My lesson tonight at the Transformation House was based on chapter 33 in John Piper's book The Passion of Jesus Christ. Its primary text was Galatians 6:14, and the premise is that Christ died on the cross so that all the boasting we do as believers might be a boasting in the cross. It's quite clear in Scripture that boasting in ourselves, what we have or do, is contrary to God's plan for the world. Boasting in ourselves over such things is misplaced praise, as if we are responsible for our very lives and the things we have been able to do. The Bible teaches instead that God is the giver of life and the one who enables us to do all things, and His desire is that as we come to understand this, we would render praise to God as is fitting for all the good things we enjoy in this life and all the bad things God uses for good in our lives.

This sort of life is only possible through the suffering and death of Jesus Christ. He received in his flesh willingly, according to the plan of God, the penalty for our self-centered sin. All who trust in this substitution no longer stand condemned and are freed from an essentially self-centered life, so it makes sense that the cross would become the Christian's greatest treasure. According to the Bible, it frees a man or woman to live life as God intended which is by nature the most satisfying thing for him or her to do and the most honoring to God.

I worked a couple extra hours today, because I knew Christina would be home late. After 10 hours at the desk, I needed some fresh air, so I grabbed some Bible study material and went out to walk around the park and read. I saw some kids I know playing basketball (they're both in 8th grade), one of them being the son of a friend of mine from church. I approached to shoot around a little while and found out they had an unexpected guest sharing their court.

Apparently, a man high on drugs and drinking some Olde English (which smells horrid if you don't what it is) had decided to instruct them in some moves. I didn't know what to expect, but I put down my things to join them. He was "teaching" them a good hook shot and showed me how to guard him, and honestly he played a lot better than I expected. In any event, one of the kids, Christian, said he needed to tell me something, and this man (who didn't really respond when I tried to introduce myself) caught on and wouldn't leave him alone. "Just say it right now." "I don't like whispering." "Why are you trying to lie?" These in response to Christian just trying to whisper to me that the man was high. Now he's faced with having to fend off a grown man who could easily turn abusive... you just never know. If I tried to intervene, would that help matters or make them worse? When he drives in for a lay-up, should I try to block him or just try to be polite like the kids and half-heartedly stay out of his way?

I can't believe our children have to grow up tip-toeing around men strung out on crack while they try to shoot some hoops after school. The least I could do was stay until he left (mercifully, after the first game of 21). But this isn't just a chance occurrence. They didn't know to be polite because they've never been bothered by addicts in the park. It's intimidating for me as a grown man. I can't imagine being still a child and having to experience this day after day.

I'll continue to pray for the children's safety and the addicts' salvation, and I certainly invite more men to move into the cities and show boys what it means to be men.

The weeks since the Drupalcon have been a blur, but now I'm fairly well without an excuse for not posting to the blog. I've kept quite busy with work, church, and home related activities, and I think I've started at least a couple blog posts that never saw the light of day. Perhaps for now I'll simply say a blurb about two books I'm reading, post a short poem I wrote for my pastor while he studied for tomorrow's sermon in the same coffee shop as Christina and me, and write a summary thought related to Easter.