I watch with both fascination and frustration the ongoing saga pitting Intelligent Design against Darwinism. The Darwinists circle their wagons at any threat to their position, and the rhetoric continues. Emotions flare in this issue, because of course a much deeper issue is at stake… the conflict of worldviews – the battle for the hearts and minds of human beings.

Unfortunately, many Christians who jump into the fray have already capitulated to the definition of science that has been promulgated since the time of Darwin… the idea that ‘science’ is naturalism and by definition, anything that presupposes a Designer could not qualify as science. Or they accept the naturalistic secular view of science and try to force a fit with biblical truth. Biblical truth seems to be what is modified and in turn made meaningless. They passively (or actively) accept the division of science and religion. They allow ‘religion’ to be placed into the sphere of ideas and values, far from the sphere of ‘science,’ which deals with facts and testable data. Ideas and values, the story goes, are of lower repute than ‘facts,’ … and thus the lie continues and Christianity is relegated to Sunday School classes and private belief.

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Have you ever sat and wondered when God is going to lead you into the fulfillment of your God ordained calling? Have you been tempted to break out of your cubicle, tell the boss what you really think, and embark on your “life’s true calling”? If you answered yes or even maybe to any of the above questions, then I have the book for you. It is called In the Meantime, the Practice of Proactive Waiting” and it is by my friend and Pastor Rob Brendle.

In this book, Rob Brendle gives us a humorous look into the inner workings of his mind, and into his past. I can assure you that we all have something to relate to when it comes to Pastor Brendle and his life. Interwoven into this amusing, and sometimes tear jerking story, is the life of David. From David the shepherd boy, who one day out of no where was anointed King, to the warrior poet spending years hiding in the wilderness. Rob Brendle mines the scriptures for those subtle pieces of wisdom that unless we are truly looking for, we will miss completely.

This book will teach you how to embrace the stage of life that you are in and how maybe; just maybe, it could be part of the ultimate plan God has for you. Pastor Brendle takes the time to show the intricacies that exist between our daily walk with God, and our “big picture” calling. He provides many examples of when biblical characters “manhandle the plan” and God’s blessing decrease or stop entirely. By utilizing these examples he builds a case for wandering in the wilderness, and instead of praying “Lord, release me from the wilderness” praying “Lord, teach me what I must learn in the wilderness and your will be done”

This humorous, and all too timely of a book will challenge you to change the paradigm of your thinking towards God, life, and your calling. If you are reading this saying “I do not know my calling” do not worry, Pastor Rob can help you there to.

I challenge you to read this book. It is not a deeply theological book, it is not dauntingly lengthy (218 pages), but if you listen to the wisdom of the book I guarantee your life will change, your relationships will deepen and your mind will be freed from the ‘you will never be good enough” lie that Satan just loves to throw our way.

In the Meantime : The Practice of Proactive Waiting by Rob Brendle

For those of you who don't already know, I'm a confirmed gearhead- in many ways I'm also a frustrated engineer. I simply have to know how everything works. And why. In 1991 I nearly drove my lovely wife insane when I took over six months to pick out just the "right" CD player for our home audio system. Don't even ask about the new home theater. On top of all that I'm one-half German, which means that I possess genetic programming which compels me to ALWAYS READ THE INSTRUCTIONS! Needless to say, I receive no small amount of ribbing from some of my buddies, since it seems that reading the instructions is considered even less manly than asking for directions. Despite all the teasing I continue to read the instructions. You see, I've found that most of my mechanical debacles have occurred when I didn't read the instructions, skipped a few steps, and/or thought I knew better than the designer/builder of the product in question.

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Parenting in Light of God’s Economy

As I write, Levitt and Dubner’s Freakonomics is #4 on the New York Times Bestseller List. A coveted position, to be sure, this book has become famous primarily because it has turned some of our culture’s conventional wisdom on its head. "Rogue" economist Steven Levitt will tell you that "numbers don’t lie" (though apparently your child’s third grade teacher might), and so his book searches out the mathematical truths "behind everything."

Levitt and Dubner make it clear that their intention is to give a description of how life is. This is not a Christian book, nor even a spiritual book. In fact, the authors state that "the fact of the matter is that Freakonomics-style thinking doesn’t traffic in morality…[I]f morality represents an ideal world, then economics represents the actual world." The "actual world" of the chapter entitled "What Makes a Perfect Parent?" revealed to me that there is an agreed-upon definition of parental success that is far from God’s design. I don’t want to spend time criticizing the authors—who never claim to share our faith—or Freakonomics per se, but would rather use this as a starting point to explore a bit of theonomics-style (God’s economics) thinking concerning the subject of parenting.

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I recently finished reading Donald Miller’s honest and refreshing book of essays, Blue Like Jazz. In it Miller explores a number of challenges facing those who truly desire to walk like Jesus did, within and outside of the traditions of American Christianity. I was particularly challenged by one chapter, entitled “Love: How to Really Love Other People.” Miller tells the story of one specific person in his church who he struggled to love. He was repulsed by this guy, and found it difficult to love him, let alone like him. Miller was forced to confront his own lack of love, and realized a significant change in his behavior towards this man. He writes, “I replaced economic metaphor, in my mind, with something different, a free gift metaphor or a magnet metaphor. That is, instead of withholding love to change somebody, I poured it on, lavishly. I hoped that love would work like a magnet, pulling people from the mire and toward healing. I knew this was the way God loved me. God had never withheld love to teach me a lesson.”

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It is no exaggeration to state that the books of H.G. Wells served as the primary inspiration for countless numbers of science fiction writers and film makers. His 1898 novel The War of the Worlds has served as the template for hundreds of stories and films about alien invasions. In 1953 director George Pal released the first movie version. Over four decades later Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich offered up a thinly veiled remake with their 1996 summer blockbuster Independence Day. And in July of this year, Steven Spielberg released his vision of Wells' futuristic apocalypse. Let's look and see what these three films have to say about where we've been and where we're going.

I'll admit from the outset that the 1953 film is my hands-down favorite. Several years ago I had the privilege of seeing a newly struck print at a local theater. I was amazed at how well the entire film-and in particular the special effects-held up. However, what I found most interesting was the strong Christian subtext of the film. The Martian invaders are portrayed as relentlessly evil from the outset. Any doubts about them are resolved early on when they incinerate a pastor who approaches them holding a Bible and quoting Psalm 23. All human attempts to stop the invaders fail, and almost all hope is lost. At the climax of the film, we see the Martian war machines attacking Los Angeles-and crowds of people gathering in churches for worship and prayer. As one church is about to be destroyed, the Martian craft begin to fall from the sky, their pilots dead or dying. The narrator explains,

After all that men could do had failed, the Martians were destroyed and humanity was saved by the littlest things which God and His wisdom had put upon this Earth.

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