Lyrical Theology

While I’m sitting here with my mom watching another wonderful movie thanks to Netflix for keeping the hits coming, I thought I’d review the latest album I’ve gotten, Lyrical Theology by Shai Linne.  Let me just say, I wish all albums produced such giddiness in me. 

I LOVE THIS ALBUM.  It was love at first hearing.  Listening to each song was like opening another wonderful present.  I never knew this music was missing from my heart until I heard it and it brought such joy! 

Maybe the beats are an old school throw back, but Lyrical Theology delivers with it’s lyrics.  These songs are very deliberate in unfolding Biblical Reformed theology in an easy to understand way, so you don’t have to be a scholar to understand what he’s saying. 

I don’t know, I’ve never heard an album just break down in a systematic theology path.  But literally I smile listening to every song. I’m not lying or exaggerating when I say it makes me giddy. 

Table of Contents gives an overview of where Shai’s theology will go in the album, and this song introduces the powerful theological truths that are about to be broken down.  There is no mistaking where this man is going, and it’s in a "no apologies this is what the Bible says" direction. 

And then Shai takes us there, from the hypostatic union, to active obedience… and let’s clarify, the active obedience is the active obedience of Christ, not our works.  Exalted is a sweet praise song thrown in the mix.  Regeneration, The Holy Spirit, Election… who writes songs unpacking these theological truths?  Shai, thank you brother.

Cosmic powers brings us the reality of the spiritual battle we’re all in, and it’s important to have that perpective, especially… our culture tends to ignore anything supernatural.  I wish there were more songs like this, how to engage in spiritual warfare.  Maybe that’s because of my own struggles with experiencing spiritual warfare and delusions and hallucinations, and I’m desperate for encouragement.  That to say, I appreciate this song a lot. 

False Teachers is by far the most controversial song of the album.  But I love it, it really blasts a lot of the blasphemous teachers out there getting away with lies virtually unscathed.  There will always be people wanting the health and wealth prosperity gospel, but the more people that are warned that that is NOT the Gospel, the better.  Shai takes responsibity of teaching his fans how to discern false doctrines.  Then he actually calls out some of the many false teachers in our society, Joel Osteen and then some.  I haven’t heard artists outright explicitly name those false teachers so I’m glad to hear it said.  This song should stir up conversations that need to be had, especially in the church, because false teachers really are confusing the flock and misleading them. 

Preach it Shai!

The rest of the songs are just as vibrant.  I really enjoy the Q and A with Stephen the Levite… but I enjoy them all actually.  I love a song that challenges us to read the Word, and With All My Mind seems the most fitting song to end an album that has engaged our minds with rich theology. 

I love the album because it brings these great theological truths into songs that people can understand and follow and learn from, and it's straight up good rap.  Music is SO influential to a person’s life, mind, soul, everything.  So, any album that can engage the Gospel clearly, explicitly, theologically sound, is a hit in my book.  Lyrical Theology is not just another hit, though, it hits the ball out of the park.  Please get the album and listen up J  and be blessed. 

French Fries

A little rhyme I made with a client today while she snacked on her favorite: FRENCH FRIES!

I love my french fries; they're the best
All other foods can take a rest
My tastebuds put them to the test
Yes french fries are the very best

Let me catch up on my ketchup
If you like french fries come on stand up

The fries at the bowling alley
Rack up some of the highest tally
They always bowl a perfect strike
Tasty yeah that's what I like

Yeah french fries are the very best
When I eat them I'm truly blessed   :) 

Teaching Overseas and the Will of God

I’ve decided I’m going to teach in East Asia for at least a year.  I’d like to go within the year, actually by September, but I do have some affairs to put in order, mostly financial affairs.  What an irony that I need to have money saved to go to a job where I will make money. 

Still, I’ve had mixed responses to my decision, and not all good ones. 

I know my mom doesn’t think I should go overseas. 

Something to do with the risks of being bi-polar.  I get that there’s risk, but there’s risk anywhere in the world that I could go.  I’m not going to spend the rest of my life in Clemmons out of fear. 

I actually haven’t talked a lot in detail about this yet.  But the girls I have breakfast with on Sunday mornings had a definite shock to my revelation. 

And, it wasn’t a good shock, it was a this could be a really bad idea shock. 

Sylvia did have a good point that it would be a huge risk because this past time I had to go to the hospital, I was at home with support systems in place.  What if I had to go to the hospital overseas, with no support?

Well, I guess I’d get to write about the hospitals in China… or Japan… or Indonesia… either way I have a feeling it’d make for an intriguing book.  Although not having visitors in a hospital really sucks, I’m not going to lie. 

Lora was like, you need to make sure you have enough saved up, what if you needed an emergency plane ticket back to the U.S.?  This I would probably have neglected if I had just completely impulsively left in the next month.  Seriously would have said whatever!  Sheesh. 

You know, I could just immediately, if I really wanted to. Would just have to wait for passport and visa, but I could negotiate a plane ticket over if I wanted a job bad enough.  That’s how much they really want native English speaking teachers.  That is very good for me.

There’s this verse in Acts I’ve been meditating on, well, a couple of verses… but they say,”For if this plan or this undertaking is of man, it will fail, but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You might even be found opposing God.” Acts 5:38-39

So… this Pharisee here, Gamaliel, is speaking to the Pharisees to leave the apostles alone and see whether their teachings will remain or simply run out of steam and perish.  The apostles were on fire, literal tongues of fire at Pentecost had come and given them supernatural abilities to preach the gospel in all different languages and do miracles in Christ’s name, it was pretty awesome… and the Pharisees were not happy about it.  Well, they were being blamed for crucifying Jesus, but they did, so… anyhow, the legacy of the apostles is penned in the New Testament for us to see the power of the Gospel today, so I’d say their teachings were legit. 

Anyhow, I think there’s a good understanding here of… well, I think it’s another way of trusting God’s providence.  I mean, I really do want to go overseas to live, and I’m not trying to limit this to a certain timeline and say if I’m not overseas by this time it must not be the will of God.  It’s more just… if things do not work out immediately, I guess that will be my answer.

But, I don’t think that means stop trying if you really want to do something, sometimes you really have to be persistent and go after what you want.  Plenty of people have to apply to college more than once, to grad school multiple times, to jobs they really want… you don’t give up. 

So… if a big reason I would be at risk overseas is because of my bi-polar, I better start researching now to find some good international psychiatrists.  I’m sure there are plenty in the bigger cities of Asia, it’s a matter of finding the right one for me, and then that would direct my job search big time.  Right now, I’m casting the nets to see what the catch has.  I’ll let you know the fruits of my labor. 

 

Joseph's Many Blessings

After reading Genesis 41, I have a few deeper thoughts to ponder about Joseph.  I’m not sure what I already wrote, so sorry if it’s redundant.  But, my heart read this part of the story in more detail this morning. 

First of all, I notice God’s timing in all of these events.  In Genesis 40, we see Joseph in charge of the prison interpreting the dreams of Pharaoh’s servants.  God gives him the interpretations, and each of the dreams came true.  However, when the cupbearer is restored to his position in the palace, he forgets about Joseph for the next two years.  Joseph asked him to remember him and try to get him out of prison.  He was in prison unjustly, for not sleeping with his boss’s wife.  She totally set him up for that… making sure there were no helpers in the house… trying to lure him into bed… I’m sure she was beautiful, she was the wife of an Egyptian stud leader, I’m sure he had his pick of beautiful women.  But Joseph is resolute, he will not defile his master in such a way.  Then she conveniently grabs his robe when he runs and has her story all ready to land him in prison.  She is used to having her way, and taking down anyone standing in that way.  Her husband believes her and is angry at Joseph.  I always wonder if he is simply blinded to reality by his wife’s beauty, or what.  But he throws Joseph in the can. 

P.S. Joseph’s coats keep getting him into trouble!  He needs to watch what he’s wearing. 

So all that to say, Joseph’s stuck in prison because he has integrity.  That sucks.  Then there’s this glimmer of hope of getting out when he interprets this dream of the cupbearer correctly.  Finally things will turn around for him!  And then, he’s just forgotten.  For another 2 years.  In prison.  Now, prison back in those days was not as nice as it is now.  So, his fate is even worse than what it would translate into in modern times.  But, it’s not until Pharaoh has disturbing dreams that Joseph is remembered at all.  And here’s the thing.  If Joseph had left prison two years earlier, who knows if the Pharaoh could have tracked him down.  But as it is, Pharaoh gives Joseph a chance out of chains, and God delivers Joseph from the prison he had been in.  God helps Joseph interpret the dreams and gives him the meaning.  Pharaoh is so impressed that he puts Joseph in charge, makes him second in command over the whole country, and Joseph is able to save many lives in Egypt during the times of extreme famine.  God knew what He was doing, keeping Joseph in chains a few years longer.  I bet Joseph didn’t know at that time what the purpose was. 

I say this because God calls me to trust his perfect timing in my life.  Maybe I have not been ready to go overseas until now, but God has prepared me.  Maybe I have not had a full time job, but God has had other things in store for me. I just know that the temptation to not trust God’s timing is always there, and having faith is moment by moment, not a one time decision.  The hard thing is not knowing the plan and how everything will turn out.  And the tricky thing is, sometimes we don’t see God’s blessings in our circumstances.  Paul was praising God in prison, when he was beaten, when he was stoned… his joy carries him through crappy circumstances.  He is thankful for his salvation and ability to endure even in, and especially in, weakness.  Circumstances are not what we should rely on for blessings, the presence of God is our blessing. 

Next, I noticed the names of Joseph’s kids, and the reasons he chooses their names.  His firstborn son’s name symbolizes that God made Joseph forget all his hardship and all his father’s house, and his second son’s name means that God has made Joseph fruitful in the land of his affliction.  So… this give me a better picture of where Joseph’s heart has been.  Being accused of a crime he was innocent for and forgotten about in prison for years did take a toll on him, I can’t imagine the scarring that was left.  And his brothers wanting to murder him and selling him into slavery?  Talk about pain and hurt.  His brothers hated and rejected him.  He could not help that he was his dad’s favorite, and apparently parents in that time just showed blatant favoritism towards their children and didn’t care that it would hurt the other kids… still.  My spirits would have been so low, even though God’s hand of blessing seemed to follow Joseph, there was a lot of pain.  But God restored Joseph, and there was healing in his heart towards all the injustices he had been through.  He could see now there was a reason.  He no longer held onto any bitterness and frustration his heart had battled.  His hardships were forgotten… maybe not the hardship of circumstances, but the hardships of his heart. 

Then, God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.  Not only has Joseph forgotten the bitterness and pain of all these horrible injustices that he endured, God has turned everything around and heaped blessings and blessings upon him.  He is fruitful.  Blessings in abundance.  Meaning, purpose, vision, hope, salvation, so many blessings.  And, I think God wants us to experience his blessings the same way.  He wants our lives to be fruitful.  He is looking for us to cling to Him for our blessings. 

There is only one God who can allow us to go through life in all different circumstances and allow us to experience His Joy when life is hard and heartbreaking  instead of bitterness and resentment.  There is only one way of salvation that brings us hope and restoration to God’s kingdom, and his name is Jesus Christ.   HE IS OUR BLESSING.  Our lives will be fruitful in the light of His glory and grace, because He does indeed restore our purpose, to bring Him glory by enjoying him forever.  What an amazing God and King! 

Joseph's Great Faith

So… every time I read about Joseph in the Bible, I am in awe of him. 

I wish I had that kind of faith in God’s providence.  But I don’t, and I freak out whenever life throws question marks at me.  Why would I lose that job?  Why would I get that job?  Why am I in Winston-Salem?  Why do I have bi-polar?  What does that even mean? 

But… Joseph… so he was a daddy’s boy… if you have a bunch of brothers that resent you for being the favorite, would you think to watch your back?  Well, if you have that many brothers gang up on you, I’m not sure what kind of odds you’d have. 

Still, if my brothers sold me into slavery, I would be like, what the heck?  God, why are you doing this to me? 

So then, Joseph is sold to this Egyptian stud senator, Potiphar, and the household flourishes and is blessed because of Joseph.  You think, things are looking up again for Joseph.  Maybe there was some greater purpose for his being sold into slavery. 

Except Potiphar’s wife tries to seduce him, and what does he get for resisting the temptation?  Thrown into jail. 

Seriously.  I would have been saying that to God.  Seriously?  Prison?  What is going on?  Why me? 

But then, he ends up being put in charge of the prison.  God blesses him again. 

Then he does a little dream interpretation for a few of Pharaoh’s servants.  And his interpretations come true.  The servant that is restored to Pharaoh’s service then forgets about Joseph’s help. 

Seriously?!  I thought this was it, and I’d be getting out of jail!  But no, stuck in jail even longer. 

Until Pharaoh needs help with his own crazy dreams.  That’s when the servant says Oh yeah there’s this Joseph fellow in jail who interpreted my dream and it came true, maybe he can help you out. 

I would be a little freaked out if I was in jail and the president sent for me and said, I’ve had this troubling dream and I’ve heard you can tell me what it means.  YOIKS! 

Thankfully, God was with Joseph, helped him interpret the dream.  Actually Joseph straight up tells Pharaoh that God will interpret the dream. So, he does, through Joseph, and then Pharaoh makes Joseph second in command.  CRAZY. 

But, Joseph is able to wisely store the abundant harvests of Egypt and then provide food during the famine of the land.  And he saves many lives.  And his family does end up bowing down to him. 

Joseph tells his brothers what they intended for harm, God intended for good. 

We don’t get a description of the inner battles of Joseph, only that he continued to have faith in God regardless of his circumstances.  I hope to learn that he struggled with his faith at times, too… to give me hope that God can indeed grow my faith in Him in all circumstances.  God has a plan and a purpose for everything.