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betsynagler · 6 years ago

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The Four (Thousand, New) Questions

When I was growing up, I didn't really have to think too much about what it meant to be a Jewish American. A large part of that was living in New Jersey, where being a member of the tribe isn’t exactly an anomaly. In Newark, pretty much all of my friends were Jewish or Black, until I spent 2nd grade in Catholic School. You’d think that might make it weird, but even then, it wasn’t. All my new friends just had Irish and Italian names, and I got to sit in the back during mass and read, which is the dream of every second grader. And when we moved to the suburbs, things became, if anything, more Jewy. We joined Temple Israel and actually tried going to services every once in a while, and I went to Hebrew school on Saturdays. At my suburban public grade school, I learned the term “Jappy” something my friends and I called other girls that we considered spoiled, regardless of whether or not they were Jewish, and in junior high, the school bus that came from the most wealthy, Jewish neighborhood in town was sometimes referred to as “The Jew Canoe.” Who did we learn these terms from? Other Jews. We were the ones trading in the laughable stereotypes, because that’s American Jewish culture all over: we joke because we can. It’s never been in doubt in my lifetime that we belong here, to the degree that we are comfortable poking fun at ourselves, enough that while we are very aware that we aren’t and will never be the majority — and if you forget that, you always have the 30 to 60 days of Christmas to remind you — we are perfectly okay with that; and enough to feel safe in the knowledge that the past is the past, because in the Tri-State Area in the 1970s and 80s, anti-Semitism was about as real to me as Star Wars: something that existed long, long ago, in a galaxy far, far away. The same thing with Nazis. Nazis were the movie villains nobody got upset about. Nobody ever said, “Why do the Nazis always have to be the bad guys?” Why? Because they were the bad guys.

That doesn’t mean that my Jewish identity was 100% uncomplicated, mostly because I was raised to figure stuff out for myself. Mine were the kind of parents who took us to fancy restaurants and said, “Want to order the escargot? Have at it!”, perhaps not realizing that they’d end up with a seven-year-old who liked to try every appetizer on the menu but had a stomach the size of a golfball – which led to my parents gaining weight in the 70s, which led to their joining the exercise craze in the 80s...See how history happens? Being able to make my own decisions meant I could quit Hebrew school after one year (I was already a well-practiced quitter of stuff I didn't like, such as wearing dresses and learning the violin). I felt a little guilty about it, so I was definitely Jewish in that way, but one of the reasons I couldn’t get behind religious school was the fact that Judaism was supposedly my religion, but – go figure – our family was not religious. My parents don’t agree on which type of not-religious they are, since my mother describes herself as an atheist and my father calls himself an agnostic, but that’s only if you push them, since neither of them cares enough about it either way. They still identify as Jewish, and therein lay the confusion for me: Judaism is kind of an ethnic identity as well as a religion, but in a weird way, because you can convert to it, which you can’t do with, say, Slavic, and because it’s not one where we all come from one specific place, since Jews were basically driven out of everywhere. Sure, my family were all driven out of one country, Poland, but that didn’t exactly make them feel Polish. No, we were definitely Jews, just the secular kind, which is actually a thing — although I didn’t know anyone else like that in high school, the result being that in my group of friends, a mix of Jews and non-Jews, I was in my own category of Jewish, But Doesn’t Know When Any of the Holidays Are.

When I went to college on the West Coast, where I was meeting new people all the time, it was common for people tell me I didn’t “look Jewish,” which seemed to just fit right in with every other confusing part of my Jewish identity. You might think that, as a stealth Jew, I’d finally be privy to negativity about us, but that never happened. That was around the time of the rise of the religious right, and there were a lot of born-again Christians at Stanford, my freshman dorm was full of them. But while they may have believed I was going to hell, most of them still seemed happy to hang with me while we were alive – one of them even took me out for fro yo once (that’s short for “frozen yogurt,” and eating it together at Stanford in 1987 was called “dating”). If anything, being Jewish around them was an advantage, because they never tried to rebirth me the way they did other Christians, like my poor freshman roommate – I would come back to our room to find her surrounded by a group of them, looking uncomfortable, like she was getting hit on by Jesus. Mind you, I know now that my school was a liberal bubble inside the liberal bubble that was Northern California, and that protected me from a lot of things. But while we were definitely dealing with racism and sexism on campus at the time, anti-Semitism? That just wasn’t a thing.

Neither was being a Jewish person who didn’t support Israel. I didn’t know all that much about Israel growing up. I knew that it was the Jewish state, where I had once had some relatives, and that my cousins and eventually my brother — who finished Hebrew school — went to visit because they felt like it was an important way to learn about who they were. I didn’t. But when, in college, I had my first conversation with someone who’d lived in Israel about the way that Israelis felt this constant existential threat to their existence that justified their defensive posture when it came to negotiating peace with the Palestinians, even though they clearly had vast military superiority, I didn’t necessarily agree, but I got it. I understood why Israelis felt that, in a visceral, six-million-dead-just-because-they-were-like-you way that I think most non-Jews can’t.

That was probably as much of a surprise to me as it was to anyone: that, on some level, in spite of not looking Jewish, or being able to speak Hebrew, or knowing what Sukkot was (if it wasn’t about eating or presents, it didn’t make it into the Nagler Canon of Holidays), I actually still somehow just was Jewish. And that part of my identity might never have really sunk in if I hadn’t become a New Yorker. Moving here didn’t just mean that I discovered Zabars, or that I was a bagel snob, or that I would be able to have lox at catering pretty much every day (and occasionally take some home if it was really good), although those things did indeed happen. New York was able to absorb and assimilate Jewish culture in a way that allowed it to flourish as one distinct flavor of the whole that is this city of many flavors. New York is a Jewish city – in same way that it’s also Italian, Irish, African-American, Puerto Rican, Chinese, Russian, Indian, Dominican, Pakistani, Caribbean, Mexican, and the list goes on depending on who’s arrived recently and who’s coming next. And so, from the way I relate to food, to my sense of humor, to my analytical and intellectual side, to how forthright/tactless I can be, to my overall worldview: living here enabled me to recognize that I just wouldn’t be this way if I weren’t Jewish.

Everything feels different in 2019 in so many, surreal ways, but what exactly it means to be Jewish in America is definitely a big one. I’ve felt some vulnerability and uncertainty as a woman for most of my life, as you do, but I’ve never felt that way about being a Jew until now. To the point that I can’t call myself “a Jew” any more, because suddenly, that’s an epithet. How the hell did that happen? When did we allow them to take that word away? Then there’s the realization of, Wait, we can’t make those jokes any more because there are people who actually still think that shit about us? And they’re telling other people? Fucking internet. Add to that the fault lines within the American Jewish community over Israel and the ground really starts to feel like it’s swaying under your feet. How much we should continue to support this country that seems increasingly unrecognizable to me, that is so racked by fear and sectarianism that it appears to have given up on peace and democracy, that votes for a leader who has demonstrated time and again that he is both racist and corrupt? Well, now that I’ve put it like that, okay, maybe this is something that Israel and the United States have in common right now, but that doesn’t make it any better for those of use who are trying to stay on the sane side of it all. I’m lucky that most of my family is in agreement with me on these issues, but my mother has some cousins with whom she is close that she had to ask to stop sending her political emails, because their conservative views about Israel seemed to have somehow spread to abortion and immigration, despite that fact that they live in San Francisco. Jewish Trump supporters? From the Bay Area? What the hell is the going on?! Come on, this can’t be us. When an audience at the Republican Jewish Coalition cheers when Trump says “Our country’s full. You can’t come in,” don’t they hear the eerie echos of what the American government said to the boats full of Jews they sent back to be slaughtered in the holocaust? Don’t they know that we are supposed to be sharp, and educated, and fucking liberals? Oh, wait, is “liberal” now a bad word not just among conservatives but for some on the left too, as in the “liberal elite who control everything” that they’re always talking about? But, double wait, wasn’t that just another way anti-Semites used to say “the Jews” without saying “the Jews”? But triple wait, aren’t Bernie Sanders and Glenn Greenwald Jewish? WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

Of course, this about when all of your older Jewish relatives shake their heads at all of this and say, “See? This is exactly the shit always happens to us. Somehow, when things go bad in the world, and people start believing crazy conspiracy shit, that always turns back on the Jews.” I never believed that before, so to see it sort of happening right before my eyes is really something. But at the same time, I’m sure as hell not going to let that make me just silo up. Yeah, there are the swastikas, and the Tree of Life synagogue shooting, and “Jews will not replace us,” but can we honestly say we have it worse than everyone else who’s under attack in this country right now? What’s the point of joining a grievance competition that just gives the people who are trying to divide the left exactly what they want? It’s how, when the new questions that confuse and divide us just keep coming — What do we say or not say about Ilhan Omar? What about the schism in the Women’s March? What about the Senate bill that would allow state and local governments to withhold contracts from those who boycott Israel that Chuck Schumer supported? — they just get us to go after each other.

Let’s not do that. Sure, maybe this is just another case of me getting older and less able to accept how the world is changing — sort of a, “Damn Nazis, get off my lawn!” type of thing – and maybe I should just go along with this new normal. But that's one thing I know is definitely not me. MoTs like to talk shit out, sometimes too much, but eh. Let’s bring that tradition of analysis and argument — and I mean the kind where you’re forthright and emotional, but you still know how to listen — to bear on the questions we’re having both on the left and in the Jewish community about how we move forward, instead of fleeing back into our fears from the past.

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itsadrizzit · 6 years ago

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Happy Birthday to the man who probably saved my life (an ode to Bright Eyes)

14 February on this blog is Christian Eriksen day, but on 15 February we turn to another hugely important figure in my life. Someone who I feel like I’ve known on a deep spiritual level for close to half my life, just via his music, Someone who always knows the right thing to say and exactly what I need to hear.

Do you ever think sometimes that there’s someone out there in the world who you’ve maybe never met (or maybe you have, but not until you were well along your journeys) but somehow they seem to be living a parallel life? They bring the deepest parts of themselves out in their art and it’s exactly the art you would be creating if you knew how to create that art, because those are also the deepest, most raw parts of your soul?

Because I do. Ordinarily, I wouldn’t. I’d say that’s not real or you’re projecting or, in my younger days, that you were speaking twelve kinds of bullshit. EXCEPT! that I have had this person in my life. Different lives and different experiences and different places and different cultures, but at the same time I have never felt so understood by another human being, be it a friend or a complete stranger, than I have by Conor Oberst. And I will always love him for that.

So. Happy Conor Oberst day, friends. As is the tradition, I spent the day working my way through his music catalogue from early days onward. He’s so prolific that I didn’t even include side projects like Desaparecidos or Mystic Valley Band or Monsters of Folk and I didn’t even make it to any of his solo work, so this is Bright Eyes focused, which is fine, because Bright Eyes is the way I love Conor Best.

Behind the cut... a walk through life (mine and Conor’s running in parallel), time, and sound featuring my favourite songs from each album (arbitrarily selected by what felt right at this moment). Now that I am creating my own art, I can see Conor’s influence everywhere in the way I shape my thoughts, my imaginings, and my worldview, and I think that’s the best gift anyone could ever have given me.

First. A Collection of Songs Written and Recorded 1995–1997.

This is just... when I think about what I was doing from 1995 - 1997 it just... doesn’t even come close to this. Conor was age 15 - 17 at this point. This was all recorded on hi-fi equipment and a four track in his parents’ basement and it’s just... LEVELS above anything 99% of people produce at that age under those conditions. It blows me away. It blows me away and, as we’ve established, when I think about my life at that time, at ages 15 - 17 it just... it’s this. I didn’t know Conor yet, but I wish I had because the idea of someone else GETTING IT the way that he gets it would have made a world of difference to me at that age.

I mean... we have to go with this one. There’s another version of this on a different album, but.... this is the original and the best.

Feb 15 (Happy Birthday to Me) - Links to YouTube

If I had to pick a favourite lyric, I guess it’s this:

I'm sorry about the phone call / And waking you / I know that it's late / But thank you for talking / Cause I needed to / Yeah, some things just can't wait

Second... Letting Off the Happiness

This is the first Bright Eyes album to be produced by Mike Mogis (a man Conor likes to refer to as the Dr, Dre of indie rock, because he has become known as THE producer among certain circles). It’s not a studio album, still having largely been recorded in people’s basements, but this is really the first time we hear Bright Eyes becoming Bright Eyes. And also just... the FEELINGS being conveyed on this album. Once again, I wish I’d had this when it came out in 1998 because damn didn’t I need it.

Musically, this isn’t my favourite song, but lyrically... like... damn if that wasn’t my whole entire life in 1998, seriously.

If Winter Ends - Links to YouTube

Favourite lyrics like... damn if it isn’t the whole song. But as I think back on 1998 me and what she was working through and working with and everything new and trying to fit in and figure out what the fuck was even going on in life and what she needed to do to please everyone or even just SOMEONE just one time... this line rises to the top:

Just get me out of here / But you get six months to adapt / And you get two more to leave town / In the event that you do adapt / We still might not want you around

Third... we finally get into the studio albums. The albums I love. The time when I found Bright Eyes or Bright Eyes found me or whatever. I love them so much that in 2015 as a gift to myself, despite owning all these albums digitally, on CD, and some of them on vinyl, I bought this:

That, friends, is ELEVEN OF THE MOST DEFINING YEARS OF MY LIFE commemorated on fancy, coloured vinyl.

We begin with... Fevers and Mirrors

Of all the studio albums, this has slowly grown to be one of my least favourites. That said... there are still moments when I listen to this that I get chills. There are these moments of pure, raw, powerful emotion that I just can’t help but stop what I’m doing and sing along and feel and live and love. My c.a. 2000 self was figuring a lot of things out. She was learning who SHE was versus who she thought everyone else wanted her to be. She was turning into the give no fucks girl she would be in a few years and still is now and Conor helped her do that and I love her and I love him for it.

Hands down my favourite song is this one:

Arienette - Links to YouTube

As for lyrics... ooooffff I will randomly select some for you, I guess.

So don't leave me here with only mirrors watching me / This house, it holds nothing but the memories / And the moon, it leaves silver but never sleep

Fourth... Lifted or The Story Is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground

My favourite Bright Eyes album. Out of all of them. My favourite. 2002 and I was angry at everything and Conor was angry at everything. I was a mess, and so was he. 2002 - 2005 were... important years on my journey. I miss them. I miss that girl. I sometimes think I want her back, but no. I don’t. She had fun, but it was all artificially created, chemically created fun. Without it... without it everything was darkness and anger and sadness and crippling feelings of ABJECT FAILURE. At everything. That girl, she had friends and they loved her, but she didn’t understand that. She had lovers and partners and none of them loved her, but she didn’t understand that. She lived and breathed music, every moment of every day. She made choices (good and bad... mostly bad) that made me who I am today. I wouldn’t be me without her, but because of her I sometimes wondered if I would ever be here. And I wonder what she would think of us now. Would she love this life of stability and security and contentment, or would she hate me for “selling out”, for being boring and old and “too settled”? I think she would hate the idea, but as that girl 17 years later, I can tell you that yeah, sometimes she still hates it, but also whenever she tries to live her old life, she retreats back into her boring life of stability and solitude. I love that girl, and I’m glad she’s still in her me with her defiance and her fire and her passions and her constant quest for something beautiful in the world. I’m not sure if she ever found the one she was looking for, but she sure can see more of it in more places now than she could back then.

Anyway, I love this whole album, but there has never been a question as to which was my favourite:

Let’s Not Shit Ourselves (To Love And To Be Loved) - Links to YouTube

I mean, even the title basically sums up where I was in life in 2002. Aside from the fact that the scathing political commentary at the end of this song is STILL HORRIFYINGLY ACCURATE, there’s just so much in here that once again I’m like... Conor are we living the same life? Are we?

Particularly resonant lyrics both now and back then:

And so I've learned to retreat at the first sign of danger / I mean, why wait around, if it's just to surrender? / An ambition, I've found, can lead only to failure / I do not read the reviews, no, I am not singin' for you

FIFTH (I skipped the Christmas Album). I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning

The album that was always my second favourite, and maybe still is. I think it’s the most popular one. The one that sort of launched Bright Eyes full force into the sphere of the indie rock scenesters. It’s their first trend towards a more mature sound. His calmest sounding album. Introspective and thoughtful, but still angry. Bringing in really big name people to collaborate. The production values higher and the budget bigger. Conor having moved from Omaha to New York and bringing with him all those big city sounds and ideas and feelings. This is honestly a GREAT album front to back. Absolutely fantastic. It gets political, it goes deep, it doesn’t pull back. Everything poignant and resonant and tinged with that particular Conor Oberst melancholy that I, too, carried with me throughout life.

This is the album with the most lyrics that at the time, and still do to this day, made me stand up and yell YES, CONOR, THAT!

A sampling, before we get to my favourite:

“We must memorise nine numbers and deny we have a soul.”

“We might die from medication, but we sure killed all the pain.”

“What seems so simple in the moonlight by the morning never is.”

“If I don’t come back, I mean if I get sidetracked, it’s only ‘cause I wanted to.”

“I’ll fight like hell to hide that I’ve given up.”

“The world’s got me dizzy again. You’d think after 22 years I’d be used to the spin.”

“The sound of loneliness makes me happier.”

Honestly...there is a solid TIE for my favourite song on this album so I will give you one and then another.

First Day of My Life - Links to YouTube

Honestly like... it’s just a beautiful song. And honestly the sentiments like... damn Conor this is basically what it was like to try to date me at this time in life. And sometimes Jonas and I (even though we knew one another by this time) will still say “I’m glad I didn’t die before I met you” because, honestly, it’s the truth, and it’s something that could easily have happened in our lives, but didn’t.

And then... the song I loved from the opening note and will always love for all time. Because I related to it, and because it’s angry, and because WE’RE STILL THAT ANGRY, honestly.

Road to Joy - Links to YouTube live version with an interview with Conor

Favourite lyrics:

No one ever plans to sleep out in the gutter / Sometimes that’s just the most comfortable place

AND

So when you’re asked to fight a war that’s over nothing / It’s best to join the side that’s gonna win / And no one’s sure how all of this got started / But we’re gonna make ‘em goddamn certain how it’s gonna end

Bless, boy. Bless.

SIXTH... Digital Ash in a Digital Urn

So this album and I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning dropped on the same day and they COULD NOT BE MORE DIFFERENT. That is intentional. This is the point where the hardcore Bright Eyes fans divided themselves into factions... and some hated both. This album was a place for Conor to explore and Mike Mogis to SHINE. I... hated it. For a long time. Like, I didn’t even own it. I thought it was TERRIBLE. And... fun fact that will come up a bit later, little beknownst to me, one of Jonas’s friends LOVED this album and would play it non-stop, so THIS (the least “Bright Eyes” album of them all) was the album Jonas associated with Bright Eyes. So whenever I would speak about the band he would make these faces like... I hate that band, OMG why are you obsessed with them, they are TERRIBLE. (More on this in the next album discussion)

At one point, I caved and bought this on a used CD for ridiculously cheap because I needed to be a completist about my Bright Eyes collection. Then I listened to it again. This was probably around 2011 or 2012 or so. And.. I DID NOT HATE IT. I mean, it’s not my favourite, but also like... I understand it. I feel like I really missed out at the time because there are some great songs here and some great things that my 2005-self would really have related to had she given it a chance.

I’m still not sure if lyrically I have a favourite song, so here’s the catchiest song on the album. One of the bigger singles, and probably the only one anyone who wasn’t super into the album paid attention to.

Take it Easy (Love Nothing) - Links to YouTube (live from SXSW)

Even that title speaks to the me of 2005. Like... if this wasn’t her life at that time I have no idea what was. She was WRONG about this album.

Lyric... like, damn how can you not love this?

Don't take it so bad it is nothing you did. / It's just once something dies you can't make it live.

SEVENTH - Cassadaga

Cassa-fucking-daga. Story time.

It’s two years since we’d heard from Bright Eyes. I’m working a real job and in grad school and living away from downtown and starting to settle. I’m at a weird place in life, really, because it’s like I’m trying to grow up and get over my shit and my mis-spent youth and my mistakes, but I’m still in the same city so it’s hard not to fall back into that life. For the first time ever, though, I have a circle of friends who ACTUALLY FUCKING CARE about me and I like them for them and no one is pretentious or fake, we’re just giant fucking nerds, mostly. I did this thing where I stopped being in relationships for a full year because I needed to know I could exist without it. I needed to find ME again. And I did, and it was great, and I wasn’t HAPPY, per se, but I wasn’t the hottest mess in the universe anymore either, so things were looking up. Jonas had gotten back from his time in South Korea and he’d also mostly figured his shit out and he was sometimes living with me after my roommate moved out and I had a rather nice 2BR apartment to myself and sometimes living elsewhere because of his commitments. We were maybe dating and maybe not, because we haven’t ever really defined our relationship like that. I mean, this was after the point in life that I called him and said “It turns out I hate everyone who isn’t you” so I think we define that as the start of our “relationship” AKA elevated friendship/sibling/weird roommate situation.

Also, I had my radio show at this point. Part of our tasks at the radio station were that we had to review CDs that came in (people would send us demos and full albums to pitch their stuff to us and see if we’d play it and all that and we all had to do a certain number of reviews per 6 months or something like that). Usually it wasn’t anything I’d ever heard of before, because when known entities came out the full-time staff would pull it and review because they knew we’d want to play it, so here’s unsuspecting me in late March like ehhhhh I need something to listen to at work, I guess... and what is there on that shelf? BRIGHT EYES - CASSADAGA. Like... how no one else had grabbed it is beyond me, but it was a FULL TWO WEEKS BEFORE THE RELEASE DATE, so I grabbed that thing and held it close to my chest like it was the fucking One Ring and took it with me. I didn’t listen to it at work, because I wanted the full experience in the privacy of my own home (and also to copy it to my computer so I had it to listen to until I could buy it outright).

This weekend, Jonas happened to be in town. So... unapologetically I told him “I know you hate Bright Eyes for some COMPLETELY MYSTERIOUS REASON, but this isn’t even out yet and I’m going to listen to it very loudly and I don’t care about your life.”

Two songs in, he LOVED this album and honestly kept saying “Wait this is Bright Eyes? No it’s not.” and this is when I learned he’d only ever heard Digital Ash in a Digital Urn. So I like to make fun of him for that whenever we listen to Cassadaga. It’s his favourite Bright Eyes album now.

I like it because the sound matured and the content matured, just like I had. This was an album about feeling unsettled and wanderlust and trying to find your place in the world, which is exactly what I was doing. Just today, in fact, when I was listening to this, I caught the line “ Better find yourself a place to level out “ and once again yelled out “YES, CONOR!” followed by “I NEEDED THAT THEN AND I NEED IT NOW!”

It’s a different sound, a mature sound, less angry, less ambiance, less driving beat, more... song. A little alt-country. I can hear the Mike Mogis influence and the Nate Walcott influence, and it’s really just a lovely album that I can’t explain WHY I like, but I think it has something to do with it once again being exactly what I needed at the time, while still managing to be something different than all the Bright Eyes that had gone before, just like I was still me while still managing to be something different than before. We’d all done some growing in those two years.

Again, I have two favourite songs (more really) and I refuse to choose right now, so you get both:

If the Brakeman Turns my Way - links to YouTube

I never thought of running / My feet just led the way

I Must Belong Somewhere - links to YouTube

Everything - it must belong somewhere. / And you know it's true - I wish you'd leave me here. / You know it's true - why don't you leave me here?

FINALLY - The People's Key

2011.. We’d had Mystic Valley Band and Monsters of Folk and solo work and I thought... fine, Bright Eyes is wrapped and done. Everyone has moved on. And that’s fine. Cassadaga was a good send off. Move out of your youth and into adulthood with a bit of wanderlust and feeling unsettled. That quarter-life crisis thing. I certainly got it.

By this time I’m married. I’m living here in Minneapolis. I’m working. I’m settled and re-settled and have more or less become the me that I am today. We’ve gone from the wildness of youth to fondly remembering it as we try to figure out the next steps.

And then Bright Eyes releases an album. On Conor’s birthday. At the time I’m coming up on the next junction of life... moving from my 20s to my 30s and figuring out WTF that means anyway and trying not to feel like I’m old and past it and have wasted my life.

Conor comes along and says something like, we felt like we owed it to all of you to close down that chapter in our lives. Because Conor is a brilliant genius who obviously lives the same life I do.

They put out an album, and it is weird, and it is dancey, and it is poppy, and it is synthy and I dance down the streets of Minneapolis with a giant grin on my face and I don’t care how ridiculous I look. And I go see Bright Eyes live in concert one last time. And I cry... because I am so happy. Because Conor is so happy. He’s an adult and he’s mostly settled and he’s like, hey, everyone, I’m going to be okay and so are you.

Everyone’s favourite song on this album is the track before this one, but this, for whatever reason, is the one I love.

Jejune Stars - links to YouTube official video

Every new day is a gift, it's a song of redemption / Any expression of love is the way to return / To that place that I think of so often, but now never mention / The one the voice in the back of my head says that I don't deserve

AND

Sure I have my doubts / But I know it now / We are Jejune stars / So it starts again / At our childhood's end / I'll die young at heart

And so we leave it there. There’s been much more from Conor since, all of it hitting exactly the right notes in my life as we journey on our parallel paths, but if that’s where Bright Eyes leaves me, then what an optimistic and hopeful place to move forward from.

My life, my love, my heart.

#drizzit life #if any of you read this whole thing you're my new best friend #because I fully anticipate no one cares #did I spend like three hours on this #instead of doing anything useful #yes

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musicgoonmail · 4 years ago

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Prisca and Aquila

In This Edition

In this week’s edition, I talk about my interview with Daniel Eng, discuss our new church blog, talk about my favorite television shows, share what’s new with my book reviews, and point you to the all of the new free eBooks around the web.

September is here and we already started listening to Christmas music! Thanks for spending your weekend with me here.

“The New Testament in Color” with Daniel Eng

New Church Blog

I Watched Every Episode

Book Reviews and Music Reminders

Free eBooks

Extended Play

Lightning Links

Playlists

Coming Soon

Weekly Review

“The New Testament in Color” with Daniel Eng

I spoke with author and Professor Daniel Eng on Christian scholarship, academia, hermeneutics, and representation. I was happy to tackle a variety of topics that I am actually very interested in. You can read the article at SOLA Network, watch the video on YouTube, or listen to the audio on Podcasts and Spotify.

In case you missed it, my interview with Trillia Newbell was published last week. We talked about Christian worldview and cultural engagement. She also offered some advice to writers. You can read the article at SOLA Network, watch the video on YouTube, or listen to the audio on Podcasts and Spotify.

New Church Blog

Jess and I were hard at work all last week to finish up our new church website for our English congregation. We're looking to transition fully to Squarespace, but we're waiting for the Mandarin and Cantonese congregations to let us know what content they want on their pages.

Our new church blog is up and I'm currently writing a new post to launch it. I love the look of the blog and I'm excited to see how publishing can impact our church. This new platform should allow us to make consistent updates, adapt quickly to changes, encourage, and exhort.

I Watched Every Episode

I typically listen to podcasts while I exercise, but I started mixing it up by watching old episodes of Monk. I ended up re-watching the entire series, and I still think it's a great show. For fun, I decided to write down all of the shows where I watched every episode. Read it on my blog, and reply back to this email and let me know what shows you've enjoyed.

Interestingly, it turns out that I enjoy watching procedurals. It's exciting to solve mysteries. Maybe it's because I want to see truth and justice acted out. Maybe it's because I like to feel like I've accomplished something noble in my television watching. Whatever the reason, I'm ready for more.

Book Reviews and Music Reminders

I have no book reviews this week, but I just received a huge shipment of books from InterVarsity Press, The Good Book Company, and Banner of Truth. After posting over 450 photos and videos on Instagram, I'm still excited to receive, read, and review.

As much as I love reading, my passion for music still holds a place in my heart. In case you missed it, I'm in a band with my best friend, and you can check out the official music video for our single The Times. And don't forget to visit my Asian American Worship Leaders group on Facebook. I post some of my favorite worship songs from the week from various churches - like NewStory Church LA's arrangement of Jesus Your Name by Matt Redman. You don't have to be Asian American or a worship leader to join - just come and enjoy the content!

Free eBooks

I have 9 free eBooks to share with you today, and they're all by D. A. Carson. He is emeritus professor of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois, and founder and theologian-at-large of The Gospel Coalition. I recently found these free PDFs because Andy Naselli conveniently listed them on his website. I have not yet read them all, but the titles look fantastic.

I want you to read more, and there are so many great eBooks you can find for free. Exodus For You by Tim Chester is the free eBook this month from The Good Book Company. And the September issue of Ligonier's Tabletalk Magazine is on the topic of time and the Christian life.

Extended Play

My throwback interview for you this week is “Dealing with Disappointment” with my Pastor Hanley Liu. We recorded this at the beginning of the lockdown, and even though it was only about 4 months ago, it seemed like it's been such a long time. After clearing the air about an argument, Pastor Hanley answers this listener question: What kind of encouragement does The Bible offer to those who have to deal with disappointment and/or sadness for present or upcoming events directly affected by the shelter in place order?

The article that impacted me the most this week was A Famous and Forgotten Romance: Six Lessons for Marriage and Ministry by Marshall Segal at DesiringGod. I wish I wrote this article. It's an insightful look at Prisca and Aquila - their marriage and their ministry. Reading this made me thankful for Jess and humbled me as I hope to be a better husband.

Throwback: "Dealing with Disappointment" with Pastor Hanley Liu

Article: A Famous and Forgotten Romance: Six Lessons for Marriage and Ministry

TV: Community

Book: Stop Taking Sides by Adam Mabry

Lightning Links

These quick hits are exclusive to my newsletter readers. Some struck immediately before writing this newsletter. I don’t necessarily endorse the positions or lives of these authors. Some may contain adult language. I find them all extremely interesting.

Pro-democracy boycott of Disney's Mulan builds online via #milkteaalliance - Thanks Malea for this link!

When Archives Cause Regrets - Oprah, Rihanna, and an old podcast episode.

nonstandard mcdonald's - a fun Twitter account that is focused on “preserving the only architectural heritage of the western world.”

A woman who parodies influencers has kind of become an influencer herself - and Charli D'Amelio's recent Dunkin' collaboration, and why America runs on predictable brand deals.

Miley Cyrus Performs on Fallon - Miley Cyrus performed “Midnight Sky” and a cover of “Maneater” on Fallon.

Playlists

MUSICGOON: 7 songs I enjoyed this week.

SVRGNLA: Jess and I love these songs.

ETJ: Music that inspires my band.

DIDD: A crowd-sourced worship playlist.

TGIF: SOLA Network friends and faves.

This is FCBC Walnut: The songs we sing at church.

Coming Soon

It looks like we have a free weekend, so I'm going to do my best to keep my eyes off of my phone, work in some quality family time, and read as much as I possibly can.

What would you like to see in this newsletter? I would love to hear from you, what you enjoy, and what you have planned for this weekend. Ask me anything or send a link for me to share with our readers. Simply reply to this email to say hello!

Weekly Review

SOLA: Mulan’s Mesmerizing Witch / Survey Reveals Many Evangelicals Hold Unbiblical Beliefs / Christian Colleges Are in Crisis. Here’s What That Means for the Church.

TGIF: What Do My Entertainment Habits Reveal About My Soul? / The State of Theology Survey: 2020 Results / Facilitating Inter-Generational Discipleship Among Women / Speak O Lord

Interview: How to Engage the World - An Interview with Trillia Newbell

Interview: The New Testament in Color - An Interview with Daniel Eng

Article: I Watched Every Episode

Earth to Jupiter: The Times (Official Music Video)

Recommended Reading: True Rest: More Than a Good Night’s Sleep / How To Engage The World: An Interview with Trillia Newbell / Prioritize Church, Even When There’s No Childcare / Tips for Young (and Maybe Not-So-Young) Bloggers

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dailyaudiobible · 7 years ago

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11/28/2017 DAB Transcript

Daniel 6:1-28, 2 Peter 3:1-18, Psalms 119:129-152, Proverbs 28:21-22

Today is the 29th day of November. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It’s great to be here with you today, squarely in the middle of the week here in the waning days of the month of November. And today we will finish second Peter. But before we do that, we need to read from the book of Daniel, chapter 6 verses 1 through 28. And we’re reading from the Contemporary English Version this week.

Commentary:

Okay. So, as we conclude second Peter, its conclusion brings up sentiments that we have seen before, many, many, times and the ways in which the early believers were trying to work out how to make sense of what was going on versus what they were expecting to be going on. And if we’ll notice this, then we’ll notice that this wrestling has profoundly impacted the last 2000 years. So, first century Hebrew culture in the Roman province of Syria, which encompassed the territory of ancient Israel, was heavily influenced by an apocalyptic worldview. And that basically means that they had a sense that the destiny of the world was ultimately changing. And that, ultimately, decisive things were going to happen that were going to change the shape of the world as we know it. And although difficult and destructive times would come that would be really disastrous, in the midst of that there would be rescue, and something new would be born. And this is the culture that Jesus came into and he spoke this kind of language, as did the writers of the New Testament. And in the decades that followed Jesus earthly life, this idea spread and merged into Gentile culture in one form or another as the gospel began to spread all over the known world. And we can see that this is been passed down all the way until today. As believers, we generally think the same thing. But as we read the New Testament we don't see this idea being something that's going to happen somewhere in the far distant future. We see it as being something imminent. They thought the revelation of Jesus and his return was imminent. And this has actually fueled revival down through the ages. So, take, for example, the Jesus movement that happened in the late 60s in through the 70s. I’ve studied that movement a lot because from it came the Christian music industry as we know it and I come from that as the second-generation after it. So, I spent a lot of time with a lot of those early artists, talking to them about what was it, what was it that fueled that time where the spirit flowed the way that it did. And almost to a person, the thought was that the return of Christ was imminent. There was so much going on in the world, so much cultural shift with the backdrop of the Vietnam War, and the assassination of Martin Luther King, and Bobby Kennedy. Times were changing. A new era was spilling out and the younger generation, which would've been my parent’s generation, we’re looking for a better world. And, so, they turned to sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll. And the idea that love would conquer all and bring unity, and the age of Aquarius, and all of this stuff. And, in the midst of this, people began to find Jesus. And the way and teachings of Jesus made sense. And the idea that Jesus return was imminent and would usher in a new era was deeply compelling. I talked to artists from that time and felt like they didn't even have time to go into the recording studio to make a record. They just needed to be out on the beach, on a park bench, playing songs that would draw crowds so that the story, the message of Jesus, could be shared because the arrival of Christ was imminent. And, so, we can see how this worldview leads just about every generation to believe that they are the last. Because we can all look at the struggles of the world at the time that we live and say, this is pretty bad, the end is near, something new is about to happen.

Okay, so what does that have to do with the New Testament and what does that have to do with second Peter? Well, in the decades that followed Jesus life, this was the message. Christ was about to return and reveal himself. The kingdom of God would come and there will be a whole new world. But decades had passed. What was supposed to happen imminently, didn't, which left them with a bit of a problem. What they thought they knew, they apparently didn't. So, they had to seek revelation and clarity. And that is what we see in the final chapter of second Peter. And why it's important for us is that we’re basically still in the same boat, largely thinking the same thing. So, now that we have some context and we have located ourselves in the story, allow me to reread from second Peter, chapter 3, as we watch this explode into vivid color. ‘You must realize that in the last days some people won't think about anything except their own selfish desires, they will make fun of you and say, didn’t your Lord promise to come back. Yet, the first leaders have already died and the world hasn't changed a bit. They will say this because they want to forget that long ago the heavens and the earth were made at God's command. The earth came out of the water and was made from water. Later it was destroyed by the waters of the mighty flood. But God has commanded the present heavens and earth to remain until the day of judgment, then they will be set on fire, and ungodly people will be destroyed. Dear friends, don't forget that, for the Lord, one day is the same as a thousand years and a thousand years is the same as one day. The Lord isn't slow about keeping his promises, as some people think he is. In fact, God is patient because he wants everyone to turn from sin and no one to be lost’. And there is the revelation or explanation. All of this is eminently going to happen according to God and not according to our sense of time. So, according to that explanation, a thousand years is like one day to the Lord, and vice a versa. And, so, here we are 2000 years later, but it's only been like two days for the Lord, is what's being said here. And Peter is saying, this has nothing to do with God not fulfilling his promises, and that Christ is not going to be revealed. What we are experiencing is, in fact, God's patience because our Father doesn't want to lose anyone. Or, to quote Peter, ‘God is patient because he wants everyone to turn from sin and no one to be lost’. So, for starters we can see that all of our attempts to create a formula that will identify the exact moment when Jesus will return to this earth and then predict it, well, that's been going on for a long time and is a bit futile. He will come and when he does it will be at the moment of his choosing and it will be the right moment. If there's anything we can learn from the arc of the narrative of the Bible is that God is patient. And if there's anything we can learn in our own life experience it is that God is patient. So, what is it that we are supposed to be doing in the meantime? We are supposed to be patient too. And we’re supposed to be sharing the good news of light and life as people who have been commissioned by God to announce the good news because we don't want anyone to be lost either. Or, as Peter tells it, ‘my friends, while you are waiting you should make certain that the Lord finds the you pure, spotless, and living at peace. Don't forget that the Lord is patient because he wants people to be saved. This is also what our dear friend Paul said when he wrote you with the wisdom that God had given him’. And then he goes on to talk about how people are twisting what Paul said. And then he concludes. ‘My dear friends, you have been warned ahead of time. So, don't let the errors of evil people lead you down the wrong path and make you lose your balance. Let the wonderful kindness and the understanding that come from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, help you to keep on growing.

Prayer:

Father, that's it, that's what we want, to keep on growing and to see our longing and anticipation through patient eyes, understanding that we’re a part of this whole story. You have invited us to participate by being Your hands and feet in this world so that none will be lost. And may we see the world through those eyes, we ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website. It’s home base. It’s where you find out what's going on around here.

And, obviously, we find ourselves in the thick of it in the holiday season now. So, I remind you that the Daily Audio Bible Christmas Box is available. And it's chock-full of things for yourself and things for you to give away. And you can check all of that out dailyaudiobible.com in the shop. And one important thing about that. Today is the international shipping cut off day. So, if you are outside the United States, we think today is the last safe day that we can ship internationally for these Boxes to arrive in time for Christmas. So, heads up on that. Obviously, you can order after this, but we think, you know, after this… it's…we don't know…we know it’ll arrive…but if you're wanting it to arrive for Christmas then, jump on it right away. If you're inside the United States then we still have plenty of time but we do always sell out of these.

And another thing from the shop that I like to point out, because we think it's a great gift idea, is all of the writing and journaling things that we have in the shop. We have the new Daily Audio Bible journals that we custom-made and paired along with Black Wing pencils, which are widely praised as the best pencils in the world. And, in this day of high technology, the act of sharpening cedarwood and graphite to a fine tip and then using your own hand to write your story in your own words offers an opportunity and a practice to slow things down and write your story as it happens. And we have some new items related to that in the shop, a brand-new pencil pouch to go along with the pencil role that we've had for a while. And point guards to protect your sharpened tip so that's ready to go whenever you're ready to go. And we've incorporated some of those things together in bundles that are just everything that you need, everything that you need to get going. I’ve been doing this all year. I've been journaling all year like this. I journaled all of the days…all of my mom's final days…and all of the emotions and feelings of grief afterward, as well as the rest of the year. And we've always encouraged journaling around here, since, basically, the beginning of the Daily Audio Bible because it's so easy to forget what stands out to us in the Scriptures or what is going on in our lives that God is working in, it all becomes a blur after a while. But when you can go back a year ago, two years ago, three years ago, ten years ago today, your story begins to have context. And having context for our own life story is just as important as having context for what's going on in the Bible. So, this is a great time to get set up for next year. It’s also great gift idea for anyone in your life that loves words, that likes to write, or even that needs to slow down a little bit to a life that flows like water under a bridge. So, all of that is available in the shop as well. Check it out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible here at the end of the year, then, obviously, humble thanks for your partnership. There is a link on the homepage of dailyaudiobible.com. If you prefer, the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And as always, if you have a prayer request or comment 877-942-4253 is the number to dial.

And that's it for today. I'm Brian I love you and I'll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer Requests and Praise Reports:

Hello. This is Claire. My love to you and from Jesus. I have tinnitus. It is screaming tinnitus. I found that there is no answer for it but the Lord knows what that answer is. I just pray…I ask for your prayers please. And I have a poem that I just wrote. It’s for you.

God pulled us from the deepest pit Jesus’ blood washed away the grit He gave His love and at the root We’re His masterpiece and He’s our pursuit God be with all of you, in your thoughts, in your prayers, and your entire life. He’s in your heart and you’re in His hands. Praise the Lord. This is Claire from Wyoming.

Hey Daily Audio Bible Family. It’s Sheila in Massachusetts. It’s been a long time since I called but I’m listening every day, praying for you all. I was prompted to call today by Cheryl from Arizona who called. She was praying…asking for praters…about the anxiety…and saying how much she hates anxiety…and I am just so frustrated and tired and fed up with this mental illness that’s bugging so many of us and our families. Cheryl, I am praying for you. I don’t know if I’ve every shared with you all, but I’m also a psychologist, and I work with adolescents and you all know my daughter Annie suffers from bi-polar and I have generalized anxiety myself. It runs in the family. Just…today I’m going to pray. I pray to our Lord, pray in Jesus’ name, that all the mental illness…just ___ us with worry and despair and doubt…all of these things that come into our mind and take hold of us…that I just…so many of us are suffering…I pray in Jesus’ name to remove the mental illness from us, to show us that we can be sad…we can be down… we can have things that go wrong, but Lord let us always know that there’s hope in You. There’s a light, there’s a light in all of us, the light of the Holy Spirit. I was just saying the other day that the Holy Spirit has never been referred to in the Bible as and ‘it’. The Holy Spirit isn’t an ‘it’. It’s alive, it’s indwelling within us. It’s a gift that we have from Jesus. Let us all find that light and praise it. Let the light shine and just root out all evil, this awful mental illness in us. Lord, I’m just going to continue to pray for our wellbeing and our health. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen. Cheryl, you are in my prayers.

Hi this call is…the first part is for Cheryl in Arizona. I just heard your call about having like mad anxiety, especially at night. I just want you to know sister that I am there with you. That same thing happened to me. I would look at your caffeine intake and your sugar intake. That really, really affected me, especially at night when I laid down…and...you know…settling down…may brain would just go haywire. Once I cut that out…for a while I cut that out altogether and it was great. And it helped…it helps a ton and especially being able to like…lay down…and go to bed…and not like…hang out awake…and…you know…it really helps. So, I would look at that. If you’re not a big caffeine drinker, maybe look at your sugar intake. And just maybe look at the food and the nutrients and everything that you are putting in your body. That has a whole lot to do with anxiety…at least it did for me…it really helps…when I figured out what I was putting into my body. The second one is…the second part is for a coworker of mine. She has been fighting cancer and she’s having a really rough time financially. She’s having to work multiple jobs and can’t pay her bills and is really sick. She just needs prayer. Lord, I just want to pray for my sister Cheryl with anxiety and my other sister with the cancer and I pray that…I pray healing and release and just wisdom to take the right steps and know where You lead Lord, and I pray for all of us, and I pray for all of the sick people, especially kids. Please help them and be with them. I pray for a cure Lord for cancer and for everything else. If anyone can do it You can Lord. I pray…

Hello Daily Audio Bible family, this is Rob from Chatham, Ontario. Today I’m calling to ask your help to lift my son Max in prayer. He is living in North Dakota. He’s living in a…he’s in a situation…in a relationship outside of God's will and there’s a child involved. He has a daughter and he’s about to be separated from his daughter. And it’s going to rip him…it’s going to his heart right out and I’m just asking for you to lift him up in prayer so that God can intervene and prevent that from happening. And I don’t know how it could happen but only God can make it happen. And I’m asking you to ask that maybe that relationship be salvaged or just…I don’t know…I don’t know…I’m just. Yeah, this is Thanksgiving Day in the United States, well that’s where I’m from, that’s where he is right now, and I can’t imagine what his Holiday is like right now, but he’s soon to experience a severe amount of pain and I hope that that doesn’t happen. Please pray for him family. Thank you.

Good morning Daily Audio Bible family. It is the 23rd of November, Thursday, Thanksgiving Day in the United States of America. And a great day to give thanks no matter where we are. And any day is a good day to give thanks. And I wanted to call in to specifically say thank you to Cheryl in Arizona. Cheryl, you called in and left a prayer request. And at the time you’d mentioned that it was the 17th at 10:04 in the evening, your time, in Arizona. And I wanted to call to encourage you to stay strong, to keep your faith, and to continue to be still, and trust God. Heavenly Father, You know Cheryl. You created her. You wove her in her mother's womb and stitched together perfectly, uniquely, and blessed her with amazing gifts and talents, that she is using here now and needs to sharpen to continue to continue to use to be the light for other people in the world. You created her with purpose. She is part of Your royal bloodline. You know her heart Lord. You created her before you created the universe and You didn't waste time on her. You don’t waste time on any of us. Heavenly Father, we ask You to be able to dwell deep within Cheryl, to relieve her from all off her anxiety and all of her fear. Let her know that with Your son Jesus, who walks with her in every step of the way and by the power of Your Holy Spirit, that she’s free from all of that. Help her to breathe deeply, Heavenly Father, and we ask this in Your mighty and precious name. Amen. God bless you.

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joellenat · 8 years ago

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Why can't Christians date non-Christians? It's a question that is regularly asked, but not always accurately answered. It confuses, perplexes, and even angers both Christians and non-Christians alike. It sounds elitist, holier-than-thou, and downright condescending. But trust me, it's not meant to be. I'm 28 this year, I'm single, and one of the most common things I hear from my friends goes something along the lines of: "Why so picky? Really must be Christian? If your standard not so high I would introduce you to my friend(s) already la." And while I wholly believe in their well-meant intentions, I think it’s about time someone explained the reason behind this "pickiness", lest it be classified as another irrational, snobbish Christian standard to live by. A long time ago, I went out with someone who, besides not being a Christian, was more or less perfect for me. Perfect in the sense that he was almost exactly like me, we liked the same things, had the same tastes, he knew what kind of stuff I would like, we even supported the same football team… perfect. All except for the fact that he wasn't a Christian. It didn't matter to me at first, but I think all along at the back of my mind, I knew it would be an issue someday. And sure enough, after awhile, I decided I couldn't go on with it anymore, because it was "wrong". And so I broke up with the perfect guy all because he wasn't a Christian. Everyone (including myself, sometimes) thought I was nuts and couldn't for the life of them understand it. I'm not sure he did either, and for that I am the most sorry. But decisions like this do baffle, and so they should and must be clearly explained. While I do want non-Christians to understand this, I am much more concerned about us Christians. Because from the relationships and attitudes I am seeing around me (and sometimes even in myself), we sometimes forget the ‘why’ and get confused trying to do the what. I think the biggest example of this, and I'm not going to sugarcoat it here, is Christians who extend "dating a Christian" to "dating someone whom I will bring to church", "dating someone who is open to Christianity", or "dating someone who calls himself a Christian but hasn't really been to church in a few years". I could go on, but you see my point. To do something like that is to miss the point of wanting to date a Christian in the first place. It's taking God's wisdom and stretching it so we find a loophole. So yes, back to the reasons why Christians shouldn't date non-Christians. There are probably more, but here are four simple ones. You believe in completely, absolutely different things Any committed Christian will know that Christianity is not just a nice little side project that surfaces on Sundays and on Christmas - it involves and demands a total change in worldview, nature, lifestyle, decisions and priorities. It's not an "agree to disagree" kind of difference - like whether Manchester United or Liverpool is better (is there really an argument anyway?), its played out in how you spend your time, money, what you teach your future children, how you deal with hardship... I could go on. Some of these you may or may not have to deal with before marriage, but they will certainly apply after. "Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?" - 2 Corinthians 6:14 Marrying a non-Christian means a lifetime of split loyalties, and a severe endangerment of your relationship with God. One way or another, one relationship (or even both) will have to be compromised. It is never "just dating" I should also clarify at this point that by "dating", I do not mean a casual, just-for-fun romance with no likely future - I mean a relationship entered into with the intention to find out if you are suitable for marriage. "What?!" You say. "I ain't ready for that!" Well then, perhaps you are not ready for dating. Casual dating is usually self-centered and self-serving: it's fun, it makes me happy, who cares what happens in the future? If we know for sure we will never marry said person, then being in a relationship with them is unfair to them as well. As Christians, the most important question we should ask is "Does this make me more like Jesus?" Casual dating, especially with non-Christians, almost certainly does not. Something else just became more important than God I can almost hear the argument being formed right now, that, basically, there is nowhere in the Bible that says it's a sin to date a non-Christian. In fact, the Bible doesn't even talk about dating: so how can we say what God's view is for sure? Even if we gloss over passages like 2 Corinthians 6:14 above which tell us not to "be unequally yoked", common sense and godly wisdom tell us that a close relationship (and if we are dating, it's probably one of the closest relationships we have) with a non-Christian cannot be wise, let alone helpful. If the goal is to be more like Christ, then we are intentionally and knowingly making it harder. "If then you have been raised with Christ... Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God... Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry." – Colossians 3:1-5 When we are willing to jeopardize our relationship with God for anything else - could be career, money, pleasure - then that becomes our idol, no matter how "good" it is in itself. Even a Christian relationship can become an idol if it takes precedence over God. So, even if not explicitly stated as a sin, the fact that we are willing to endanger our faith to cling on to this other person shows our heart's true desires. The joy of having a Christian partner And finally, we have to consider not just the possible pitfalls of dating (and marrying) a non-Christian, but the considerable benefits of dating a mature, growing Christian. "Dating a fellow Christian" is not just fulfilling a ticked box on the checklist of Christian dating, it's having the pleasure of being able to lead or be led by someone you can trust will have God's (and your) best interests at heart, someone who will care for and even nurture your spiritual growth, who will encourage you through Scripture during hard times, who will love you because Christ first loved him/her, who will be someone your kids can model and follow spiritually, and whose true home, like yours, is heaven. "Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised." – Proverbs 31:30 "Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her... so that he might present the church to himself in splendor... that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself." - Ephesians 5:25-28 It's not always natural or easy to look for and desire these things in a relationship when other things like looks, personality and so on have such a magnetic pull - but I'm convinced that these are the most important things to have for the long term. Don't get me wrong, it's not that good chemistry and attraction are not important - they are just not as important as we think. That is not to say that a Christian marriage is short of its share of troubles. No marriage or relationship, Christian or otherwise, is perfect. But that is precisely why we need a spouse that will see and address these imperfections through the light of Christ's perfect love for us. So it is not merely a matter of going to different places on a Sunday morning - it's a matter of ending up in different places for eternity. As a Christian, are you convinced that your salvation and relationship with God is more important than your relationship with anyone else? Are you certain that heaven and hell exist? Do you believe that obedience to God's word sometimes involves things we don't want to do, or don't even understand? Because there is no sitting on the fence - if your answer is yes, then you cannot continue knowingly disobeying God. And, rather more worryingly, if your answer is no, then you might have to ask yourself what you truly believe in. I just want to say that this issue is just one of the many sins that we fall prey to, and that you are not more sinful or a worse Christian just because you are going through this. The Christian life is a constant struggle with sin - and the most alarming part is not when we sin, but when we stop struggling with it altogether, and even try to tell ourselves that it's okay. It wasn't easy for me to write and post this - it actually took me more than a year since drafting it to actually get it out there; because I felt I couldn't do it until I really could come to terms with it. And even as I write this, I still have half a mind to leave it lounging in the 'Drafts' section. It is that hard, and it is that close to my heart. If you are struggling with or facing this issue, I pray you will find the courage to obey God, and the faith to trust that this obedience will not leave you short-changed. Trust me, its something I battle with every single day.

By Cheryl Lee 8 Mar, 2016

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dailyaudiobible · 6 years ago

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11/29/2018 DAB Transcript

Daniel 6:1-28, 2 Peter 3:1-18, Psalms 119:129-152, Proverbs 28:21-22

Today is the 29th day of November. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I'm Brian and it's always a pleasure, it's always an honor to be here with you today. And we’ll take the next step forward, which is what we do every day as we move through the Scriptures in a year. So, we’ve been working our way through the book of Daniel. And, of course, we’ll continue to work our way through Daniel as long as there’s still territory to work through. And in this case, there still is territory. So, we’ll go back out to the book of Daniel. We’re reading from the Contemporary English Version this week. Daniel chapter 6 verses 1 through 28 today.

Commentary:

Okay. So, we finished second Peter today. And in concluding 2 Peter we brushed up against the apocalyptic worldview of the first century of the time. And we’ve talked about this before but if we reduce…if we reduce the concept to its essentials, then this is the view that would claim that the world as it was known was something that was changing, a new era was dawning and that this change would eventually bring about tremendous unrest and hardship and challenge, but in the midst of it rescue would come and something new would be born. So, if that sounds familiar it's because we also share this apocalyptic worldview. I mean, this belief was interwoven within the culture that Jesus lived in and it was the kind of language that He used when He was teaching the immediacy of God's kingdom. So, like, you now, zoom forward until today and as modern Christians we know like a couple of thousand years have passed since the time of Jesus. And, so, we accept because there's like no choice that the time of the apocalypse is unknown, although plenty of people have spent their entire lives trying to make these kinds of predictions But even though the time isn't known the conviction that we are moving forward to an ultimate destiny, that remains and it leads each generation to consider, you know, like the direction that the world is headed in, in light of apocalyptic teachings. So, what does this have to do the conclusion of second Peter? It matters because we get some really good insight into what was going on in the early church. So, even though we generally share an apocalyptic worldview in terms of ultimate destiny, the people that Peter was writing to in the first century, they weren’t looking to the distant future. They thought that the return of Jesus was something that was imminent. So, in the decades that followed Jesus life it was taught that Christ would soon return. Like, we still teach that. We still believe that, but for them this was an immediate thing. Christ would soon return and He would reveal himself and the kingdom of God would be ushered in and ultimately would reveal a new heaven and a new earth. And like I just said, since this is a pervasive theme throughout the New Testament we also find ourselves awaiting the same thing. It's our apocalyptic worldview. Unfortunately, by the time Peter wrote this letter years had passed and what was thought to be imminent didn't happen, not the way that they thought. Jesus didn't return imminently. And, so, this left a problem that needed needed clarification. And Peter acknowledged the issue. That's why we're talking about this as we close the letter of second Peter. Peter acknowledged the issue at and he spoke to the issue as he brought the letter to a close. So now that we have some context and some background let's, like, let's listen to Peter. Here's what he has to say about what we’re talking about. “You must first realize that in the last days some people won't think about anything except their own selfish desires. They will make fun of you and say didn't your Lord promise to come back? Yet the first leaders have already died, and the world hasn't changed a bit. Dear friends, don't forget that for the Lord one day is the same as a thousand years and a thousand years is the same as one day. The Lord isn’t slow about keeping His promises as some people think He is. In fact, God is patient because He wants everyone to turn from sin and no one to be lost.” Right? So, the situation was that people were…had put their faith in Jesus thinking that they were…I mean…I don’t want to be too crass...but like signing up for, you know, for a safe passage to the end of the world. Like, this Jesus had been raised from the dead and they believed that, and they believe that he was eminently going to show up and establish His kingdom upon the earth. As I mentioned, like, we are expecting the same thing but since they were expecting it eminently...like any second. And I know this gets a little convoluted because we are expecting this to happen at any second and are always supposed to be prepared. We just simply have the knowledge that it’s been 2000 years. And, so, we have begun the rest on the fact that God will bring this to pass. That is where our faith lies but he will bring it to pass at the moment of His choosing. The brothers and sisters in the first century didn't have the benefit of a couple of thousand years of church history to prepare for this. So, they’re expecting this to happen any second and years go by and then persecution begins and marginalization begins and everybody’s starting to wonder, what's going on. So, Peter explains that the Father doesn't want to lose anyone and He's entrusted us to reveal the good news. So, when we live by faith and endure the resistance we’re collaborating with God and His redemptive work in the world. And, so, we endure for the sake of the world, on behalf of the world. We wait patiently shining the light into the darkness. So, here's what Peter says to encourage the brothers and sisters. “God has promised us a new heaven and a new earth where justice will rule and we’re looking forward to that. But while you're waiting, you should make certain that the Lord find you pure, spotless and living at peace. Don't forget that the Lord is patient because He wants people to be to be saved. So, as we leave...as we leave Peter's voice behind for this year in the Scriptures, as we conclude this final writing of his life we can carry this along with us. The next time we find ourselves, you know, like stewing with impatience, let's remember God's patience because had the people in the first century, our early brothers and sisters, had they got what they wanted, had Jesus returned imminently and set up His kingdom on the on the earth, we would not be here probably, right? We would have never known God. The story would've been a completely different one. Maybe that doesn't include us. His patients allowed us to know Him. And this should humble us, right, and give us a reason to endure because our endurance reveals God's patience and God's patience gives opportunity for those who have not heard the good news to enter into eternal life.

Prayer:

Father, we thank you for your patience. And, you know, it can hit us like a ton of bricks, that had you not been patient we would not be here. And, so, your continued patience lets us look forward in into future generations and have hope for them as we continue to move forward, advancing the gospel, and reflecting your glory upon this earth. So, come Holy Spirit, into the places that we've been incredibly impatience in the short term or in the long term. Help us to rest in you. You have invited us to be a part of this story and our endurance and our patients certainly works strengthening and character building in our lives but it's not purposeless. We are being patient because you are being patient and you are being patient because you don't want to lose anyone. And, so, Father, give us that that heart. Come Holy Spirit we pray. In Jesus’ name we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudibible.com is the website, its home base, its where you find out what's going on around here.

And there’s a few things going on around here. Yesterday Jill came on and announced More Gathering 2019. And we are incredibly excited about this year's More Gathering. This will take place in April in the mountains of North Georgia about an hour outside of Atlanta. And we have been we've been doing the More Gathering in that location since it was the More Gathering. And, so, on one hand we’re tremendously excited and on another hand, it's kind of a little bit of a bittersweet thing that we’re looking forward to because this this be the last More Gathering in the mountains of North Georgia. And honestly, we don't know exactly what's next. Just know that the Lord has instructed us to do this, to bring this era, this season to a close. A new season is coming. So, even as I say that, just in my own heart, it’s a little bit of bittersweet thing because we built something there and thousands of women have come over the years and I can see the transformation, like as I just think of it in my mind, I can see what happens at the More Gathering every single time. And, you know, when you compound that over the course of many years, then it becomes quite a great cloud of witnesses. And, so, this More Gathering is a celebration of all of that that has represented. And if you've never been able to come to a More Gathering then this is this is your chance. Registration is open now and we open registration at this time of the year because it really does, it really does make a very unique and very impactful gift to give to a sister or a spouse, a girlfriend, a mother. It's the gift of freedom. It's the gift of more. It's the gift of a new way of being in the world and looking at why you're here and what you're doing. And, so, so, yeah, that's coming up and registration is open now at dailyaudiobible.com or you can go to moregathering.com which will get you to the same place and we’ll look forward to seeing you in April.

Of course, the Daily Audio Bible family Christmas Box for 2018 is also available now, chock full of goodies. The Promise Land Essential Pilgrims edition, double DVD set is in the Box. Four hours…actually over four hours of content just allowing you to see so many of the places where the Bible actually happened, where all of the things that we've read and all of the people that we've met, where they lived and where these events took place. Then there's a couple of my books, Reframe and Sneezing Jesus, as well as Going Solo, a book written by my friend Roberts about the solo parenting life that so many so many within this community and so many within your sphere of influence are living right now. And, so, if you've ever wanted to understand what someone going through single parenting is going through than this is a good read. If you are a solo parent, then this is a best friend. And, so, that's included in the Box as well as the Daily Audio Bible Christmas bulb for 2018 with the word “Hope” imprinted on it. And it's hanging on my tree and I hope it can be hanging on yours. I have all the years that we’ve done the Christmas bulb hanging on my tree and I look at it every day and it reminds me of all of the revolutions around the sun that we've taken reading the Bible every day in community. But those bulbs, they represent this community. And, so, I think…I just look at those and think, this represents…this represents the global campfire. This is us and this is us over the years. So, that's in the Christmas Box. Your choice of our Windfarm coffee or tea. Roasting the coffee every day now to keep up. And it’ll be arriving fresh and ready for the holiday season for you to drink and enjoy. Or if you are a tea drinker, believe it or not, I'm a coffee snob, but I’m a tea drinker too. And, so, we have our Honey Bush and rooibos tea, if that's your selection for this year. And also, the Christmas Cards, the Daily Audio Bible Christmas cards that have “Hope”, which is our word for the year, imprinted on the front. They’re beautiful. You can see all of that at dailyaudiobible.com in the Shop and get your Christmas Box while we have them. And we’re also inserting a mystery…a mystery item while supplies last. We have a few resources that we didn’t have enough to give…to put all into…to put in every Box. And, so, we kind of split it up and said, yeah, let's get these resources in the hands of everyone. So, something else besides what I just said will also be in the Box and we love it. So, we love doing this. We love getting these resources into your hands. We love hearing the stories of what you kept for yourself and what you gave away and what happened because of that. Man and we’ve for so many stories over the years. And, so, we love making these resources available in the Christmas Box. So, check that out, it’s Christmas time.

The international shipping date actually was yesterday, the cutoff date. You can still order if you're outside of the United States and we will certainly ship immediately. And I wouldn't wait. Like, if you’re trying to get this for Christmas because yesterday was kind of the day we thought was safe. We will ship and shop, but I wouldn't wait. If you are inside of the United States, we still have just a little more time because we’ll be shipping domestically and that will be no problem. But I wouldn’t wait because they’re going. And we always make these Christmas Boxes…well…we make them so that there will be things in there that you’ll want to keep, and that there will be things in there that, you know, that you’ll want to give away. And, so, check that out dailyaudiobible.com.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible here in the final push of the year, thank you. Thank you profoundly, thank you humbly. As you partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you’re throwing a log on the global campfire, and that is how it is that we all get to show up every day and know that the spoken word of God will be there waiting and that we can immerse ourselves in the rhythm of putting the word of God in our lives every day. And if you’ve spent the year doing that then you understand why that's…why that matters. Because it's hard to put into words, right? I mean you just start changing from the inside out and then you realize, my whole life was backwards. I’ve been living outside in and the whole thing was always from within, where the Holy Spirit dwells inside of me, leading and guiding me from within, so that my exterior decisions and thoughts and words and deeds are in alignment with the way I was created to be, which is a child f God. So, thank you for your partnership. This is why we do this and I appreciate it. So, there’s a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. If you're using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the Give button on in the upper right-hand corner or, if you prefer, the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or comment, 877-942-4253 is the number to dial.

And that's it for today. I'm Brian I love you and I'll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hello Daily Audio Bible family, I am Abba Girl from the bay area, my first time calling. I just want to say I love you guys. I’ve been listening for about a year and a half. You’ve been such a blessing to me. Thank you all. I’m calling for prayer for my cousin Desiree from Pittsburgh who was in a horrific vehicle collision and she has sustained a lot of injuries and was in the vehicle collision with her children, but someone died and now she has to turn herself in and they’re charging her with vehicular homicide. There were no alcohol or drugs involved but we want to pray for her, that she would get her situation in order and be able to cover __. And also, a hard-working woman and it was just __ gap. And, of course, we pray for the family who lost their loved one. That was around Mother’s Day. Also, just prayer for my marriage. We are looking at sort of ending it, but I know that all things are possible through God. It’s sort of really heartbreaking for me, but I know things are possible. I’m being coached, and my husband’s being coached but it’s a really tough situation. Thank you, Daily Audio Bible family. Thank you, Brian, thank you family, love you much. Be blessed.

Hey everybody this is Pelham in Alabama. I don’t even know what city I’m in anymore. I’m calling because I need you guys…I need you guys really badly. I always need you all but the power of prayer has taken on a whole new aspect in my life. Began praying in the spirit recently, which at first is a bit awkward, it’s kind of like learning to walk, but we all have a prayer language and once you find it, walking with that is something else. But I’m calling because I just…I need prayers and I need to touch base with you all and let you know I miss my son and my wife. They’re still in Birmingham. My wife’s really not talking to me. I’m not sure what she wants to do right now. I love her. I miss her. My sons being taken care of and he’s safe thank God. I’m still waiting on my investor to say something to me at this point. I’m not sure why it hasn’t. It’s his food all. It’s an eyesore, having an empty restaurant. My restaurants supposed to go in a spot that’s pretty prolific there and we’re just waiting. He is getting married, so we can pray for him and his life and what’s going on with him. I’m actually rolling back out to the foundry here in Coleman to say hi the guys. I’m battling alcoholism again, which is ridiculous. Thank you, Mike’s hard lemonade. For gosh sakes, I can’t think of a single thing that I would ever want to drink. But that ridiculous drink found itself appealing. And…oh man…let’s just have one…yeah…that old cliché isn’t really a cliché. That’s an active attack from the enemy. So, I come against that in the name of Jesus. By the blood of the Lamb and the word of my testimony, he is defeated. All his methods of destruction in my life are defeated. No weapon formed against me shall prosper. Thanks guys. I love you.

Hey family, this is Salvation is Mine in San Angelo California. Today is November 26th, 2018. God bless you all. It has been a very, very, very long time since I have called in but I thank those who have responded to me on the DAB friends page in regards to my situation. And I’m asking for continued prayer. I go to my doctor this morning to find out what can be done in regards to my sciatic nerve pain that I’m experiencing and some other issues are other popping up at the same time that I just feel like I am in a tunnel of nothing but chronic pain every day. And one of the problems with that is that I need to work. I am out here by myself. I don’t have any support. So, I need to…I need to work and it’s getting more and more difficult for me to do that. So, family I’m asking for your continued prayers for healing in my body, my mind, and my Spirit and that I will find the strength and God will give me the strength to continue to work and do His will. Thank you for listening. God love you, God bless you.

Hello Daily Audio Bible family this is Nathan from Bloomington. I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. Hey, this morning on the way to work we had a little bit of ice and snow last night and normally it took me about 45 minutes to get to work. It took me two hours and I sat on the highway for about 20 or 30 minutes because of an accident and just sat there. But, you know, I found myself looking around. There’s people who get out the vehicle and kind of look and investigate, you know, what’s going on. And most of the time we have no idea when we are stuck in traffic what’s going on other than maybe it might be an accident, it might be road construction, could be anything. But either way we’re stuck. We’re stuck in one spot not able to move, maybe getting frustrated, maybe getting mad. That was me. So, that’s okay. But we find ourselves not knowing what to do other than just sit. And sometimes that’s what God tells us to do. Just sit. Just listen. Don’t try to spin more wheels. Don’t put more energy into something when God wants us to be still and wait and listen to Him because you know, we can get off that road but guess what. It doesn’t take us any closer to our destiny. I’m just asking you to consider that, that maybe God is just asking you to be still and wait. So, there you go. Have everyone a very great week and embrace your journey. Bye.

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