The following will be the first installment in a multi-part series on a topic I’ll reveal in a future post:It was June of 1998, I was sitting in Barton Coliseum, with very little lighting, in an uncomfortable, wooden, fold-down stadium seat, waiting for my sister to receive her diploma along with the hundreds (hundreds!) of other nursing school graduates. She was still a “Wilson” then, so needless to say, I had a long wait.
Barton Coliseum was an old, has-been venue for many concerts in Little Rock. Back in my Jr. High (pre-conversion) days, I had sat on the opposite side of the arena to listen to the tunes of Foreigner during my first rock concert ever, and continued over the years to endure the alcohol & pot influenced crowds just to see some of my favorite bands like Poison, David Lee Roth, Van Hagar, KISS and, to round out the category…Milli Vanilli. Yeah. Really. I saw 'em. Who'd of thought it?
So I’m sitting in Barton. I was reading a book that I have yet to finish, Desiring God, by John Piper. The Lord, during this year, had been maturing me in my thinking and reforming my theology, so when I came across a “new” biblical concept in a book, it was always monumental.
I was in the second chapter, entitled, Conversion: The Creation of a Christian Hedonist. So far in the previous pages I had only highlighted a few intriguing thoughts, and underlined even fewer. But on page 59, I highlighted…AND underlined a sentence that I can still spit out without even thinking:
The wisdom of God has ordained a way for the love of God to deliver us from the wrath of God without compromising the justice of God.
It must have been my wife I turned to - after picking my jaw up off the floor – and shared this profound gospel summary neatly packed in these 27 simple words. It had to have been my wife, because no one else in my family would have understood it, much less appreciated it. I was blown away.
The wisdom of God has ordained a way for the love of God to deliver us from the wrath of God without compromising the justice of God.
To be continued…
millivanilli?--really, that part was a joke, right?
ReplyDeleteIf you're nice, I'll scan and post a picture of my ticket stub.
ReplyDeleteGirl, you know it's true.
I will take your word on the nilli concert.
ReplyDeleteI can't believe you sent me here? By the way which one was your favorite? Rob or Fad? =)
That is a profound statement, Piper has that gift.
Any reason you have yet to finish the book?
Yes, the pull quote of all time. Mr. Piper has had a profound effect on me over the past six months.
ReplyDeleteMy first concert? Iron Butterfly with Joe cutting the acid on the lawn in front of the Anaheim Convention Center. But, you young people probably never heard of them... So, I took my children to their first concert -- M.C. Hammer and En Vogue. I had to pray, just to make it that day!