"O Lord, do not forsake me." Psalm 38:21

"Do not forsake me in my joys, lest they absorb my heart. Do not forsake me in my sorrows, lest I murmur against You. Do not forsake me in the day of my repentance, lest I lose the hope of pardon, and fall into despair; and do not forsake me in the day of my strongest faith, lest faith degenerate into presumption. Do not forsake me for without You I am weak, but with You I am strong. Do not forsake me, for my path is dangerous, and full of snares, and I cannot do without Your guidance." -C.H. Spurgeon

Time

Question: does anyone else find themselves looking back and wondering what on earth they spent the last few hours doing? Let me explain.

On an average day, I run about my life fretting as to how on earth I’m going to get everything done. It’s hard enough to complete all of the obligatory to-do’s on my list, but then there are those extra things that seem to be such great ideas or would make doing this other thing so much easier and I’m so enthusiastic and I know that completing these extra tasks will bring so much satisfaction and, and—

However, at the end of the day, I find that I have barely completed my obligations and have absolutely no time for the extras—why? Theoretically, the priorities didn’t take up all that much time, yet I still find time to be lacking.

I’m finding more and more that what draws me away and consumes my time most are all the little things that like to fool me. The short “breaks” here and there add up. Momentary distractions become hours of waste over time. Yet somehow it’s subtle and it slowly sucks me away from a sea of other worthwhile activities.

The greatest example, I believe, for most people, of neglected work is devotions. How incredibly easy is it to find that you have run out of minutes in the day to sit down and spend time solely with your Savior and God? It’s as simple as over-sleeping by ten minutes, sometimes. If I miss that one block of time that I’ve planned to set aside, any hope for it at all that day seems to be lost.

It would seem that an evaluation of the use of one’s time is the best way to measure their level of self-control and self-discipline.

"I Will Sing of the Lamb"

At our evening service at Cambridge Presbyterian Church, we sang a hymn that I'd never heard before but that I absolutely love.

I will sing of the Lamb,
Of the price that was paid for me,
Purchased by God,
Giving all that He could give!
Here now I stand
In the garments of righteousness;
Death has no hold, for in Jesus I live.

I will sing of His blood
That flows for my wretchedness,
Wounds that are bared
That I may be healed;
Power and compassion,
The marks of His ministry:
May they be mine as I harvest His field.

O, I will sing of the Lamb.
O, I will sing of the Lamb.
My heart fills with wonder,
My mouth fills with praise!
Hallelujah, hallelujah.

Once I was blind,
Yet believed I saw everything,
Proud in my ways,
Yet a fool in my part;
Lost and alone
In the company of multitudes,
Life in my body,
Yet death in my heart.

O, I will sing of the Lamb.
O, I will sing of the Lamb.
O, why should the King
Save a sinner like me?
Hallelujah, hallelujah.

What shall I give
To the man who gave everything,
Humbling himself
Before all he had made?
Dare I withhold
My own life from his sovereignty?
I shall  give all for the sake of His name!

O, I will sing of the Lamb.
O, I will sing of the Lamb.
I'll sing of His love
For the rest of my days!
Hallelujah, hallelujah.


Stuart Townend

Update

Hey, ya'll!

Well, I'm sitting in a youth hostel in Oxford, England, despite the fact that we should be on a plane home right now. We're scheduled to leave on Sunday, though, so please pray that we will experience no further delays. This will certainly be the most memorable and exciting Great Britain/France tour in CHS history--a 15 day trip turned to a 20 day trip with valcanoes and ash and broken coaches thrown in. But we'll certainly manage.

Prayers:
-No further delays
-The arrival of and arrangements for medicines for those who need it
-Paitience on the part of everyone
-Calmed worries for those who are nervous

Thanks:
-That we have a plane that's scheduled to fly out
-For such gracious teachers and chaparones who are putting up with us and making all sorts of arrangements
-For the host families who are willing to take us on so unexpectedly

Hello from Scotland!

We're up in Newmilns, Scotland right now, staying with host families from one of the local churches. Monica and I are staying with a lovely family--Paul, Pam, and seven-year-old Abi--and are just about to leave to have dinner with Kendrick, Sam, and Kyler and their host family. I must admit that I was incredibly nervous in the days leading up to our stay, since we had no idea what kind of family we'd be with or who of our friends would be be in the same house, but God has blessed me and we're all getting along famously, though it's a bit embarassing that I fell asleep after breakfast while I was journaling and then again on the car ride home from Culzean Castle and Park.

Speaking of journals, I'm going to have to type up a few exerpts from my journal when I get home. I know that it'll be late, but, hey, ya work with what ya got.

Oh, but Scotland is positively stunning--the farther north you go, the more beautiful the land becomes (not to mention the more cold it becomes). The drives are incredible. Rolling green hills, grazing sheep, and old castles and mansions. Better than both France and England. How can anyone deny the existence of a Holy and Great Creator?

As we're approaching our final days here, I want to ask you guys to pray for safe travels as a group, no wasted time as individuals, and a smooth transition back into school on Wednesday as teachers, students, and parents.

Off We Go

Hey y'all,

At long last the time has arrived for us to head off on our grand adventure in Great Britain. Whoever reads this, I'd like to ask you to pray for our group. Pray for the Lord's protection and His constant presence as we explore the history of His church and the people who chose to step out and defend His Word. Ask that He will reveal Himself in new and more profound ways--that this trip will deepen each student's faith and desire for Him and that we will also be unashamed of the gospel and our Savior as we have the opportunity to interact with various other people. Finally, pray that this will be an opportunity to grow closer as a class and as a school as the juniors and seniors embark on this journey together. May we in all things glorify and honor the Name of Christ--soli deo gloria.

An Act of Humility

I stumbled across this more recent, second document concerning John Piper. Posted on March 28, Piper announced his decision to step down from the pastorate at Bethlehem Baptist Church for eight months in order that he might nurture and rekindle his relationships with his wife and family in addition to rooting out the sin of pride in his life. The humility and wisdom it took to step down from such a public platform for these reasons seems so rare in the current Christian church culture of America, and the act has captured my sincere respect.


John Piper's Upcoming Leave
As you may have already heard in the sermon from March 27-28, the elders graciously approved on March 22 a leave of absence that will take me away from Bethlehem from May 1 through December 31, 2010. We thought it might be helpful to put an explanation in a letter to go along with the sermon.

I asked the elders to consider this leave because of a growing sense that my soul, my marriage, my family, and my ministry-pattern need a reality check from the Holy Spirit. On the one hand, I love my Lord, my wife, my five children and their families first and foremost; and I love my work of preaching and writing and leading Bethlehem. I hope the Lord gives me at least five more years as the pastor for preaching and vision at Bethlehem.

But on the other hand, I see several species of pride in my soul that, while they may not rise to the level of disqualifying me for ministry, grieve me, and have taken a toll on my relationship with Noël and others who are dear to me. How do I apologize to you, not for a specific deed, but for ongoing character flaws, and their effects on everybody? I’ll say it now, and no doubt will say it again, I’m sorry. Since I don’t have just one deed to point to, I simply ask for a spirit of forgiveness; and I give you as much assurance as I can that I am not making peace, but war, with my own sins.

Noël and I are rock solid in our commitment to each other, and there is no whiff of unfaithfulness on either side. But, as I told the elders, “rock solid” is not always an emotionally satisfying metaphor, especially to a woman. A rock is not the best image of a woman’s tender companion. In other words, the precious garden of my home needs tending. I want to say to Noël that she is precious to me in a way that, at this point in our 41-year pilgrimage, can be said best by stepping back for a season from virtually all public commitments.

No marriage is an island. For us this is true in two senses. One is that Noël and I are known inside-out by a few friends at Bethlehem—most closely by our long-time colleagues and friends David and Karin Livingston, and then by a cluster of trusted women with Noël and men with me. We are accountable, known, counseled, and prayed for. I am deeply thankful for a gracious culture of transparency and trust among the leadership at Bethlehem.

The other way that our marriage is not an island is that its strengths and defects have consequences for others. No one in the orbit of our family and friends remains unaffected by our flaws. My prayer is that this leave will prove to be healing from the inside of my soul, through Noël’s heart, and out to our children and their families, and beyond to anyone who may have been hurt by my failures.

The difference between this leave and the sabbatical I took four years ago is that I wrote a book on that sabbatical (What Jesus Demands from the World). In 30 years, I have never let go of the passion for public productivity. In this leave, I intend to let go of all of it. No book-writing. No sermon preparation or preaching. No blogging. No Twitter. No articles. No reports. No papers. And no speaking engagements. There is one stateside exception—the weekend devoted to the Desiring God National Conference combined with the inaugural convocation of Bethlehem College and Seminary in October. Noël thought I should keep three international commitments. Our reasoning is that if she could go along, and if we plan it right, these could be very special times of refreshment together.

The elders have appointed a group to stay in touch and keep me accountable for this leave. They are David Mathis, Jon Bloom, Tom Steller, Sam Crabtree, Jon Grano, Tim Held, Tony Campagna, and Kurt Elting-Ballard. Five of these have walked with Noël and me over the last two months, helping us discern the wisdom, scope, and nature of this leave. They brought the final recommendation to the elders on March 22.

I asked the elders not to pay me for this leave. I don’t feel it is owed to me. I know I am causing more work for others, and I apologize to the staff for that. Not only that, others could use similar time away. Most working men and women do not have the freedom to step back like this. The elders did not agree with my request. Noël and I are profoundly grateful for this kind of affection. We will seek the Lord for how much of your financial support to give back to the church, to perhaps bear some of the load.

Personally, I view these months as a kind of relaunch of what I hope will be the most humble, happy, fruitful five years of our 35 years at Bethlehem and 46 years of marriage. Would you pray with me to that end? And would you stand by your church with all your might? May God make these eight months the best Bethlehem has ever known. It would be just like God to do the greatest things when I am not there. “Neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth” (1 Corinthians 3:7).

I love you and promise to pray for you every day.

Pastor John