The Rock Badger 35

Day 35

2007-02-06T23:39:00.000Z

Sproul and Grudem-listening, reportsing and supervision.

Romans 9 is incredible. Objection after objection dealt with, God's glory magnified, grace shown to be massive. However it's very hard to only read one chapter of Job at a time. Lots of good food today, with chocolate, chocolate and vanilla cake, sausage casserole, chilli stuff, and home-made curry.

I thought I knew Isaiah 6 pretty well, but Sproul just blew it all open once more for me. How we need ears to hear.

Day 34

2007-02-06T09:32:00.000Z

Game on. The sense of doom hung over Kensington today, as the busker struck up Pachelbel's Canon just as I went past. Normally the tell-tale sign, but 'twas and excellent session. Met a guy who knows what he's talking about, and knows and likes people that I know and like. I should really say admires rather than likes, otherwise it sounds like he doesn't like some people. I'll stop digging.

Lots of Grudem on systematics, and getting behind in more urgent things. Tale of Relay so far. Still, I'm encouraged and going for things.

Romans 8!

That deserves a paragraph by itself. In fact, it deserves another.

Romans 8!

Hooray! I've been reading through and discussing/explaining Romans with Adele for a few days now. A certain paradox is in effect though; the more you read it, the less you understand it (very true with the book of Revelation). Great stuff though.

Day 33

2007-02-05T00:29:00.000Z

Bassing twice at church. I'd forgotten how much I love playing music, and being creative. Great to do it in the church as well, getting to know more people and help people worship God through song.

Goligher on Isaiah 1. Am very excited about the upcoming Isaiah series (set of series, since it'll be broken up lots). Isaiah's too big a book for me to feel up to going deep with, so it's great to be shown it from the text by another.

Made flatbread, inspired by a comment Drew made yesterday. I'm slowly becoming a decent cook.

Anna's hat reminds me of her colander.

Romans 7:6 in the ESV is different in most ESVs to my Greek English Reverse Interlinear. Mysterious...

Day 32

2007-02-04T15:57:00.000Z

Musical! Drew came over and played lots of songs and I played along on bass, adding very little. Lots of washing, tidying, Bible and puritans. Still in love with wobbly windows and spinny cubes though. Simple things.

Day 31

2007-02-03T00:08:00.000Z

Patch Prayer - Full Fat's sounding great. Eek at lots of simultaneous days of work.

Piper on hating evil. Brilliant.

I love evil way too much. God, change my heart.

Day 30

2007-02-02T00:40:00.000Z

Paul gives us a strange look as we ask whether OT saints were saved in the same way as we are.

My computer now does shiny, spinny flashy things, as well as answer e-mail.

Marriage is about covenant keeping. Romans is forever. Abortion is bad.

God keeps on just being there, saying the right thing at the right time. He is all we need.

Day 29

2007-02-01T12:07:00.000Z

Study, resolutions, reading, monthly reports, didn't go to a Neal Morse gig/service.

Day 28

2007-01-30T23:10:00.000Z

Supervision, lots of thinking behind and planning ahead. Scary, exciting times.

"Why do my friends keep on dying?"

Romans is good. Esther is too!

Day 27

2007-01-30T11:09:00.000Z

Big fat roast chicken. Yum.

The book of Esther is very cool. Very exciting. So many 24-like incidents. Oh dear, I'm now judging the Bible by 24's standards. Not a good sign. A sovereign God though...

Day 26

2007-01-30T11:03:00.000Z

A sermon of 20-something minutes referring to one bible verse. That wasn't in the passage. . Mercifully heresyless. Pragmatism reigns. Thankfully the evening was much better. Brendan and I talked about preaching. And got the top 5 high scores on Photohunt.

24 - Jack Bauer the sacrificial lamb. With a twist.

Day 20 - 25

2007-01-30T10:47:00.000Z

Relay 2 Days.

Murray losing valiently. Mountain ranges in Zephaniah.

Some Frame-inspired accuracy from Jason Clarke. Apparently a controversial message, but seemed pretty obvious to me. Talking to Adele whilst playing snooker. Constant strange looks from people as they think I'm talking to myself.

I was poor. Probably the best place to be for the day, spotting sin patterns, uncovering dark spots of my heart. They went soft on us at the end though.

Spoke with notes. Should have at least written a script though. Scotland 84, EC/SW 54, London 48, Midlands 48, Wales 31, Ireland 17, NE 10, SE 3, NW 2. At least we were 24 times as good as NW.

Committee stuff. Would have been great at Relay 1. Read Zephaniah twice out loud. Mo's talk - ouch, spot on. Mega-prayer-cell.

Zephaniah ends. Still my favourite book of the Bible. Blacks and whites, only one word in grey. One car, one bus, three trains and two walks. Went home.

Day 19

2007-01-22T09:14:00.001Z

Last day before Relay 2. God was sovereign from beginning to end. It's so easy to forget, but so crucial to remember.

Learned a lot about computers, linux, chess engines and so on. Time that could have been better spent for the Kingdom of God, but then again, I could have done much worse.

Loved a chat with Adele on the trinity. Although nothing can adequately represent God (that's what the second commandment's about), it's wonderful how many clues God has left us in the universe that give us little insights into his nature, and help us understand him.

Day 18

2007-01-21T01:23:00.000Z

More progress for Murray, and more cumulative tiredness.

Spent all day trying to get various things to work on computers. About all that was achieved by the end was an installation of Fedora Core, which can make my windows wobble and my desktop spin but doesn't seem to be able to connect to the Internet. Bring on Ubuntu Feisty.

God is the only person who always gets all his to-do list done. Bring on glory...

Day 17

2007-01-20T01:46:00.000Z

16 hour day - Full of grace though, with praying, discussing, eating, discussing, traveling, setting up, eating, music playing, discussing and traveling. Bed beckons me in.

Day 16

2007-01-19T00:54:00.000Z

Hyper-productive day. Watched one tennis and one snooker match and still managed to finish three pieces of work and meet up with Ross for three hours. Good Indian food. Chicken was perfectly well done, contrary to the thoughts of some Big Brother Celebrity housemates.

Ezra reads the law today. Amazing to see the response of Israel to hearing the Word explained by Ezra. And then the comforting the Levites do, and the restoration of true religion. What a pattern: The Word preached, hearts changed, encouragement given, religion restored.

Day 15

2007-01-17T22:48:00.000Z

A good day. Did some Relay 2 prep, writing a talk on religion and wars. I didn't really know where I was going to go on this one until I sat down to actually write it. It then came far quicker and easier than I'd have thought. I'd be tempted to say it was all my genius but of course it wasn't. In spite of the fact that I should have prepared my heart and prayed before sitting down to write it.

Watched some snooker, with Stephen Hendry edging through in exciting fashion, and Steve Davis sadly missing out. Still, Shaun Murphy's perfectly likable.

Nehemiah 7 has a cool little bit in it. When he's leaving someone in charge of Jerusalem while it is under pressure, who does Nehemiah pick? A great warrior? A charismatic leader? Nope, a God-fearing, faithful man. And that was the main qualification in Nehemiah's eyes. Churches and CUs take note.

Day 14

2007-01-17T01:45:00.000Z

Early morning. Hooray for English sport as Andrew Murray gives a Spaniard a thrashing, England win the cricket and even Ronnie O Sullivan's looking in good shape.

Excellent supervision getting deeper into the reasons I go wrong (besides my sinful heart). Finding ways to fight them too, excellent stuff. If I get all my work done I get to discuss a CU constitution with Steph and Frazer. You'd think that'd be a deterrent but not for me.

God delivers Paul from prison and Silas gets converted. Amazing story. Notice at the end, Paul stands up for his rights as a Roman citizen. I wonder how many British evangelicals would dare rock the system by doing the same.

Day 13

2007-01-16T03:37:00.000Z

Great reminders of the gospel at the Royal College of Music. Got my apologetics stuff structured.

I'm learning to be stubborn. Stubborn in my refusal to disbelieve God. After all, disbelief in God led to Adam and Eve eating the fruit, and Abraham screwing his family up in creating Ishmael. So what good is disbelieving the gospel going to do now?

Day 12

2007-01-16T03:35:00.000Z

Church twice, and the Stand Up Inn. Good gospel chat with Brendan, Alex and Adele with our drinks.

Jon said the word "Impression" five times in his sermon.

Day 11

2007-01-16T03:28:00.000Z

Got up early, chatted with Jon "Uncomfortable" Hobbs, then with Adele. Bought a Jamie Oliver Cookbook and cooked Adele a nice dinner.

It was great to spend time with friends who believe in Christ and want to see him glorified on earth. There's nothing like good, deep fellowship. Well, there is, but not much.

Day 10

2007-01-16T03:11:00.000Z

Wrote more on Christ, finished off some work and came home.

Day 9

2007-01-12T03:22:00.000Z

Enjoyed my readings today. Matthew reminded me that Jesus' yoke is easy and burden is light.

Also did lots more study and some shopping. Not the most exciting day, but days are sometimes like that.

Am going home for the weekend, so there may not be posts each day for a bit. but then again maybe there will.

Note to self: write 365 posts earlier than 3am or they get weird.

Day 8

2007-01-11T16:38:00.000Z

Another good day. Got plenty of work done, (yay, up to date again) and enjoyed writing about Christ.

Heard a great sermon by Dr. Piper on prayer, his last of 2006. What a privilege to have Jesus wooing us to pray!

Day 7

2007-01-09T23:42:00.000Z

First productive day in ages. Got lots of core study done, and tidied and cleaned my room to the point where it's a place in which I don't mind working. Hooray!

God really is able to strengthen us, even for the most trivial tasks.

Some of the words of 'It Was Your Grace' from Sovereign Grace's Valley of Vision resonate with how I am feeling:

"You disarmed me of everything that I would lean on
So I would lean on You
And You stripped me of everything I would depend on
So I’d depend on You

In You alone my strength is found
In You alone my hope abounds
In You alone my strength is found
My life is bound up in You"

Day 6

2007-01-09T00:05:00.000Z

Reading Instruments in the Redeemer's Hands by Paul David Tripp. A superb book so far, that everyone can benefit from. It's been gently but seriously exposing sin patterns in insightful ways, and then reminding me of the gospel and the only answer: Jesus.

Just found his blog too, and discovered he has a fabulous looking moustache...

I am weak. God is strong.

Day 5

2007-01-08T01:02:00.000Z

The first Sunday so far. Spent most of the day with Duke Street Church folk, which was great.

Liam Goligher on Jeremiah 29 and Stuart Cashman on Haggai 1, both Biblical and challenging. I got to play drums at church in the evening for the first time at Duke Street. Nice not to have to set up drums and to have cymbals which are worth hitting (bad cymbals are baaad). Met up afterwards for Sermological Sunday, discussing the sermon and theology in a nearby pub.

Feeling the excitement of Ezra 7 as the author (Ezra) breaks out in praise to God over God's sovereign work in bringing his people back to Jerusalem and giving him a role in that.

Day 4

2007-01-07T01:01:00.000Z

Today was a quieter day with lots of catching up on sleep, and a trip to New Cross to see Priss and friends.

Matthew 6 was a reading for today. Just as I start getting concerned about the future, Jesus steps up and reminds me to trust him for provision. How we must fight against unbelief.

Day 3

2007-01-05T22:56:00.000Z

One of those days you really quite enjoy, but in a way, wish that you didn't. Went to the memorial service for a Roehampton student's mum. The death itself is a horrible tragedy, but the life that preceded it seems like a display of God from beginning to end. Praise the God who works through all kinds of people.

Got home and did some experimental cooking... Swede and pesto mash... not bad. Then I played chess against my housemate Steve. He put up a really good and interesting fight, but I slowly wore him down, playing some of my best chess ever. Steve's getting better at an alarming rate though. I'm going to have to start getting used to the idea of losing (like I did against Mr A Cordle).

God works in a mysterious way.

Day 2

2007-01-04T23:04:00.000Z

If I had to find a word to describe today, it would be 'misproductive'.

It was one of those days in which most of what I produce was unhelpful.

Yet Jesus still came to the rescue. I've spotted that I have an incredible ability to forget the truth of justification by faith, and to try and work my way to God, trying to steal his glory. So one key of today has been bashing that truth into my head over and over, and refuse to fall into disbelief of it. Today's been far from perfect, but I have still seen God at work.

Read and chatted through Ezra 1 and 2 with Adele. There's a goldmine of stuff in there about God's character. His faithfulness, his transcendence, his immanence, his sovereignty, his personality and his activity, even amongst average Joes like me. Slava na boga!

Day 1

2007-01-03T23:25:00.000Z

Supervision with Steph at BHS on Oxford Street - great to talk and think grace through once again.

Bought a book on chess. It's basically about how to scrap and fight, playing ugly, bad moves to improve your chances of winning. Praise God that we don't need to do that with the sweet truths of the gospel!

Listening to new Sovereign Grace CDs. Old truths, new tunes. Theology (the Word of God applied) at its best!