The UNC Basketball Uber-fan

Guest post by Owen Strachan

In GQ magazine, Brandon Sneed has written an arresting profile of perhaps the ultimate college basketball fan. His name is Greg Cauley, and he is devoted to UNC sports on a religious level. The piece is fun to read even as it is a sobering reminder to be careful when it comes to sports fanaticism. Jesus, not basketball, deserves adoration.

An excerpt:

Cauley plans work around the fix, getting ahead and coordinating so that for 7 p.m. games he can leave around 1 or 2 p.m. "I'd rather sit in the gym for an hour than sit in traffic for an hour," he says. When games start at 9 p.m., he doesn't have to leave work early, but that means he gets home around 3 or 4 the next morning, giving just enough time for a nap before rising for work at 6:30 and hitting Bojangles—a Southern-style fast food chain enormously popular in North Carolina—for breakfast.

Jesus Knows How to Live Between

Guest post by Michael Kelley. The following is taken from my book, Wednesdays Were Pretty Normal: A Boy, Cancer, and God about our 2 year old son's cancer diagnosis and the impact on our faith as a family:

"I found myself unconsciously slipping into a prayer for relief. Asking for a miracle. Begging, really. Just like Paul.

He asked the Lord, too. He asked him several times to take his thorn away. And he got back the same answer we did: No. This was going to be a long journey. A journey of years. There was to be no immediate relief of the pain, but as Paul discov- ered, that didn’t mean the Lord was absent.

In the case of Paul’s thorn, the request to remove it was denied, but an elaboration of the negative answer was given: “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weak- ness” (2 Cor. 12:9).
The Lord had chosen for our family to live this portion of our lives as a visible demonstration of life “between.” He was going to show His own strength through our weakness. The days when we were at the end of our rope were also the days when the sustaining grace and strength of God were to be most visible. He did not promise us that the pain would go away; but He promised that in the midst of it, His grace would be all that we needed.

We were left with the hard choice of believing that to be true. We had to choose to trust not in our own ability to be patient with a child on steroids, or even to get out of bed in the morning, but in the One who promised He would be strong in our stead.

But the great news of the gospel is that the power to sustain us comes from Jesus, who knows even better than we do what it is like to have one foot in heaven and one foot on Earth. Sustaining grace for life between comes from One who knows both the glory and the pain. It comes from One who knows the fullness of God and the fullness of man. It comes from One who was raised up on two crossbeams to where He was physically positioned not quite in the air and yet not quite on the earth either. It comes from One who knows what life is like in the “between.” For when we look into the face of our Jesus, we rejoice, too, even in our thorns, because when we are weak, we are strong.

Jesus sustained us by His grace. We woke every morning, and the best way we knew how, knowing that the day would hold both moments of joy and moments of pain, we trusted in His strength. We trusted that He would be mighty in our weakness."


Find the book here.

Preaching the Book of Galatians to Yourself – Chapter Four

Guest post by BJ Stockman

Chapter Four

• As a son of God, I am no longer a slave to the elemental spirits of the world.  Satan and demons do not have authority over me because I am God’s son.  (4:1-3)

• I have been redeemed because God sent Jesus who is a man like me, yet who fulfilled the law of God on my behalf.  Jesus has redeemed me from living under the curse of the law because he bore the curse and fulfilled the requirements of the law for me. (4:4-5)

• I am God’s adopted son.  He did not have to love me, but he chose to love me.  (4:5)

• God has sent the Spirit of Jesus within me so that I have an intimate relationship with the Father like a child has with his/her Daddy.  (4:6)

• I am no longer a slave to anything, but Christ, and Christ is my brother and God is my Father. (4:7)

• As God’s son, I am an heir of a great inheritance beyond any wealth that can be achieved in this world or bigger than any estate in this world.  I am an heir through the means of God’s grace, and am an heir of God Himself and all that Jesus owns, which is everything.  (4:7)

• Because God has known me and chosen me, and I have known and chosen Him, I will not turn back to slavery to demons or anything else, but will live as a son in the freedom Jesus has purchased for me and in the victory Jesus has won for me. (4:8-9)

• I will not be held captive to observing special days and religious traditions, but I will be captivated by Christ and not the shadows that pointed to him.  (4:10)

• I recognize that sometimes God uses physical infirmities, whether sickness or pain, in believers to further the spread of the Gospel.  More than physical prosperity I desire that the Gospel prosper throughout the world.  I will value the Gospel as the greatest good and not my own health as the greatest good.  (4:13)

• I will welcome those who have physical infirmities, and not despise them.  I will seek to do all I can to help alleviate the physical infirmities of others. (4:14-15)

• I desire Paul’s passion that Jesus be formed in those around me.  Similar to a mother enduring the pain of childbirth to enjoy a baby, I will endure all things to see that Jesus is formed within my friends and family.  When life is difficult, trials come, and those around me disappoint and begin to drift away from the Gospel.  I will not lose hope, but I will strive even more, even when it causes me emotional pain, to see that they love and trust Jesus. (4:19)

• I will listen to the true meaning of the law, as it always points to the freedom that Christ brings. (4:21, 31)

• I recognize that Abraham had a child of promise from Sara who is free and a child of flesh from Hagar who is enslaved, and that I am a child of promise who should live in freedom.  (4:22-28)

• I will not trust in a life of law-centered living, which is the false gospel of Ishmael and Hagar and Mt. Sinai, but will entrust my whole being to Jesus, which is the Gospel of Isaac and Sara and the Jerusalem above.  Therefore I do not need to follow the Jewish law to be a true son of God or to reach a higher level of Christian spirituality; I just need to trust the person and work of Jesus alone, which is the only pathway to Christian maturity.  (4:22-28)

• I will not take things into my own hands like Abraham did with Hagar to achieve the blessing of God, but I will trust God’s promises that he will accomplish what He promised in due time.  (4:23)

• I will live a life of joy because I am a child of the free woman. (4:27)

• I believe that God does supernatural miracles and brings supernatural blessing to desolate people. (4:27)

• I know that there are those, children of the flesh, who would seek to bring me back into enslavement according to law and legalism, and persecute me because of my freedom, doing it in the name of God and covenant.  I will not  submit to them and act contrary to who I am in Christ, as if I am a son of bondage to law, but will live as a son of God in freedom. (4:29)

• I believe that those who distort the truth of the Gospel of Christ and turn it into slavery to law, like Hagar’s children, are to be driven out of the church.  (4:30)

A Good Window into the Professional Sports World

Guest post by Joe Crispin

When folks I don’t know find out that I am a professional athlete, they usually become very intrigued and, more times than not, give the indication that it must be the coolest job in the world. I understand why, I really do. For I am a firm believer that it really should be the coolest job in the world. The problem is, however, that it is often far from what it really ought to be.

The reasons why are many (and they definitely vary depending on where you are). And I have found few writers who have written insightfully on the topic. But I just found one in David Halberstam. So I want to recommend his book (or at least the one book of his that I have now read), The Breaks of the Game, to you.

It was written over 25 years ago, so there are some things that are dated, but it is still in print for a reason. It’s simply a classic book on the professional basketball world and the team dynamic. His focus is on the Portland Trailblazers’ seasons in the late 1970’s to early 1980’s, but he goes far beyond the wins and losses and writes insightfully about everyone involved (and even many not involved). From coaches to players to front office personnel, he gives you are good window into the ups and downs of the professional sports world and why certain teams are successful. The pressures involved, the inevitable internal, personal and business struggles that go on, and so much more.

So if you are into professional sports and want to better understand that world (and it really is its own world in many respects) and/or better understand why certain teams are better than others, his book is a good place to start. I highly recommend it.

(Note: cross-posted from JoeCrispin.com)

The Already and Not Yet of Hell

Guest Post by Dave Dorr

When I get motivated for evangelism, I rarely get much energy out of the reality that people are going to hell when they die.

I think this is the case because I am tired of preaching the gospel as good news for your death. The gospel IS good news for your death. But people don't think about their death as much as they think about their life. (Isn't that true of you? It is certainly true of me).

And the gospel is great news for your life. Isn't that what the whole gospel-centered movement is really about? The gospel makes a difference for your life right now, both at conversion and then everyday afterwards.

And that is incredibly motivating.

Here's why: When we become a Christian we are transferred from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of Jesus Christ (Colossians 1:13). So in just a little way, the kingdom of God is present wherever we are, because we are a part of that kingdom. But, of course, the opposite is also true. The kingdom of darkness was present wherever we were before our conversion. We were unwittingly doing our part of bringing the kingdom of darkness on earth as it will be in hell.

It is the "already and not yet" of hell.

But when the gospel is believed all of that changes. And believing the gospel is stopping the advance of hell right now, not just making sure people don't go to hell when they die. Satan is bringing hell to earth and Jesus is bringing heaven to earth. Satan has his people and Jesus has His.

And what's incredible is Jesus wins even in our defeats. That is what it means to be more than a conquerer (Romans 8:37). Even our suffering serves us and the present advance of the gospel. As Paul later said, "My imprisonment has resulted in the whole praetorium guard hearing the gospel and the emboldening of other gospel preachers(Philippians 1:13, paraphrase)."

So maybe this helps strengthen your motivation for evangelism -- don't just preach the gospel so that people won't go to hell when they die. Preach the gospel so hell will not have one more inch of ground today.

Manufacturing Religion, Portlandia-style

Guest Post by Josh Montague

Our wayward hearts can turn anything into a religion.

We'll then exercise our feelings of superiority with the standards we've established by the new commandments of our religious views ("Thou Shalt Read Everything!"). And sometimes we're even willing to risk our lives for this neo-religious practice.

As a pastor who loves books, conferences, podcasts, blogs, and any other form of communication, I've seen and participated in this Portlandia-ish behavior. Have you read Keller's new post? Carson's new book? Seen Zach's new blog post? Heard Chandler's new sermon?

We're not righteous because of our manufactured standards. In fact, this manufacturing doesn't work. "You can never read enough!" warns the Preacher in Ecclesiastes.

So enjoy the multitude of gifts that the grace of God through the communication revolution has provided. But find your worth from the Giver.

A Simple Way to Die to the Self

Guest post by Michael Kelley.

Are you ready for it? I'll warn you beforehand - it's going to sound simple, but it's not. It takes great concentration and effort and no small measure of grace. So here goes - a simple way to die to the self:

Listen.

I mean really listen.

Here's why that's hard - because very few of us actually do it. Think about it - how many times, when leaving a conversation, have you forgotten the person's name you just met? How many times has a detail resurfaced in conversation that you should have remembered but didn't? How many times, as someone rattles on and on about their kids, their work, their ideas - do you simply tune out and look for an exit strategy to the conversation? How many times, if you heard a playback of the conversation, would you say something after someone else that only vaguely touches upon what they said and instead purports your own ideas?

Surely I can't be alone here.

I find myself, more often than I care to admit, thinking more about my own clever reply or better story or great response than actually listening when another person is talking. But when you choose to actually listen, you are making the active choice to die to the self. You are placing importance on another human being - more importance than on yourself.

It's true, those who actively listen, sometimes look like idiots in conversation because there are lulls after someone is speaking. But that's because the listener hasn't been thinking about how to respond nearly as much as he or she has been thinking about what is being said.

I'm willing to take that risk. Maybe you are, too. Listen today. Listen well.