Luke’s Notebook

The past month or so, I have just felt this hunger to draw close to God and also to, somehow, some way try to turn others to Him.

Part One of this is me just realizing God’s majesty. To think the name of Jesus is the name above all names — that’s amazing. To realize that God is the only uncreated one, that’s also mind-blowing.

So I have been just kind of in awe of everything that He has done and is doing. It’s so humbling to think that the only one who made me still cares intimately about me. It’s really hard to wrap my mind around it, but I know it’s true: God cares very much about Luke Arndt.

Needless to say, I am just pretty well floored by the mercy that I have received, that somehow there’s a way for me to be forgiven and seen as innocent and guilt-free in God’s eyes. It’s no wonder that there is constant joy and hope. When I know that nothing can separate me from the love of Christ, what is there to fear?

That’s the first part. I am just blown away by how big God is, by just thinking about the fact that He really did create the ocean, the sky, the stars, the sun, the planets, the insects — everything. And yet the same one who decided where to place the sun is crazy about me.

The second part of this is a little different. I wonder how to get somebody else to see things through my eyes. How can I get Person A to comprehend this?

We live in a world that is so full of conveniences, and sadly I think a lot of churches or ministries feel pressured to appeal to people’s senses in order to “sell them” on Christianity. For instance, claims that somebody can find peace in God, experience joy, meaning in life. These are all well and good, and I can testify personally that I am always clinging to God and drawing my joy from Him or leaning on Him and being comforted.

What kind of scares me, though, is I think people tend to have a consumer mentality when it comes to churches. They want to find a church that has the best programs, the best worship, the best events, the best community. Again, this stuff is all well and good, but I think this is the wrong reason to be attending church.

I don’t think we’re supposed to carry that “have it your way” mentality into church. We should have the hearts of servants, and we should make sure our going to church is for the sake of glorifying God, of offering our lives to Him.

I guess I just worry that, to essentially “compete” with the culture, that churches have felt forced to try to appeal to people’s senses or their feelings. In turn, it seems, it’s easy to water down the Gospel.

I wish I had some stats to cite, but from talking to people and observing people, it seems the vast, vast majority of people believe in God. And probably most of those people believe in Jesus Christ and would not argue that He died to take away our sins.

But, out of those people, how many are repentant? How many people would just drop to their knees or start crying because they know that they are sinners, that they have offended a mighty God?

So I guess I’m wondering how to wake people up. Most people have probably heard about the 10 commandments, about Jesus and the cross, and about forgiveness of sins. But how can you get somebody to take it to heart?

I fear that these days we are risking of portraying God as a grandpa or an uncle. “Hey, God loves you. He wants you to be happy. He wants you to spend time with Him.” While this is all true, people can easily see this as optional. God loves me, huh? Well, cool. Maybe I’ll call Him up when I need something.

Exodus 34:6-7

The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished

What is not being emphasized is that God hates — just hates — sin. Make no mistake — this loving God of ours just detests sin. If He finds sin on you, no matter how much He loves you, you’re still going to hell.

See, God is loving but God is also just. He will punish sin. If He didn’t, He wouldn’t be just. The Bible is very clear about the fact that all men have fallen short of the glory of God. One sin is still too many, and even though God loves us tremendously, He still has to punish the guilty.

2 Corinthians 7:10

Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.

I think it’s a good thing to be broken, to all of a sudden wake up and realize your sin, to think, “Wait a minute. I claim to believe in God, and, yet, if this is true, I’m on my way to hell.” That Godly sorrow, that God-inspired brokenness leads to repentance, which leads to salvation.

But how can you repent if you don’t know you’re guilty? I think it’s really important that we, as self-proclaimed Christians, always realize what we would be without the blood of Jesus. Think about how stained we would be and how much God despises that.

So once you realize you’re guilty, you turn from your sinful ways, and you follow God, it is no wonder that you are going to have joy, you’re going to have peace, you’re going to have meaning in life. But I just think it’s kind of dangerous to advertise, “Hey, come to our church and receive joy.” Even though there is no question that through God we get our joy and peace, I think it’s so key that people learn the basics, and that they really take to heart what the situation is.

Anyway, I guess what I have been wondering lately is how do you get people to realize their need for Jesus? I see friends all the time who look so aimless, and I just wish I could do something for them. I want them to fall in love with Jesus, but I don’t think it’s enough if I just go up to them and say, “Hey, Jesus has turned my life around!” While that’s true, I think it’s important that they realize that it’s a life-or-death situation for them, and that they have got to choose to turn from sin.

Basically, I’m wondering — and maybe there’s no real answer to this — but how can you get people to “get” it? So many people will claim to believe in God, but so few act like it. So how can you get people to realize their sin and their desperate situation? How can you get that light bulb to finally go off?

I know prayer is very powerful, and I have been praying for different friends for a long time. I’ve seen God do some amazing things in other friends and family members over the years.

Tomorrow morning before daybreak, Mom and Dad are set to hit the road, taking a brief trip up to Williamsburg. Sunday, April 1st, is Dad’s 51st birthday, so they’ll be spending most of the day on the interstate. I’m so happy that they’re able to break away and make a trip up to that area.

They both love Williamsburg, as it was their honeymoon spot back in 1979, and it seems like Mom has especially taken a liking to learning about the area. She just absorbs so much information and has learned so much about the past settlements, traditions, significant events, and such.

I went to the Y this morning with Paul, Jude, Jacob, and Nathan. My knee seems to be doing better, as I was able to somewhat easily use the elliptical machine for 20 minutes. I still can’t really do much in the way of running or anything that is high-impact. I think I’m going to sit out of volleyball tomorrow night, even though I really would like to play. There’s a small chance I’ll still play, but I’m just thinking it might not be the smartest thing, seeing as I’m still having trouble running or even simply walking without any kind of a limp.

I… had something else on my mind. If it comes back to me, I’ll likely make another entry. I have been a little light on the substantive entries lately, but I hope to have something new soon. I don’t want to pressure myself into coming up with something, but I do think that I have some stuff to share. Stay tuned!

Interesting day. Five years ago today — March 29, 2002 — was quite a day. Half a decade ago — kind of hard to believe that five years have passed since that Good Friday. I even remember the day afterward quite well, as John and I were transplanting pine trees here at our property, and we ended up getting the truck stuck in the mud. Our Uncle Joe was kind enough to bring his tractor over on Easter and pull the truck out.

Anyway, March 29, 2007, had me going to the Y in the evening. The knee is still hurting, but I think it’s slowly improving day by day. For cardio work, I did 20 minutes on a bike. To my surprise, the knee felt great while doing that! It sounds like I may have a temporary solution while I let this thing heal up.

Grandpa was released from the hospital this evening. Praise God! Yesterday, he was in the operating room in order to have a pacemaker implanted. Evidently, all has gone well since then, and now he’s back home with Grandma. What a blessing.

This evening, I went to the Y for an abbreviated visit. My knee is still bugging me quite a lot, although today it was better than it was yesterday. I can walk on it, but I just have a bit of a limp. Running or jumping is out of the question at the moment, so at the YMCA I focused mainly on weights. I did a little bit of work on a bike there, and that didn’t hurt too much.

After debating on whether or not I should fight through this or just take a break altogether, I think I’m going to go ahead and try to cut back dramatically on cardio stuff, at least for the next little while. I’m hoping to be feeling good enough to play volleyball on Sunday, but aside from that I might just try to take it easy.

We’re 12 days away from Opening Day in our men’s softball league. I’m very excited to start playing again! That’s another reason I want to be careful with my knee. I don’t want to have to be sidelined during the season! But it will be great to have softball going again. I’m setting a goal for myself of a .600 batting average. I’ve never done that well, but I have come somewhat close the past couple of years. Maybe I can finally reach it this time around!

I went to the Y this afternoon, but my knee was really, really bothering me. For some reason, after playing volleyball last night, my right knee has been hurting a lot. I think it’s probably related to whatever was hurting me a few weeks ago, and that was probably a result of me initially hurting this last summer.

I’m actually a little surprised by how much it has hurt today. At the Y, I could workout okay, with the exception of cardio work. I tried an elliptical machine and a treadmill, but with both of those it would just kind of aggravate my knee. So I gave up on that and mostly focused on weights.

Now to the important stuff. This evening, I spent a few hours with Grandpa at the hospital. We watched a movie, and then we spent a little while talking about a trip that he’s thinking about taking in September. He seems to be doing great, and evidently tomorrow afternoon the doctors are planning to insert a pacemaker. Please keep him in your prayers!

In other news, my current theme song, courtesy of Charlie Hall:

Oh, Christ, be the center of our lives

Be the place we fix our eyes

Be the center of our lives

This morning, I visited Grandpa over at the hospital in Belleville. He was in great spirits, and when I got there Aunt Lisa and Aunt Jane were also spending some time with him. Early this afternoon, he had the cardiac catheterization procedure performed, and evidently that went well. Thank God for that! I’m not sure what the plan is from here, but I know that is a positive sign, anyway.

This afternoon, I went to the YMCA. While I was wrapping up a workout, I saw ran into an old classmate of mine, back from fifth and sixth grade at Cathedral Grade School. It was really strange to see somebody who you haven’t seen in a decade! So we chatted for a little bit, and it was just kind of neat to cross paths with someone who I went to school with 10 years ago, when I was a pre-teen. Just kind of a weird surprise.

Jude’s 20th birthday was today, so this evening John, James, and I took him out to Red Robin in Fairview Heights. The restaurant just opened up a couple of months ago, so this was our first time checking it out. We had a good time there, and we got to watch a little college basketball while we ate dinner.

This is my 1,000th entry in this blog. Wow!

The first day of spring was nothing short of gorgeous. As I was driving around early this evening, I was just marveling at, how all of a sudden, the grass seems so strikingly green. It sure seems like spring was right on time.

Late in the day, there was a breathtaking sunset — you know, when the horizon is of clouds, and the sun shines through so you actually see its rays piercing through? Combine that with a variety of beautiful colors, and you just have another one of God’s masterpieces.

As I was driving, the song “How Can I Keep From Singing?” by Chris Tomlin came on the radio. I was just so struck by the thought that the Creator of all of this- - the One who actually designed this one sunset, which quickly faded to night — He loves me.

It would be one thing if we had a God who didn’t like company, who was all-powerful but just not very people-friendly, a God who would be annoyed to have these billions of people to care of, to respond to. But imagine this: We have a God who loves us like nothing else. We can’t comprehend how great His love for us is, but we do know it’s greater than any feeling that we could ever have.

Isn’t that just amazing? Just let it sink in for a second. God — the one and only God — the only one who decides what today’s sunset is going to look like — He loves you, and He wants to know you. Knowing that, how can we keep from singing? How can we help but fall down and just worship our amazing God?

I’m just a little bit overwhelmed. I mean, I have known for the longest time that this is true, but it just really started to become real to me, and I am just so in awe of our great God. That we have a God who is able — and willing — to care intimately about our life — it’s incredible.

Side note: I hit the Y tonight.

Deuteronomy 4:9

Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them slip from your heart as long as you live.

Deuteronomy 4:29

But if from there you seek the LORD your God, you will find him if you look for him with all your heart and with all your soul.

I just read these two verses, and they really jibe with what has been on my heart lately.

Beat Saturday’s time by three seconds. Doing the math, I realize that is averaging over 11 miles per hour. Sheesh. I wonder if I can ever get it under five minutes…

On a much more serious note, this evening our Grandpa has headed back to the hospital in order to have a cardiac catheterization performed. Evidently, after a visit with a doctor earlier today, they decided it would be best to get down to the hospital and have this taken care of.

This might not be anything that was unexpected, but either way it’s just sad to have Grandpa get admitted to the hospital again. But I am so thankful that it’s in a local hospital this time, instead of down in St. Augustine, Florida. God has been so merciful to us, and it’s such a blessing that Grandpa is able to be surrounded by family and friends this time for his stay.

If you think of it, please keep him in your prayers. Like I said, I’m not sure if this is necessarily bad news — in the sense that this may have been inevitable from Day One — but either way, it’s just tough to have to have Grandpa be re-admitted and undergo the procedure.

God has been so good to us, keeping Grandpa so healthy and full of life over the last several years. We just can’t thank Him enough for His goodness, for providing such a healthy family and such a wonderful group that will rally around to help when someone is in need.