Grundy's Blog

Like thousands of kids around the world, I too have a Christmas list. It's a short list (compared to my grandson's list). Here it is: baseball glove mitre saw a new roof mock turtleneck belt Although it is a brief list, it does reveal something about my heart's desires. In a sense, a prayer list is just as revelatory.  Here is my prayer list: finances good health missionaries family church There is nothing inherently wrong with either list, except that neither list brings me closer to God. Augustine received a letter from a Christian believer, Anicia Faltonia Proba (died AD 432), a Roman noblewoman who was afraid she wasn't praying as she should. Augustine responded with a brief essay that outlined four principles about prayer. The first principle is that before we pray, we need to become a certain of kind of person—one who "accounts himself desolate in this world, however great the prosperity of your lot my be."   Tim Keller in his new b

Kenya Matthew 25:40  And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’ Pope Francis: “Let us ask ourselves today: are we open to ‘God’s surprises’?” Everyone wants to know about my recent trip to Kenya. Did you contract ebola? What was the highlight of the trip?  Did you feel safe? What was the food like? the weather? Did you go on a safari?   Did you see any wild animals? It's natural for friends and family to be curious about my 10,000 mile excursion. A good friend asked me to describe the Kenyan mission in one word. Without much thought, I replied,  surprise . Surprise after surprise after surprise. I was surprised by the waves of destitute Kenyans roaming the streets 24/7. I was surprised by the overwhelming smells of diesel, human waste, sweat, and garbage. I was surprised by the graciousness and humility of the Kenyan people. I was surprised by the singing and dancing of women who sle

There will be great earthquakes, famines and pestilences in various places, and fearful events and great signs from heaven . (Luke 21:11) When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior…Do not be afraid, for I am with you. (Is. 43: 2-3, 5) My wife has the Weather Channel on speed dial on our remote. She knows more about the origin of a cyclone than I do about the Oxford comma. Her interest in natural disasters comes from her insatiable scientific curiosity— not from some warped need to view nature’s cruel aftermaths. It’s an endearing oddity. Being an English teacher, I missed out on the scientific genome. I only see metaphorical disasters.   I am not so much interested in an earthquake’s epicenter or the speed of a tsunami wave, as I am interested

Carpe Diem Robin Williams’ suicide hit me hard. Not exactly sure why. Perhaps it’s because I know something about depression and how it can grip you like nothing else. Perhaps it’s because I wish someone had shared the hope that Jesus offers with Williams. Perhaps it’s because I always wanted to be like Mr. Keating in Dead Poet’s Society , impassioning students to find their own verse in this thing we call life. Most of us never had heard the term carpe diem until Williams’ Mr. Keating told us that we will all be worm food one day, and that we must seize every day like it is our last. But what does this mean to the Christian? What does carpe diem look like? I find myself torn again and again between the world’s hedonistic cry to live life to the fullest and the Christian worldview of being a humble Christ-like servant. The secular worldview of seizing the day is arguably defined by following the Greek gods of Mammon (money), Mars (power), and Aphrodite (sex). These seducti

I spend a lot of my time maintaining our home. I weed; I paint; I clean. I often think about the family that will live in my home after I die. They won’t know if I was a Christian, or an atheist; they won’t know that we raised two beautiful children and allowed our grandchildren free reign; they won’t know that an elderly neighbor ran a meth lab down the street; they will never know how many deer I shot with paintballs; they will never know that I nearly divorced my wife; they will never know of my spiritual awakening after a good friend/mentor died; they will never know that we loved two border collies and buried them in the vegetable garden. My years living in this house will be forgotten.   Eventually, no one will know that I lived at 6085 Stanley, and as the song goes, “no one will know my name.”   John Piper suggests “in the minds of many modern people, my life will have been no more significant that what happens to a tree when it dies. It’s over. You go out of existence

Isaiah 5: 2 He dug it up and cleared it of stones and planted it with the choicest vines.     I enjoy raking my fingers through good, fertile, smelly soil. The other day I started to dig a hole to plant a five-gallon azalea.   The tag on the plant said to dig a hole twice as big as the plant’s root ball. Not sure if the person who wrote these directions knows anything about the soil in our foothills. I was surprised when the first spading went down three to four inches. The soil was loose, fertile, easy to dig in.   I was euphoric. I am a gardener of cultivars. But my euphoria was short-lived. A boulder, the size of Rhode Island, prevented further digging. Jesus talks about a soil’s condition in the gospels. There is the fertile soil and the rocky soil and the weed infested soil. But what if the soil is fertile at the top and rocky at the bottom?   A plant may flourish for a year or two, but the roots' need to go deeper will be stunted by the rocks—unless they are eradi