Ancient Truth | Modern Sound

Holiday Greetings!
It is now the time of year when many of us send out our family letters. It’s a good way to catch up with friends, count our blessings, and capture some of the year’s highlights. Kim and I used to print them and physically mail them to everyone, but that has become cost prohibitive. (Either that, or we’ve gotten cheap) Instead, we will fully embrace the digital age and publish our XPmas letter on this blog and point it out via Email. What we lack in a personal touch I hope we make up in color photos and other expanded possibilities. Let’s face it, paper just can’t be this cool.

We have the intention of taking this photo each year:

Santa
The concept of Santa raises an interesting dilemma for the serious Christian parent. On one hand we want our children to know the joy of Christmas the way we remember it, complete with reindeer, chimneys and elves. However, on the other hand we do not want to lie to our children. If we tell them that Santa is real, and try to really get them to believe, how can we expect them to trust us when it comes to other things we tell them? We don’t want them to doubt the reality of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit on the day that they find out there is no such thing as Santa, the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy. Some of you are rolling your eyes, but I think it is a valid concern.

Kim and I came up with a solution, maybe you will like it and maybe you won’t, but it seems like a good compromise to us. We have always told Von Behr and Angel that there is not really a Santa Clause, but that it is fun to pretend like there is. We tell them that it is fun to pretend that Santa lives at the North Pole and brings lots of toys and goodies on his sleigh, but that the gifts under the tree are really from Mom, Dad, Grandma and Grandpa.

Then we say, “Do you believe is Santa?”

They say, “No.”

Then we say, “Well, you better, if you want to get any presents!”

We don’t believe that this type of psychological experimentation will result in any permanent damage.

By the way, we told them about the historical Saint Nicholas, but that he had died long ago and this led to a rather surprising encounter with their Grandmother. At age three, Von Behr confidently announced that Santa was dead, much to the horror of Kim’s Mom. Good times.

XPmas Prayer
Father in Heaven,
Thank You for the past year, through the blessings and the struggles You have shown Yourself to be always faithful, loving and good. In this Christmas season and throughout the next year, may we be obedient to Your Word and faithful to our calling and mission. We thank You for coming into this world and bringing us hope. May we be Christmas to the people that You put in our lives and bring them hope as well. AMEN

OVERVIEW
Have you started skimming yet? Reading this letter because you think you probably should, but missing the whole point because you are just trying to get it over with? Of course not, not you, you would never do that. Hmmm. Let’s see, what things happened in 2008? Here’s some photos of my beloved son in whom I am well pleased:

ANGEL HART
Angel is our son. He is six years old and a really cool kid. He is very funny, outgoing, energetic, smart and very physical. He is in kindergarten at Westlake Prep Lutheran School and is having a great time. He loves his teacher (Sue Miesner) and is doing very well in class. He is constantly writing songs, singing, playing drums, guitar, drawing, asking questions, trying to spell words, and pretending that he is a super hero. He lives to play Lego Batman and Lego Star Wars on the PS3. He is very thoughtful and quick to pray for any need. Favorite food: Popeye’s Chicken leg, favorite drink: Chocolate chip frappuccino.

And this is my lovely and talented daughter:

VON BEHR HART
Von is our daughter. She is eight years old. She is one of the most friendly people you will ever meet, it’s a gift. She also started going to school at Westlake Prep Lutheran School and is doing very well. She loves to make things and give them away as gifts. Her current obsession is animals, especially puppies and cheetahs. Littlest Pets are always within reach. She moved into her own bedroom a few months ago and loves her new bed (thanks Jason and Holly). She was an “angel” narrator in the school Christmas program and recited a fairly long passage of Luke 2 while some of the other children played the part of shepherds, angels, Mary and Joseph (Angel was Joseph). We gave her a fairly good digital camera for her birthday and many of the photos on this blog were taken by Von. She is very thoughtful and is concerned with how people feel. Favorite food: Baby Back ribs, favorite drink: Double chocolate chip frappuccino.

The incredible Mrs. Hart:

KIM HART
Kim still works as a High School teacher for Aldine I.S.D. We traded commutes, and now she is the one who drives 30 miles each way across Houston traffic. Thankfully, there is another teacher who works at Aldine and lives in Katy, so they carpool and take the HOV lane (which is a lifesaver). Kim still loves her job teaching accounting, business applications and bookkeeping. Kim has again enjoyed good health for most of the last year and we are thankful, we are also hopeful that the UC will continue to stay under control. Kim is a great mother and wife. Days begin at 5 AM, she meets her ride at 6 AM, and is back in Katy to start helping the kids with homework by 4 PM. Many days the four of us take a 45 minute walk before dinner, get the kids in bed by 9:30 PM, and try to get to sleep by 11 PM. Kim looks forward to her weekends and breaks. In the last year Kim has added The Office to her other favorites show; 30 Rock, Heroes, House, 24, and LOST. If Kim had her way we would eat at a Chinese restaurant every night, and her new favorite drink is a Pumpkin Spice Latte.

( :^ | =

FRANK HART
I am still Music Director and Worship Leader at CrossPoint Community Church, a position that I continue to enjoy very much. It is a vocation that combines all of my joys and allows me to spend my days doing the very things that I love to do. What could be better than that? I am also currently in the elders training program with the thought of possibly becoming ordained. This year I also recorded and released two new albums as part of my CrossPoint ministry. The first is a children’s record called “KidsSongs: Get Up Stand Up” and the second is a Christmas album called “Being Christmas.” I have played cello with Kemper Crabb for the past 12 years and this year we have a concert featured on PBS nationally, check your local station for air-times. Life is very full between church, music projects, family and friends. Favorite food continues to be Chicken Tikka Masala, favorite drink is either cold black coffee or Dogfish Head 60, depending on what time it is … what time is it, anyway?

FAVORITES

We still love our house and can’t believe how blessed we are to live in it. This year we are very thankful for radiation and chemotherapy. Frank likes his new backpack, Blackberry Curve, G5, Flip, iTunes U, GPS, Line 6, and Whole India Cashews. Springfield First Methodist has been a great blessing to us and to Jeff and Julie. His online community is a source of comfort and joy year around. Kim likes her house, a new iPod (not yet received), our back gate to Fry road Narnia, hike and bike trail, Christmas with “Behrent” family, again, CrossPoint, HomeTeam, Aldine, Westlake Lutheran Academy, surprise airplane rides, The Alamo, Maddie (and others) baby-sitting , Gary and Beth always being included in the “card”, and being loved by my family, friends, and Christ. Angel likes his PS3, Hulk game, his house, his sister, littlest Pets, Solomon, his electric car, Jesus, his friends, MaddieFordJuwieFischer, our two Christmas trees, God, the whole world, his Mom and Dad, people, his guitar, and the cross of Jesus. Von Behr likes her Nintendo DS, her Daddy and Mommy, her littlest Petshop, Webkins, her toy elephant, her blue bear, her shark, her whale, The Snow Bear Book, learning about Jesus, watching movies, her friends, her brother, her teacher Mrs McNamara, MaddieFordJewie,Fischer, her house, flower songs that she makes up, Spongebob, Timmy Turner, Princess Bride, Momma’s “Johnny Snoopher Snoopher” stories, and hugging my Dad.

Things That Happened
Von took the training wheels off of her bike. We slept under the stairs while Ike bent our 50 foot palm tree like a wet noodle. We lived with Lynn and Christie until our power was back on. We got a hedgehog named Pokey. Our ClaudieDog ran away. Frank enjoyed the Worship Leader Conference very much while Kim and the kids played around in Austin, they also saw the bats. On Thanksgiving our friend George took the four of us on a ride in his airplane. Frank is in Katy Magazine. We have been very fortunate to be able to visit family in Illinois twice a year (Summer and Christmas). My dad, Bob Hart fought stage four cancer in his neck this year, and we were there when he found out about it, he has finished his treatment and things are looking positive. For Kim’s birthday we did a tube float on the Guadalupe River near New Braunfels, Texas. We also discovered the Landa Park Aquatics Complex. Kim spent a good part of the Summer sorting through mountains of cardboard boxes in our garage. We visited Michelle and Clem at their beautiful home in west Texas. Connie took Kim and the kids horseback riding in Illinois. Connie, Kim and Jenny spent the day floating on the lake in Randy’s boat. Frank ran for president of the United States of America. Jeff made a 100 ft slip-n-slide in his backyard. CrossPoint celebrated its 10th year of ministry. My good friend James has moved on to the corporate world. I wrote a lot of articles on this blog (look at some of them). The Grimm family will be blessed soon with a new baby boy named Fischer.

REQUESTS
When you think of us throughout the year please pray for us. Here are a few ideas to keep at the top of your list: My Dad (Bob Hart) is recovering from cancer treatment, we pray that the cancer will not return and that Dad will bounce back to his full health. We want to raise our kids knowing who Jesus is and serving Him, we want them to be healthy, and we want to do what God wants us to do as parents in raising them. We want God to bless CrossPoint Church and our ministry there. We want God to bless FeverDream Records and do great and interesting things though it. Kim will always appreciate your prayers for her as she teaches high school students. Kim and I had our children rather late in life, so we pray that we can stay healthy and hang around long enough to be part of Angel and Von Behr’s adult life as well as their children’s. Thank you to the people who have been praying for Kim’s Ulcerative Colitis, it has stayed at bay. AMEN

CLOSING
God has blessed us with many wonderful friends and family, and we hope to see you at some point in the next year, but at the very least let’s keep in touch. We want to know what’s going on with you, too. Love, AVFK

Maybe you are like me and the election didn’t go the way you hoped, so you are wearing black this week and writing a new pledge of allegiance:

I pledge allegiance to the flag
of the divided states of America
and to the republic that I don’t understand
one Obamanation
under God’s judgment
with licentiousness and lack of judgment by all

Yeah, I know, a little over the top.  I was watching the election coverage until I went to bed, and I thought of this pledge parody as I was falling asleep.  I thought, “Should I get up and write this down? … Nah!  I don’t care if I remember it or not.”  Nonetheless, I remembered it in the morning and posted it on my FaceBook account.  Isn’t that thrilling.

Maybe you are not like me at all, and instead you are riding on a wave of optimism and hope that springs from Barack Obama bringing a fresh start to our nation.  You are hoping for change to believe in!  Maybe you are one of America’s 51% who cast a very happy vote for this (previously) unknown senator from Illinois.  If you are, then you are probably very hopeful for the kind of change that he will inspire in our great country.  (and you probably didn’t make it reading further than my pledge.)

I can’t imagine the mess we would have woken up to on Wednesday if McCain had won.  People would have been violently angry, and I think the morale of the nation would have been at a new all time low.  I think there would have been massive public despair and disillusionment.

On the other hand, there seems to be a bounce in the step of many people right now, people are feeling hopeful and optimistic.   Happiness and joy are contagious, and whether we want to admit it or not, many of us who are disappointed in the outcome of the election are feeling the ripple of euphoria from the “other side.”  Things actually seem pretty bright.

This doesn’t mean that my grave concerns have gone away.  The grave concerns are front and center, but the problem is that McCain didn’t really answer those concerns much better than Obama.

Some Concerns:

1. I am troubled that Obama is so rabidly pro-abortion, but McCain is not much more of a defender of the unborn when it comes right down to it. Both of them support funding Planned Parenthood.  ‘Nuff said.

2. I am troubled that Obama wants to raise taxes on the people who already pay the most taxes, and “spread the wealth around.”  The government does not need to be in the business of playing Robin Hood.  On the other hand, McCain had the crazy idea to buy the bad mortgages and he supported the financial bailout package, and that’s not much better.  I would love to have a president who understands economics better than I do, someone who knows what a budget is, and knows how to stay within it.  We were not going to get that either way the election went.

3.  I am troubled that Obama is perceived to be a pacifist.  I don’t want the Commander and Chief of the United States Military to be perceived as a pacifist.  I want him to be perceived as a crazy mean dog that you better not mess with, or he will bite your face off.  I sleep better at night with a well trained pitbull in the yard than a cute little Yorkie.  On this issue, McCain wins hands down.

ON THE BRIGHT SIDE:
But, there are many good things about Obama winning the election.  The optimistic sense of hope is actually a beautiful thing, and not something that I have seen much of in my lifetime.  It feels like our black brothers and sisters are standing a little taller, and I hope that translates into a better sense of citizenship and responsibility.  Whether we want to admit it or not, this is a global culture, and the world is excited to see Obama win the election.  This could translate into a more favorable world opinion, and that would be helpful in many ways.  We need to be thankful for the good things, and accept the leader that God has given us.  We must learn how to honor Obama and we must pray for him to be a good and wise leader.

 Please join me in this prayer today.

In the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, with all our heart and with all our mind, let us pray:

LORD, have mercy on us and grant us peace, fill us with Your loving-kindness and thankfulness for the salvation of our souls and our lives.  We ask for the peace in this world, for healing in our nation and for the unity of all peoples.

For our President-Elect, Barack Obama, for the leaders of the nations, and for all in authority, we pray to the LORD.  We humbly ask that You would give them wisdom and direction.  We ask that you would turn their hearts toward the protection of the weak and the helpless.  We ask that You would allow them to see the wisdom of Your will and Your Law, and that they would be given a heart to understand it.  We ask that you would actively restrain the evil that they are allowed to do by Your mighty and powerful hand.

We thank You, Almighty God, for Your grace and abundant blessings to this nation.  May we be good citizens and faithful stewards of all You have entrusted us with.

AMEN

Believe in God?
Most people believe in God (even the ones who say they don’t.)  Everything around us implies that someone made it.  No matter how far you zoom out (the entire universe) or how far you zoom in (the inexhaustible detail of the micro-universes inside every atom) there is amazing design and purpose.  It is very difficult to sustain belief for even a moment that all of this happened by chance.  None of us believe that given enough time a million monkeys at typewriters would eventually compose the Book of Genesis. Time, plus chance, plus monkeys …  just equals a bunch of dead monkeys.

God in Nature
There is evidence surrounding us for the existence of God . Things like the universe having a consistent and purposeful design, it seems as though a creative mind put it all together.   Mankind has had a basic moral code that transcends cultures and history, it seems as though we have come from a common creative imagination.  History appears to have a progressive and purposeful direction, it seems as though an author has been behind the larger story. It would even seem that we are all inclined to spiritual beliefs and motivated to worship something higher than ourselves.  Although all of these arguments can be rationally smashed upon the rocks of philosophy, there is still some nagging truth at the center of these ideas that will not go away, and points us to God.

God Speaks
Of course the general revelation of God through creation is not the end of it.  God has revealed Himself through many messengers and prophets.  God spoke to Moses through a burning bush, he spoke to many others through angels, He spoke to others in visions and dreams, and through these people He gave us His Word.  The Law.  The Bible.  He gave us specific revelation that tells us who He is, who we are, and how He wants us to live our lives.  This is good, because without His specific revelation to us, we humans tend to think that throwing virgins into volcanoes is the best way to worship.

Too Many Gods
Some people will despair  at the thought of who the true God is because there are so many different ideas, and who can know which one is right?  Let me propose that there are really only two answers to this question, and everything else is a matter of emphasis.  Either God is a knowable person, or He is an unknowable abstraction.  Either God is the God of Genesis through Revelation (The Jewish God who is fully revealed to us in Jesus Christ), or God is the impersonal pantheon of Hindu manifestations of Brahman.  These are the only two choices.  Every religion goes back to one of these two, Islam is a Christian heresy and Buddhism is a Hindu atheism, etc.  So, don’t fool yourself into pretending that there is no point in seeking God because of all the disorganization of organized religions. (more…)