(resonance of reforming)
the blog of Jerry Bolton
…visited here, tenfold on your head
Aug 20th
Current Tunage: Project 86 – To Sand We Return
Surrender to the sound.
I’m just beginning to catch my breath after a whirlwind summer. In June we were able to visit family “up north” in New Liskeard and Timmins for a pair of weeks. July found us house-sitting for friends in the Bayview & 401 area, which was thoroughly enjoyable – among other things, it gave us enough room to invite our “friends who have childrens” over, which of course was a delight. The first weekend of August was, progressively, my brother-in-law’s wedding, our FIRST ANNIVERSARY (hooray!), a great day at the beach with Steph’s extended family, and – moving into the following week – a trip down to Ohio to visit old friends. The last couple weeks have included time up on Baptiste Lake near Bancroft cottaging with my family (as well as my honourary brother Shane) as well as, this past week, a stint of freelance writing, editing, and layout for a great family-run business in Mississauga.
In other words, I’ve been “busy”. Hopefully that fleshes it out a bit.
Of course, I haven’t been resting on my laurels much in terms of things I’d like to be writing about, either. That said, I do have a disturbing habit of falling short on my own hopes and intentions for this space – promises to myself I don’t seem to keep. My friend Todd recently captured some of the dynamics involved (and helpful), in this post.
So, there’s not a dearth of profundity to be found here today. Just a random mishmash of words that have been bouncing around my noggin of late. Words like Church, Marriage, Ecclesiology, Authority, Covenant, Hebrews, Galatians, Titus, Thrice, Beggars, Project 86, Emery, Review, and a host of others. We’ll see what comes of it all.
Galatians 5:22-26 ESV
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.
…too good not to share
Aug 11th
Current Tunage: Thrice – Beggars
Album of the year.
It’s been forever. I’m (kind of) sorry. There’s much to report on, but that will be another post.
For now, here’s what’s on my mind:
“THE WEIGHT” by THRICE from their new album BEGGARS
There’s many who’ll tell you they’ll give you their love,
But when they say “give” they mean “take.”
They’ll hang ‘round just like vultures till push comes to shove.
They’ll take flight when the earth starts to shake.
Someone may say that they’ll always be true,
Then slip out the door ‘fore the dawn.
But I won’t leave you hanging on.
Another may stay till they find someone new,
Then before you know they’ll be gone.
But I won’t leave you hanging on;
No, I won’t be that someone.
And come what may, I won’t abandon you or leave you behind
Because love is a loyalty sworn, not a burning for a moment.
And come what may, I will be standing right here by your side;
I won’t run away, though the storm’s getting worse and there’s no end in sight.
Some talk of destiny, others of fate,
But soon they’ll be saying goodbye.
But I won’t leave you high and dry.
Because a ring don’t mean nothing
If you can’t haul the weight,
And some of them won’t even try,
But I won’t leave you high and dry;
I won’t leave you wondering why.
And storms will surely come,
But true love is a choice you must make
And you’re the one that I have set my heart to choose.
As long as I live, I swear I’ll see this through.
…a significant milestone
Feb 15th
Current Tunage: Derek Webb – This Too Shall Be Made Right
A sombre note to end a happy day.
People always told me it would happen eventually:
I had a really great Valentines Day today. First time ever.
“Congratulations, n00b.”
RIP Single’s Awareness Day, you won’t be missed.
…the cost of marriage
Feb 4th
Current Tunage: Mutemath – Noticed
Has anyone else noticed the UNCANNY similarity between the start of this song and the start of Starflyer 59’s “No New Kinda Story” (from their record Everybody Makes Mistakes)? Yikes. If it wasn’t twice as fast, it would be far more obvious. I’m hoping it’s just happenstance or imitation, not stealery.
So, I’ve been thinking. Thinking what? Thinking that there’s some things I’ve done following my wedding that I probably would never have done prior (or at very least, would have avoided doing at all costs until there was no other option). I also thought it would be fun to share them, since they’re tongue-in-cheek and light-hearted and so on. Hope you enjoy.
EIGHT THINGS MARRIAGE HAS DONE TO ME (that i am rather pleased with)
1. Get a cell phone, use it daily.
2. Take a men’s multivitamin every day.
3. Do laundry more than once weekly.
4. Listen to less metal. (But still love it with passion!)
5. Listen to more CCM than could be rationally considered healthy. (At least by me!)
6. Go to sleep around 11pm quite regularly. Feel like a mess otherwise.
7. Get up prior to 7am quite regularly. Feel groggy otherwise.
8. Realize that I don’t actually hate Macs, just the elitist snobs who use them. (When they are elitist snobs, which isn’t always the case, but usually is!) My wife uses a Mac but she is not an elitist snob, she is a well-adjusted computer user who understands the intricate balance of benefits and drawbacks to different operating systems and despite this has chosen the greater of two evils.
Those are what come to mind at the moment, I’m sure there’s more. All this is to say that marriage has profound effects upon one’s psyche, general disposition, and well-being (all positive). It can even result in you doing things you should have done just because it was smart. I love my wife. 
…destination: beautiful/intriguing
Jan 1st
Current Tunage: Relient K – Aulg Lang Syne
“Let It Rain… Let It Reindeer” is a really great, listenable Christmas record. I discovered quite a few this year, such as Bebo Norman’s, Johnny Cash’s, smatterings from the Happy Christmas compilations, The Almost’s new EP, Jars of Clay’s, Josh Groban (I blame Steph for that one), Sovereign Grace ministries’ “Savior” album, and so on. It’s been a musically bountiful season.
We left home a week ago and haven’t been back since. Peterborough, New Liskeard, South Porcupine (in Timmins), and later we’ll be in Englehart – all before returning to precious Pickering. It’s been quite a whirlwind tour.
That being said, it’s been full of adventure, conversation, and warm memories which will be treasured all year long.
I have made a few “new year’s revolutions” this morning and although it’s ne’er been my custom to do so (I prefer “new day’s resolutions” on the regular to an annual event), these are more of a compilation of those ‘new day’ items:
I’ve kept it short, I’m just as apt to do nothing if an action list seems impossibly large as anyone else would be.
1. Set up a dual-boot of Windows XP and Ubuntu Linux (Intrepid Ibex version).
2. Complete my professional portfolio and accompanying website prior to graduation.
3. Devote time to daily writing, whether it be a blog, a review, or just adding to current progress on my ‘book’.
4. Read at least a book a month.
There are more, however these “more” delve into the realms of intricate complexity too deep and profound to explicate upon in this hallowed place. In other words, I’m keeping them to myself.
Here’s some things I’m thankful for from 2008 gone by:
1. Marriage, to Steph. It’s pretty much the best thing on God’s green earth.
2. Wonderful in-laws, which I’ve been enjoying throughout the year.
3. A hacked Nintendo Wii full of Homebrew applications and joy.
4. The chance to try out and enjoy the recent WoW beta (for WotLK) and spend some time with old friends from the guild.
5. For such great friends to have stand with me on my wedding day (Noah, Todd, Mark, Al, Ian, Shane) – much love, guys.
6. Terabyte hard drives, even though I don’t yet own one.
7. Getting paid to sleep for the entire fall.
8. A renewed enjoyment of composition as well as quality reading (I believe I read around 20 books this year, give or take).
9. Only 12 weeks of classes and about 3 exams left until being DONE with full-time school.
10. An amazing almost-full-time contract in Peterborough during the months leading up to the wedding.
11. A lot of really great music that came out this year.
12. A lot of really great sermons that I had the privilege of enjoying over the course of the year, both via the internet (ie. Driscoll, Piper, Harris, Mahaney, etc) or via Sunday Mornings (at Harvest York Region, c/o Whittingstall).
13. Good, quality cordless phones. I don’t think I’ll ever look back to corded again… particularly when I throw on that speakerphone and it feels like I’m sitting across from whoever it is I’ve called.
14. The fall LAN party thrown by my little brothers at my parents place – such a fun time.
15. The ESV Study Bible, even though I haven’t gotten mine yet.
16. Great Boxing Day sales – once again, it was worth hardly buying anything all year in order to frugally save a load of cash on some necessities (loot: new keys and mouse, colour laser printer, office07).
17. Living closer to sweet concerts.
18. Coffee mornings with my dad in the fall on my way to classes in Peterpatch.
19. Free Toronto Stars at DC/UOIT Student Commons.
20. The soon-coming TF2 Scout Pack.
21. Harvest Bible Chapel, York Region – I can’t even begin to numerate the blessing that it’s been to fellowship in a place with timeless truth and timely methods.
22. Our Tuesday night small group study in “Lord, Change my Attitude” – profitable not only due to the content but also the community/fellowship, accountability, and growth that we’ve been privileged to be a part of. Particularly, I’m thankful for the wisdom and insight provided us by virtue of the amazing friends who participate with us in it – it has truly been one of the highlight blessings of the year.
23. Paper extensions.
24. Snowstorms.
25. Ice Hockey for the NES.
And now, some far less meaningful lists:
Currently reading:
“Christianity’s Dangerous Idea” by Alister McGrath
“The Master’s Plan for the Church” by John MacArthur
“The Murder of Jesus” by John MacArthur
“Wordliness” by CJ Mahaney
“Through Painted Deserts” by Donald Miller
Hoping to read this year:
ESV Study Bible
“Vintage Church” by Mark Driscoll
“Death By Love” by Mark Driscoll
“This Momentary Marriage” by John Piper
“The Cross-Centered Life” by CJ Mahaney
“Humility: True Greatness” by CJ Mahaney
“The End Of Reason” by Ravi Zacharias
Currently listening to:
“Black-Listed Sessions” by Mars Ill
“Slow Flame” by Mars Ill
“Deepspace5oul” by Deepspace 5
“Bake Sale” by Deepspace 5
Looking forward to hearing this year:
“The Future Ain’t What It Used To Be” by Deepspace 5
new mewithoutYou
new Project 86
new As Cities burn
new Mars Ill
Currently playing:
DotA AllStars
Team Fortress 2
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption
Looking forward to playing this year:
World of Goo
Sins of a Solar Empire
Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive People (Season 1)
Braid
No More Heroes
Hoping to see released this year:
Starcraft 2
Anyways, having now ranted endlessly in list form, I wish you all the best in 2009 and look forward to saturating your blog-reader-eyes with a glut of posts ne’er before seen. Or not. Either way, it’s going to be a crazy ride – even if I am pants-on-head-insane.
…how offensive? very!
Oct 27th
Current Tunage: JustMe – The Song
My next rap review will be JustMe’s album “One Man’s Trash”. So far, it’s sounding pretty decent – hasn’t stood the test of repeated scrutiny yet, mind.
One of the perks of being married to a schoolteacher is that I’ve been getting sick more. I’m sure anyone that works with kids will verify that working with kids inevitably equals more sickness. I had a friend who used to rent in a house that doubled as a daycare and he was in and out of being sick all the time.
Anyways, all this is to say, I’m not feeling well at all. I’ve started work on the first content post of The Second Reformation series (tenatively titled: “Lost Love?”) which, as a teaser, will be working out of Revelation 2:1-7 in your trusty ESV or translation of choice.
Until then, check out Matt Chandler’s post today on TheResurgence, as I found it a most excellent challenge and observation.
Here’s an excerpt:
Here are a few men who loved our great God and King and were obedient beyond the norm:
- Moses spends his whole life with grumbling whiners and dies without getting to walk into the promised land.
- Samson suicide bombs the Philistines – and when the dust settles, he is dead and the Philistines still rule over Israel.
- David’s son rapes his sister and leads a rebellion against David, dethroning him for a season.
- Jeremiah ends up in exile with the rest of the country after repeatedly getting beaten for preaching what God commanded him to preach.
- John the Baptist is beheaded by a pervert who gives his head to a 15-year-old stripper.
- Peter is killed, reportedly crucified upside down.
- Paul is killed in Rome but only after he spends his life (with thorn intact) being beaten, rejected, lost at sea, and consistently dealing with people coming in behind him and destroying what he built.
-Matt Chandler, Pursuit – posted on theresurgence.com
The questions this prompted in me are:
1. What does it say about us (as Pastors, Teachers, Servants) if our “ministry” makes us superstars and much-loved folks outside the body of Christ?
2. If the cross is an offense (see Gal. 5 and 1 Cor 1), why are so many who claim it so “nice” when they should be decidedly “offensive”? What does their manner and their reception in the world reveal about the gospel they preach or teach?
You can read the full post [here].
…so i’ll stand with arms high and heart abandoned
Oct 19th
Current Tunage: Hillsong United – The Stand
Wow. Just wow. How did I never give Hillsong a chance? I’ve heard this song a couple times in the last few weeks at Harvest and couldn’t wring it out of my head. It’s not often that a “worship” worship song really really connects with me but my goodness this one does. Apparently it’s a few years old, but yeah… I’m digging. Big time.
Tomorrow I’m hoping to continue my segue through all of my thoughts about church and what we can do better in the West. A lot of it will be observation (both positive and negative), and a lot of it will be personal. So, in advance, I say… take it for what it’s worth. It’s been a long struggle to figure out what we were looking for, hoping for, and needing to really tear into our souls and rejuvenate what’s often been cold and stony. I’m looking forward to sharing it with you.
That said, I wanted to share some things I’ve shared with some important friends today. One of the reasons I haven’t been blogging much since our wedding is that I spend so much of my very little typing-time either working on stuff for school or staying in touch with friends that I can no longer spend facetime with. Tonight I’m going to start attempting to rectify my glaring lack of typing-time by sharing what I think is public-able… publicly. They’re slightly edited for this format. Enjoy:
MESSAGE ONE:
[Friend],
Glad you’ve been enjoying them. We’ve been following [Peasant Princess] too (as time allows, which it often… doesn’t). I’m glad the messages are burning into your heart. If it’s anything like mine it can be really cold and stone-like most of the time. It’s so refreshing to hear God’s Word proclaimed boldly and without apology… refreshing and heart-rending.
We’ve had a very busy week this past week, but much more importantly, a very spiritually important week. Much time in prayer, much time seeking God’s face and his hand in guidance and blessing. It’s been very difficult and also very excellent and full of paradigm shifts of the heart-changing sort.
Married life is excellent, praiseworthy, and most highly recommended. I often randomly say to Steph “Being single SUCKED!” and it’s not because it really did, but more because the contrast is SO massive. Marriage is so wonderful I really haven’t yet found my voice to describe the constant blessing that it is to me as God uses it to wring out my selfishness and unmask my sin and tear into my self-righteousness in His love. He is truly a great Father and takes wonderful, wise care of us, and his gift of marriage is definitely a massive boost to the old Sanctification.
Nothing in life has my higher recommendation – Find a godly woman and cut a covenant, you’ll never be the same again.
Much love,
Jer
MESSAGE 2:
Although I loved [Francis Collins' The Language of God], I did take issue with his limited understanding of recent applications of the literal reading of Genesis that do much to account for the apparent inconsistencies between “science” and the story of creation.
Without going into too much detail, I’ll just say that it has a lot to do with the way that the things by which we measure time (the Sun and Moon and Stars) aren’t created until day 4. An oversimplification of the more recent literal explanations involves taking what some will perceive as liberty with the supposed “stability” of time. Time is anything but stable, and many have recently speculated that it’s “slowing down”. Regardless, if God is who he claims to be in Scripture (in this case, the most relevant aspect being his omnipotence), then it’s entirely feasable to assert that in the pre-sun/moon/stars days, time operated differently, perhaps (for example) in the form of a rapidly decaying speed of time’s passage. From human perspective, it amounted to 3 24-hour days, but since the point of measurement did not yet exist – time itself possessed a different set of effects – I suggest a extremely rapid (yet extremely declining) rate of aging and cosmic decay until a point of stability was reached – this is the point when God introduced the elements by which we now measure time – time which we now may have reason to believe is also gradually passing with less expedience as our orbit slows both around the sun, as well as our solar system’s orbit through the galaxy.
I loved Collins’ book, hold him in utmost respect for speaking up, and enjoyed his thoughts… but I found his treatment of decent theological consideration to be rather lacking. He’s a scientist, not a theologian, and some of his views simply do not synthesize with a reasonable and consistent hermeneutic. There’s so much to be said for giving God’s word superiority over everything – after all, all things are subject to it ultimately regardless.
…found in the sound of separation
Oct 17th
Current Tunage: Underoath – We Are The Involuntary
Hands in the air and love at our sides.
There’s gotta be something bigger here -
With the beating in our throats,
And the tremble in our grip,
This can’t be it.
I’ll come up, I’ll come up for peace,
I’ll come down, I’ll come down for truth,
I’ll give in, I’ll give up for you.
The floors are shaking
And we’ve lost our step.
Oh Lord, have mercy on us all.
Married life is incredible. It’s been a touch chaotic – we haven’t had time to breathe slow in about two weeks now (though the promise of my soon-coming reading week offers some relief). Amidst that chaos, however, it’s been refreshing and ultimately revitalizing to both our lives. Not just for the obvious reasons, but also the less-obvious, less-overt, less-easy-to-detect. I think we’ve both been feeling somewhat spiritually complacent for some time, and though I can’t speak directly for my dear wife, I can speak from our discussion. All this is to say: we’ve both been so overwhelmed by (first) wedding planning and (second) adjusting to marriage and each other’s constant presence that it’s been very difficult to “find” (read: make) time with God. We’ve been working on solutions together, the two of us, and I’m really enjoying the direction we’re heading now, though it’s still early in the process of implementation.
Marriage is a blessing in so many ways, and I think I (for one) am finding that the chiefest is that it presents an ideal, piercing, persistent opportunity for accountability – particularly in the form of discovering that, when married, sin is rather almost impossible to hide. When you live in such close quarters and intimacy with someone else, you can’t escape from those things you’ve so often overlooked in the name of self-charity or self-preservation over the years. It’s a beautiful thing, and further concretes my earlier suspicion that one of God’s big ideas with marriage was that it be a primary component of many believer’s sanctification.
Along those lines – those newlywed, newly-relocated, new life lines – we’ve found and begun “plugging into” a local church. I suppose the biggest news (or at least, the most newsworthy portion of this news) is that it’s not a Brethren Assembly. Steph and I have both grown up and continued to be members of Bible Chapels that are associated with the open Plymouth Brethren here in Ontario. It’s kind of what we’ve always known, and we both treasure and love many things about it. So, why haven’t we just settled simply into one here in Pickering? I’ll attempt to answer.
The night Steph and I met, we were in the company of many dear mutual friends, and following the prayer meeting (which was our reason for being there), about half stayed around for the “afterparty” – during which we, who were all in some way or another associated with the Brethren, talked about the Brethren – what’s worked, what hasn’t, what’s wrong, what isn’t, and so on. We shared stories and observations and experience and we were there until 2:30am. Steph and I love the Brethren, but both of us (even then) were asking ourselves “Why do I?”.
I’m about to paint in some broad strokes, so bear with me. This isn’t an attempt to typecast or stereotype, and certainly I’m aware of many exceptions. Regardless, to keep this from becoming a sort of mind-dump, I’ll attempt to keep it brief:
We love a lot of the Brethren’s “big ideas” – autonomous local churches that are elder-lead, interdependence between local churches, being Bible-centric (which necessarily results in being much-more-importantly Jesus-centric), the importance of Worship being both solemn and energetic, loads of friends and friendly folks who love Jesus, etc. There is a lot to love.
We definitely do not love a lot of other things we’ve seen over the years. This really isn’t the place to name them all, and I’m not going to. No system is perfect, and no system of ecclesiology (church) gets it “right”. It’s not really my intention to criticise the Brethren, because really, that’s where my roots are – that’s what I was “raised on”.
So, you’re wondering: If I’m not going to criticise, what am I going to do?
And who the heck am I? What makes me think that I have anything to offer?
Stay tuned.
…a little posty
Sep 23rd
Current Tunage: Cool Hand Luke – Cinematic
Steph loves Cool Hand Luke. Wonder why? Oh yeah, because they’re great. That’s why.
And so, finding a small spot of time to write, he comes up with the following:
It takes a long time to really get the hang of new routines when they are so far removed from everything you’ve ever known, and yet so similar.
Life, love, and God are good. We’re gonna watch Bella now. More to come.
…this one man, two-part act is wearin’ thin
Sep 14th
Current Tunage: sintax.the.terrific – Moonlighting
Brilliant rapcut concerning the duality of living redeemed – the war between flesh and spirit, between artist and man, between person and persona… most excellent observations and thoughts – challenging.
Things are well. I feel like I have a lot to say, but also that saying it will require much more concentrated effort and prayer than most of what I usually want to say. Things about “church” and work and marriage and life and existential concerns. So many mysteries, so little time.
In the mean, I’m thankful that time isn’t the universal constant we oft set it out to be.