God's Common Grace

From Calvin and Common Grace by John Owen:

"How is it that men who still lie under the wrath and curse of God and are heirs of hell enjoy so many good gifts at he hand of God? How is it that men who are not savingly renewed by the Spirit of God nevertheless exhibit so many qualities, gifts, and accomplishments that promote the preservation, temporal happiness, cultural progress, social and economic improvement of themselves and of others?...How is it that this sin-cursed world enjoys so much favor and kindness at the hand of its holy and ever-blessed Creator?"

Learner's thoughts exactly, he says. "Common grace is so unfair."

Progress: Destination or Journey?

Earlier this week, Learner received an email from the seminary pertaining to the upcoming building project in the center of the small campus. It read:

"A construction trailer will arrive on campus this week, and then, in about 16 months, we hope to have a new 43,000-square-foot academic and administration building. The building will provide more classrooms with greater flexibility, unite our faculty and administrators under one roof, create a dedicated homiletics classroom, as well as a single center for students to interact with Financial Aid, the Business Office, the Registrar, Academic Planning, and Student Services.

Before we can enjoy the new building, however, we will all encounter some changes and potential inconveniences. Here are some of the changes to watch for:

- The official start date for construction is April 16, 2007.
- The main construction trailer will be staged on site either this Friday, March 9, or early next week. It will be located in the grassy area just north of the Archaeology building.
- Temporary fencing will be placed around the construction site for the safety of our children (and curious adults!). As of now, we expect that the fencing will go up after the first of April, but that could change.
- The current bus stop will also be moved for the safety of the children.
- There will be significant changes in traffic flow and parking. Much more information about this will follow.

Staff will see and hear about the traffic flow and parking changes at the All-Staff Meeting on March 26. Campus residents and commuting students will receive information about new traffic patterns, parking changes, the bus stop move, and much more when they return from Spring Break."

As is typical for him in most things, Learner is all for progress - as a destination rather than a journey. The good news is the same as the bad news: if all goes according to schedule (his as well as the seminary's), he should graduate roughly around the same time as the building is complete. Thus, he'll get to experience all the hassles of the building project (listed above), and none of the benefits. And, if you remember, he doesn't particularly do well with campus chaos.

All this, of course, is only if he gets through another 16 months...which means getting through Hebrew (and other classes involving biblical languages). Still, it's only 16 months, and today is the first he's really thought about that.

"Hard to believe," he says. Indeed it is.

Learner & Anger: Growing Up or Growing Older?

Like many, Learner does not like to think of himself as an angry person, but he recognizes that he is – or at least can be – given the right situation, threat, or (dare he say it?) desire. He wouldn’t say he grew up in an angry family, but he did see anger used occasionally as a tool and a means for either getting one’s way or not letting others have theirs. Is there a difference between the two? Regardless, anger was an instrument of control – of preference, of environment – and he has been too good a student of its many uses.

In thinking through this, Learner says, certain questions come to mind pertaining to his anger tendencies: Does his becoming so angry so quickly over so many trivial things in life contribute to the fact that he is hardly angry enough over injustices in the world that merit true righteous anger? Why does one of his daughters spilling milk at dinner (again) cause his blood to boil more than the reality of someone else’s daughter not having any milk to drink because of political embargoes? Why does someone – always the same guy! – talking loudly (and always at length) in the library make him more angry than the fact that someone else cannot speak because of governmental censorship laws in another country?

If, as one of Learner's recent authors writes, “anger reminds us that we do not live in utopia,” the question begs asking: What kind of utopia must he want to live in if the reasons for his anger are so pathetically inconsequential? What does this tell him about his ideals and the extent to which he pursues them? His tendency, he says, is to act out – to make a scene, a point, or a big deal about an annoyance – making him the issue rather than the issue itself.

Sadly, he can’t say he's grown as much in this area of sanctification as he would like, and Mrs. Learner and the kids are the ones who suffer most because of his “melancholic funks”. Unfortunately, this is some of what he was taught in his youth, and some of what he learned growing up.

"Or at least," he says, "when I was growing 'older'".