Churchless in KC

Today marks somewhere near the 6th month mark of Katie and I discontinuing our weekly church going habit. It has been the first time in our married life, and in my whole life, that this has happened. I think at first we looked around at some other churches and were somewhat hopeful to find some decent church nearby. Not to say there aren't decent Christians nearby, not at all. Its just that when we read the bible and look at how Christians today try to express their community gatherings, it seems to us that there is a disconnect. Several months ago we created a list of absolute essential requirements for any church we'd consider going to. We wanted to keep those items to a bear minimum with the possibility for lots of grace in other areas we also may not agree with. Here are a few of those things..... First, we both felt that having a plurality of elders in a group was always the biblical example and was especially important in today's church scene where the possibility of abuse of power seems to lurk everywhere. Though this first variable eliminates most churches, we couldn't compromise on this issue. Another thing we thought very important was the realization of God's authority in salvation and in His world. We just couldn't go to a fully Arminian church at this point. So this eliminates most of the rest of the churches. Recently we've realized that we don't fully appreciate the sermon-centric meetings. The Christian groups left at this point are so few as to be mostly non-existent. So what do we do?
We ask ourselves that every week almost. Compromise is not an option for us right now, so we fellowship with other Christians when we can, wherever we meet. Having a Christian mate is more meaningful to both of us now and we're trying to maximize our times together. God is good though; this life is a journey. We're greatful to be traveling with Christ in this life. If Christ is for us, who can be against us?

Greetings from cyberspace to friends family and any new comers,
Been a while since I posted and I have a few free moments at work (end of day) so I'll take full advantage! This January I start my MBA at Rockhurst U. I am curious about how this endeavor will go because this is the first major decision I have made in several years where I did not experience some (even a small)sort of leading from God, in the form of things falling into place, so to speak. The other decisions I am thinking of, getting married, moving to KC, renting our apartment, buying our car; all these had some form of satisfaction for me on the inside that the Lord wanted me to do the action. My process of deciding to go to Rockhurst has been more absent of God's leading in some ways than any of these other decisions. However, perhaps the Lord wants me to move away from making decisions primarily based on the "inner light" and give more equal weighting to practical considerations, common sense, and general biblical discernment, along with good advice/counsel. So, this is an expiriment for me then in this regard. My thirst for understanding how decision making for the Christian should take place has not abated!

Changes in Life....

Our life has changed some in the past few months. I was recently accepted to Rockhurst University after taking the GMAT (I got a 640!) and it looks like I will start there this spring semester. I am hoping to enjoy the academic environment again with some smart people and also make myself more marketable for the future. Joel is planning on entering too, so that will be very neat to go through the program with him at the same time.

Yesterday I was reflecting on my past experiences with trading and again thought about the possibility of entering that fascinating world. But I realized it is not as fascinating as it used to be. Not to say its still not pretty cool. I just don't have the absolute draw toward it anymore. Additionally, I would need to build up a good trading stake. I think that to be successful I would really need to trade securities that don't inspire much emotion in me. Although I have less emotion than most people, I still realize that my emotion betrayed me on many trades and made me take risks outside my system. I have thought that currencies would be the perfect vehicle. They are the dryest I can think of and also, outside of understanding the major broad fundamentals at work, which I already grasp some of, they are a pure technical play. All players are more or less on equal ground.

Does practising godliness on earth benefit us in heaven?

I have been thinking through this issue recently. I heard the scripture in Timothy that says godliness has promise on earth and in heaven, and that scripture in 1Cor 3 which says if a man's works are wood and hay they will be burned up and the man will suffer loss. I ask, what is that loss? And what is the gain of godliness we receive in heaven? If we all are glorified and perfected at that time what else would we receive and how are those distinctions between loss/gain seen?

For the wages of sin are death...

Last night I had opportunity to think on the mercy and sovereignty of God in salvation and how simple it seems to be. Recently I have thought again of the purity of the gospel message and how almost the whole evangelical world has a disconnect in thought about this gospel. Think about it with me; we remember Jesus' parable about the men who worked in the field and earned wages from the master of the field. The main thrust of this parable was that the master gave at a minimum exactly what each had earned justly. Then he gave extra to some of these workers. I do not think that this verse from Romans uses the word "wages" by coincidence. We all, the whole world of people, have sinned and earned everlasting condemnation. If God would have walked away from this world and dropped it in hell, He would have given all of us the just wages that we earned. I think most evangelicals would agree up to this point. But after here is the disconnect for these people. Can not God be merciful to some? Just like the field owner who gave more to some, could not God effectually save some of us? It is at this point that the evangelicals cry that "this is not fair!" But this last statement is the only logical conclusion of the first several premises. One can not agree to that point and logically disagree with the conclusion. I think this is why there seems to be a growing trend in the christian world to downplay the seriousness of sin and thus the reality of hell. If hell is not real, then the whole gospel can be changed. And, this illustrates how important it should be to the christian to retain a keen understanding of the reality of hell and even speak of that reality and its various aspects to others, even in the church meetings!

Greetings from Chicago!

I am writing from a hotel rooom in the west suburbs of of the Windy City. My in-laws took me and Katie here to see the annual air and water show and to see some other sites in the city. I have been here before about 2 years ago. Each time I visit I am struck by the street beggers. Oh, they are in KC too, but not to the same degree. In our city they show up in one mode primarily, that is sitting at a busy intersection with a sign asking for money. And there is some of that here in Chicago too, quite a bit actually. But another type is the street musician/begger. These people appear primarily in the subway underground. They usually perform alone and usually are not terribly talented. But I appreciate these type of people. Unlike the breed in KC, they are trying to work for their pay, so to speak. I can give money with a good conscience to them. I recall the passage, "if a man will not work, neither let him eat." Though this was written to the church, the principal applies to all I think. Those who are not willing to even try to add value through labor or thought are those who are not willing to work, and are those who should not benefit from that lack. So, I have enjoyed the performers on this trip, as I did the last one. And I have felt like it would even be a good thing to go out of my way to reward such people as their line of thinking seems to be lacking in some cities!

Home Again!

Greetings from Cyberspace,
I am once again online! Almost a full year has passed since we cut our internet connection; it has been a good year, but I am ready for connectivity again, God willing without the negatives of before.

Hopefully I can post some interesting and thought provoking material on this blog. Feel free to leave a comment, especially if you don't agree with something I've said. I'd really love to learn from your wisdom.

Until then,

Peace

Seth

8 days to go until we have our laptop!!!

Its been almost a year since we had internet access, and we're really excited to gain it back. Its been a good experience though; I feel like we have learned some good things. Fll unrestricted access can be a temptation I think; I had problems with surfing for hours instead of doing more righteous and needful things. But being able to keep in touch with friends and look up NEEDED information is a a gift from God. I hope I haven't lost all my few readers; perhaps I can gain you back. I'm not really trying to have a big time blog like Challies or InternetMonk. I do want to interact with other people about real stuff in life and talk about things that I may not get a chance to talk about anywhere else.

So until then....

Peace

Coming Soon.....!

In 2 weeks we will be buying a laptop and therefore enabling regular and private internet access. I plan to re-engage my blog at that point. Stay tuned!