Thanks Scotty. . . .

I love the richness of my Presbyterian and Reformed heritage. I know, I know. . . Calvinists have oftentimes gotten a well-deserved bad rap for the way they represent, or more accurately misrepresent, their theological heritage. But when you understand the deep commitment to truth and the sovereignty of God, you wind up with an anchor that is rock solid. I communicate this reality to my kids by encouraging them to constantly fill their wells with the truths of God's Word. Someday, I tell them, they will be blessed with droughts, doubts, and sufferings that God will use to take them deep. If the well is full, growth will take place.

This morning, I ran across a wonderful prayer rooted in this heritage that was written by Scotty Smith, pastor of Christ Community PCA Church in Nashville. I simply want to pass on this wonderful prayer that ministered deeply to me in the hope that it might minister to you as well. You also might want to regularly check out Scotty's very thoughtful blog, "Heavenward".

A Prayer About the Pure Joy of Trials
Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. James 1:2-3

Dear Jesus, apart from the gospel of your grace, this admonition would appear to be the work of a madman. What sane person would ever associate pure joy with many trials? In fact, many of us have been schooled to believe that faith is the very means by which we can escape trials and hardships. And yet Jesus, it was because of the joy set before you that you persevered and endured the greatest trial of all for us… the cross (Hebrews 12:1-3).

Grant us your joy, Jesus… grant us your perspective… grant us your love for the glory of God above comfort… and grant us a greater love for your cross.

It’s only because of your cross, Jesus, that we can be certain that trials don’t come to us as punishment for our sins, but for the purification of our faith. We praise you for exhausting God’s judgment against our sins. We praise you that your cross was our Judgment Day. The perfect love of the cross drives away all fear of judgment and punishment (1 John 4:18). What peace this give us… what hope… what freedom!

Jesus, what dross would you burn from our faith through trials? What needs to be purified? Since faith is both the content of what we believe and the act of believing… please free us from all false gospels and from a lack of trust. Burn away everything we believe about you that contradicts the truth of the gospel, Jesus. What bad teachings have robbed us from the riches of the gospel? What bad teachings have made it easy for us to distort and misapply the gospel? Burn up these impurities, Jesus. We want the pure gold of the gospel to shine forth.

And burn away our double-mindedness and our lack of love for you, Jesus. We’re predestined to be like you. None of us likes to see our immaturity, and yet since maturity is Christlikeness, Jesus, reveal our immaturity… our incompleteness… our lack. In what ways do our attitudes and actions contradict your beauty? You’ll never condemn us, because you took the condemnation we deserve. But you will convict us. Grant us pure joy and godly sorrow which lead to repentance, salvation and no regrets (2 Corinthians 7:10). So very Amen, we pray, in your most loving and patient name.

Stephen Hawking, My Youth Pastor, And My Hand . . .

My youth pastors left quite a mark on my life. They challenged my faith, provided a great example of what it means to follow Jesus, and they used teachable moments to shape my knowledge of the Almighty. I oftentimes say that if it wasn't for Phil, Mike, and Chuck, I wouldn't be doing what I'm doing today. Because of them, I know what kind of impact a youth worker can have on a kid.

One of the many profound moments I remember from my high school days occurred during a youth group meeting when Phil asked our group to ponder the wonder and greatness of the Creator. He asked us to hold up our right hand and to look at it. Then, he instructed us to move it. . . and move it again. . . and then move it again. We did this for about 5 minutes, but it didn't take that long to come to the realization that the so-familiar-that-we-take-it-for-granted five-fingered thing at the end of our right arm provides amazing evidence of the fact that we have been - as the Psalmist says in Psalm 139 - "fearfully and wonderfully made."

I was reminded of this on Monday as Lisa and I sat in an office at the Hershey Medical Center after viewing x-rays and discussing the healing taking place in my bones with a couple of orthopedic physicians. When they left the room we were in awe at how God has made our bodies to heal, and the evidence of that in my own body over the course of four short weeks. As we sat there together in amazement in the quiet of that room, we both remarked with wonder at how any physician couldn't be a believer and follower.

This morning, our paper reported on some new stuff from physicist and mathematician Stephen Hawking. I've never read any of Hawking's stuff, but I've from time-to-time followed the news stories about Hawking's theories and writings. Today's headline read: "Hawking: God not needed for creation." It seems that Hawking is challenging Isaac Newton's theory that God had to be involved because without him, order couldn't have somehow just naturally come out chaos. I don't get it. For me, even the ability of Hawking's brain to think at levels I could never dream of achieving is ample evidence for a Divine Creator.

So. . . today. . . I challenge you to take 5 minutes (or more) to look. . . to really look. . . at that right hand on the end of your arm. If you're a parent or a youth worker, take a lesson from Phil, a guy who had a tremendous impact on my life, and challenge your kids to shut down long enough to ponder the evidence at the end of their right arm. And if that isn't enough, maybe I'll get you a copy of my x-rays!

Oh Man. . . We're Excited About This! . . . .

One of our goals here at CPYU is to help parents, youth workers, and teachers effectively teach kids how to integrate their faith into all of life. One of the most discouraging marks of churched and professing Christian kids today is that they are living very disjointed lives. While they might be applying their faith effectively and consciously to one or more areas of their lives, they fail to see how their faith should inform other areas of their lives.


Perhaps you've been frustrated by the growing number of kids who never endeavor to think consciously and Christianly about what God and His Word might have to say about the hours and hours of media that they engage with each and every day. Our duty and calling is clear - we must teach kids how to integrate their faith into their media use and choices. To that end, several years ago I wrote a little media evaluation guide that's been taught and used with tens of thousands of kids. It's called, How to Use Your Head to Guard Your Heart: A 3(d) Guide to Making Responsible Media Choices. Kids are using this guide to filter everything they see, hear, and use in their media world.


Now, we're really excited to tell you about another media evaluation tool we've developed in conjunction with Doug Fields and our good friends at Simply Youth Ministry. The folks over at SYM are known for developing cutting edge DVD curriculum for use with kids. I was thrilled when they came to me and asked, "How would you like to do a DVD curriculum with us that youth workers, parents, and teachers can use to help teach kids how to use your 3(d) guide?" Easy answer. . . . "SURE!" So, we put together Download: Teaching Teenagers to Filter Their Media Choices with Walt Mueller, a 3-part video curriculum that you can learn more about here.

As the fall kicks-off and you're looking for something substantial to use as a teaching tool with your kids, please consider using Download. This isn't a once-and-done proposition. Once you've gone through the 3 lessons with your students, spend one meeting or small-group time every month practicing the skills and engaging in real-life Bible study.

Here's a little clip from Download to give you a taste of what's on the DVD:

The Big Problem With Marriage. . . .

A little over three weeks ago I experienced the marriage of one of my children for the very first time. Josh married Sheila. It's a relationship God cultivated through the gift of weak ankles. Sheila was one of the student athletic trainers working with Josh's college lacrosse team. She taped his ankles every day that year. . . and only Josh will ever know if they needed to be taped every day or not! Perhaps it's no coincidence that Josh severely sprained his ankle playing lacrosse a week before his wedding.

Watching them recite their vows not only reminded me of the very same vows Lisa and I had recited to each other 28 years earlier, but it served as a reminder of how many young couples who stand and recite those vows in today's world will never keep them. I trust that the Lord will sustain and build their young marriage. I hope that as their marriage is built, any false hopes, dreams or ideas they have about love and commitment will be quickly shattered and then replaced with a heavy dose of reality.

It's also no coincidence that my kids - including the newlyweds - have had a front row seat from which to see the power of marital love in action over the course of the last four weeks. My varying degrees of physical helplessness and dependency on others has created a situation where the girl who 28 years ago promised to love me "in sickness and in health" has been doing just that with an eagerness and gusto that has brought me to tears on several occasions. Her commitment is not at all surprising to me.

Sadly, I'm not so sure that kind of marital commitment is on the rise in today's youth culture. Many kids are choosing to not get married. Of course, there are a variety of factors contributing to this growing reality. One of those factors is the lack of any compelling and realistic models of marriage to look up to. After all, if marriage didn't work in my family, why should it work for me?

This cultural trend has been one that's been chipping away at me for quite some time. More than alarming, it's something I know we need to more directly address at CPYU. We need to help parents and youth workers not only see the trend for what it is, but address it in ways that will prepare kids for the realities of marriage so that the tide can be turned and the institution realistically understood and thereby strengthened in our culture.

While I've been laying around, one of the books I've been reading that addresses these issues from a very practical, hopeful, and realistic standpoint is Paul Tripp's What Did You Expect: Redeeming the Realities of Marriage. In his typical fashion, Tripp addresses the culturally-promoted lies we come to believe with the counter of a Biblically-based explanation of the way things really are. Tripp cuts to the chase and warns readers against believing that it's always the other guy who's the issue. Instead, the reality is that the biggest problem in your marriage is well. . . you. He writes, "The big battles you fight in marriage are not the ones you fight with your spouse. No, the big battles are the ones being fought in your heart. All of the horizontal skirmishes between a husband and wife are the result of this deeper battle. Remember, there is still sin remaining in your heart, and the DNA of sin is selfishness." As my pastor once told me, we are deeply depraved people living in a depraved world. Conflict is inevitable. You will live with it until the day that you die. Maybe that's the most important thing a young couple can latch on to before they recite their vows. And maybe if they know that's true, they can take the steps necessary to receive and show God's free gift of grace in ways that make those vows come alive each and every day. . . . as they stay together "until death do us part."

Paul Tripp goes on to challenge readers to make these six mutual commitments in their marriage:

1. We will give ourselves to the regular lifestyle of confession and forgiveness.

2. We will make growth and change our daily agenda.

3. We will work together to build a sturdy bond of trust.

4. We will commit to building a relationship of love.

5. We will deal with our differences with appreciation and grace.

6. We will work to protect our marriage.

I've been married 28 years and I'm learning much from What Did You Expect? I want my kids to learn the lessons in this book. . . which is why they are each going to be given their own copy. If you're a parent or a youth worker, read it for your own edification, then live it in front of and talk about it with your kids. False expectations and ideas are killing marriage. Let's do all we can to breath some redemptive fresh air into an institution that if our culture stays on its current course, is in great jeopardy.

One Miserable Man. . . .

Over the years I've morphed into what I believe is a more God-honoring way of looking at the world. Many of us in the church have been hammered into believing that living the Christian faith requires a clean and shiny set of rose-colored glasses and an unrealistically positive (if we're honest) outlook on life. Don't think negative thoughts. See the good. Etc. Etc. But I've learned that in order to see and appreciate the beauty of God's goodness and grace, you have to reckon with the truth that surrounds us that is actually quite ugly. If I don't understand sin and depravity in both myself and the world around me, I might be fooled into thinking that I have no need for the Redeemer. In the end, that's dangerous, deadly, and a fast-track to the deceptive pull of idolatry.

So, it's a good thing when God exposes me to the darkness of my nature and the expressions of that sinful nature in my life. It's good when I look around and see pain, suffering, and hopelessness wherever it exists. We need to see the world as it is. Then - and only then - will we learn that we cannot save ourselves.

One side effect of this growing realization is a growing appreciation for the good stories we encounter in the world of books, film and TV. A "good" story doesn't have to be one that ends with the story of the Cross and a call to faith. No, a "good story" can be one that simply tells the truth, even if that truth is incredibly ugly. I believe that God uses those "good stories" that so many Christians might argue are "incomplete" as one small piece in the grand and great story He is working out in our lives and our world.

One of those small pieces that I got back to this week is season 4 of the AMC drama, Mad Men. At times, I've found myself watching this show and feeling like I might be no different than my grandmother who took time out each weekday afternoon to catch up on her "stories" . . . or as they are more widely known, soap operas. But then I quickly snap back into a reality check and realize - as series creator Matthew Weiner has said - that the show's tragic main character, Don Draper, is a man who has everything, yet is a man who has nothing. And that's what I love about Mad Men. All the promises of redemption that come with our North American culture of marketing, materialism, fast-living, and promiscuous behavior end in darkness. Mad Men effectively trumpets that truth. Perhaps the power of watching a fictitious guy like Don Draper unravel before our eyes is that God can use that to keep us from going down that same road in our very real lives. Right now, if I was only allowed to watch, ponder, and discuss one TV show, this would be it.

The Scriptures from Genesis to Revelation present the ugly truth about our condition along with the wonderful and beautiful truth of God's plan and provision for the restoration of shalom in our lives and world. The writer of Ecclesiastes - like Don Draper - reminds us that "everything is meaningless. . . completely meaningless." And, he tells us straightforwardly and simply that his final conclusion is this: "Fear God and obey his commands. For this is everyone's duty."

100 miles. . . 100 miles. . .

Somewhere along the way I forget that today was to be the day. I realized it about mid-morning when I checked the date. Today was going to be the day for me to tackle my 100 mile bike ride along the Jersey Shore coastline to raise the additional $10,000 we need at CPYU to pay for our server and laptop upgrade. Ironically, it was during my 54 mile 54th birthday bike ride (part of my training to build up for today's ride) back on July 30 that my biking - at least for the remainder of this year - came to an end.

Even though my ability to complete the 100 mile fundraising ride (I had been hoping for 200 people to donate $50 each, or 50 cents a mile) came to a quick end, there have been some people who still want to see the ride happen, and they have expressed a willingness to ride in my place. Among them, a college friend wants to take a 300 mile plus ride from Pittsburgh to DC and raise money for us. A couple of CPYU friends in the midwest have offered to ride the century in their community. And now, the healthy members of the CPYU staff are offering to complete a team ride that would total 100 miles.

To this point, I've been so overwhelmed by time devoted to healing and recovery that I've had little time to focus on a response to these generous offers. But looking at the calendar this morning has renewed my desire to see the hundred miles logged even if it's in a variety of places, by a variety of people, and in a variety of ways. . . without me having to climb back on the bike.

So. . . here's the deal: in the coming days we're going to develop a plan. I'm not sure what it's going to look like but we'll need a couple of things. 1) We'll need people anywhere and everywhere who believe in the CPYU mission to ride and raise money. We'll set aside a day or a period of days within which you can ride. We'll give you the info you need to recruit sponsors for our cause, and we'll tell you how they can support you in your quest to help us through their tax-deductible gifts. 2)We're going to need an army of people to step up and help us make this a success. In other words, we'll need people who can't ride to make a donation on behalf of those who do. Again, keep your ears and eyes open as we'll be getting the info out through all our channels in the coming days.

In the meantime, you can still make a donation towards our server by clicking here. Remember, every little bit helps us to stay connected with you and the thousands upon thousands of people worldwide who depend on CPYU's information, analysis, ministry, and resources.

Finally, an update on my progress. Let me begin by saying "thanks" for all the prayers on my behalf. They are sustaining us. I'm still having pain, but it's bearable. I'm walking more in the neighborhood. My follow-up appointment on Monday was a good one. My ability to breath is still hampered a bit by the pain from all the rib fractures, but it's slowly improving. Physical therapy should be starting soon and I hope to aggressively attack my left shoulder so that I can regain strength, full range of movement, and use of my arm. I'm feeling more and more comfortable in my bones as they heal. I experienced a small disappointment this morning when the trauma doctor informed us that I won't be able to fly until February 20. While that will certainly hamper my schedule, trains and cars will come into play for some of my travels,and Lisa and I will be able to enjoy doing some driving together. Most of all, I am greatly blessed to be a man who has been adopted by a loving Father who is using this to His glory while teaching me far too many things to recount here, and far more than I'm even aware of. I'm not sure how to describe it, but God is leading me by the hand into some amazing places that I never imagined or knew even existed. It's been a joy to share this journey with Lisa (a person who eagerly embodies the marriage vows we made over 28 years ago),and I hope to be able to share more of it with others as I process everything that's happening.

This morning, I was comforted by these words from Psalm 84: "What joy for those whose strength comes from the Lord, who have set their minds on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. When they walk through the Valley of Weeping, it will become a place of refreshing springs." Those aren't just words anymore.

Never Stop Praying. . . .

"When is it going to end?" I asked Lisa that question last night as we went through the routine of getting me hunkered down for the night in the hospital bed that now sits in my family room. I know the answer to the question. God will bring it all to an end as he brings his purposes to pass. . . some day. Still, I asked out of the frustration of another day of being exposed to the suffering, hurt, and heartache that exists in our world.

One of the blessings of my own personal condition right now is that God is doing something in my life. Part of that something is a new exposure to the world of pain, hurt, and suffering that's always been there. . . but that my own creature-comforts and self-absorption with the everyday affairs of my life have kept me from seeing and understanding. I can't, however, say that I'm liking this. Even my simple trip to the hospital for my first post-trauma follow-up appointment yesterday left me shaking my head. The waiting room was filled with folks who were going to heal from breaks and tears like my own. It was also populated by folks who have very clearly been ravaged by disease. . . some of them hanging on by what appeared to be a thread. There was our quick conversation with a couple who like us, was trying to find their way through the maze of hallways to a particular suite. In the short few moments we talked I learned that the man had just spent 6 weeks in the hospital and that he was one day away from having his lung removed. Then, late last night we learned of a difficult diagnosis that has left some friends asking questions and wondering about the future. Tomorrow, a 60-year-old fellow church member who loved Jesus and loved kids will be buried after a lengthy and difficult battle with ovarian cancer. I've been burdened for another friend who is struggling with some family breakdown and is wondering what in the world happened. The list goes on and on.

What am I to do with all of this? The reality is that beyond supportive involvement, there is little or nothing I can do that will bring any lasting change with the exception of prayer. In his first letter to the Thessalonians, the Apostle Paul gave them this simple instruction: "Never stop praying" (5:17). I've known this my whole life. I'm not sure I've ever understood it as deeply as I do now. And so when I woke up at 1:30am, I knew it was time for me to pray for these and others who have exhausted their own strength and resources to the point where they can only rely on the Lord. . . which right where he wants us.

After falling back asleep and waking up again this morning, I knew I had to give thanks for those who have been praying for me. To be honest, even I'm surprised at how much I've healed in three short weeks. Sure, there's lots of healing left to be done, but I got to thinking about how meaningful it is that people are praying for me.

While still laying in bed, I grabbed my blackberry and scrolled through the emails the messages that came through the night. As it's happened almost every night for the last 50, I had a message saying that Alisa Parrett had posted an update on Gary's condition to their Caring Bridge site. Today, Alisa shared these words regarding her Dad's day yesterday at the rehab hospital: My mother met with my dad's new doctor today--he had actually been instrumental in working out my dad's transfer from Korea, but this was the first time any of us had met him. My mom was so blessed by meeting him--we pray blessings upon him and upon the rest of the hospital staff. The doctor spoke to my mom today about the power of prayer. He said that in a field as unpredictable and unknown as brain injury, patients who have large bases of prayer support always seem to recover better than expected. We know that my dad has a large prayer base, and we are so grateful for that! God answers prayers.

I selfishly covet your prayers. I want to get better. But don't forget that there's a host of people right under your nose who need your prayers much, much more than I do.