "bad times"? They are The Good Bad Times. Not that I am rejoicing in them, but I can still have an underlying satisfaction in my life knowing that He is working all things for my benefit.