Arrived in Broomfield, CO safe and sound. I thought the drive from Albuquerque would be murder since the van only does 25 MPH going uphill. It was actually pretty flat most of the way. Temperature is cooler than it was in Arizona too.

We’ll stay here tomorrow and go to church with our friends and then take off Monday AM. I don’t remember building that into the plan but it will still work out that we arrive in IL on July 2nd. That’s cool since Sunday is supposed to be a day of rest. The church they attend (and Evangelical Free Church) has been without a Senior Pastor for about a year and they just hired a guy who lives 5 minutes from the church! I don’t know if he’s going to be preaching tomorrow or not. Actually it doesn’t matter too much to me who is preaching as long as Christ is preached. Those “application” sermons drive me nuts. “Here’s five ways to be a better husband” they say and none of them involve being born again in Christ. I listened to an old tape in the van today by Tim Keller titled “Applying Christ.” Keller wanders quite a bit but he had some very good points. It all remindes me of 2Pt 1:3. God, though His great power, has given us everything we need for life and godliness through knowledge of Christ. That doesn’t mean that sermons don’t have application, but it does mean that the application has got to be more than “try real hard cause Jesus saved you.” Every time I hear that kind of preaching (and sadly I hear it a lot on Christian radio) I think of Paul’s rebuke of the Galatians:

You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified? This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?

Keller quoted some Reformed guy (was it Burkhouer?) who said that the real difference between Arminians and Reformed is not justification by faith alone, though the Arminian is inconsistant, they still believe that. The real difference is sanctification by faith.

Anyway, I’ve gone off on a tangent. I’ll just be glad to be in church worshiping tomorrow.