Happy 43rd!

December 21 is one of the most important days of my life. That’s because without this day there would be no me. On this day in 1968 Johnny Piper of Greenville, SC and Noel Henry from Barnesville, GA were married at the entirely ordinary and wonderfully picturesque Midway Baptist Church just outside Barnseville.

Mom was a stunner and dad, well, he looked like Buddy Holly. Which, in retrospect, just made him 43 years ahead of his time in sheer hipsterhood.

There are numerous things I could say about my parents to praise them and express thankfulness for them.

I could express how they teamed up to be present and active at all my little league soccer, football, and baseball games in spite of demanding schedules. Sure mom crocheted throughout and dad was occasionally a bit overly vigorous in his umbrage at poor refereeing, but they cared and they were there. 

I could write all about how they have loved me through thick and thin, up and down and have never pushed me away when I have been a disappointment to them or hurt them.

There’s an entire blog post to be written about their consistency between public persona and private reality in the home.

And how many of you have a complete library of original autographed and personally inscribed works by John and Noel Piper? Actually don’t answer that; some of you are just obsessive enough to have accomplished that.

But as a married man with two children and, hopefully, many years left as a husband and father the thing that I am most thankful for is to see two people in their mid-sixties with 4+ decades of marriage under their belts still striving to get better. Marriage is hard work as often as it is blissful (and just as often they go hand in hand), and to see my parents still figuring things out, learning, growing, showing humility, and not throwing in the towel is so hopeful for me. I'm so thankful that they are still parenting hard and doing an even better job raising my little sister better than they did raising me and my older brothers. (It helps that she's a significantly better kid than I was.)

I am not yet thirty, but life is moving awfully fast and it’s not hard to picture being 65 myself. And I hope I am just as committed to my Lesley, my Grace, and my Dianne when I get there as my parents are to each other and to their children. Daddy and Mother, you have set a 43 year course that you would doubtless describe as imperfect, but it is just as doubtlessly encouraging to me.

Thanks for getting married.

Thanks for staying married

Thanks for working so hard at it.

Happy 43^rd Anniversary! 

Broken Roses and the Gospel of Jesus

In 2009 I had the chance to hear the message in this video live. At the time it was enormously powerful. I don't remember many sermons I have heard over my lifetime in the church and attending conferences, but this one has stuck with me. Over the past 2+ years the words of Matt Chandler in this clip have become especially meaningful and alive to me. I suspect many of you have seen this, but it is worth watching again. And again after that. And probably one more time after that.

You do not have to be a 26-year-old single mother carrying on an affair with a married man to be the broken rose. Every person is that wilted, broken flower. Maybe it is sexual deviance or dalliance. Maybe it is lying. Maybe it is arrogance, apathy, legalism, lawlessness, anger, passivity, or something else. But each of us has lost  our petals and are nothing more than a trash heap worthy busted stem.

But may the phrase "Jesus wants  the rose!" be a motto of hope and a cause of repentance and a purpose for living for you as it has become for me.

The Question

There is one question that every book, every sermon, and every blog post must answer. It is the question I keep in mind as I write each of these posts and the one I use as a primary filter when I evaluate a manuscript for publication at work. It’s the question I ask every Sunday morning at church and every time I delve into a new book.

SO WHAT?

Any message or text in any medium that fails to give a clear answer to this question is, at best, a collection of boring or useless facts or anecdotes. 

A sermon becomes simply information about a text, its background, some perspectives on it, or its characters. Is the main point that this Greek verb implies X and such image to the reader? So What?

A blog post is just a rant about some hobby horse or other. Or maybe it’s a critique of some aspect of culture or ministry. So what?

The book you’re reading (or writing) might be an expose on the downfall of American culture or an explanation of some theological minutiae? It might point out 7 problems we face in America today. So what?

The “so what” factor doesn’t have to be explicit. It doesn’t have to be a three step application. It doesn’t even have to be expansive, dynamic, or intense. But has to be clear and present. Without it a message is just information that has no bearing on life. Without the “so what” it’s simply the communicator showing off.

Every message should lead to something more than new knowledge. Knowledge is handy, but only if it leads to thought, inspiration, or action. But the only way to provide this in a message is to be constantly asking yourself “so what?” as you prepare it. What are you seeking to get the reader or hearer to think, feel, or do? If you don’t have an answer, neither will they. 

Reaction, Effect and Christian Shock Jocks

As I have delved into writing more over the past several months I have noticed a certain, disturbing tendency in myself. Once I became aware of it I began to notice in other writers as well. It is the propensity to write for reaction rather than writing for effect.  It is the desire to have readers react strongly rather than to have than changed meaningfully.

It exhibits itself in both how a writer picks the subject and how he communicates it. Am I trying to say something that matters or something that sparks a pointed response? Am I writing it in such a way as to spur action or feeling, or am I trying to provoke for the sake of provocation?

The Tim Tebow furor is a perfect example of the negative aspects of this, the writing for reaction. Writers, Christian and otherwise, have spewed opinions all over the internet about Tebow and his overt faith in Jesus. But to what end? It seems like a lot of provocation for the sake of garnering response rather than proclamation for the sake of effect on the reader. Both the choice of subject matter (Tebow) and the method of communication (arrogant, pointed, judgmental, hateful, defensive, etc.) are fuel for a reaction but not necessarily conducive to a meaningful effect.

This tendency isn’t any more prevalent in Christian writers than others, but it is far more disturbing. I expect there to be shock jocks in all mediums of communication and coming from all view-points. But I abhor Christian shock-jockery. I’m not even sure that phrase “Christian shock jock” makes sense. It so implies the pursuit of a strong reaction that it almost necessarily excludes the desire for a life-adjusting effect, but it is the effect, the change, that all Christian communicators should be pursuing.

   This isn’t so say beliefs and opinions can’t be expressed in pointed, even shocking ways. But shock and reaction cannot be the aim; rather they must be the means to a change. Jesus talked about cutting off one’s hand to resist temptation and millstones tied to the neck of tempers to drown them. But he spoke these words that his listeners might have life and have it to the full, not that they might have a strong reaction and leave pointed comments on his blog.

And it should be that same intention with which all Christian writers write; that our readers might have life and have it to the full. May our tidbits of wisdom and perspective be aimed at an effect on our readership, not a reaction from them.

Taking Christ Out of Christmas?

I feel a bit like I’m adding a couple decibels to a riotous noise when it comes to blogging about Christmas, but it’s that riotous noise that draws me to do so. It’s a compelling, gravitational subject that is hard to avoid even if (and partially because) there is an abundance of noise about it.

Much has been said, written, and lamented about how the world is “taking Christ out of Christmas.” This is an understandable sentiment in a couple regards. When Christmas season is officially kicked off by pepper spraying Xbox shoppers and stampeding (literally, with tramplings and all) Wal-Mart customers it is not very Christ-like and is quite lamentable. When people grew up with traditions of Christmas that centered on church, pageants, caroling and other seemly, peaceful, and communal activities this new era of pop schlock Christmas albums and the ever-condemned commercialism is jarring and repulsive.

On the other hand, though, I am constantly reminded of one basic truth: You can’t take Christ out of Christmas. Now, I know what people mean when they talk about taking Christ out of Christmas, but truly there is no Christmas without Christ. What people are celebrating and commercializing is a holiday that used to be Christian and, like most cultural phenomena in our broken world, has become secularized and godless.

But the birth of Christ is not lost just because people go berserk over large screen TV deals and buy Mariah Carey albums. Jesus was born. It’s a fact. It happened in history. And you can’t take the truth away with eggnog, cookies, and presents.

The commercialization, the shopping craze, the decorations, the parties, the music, and all those other things that add up to “holiday spirit” cannot replace the work of the Holy Spirit. Mary was with child by the Holy Spirit. I want to remember that, to focus on that in the midst of this holiday spirit (i.e. nostalgic emotional high).

There’s no such thing as taking Christ out of Christmas, so rather than screaming our lungs out about our culture doing so keep focused on Christ in the midst of the noise and chaos. Screaming at culture has about the same effect as screaming at teenager; it’s not going to work. But winsome influence over time and letting your holiday spirit be one that is full of Holy Spirit just might.    

Book Recommendation - Tempted and Tried

I don't recommend many books on this blog. Mostly that's because I want those I do recommend to stand above the rest as truly fantastic. Russell Moore's Tempted and Tried is just such a book.


It is a difficult task to write with eloquence and verve about theological and biblical truths, but when an author succeeds a powerful work is created. Moore succeeds. Tempted and Tried is one of the most significant books I have read in the past couple years. By that I mean that it is extraordinarily well-written and extraordinarily poignant in its communication of truth, and thus it is extraordinarily impactful.


In the book, Moore takes the reader to a biblical understanding of temptation. He explores Jesus's temptation in the wilderness, it's depths, and the significance for the believer of having a savior who rightly responded to temptation. But Moore, as he is so gifted at doing, doesn't just give the Sunday school version of the story and emphasize Jesus' quotation of scripture as "the right way to respond". Instead he explores the heart and the psyche that make temptations so powerful and Jesus's response so meaningful.


It is a theologically weighty book without the distractions or obstacles of pretension and academic vocabulary. It is a personal book without being unduly psycho-babbly or emphasizing felt needs to a fault. No, it is a book that uses clear, biblical truth to help the reader feel what needs to be felt and understand what needs to be understood.


This book is deeply hopeful and rooted in the gospel. It blessed me enormously and I cannot recommend it highly enough. The last two chapters are worth the price of the whole book, and the rest is A+ too.

"Struggle"

Struggle: a word which exemplifies so much of Christian idiosyncrasy and a fair amount of Christian idiocy. It is a mask for reality, a disguise for the truth. What is this truth?

It’s an ironic rhyme and a telling one.

Snuggle. Rhymes with struggle but is more truthful to our present state. It aptly describes what so many of us do with the sins masked by “struggle”. Reality is that we are often quite cozy with our sins. We are used to them, safe with them, and very, very cozy. There is no struggle.

But we must say struggle. 

It’s the code word for so many sins. It gives a hint of humility, a smidgen of shame, and a bit of an admission of guilt. It is understood by fellow “strugglers” to refer to something about which we do not speak openly but we take part in very actively. It strikes that perilous balance between open confession (unsafe! uncomfortable!) and outright denial of sin (“for all have sinned. . .” and so on and so forth). Most importantly it keeps up appearances.

 A true struggle is what is described in Romans 7. I don’t do what I should. I want to do what I should, but I do what I shouldn’t. I don’t always want to do what I should, and most of the time I don’t do it. Sometimes I don’t even want to do what I should even though I want to want it. Wretched man that I am, who will save me?

Not much snuggling going on there. No comfy, cozy sinning. No code words and opacity. No striking a balance and keeping his distance from brutal honesty.

In true struggle, honesty is brutal. It’s brutal because it admits to weakness, proneness to badness, active pursuit of that badness. Instead of saying “I struggle with anger” it says “I lose my temper and hurt people with my words.” Instead of saying “I struggle with doing my devotions” it says “I don’t think enough of God’s word to actually read it.” Instead of saying “I struggle with lust” it says “I look at porn.”

We need to take the snuggle out of our struggle and gain a recognition of wretchedness. Only then will we actually put up a real genuine struggle against sin.