Today, just down the road from Columbine High School, a man carried a gun o the campus of Deer Creek Middle School. He shot two kids before he was tackled by a brave 7th grade math teacher. Both children are expected to live and no one else was injured in the incident.
This was a sobering day in the life of Littleton residents. As the quote above indicates, many deep and life-changing wounds from the Columbine shooting were unexpectedly ripped open today. As a Littleton resident myself I wonder how this could happen in such a friendly and beautiful place. I wonder, "what could possibly be so bad about that person's life the he has to shoot at innocent kids?" Did that guy look West last night and see the sun set over the Rockies? Did he see the enourmouse snow flakes fall gracefully to the ground this past weekend? Did he see the kids playing and laughing on the school property before he went on his little rampage? Did he realize that his heart was beating and his chest rising and how miraculous those simple things are?
I wonder if what people are missing and longing for is right under their nose. Psalm 139:13 says that God created our inmost being and knit us together in our mother's wombs. I wonder if more people knew and believed that if things would be different. God knitted today's shooter together too, by the way. He was created and crafted as a part of God's ultimate and good plan. Had he known that, do you think he would have done what he did and caused this community such deep pain once again?
This has been both sobering and convicting for me. Events like this remind me that tomorrow is not promised but this one has served to challenge me as well. The Gospel has healing power like no counselor, psychologist, self-help book, or doctor ever will. The Gospel is the only source of true joy and contentment. I feel compelled to tell more people about after today. Maybe if more people know about Jesus' deep and everlasting love they will be less inclined to do the things we saw today at Deer Creek.
A 7.0 earthquake rocks the tiny country of Haiti and all I can do is stare. I sifted through some pictures of the aftermath today in awe and thought to myself, "Now what?" Do you ever wonder that? As a follower of Jesus I feel like I should be more prepared and equipped to act than I actually am. I feel incredibly helpless, not because I'm so far away but because I literally cannot think of what I would do if I was there.
I guess I'd bandage wounds when I had the chance and try to find food and water for those that needed it. Maybe I'd start a pick up soccer game to help the kids get their mind of the horror they just experienced. I might even try to bring seperated families back together. But every time I think of what I would do I find myself shaking my head and saying, "that's not enough." We can send money, people, resources, helicopters and aid but that wont change the fact that the most violent earthquake in 200 years ransacked Haiti on January 12th, 2010.
Please forgive me if my words make you feel hopeless, helpless and out of control but the truth is, you are. We all are. Isaiah 40:8 says, "the grass withers and the flowers fade, but the Word of the Lord endures forever." This is all temporary and it's fading quickly. Compared with the infinitude of the Almighty God, our lives are like a breath. Sometimes it's OK to sink into the helplessness in situations like this. That is not to say that we shouldn't take action to help those in need. But take a second, let the dust settle. Allow this tragedy to sober you.
We are so busy running around chasing promotions, relationships, success, the American dream, degrees, ministry stuff, etc., that we often times miss priceless opportunities like these. Sometimes it takes a 7.0 earthquake to rip the blinders from your eyes so you can see what is really happening. Sometimes it is events like this one that allow us to see more clearly than ever before how little control we actually have. We are so small and yet so loved by Something so big.
So what do we do?
We pray expectantly. We pray that God would be glorified in this tragedy and that somehow the name of Jesus would become more famous. We do this without doubt because we trust and rest in the sovereignty of our Father.
We do what we can. If you text "HAITI" to 90999 you automatically donate $10 to the cause (the amount shows up on your phone bill). World Vision is taking donations and will surely make an impact with every dime given. Can you imagine the number of instant orphans after an event like this? What better time to adopt a Haitian child through World Vision or Compassion? Send clothes, food, money, yourself, letters, first aid supplies, whatever you can.
We keep on keeping on. This isn't an issue that will correct itself over night. Port-au-Prince will never be the same. It will take years to rebuild. Our attention spans are getting shorter and shorter and this will be old news in a week for a lot of people. Don't quit on those people! They need us to do what we can for as long as we can.
Remember, we aren't even capable of loving these people aside from the grace given to us by our Creator. Trust Him as you go and make a difference in Haiti.
The above video represents one of 15 toys The Huntington Post suggests you SHOULD NOT purchase for your child at Christmas. I completely agree with their assessment. Some of these are hilarious and completely unexpected. Others are disturbing and incredibly questionable. What the heck is happening in American consumerism!? Click here to see the other 14.
Did you watch Oprah today? Yeah, me neither. However, I did hear that she devoted the entire show to women and pornography. Apparently, all she did was condone the viewing of porn and didn't warn against it once. Craig, from XXXChurch, wrote a great post challenging Oprah to tell the whole story. To tell about the pain and heartache that pornography causes. To tell of the distorted and unrealistic perceptions that porn causes us to hold. To tell of the millions of lives, marriages, and relationships that have been devastated at the hands of pornographers.
1 in 3 viewers of online porn are women. What does that tell us? It tells us that the market is growing and changing into things that we never dreamed it would be. It tells us that the apathy of humanity is strengthening and growing faster and faster every day. It tells us that things are going to get a whole lot worse before they get better.
I'd say Oprah missed the point. She missed a golden opportunity to challenge women to live sexually and emotionally healthy lifestyles.
Bottom Line: Porn is a distortion of reality. It will only serve to confuse, disappoint and break us down. Jesus is hope. He offers cleaning and a freedom that we can't even begin to imagine. He is our Refuge, our Stronghold and our Rock. He is our Renewal, our Rescue and our Redemption.
If you happen to find yourself in Canton, NC on October 31st you will have an opportunity to participate in a genuine old fashion book burning! Seriously. A book burning.
Not only are they going to burn all the versions of the Bible except for the KJV but they are prepared to torch books by Christian authors like Rick Warren, Mother Teresa, Billy Graham, James Dobson, John Piper and many many others.
If there wasn't an obvious AP at the bottom left corner of this news clip I would never believe it was real.
**If you are a student, faculty or staff of Denver Seminary this is information you need!**
The Student Council at Denver Seminary is launching some new approaches to communication that will not only streamline the transfer of information but make it more accessible and understandable to it's recipients. It would be to your bennefit to plug into the folowing forms of media that DenSem StuCo will be utilizing
Connecting to the above media will allow you to stay instantly posted about unpdates, changes and opportunities. If you have any questions, comments, concerns or suggestions about the new communication model of DenSem StuCo, please leave a comment on the blog or facebook wall. Thanks!
I bought a domain. Peaces can now be accessed via nathanhoag.com. However, ndhoag.blogspot.com will still redirect you to nathanhoag.com so you don't need to change anything. The new URL will make it easier to direct people to the site. nathanhoag.com is a less confusing response when people ask for my URL. Thanks for visiting!
Please feel free to leave a comment if there is anything in particular you would like me to research and write about.
I slipped into the drivers seat of our Jeep Cherokee last night after meeting with my 9th grade small group and headed towards a local Gelato shop to meet my wife and in-laws. The radio was programmed to a local station that plays mixed music but all I heard at the time was talking. A woman's voice posed the question, "How should women feel and react when they discover that their husbands are looking at porn regularly?" I turned up the volume and frantically tried to dial the number that she had announced for listeners to call in. I've never called a radio staion in my life because I usually don't care to broadcast my worst date story to strangers and I'll open iTunes if I want to request a song for myself. This time was different though. I'm not sure if I've ever had a stronger oppinion on a question asked by a radio host. Unfortunately, I misunderstood the phone number she spouted off and called some number that had been disconnected instead. So I listened and couldn't beleive what I heard.
The first woman that called in said, "My husband looks at porn once a week. I know about it and we are both fine with it. I think it's unhealthy to refuse him that need." I almost drove into a tellephone pole. Did I really hear what I thought I did? I pulled into a parking lot so I wouldn't miss any more of this shocking dialog. The second lady that called in said, "It's better that he look at porn than cheat on me with another woman. I'd rather him fantasize about a woman that he'll never meet than about his secretary that he'll see every day." I would have given anything for that phone number I had heard to work. At this point I was yelling at the radio in a parking lot, with the windows down. Some starnge looks floated my way from passersby.
The third caller was a dude named Mark. Ironically, the only man that called into the show was also the only one who had a brain in their skull. Mark said, "It's not healthly. That man will always have unrealistic expectations for his wife." Thank you Mark! As people continued to call in I was completely dumbfounded by the idiocy of our society. Have women just given up? Are they throwing in the towel because there doesn't seem to be any guys out there who respect them? Have the men in our society ceased to be men and instead turned to boyish alternatives and feeble attempts to meet their needs? I was upset.
A married man who openly confesses regular and addictive viewing of pornography without seeking to make a change is an egomaniacle coward at best. He lacks the courage and discipline to respect his wife. He has forfeited his God-given ability to lead and has surrendered to his nature. He has taken the easy route as opposed to the honorable route. A wife who knowingly approves of her husband's regular and addictive viewing of pornography is a cowardly doormat at best. She has forfeited any respect for herself that she once had and has given her husband a green light to ruin their marriage.
Pornography is one of the most potent drugs on the market today and it is offered to anyone for free anytime and anywhere. It is as if someone was on every school campus in the world, ever mall parking lot, and in everyone's living room handing out free and unlimited cocaine to anyone who wants it. It is that addictive and that detrimental. For a married couple to agree that pornography is a normal male activity and should be encouraged is one of the saddest things I've ever heard. Our postmodern culture has convinced us that the easiest way is the right way. Whatever creates the least amount of conflict or tension or hurts the least amount of feelings is the way you should go. Morality is a dying entity. We have forfeited the notion that absolute morality exists and therefore we have made divorce machines like pornography a relative issue.
God created us with a need for intimacy. That need is very real and very alive in us. Pornography is a cheap, illegitimate way to meet that need. It will never satisfy like true intimacy. It will never be enough and you will always be searching for the next best high. God ordained marriage in the very beginning and met one of our greatest needs in doing that. Pornography is to married intimacy as masturbation is to married sex. It is nothing more than a cheap, illegitimate substitute that will only leave us wanting.
10 years ago today I was beginning to suffer the pains of spring fever in Alpharetta Ga. I remember the days getting warmer and the sun shinning longer. I remember my mom leaving the windows open and us taking walks together more frequently. I was in the 8th grade at Webb Bridge Middle School and experiencing the expected discomforts that tightly cling to every young man in that transitional stage of life. I had a goofy haircut, a massive gap in between my to front teeth that my braces were desperately attempting to remedy, acne, and my voice cracked all the time. I had been shaving for a year at this point, a fact I kept mostly to myself because that wasn't exactly typical of kids my age. Among all the things I remember from that transitional year, April 20th 1999 remains particularly clear in my memory.
I remember hearing little bits about a school shooting in Colorado throughout school that day. I was skeptical because most of what I had heard sounded like rumors. By the time the shootings had started our school day in Georgia was nearing it's end. Because the faculty at my school didn't release an conclusive news about the shooting, all we knew was what people who had left for a dentist appointment or had illegally left campus for lunch had heard about. I didn't let the rumors bother me.
I got on the bus, minding my own business all the while listening to the escalating rumors about the shooting. "I heard terrorists bombed a school in Colorado or Wyoming or something." "Well I heard that a few kids bought guns off the internet and killed a bunch of kids for making fun of them. I guess we better not make fun of anyone anymore!" I usually kept to my self on the bus so I didn't have any gossip to add. When I arrived home I opened the screen door that had been employed to let some of the cool spring air into the house. My mom wasn't in the kitchen where I usually met her after school. She was in the family room watching TV. She never watched TV. "Hey mom. Whatchya doing?" She passively said, "Watching the news." I waited for more but nothing came. I grabbed the snack she had left on the counter and made my way over the the couch where she sat. As I turned the corner and saw her face I began to worry. She looked like she had been crying. "Mom, are you okay?" "Yes, sweety. Something terrible had happened in Littleton, where your grandparents live."
My eyes wondered over the the television screen where I saw some shaky footage of what looked like a school from a helicopter. "LIVE" was constantly posted as the bottom right corner of the the TV screen. "What happened?" My mom briefed me on what the news had said. Two kids had planted some home-made bombs in their school and shot quite a few people on top of that. "Terrible. It's just terrible," she muttered. I went to my room.
What was I supposed to think? How should I feel? The whole situation was very surreal because it didn't happen where I was. I remember having an extremely difficult time trying to understand what had happened in my home town. Not even three years had passed since we moved from the Littleton area to Atlanta. Where my friends okay? What about my family? What would I do if that happened in my school? Confusion was all I felt. I was terribly conflicted because I had countless questions but didn't want to talk about them. The next day at school was chaos.
Now that everyone had their "facts" straight, they could exaggerate and speculate with even more ammunition. Students placed blame on the parents, the shooters, the kids who made fun of the shooters and even the teachers at Columbine High School. The chaos that was taking place in my mouth led me to keep quite as often as possible. Talking required me to open my mouth and display the orderless, braced grill that I had been trying to hide throughout the school year. I managed to keep to myself until a few rather outspoken students remembered that I was from Colorado. "Hey, would you have gone to that high school?" "Where these two guys your friends?" "Did you know anyone who got shot?" They were voicing the questions that had been pinging around in my skull for the past 24 hours. "I used to live near that school but I don't think I new anyone there. At least I hope not..."
As the weeks went on, new evidence surfaced and documentary specials aired on TV to try and make sense of the situation. I remember seeing psychologists on these specials trying to diagnose Harris and Klebold based on the testimonies of students and the security tapes from the school. I remember seeing interviews with the parents of the victims and with the parents of the shooters. Was it the parent's fault? Would this have happened if Harris and Klebold hadn't played such violent video games? Was it the fault of the students for making fun of the shooters previous to their rampage? Was it the fault of the teachers for refusing to stop the bullying? Everyone thought they knew exactly what the cause of the shooting was and immediately wanted to apply those diagnoses to the lives of those around them. Parents took away kid's video games. Teachers cracked down on bullying. Everyone was scared to death of anyone wearing black or a long coat. People were scared of the "quiet kids."
I tried to get to the bottom of the issue using the Bible. In the past, whenever everyone had differing opinions and none of them were a perfect fit for the situation, the Bible usually clear the air and gave me a concrete explanation. My attention was drawn to the beginning of humanity. In Genesis 4 we see one of the most unspeakable acts of all time. Brother murders brother because of jealousy. Feel free to disagree but I would venture to say that Cain didn't exactly understand what was going on inside of him. He knew he didn't like what his brother had done. He knew that he felt a rage in him that required a release, a remedy. What he didn't know was what to do with it. He lashed out against his brother and murdered him. Maybe it seemed like the most practical reaction to Cain at the time but it clearly wasn't. God even told Cain that sin was crouching nearby waiting to devour him. Cain let that crouching sin take over. That's where I found my answer.
Although we don't want to admit it, we are all capable of the most unspeakable acts. Sin is crouching nearby, wait to devour us. We all experience rage, anger, frustration, pain, hate, etc. Sometimes, the reactions that seem most logical at the time are the ones that seem completely ridiculous in retrospect. I have always had a way with words. When I've been angry or enraged in the past, I've used words to squash the people that I held responsible for those feelings. I let that crouching sin devour me. In retrospect, those words and tones I used never seem like the right or justified action. It was only when I was in the anger that my reaction seemed correct.
We are Harris and Klebold. We have a sin nature that rises up in us and we think it will satisfy. In our moment of rage, that crouching sin is enticingly deceptive and devours us. I am capable of the most unspeakable acts and it is only by the grace of God through His Son Jesus Christ that I find true satisfaction. He provides a peace that passes all understanding. He conquered that crouching sin when He died on that cross and rose to new life on the third day. Jesus is the remedy. He is our rescue, our ransom and our redemption. While we were capable of the most unspeakable acts Jesus, who didn't know sin, became sin on our behalf. He made a way for us that doesn't involve that crouching sin that waits to devour us.
I pray that our nation will see that we can't simply chalk this incident up to insanity, bullying, bad parenting or video games. Assuming that those things were the causes imply that we can avoid lashing out if we avoid those things. The truth is, we are capable of the most unspeakable acts. The truth is, Jesus is capable of rescuing us from them
Thankful for: Jesus and the unparalleled hope that He offers.
California was beaten to the punch. Just recently the Iowa Supreme Court approved same-sex marriage in their state. You can read more about the situation here. This issue, as expected, is raising all kinds of controversy. What is marriage? Is it limited to a man a woman? Is homosexuality unnatural? Is it genetic? These are not questions we should be afraid of. Unfortunately, people are becoming more and more passive in their beliefs about issues like this one. I say it's far better to hold a position, stand by it, all the while listening to the other sides. The worst thing we can do is say, "I don't care. It doesn't affect me anyways."
Where do I stand on this? Good question. Although I've learned much over the years about how to love people who completely disagree with me, I'm no afraid to stir the pot a little and say that I don't think that same-sex marriage is a good idea. I trust God's Word as His message to us for answers to things like, but not limited to, ethics, morality, and relationships. As far as my interpretation of the Scriptures is concerned, same-sex marriage is not what God desires for His creation.
Do I take these ideologies from the obscure passages in Leviticus and the like that throw in God's feelings about homosexuality along with many other laws and rules? Not entirely. I think these laws and rules give us a really good idea of what God approves of and what He doesn't but I take my standpoint from a more basic, foundational principle that I see threaded throughout Scripture: Harmony. From the very beginning God implemented harmony and called it good. He is in harmony with Himself, He created the cosmos to be in harmony with itself, and He created man to be in harmony with each other and Him. At the heart of the Fall, when Adam and Eve partook of the forbidden fruit, was disharmony with their Creator and eachother.
Ever since that incident humanity has worked hard for the renewal of that harmony. We seek it out in things like relationships, environmentalism, and religious practices but we always come up short. The reason we keep going back to the things we think will provide fulfillment is because we think it will actually satisfy the true yearning we have deep within ourselves. We long for harmony again. Our nature knows that there is something missing and the world is offering solutions that just don't cut it. So, we keep coming back to the same old addictions and novelties to try and get our fix and find ourselves frighteningly short handed.
Sexuality is one of those things that God created in harmony. Adam and Eve where sexual beings. They felt attraction to one another and probably acted on that attraction while living in the Garden. When harmony was shredded in the Garden that day, the ramifications trickled down to all areas of human nature including sexuality. Homosexuality, like any other sin issue, is a feeble attempt of humanity to bring harmony back into the world. We are repeatedly dissatisfied with our search for fulfillment so we act out in a multitude of different ways (drugs, sex, alcohol, relationships, materialism, individualism) in an attempt to meet a need.
We need harmony. Harmony is the missing piece in our nature that we need to fix but we don't know how. It is this need that drives us to run over friends and family in the name of success. It is this need that drive us into isolation because no one seems to understand us. It is this need that drives us to racism, fear and anger. We are a frustrated people because we cannot, in all our efforts, find true, lasting fulfillment. We are constantly pursuing illegitimate methods for meeting a legitimate need. The good news: God meets needs. He sent is beloved Son Jesus to unconditionally repair the broken harmony that we desire so badly. He is the fulfillment, satisfaction and completion that we have desired for so long. It is Jesus.
So, Iowa Supreme Court, your efforts to bring more harmony and fulfillment to the people of your state are in vein. Perpetuating and encouraging people to pursue feeble and ineffective attempts to find fulfillment and harmony only promotes more disappointment and brokenness. Same-sex marriage is not the fix-all that so many think it will be. We will only see continued brokenness and disappointment on the planet as people strive everyday to provide something for themselves and others that they simply cannot.
Thoughts?
Thankful for: The liberating harmony that Jesus offers so freely and lovingly to those who would only accept it
I was up early again this morning which allowed me to flip on The Today Show and get caught up with what's going on in the world. Three stories in particular stuck me as interesting. All for different reasons
First, I saw a story about Obama's visit to London. Apparently this is traditional visit that started a long time ago and has resulted in several presidential blunders almost every time. One president accidentally touched the Queen's back while they were in public. Royal Rule #1: Don't touch the Queen. Another president curtsied instead of bowed when he met the Queen. Royal Rule #2: don't humiliate yourself in front of the Queen. Yet another president winked at the Queen and then said into the microphone, "She gave me a look only a mother could give a child." Royal Rule #3: Don't ever flirt with the Queen. FYI, that last one was America's favorite president, The W. You're not as surprised anymore are you? Lady's man.
Since all that is talked about with the Queen is confidential, the news anchor began to speculate as to what is going between her and Obama in that office. Someone said they think our President and the Queen might talk about Obama's Kenyan roots. Really? Is that the best we can do with royal and presidential time? I sure hope not. One anchor suspected they would talk about the economy. I sure hope they do. Not only is it really crappy right now but there were countless protesters outside the palace holding signs that say "Capitalism isn't working." Apparently some people don't have any confidence America's economic system. Shocker. But, even though times are tough, I think it's a stretch to say that capitalism is not working at all. As far as I'm concerned, their signs are missing a few words. Perhaps they should read, "Capitalism isn't working for me yet." (A) Capitalism is always working for someone. (B) Capitalism has a tendency to come around eventually and start working for more people. Patience my friends.
The Today show then seemed to be obsessed with Michelle Obama's outfit. Lame. People are starving all over the world, we have a new president that has some serious potential, and we are talking about what his wife is wearing?
Needless to say, I lost interest extremely quickly. My attention was then caught by the story about a woman who was recently attacked by a chimpanzee. They played the audio from the 911 call and it was horrific. Apparently some lady's chimp went ballistic unexpectedly and ripped her friend's face off. They interviewed the doctor and said the chips removed that woman's hands, lips, eyelids along with other stuff. The chimp's owner, who is being sued for about 50 Mill, said, "I'm not a horrible person and he is not a horrible chimp." You may not be horrible but that chimp sure is. Maybe we should think twice about old Curious George before we take him home from the Congo.
A third story I found intriguing belongs on Failblog. The University of California, San Diego accidentally sent acceptance letters to 28,000 students who had been rejected from the school. That's not exactly a typo. There is no amount of White-Out on the planet that could fix this miserable blunder. The worst part is that UCSD didn't catch their mistake and fix it until 2 hours after the incident. 2 hours is plenty of time for a kid to call all his/her friends and family and celebrate their upcoming higher educational endeavors. Can you imagine receiving an email 2 hours later that basically said, "My bad. You can't come to school here."? Wow UCSD. Way to drop the ball. Good luck digging yourself out of that one.
Thankful for: The information age where breaking news is always at my finger tips.
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