One of the toughest things for me to do is appreciate somebody. Actually, that’s wrong. I appreciate a lot of people. One of the toughest things for me to do is SHOW that appreciation to them, through words, cards, actions, etc. It’s one thing to be thankful for someone who has helped me out along the way. It’s another thing entirely to call them up and express how thankful I am, to sit down and write them a card, or to take them out to coffee and thank them in person.

Showing my appreciation for others is something I’ve never quite grasped. Sure, I’ll say “thanks” on Facebook or any other social media site I’ve wrongly adapted as my main communication tool, but truly showing my appreciation is something I still need to learn.

I was told about this site the other day called Appreciation Whack. On this site you can sign up to send appreciation cards to those you are thankful for, whether they’re employees, friends, or clients. It’s not an E-card; it’s an actual card in an envelope with a stamp on it and everything. It will show up in their mailbox. And it will be free. The people who run this site understand the value in showing your appreciation to others.

That being said I’m not sure I’ll use it. I hope instead I’ll be encouraged to send the cards myself. I hope I’ll start calling people and writing people. I hope I’ll start letting others know I’m thankful for what they’ve done. I challenge you to do the same. Call someone. Write someone. Thank Someone.

So, who are you thankful for?

Today I wrapped up a two month course on the life and teachings of the Apostle Paul and if I learned anything it’s this: the dude had a knack for teaching.

Paul taught the gospel to thousands – if not millions – of new believers in the Mediterranean world, then he taught others how to ensure that gospel grew and became stronger than the false gospels of false teachers. He taught many people many things, and because many of his letters are still with us, he’s continuing to teach today. That, my friends, is called success.

I personally learned a number of things over the last two months. There are so many theological themes in Paul’s letters; you can easily get lost trying to sort them all out and understand them. I did…get lost. There are also many simple themes that we too often forget, three of which that are perhaps more important than the rest: we are only justified by faith, false teachers are everywhere, and we are going to be persecuted so we better just learn to deal with it (or rejoice!).

1. We Are Only Justified by Faith
In my opinion, the most important theme in the Pauline epistles is that we are only justified by faith. Paul wrote often that we have no hope if we rely on our own power and that is oh so true. We are “under the power of sin”¹ and because so we stand alone, separated from God. We can be made right with God of course, but there is only one way, “by placing our faith in Jesus Christ.” ² Worrying about what clothes you wear, how you do your hair, how many times you pray a day, or how many hours you volunteer at church a week, none of it makes us right with God, only faith in Jesus Christ. Paul knew that. I hope you do.

I know that I don’t know everything (some would say I know nothing). I know that much of my understanding is faulty. But. I have faith. So I no longer have to worry about knowing everything, I just have to worry about my faith and then walk in that faith and grow in the Holy Spirit.

2. False Teachers Are Everywhere
There were many false teachers in Paul’s world, those who taught contrary to justification by faith, and those who taught contrary to any faith at all. In almost every letter, Paul spoke of the need to be weary of false teachers and to not let “a little yeast…spread through the whole batch of dough!”³

Today the false teachers are still abound. They are on MySpace. They are on Twitter. They are on Facebook. They have their own blogs. (Hi!) They talk about the need to do this and the need to do that. They talk about not needing to do this and not needing to do that. They are everywhere, unknowingly spreading a false message. And I’ll even admit it. I could be one. I don’t think anybody knowingly spreads false teachings. That is why it is so important for me – everyone – to continue to spend time with Christ and pray for wisdom and strength so that I will not become swayed by their teachings and miss out on “God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand.” ⁴

3. We are Going to be Persecuted So We Better Just Learn to Deal With It (or rejoice!).
In his letter to Philippians, which is one of my favorites, Paul encourages the believers there to stay encouraged and not to “be intimidated in any way by your enemies.” ⁵ In Paul’s world, there was a lot of persecution, especially against new believers who claimed the Messiah had come. The same persecution exists today in that part of the world and believers there deal with the threat of losing their life every day, just because they believe.

Thankfully in the Western world you can’t get hung or burned or stoned for believing in Christ. But what you can get is even worse! You could get…made fun of. What’s worse than getting laughed at or joked about behind your back because you talk about Jesus every once in a while?

In my younger years I had trouble with this. When you are young you desire to be cool, hip, popular. Maybe it was because I failed at all three, but now I solely desire to be with God. I know that the ridicule means nothing in the grand scheme of things. “Things of the world that once seemed important have lost their attraction; nothing compares to the infinite value of knowing Christ.” I read that in my study bible. So, as Paul wrote, we must stay encouraged and “always be full of joy in the Lord.” ⁶

So there you have it. Three simple themes from Paul’s letters that allow me to stand confident and joyful in my faith. I hope they stick with me forever. I know that I am justified, not by my works or words, but by the faith that lies in my heart. I know that I must stand encouraged and must shake any persecution or ridicule off my back; it means nothing compared to the joy of Christ. And I know that there are false teachers everywhere, hoping to rob me and you of our salvation. I pray every day they don’t succeed.

1. Rom 3:9 NLT
2. Rom 3:22
3. Gal 5:9
4. Phil 4:7
5. Phil 1:28
6. Phil 4:4

I was going through some old writings and found a poem I wrote a couple years ago. Steph and I had been dating for a few months when she left to visit Europe for a month with friends, leaving me alone to get that left behind feeling. I missed her, so I decided to write her a poem. Unfortunately, I’m not great at being romantic, so what started that way turned out like this. It’s the best I could do.

Steph and I celebrated our first anniversary by renting a cabin in the Smoky Mountains. It was a peaceful, private(ish) cabin with one bedroom and a game room with a pool table, etc. It had a hot tub on the back porch where there were also chairs to take in the view. It was beautiful, and the only we lacked was time (and money) to spend an extra night up there. Here are some pictures from the weekend.

A few years ago, a girl I had just begun dating had to get me a gift for my birthday. I suppose she didn’t have to; I should say she wanted to. But what I really wanted – a long, thick gold necklace that I could wear proudly around town – was out of the question. We had only been dating two weeks. You can’t get someone a gift like that after two weeks. It would just be weird.

She ended up settling on a book titled Blue Like Jazz, by Donald Miller. It was a book she considered one of her favorites. It was book I had never heard of, and wasn’t sure I wanted to read. She was right of course – she knew me well even back then – and today that girl is my wife, and all of Donald Miller’s books have a special place on my bookshelf.

I consider myself a fan of Donald Miller, and although none of his other books have matched the success of Blue Like Jazz, each of them have their qualities I admire and learn from.  He has a canny ability to express his thoughts in a way that makes people think, sometimes cry, but most importantly laugh. In his latest project, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years, Miller grabs all his wit and humor that has earned him success and runs with it in a new direction. Rather than simply writing down his thoughts on life and religion, Miller brings the reader along on his personal, often painful, journey to a greater understanding of life and the story within it. From his new passion for cycling, his hiking trip along the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu, and the kindling – and de-kindling – of a new relationship, it’s his own personal story, about the desire we all have to create our own story, and the need to get off our backsides and start living it.

A Million Miles in a Thousand Years might just be Miller’s best book yet. Not because it has his best writing – it doesn’t – and not because it has his most profound thoughts – it doesn’t – but because it forces the reader to look inward and examine their own story rather than looking outward in agreement. Where Blue Like Jazz allowed me to sit on my couch and nod my head in agreement at how I felt the Christian world should be, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years forced me to look inward and reexamine my own life and what I can do to make sure it’s a story worth living. It’s as if William Wallace himself wrote a book about a comment he made to a French Princess a long, long time ago: Every man dies…not every man really lives (insert your own bad Scottish accent). Every time I hear that phrase in Braveheart I get fired up. A Million Miles in a Thousand Years has the same effect, kind of, but you get my point.

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As a side note, thanks to Thomas Nelson Books for sending me an advanced copy to read and review. They also sent me an extra copy which I’ve decided to randomly give away to one lucky son (or daughter) of a gun. There are two ways to enter to win, leave a comment about your favorite Donald Miller book and why, or post this review on Twitter. Either way gets your name in the “drawing”, doing it both ways means your extra special, but you still only get one chance to win. I’ll email/tweet the winner a week from today. Good luck!

I’ve been asked, and two months later, I’ve finally obliged and taken pictures of our rental home here in Maryville, TN. As you’ll see, it’s not big, it’s not grand, but it’s home, for now…

I spent a number of hours in the book of Acts today, studying up on the life and journeys of Paul. The thing that stuck with me throughout the day was his courage, even in the face of constant persecution from Jewish leaders. When threatened with the broad side of stones, or when thrown out of town by the ring of his collar, he was able to stand back up, “shake the dust from his feet” ¹ and keep on keeping on, one time even turning around and heading back into town. ²

I suppose I admire this because I myself am afraid of a cat’s meow. The dust might clear from my feet, but only from running a mile in the opposite direction. Instead of the courage of Paul I have the fear of a mama’s boy. When it comes to spreading the good news, if I am threatened, laughed at, or even sense rejection, I will close my mouth and forget I ever said anything. Usually I never get that far. I have too much fear, even though I know and believe that I should “fear not, for the Lord is with me.” ³

I have other fears. I fear heights, or rather falling from said heights. I fear the dark of an empty house and the European Hornets nesting in my back yard. I am even beginning to fear the fans of the University of Tennessee.

I know I am not alone. We all have fears. Some of us fear heights, some of us fear opening the Bible and sharing it with a friend. Me, evidently I fear it all.

What do you fear?

1. Acts 13:51: “So they shook the dust from their feet as a sign of rejection and went to the town of Iconium.”
2. Acts 14:19-20: “Then some Jews…stoned Paul and dragged him out of town, thinking he was dead. But as the believers gathered around him, he got up and went back into town.”
3. Isaiah 41:10

Yes, Yes, I know. I believe it is obvious now. Knoxville has turned me into a terrible blogger. I was definitely sub-par before, but know I am terrible. I guess it’s because I’ve been enjoying myself so much that I really haven’t felt the call to post anything. For the last 3 1/2 weeks I’ve been living it up by not working one bit (up until this wed). Instead I’ve been reading, watching movies, mowing the lawn, barbecueing, shopping for home stuff, shopping for groceries (ok, that’s a lie, Steph does that), jogging, napping, traveling, hiking (almost), and last but certainly the highlight of the 3 1/2 weeks, just lounging with Stephanie. It’s been a blast, but have no fear, or nothing but fear, because I’m back at work, and now I should fall back into that mode of working and studying and complaining, I mean blogging.

Until then I will leave you with a link to a new photo gallery. Steph and I went to Chattanooga this weekend and had a blast. We went to Rock City, Ruby Falls, the Aquarium, etc. It was fun, and an opportunity to dust off the camera and try to remember how to use it. The results are here, in a gallery of photos from all parts of the trip.

The first few photos are from Rock City, a city of, um, rocks. It is a basically a walking path through rocks, over bridges and up to lookout points where you can see (if there are no clouds) seven states at once.

We also visited Ruby Falls, a waterfall that comes out of nowhere inside the caves of Lookout Mountain. The cave was pretty neat, but the Waterfall was truly amazing. I’m not sure that comes off so well in the pictures.

We also visited the Aquarium, which rumor has it is one of the best in the U.S. I haven’t been to many (none), but this was was definitely nice.

Enjoy the pics!