Matt Jones DO

I don't think I've called him Matty, I threaten to call him Jonesy. I should have titled this entry Dr Matt. And sometimes I call him Dr Jones in a German accent. Others call him daddy or sir or hubby. I call him friend. One of the great things about Matt is you can read how he has grappled with what to call himself at his blogspot. He's a Doctor of Osteopathy (DO) in residency at the U of M in med/peds. Matt and his family joined our small group last year having moved here from Texas.

Matt came up to me at our fellowship dinner last night and said, "I have something for you." Intrigued I followed him back to the coat closet. He pulled out a folded piece of paper and told me that he had written this following an experience in his last rotation and had shared with a couple of colleagues that had urged him to get it published. He said, "Read this and give me your opinion." The essay is called Revival. It's not posted yet on his blog, but I am sure it won't be long. There are plenty of other great subjects there. I check his blog often. He's a very busy man with a demanding job, a wife and three small children, so he doesn't write often, but when he does it's worth reading. This article was short, but I still welled up with tears at the end. Matt will be a writer when he retires from doctoring (if that ever happens).

I have put a link to his site in my favorites on the right here.

Twin Cities Green

That's the name of a new store in Uptown (24th and Hennepin) I stumbled into yesterday.

Turns out it's the second location for a store over on Ceder and 42nd called "ReGifts". The concept of both stores is to sell things that are made from at least 50% post customer materials. In addition to gift items the new store, "Twin Cities Green" has furniture and even a consultation corner for helping folks find resources if you are building or whatever you may want to live a little more lightly.

Both stores are owned by a young couple that wanted to do something tangible about their convictions. I think the husband, Ryan is an artist himself. But now he's managing a store instead of producing artwork. For no other reason than supporting the little guy living out a simple dream, shopping there is worth it if you are in the market for unique gifts.

Favorite find: 100% recycled toilet paper! Before you get grossed out: it's made from regular recycled paper. Ryan told me the main reason large toilet paper manufacturers don't use post consumer paper for toilet paper is because of the public response. Yet it would be a smart alternative to using new trees considering where it goes after we use it. These rolls are individually wrapped, have a very funny name and cost only 99 cents each. If nothing else they would make great gag gifts or funny stocking-stuffers this Christmas. And hey, you'd be living green.

day of the Lord

This passage was brought to my attention recently.

2 Peter 3:10
But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.

Interesting phrase: the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.

Let’s back up. The day of the Lord means when Christ comes again, end of the world kind of thing. We say it’s like a thief because we don’t know when it’s happening. I think that next part means the heavens as we know them won’t be the same. (This part could take a lot of pondering. - But not my point.)

But interestingly enough the earth all and that was done there isn’t what gets burned up or dissolved. It’s exposed. What for? Why would it remain? The only thing I can think of is to show off God’s glory!

Bob Dylan once said, “Strengthen the things that remain.”

It goes back to my thought that whatever is done here for God's Name, His purposes will be here in the New Earth shouting to His glory for all eternity!

More fuel for my desire to go - strengthen the things that remain.

Why the physical remains and is renewed...

I have been thinking more about the renewed earth. I think it relates to the renewed physical realm. Here's a quote from the message I mentioned a few days back about the New Heavens and the New Earth.

“And the ultimate reason there is a new heavens and a new earth is because the risen Christ will never lay down his human body but keep it as an everlasting emblem of Calvary where the glory of God’s grace was most fully displayed. The whole material universe was created in the first place, and then given its new form, so that the Son of God could be incarnate as a man, suffer in the flesh, be crucified, rise from the dead, and reign as the God-man and be surrounded by a countless host of redeemed people who in our spiritual bodies sing and speak and work and play and love in ways that visibly reflect his glory most fully precisely because we have bodies in a world spiritually and physically radiant with the glory of God.”

It's mostly about our bodies. I think some of what Piper is talking about applies to all of creation too.

Bottom line: It's for his glory!

body and spirit

thoughts from a recent funeral

A dear friend of mine lost her dad this past week. I didn't know him but I love my friend and want to support her in this loss. It was a very gospel-centered service. The man was well honored and obviously loved by those who knew him.

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God amazingly knits our body and soul together at conception. (I guess that is when He does it.) The two are completely integrated and work together for all the days of our life here in earth. Then we make a transition. Let go of the body and all its fallenness, all the parts that hold us down, distract us, cause despair. It is all gone in that instant, we won't miss it. I wonder if we will even notice it's gone.

And yet we will have a renewed body. (Check out Romans 8:18-24.) The creation waits for our newness to be revealed.

My point here is that we are free from all the weighs us down here. That will be such a true joy!

Kathy had her baby!

My best friend, Kathy had a baby boy yesterday. His name is Andreas Emmanuel Adamsson. He arrived this side of the womb at 1:45pm, weighing just over 8 lbs. He's healthy and already eating well. I'll try to post a photo soon.

I will come back to the New Earth topic

I am still formulating my response to Barb's comment on the last entry. However in the meantime I will refer you to a message that John Piper gave to a group of pastors on May 24, 2008 that you can read or listen to on the Desiring God web site. It's called Triumph of the Gospel in the New Heavens and the New Earth. I will warn you that Piper has a lot of other things to say to his audience before he gets to this topic about 25 minutes into the message.

More soon.

(I just have a few other pressing items on my plate at the moment.)