Sacramento Conference - SOLD OUT

Stay tuned for information on The Rebelution Tour's next stop: July 22, 2006, in Orlando, Florida -- one of the least expensive cities in the country to fly into.

Tragedy: Mother Sues Over Unsuccessful Abortion

Source: BBC News: Scotland - Damages claim for abortion twin

Stacy Dow of Scotland was 16 when she discovered she was pregnant with twins and decided to have an abortion. Unbeknownst to her and to the doctors, one the twins survived the attempted murder and was born.

Now the child's mother is suing the hospital for $1.7 million in compensation, seeking damages for the "financial burden" of raising her now four-year-old daughter, Jayde.

"I have got a child now that I wasn't planning to have and I believe the hospital should take some responsibility for that," Dow said. "They should have known, or at least warned me, that I might still be pregnant when I left. It has totally changed my life and my parents' lives."

And the most heart-breaking quote of all: "I still don't know if, or what, I am going to tell Jayde when the time comes. Maybe when she is nine or ten I will sit her down and explain it to her."

How could a mother ever explain such a thing to her daughter?

Justin Taylor of Theologica said it best:

Try to imagine that conversation. Then weep at the depravity. Then realize that we would act in such a murderous, self-centered way but for the grace of God. May we cling to the cross, and cry out to God for both mercy and justice. Come quickly, Lord Jesus.

Pray for Jayde, that she might someday come to know the infinite love of her Heavenly Father; the love of Him through whom we cry, "Abba! Father!"

Happy Birthday! - Spunky Junior

Today is the 17th birthday of an excellent blogger and rebelutionary, Kristin Braun of Spunky Junior. Be sure to visit her great blog and shower her with happy birthday greetings.

Happy birthday, Kristin! May God bless you richly!

Boundless: Addicted to Adultescence (UPDATED)

UPDATE: "Addicted To Adultescence" made the front page of Christianity.com.

. . . .

An article by Alex and Brett Harris

Click here to read it.

John Piper: "Don't Waste Your Cancer"

John Piper wrote the short article, Don't Waste Your Cancer, on the eve of surgery for prostrate cancer, just two days ago. His words speak volumes about his faith and trust in a sovereign God. You need not have cancer to learn from this man.

Here are his ten points:

1. You will waste your cancer if you do not believe it is designed for you by God.
2. You will waste your cancer if you believe it is a curse and not a gift.
3. You will waste your cancer if you seek comfort from your odds rather than from God.
4. You will waste your cancer if you refuse to think about death.
5. You will waste your cancer if you think that “beating” cancer means staying alive rather than cherishing Christ.
6. You will waste your cancer if you spend too much time reading about cancer and not enough time reading about God.
7. You will waste your cancer if you let it drive you into solitude instead of deepen your relationships with manifest affection.
8. You will waste your cancer if you grieve as those who have no hope.
9. You will waste your cancer if you treat sin as casually as before.
10. You will waste your cancer if you fail to use it as a means of witness to the truth and glory of Christ.

John Piper's surgery was reported as very successful, but there is still need for much prayer. Please continue to hold him in your prayers as he recovers, that he will prove to be cancer free. For updates, click here.

HT: Justin Taylor of Theologica

Scripture Memory: How Are You Doing?

At the beginning of the month, we challenged our readers to join us in doing the hard—but inestimably valuable—task of memorizing God's Word. To our joy, we received a very positive response.

But now a week and a half has gone by, which (in my experience) is just about the amount of time it takes for enthusiasm to begin to wane. This post (along with the comments section) is intended serve as an encouragement and exhortation for all of us to persevere.

Brett and I are currently working on Romans 8, after which we want to memorize Isaiah 53. Our goal is to have both memorized before the Sacramento Conference next month. We began our memorization with our family, all of us working to have Romans 8:26-39 memorized by mid-month (i.e. today).

To be honest, I was very diligent for the first week, then the enthusiasm began to wear off... That is, until I focused and made myself sit down and do it. It was really incredible, being able to recite an extended portion of God's Word like that. It reignited my fire.

Brett and I now have half of Romans 8 memorized (verses 26-39 and 1-5). It's been hard, but good.

So how about all of you? How are you doing?

Bored? Read this!

Fellow rebelutionary, Spunky Junior, shares the following quotation by G.K. Chesterton:

"There are no boring subjects, only disinterested minds."

Chesterton is right. When you think about it, there really aren't any intrinsically boring topics. After all, some people really are interested in studying a dripping glob of congealed black tar for decades on end. In fact, someone won an Ig Nobel Prize for doing just that.

However, although there isn't such a thing as a boring topic, there is such a thing as a bored person. Each of us experiences the feelings of boredom on a daily basis. Unfortunately, many of the things that seem boring (or disinteresting) are the very things that develop godly character and competence — things like school, reading our Bible, studying theology, or spending time with our family.

Here's the question: What is boredom and how can we change our interests so that we enjoy doing hard things?

So what is boredom? Our father has always taught us that boredom is the mind's equivalent to hunger. Just like hunger signals your body's desire for food, so boredom signals your mind's desire for mental stimulation. To put it simply, when you're bored, your mind is hungry and it wants to eat.

When a person gets hungry enough, they'll eat almost anything. It's the same with boredom. If you get bored enough, you'll start reading through the dictionary. I know, because I've done it before... And actually, I learned a lot of neat words.

So being bored, like being hungry, is not a bad thing. What is bad is when we satisfy that hunger with worthless clutter. Just like you can appease physical hunger by eating physical junk food, you can appease mental hunger by filling your mind with mental junk food. We eliminate the feelings of hunger, without delivering the nutrition our body needs. We eliminate our feelings of boredom, without allowing it to accomplish its intended purpose, which is to drive us to seek knowledge and gain character through study, contemplation, and hard work.

To make matters worse, we live in a world that seems intent on eliminating all feelings of boredom, without really feeding anyone's mind. The Internet, 24-hour cable television, TiVo, cell phones, pagers, instant-messaging, text-messaging, email, and iPods, are just some of the ways our culture allows us to be constantly connected to, interacting with, and entertained by people and media.

It's kind of like living in a world with big bowls of cheese puffs everywhere. Everyone is constantly munching. Hungry even a little bit? Pop a handful of cheese puffs! There's always a bowl right next to you. In fact, you never even get hungry enough for a real meal, because you're always eating cheese puffs.

We can laugh at how ridiculous that sounds. After all, our parents would never let us continually snack on cheese puffs, and we wouldn't do it anyway. We know that ruining our appetite for what is substantial, healthy, and nutritious is foolish. And yet we are constantly ruining our mind's appetite for what is substantial and intellectually nourishing, by filling it with mental junk food. One of the reasons we often procrastinate about important projects is because we never allow our brain to get hungry enough to enjoy tackling it. We just satisfy it with cheese puffs.

Our appetites are very much shaped by what we satisfy them with. If we always drink a Coke when we're thirsty, what we will start longing for when we're thirsty? Coke. If we always eat cheese puffs when we're hungry, what we will start longing for when we're hungry? Cheese puffs. In the same way, if we always surf the Internet when we're bored, what will we start longing for when we're bored? Surfing the Internet.

You see, we don't get nourished, we just satisfy the feelings of boredom. But that just makes our minds more hungry, so we surf the internet a little bit longer next time (maybe a little bit deeper too). We're constantly ruining our appetite for activities that grow godly character and competence, and then we wonder why they seem "boring" or "uninteresting" to us.

This is a call for action. It's a crisis and an opportunity. A crisis, because we cannot afford to continue appeasing our mind with junk food. An opportunity, because by guarding what we feed our mind when we are bored, we can shape its appetite to long for what strengthens and nourishes it. The more we do that, the more we will enjoy completing our God-given responsibilities and the more great things we will accomplish.

So what do you use to appease your boredom? First, recognize it. Once you've done that, make a focused effort to stop using it to appease your boredom. Instead, try this: Let yourself be bored for a while, then tackle something hard. It could be finishing a project, reading a great book, organizing an activity with your siblings, or any number of things. Just make sure it's not something that comes easy. Once you've done it, come back here and tell us about it.

Further Reading: "Do Hard Things" Doesn't Mean You Can't Have Fun

Self-Discipline: Practical Tips

In light of yesterday's post, Stop Wasting Time, and in keeping with the vision and purpose of The Rebelution, Brett and I would encourage all of you to read the article, Learning Self-Discipline by John MacArthur.

HT: Clarissa Ramos of the ever-excellent blog, The David Trait.

If our encouragement is not enough, here's another push to make you go and read the article (and to give you an idea of the practicality and helpfulness). Here are the section titles:

• Start with small things.
• Get yourself organized.
• Don't constantly seek to be entertained.
• Be on time.
• Keep your word.
• Do the most difficult tasks first.
• Finish what you start.
• Accept correction.
• Practice self-denial.
• Welcome responsibility.

Excellent stuff, huh? A lot of the things we've talked about, from a man with a lot more experience and wisdom than we have.

Go read the article.

Do Hard Things: Scripture Memorization

Those who have browsed our booklist may have noticed that we are currently reading through John Piper's book, When I Don't Desire God.

Unknown to us (until yesterday), our older brother (Josh) and CJ Mahaney have also been reading through the book.

We were talking about When I Don't Desire God with our family a few days ago and Brett mentioned that he thought it may be Piper's best book. It turns out that we aren't the only people to think that (and we're in good company). As Josh shared:

Yesterday CJ told me it's his all-time favorite Piper book and that he was reading it again. Now there's an endorsement!

It also turns out that Piper's book convicted older brother and younger brothers in the same area: Scripture memorization. We echo Josh's words:

This is an area I have desired to grow in and been frustrated about. Thankfully, Piper gave more than a reminder, he provided practical help.

Here are some of the quotes Piper shared that cut to our hearts:

Charles Spurgeon: "It is blessed to eat into the very soul of the Bible until, at last, you come to talk in Scriptural language, and your spirit is flavored with the words of the Lord, so that your blood is Bibline and the very essence of the Bible flows from you."

Dallas Willard: "Bible memorization is absolutely fundamental to spiritual formation. If I had to choose between all the disciplines of the spiritual life, I would choose Bible memorization, because it is a fundamental way of filling our mind with what it needs. This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth. That's where you need it! How did it get in your mouth? Memorization."

And this passage, with an excerpt from The Pilgrim's Progress:

One of the greatest scenes in The Pilgrim's Progress is when Christian recalls in the dungeon of Doubting-Castle that he has a key to the door. Very significant is not only what the key is, but where it is:

"What a fool I have been, to lie like this in a stinking dungeon, when I could have just as well walked free. In my chest pocket I have a key called Promise that will, I am thoroughly persuaded, open any lock in Doubting Castle." "Then," said Hopeful, "that is good news. My good brother, do immediately take it out of your chest pocket and try it." Then Christian took the key from his chest and began to try the lock of the dungeon door; and as he turned the key, the bolt unlocked and the door flew open with ease, so that Christian and Hopeful immediately cam out."

Three times Bunyan says that the key out of Doubting-Castle was in Christian's "chest pocket" or simply his "chest." I take this to mean that Christian had hidden God's promise in his heart by memorization and that it was now accessible in prison for precisely this reason.

This is how the promises sustained and strengthened Bunyan. He was filled with Scripture. Everything he wrote was saturated with Bible. He pored over his English Bible, which he had most of the time. This is why he could say of his writings, "I have not for these things fished in other men's waters; my Bible and concordance are my only library in my writings."

Brett and I are pretty good at memorizing. We'll memorize our favorite scenes from a movie in a single viewing. We'll memorize songs. We'll memorize jokes. We'll memorize tongue twisters. We'll even memorize how to say "super-cali-fragi-listic-expi-ali-docious" backwards. For us, and indeed, for most young people, memorization is not all that strenuous and will never be easier.

Nonetheless, I'm ashamed to say that of all the things we have stored in our minds, readily available, very little is Scripture. The verses and passages we've memorized in the past have been slowly crowded out of our minds by trivial "stuff." Consistency, meditation, and dedication (the hard, little things) have been sorely lacking. Thus, instead of the "sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God," we are often left with an empty scabbard. Movie lines are a poor defense against temptation.

John Piper puts forth the following challenge:

Let me be very practical and challenge you to do something you perhaps have never done. If you are not a memorizer at all, shift up to memorizing a Bible verse a week. If you only memorize memorize single verses, shift up to memorizing some paragraphs or chapters (like Psalm 1 or Psalm 23 or Romans 8). And if you have ventured to memorize chapters, shift up to memorize a whole book or part of a book. Few things have a greater effect on the way we see God and the world than to memorize extended portions of Scripture.

Brett and I are taking the challenge. We call on you, our readers and friends, to join us. Nothing will better ground and equip The Rebelution than for "the word of God dwell in [us] richly" (Colossians 3:16). We have stressed that strong, godly character is becoming more and more critical in our world today. How then can we ignore Psalm 119:11, "I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you"?

Don't be deceived, this will be very hard. The enemy and our sinful flesh will fight and discourage and distract with all their might. But we can do this through Christ who strengthens us. Let us each set a goal and a deadline. It is not a contest, but we do want to "stir up one another to love and good works" (Hebrews 10:24). Memorizing a whole chapter in a week is good. Developing a daily habit of Bible memorization, meditation, and review is even better.

Brett and I have started working on Romans 8. Once that is completed I would like to start working on Isaiah 53. We are using the methodology that Piper and Josh recommend for memorizing extended passages, which can be found online here. By God's grace, I would like to have both passages memorized before we leave to drive down to Sacramento for the Rebelution Tour next month.

The comments section is open for questions, discussion, and encouragement. What do you plan doing in light of this challenge? How has God used the discipline of Scripture memorization in your life? What tricks do you use to help you memorize?