Nicole and I just went to the International Spy Museum in DC. I highly recommend it; you should consider going sometime soon. Some fascinating spy facts:

• 67% of Americans think someone, somewhere is keeping a file on them for unknown reasons.
• The annual U.S. intelligence budget is secret, but estimated to be something like $30 billion dollars. That’s over $82,000,000 per day. Wow.
• Daniel DaFoe, author of Robinson Crusoe, had a hand in the formation of England’s modern intelligence service.
• According to this museum, some of the earliest spies were the 12 sent by Moses to check out Canaan. The earliest codebreaker? They pick Daniel, for breaking the code –interpreting–Nebuchadnezzer’s dreams.

The Spy Museum is one of those many things in and around Washington that are educational, fun, or just plain cool, but that we take for granted because we live so close. What sites in the area has your family visited recently that you would recommend?

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10 days ago, I put up a post called, “How to use this blog.” Since there will be more of you checking this out after I announce it at the youth meeting, I thought it would be worth a repeat. Not a correction for those who have been posting. Just FYI for the newbies.

Here’s how it works: I post, you respond. You respond to responses. On it goes. Here are some guidelines for using this blog:

• Check back often. I plan to post regularly, even if I can’t post every day.
• Respond all you like. I want to hear from you.
• Got questions or ideas for posts? Email me!

• Humility required. When posting a response to someone else’s comments, treat them like you were talking to them face-to-face. Not sure what that should be like? Check out Ephesians 4:1-3. This is an absolute must. We’re here to interact with other people’s ideas, and be stimulated by their ideas, not to critique their ideas.

• Post anonymously if you like, but sign your name. We value your opinion, and we want to know who you are.

• Finally, I’m confident that you will keep your comments encouraging and redemptive. I have the power to delete, but I trust I won’t have to use it.

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One of the things I love about how CJ wrote The Cross Centered Life is how good he is at making massive theological concepts simple and clear. For instance, on pages 32-33, he explains the differences between justification and sanctification. You may know this already, but it’s worth reviewing:

• Justification is being declared righteous. Sanctification is being made righteous–being conformed to the image of Christ.
• Justification is our position before God. Sanctification is our practice. You don’t practice justification! It happens once for all, upon conversion.
• Justification is objective–Christ’s work for us. Sanctification is subjective–Christ’s work within us.
• Justification is immediate and complete upon conversion. You will never be more justified than you are the first moment you trust in the Person and finished workl of Christ. Sanctification is a process. You will be more sanctified as you continue in grace-motivated obedience.

CJ goes on to quote theologian Sinclair Ferguson on page 34:

Our greatest temptation and mistake is to try to smuggle character into God’s work of grace.

Which are you more aware of each day? Your status as justified before God? Or your attempts to grow in sanctification? Talk to your parents today about how you can keep justification front and center even while you seek to grow in sanctification.

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Here are some tips, in case any of you guys are looking for a summer do that won’t leave you sweating. Pretty much, it’s like shaving your face, but a little harder since you can’t see the back. Here are my recommendations:

• Take a shower first. It softens the hairs and makes them easier to cut.
• Lather up with some shaving cream. I like the old classic: Barbasol Regular.
• Use a sharp razor. I haven’t found much difference between a two-blade and a three-blade razor.
• Start wherever you like. Use short, firm strokes and keep the blade going straight.
• What about the back? Use a mirror, or just run your hand around and go by feel.
• DON’T use aftershave on your head–it’s really painful. Almost an out-of-body experience. I use that green aloe vera stuff for sunburns.
• Speaking of sunburn, don’t forget the SPF. Your scalp will thank you.

Here’s the bottom line, fellas: when it comes to hair, enjoy it while you got it.

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Last summer, I invited you all to spend your summer profitably reading good books. Many of you did it, and earned the book or CD or your choice from the bookstore. Way to go!

Did you finish the Summer Reading Challenge last year? If you did, how did you benefit? If you didn’t, what kept you from making it to the end?

Either way, there is going to be another Summer Reading Challenge this year. Are you up for it? Find out more Saturday night at the Youth Meeting!

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Some people think the Christian life should be a breeze. Then they seem surprised when it’s not. The apostle Paul describes our faith as a “fight” and a “race” (See 2 Timothy 4:7). John Owen wrote in Temptation and Sin that we should expect the Christian life at times to be tough because there is opposition from sin:

There is no duty that we perform for God that sin does not oppose… Those who seek the most for God experience the most in the way of opposition.

If Owen is right (and I think he is), then we should expect that the Christian life will in some ways get harder as we grow and mature. But there will also be more grace and more help as we train ourselves for godliness (1 Timothy 4:7-8).

Has this been your experience? Good news for you: you’ve got a serious ally in this fight, probably in the next room. Do your parents know where you are experiencing opposition from sin? Tell them. They can help.

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Youth meeting on Saturday! Don’t forget, we changed this one from a not-so-big meeting to a BIG MEETING, so 7th and 8th graders are invited to come. Please spread the word!

Pizza and ping-pong at 5:30. See you then!

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I’m still being helped by the message Joe Lee (a pastor at Covenant Life Church) preached to us at the 5/1/04 youth meeting last year. He spoke about prayer from Hebrews 4:16, and gave us four simple steps to pray:

1. Declare dependence on God
2. Give thanks to God (and worship for who he is and what he’s done)
3. Confess your sins
4. Pray for needs (yours and others)

Want to know more? Study the Lord’s prayer: Jesus himself teaches us how to pray in Matthew 5:9-15.

Prayer can be hard. What helps you to pray?

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Did you know that the entire Old Testament points to Jesus? That’s what Jesus himself said in Luke 24:27. If you’re not sure how, remember our senior pastor Mark Mullery’s two simple questions:

1. How does this verse show me man’s disposition to require a savior?
2. How does this verse show me God’s disposition to provide a savior?

I was reminded of that truth in my time meeting with God this morning. I read Isaiah 25:8:

He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the LORD has spoken.

This would have been a very encouraging verse even when it was written thousands of years ago, but how much more so for us living on this side of the cross?

Having read in the New Testament about the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, we now know that for all those who have turned to Jesus with faith and repentance for salvation, death is no longer a danger. Sure, these earthly bodies will die, but that will be just the beginning of our heavenly life with Jesus Christ, what Randy Alcorn calls “the long tomorrow”. Want to know more? Look at 1 Corinthians 15:54-57 and Revelation 21:3-4.

Where have you seen Jesus in the Old Testament lately?

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I was planning to blog this quotation even before Vince used it at church this morning. It’s from D.A. Carson’s For the Love of God, Vol. 1, May 22 entry:

One of the important functions of corporate worship is recital, that is, a “re-telling” of the wonderful things that God has done… Thus the recital of what God has done is a means of grace to bring God near to his people. Believers who spend no time reviewing and pondering in their minds what God has done… should not be surprised if they rarely sense that God is near. Retell God’s wonderful deeds and bring near his name.

What has God done for you, that you’re grateful for? Let’s recite and re-tell the stories, so that we can be more aware of God’s nearness and give God thanks for who he is and what he’s done.

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