I have just finished reading through Karen Jobes’s Letters to the Church. Jobes devotes several chapters in her book to James. In her discussion of genre, she concludes that James should be read as a diaspora letter: “The prophets identified diaspora as the place of divine judgment for covenantal disobedience. For this reason they called God’s people to repentance while also offering the promise of divine deliverance from judgment” (Jobes, 165).

Jobes’s book is an excellent introduction to the general Epistles and will be very useful for students encountering these letters for the first time. And, while we’re on the topic of James, I thought I’d mention that in the next few days I hope to write a brief post explaining my views on James 5:13-18 — the passage that promises unconditional healing. The question is, what type of healing did James have in mind?

Eric brought out several excellent points in his sermon yesterday. I especially enjoyed how he used Horace’s Carpe Diem as a sermon illustration (Eric’s message will be available HERE).

I found it quite ironic that today while studying Latin I came across Horace’s quote again. As I looked up the meaning of carpere I discovered that it can be translated as “harvest,” or “pluck.” In fact, one grammarian explains that Horace’s phrase was likely “an agricultural metaphor, since carpere really means to pluck or harvest from the vine or stalk” (Wheelock and LaFleur, 146). Kind of gives the phrase carpe diem an interesting nuance, doesn’t it? Seize the day? or harvest (the fields) today?

Interestingly, check out the translation of Horace’s quote at THIS SITE:

Ask not—we cannot know—what end the gods have set for you, for me; nor attempt the Babylonian reckonings Leuconoë. How much better  to endure whatever comes, whether Jupiter grants us additional winters or  whether this is our last, which now wears out the Tuscan Sea upon the barrier  of the cliffs!  Be wise, strain the wine; and since life is brief,  prune back far-reaching hopes! Even while we speak, envious time has passed:  pluck the day, putting as little trust as possible in tomorrow.

Notice the other harvesting-allusions in the quote, which I have italicized.

This principle emphasized a basic parenting lesson: children will imitate what they see in us, and not just things like our burps at the dinner table. Am I modelling patience and Christ-likeness?

For the most recent pictures of Melody, be sure to check HERE.

1. Eat out as little as possible. Eating out is, quite simply, expensive. Sure it’s fun and convenient, but for us personally as a family, we cannot afford to both eat out and to eat healthily. For example, one meal at the waffle house could easily cost 1/4 of the amount we’ve budgeted for groceries for the week. So, if you want to afford eating well, the easiest way is to not eat out. All that money you would spend at the restaurant can now go towards healthy foods

2. For our meat, we primarily eat venison throughout the year. Lately I have not had time to shoot my own, but we have a hunting buddy that gets us as much as we want. But if you do not have a hunting buddy, you can still get wild game by contacting your local meat processor. Hunters bring in their game and often do not want it. So, you’ll simply have to pay the processing fee and then the meat is yours. The benefits? We never have to buy ground beef, roasts, tenderloin, steaks, etc. Also, wild game does not have the hormones and antibiotics that most store-bought does.

3. Become friends with farmers. By weekly visiting our local farmers market, we have gotten to know many of the farmers in town. Locally grown produce is fresher, plus you’re helping out someone in your community and making friends along the way. The benefits? Local produce from the farmer’s market is tons cheaper than stuff in the store.

4. Through a friendship, we have access to raw milk. The benefits? Raw milk is a lot better for you than pasteurized.

5. Do it yourself. We are unable to garden in the house we currently live in due to too much shade. Our garden the first year simply didn’t produce, and what meager vegetables did grow were devoured by deer and rabbits. But, we have begun to grow our own Kombucha (you can read about the benefits of Kombucha HERE).The benefits? Rather than paying $ 4 for a small can of Kombucha in the health food store, we produce a gallon of our own each week. Plus you can then share your cultures with friends who may also be interested in a healthy elixir. By the way, if you’re interested, let me know and we’ll be glad to give you a starter batch.

What about you? What are some ways you’ve managed to eat healthily on a realistic budget?

Let there be no mistake, my daughter’s cancer, like every tragedy, is rooted in sin. We are fallen people who live in a broken world. Things don’t work the way they’re supposed to–though they will one day!

Jonathan also reflects on the problem of evil in his post. I’ve been reflecting on this issue a bit myself lately, primarily because of a recent discussion I had with another believer about healing. This brother believes that it is God’s will for everyone to be healed, and that if you pray with enough faith, the healing is yours.

Reflecting on these situations, I came across the story in Matthew’s Gospel regarding Mary and Joseph’s flight to Egypt with baby Jesus. As the story goes, they were warned by God to flee to Egypt since Herod was having the babies in Israel killed–hoping to kill the Messiah. How merciful for God to protect his Son by directing the family to Egypt! But, I can’t help but notice that God did not see fit to spare the other children of Israel. How could a loving God have allowed such a massacre of children? Couldn’t he have warned each family to flee to Egypt, with the result that each child would have been spared? But God in his providence allowed these children to die, but spared only the baby Jesus, at least as far as we know.

Why am I mentioning all of this? I guess my brother’s words are still echoing through my mind; and I guess I still struggle to fathom his position in total healing. Jonathan’s story illustrates to me how the godly endures sickness, and in the process demonstrates that a believer with robust faith still endures sickness. And the story of Herod’s slaughter of children is merely one example to my brother that God does indeed allow people to suffer, even to die, for seemingly inexplicable reasons. Yes, He is a loving Father, but no, that does not mean he will spare everyone from physical hardship.

First, let me start with the cons:

• Rosetta Stone lists no grammatical rules or explanations. Many people see this as a benefit of the program, thinking, “oh good, I don’t have to memorize any tedious rules or endings to verbs.” I think this is actually a huge disadvantage: one is forced to have to figure out the endings by trial and error. And in the end, your still having to learn the rules, you’re simply stumbling about in the dark as you try to figure out the patterns on your own, rather than knowing the rules up front and then being able to practice them.
• Rosetta Stone is all about repetition on set topics and themes. Basically, there is very little creative thinking where you are having to devise your own sentences. Instead, you simply repeat the sentences you are given. This is very unrealistic compared to what one encounters in “live” conversation. The big disadvantage here is that Rosetta Stone can give one a false sense of confidence as one repeats the sentences and vocabulary words, but leaving one lacking in real conversational experience. Once one has completed all the levels of Rosetta Stone, one should realize that he is still a language beginner. Pick up a German newspaper or listen to the evening news and one will feel overwhelmed by the mass of unrecognizable vocabulary.

Now, let me list some of the pros of Rosetta Stone:

• Rosetta Stone helps you become familiar with everyday topics and vocabulary.
• Rosetta Stone is an excellent tool for reviewing one’s grammar. For example, I worked through Rosetta Stone after working through several German grammars. I found this extremely beneficial: the rules and principles from the grammars were solidified in my practice on Rosetta Stone. Instead of figuring out the rules on my own, Rosetta Stone offered lots of review of what I had already learned.
• Rosetta Stone offers lots of practice for hearing the language. I found this very helpful since most of my previous learning had been from books. Rosetta Stone allows one to hear native speakers, and this helps one learn how to better pronounce the language.

So, before you purchase a pricey language software such as Rosetta Stone, know what you’re getting. And let me encourage you to use Rosetta Stone, not as one’s first exposure to a language, but as a tool for reviewing and practicing a newly learned language. This, I think, is Rosetta Stone’s greatest benefit.

1. I am looking at my time in Germany not only as a 3 year academic stint, but also as a chance to live as a missionary in a foreign country. Sadly, many parts of Europe, including Germany, are very dark when it comes to the gospel. In fact, I read just this past week that nearly a third of Germans are atheists, with the other two-thirds being Catholic and Protestant — but most of these being “religious.” So living in Germany will mean living in a place that desperately needs to hear about Jesus. Sometimes being a missionary means reaching people who live in huts and work on primitive farms; being a missionary in Germany might mean reaching people who drive Mercedes and work as succesful professionals.
2. Living as a missionary begins now, not just when I get across the ocean. We are seeking to be involved with our local church in every way possible. We as a family are continuing to pray for our neighbors and to reach out to them and to seek opportunities at our jobs and in our community. If we are not sharing the gospel now, why should we expect it to be any different when we get “over there”?
3. As one who will study in a German University, I am bracing myself for several possibilities. Since I will be studying the New Testament with very conservative beliefs, I am expecting to have to defend my positions on these. For example, I expect to be challenged on my belief about the inerrancy of Scripture. Now, I’m not planning on going into the University broadcasting such a stance, but I’m sure it will eventually come up. I doubt that it will be a huge issue, however, if I have developed a reputation as a good student, a hard worker, and a careful reader of the New Testament.
4. I intend to make time for spiritual growth while in Germany. It will be easy to get lost in studies and to neglect prayer and devotional reading. Therefore it will be important to get to know some other believers, to be involved in church, and to daily seek the Lord. I am also planning on reading my fair share of C. S. Lewis while studying. That may sound odd, since he was not a NT scholar. I think he models one, however, who was willing to take a bold stand for his faith within the context of a European University, even though it cost him in many ways. Having such an example will help, I think, during the times when I’ll feel challenged or out-of-place.

What to make of Tebow? That is a loaded question. Tebow has been the focus of a lot of attention recently, both for his outspoken faith and for his uncanny football style. Let me share some thoughts about Tebow from the perspective of a fellow believer:

1. Tebow is modeling how faith in Jesus affects every aspect of one’s life. He is refusing to compartmentalize or fragment his life into neat categories such as “football” and “personal life” and “faith in Jesus.” Instead, Tebow is showing that faith in Christ spills over into the nitty-gritty aspects of life — including the football field. In the process, I’m challenged to see if Christ is affecting every aspect of my own life in such an obvious way.
2. Tebow is demonstrating that faith in Christ is vocal. Christ is not to be kept in some secret closet, but rather, like the disciples in Acts, Tebow is finding it impossible to keep silent about what he’s seen and heard. Am I speaking about Christ with every opportunity I get?
3. Tebow is demonstrating that faith in Christ is seen in action. Just take a look here or here. Am I demonstrating my faith in word and in deed?
4. Tebow is willing to be faithful in his witness despite the fact that this makes him a controversial figure. He is shrugging off the status quo that would have him be just another nice guy, or simply “religious.” Instead he is making it plain that Jesus is what he’s all about, and people do not like that. Am I willing to be faithful to Christ, despite the fact that it’ll arouse controversy?

With all the Tebow hype, I can’t help but wonder if his desire to stand for Christ is perhaps a source of conviction or motivation for other believing sports figures. Perhaps Tebow is causing some soul-searching as people ask themselves, “I believe . . . why am I not so outspoken for Jesus?”

• Between now and May/June when we hope, Lord willing, to move, I am focusing on honing my language skills. I am trying to read at least 10 verses a day from the Hebrew Old Testament. I refer primarily to Keil and Delitzsch for issues encountered in the Hebrew. I’m also practicing my Latin. Daily reading in the Vulgate is the bare minimum, but I’m also trying to work through a classical grammar.
• My major focus when it comes to language preparation is Greek and German. I’m balancing my time between these since the bulk of my work in Munich will relate to these languages. For Greek I am just about to complete my first reading of the Greek NT. I am also working through a classical grammar that includes translations from English to Greek. When it comes to German, I recently felt that I had hit a wall and was making little progress. Motivation had bottomed out. All of this changed when I was given a few new German magazines and the newest edition of Deutsch Perfekt. I’m finding the Zeitschrift entitled Deutsch Perfekt to be greatly helpful, since it offers contemporary readings on a host of topics and themes, with different levels of difficulty, and with reading helps on hard words. Now I’m finding it hard to put the German down and pick up the Greek.
• There are a couple of things I would like to read between now and Germany. Mostly I would like to read in the area of NT backgrounds: things such as Josephus, Philo, Apostolic Fathers, maybe some Apocrypha, a rhetorical handbook, Homer, and probably Dictionary of NT Background.
• In order to make time for these languages and readings, I am not aiming to try to get much published in the next few months. As of now I am only working on one book review (Letters to the Church: A Survey of Hebrews and the General Epistles by K. Jobes for Criswell Theological Review). I’m also planning on turning down an opportunity to write another article for the Lexham Bible Dictionary since this will take away time from my other pursuits.

In some upcoming posts, I hope to share with you how I’m preparing spiritually for Germany, and also how we as a family are preparing.