Just Do Something

So I just started reading Just Do Something by Kevin DeYoung (yes, it seems that I am a on a Kevin DeYoung kick).


I'm not even half-way through the book, but I already decided I'm going to read it again when I'm done.


That's how good it is.

No cap, no gown, no ceremony.

Over the past few days I have attempted more than once to write this post. To announce to the world that I'm a drop out. To reflect on the ending of the past seventeen years of my life. To find closure; to make it seem real.


But I just haven't been able to find the words. It's not that I'm ashamed. I've been able to tell plenty of people that I'm not finishing my program. (More on why in a later post.) Many of them comment on how much I smile when I explain why I chose not to return. I feel lighter, less anxious, more alive. It's a good thing.


But how do you find closure to seventeen years of your life? For seventeen years of my life I have been a student. I have structured my life around August-May. I have had summers off. I have attended classes, done homework, taken tests. I have learned how to miss just enough class. I have learned about myself, about life, and about God.


I have gone from Kindergarten -- in Orland Park... where I almost always wore a white sweater and I met Joanna, who later became my roommate during my freshman year of college.


To Elementary School -- where I thought I was the best speller ever, but I never really picked up anything pertaining to geography.


And then to Junior High -- in Mundelein... where I thought boys and how popular I was really were the most important things.


And to High School -- when I realized what was important, devoted my life to Christ, and fell in love with the local church.


Then to College -- in my beloved Champaign-Urbana... where I learned more outside of the classroom than inside.


And to my year at Seminary -- in Deerfield... where I met my fiance and learned that I really do learn best outside of the classroom.


And now, I'm leaving the student life, the single life--even my Illinois life!


No cap, no gown, no ceremony. Just an ending.

On when to share the gospel...

"...Test yourself to see whether or not Jesus is really precious to you, and whether you believe this person is really lost without him and that it would be the best thing in the world for them to know this, believe this, and be redeemed by this. And if you really believe that, then probably sooner rather than later you're going to find some way to share this with the person that you know."


--John Piper

I'm far from knowing anything about parenting...

but I read this blog post about a mother explaining why she's letting her 11-year-old daughter dye her hair pink.


You hear people say "pick your battles" a lot, and she's presenting a similar case--not picking battles out of exhaustion or defeat, but out of a realization of what's important and what isn't.


Just something to file away...


HT: Abraham Piper

Brokenhearted Love

Molly Piper writes a beautiful, and beautifully accurate, blog post about how to grieve with those who grieve. 

Book Review: Freedom and Boundaries

I don’t often recommend books… I’m not sure why that is. Maybe it’s because I’m afraid if I suggest a book that someone then doesn’t like, they’ll judge my literary taste. Maybe it’s because I haven’t come across very many books that I think need to be read. Regardless, I’m recommending a book. On the internet. This might be a big deal.

I recently read Kevin DeYoung’s Freedom and Boundaries, and it has been easily been one of the most helpful books (aside from the Bible, obviously) that I have read during my Christian life. It is a short, simply written (and understood) distillation of the issues surrounding women in the church—primarily whether women should be in leadership roles in the church. DeYoung holds a firm complementarian stance, but defends it gently and graciously. He takes the reader through six Bible passages (or groupings of similar passages) and explains what they say regarding the topic, and then navigates some common objections to complementarianism.

DeYoung explains in the beginning of the book that he set out with intentions to write a book “that explained the Bible’s teaching about men and women in the church in a way that the interested layperson could understand and in a size that she could read in a few hours” (xiii). He succeeded. He takes complicated passages to exegete, and explains them in a way that is simple to understand and yet not demeaning. One could tell that the book had been researched and toiled over at a scholarly level, but written in a way that anyone could pick it up.

Perhaps my favorite part of the book was the section on 1 Timothy 3:1-13. This is a tricky section, and it had caught my eye a few months prior to picking up the book. I was taking a class on the Pastoral Epistles, and in my study I came across a word which was causing me some trouble in my study.   The greek word for “wife” and “woman” is the same, and translation depends on the context.  In 1 Timothy 3:11, we come across this word, gynaikas. Depending on translation, the sentence will read either as introducing women deacons, or explaining the character of the wives of deacons. This is a significant difference. The class I was in never discussed it, and the commentaries I had glossed right over it. Nobody seemed to notice the issue! So the section focusing on this issue in the book was an answer to prayer. It was not overlooked.

This is a thorough, easy-to-read book on the role of women in the church. With practical help at the end of the book, as in “what should women do in the church?”, it left no rock unturned in my mind. I would recommend it to anyone who is a woman in the church, leaders in the church, or anyone who is still unclear on their beliefs regarding women in the church.

*In the interest of full disclosure, I receive a small portion of anything purchased by a link in this post.