Don't Come Around Here No More...

Well, this is it. Within a week or so I'll be taking down SWFD. But the news isn't all bad. I've started another blog that will be devoted to our ministry in Savannah. You can find it here:

http://savannahblog.wordpress.com/

Feel free to give it a bookmark. I've been working over the last week to have it functional. I've even managed to post a couple of items ahead of time. I hope you find it to be at least as helpful as SWFD. Actually, all I would to do is post a picture of a door stop once a week and it would be at least as helpful. But I plan on posting more than that. We'll see.

Thanks for reading!

I Miss the Pizza

One of the things we miss most about the Chicago area is the pizza. There is no doubt that Chicago has the greatest pizza in the country. Here in Savannah we've been trying to find a pizza place that we like. Last week we tried VinnieVanGo-Go's downtown. It was actually pretty good but not exactly right around the corner. Vincenzo's on the other hand is right around the corner but just didn't really scratch the itch. The sauce was a little sweet, the sausage was a little bland and the crust was unremarkable.

As for the pizza in Chicago I' like to mention a few standouts as a memorial to what we've left behind:

Dondi's

Dondi's qualified at every level. The sauce was delicious. The cheese was gooey and scrumptous. The sausage was savory and best of all it was right around the corner. Dondi's was a once a week meal at our house and we miss it a lot! Unfortunately for the common tourist Dondi's exists only in Arlington Heights.

Lou Malnatti's

Chicago deep dish pizza is a unique experience. Most notable is the fact that one peice of pizza can be a meal for me. (This by no means implies that I always stop at one piece.) Lou's pizza was our Sunday night youth group meal last year. The crust is buttery and delicious and the sausage is think and juicy. It all combines into one thick bite of deliciousness. My mouth waters as I write.

Giordano's

One more pizza place deserves a mention. I know that Giordano's is considered something of a tourist destination by resident Chicagoans. Visitors to the city can go stand in line to have a bite of Giordano's while we enjoy the good stuff. But I have to confess that I think Giordano's is really good. As stuffed crust pizza goes Gio's has all the right componets coming together to make for a really great bite of pizza. When it's hot Gio's is as good as any and I'd be happy to have it any day of the week.

Let me close with another important point. We liked our pizze because it usually lasted for 2 or 3 meals. Cold pizza in the fridge is one of the truly great joys of life. For cold pizza Dondi's was the best. I think it had something to do with the cheese.

One Last Cat Tuesday

I just couldn't resist this one: The cat with 4 ears.

Blog FAQ's

As we approach these few final days of SWFD I thought I would take some time to answer some questions that I'm sure many of you have been wondering about for four years:

1. Who came up with the name "Some words from Dave..."?

That would be none other than Dan Pfeiffer. Pfeif, as he is affectionately known around the SWFD offices, chose the name when he set up the blog. Other possibilities were, "Some thoughts from Dave..." "Some things Dave wants to say..." and "Here's what my cat's doing today..." All of these were rejected because they didn't quite capture the essence of the blog.

2. What is your favorite blog entry?

I would have to say this one. In close second would be this one. Interesting that they came on consecutive weeks. Perhaps I peaked early?

3. What is your least favorite blog entry?

Oh wow...there are simply so many to choose from. This one is pretty bad. This one was a real low point that led to me not blogging again for almost two months.

4. What happened to Cat Tuesday?

I always said that I would only continue with Cat Tuesday as long as it was fun. When it stopped being fun I knew it was time to quit. I think Cat Tuesday, much like Seinfeld, went out on top. It never jumped the shark.

5. You spoke of "other projects" in your previous post. What do you have in mind?

Along with me new church plant here in Savannah I have thought that I would start a new blog that focuses on the ministry here. I have no plans to start a Cat Blog at this time. Sorry.

6. What is your favorite restaurant in Savannah right now?

Spanky's at Tybee followed by ice cream at the Sugar Shack. I have been here two weeks and haven't been to Hilliard's or Barnes'. I can't believe it either.

7. Are you watching the Olympics?

Every time I check the only events on are Beach Volleyball and Team Handball. All this talk of swimming and gymnastics seems to me to be a lie. So the answer is: not really.

8. If you could transform into an animal at will which one would you choose?

A dolphin.

20 More Days

I guess we all knew this announcement would come eventually. After countless man-hours and uncountable dollars I feel that the story that is "Some word from Dave..." must draw to a conclusion. The parting will be bittersweet. While I will certainly miss all the good times I yearn for the extra time to devote to other projects.

The final days of SWFD will (hopefully) see more consistent posting, probably involving some blatant self promotion in the form of remembering posts I liked a lot. Maybe some old friends will drop in and perhaps even a new one here and there. Then, on September 1, 2008, SWFD will go dark (assuming I can figure out how to cancel the thing.)

In the end, SWFD will have chronicled my time as High School Pastor at Arlington Heights Evangelical Free Church. In the meantime, here's a lyric from a song that I think captures the moment. If you guess the title and the group you will get the first SWFD T-shirt should one ever get printed.

How do I say good-bye to what we had?

The good times that made us laugh outweigh the bad.

Hint: This was my class song when I graduated from high school.

Romania at Camp

If you're following our trip to Romania then you'll be happy to know that we made it to camp safely. We're 7 hours north of Bucharest near the town of Suceava. It is quite beautiful here as we are in the mountains. Today is cool...probably around 50 degrees so far.

It is such a pleasure to be with our Romanian friends again. The camp probably has about twice as many students this year as last.

Everyone on the team is doing great. We're here until Sunday and then home to the US on Monday.

Romania Day 2

Greetings from Romania. We made it safe and sound on Wednesday afternoon. I managed to stumble around here until 8 when I fell into bed and slept until 8 am. It was great.

A few thoughts from the trip:

• The Paris airport was honestly one of the most miserable experiences of my life. We had a two hour layover that included three different bus rides. At the end of the second bus ride we were off loaded into a security line that wound on and on. We emerged from that line to walk briskly to our plane which was already boarding.
• Apart from the airport Air France was actually quite pleasant. The food was edible, the movies watchable and the leg space tolerable. It helped that the plane was not completely full and I had a seat open next to me.
• So far this is a great team. Even at our most tired as we dealt with the Paris layover everyone remained calm.
  
• Jet lag is honestly one of the worst feelings in the world to me.
• There is some great sausage here.

Today we are off to visit some gypsies and then dinner with the Bunescus. This is a much anticipated time of the trip. Tomorrow we visit Brasov and Bran before heading off to the camp on Sunday. That will be about 7 hours by car. I'll try to post something else before Sunday.

What's Next?

It's been a while since "virtual bubble wrap." There has been a lot going on in our lives. Today we loaded up the furniture from our house to move to Savannah, GA. We're going down there to plant a church. This is the culmination of a transition process that started about 3 months ago. I'll be posting more about our plans for the future. I even have thoughts about a new blog that will be more about the church plant and less about cats.

But first I'm off to Romania again to see my friend Theo. I leave with 10 students and one other staff leader on Tuesday. Erika and the kids will be hanging out in Indy for a while. We'll all meet back up with Maude and our furniture late Monday night July 28th in Savannah, GA.

We're very thankful for our time at Arlington. These last few weeks have been bittersweet as we have said goodbye to so many good friends. Thanks to everyone who has been a part of our lives.

I'll try to poast a blog or two from Romania to update our progress depending on internet access.

Editor's Note: I reread the post after publishing and realized that I said, "poast a blog." I'm extraordinarily tired...that's my excuse. But I decided to leave it in.

Because I haven't posted anything in a while

I give you virtual bubble-wrap.

Cat Tuesday

This should make you want to run right to your nearest humane society and give a pet a home.

Cat Tuesday

Why not? It is Tuesday.

This was sent by a Cat Tuesday reader. I tried to embed it in the blog like a real blogger but couldn't make it work after 45 minutes. (Dan! Why did you leave me?!) I'm also pretty sure Grace will like this one.

Update: I just realized that Grace already posted this video. See, I knew she would like it.

Raising Purity

Sexual purity tops the list of desires that most Christian parents have for their children. But we live in a world where sexual purity has begun to seem almost unattainable. The fact that we even ask the question, “How far is too far?” should indicate that we’ve misunderstood God’s purpose for sex.

In his new book, Raising Purity, Gerald Hiestand answers this question in a way that probably seems counter-cultural even to most Christian parents. Hiestand asserts that God has designed sex in such a way that any expression of sex before marriage is too far.

The most helpful thing about Hiestand’s book is that he takes time in the opening chapters to build a theology of sex. Hiestand demonstrates that sex within marriage is actually intrinsically linked to the gospel in the scriptures: “Ephesians 5:28-32 pointedly describes the sexual relationship within marriage as an image of the sexual relationship between Christ and the church.” The union that a husband and wife experience as they “become one” physically is a picture of the way Christ and the Christian become one spiritually.

For too long the church’s attempt to keep young people away from the forbidden pleasures of sex has been rooted in warnings about the dangers of sexually transmitted disease or the ruin that an unwanted pregnancy brings upon the life of a teenage girl. The problem with this approach is that we are addressing the issue of sex as if God’s commands have only to do with what works best for humanity. Any teenage boy convinced that God only wants what works best for him will happily decide in the heat of passion that what works best for him in that moment is to give in his sexual desires.

By rooting sex within the gospel Hiestand addresses the issue of sex on the divine plane rather than just on the human plane:

“God’s major intent in creating sex was that it serve as a living witness of the spiritual reality of Christ’s oneness with the church. Knowledge of this higher reality then helps us understand how we should behave within the realm of earthly reality. In other words, our sex lives should be patterned after the way in which Christ and the church relate spiritually. Viewing sexuality from this framework not only explains how we should act but also why we should act in a certain way.”

The young man’s single-minded devotion to his future bride must be consistent with the way Christ reserves himself spiritually with a single minded devotion for the church.

Once sex has been understood in this way one can then navigate more easily through other questions that once seemed difficult. Hiestand spends three chapters addressing the issue of dating and relationships. Here he points out that there are three categories of relationships in the scriptures: family, neighbor and marriage. Since the Bible does not recognize dating as a distinct category of relationship it is helpful to consider all forms of sexual interaction from within these three categories. It is clear in the bible that sexual interaction is strictly forbidden within the categories of family and neighbor. Within marriage however sexual activity is not only allowed but commanded.

To answer the question, “How far is too far?” one needs only see that dating falls into the category of the neighbor relationship. Whatever amount of sexual interaction that God considers to be appropriate with our neighbor will also be appropriate with a boyfriend or girlfriend. Only by suggesting that dating is more than a neighbor relationship can we try to allow some level of sexual expression. In doing so, we have made dating distinct from God’s design for relationships and the answer to the question becomes up for debate.

Hiestand goes on to address other issues related to sexual purity like movies, music and dances relating each issue back to the question of the God’s original intent for the sexual relationship within the gospel. In doing so, the answers become much more black and white.

Many, even within the church, will squirm as they read Hiestand’s conclusions. Some may even set his book aside and write it off as a relic of an era long passed. But a careful reader who is willing to be like the Bereans in Acts 17:11 will find it difficult to take issue with this book. In the end I think it will be clear that God’s standard for sexual purity is much higher than most of us have previously thought. And yet, God’s purpose for sex is actually much more beautiful than many have previously imagined.

T4G

Colin and I both mentioned the Together for the Gospel Conference we attended last week. I think all of these sessions would be worth a listen but I particularly recommend the sessions by John MacArthur and John Piper. If you have extra time listen to Thabiti Anyabwile on Racism.

Here is a site where you can listen to the audio from the conference for free. I hope some of you will take the time to do this.

Incarnational Question

Yes I know its Cat Tuesday but I decided to go with a little meat today since my last (and somewhat controversial) Cat Tuesday seems to have caused this blog to have grinded to a halt.

I’m getting tired of people who insist that Jesus only hung out with the worst of society. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not implying that we should be proactive and intentional about engaging in personal evangelism with the world around us. The other day on the radio Erika heard guy say something like, “Well you know Jesus hung out in the bars.” Do I know that? I think that this is a fairly common assumption held to by the likes of none other than Bono (quoted, I think, in The Shaping of Things to Come):

“If Jesus were on earth you’d find him in a gay bar in San Francisco. He’d be working with people suffering from AIDS. These people are the new lepers. If you want to find out where Jesus would be hanging out it’ll always be with the lepers.”

I know I’ve got to be careful here and I don’t mean to step on any toes but how do we know this to be true? We’ve been studying Mark this year in big church and in our Wednesday night Bible Studies. Just thinking back over my time in Mark this year I see Jesus spending a lot of time teaching in synagogues, traveling around the edge of the sea and trying to spend quality alone time with the disciples even while being constantly interrupted by (and feeling compassion for) the masses. I’m not going to suggest that Jesus never hung out with sinners. Apart from the obvious fact that everyone Jesus ever hung out with was a sinner we do find Him having dinner at Matthew’s house. But I don’t find anything here to suggest that if someone makes one of these general statements about how Jesus spent His time that I necessarily have to nod sagely.

Am I off base here? Any thoughts?

400th Post!!!!!

Yippee!!!!

Just FYI

This is the correct way to throw your golf club. Not that I condone such behavior on the golf course.

Cat Tuesday

This was submitted to me as a Cat Tuesday post with the title, "How to recognize a Persian cat."

Gypsy Trip 2008

The snow storm bearing down on the Chicagoland area is made bearable only by the fact that in less than 48 hours I'll be on a bus to Florida. This year our trip will begin down in West Palm Beach and then progress north to the Vero Beach areas. Along the way we're hitting Deerfield Beach, Jupiter Inlet, Coco Beach and the all important Sebastian Inlet. This year our Gypsy Study will be the book Respectable Sins by Jerry Bridges.

I'll try to make blog posts along the way. I have a new digital camera so hopefully I can upload some pictures.

Cat Tuesday - March 18th

This is me holding a kitten in Romania.

I am also wearing a large watch.

It's Tuesday...You know What That Means!

Here's a little cat history for you. Researchers at University of California, Davis have concluded that cats were first domesticated in the fertile crescent 5,000-8,000 years ago. Ignore the evolutionary hooey and you'll understand that this is clear evidence that Adam and Eve had a cat. Assuming as I do that this cat came to live with Adam and Eve sometime between Genesis 2 and Genesis 3 then we can also assume that the whole "dogs are man's best friend" charade was in fact due to the fall.

Snowing and Blogging

When this winter started what seems like about 22 months ago I was still blogging. Since then the cold and snow has taken away my will. Other than a brief thaw in Savannah in February I've pretty much resorted to reverse hybernation. By reverse hybernation I mean that I'm actually storing up blubber for the warm summer months. They tell me there's light at the end of the tunnel but that's not entirely good news. The same guys who are measuring glacier melt in the polar ice caps for Al Gore came by this past week to measure the snow pack in my yard. The ice has receded by about 6 inches but this has caused massive flooding in the coastal areas around Lake Michigan. They want us force Maude to submit to emissions testing.

All of this to say, I think I'm ready to start blogging again. I'll know more after this blog. Thanks to everyone who has left an encouraging comment. In a lot of ways you made this post possible.

The Return of Cat Tuesday

**Insert Trumpet Fanfare Here**

I've returned and so has Cat Tuesday. This week we recognize the tireless cats who work in Delis and corner stores keeping the rodents at bay. These felines stalk disgusting rats and mice and all they ask in return is a little cat food and a saucer of milk. The problem is, not all cat workers are appreciated by health inspectors. According to this article any animal found in the vacinity of food to be sold for human consumption is a health violation.

Consider the story of Junior, a marmelade kitten who was tasked last year with clearing a store of rodents. Sure Junior brings the dead carcasses as gifts to his employer. But that's better than dead carcasses rotting under the freezer.

As for the health violation, I'd take the animal I know about (the cat) any day over the one I don't (dead rat rotting under freezer.)

Thawing out in New Mexico

I'm blogging from Albuquerque. I'm here for a seminar. But more importantly I'm thawing out from my adventure in the North Woods of Wisconsin last weekend. SKH came over and took us through the book of Obadiah for the weekend. I'd like to think a good time was had by all in spite of the fact that it was -25 at one point and didn't get anywhere close to zero. Bitter cold.

The blog staff is thinking about ending their part of the writer's strike. I'd say there's a good chance we'll be back in business next week. We may even get to resume Cat Tuesday.

Free Scripture Memory Song

It's actually pretty good. Get it here.

Yes I forgot about Cat Tuesday. And yes, that last post says Part 1. My blog staff decided not to come back to work in support of the Writers Strike in Hollywood. I'm in negotiations right now. We'll know more tomorrow.

2007 - Books Part I

In 2007 I made a personally resolution to read more old books. I don’t mind reading the puritans so this never seemed like an unachievable goal. Probably the one I that most influenced me this year was the new edition of Overcoming Sin and Temptation by John Owen. Every chapter provided plenty to chew on. I reread The Reformed Pastor by Richard Baxter giving it a much more thorough examination then my first time through in seminary. Right before my trip to Romania I read The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. In the next paragraph I’ll mention a couple of new books that I really enjoyed. But I’m really struck by the depth of older writers compared to that of newer ones. It takes more time and effort but almost always produces more fruit.

Truly, “the writing of many books is endless…” Books come out weekly that seem interesting and yet turn out to be a waste of my time. Two that definitely didn’t waste my time were titled Pierced for Our Transgressions and Respectable Sins. Pierced has the subtitle “Rediscovering the Glory of Penal Substitution” and that is exactly what the authors helped me to do. I am stunned by the many ways that this doctrine is being attacked overtly by those in academia and more subtly by those who sit in the pews in our churches. The book is long and detailed but worth the effort. Respectable Sins has already received some space here on this blog and I’ll leave it at that except to say that I think this book will continue to be a part of my ministry for years to come.

After reading Total Truth last year I spent some time reading Francis Schaeffer for the first time and was glad I did. One final recommendation from this year is called What We Can’t Not Know by J. Budziskewski. It’s a book about natural law with some very interesting things to say about the conscience.

2007 - Music

I’m not writing a blog to tell you what I liked or didn’t like that came out this year in music. My view of music in 2007 has been largely shaped by one chapter in the book, The Closing of the American Mind by Allan Bloom and an article about that chapter commemorating the 20th anniversary of the book by Mark Steyn in The New Criterion. Here’s an excerpt from Steyn’s article concerning the ubiquity of pop music:

You go to buy some socks, and it’s playing in the store. You get on the red eye to Heathrow, and they pump it into the cabin before you take off. I was filling up at a gas station the other day and I noticed that outside, at the pump, they now pipe pop music at you…Most of us have prejudices: we may not like ballet or golf, but we don’t have to worry about going to the deli and ordering a ham on rye while some ninny in tights prances around us or a fellow in plus-fours tries to chip it out of the rough behind the salad bar. Yet, in the course of a day, any number of non-rock-related transactions are accompanied by rock music. I was at the airport last week, sitting at the gate, and over the transom some woman was singing about having two lovers and being very happy about it. And we all sat there as if it’s perfectly routine.

That pretty much sums it up for me. More than once this year I have walked out of a store because I hated the music I was being forced to listen to. Most of the time, not only was it glorifying some form of immorality but it just sounded bad.

I’m a musical pretender myself. I understand enough to put notes in order but not enough to actually make it sound good. Therefore, it strikes me as somewhat problematic that I can play much of the music being produced today, both Christian and otherwise. So I’m resolved to learn to appreciate more music that is beyond my very limited skills.

2007 - Movies

I just can't resist to do some kind of end of the year summary. Over the next couple of days I'll offer some thoughts on the year that was 2007. I thought I would start with movies. Once upon a time I was the kind of guy who could walk up to a movie theater and realize that I had seen almost everything there. But things have changed. First, I have two kids. This definitely cuts down on having a couple of hours free in the evening. Second, I'd like to think I'm more discerning. And third, I can't help but believe that the choices just aren't what they once were. (Maybe reasons two and three have something to do with each other.) I like movies that stick with me after I'm done. I want to be able to think about it for a little while. These kinds of movies seem fewer and further between these days.

2007 was the year of the adoption movie. Juno and Bella were both about girls who decided not to get an abortion. Bella was a great movie. I haven't enjoyed a movie going experience as much in a long time. Juno was well made and well acted. It was definitely an honest portrayal of the prevailing understanding of sex and relationships among high school students. Parents, Juno is probably a pretty accurate picture of what your kids face every day in a public high school. It ain't pretty. I'm not really cool enough (or weird enough) to watch many foreign movies but The Italian was another movie I enjoyed. This one is about adoption from a little different angle. And it was made in Russia not Italy.

As far as the blockbusters go, I really enjoyed I am Legend and Harry Potter 5. It really bothers me how much I enjoyed watching people steal in Ocean's 13(which was way, way better than Ocean's 12). I was super disappointed in Spider Man III. Not only was I bored but I was actually a little annoyed by the late introduction of a new super villain. It was like they got to the end of shooting the movie and realized that the Sand Man just wasn't going to contribute enough to the final showdown. I also saw Enchanted...not much to say about that one.

Wow. That's it. I really didn't see a lot of new movies this year. I'm looking forward to Prince Caspian this summer. Hopefully I'll see something else before then.

The Rich Young Ruler's Mom

Here's a little thing I wrote that's posted on our church's website. Pastor Colin's preaching on the Rich Young Ruler tomorrow.

Cat Tuesday - Christmas Edition

Red and green cats...what could be more Christmas than that? Researchers in South Korea have found a way to modify a cat's genes so that they will grow red under ultra-violet light. Four kittens were born last winter but only three survived.

Cat technology has always been a fascinating field to me. I don't know why the marriage of felines and technology hasn't appeared more obvious to people until now. "Cat-tech" departments (as they're called by insiders) are springing up all over the place, not just in South Korea. And the demand for cat technologists is at an all time high.

Watch This...For the Children.