My friend Matt sent out a facebook note asking people to send back 15 books that you’ve read that will “stick with you”  - After replying to that, Bri urged me to post them on here because I’ve been neglectful of the ol’ Holloblog lately.  So here they are…some old, some new, some tried, some true.  Some probably included becuase of what they’ve brought me “to” either spiritually or intellectually, or where they’ve brought me from..and some just plain fun, with no great impact on either

1. The Bible
2. Mere Christianity
3. Don’t Waste Your Life
4. The Great Divorce
5. The Imitation of Christ
6. The Screwtape Letters
7. A Tale of three Kings: A Study in Brokenness
8. Harry Potter Series
9. The Chronicles of Narnia
10. The Lost World
11. Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith
12. Congo
13. The Problem of Pain
14. Jesus and the Victory of God (Christian Origins and the Question of God, Volume 2)
15. Blue Like Jazz: Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality

I’m sure there are some forgotton, but one of the rules was ones you could think of or remember in 15 minutes!  Feel free to reply with some of your favs even if you don’t have 15 to type.

Note: All the links above are affiliate linked to Amazon, so if you end up buying any, a % of the price will be given to us, which we’ll funnel along to Compassion International.  So you can read and help at the same time!

Yesterday, Easter Sunday, I posted the first post on why Christ suffered and died: To Absorb the Wrath of God. So today is day #2 focusing on the greatest event in human history. (Keep in mind I’m “ordering” these for the sake of organization, not importance) Also Bri will be posting a four month Caleb update (so fast eh?!?!) tomorrow after his doc appt.

#2 - Christ Suffered and Died to Please His Heavenly Father

Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him;
he has put him to grief – Isaiah 53:10

Christ loved us and gave himself up for us,
a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. – Ephesians 5:2

Jesus did not wrestle his angry Father to the floor of heaven and
take the whip out of his hand. He did not force him to be merciful
to humanity. His death was not the begrudging consent of
God to be lenient to sinners. No, what Jesus did when he suffered
and died was the Father’s idea. It was a breathtaking strategy,
conceived even before creation, as God saw and planned the history
of the world. That is why the Bible speaks of God’s “purpose
and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began”
(2 Timothy 1:9).

Already in the Jewish Scriptures the plan was unfolding. The
prophet Isaiah foretold the sufferings of the Messiah, who was to
take the place of sinners. He said that the Christ would be “smitten
by God” in our place.

Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we
esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he
was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our
iniquities. . . . All we like sheep have gone astray; we have
turned every one to his own way; and the LORD has laid on
him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:4-6)

But what is most astonishing about this substitution of Christ
for sinners is that it was God’s idea. Christ did not intrude on
God’s plan to punish sinners. God planned for him to be there.
One Old Testament prophet says, “It was the will of the LORD to
crush him; he has put him to grief” (Isaiah 53:10).

This explains the paradox of the New Testament. On the one
hand, the suffering of Christ is an outpouring of God’s wrath
because of sin. But on the other hand, Christ’s suffering is a beautiful
act of submission and obedience to the will of the Father. So
Christ cried from the cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken
me?” (Matthew 27:46). And yet the Bible says that the suffering
of Christ was a fragrance to God. “Christ loved us and gave
himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God”
(Ephesians 5:2).

Oh, that we might worship the terrible wonder of the love of
God! It is not sentimental. It is not simple. For our sake God did
the impossible: He poured out his wrath on his own Son—the one
whose submission made him infinitely unworthy to receive it. Yet
the Son’s very willingness to receive it was precious in God’s sight.
The wrath-bearer was infinitely loved.

The above is an excerpt from John Piper’s “The Passion of Jesus Christ” - Download the entire book free of charge here.

Today was an incredible day.  I don’t know where to start.  Okay first we woke up like any day.  Yes, Caleb got up a bit early, but everything was normal.  We played with him for a bit, Bri got him dressed in his favorite jeans and flannel shirt, and set him in the living room to play.  We both sat down and began to eat breakfast when all of a sudden Bri spits out her cereal. Low and behold I look up to see Caleb walking around the living room!  

We were shocked.  Bri showed me where some studies have shown that really intelligent babies can learn to walk simply from observation, and try it out on their own much earlier than other babies.  Needless to say, based on his parents, Caleb is extremely intelligent and so the explanation made sense!  We snapped a quick shot of him and will post some video later.  Truly an incredible way to start a Wednesday!

Well, its been a few days since we began our quest to find what is causing Caleb’s discomfort. I have to admit we did not follow the plan exactly. After only a bottle and a half of formula which left all three of us frustrated, we nixed the formula and decided for me to stick to the strict diet and breastfeed through it until everything would be out of my system. We would just tolerate Caleb’s complaints until then. Then, one night of fuss made us cave and we started giving him Zantac a few days ago. So we’re basically doing everything at once instead of one thing at a time.

I have to say I think his reflux has diminished but now he seems to be having some gas issues. Go figure, right? So now, I’m going to start eating wheat and dairy again in moderation but lay off the gassy foods (like cabbage, broccoli, corn, beans, etc.) We’re getting serious about burping him well and keeping him upright after eating so he has a chance to keep everything down. We’ve decided that if he continues to be problematic this weekend, we’ll try the formula for a few days just to see if anything in my milk is affecting him. This will help ease our minds about what I’m eating and what I’m not.

My parents came down here on Monday to help out and keep us well fed. They’ve been great at soothing Caleb when he gets fussy. Between the four of us, he’s been okay and Andy and my sanity has slowly returned to a satisfactory level.

As far as sleeping, Caleb’s been a champ (knock on wood). He’s really getting into the hang of waking, grunting for attention, getting his diaper changed, eating, burping and going back to sleep all in about 40 minutes. His first sleeping stretch lasts about 3 1/2 hours and goes to about 2 hour cycles from there. He’s bee sleeping a lot during the day but apparently that doesn’t really affect his night sleeping so I won’t complain.

Here’s a picture of Caleb and Daddy watching the Cardinals game. Too bad they lost miserably….

Today was a big day for us, as we had the follow up EKG for Caleb at St. Josephs Hospital in downtown Phoenix.  We weren’t very nervous about it for some reason, but we took a ride down there about noon to get the test done.  It was a bit of an ordeal.  The test only takes a good minute or less to “run” but it was tough getting 8 different electrodes hooked up to a screaming pooping baby.  As soon as they called his name to come back in the exam room he pooped his guts out…I guess he knew what was coming.

We finally got the test run after 2 feedings and 30 minutes, and she submitted it to the Pediatric Cardiologist for reading.  She said he’d likely call back on Monday with the results but we got a call from him this afternoon…and Caleb’s test was NORMAL.  This confirmed the follow-up he had in the original hospital visit, and means our little dude has a healthy little heart! He’s also been doing a lot better sleeping at night, normally 2-3 hours at a time, then a feeding and changing and repeat 2 times during the night.  The math has added up to some better sleep for his parents the past two nights so we hope it keeps up!  Here’s a little video from this morning…

This past week I had the privilege of sitting down with some high schoolers and discussing the “Prosperity Gospel” in modern America and it’s contrast with scripture.  For those unfamiliar,  the “Prosperity Gospel” is a term used to refer to the preaching that focuses on God “blessing” his people with material things, health, etc.

Here is a quote from a “popular” American preacher who regularly preaches the health, wealth, and prosperity gospel.  I’m omitting names as the point of this post is not to vilify anyone but rather open eyes to what’s going on…

“It’s God’s will for you to live in prosperity instead of poverty.  It’s God’s will for you to live in health and not in sickness all the days of your life”

The message that God wants you to have material things, wealth, cars, money, and to simply “be happy” is the message being pushed all across the globe by “prosperity gospel” preachers.  People find it ever so attractive (as you might expect) as preachers exclaim over and over again God’s plan for your life, and how it involves financial prosperity and good things.  As one preacher said, “Make church relevant… I find today people are not looking for theology.”

As believers, as people searching for truth, we must first hear these things and react like the Bereans do in Acts 17:11.  We must examine God’s word and see if what’s being said and taught is true.  With these prosperity teachings becoming more and more prevelant in modern preaching, television, and literature - it’s key to examine and refute false teaching.

A quick glance at Romans 5:3-4,  James 1:2-3, and 2 Corinthians 8:1-2 give us some quick Biblical perspective that flies in the face of this modern popularity.  The biblical perspective of suffering, poverty, trial and hardship is not one where these things are to be “absent” from our lives, but rather embraced with JOY as an opportunity for persevearane, character, and hope.  The Macedonians had great affliction and poverty yet had an overwhelming joy in the midst of it.

Their joy was in God, not circumstances, and certainly not material things.  It comes down to what your treasure is.  Is it money, health, prosperity?  Or is it God?  In fact, Christ himself said in Luke 14:33 that anyone who does not renounce all he has cannot be his disciple.  Seems quite the contrast to the popular prosperity teaching.  Not to mention countless warnings about riches, including the likes of 1 Timothy 6:9 that warns us that the desire for riches is a trap and a temptation.

Across the globe there is so much more “cost” to the faith of believers.  They’re lives are filled with persecution, hardship and death.  Where is their prosperity gospel?  I wonder how America would look, how Christianity would look if there was great cost associated with faith.  If people didn’t have the luxury of simply showing up to church once every couple weeks or arbitrarily calling on and abandoning the name of Christ in American leisure.

The prosperity Gospel is dangerous because it teaches us to treasure things above Christ.  God’s word doesn’t teach that.  It teaches that we may suffer, we may be broke or lack many things the world has, and yet that is our opportunity to take joy, our opportunity to hold Christ higher than all else, to shine our light before men, and to treasure the only true Treasure that exists.

“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.”  - Matthew 13:44-45

Here’s an audio clip from a sermon by John Piper, a pastor in Minnesota whom I greatly respect and admire. His website is www.desiringgod.org, also available in our “friends and links” section.

You may have noticed that the Holloblog looks a little different…that’s because it is.  We have been changing some things around (including a new color scheme) and will be tweaking it to make it better in the days to come.  We want to add a nice photo section soon and make everything easy to use, and read.  Stay tuned!

Welcome to our brand new “Holloblog” - a Holloway family blog where Briana and I can share news about our lives, pictures, and also our thoughts and random things with family and friends! Feel free to leave comments on the posts and let us know how you like the site! Did you know? This site changes based on the time of day! You’ll see a serene sun and morning scene during the day and a dark night scene during the evening - so check it out!

I also imported all of my own posts from MyCrossDaily.com and TheBrokenView.com, as I will be posting exclusivly from here…

Regardless of your background, it would be naive and innacurate to claim that the US was founded absent of a devotion and reverence to God. People battle and argue over specifics and phrases like “seperation of church and state” - for various reasons - but the founders of this country were clearly reliant upon the Almighty. Such a truth shapes all 50 state constitutions, our constitution, and much of our history. Not every founding father was a Christian, but many were and their lives and the foundations of this country were chisled from their faith. In modern times, the battles rage and the winner today is often various definitions of equality and relative truth, seperation, elimination, moderation, and most of all a concession of anything entirely “right or wrong” - they call this open-mindedness, etc. To draw too hard a line, is to step out in judgement, arrogence, etc.

The difficulty in Christianity today is the constant devotion to avoiding those taglines and not realizing that one cannot. It would be as though a mathmatician in his defense of 2+2=4 attempting to battle stereotypes of “narrow-mindedness” and “not being open to more answers” or “always stepping out against 2+2=5″ etc. The example is outlandish but the truth remains - namely truth. When something is true, it is not false. When something is naturally absolute, there aren’t other options. This is called narrowmindedness in modern culture. Christians attempt to avoid narrow minded accusations, instead of realizing that they are truly narrow minded. And that that is okay.

The problem lies in perception, and we all hate to be perceived the wrong way. Everybody does. The difficulty lies in our attempts to correct that perception. Do we conceed truth? Do we alter the un-alterable? Do we say 2+2=4 but that we will accept trains of thought that think it’s 4 1/2 or 40 or 44 or 5 in order to become socially attractive? Our purpose as Christians is NOT to become 1) socially attractive OR 2) judges and accusors of others. Is there a third place? Is their a more true and achievable goal for us?

As a Christian, loyalty and devotion to Christ should manifest itself in you - and the result is a God fearing, truth-wearing soul that puts on humility and love, not dedication to a human religion. We are to be like our king, not the world. God never said become socially more attractive so you can win people. He said to speak the truth in LOVE, not self-righteous anger or arrogence.

As a Christian, my desire is to speak TRUTH, never alter, falter, or malign it.  Never conceed to become attractive, never hold my position in Christ in front of others as though I earned it.  I didn’t.  I fell, faltered, and am fatally wounded - and yet saved in Christ.  My sins bought me death.  Christ gave me life, unearned, - the definition of grace.  Christians who wear pride on their backs destroy the faith, because then their Christianity becomes more about themselves and less about Jesus Christ.  Christ is the convictor, the way, the truth, the life.

These various national battles will not cease.  They won’t stop and the perception of Christianity may take walks down many different roads.  I can only pray we remember our first love, our first devotion, and hold it higher than every temptation to become socially attractive and desired.  The world will love, hate, criticize, destroy, malign, accuse - just like it always has.  The only question is whether we are firmly in the rock or shifting on the sands when the winds blow.

But a moment, time is slowed,
hours stayed, hours hold.

Gaze in wonder, love divine,
age is ending, age and time.

Swift to leave it, swift to move,
lost reflection, simple truth.

Why the quiet, must it leave?
fading swiftly, finding sleep.

Always ever, passing still,
dare we quest, soon fullfill,

Fading swiftly, ever gone,
hold it fast, hold it long.

Great and dear, like sweet memory,
His children, age to come shall see.

A wonderful and relevant entry by Oswald Chambers:

I have been thinking a lot lately about how I represent Christ in my daily life. When I go to work, when I come home, when I meet with friends, etc. I want to find the right way to spread the light of the gospel and somehow not condemn or judge and further some false idea of Christianity in someone else’s mind. A relationship with God is so infinitely amazing and of everlasting importance - you’d think that simply speaking with sincerity would be successful, but it’s not always the case.

The truth is, I’m starting to believe that it’s that word: “Success” that’s screwing me up. As a Christian, my definition for that word when it comes to spreading the truth of God should not be a “positive happy reaction” from another person. The Bible gives no reason to define it such a way and yet we often do. It’s obvious why as well, it’s because we want to be liked! Yet I know full well that the truth is not always what people want to hear. To acknowledge that they’ve stolen, lied, blasphemed, etc and be convicted in the heart isn’t fun. We are all sinners, and it should bother us when we discover such a fact (or rather admit what’s so true). I really want to be able to be open and honest, and show a passionate love and not a rules-driven sect. Christianity isn’t about religion but a relationship with the living God, the God that one can not help but know exists in the very fiber of their being.

I marvel at the work of your hands my King,
whose work brings me to my knees,
I must revere your handiwork,
for i can finally see,

each day and hour, breath and step,
was framed before my birth,
and each rejoice and suffering,
shall aid me in my search,

for there is but one goal,
there is but one king,
and all the work for all of man,
won’t bring me anything.

Praise the King who builds me - shapes me - strenthens me - sancifies me -

He who gives and takes, may He always be glorified.