Gutsy guilt

I want to linger a little more on the glorious truth of Romans 8:1 that I mentioned in the last post. How is it when we sin that no matter how deep, persistent or heinous those sins may be, God could still look with favor on us? How do we use that knowledge to rise up from our sins ready to fight the good fight of faith? How can we use it when people look down on us for our sins? How do we proclaim Christ instead of ourselves when we fight off sin in our lives?

"Gutsy guilt" is a Piper term I learned in his book, When I Don't Desire God. He puts it like this in a sermon on Romans 8:1 (emphasis mine)...

Now that is a picture of how to think and act when you sin against your Father whose whole disposition toward you is almighty mercy and omnipotent love. He will not always handle you gently. But he will always love you. And always be for you and not against you.

So we take our sins seriously. We hate them. We see them as a contradiction of who we are in Christ and a contradiction of our Father's love. We confess our sins (1 John 1:9). We look to the cross where all our pardon and righteousness was fully secured. We accept the Father's displeasure and discipline, and may dwell in darkness for a season. But if our enemy rejoices and says to us in our night of sorrow, "See, God is against you. He is angry. You are guilty and under his condemnation," then we will say, with the authority of Romans 8:1 and on the basis of Jesus Christ's death and righteousness, and in the words of Micah 7:

"Do not rejoice over me, O my enemy. Though I fall I will rise;

Though I dwell in darkness, the Lord is a light for me.

I will bear the indignation of the Lord

Because I have sinned against Him,

Until He pleads my case and executes justice for me.

He will bring me out to the light, And I will see His righteousness."

That is what I mean by gutsy guilt. I know of no other way to persevere in the Christian life in view of our constant failings - no other way to stay married for Christ's sake, to rear children, and be single and chaste, and maintain hope and fruitfulness in ministry, than this gutsy guilt: When I fall I will rise . . . though I have sinned, the very one against whom I have sinned will plead my case and execute justice for me - not against me, but FOR me! Oh, love this gospel, [Church]! Love and live this gospel!

The question is whether we will live the gospel. We must believe...finally and fully...that Christ really did all that was necessary to appease the wrath, displeasure, disappointment, despising of God. On our bad days when sin seems to reign over us we must hold firmly that God is not against us. When we have those rare good days when we seek Him, we must believe in our hearts that we've not added to the righteousness of Christ.

Christ is our righteousness! Not our good works. We can never replace what Christ has done. We can never undo what Christ has done. Say it to yourself...over and over. Say with John Bunyan...My righteousness is in heaven...the same yesterday, today and forever! Listen to John Piper once more from the same sermon...

So I say it again: what God wants us to understand from Romans 8:1 when he says through the apostle Paul, "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus," is that all of God's condemning wrath and all of his omnipotent opposition against us in our sin has been entirely replaced by almighty mercy and omnipotent assistance. In Christ Jesus God is always for you. Always! This is where Paul is going in Romans 8. He gets there in verse 31 and says, "What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us!" His point is that in Christ Jesus "no condemnation" means that God is always omnipotently for us and not against us. Always!

Hold on to that truth. Rejoice in it. Exalt it. Love it. Live it today.

You're just not that special

One of the most disabling deceptions that Satan perpetrates over the church is being revealed in so many women around me. And I am not immune. How is it that we can be in a crowd of people committed to our Savior and still feel so alone?

In large part I'm coming to see that it is because we all believe that where we are is unique to us. No one struggles with the things we struggle with. No one would believe it if we told them the truth of who we are. No one would stand with us if they knew...I mean, really knew...who we were.

What if they knew about...

• the apathy that fills you each Sunday morning during worship?
• the fact that you haven't been one on one with God in a decade? Or two?
  
• the bitterness you still feel at the loss of a loved one?
• the unbelief that leaves you questioning what everyone else seems to grasp so easily?
• the fact that you say I'll pray for you almost every day and can't remember it five minutes after you leave them?
• the fear you have not for yourself but what God might do to your children?
• the envy that fills your heart for what God's given another?
• the marriage that feels more dead than alive?
• the fact that you've been a Christian for decades but have never...never...even tried to learn His Word?
• the deep despair you feel about yawning blackness that stays only just off to the side but threatens to pull you under every day?
• how hard you work, hoping to earn just a little favor for God...while knowing all along that it'll never be enough?
• the fact that you don't even give God a thought really as you go about your day?
  

And through it all, the loneliness grips you even among friends who love you because no one struggles like you. So, you go through the motions of life. Asking the same question and getting the same answer...Hi. How are you? Good. How 'bout you? Good. And you walk away once more knowing deep within you that she is good, but you lied. Oh, how Satan would love for you to believe it.

But the truth is you are not alone. Nothing you're going through is any different than what we all struggle with. I mean it. But I'm not sure I can convince you. I've learned that even if I shared every struggle I've ever had, you'd probably say that I overcame it, but you never will. Or I may have felt it a little, but I have no idea how bad it is in you. Or you'll just flat out deny it because you've never seen it in my life. Even if I share that I'm going through the very same thing you are right now, you'll have confidence that I'll get through it, but leave still knowing that you never will.

So, let me see if I can convince you from His Word that you are just not that special...that the way you are is not something new to God...that the way you're wired or what you're going through is something that He's already made provision for.

First read this with me...

None is righteous,
no, not one;
no one understands;
no one seeks for God.
All have turned aside;
together they have become worthless;
no one does good,
not even one.
Romans 3:10-12

Your sinfulness is not a shock to God. Frankly, you have no idea how bad you really are. It is one of His manifold graces that He doesn't reveal all that we are in one huge lump for we, like Isaiah, would be undone. What has been revealed about you isn't any different than what resides in me. When you look at another and say that no one could possibly understand your sinfulness, your shortfalls, your struggles...you deny this very truth. You are one amongst us. A sinner. Saved by grace alone.

Again...

No temptation has overtaken you
that is not common to man.
God is faithful,
and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability,
but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape,
that you may be able to endure it.
1 Corinthians 10:13

It's just common, ordinary temptation. And it's common to all mankind. Everyone battles. Everyone has to fight. No one gets a pass. Not you. Not me. Not Paul...

For I do not understand my own actions.
For I do not do what I want,
but I do the very thing I hate.

For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh.
For I have the desire to do what is right,
but not the ability to carry it out.
For I do not do the good I want,
but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.
Romans 7:15, 18-19

Sound familiar? But are you dismissing Paul like you'd dismiss me? Don't you know that God wrote these Words so that you would find help in time of need? He didn't have to inspire Paul to write about his own personal struggles. What was written was for your sake as an example for you to persevere in the faith...to know that you are not alone. If an apostle struggled? One who'd seen Jesus face to face? Well then, you and I can be sure that it will happen to us.

So, how did Paul fight through it? Just know that it's common and keep trying harder? No, no, no. He did what Micah and Jeremiah taught him to do from the Scriptures he had learned. But now he could do it in a cross-centered way...

Wretched man that I am!
Who will deliver me from this body of death?
Romans 7:24

He knows that he is the lowest of the low. He knows that nothing good dwells within him. He knows that he will have to fight for the rest of his life to resist temptation. And he knows he'll never win on his own. What can he do? What hope does he have? His very next words reveal the secret...

Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!
There is therefore now no condemnation
for those who are in Christ Jesus.
Romans 7:25a, 8:1

Believe it? It's His Word. Who's right...Him or you? You stand before the throne as a justified sinner. You are not yet what you will be. But you are not what you were. And you do not stand alone. The rest of the body stands with you at the foot of the cross having no righteousness of our own. We are all equal there both in our sin...and in the grace to withstand our sin.

It is the truth that we must walk in when we speak to one another. We need to say when declaring our own sin...I know you'll understand that I'm struggling to have the faith to believe that God can get me through this. Pray for me that I won't fall.

And if they do react in a way that makes you feel stupid, alone or far from grace? Walk away uncondemned and find another. They haven't changed the truth. And don't walk away angry with them. Have compassion. Remember to keep in mind that you are just like them as you know they are just like you. They just don't know it yet. They will fall one day. Be ready to meet them with the truth that will bring them hope.

And we need to say when someone shares with us their sin...Of course, I understand. I'm just like you. But I can see the way through it. Take my hand. I'll help you to walk. We'll get through this together in Christ.

No gasps. No shocked faces. Just a deep, deep awareness that we are them...and would be stuck in the mire with them today, if not for His grace. If you can see, help someone who's blind. And if you are blind, find someone who's been given some sight. After a while, we'll all be standing together...hand in hand...until we all attain to the unity of the faith...to mature manhood...no longer deceived by the craftiness of schemes to keep us believing that we are alone in the fight for faith.

Lord, I want to be out of breath for You

Oh, what a message this little trailer carries. I would love to attend the conference it promotes, but that's not why I want you to see this. It will resonate with you. I promise.




Can you feel yourself right with them? Living your life...riding along...doing the next thing next. But we have inside of us a treasure, a hope of glory. We were made to know...let us press on to know...the Lord. And we don't need a conference invitation. He invites us to meet Him again right here, right now, right where you are, reading this. He has not changed. He is the same, yesterday, today and forever.

And He waits for you...not to punish you. He did that to His Son.
He waits for you...not to afflict you. He did that to His Son.
He waits for you...not to despise you. He did that to His Son.
He waits for you...not to wound you or to crush you. He did that to His Son.

He waits for you...to be gracious to you.
He waits for you...has exalted Himself for you...to show you mercy.

So, let's run to Him. Let's return to Him. Let's renew our passion for Him. Let's recall Him to mind and find hope and rest for our souls.

Took a second for this one to click

And then it was so funny. If it takes you a minute to see the humor, focus on the score at the end.



I can't tell you how many times we've been watching some sporting event, usually football, when a guy breaks out into dance (and sometimes song and dance) after a play. If you're sitting beside Wayne you'll hear a disgusted mutter...Come on. Act like you've done it before.

We love to see guys who don't think a tackle is worthy of an Academy Award or one sack out of 75 attempts is newsworthy. Hilarious to see it so very vividly portrayed...and he's celebrating over PING-PONG! Down here in Texas, that's not a sport...that's not even a game. It's a...I don't even know what. A thing you send the kids to play so the grown-ups can talk sort of thing. Takes a real secure guy to dance after a ping-pong point...especially point one.

Worry free

Me with Katharine and Emma Kate

What a joy it was to have the Williams (minus Lauren and Henry) with us this past weekend. It was so much fun to see the girls play together. It was encouraging to hear how God is working in the lives of those faithful, excited saints at Christ Chapel. It was sweet to sit next to them again in worship and under the Word. It was full of reminders of how far the Lord can take you in four short years...which was a reminder to me to press on to see how much He might be willing to do in four more.

Katharine is a real gift to me. She's running right with me. She's passionate...loving...encouraging...willing to be open to what the Lord might do at any time in any way. I found myself sad yesterday that we're not right beside each other every day...and grateful all at the same time that I had any time at all with her. She and another couple of friends are those that I can just be with... unremarkable except to love each other. Just walking buddies. I treasure them.

It was also good to sit with Katharine and talk about kids, husbands, friends, life, the Word, prayer, schedules, family and to talk about God in all of it. I love it so much because Katharine has a real gift for being able to pull God lessons out of daily stuff. She sees so often how we are or should be or should not be by watching her kids and mine. I love it!

One example from the airport. We got them to DFW right at the time the plane was supposed to takeoff. Usually a bad idea. Not that day. Her mom had called to tell us to check the weather because Atlanta was experiencing terrible weather...snow, rain, sleet, back to snow. Lots of flights canceled...many more delayed including theirs. So, instead of 5:30pm departure, we're at 6:15pm. Until about an hour into the drive to the airport when it was changed to 7:30pm with no let up in sight. Yeah! was what I was thinking. More time with Katharine is always a gift from my Lord. Sorry, John was the other thought. I knew he'd have to be at the office to see patients at 8am regardless of what kind of night they had.

We're in no hurry when we arrive and but the lines are pretty long at the ticket counter. We get them settled in through the downstairs curb-side check in pretty quickly (thank you, Lord for that idea!) but by that time the flight's been moved to 10:30pm!! That means that they'll arrive back in their home town by about 4am. Oh. Sigh...but...that does mean we can leave and get dinner!! Again, if you've gotta be stuck, it's good to be with people you love.

By the time dinner's complete and we're back at the airport we still have a couple of hours to kill...with a small child in tow and Brennan brought nothing to pass the time except a book. What to do? Not even a concern for those two. Emma Kate and Brennan had the best time together. They tossed rolled-up socks to each other and played a soccer-style game after that. Emma Kate performed cheers and tumbling for her adoring audience. They flew paper airplanes of four different types (I love my husband.) for what seemed like an hour. They made sock puppets out of other socks and markers. (What's the cost of a pair of socks for a time like this?) They spun in circles...rolled across the floor...played chase...crawled everywhere... and giggled, giggled, giggled.

Throwing airplanes

After a while of us talking and watching, Katharine leaned over and quietly talked to me about what she saw. Never once did EK seem bothered...put out...bored...worried. She was thrilled to be where she was. She was with her family and friends. If they're okay, she's okay. She wasn't worried about schedules. How she'd do the next morning at school. All that she needed to get done. She was fine being where she was until her dad said Come on. It's time to go.

I know you see it already. Katharine did. We need to be like that with our Father, don't we? Settled in...right where He has us. Not worried about what's to come or whether we're in the right place at the right time. Happy to do what we're made to do...wherever we are...with whatever we've got. I need to show the same trust in God that EK showed in her parents. He's got it, doesn't He? He knows what to do. He can move anyone at anytime to do anything. And I've got stuff to do, don't I? Learn His Word, love His people, display the Kingdom, call to the dying. None of that includes worrying about the trip. Yeah. A good one for me.

We both sighed together...hummed our agreement...settled that truth a little more deeply inside for a quiet moment...and turned to another topic. But I carried it with me as I drove home so Wayne could sleep. I settled into the drive...into the morning...into my week a little better because Katharine saw God through a child's laugh.

Miss you.

Why stop at 25

Yes. I'm on facebook. And if you can see me here then you already know that. If you can't and can relate to this video...feel free to send a friend request. If you find yourself laughing in recognition? Seriously. Find another friend. Cassie would love you.

I just want to know when a pallet is headed my way

The problem with large numbers especially when it comes to money is that it all seems so fake. When the news tosses around thoughts like "the stimulus package may exceed $8 trillion"...what are we supposed to do about that? Most of us have proved that we can't handle the $50,000 that we get paid much less something that's 20,000,000 times that. Then there's all those fantastic people in Washington who can't manage to pay their taxes even though they are the ones who passed those IRS codes into law. Seriously.

So, how do we get a handle on what a trillion dollars looked like? Well, around here we use a cash system for a lot of our purchases...just save up some money and literally hand it over in cash. (The look on their faces is so much fun to watch. You can really tell that cash is a disappearing commodity.) I say that not so you'll figure out where we are and rob us blind...though Hebrews 10:34 comes to mind...but to tell you that I know what a lot of cash looks like. (Well, a lot to us anyway.) But even our yearly salary bundled in hundred dollar bills would only stack about 2 1/2 inches high. Kind of puts everything in perspective. All we work for doesn't stack very high. And even if we work and work and work for 100 years straight, you'd have about 4 stacks all of about five feet high. A little disheartening frankly.

This was brought sharply into focus this morning with this post by Justin Taylor who found it from a guy...who found it from a guy, etc. I've seen it on several spots, but it never fails to startle. Click here to see what it looks like when those folks in Washington toss around figures like one trillion dollars.

Can I take my pallet home please? Half a pallet? One stack? Please?

We're going to be in the Hudson

One last post (probably!) on the Hudson River landing. The video below is an animated reproduction of the flight with audio from the cockpit. Amazing to see what it was like to watch it happen and to hear the calmness in the voices of those involved.



For what it was like inside, see my posting of Andrew Jamison.

HT: A Boomer in the Pew

I hate thank you cards

But sometimes I really do get why people send them. Sometimes you just overflow with gladness. You've told them, but it lingers even after they've left. But I'll say it again, I hate thank you cards. The obligation...the one-more-thing-I've-got-to-do feeling...the same words to everyone (They even have pre-printed cards!! Dear ______, Thank you so much for the _________. I'll use it every day! Love, _______ SERIOUSLY bad.). Please know when it comes to thanking me just say thanks. I can't stand the thought that because I did something for someone, they now have this task hanging over them.

But Paul didn't hate them. John didn't hate them. (No, Cassie...not the Beatles. You know...the Apostles? Jesus' friends? Yeah. Now you're with me.) They delighted to write to people about how grateful they were for them. Like they couldn't wait to do it. So there must be something to it. Perhaps...just maybe...their hearts were overflowing with wonder, love and praise. Maybe...just possibly...their words weren't forced but raced across the page as tears of gratitude to their Savior flowed. You think? So, maybe...just the slimmest chance...the problem isn't the cards, but my heart which is so lacking in thanksgiving that I fail at Psalm 145:43...to consider the wonder of God's steadfast faithfulness shown in the marvelous works to the children of men.

Well, given that my heart is overflowing now, let it not be so today. In that light, here's my takeoff on two guys who really got it right in Philemon 1:7 and Philippians 4:10-20 to some people who really blessed me today...

I rejoiced and marveled in the Lord greatly this afternoon that now after so short a time you have revived your concern for me. Not that I should be speaking of being in need, for I am painfully and joyfully learning in whatever situation I am to be content. I long to know how to be brought low, and...even more difficult to learn...I long to know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I pray God will teach me the secret of facing being able to eat out one day and having no money to go to HEB for milk the next week, being able to buy a truck one month and not being able to even host friends for dinner. But I know...deep inside, I know...I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.

But even though what you gave was extra...just icing really on what God is already doing in our lives...it was so kind of you to think about us...to be moved to share my trouble. And you, our brother and sister in Christ, you yourselves know that in the middle of football season, when I was so very low, no one else saw me...really saw me and felt moved to enter into partnership with me in giving and receiving, except you only. Even in during the holidays you sent me help for my needs once and again.

Not that I seek the gift (though feel free to keep me in mind anytime the Spirit moves!), but I seek the fruit that increases to your credit. I have received full payment, and more. I am well supplied (overflowing actually), having received from you the gifts you brought over, which will be a fragrant offering (when cooked anyway!), a sacrifice, acceptable and pleasing to God. And how amazing is it that my God and yours will supply every need of yours according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus so that you may abound in more good works from love for Him. To our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen.

P.S. I can not tell you how much joy and comfort fill my heart from your love, my friends, because the hearts of my girls have been refreshed through you. That means more to me than I could ever say.

Thanks for helping today.
It meant to me that I was seen. Nothing brings me to tears faster than that.
I love you, too.

Update on the last post

ESPN picked up the story and gives us a look at those involved with the game between DeKalb and Milwaukee Madison...

A good loss for one who lost

You know by now that I love sports stories. But only the stories that make me cry! There's a lot of yuck in sports at any level. Coaches who go too far. Players who couldn't care less about anyone but themselves. Fans who act like the 4th quarter is real life and worth destroying the reputation of Jesus Christ for.

But then there are those stories I read of kids who step beyond the game to show that life is what happens off the court and that relationships will always matter more than the score. I love those and the one below is a good one. If you want to read a couple of others I've posted check out the ones here and here and the video in this post.

And yes, Angela, I really do love this and believe it even though we tell our girls to make sure their opponents feel their presence on the court...and I mean feel their presence. After all, that's why they give you five fouls, right?

Amid the grieving, a rare act of sportsmanship

Associated Press

The coach never considered any other option.

It didn't matter that his DeKalb, Ill., High School basketball team had ridden a bus two and a half hours to get to Milwaukee, then waited another hour past game time to play. Didn't matter that the game was close, or that this was a chance to beat a big city team.

Something else was on Dave Rohlman's mind when he asked for a volunteer to shoot two free throws awarded his team on a technical foul in the second quarter. His senior captain raised his hand, ready to go to the line as he had many times before.

Only this time it was different.

"You realize you're going to miss them, don't you?" Rohlman said.

Darius McNeal nodded his head. He understood what had to be done.

It was a Saturday night in February, and the Barbs were playing a non-conference game on the road against Milwaukee Madison. It was the third meeting between the two schools, who were developing a friendly rivalry that spanned two states.

The teams planned to get together after the game and share some pizzas and soda. But the game itself almost never took place.

Hours earlier, the mother of Milwaukee Madison senior captain Johntel Franklin died at a local hospital. Carlitha Franklin had been in remission after a five-year fight with cervical cancer, but she began to hemorrhage that morning while Johntel was taking his college ACT exam.

Her son and several of his teammates were at the hospital late that afternoon when the decision was made to turn off the life-support system. Carlitha Franklin was just 39.

"She was young and they were real close," said Milwaukee coach Aaron Womack Jr., who was at the hospital. "He was very distraught and it happened so suddenly he didn't have time to grieve."

Womack was going to cancel the game, but Franklin told him he wanted the team to play. And play they did, even though the game started late and Milwaukee Madison dressed only eight players.

Early in the second quarter, Womack saw someone out of the corner of his eye. It was Franklin, who came there directly from the hospital to root his teammates on.

The Knights had possession, so Womack called a time out. His players went over and hugged their grieving teammate. Fans came out of the stands to do the same.

"We got back to playing the game and I asked if he wanted to come and sit on the bench," Womack said during a telephone interview.

"No," Franklin replied. "I want to play."

There was just one problem. Since Franklin wasn't on the pre-game roster, putting him in meant drawing a technical foul that would give DeKalb two free throws.

Though it was a tight game, Womack was willing to give up the two points. It was more important to help his senior guard and co-captain deal with his grief by playing.

Over on the other bench, though, Rohlman wasn't so willing to take them. He told the referees to forget the technical and just let Franklin play.

"I could hear them arguing for five to seven minutes, saying, `We're not taking it, we're not taking it," Womack said. "The refs told them, no, that's the rule. You have to take them."

That's when Rohlman asked for volunteers, and McNeal's hand went up.

He went alone to the free throw line, dribbled the ball a couple of times, and looked at the rim.

His first attempt went about two feet, bouncing a couple of times as it rolled toward the end line. The second barely left his hand.

It didn't take long for the Milwaukee players to figure out what was going on.

They stood and turned toward the DeKalb bench and started applauding the gesture of sportsmanship. Soon, so did everybody in the stands.

"I did it for the guy who lost his mom," McNeal told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "It was the right thing to do."

Franklin would go on to score 10 points, and Milwaukee Madison broke open the game in the second half to win 62-47. Afterward, the teams went out for pizza, two players from each team sharing each pie.

Franklin stopped by briefly, thankful that his team was there for him.

"I got kind of emotional but it helped a lot just to play," he said. "I felt like I had a lot of support out there."

Carlitha Franklin's funeral was last Friday, and the school turned out for her and her son. Cheerleaders came in uniform, and everyone from the principal and teachers to Johntel's classmates were there.

"Even the cooks from school showed up," Womack said. "It lets you know what kind of kid he is."

Basketball is a second sport for the 18-year-old Franklin, who says he has had some scholarship nibbles and plans to play football in college. He just has a few games left for the Knights, who are 6-11 and got beat 71-36 Tuesday night by Milwaukee Hamilton.

It hasn't been the greatest season for the team, but they have stuck together through a lot of adversity.

"We maybe don't have the best basketball players in the world but they go to class and take care of business," Womack said. "We have a losing record but there's life lessons going on, good ones."

None so good, though, as the moment a team and a player decided there were more important things than winning and having good stats.

Yes, DeKalb would go home with a loss. But it was a trip they'll never forget.

"This is something our kids will hold for a lifetime," Rohlman said. "They may not remember our record 20 years from now, but they'll remember what happened in that gym that night."

When a plane goes down

Don't we all think about it? What would it be like to be involved in a crash? What would we do? What would we say to those around us? When the trial of imminent death arrives what will it reveal inside of us?

Andrew Jamison got to find out and provides a strong Christian witness for the presence and peace of Christ in that moment.

Andrew was aboard US Airways Flight 1549 that crash landed in the Hudson River. He's a member of the Christian Medical and Dental Association and did an interview with them that you can listen to at the CMDA website. He admits to the fears that came mostly after the crash with the water filling the plane. It's amazing to listen to him speak of what it was like to live through it.

They also speak very candidly about how this has been used by God to grow them both personally. They talk about assurance of salvation...the sovereignty of God...worry about loved ones traveling...trusting in God for all things...and just about the way God pulls us to exactly the place he wants us to be to know Him better.

And there's even a connection to our little town of Temple. He and his wife, Jennifer, are both 4th year medical residents at Medical University of South Carolina and are doing their matches right now in dermatology and family medicine. They mention in the early part of the interview that Temple, TX is one of the places they've traveled to before this fateful flight. Maybe they'll end up sitting beside some of us someday, worshiping together at TBC. If so, I'll be so glad to be able to tell him that I praised my God today because of his testimony!

HT: Ligon Duncan writing at Reformation 21