You may have noticed in my sidebar a section entitled “Help Us Both Earn” which features a laptop, a Mac mini, an iPod video and an iPod nano. These offers are legitimate and yes, they do work. Of course, the items are not technically free, you do have to do a bit for them. Here’s the deal: sign up, complete an offer (which could be anything from Boca Java, BMG, Blockbuster Online [this one seems to be the easiest] and others). Then, depending on the item, you recruit “x” number of people to sign up under you and also complete offers. Once their offers are complete, you receive the item. So why don’t you consider trying it for yourself and helping me in the process!

Help us both earn a laptop computer.

Help us both earn a Mac mini computer.

Help us both earn an iPod video.

Help us both earn an iPod nano.

Tim Challies offers “live blogging” from the Together For the Gospel conference where I am until Friday.

• Follow all the action.

Well, I haven’t really gone fishing but I will be gone for the week attending the Together For the Gospel conference in Louisville and visiting friends. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to post from there or not, so with that ray of certainty, I may post more this week or I may not.

Growing up, my parents would watch the news program 60 Minutes nearly every week. For many years I was not quite old enough to grasp the ins and outs of the news coverage, and frankly, I was not all that interested. But I loved that warm old man who would come on at the end and talk about stamps or letting the dog out and draw out these wonderful life-lessons from everyday events.

One of the odd things about being a pastor is the continual hunt for sermon illustrations. While I don’t include an illustration in every sermon, they can be helpful, and it’s often the illustrations that will help people first to remember and then to internalize the content of a sermon.

Watching life with such an eye is both a blessing and a curse. On one hand, you find yourself continually analyzing life’s events in view of God’s Word, wondering what theological truth picking up child toys can drive home. On the other hand, I sometimes find myself wondering if I don’t have a bad case of Rooney-itis, over-analyzing every event in search of the cutest story I can find to tug at the proverbial heart-strings.

I had just such a moment the other day thinking about one of my dogs, Baxter. Baxter is a Golden Retriever. For several years, my wife has wanted a Golden Retriever, so when we moved to Texas, from an apartment into a house, that was one of the first things on her mind. We bought Baxter as a puppy. He’s a great dog, but as you may know, Golden Retrievers can be large and a large puppy is not always the best addition to a home of two (now three) boys!

Our boys have a love/hate relationship with Baxter. They do love him, but he’s still very much in that puppy phase and being as large as he is, he often hurts the boys unintentionally. They don’t like going in the backyard to play because, in his excitement, he often knocks them over. So, as much as we loved Baxter, we made the decision that he just wasn’t the right fit for our family and we gave him to another family in the church who lives up the river.

Everything seemed fine. The new family loved Baxter and with no small children, his size wasn’t as much of an issue. Until five months later when Baxter showed up at our doorstep. My family and I pulled up in the driveway when who should come bounding up the road but Baxter! It seems that he found his way out of the new yard, he walked up the river, into our subdivision and to our doorstep, five months later!

We returned Baxter to the new family, thinking that he maybe he had just wandered a bit too far and happened upon our house. We didn’t think anything of it until he showed up the next day, and the next, and the next. For seven days in a row we returned Baxter and he returned himself to us! Finally, we realized that this was our dog whether we thought so or not; his loyalty won out.

Of course, the Rooney/sermon illustration of these events blares like a megaphone into our consciences. What a rebuke it is to us that a dog expresses more loyalty to owners who didn’t want him than we do for our Creator and Sustainer. Man’s lack of loyalty is often the focus Scriptural rebuke. Reminding us that Scripture is not necessarily “G” rated, God often refers to His people as “whores” (Exodus 34:15-16, Judges 2:17, Psalm 106:39, etc.).

In his song “Wedding Dress,” Derek Webb sings the painful lines “I am a whore I do confess, I put you on just like a wedding dress and I run down the aisle. I’m a prodigal with no way home and I put you on just like a ring of gold and I run down the aisle.”

Ultimately, the root of the problem is that our pride convinces us that satisfaction can be found outside of God and His plan. Has a greater lie ever been told? Oh that we would “taste and see that the Lord is good” (Psalm 34:8). The key to overcoming our disloyalty is not to try harder to but “hunger and thirst for righteousness” (Matthew 5:6) above all else, to pray for that divine discontent that will allow us to find our satisfaction only in God.

Scripture continually admonishes us to be content. Whether it be Paul reminding us that he had learned to be “content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities” (2 Corinthians 12:10) because he had learned to be content not matter what situation he was in (Philippians 4:11). Elsewhere, Paul reminds us that “there is great gain in godliness with contentment” (1 Timothy 6:6). Jesus commands that we consider the birds and the flowers and, seeing God’s good provision for them, stop worrying because God is good (Matthew 6:25-34). Contentment is built upon the idea that God and His provisions are sufficient.

It seems odd then that there is a Beatitude for discontentment. After all, aren’t we to strive for contentment in all circumstances, recognizing God’s good, providing and directing hand? Yes we are, and we must never take our eyes off of Him and that is exactly the point of Matthew 5:6 which reminds us “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”

J.R. Miller, in his wonderful book of devotions “Come Ye Apart: Daily Readings in the Life of Christ” remarks “We know that peace is promised to the Christian, and peace is calm repose and satisfied restulness. The words ‘hunger and thirst’ appear to suggest experiences incompatible with rest and peace.” But when we begin to meditate on the words in context, we begin to see that “hunger and thirst” are signs of health rather than of want.

In the physical life, we recognize that a loss of appetite typically indicates an illness of some sort. So it is with the mind; a hungry mind is a healthy mind. When one becomes satisfied with intellectual attainment, he stops growing. Miller says “The same is true in spiritual life. If we become satisfied with our faith and love and obedience, and our communion with God, and our consecration to Christ, we have ceased to grow.”

There is indeed such a thing as “divine discontent” that, rather than saying God is not sufficient, says exactly the opposite, God alone is the fountain of pure joy from which we long to drink deeply, for nothing else will satisfy. Yet, there are many professing Christians who are starving their souls in the midst of abundance because they have no spiritual hunger. Miller warns “There is nothing for which we should pray more earnestly and more importunately than for spiritual longing and desire.”

Do you pray for the desire to pray? Do you pray for the desire to read? I know that far too often, I do not and as a result, far too often, I do not “hunger and thirst for righteousness.” But notice, it is not those who believe themselves to be satisfied who truly are. Rather, it is those who know that there is more to be had, those who “hunger and thirst” who will be satisfied at the end.

May we never grow content in our weakness. May we never grow complacent in our mediocrity. It is those who have truly tasted and seen that the Lord is good (Psalm 34:8) who will truly “hunger and thirst” for more of Him and His righteousness. May we pray for that divine discontent which drives us deeper into the joy of God’s glory every day and in every way.

You may have noticed in my sidebar a section entitled “Help Us Both Earn” which features a laptop, a Mac mini, an iPod video and an iPod nano. These offers are legitimate and yes, they do work. Of course, the items are not technically free, nothing is. You simply sign up, complete an offer (which could be anything from Boca Java, BMG, Blockbuster Online [this one seems to be the easiest] and others). Then, depending on the item, you recruit “x” number of people to sign up under you and also complete offers. Once their offers are complete, you receive the item. So why don’t you consider trying it for yourself and helping me in the process!

Help us both earn a laptop computer.

Help us both earn a Mac mini computer.

Help us both earn an iPod video.

Help us both earn an iPod nano.

Francis Schaeffer wrote in his short piece “Art & The Bible” that “The Christian is the one whose imagination should fly beyond the stars.” To that end, every Friday I feature poetry (and sometimes music). Though the poetry might not always be by Christians, I want to challenge Christians to think about art and expand our horizons and our understanding of the Gospel. Also to that end, I try to link to other people highlighting art on Fridays. Joe Thorn, Alex Forrest, Steve McCoy and Timmy usually post great photographs, so please pay them a visit.

Today’s poetry draws more from the mainstream, popular-level poetry. Rod McKuen is perhaps the best-selling poet of all time. Wikipedia notes, “McKuen’s commercial success is unparalleled in the field of modern poetry. His poetic works have been translated into a dozen languages and sold over 65 million copies.” Today’s selections come from 1967’s Listen to the Warm and 1954’s Stanyan Street and Other Sorrows.

McKuen wrote songs for Glenn Yarbough and Frank Sinatra among others. His style is typically very straightforward, drawing heavily on the themes of longing and alone-ness (not always the same as loneliness), often employing clever wordplay. It is accessible, which means that it immediately connects with some while falling a bit short for others. He was perhaps my first introduction to the idea of the relationship that could exist between poetry and life, and for that he will always hold a special place on my shelf, even if his style has been outgrown.

But before we get to the poetry, I’d like to offer two tracks for download from the now defunct band The Tundra Survey. Allmusic describes the music as “Sad and gentle atmospheric tunes are delivered by a lineup of viola, cello, flute/xylophone, electric guitar, and electric bass.” Falling roughly within the “chamber pop” genre, not out of place being compared to Rachel’s or even Godspeed You Black Emperor! or te Boxhead Ensemble. These two tracks are made available on the band’s website which is still in operation though the band called it quits several years ago.

• Download “Leaning Over Fault Lines” (direct download).
• Download “The Edge of Winter Transforming” (direct download).

And now on to the poetry. First is “The World I Used to Know” from the collection Listen To The Warm followed by “Apartment 4E” from Stanyan Street and Other Sorrows.

The World I Used To Know

Someday some old familiar rain
will come along and know my name.
And then my shelter will be gone
and I’ll have to move along.
But till I do I’ll stay awhile
and track the hidden country of your smile.

Someday the man I used to be
wil come along and call on me.
And then because I’m just a man
you’ll find my feet are made of sand.
But till that time I’ll tell you lies
and chart the hidden boundaries of your eyes.

Someday the world I used to know
will come along and bid me go.
Then I’ll be leavin’ you behind
for lofe is just a state of mind.
But till that day I’ll be your man
and love away your troubles if I can.

Apartment 4E

The girl upstairs
is entertaining again,
I could set my clock
by the footfall on the stairs.I see her sometimes,
coming and going on the stairs
or going to the market.

Sometimes I hear her late at night
playing sad music
or walking overhead.
She smiles in the daytime,
but not at me.