2017: The Year in Review

Year-End Reflection on Time, Memory, and Christian Growth

Well greetings and welcome to Dividing Line. It is the last program of 2017 and I think I recall mentioning a year ago that I knew that this was going to be one of the fastest moving years of my life and it certainly ended up being that way and in fact as I was reviewing the activities of this year's some of these things seemed like they were yesterday and some things a long long long long time ago but I did want to take some time to look back over the years see what's coming up in the in the future and Just be thankful, you know, it's funny I Suppose right now when I look back over 2017 there are certain what we would call negative things that certainly come to mind first, but Thankfully, I'm just one of those people that you know ten years from now It's gonna be primarily the positive things that I'm gonna remember not so much the negative things.

And in fact, it's it in a sense. It's a character flaw for me. I mean there will be times when you know, a name will come up or somebody will ask me to do something and this person has Ravaged me in the past and I've forgotten all I've remembered was something positive about there isn't like that I end up doing stupid naive things because I try to remember the best about people and not the negative parts and that's that puts me to disadvantage in in some some circles these days, but certainly, I mentioned Wednesday evening at At Phoenix Foreign Baptist Church when I did the the Wednesday evening Devotional a Bible study that I think I think it's good that the Lord has sort of built us in such a way.

Because of the way we live on this planet that circles this that star we call the Sun we have seasons and though eventually we have to figure out what a year is because you know, those seasons are gonna keep repeating and and We've designed holidays and things that help us to pass the time see the passage of time and I think it's good to have an opportunity to stop and and think.

You know something more than just Facebook saying a year ago this happened or two years ago I said though I do like that I'll have to admit that is one of the nicer features of Facebook is you have memories to look back on today and half the time I look at and go I Didn't remember that that's a good that that's actually one of the best features I think of Facebook but I think it's good that the Lord designed us in such a way that we have these opportunities to to think back and to take stock of Where we've been where we're going so many of us are so blessedly busy today under so much pressure and It's so easy to just go into survival mode.

Rather than progress mode, you know because progress mode can be can require sacrifice it can it can it can be negative in the short term and positive in the long term and a lot of us we we we compromise and go into survival mode and and Start treading water rather than making progress toward the goal.

So it's it's good to look back. I Think one of the one of the biggest problems with the Millennials is that they don't look back they don't have any sense of their place in history and Do not I think in many ways honor those who have gone before them now you can obviously you know get into ancestor worship and silliness like that that that causes a problem, but there is a balance and There is no generation more foolish than a generation that does not recognize its debt to the generations that came before it and So it's good to look back.

It's good to have an idea of your place in history and both ancient history as well as the present history. That's the only way you can then look forward with with with meaning. Make serious plans for the future is if you can look back and as Christians we look back and see well What is the Lord been doing in my life?

What is the what is the process here? What's uh? You know and honestly examining ourselves and saying well, you know the Lord the Lord has been doing this in my life and But he still got a lot more work to do in that area or in this area.

It's very honestly analyzing Where we are in our Christian life, and we all know we all know. There there's not as there's not a single person in this audience that's gonna sit there and say you know what I've been spending way.

Too much time in Bible study and prayer and fellowship with the Lord. I I need to I need to cut back on that I think there's a there's a single person that would actually be able to honestly Say that at all and so here at the end of the year especially in in my adult life.

And I I hit the big double nickels. Last week or the week before last see it goes by so fast you start losing track immediately. But once you're my age you can just sort of go. Yeah, well see here's my a Mac card or whatever so I Can do whatever I want.

I can you know I'm not I'm not concerned about those things anymore. It's it's a good thing I think to Take this time and to consider what the future. You know in the next few weeks for the rest of the year this year 2017 Fastest year of my life.

No question about it. No question about it, but I knew it was gonna be that way. I'm not the world's biggest traveler. I the world's biggest traveler is actually in the studio audience today. But for me being out of the country one out of every six days.

This year was huge. I was first time that had anything even close to that head out. I've never spent that much. I'm not I've gotten better at it. You have to you either have to give up or or get better at it.

I've gotten better at it I can I can adjust to things a little bit easier than I used to but still I Knew that the schedule that we had lined out last year was going to mean this year was going to go by in a flash.

The next two years can't go by that fast. They just can't I've I've got to get focused on the work that I need to do in On p45 and so yeah, we're still gonna be traveling. We're trying to put together.

It's gonna be so hard and we've got to get to it immediately. But still trying to put together the round the world tour in May literally going around the world from here to London to South Africa to Zambia to probably Perth and New Zealand and then back across the the Pacific literally around the world.

Still gonna be you know, we've still got debates to do and things like that. We've still got the dividing line to do but I have to become extremely Focused upon other things so I can't I can't repeat this year and we all know one of the main reasons is it was the 500th anniversary of the beginning of the Reformation and One of the things that we need to start doing on program.

Not starting on the second, but maybe after that we sort of stopped. Once I went over for the Reformation tour, we sort of stopped the church history stuff. And we hadn't gotten to where we needed to be.

I actually have to go back I'm gonna have to go back in the archives and go Where had we gotten because I'm teaching church history at PRBC and so we're in a similar time frame and and so I'm not sure where I was but we need to go back and Continue that because I I think rightly tried to point out I'm a little concerned about all the emphasis upon October 31st because that's just the beginning.

That was just the start. There's all sorts of really important things to be thinking about and I think we should have some big old Celebration of You know The Marburg Colloquy and we should we should do something about the Worms.

There's really no place to go for Worms. I Think we showed you those Massively oversized shack shoes that they have at Worms, which are just the dumbest things that have ever been put anywhere. But anyway But there's all sorts of reasons to be, you know, continuing to celebrate the Reformation.

And so I knew this was gonna be a busy year. We had been planning a lot of this stuff for a long long time But still it it it was amazing. So what what did we do? Well Who could have known you know, it's interesting to look back January we went down to Atlanta and We went to the G3 conference and we had a debate beforehand with Trent Horn of Catholic Answers and It was very well received and we we did the conference and AHA showed up and Rich Rich Discovered it's probably not not good to talk with AHA guys.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah and Just smile and say have a nice day as you walk by and then I went from Atlanta To Memphis and Little did I know Little did I know that that little Couple days down in Memphis before I then went down to the Deep South Founders Conference after that those couple days in Memphis Were going to have such a huge impact on the rest of the year.

Because of course that's when we had the dialogues with Yossi Khadi in The mosque and in the church and so that was what one two three That was the fourth week of the year. So early on now the Kickback on that there.

There were some people sadly one thing I will remember 2017 for is I've never lost as many friends in one year as in 2017 and One I could tell that was happening back in November December of the previous year, but Some of the rest just stunning, you know, I just never would have guessed just how On completely different pages.

We were as to our motivations for why we do what we do. And so Yeah There was there was some pushback immediately. But it was May when Everything took place there was sort of a delayed reaction. But that that was in that was in January.

And so we had G3 we had the debate we had the dialogues Yossi Khadi and the Deep South Founders Conference and Then let me see here. The next thing I pretty much had February to have Have at home and then we we did the Masters Academy International Conference the the the pre-conference to the Shepherds Conference in LA and And you always enjoy meeting the people from around the world there and it's amazing how much planning you get you can get done when?

Everybody's at one place, you know, it's like hey you want to come to this location and do that? Hey, there you go. And there's that guy to talk to over there and we planned all sorts of stuff and and things like that and then Very very shortly after that Was my first run down to South Africa and We do that.

Thankfully through London. We have so many friends There in London and London's just such an awesome place. I mean You know, I've got my Oyster card and and you can get pretty much anywhere you need to go in London pretty easily I think if I recall correctly though.

Yeah, yeah, that was the one where at the end when I was in London. Yeah, that was in March then the last night I stayed at Heathrow and That was the same night as the attack on the bridge there in in London and So I wasn't anywhere near.

I mean Heathrow is a good drive from there, but Wasn't anywhere near it, but it was just you know. That's that's the type of thing that was that was that was going on and I didn't mention I pretty much lost the first number of weeks of the year I had been hospitalized at the end of the previous year and so Still trying to sort of get back to speed even in these early months physically.

But that was the first trip down. I was I was down in South Africa twice this year and I've lost track. How many times I was in London? This year again in comparison to others not much, but Then April remember April.

What happened in April? Well, that was another one of the situations where you know, someone contacts me I think someone contacted me by Facebook messenger and You know, we've got this situation up here in South Dakota.

You know with this this group, you know, and they've they've like bought this town and it's really weird and Well, okay. Let's see if we can do something and that of course was the INC debate with with Mr. Ventilacion and What an interesting evening that was.

We've contacted them about doing another debate, but I I'll be perfectly honest with you right now I've got to get somebody else to take this over because there is no way I had the time to be Doing the stuff.

I mean, you know what? I think I just may get hold of the guys up in South Dakota and say you already did this once you want it Again, it won't be in South Dakota, but you want to do it you want it. You already know how to do this stuff.

Well, we'll just Hand it to you. Oh it's incredibly complicated and and The guys up there just had the just the right Attitude about it all so I may we may serious I may seriously see if they wouldn't be willing to Pick up the ball on that and Because I just need to be able to show up and do the thing.

I don't have time to play the game.

I really don't. Actually that's a great plug-in because they're they're three-digit South Dakota apologetics. Yeah, we'll just change it and they can have an adjunct down there.

Yeah, cuz we're talking about a debate in San Diego, so so there you go down there and take over. Yeah. Yeah, so we've got the guys a channel. But I'm also talking about the the guys up in South Dakota because they they really they had to have a lot of patience to to.

You know Aaron and the guys up there to have a lot of patience to put up with all the stuff that was involved with That but anyways, that's that was at the end of of April and then we didn't things got got busy because in in May Once again back in London.

And in South Africa and No, no, no. No, no, that wasn't South Africa this was over to Vittenberg and so I taught at the wonderfully named German Shepherds Conference. We haven't been planning this one for a long time and it always been a chuckle That it was going to be the German Shepherds Conference in in Vittenberg.

They always have it in Vittenberg, but obviously in 2017 that made it all the more special and Great to you know meet all those folks and I loved my Plenary session with Martin Manton as my as my translator because he and I just get along really well, please don't hold that against him, but we get along really well and We have fun with the translation.

I speak some German thankfully and It makes translation into German all that much more fun because I can understand what the other guys saying and so it's when they when they sort of Go NIV ish on me I can I can have some fun when that when that happens and then I had one quote from from Some Pope or something and Martin looked at it and he didn't see my notes.

So you can see the English and he's like, I have no idea what to do. It's sort of like Okay, let's see if we can come up with another way of putting it here. You know, it was that's been posted online too, but had a great time there in in Vittenberg with the EBTC guys and and I It was interesting I was about the only person Running in the mornings in Vittenberg had the place to myself.

I mean even the dogs were asleep. I it was if you wanted to run someplace. Nobody was could get in your way. And so yeah, that was that was in in May and Then where was this one? Oh, yeah back to Was I gone that long that was that that that long of a trip.

Wow, that was that was long. But yeah, I think that was one of the longest trips I'd ever had at that particular point in time if I recall correctly. So yeah of course in During the summers here in in Phoenix it gets a tad bit on the warm side.

I went up as I normally do it as I love to do as I train all year to do. I went up to Colorado in July spoke at some churches up there while I was doing the the triple bypass ride Mount Evans all that kind of stuff and Spoken Littleton and places like that met even had a group of Muslims come out to all the churches I was speaking at they just came out.

They knew I was speaking on Islam. So they didn't come out to you know protest that way that they literally came out to thank me for Approaching the subject in a meaningful fashion a respectful fashion unlike so many others.

And that was in in July. That's a great great. I'll tell you Colorado right now, you know, I'm not really into the cold all that much. So yeah, but you know come July It's a great place to be rather than Phoenix.

There's no no two ways about that then then back to Back to South Africa and London again in in August great opportunities down there. I'm so thankful for for all the people down in South Africa that put up with my weirdness.

I mean, there's a family down there that I stay with when I'm in Johannesburg and I've got sort of you know It really helps when you travel. So I'm not like some people that can just go to all these different hotels and just adjust everything.

It's really neat to get used to a particular place and So that you know when I go up to Colorado, I stay with one family in Colorado. They put up with me every year There you know, I'm part of the family there, but you stay in the same place so when you wake up in the middle of night, you know where you are, you know, and there's just there's just sort of a Lack of pressure there.

I go down to Johannesburg. I stay with the same family in the same room. I Know every running route around their neighborhood because okay, it's Johannesburg. So it's a completely walled-in Neighborhood or I wouldn't be running in the dark.

I assure you not in South Africa I know every centimeter of every place that can be run in that particular Neighborhood and they just you know There's no leave that the key in a certain spot I can just go and do my running and come back and and all that kind of stuff and it makes it so much more enjoyable and easy to travel when you have that kind of Flirt first the way they do is they don't have to live with you all the time.

You don't have to put up with you for a while and then you leave and that's probably a probably a good thing. But I think it was this one coming back is When I stayed at the Royal Horse Guards in London on the way back because I think the earlier one Was where I stayed at a hotel not all that far away from it.

It was a nice hotel, but they had had a fire alarm in the middle of the night and we were out in the cold. Someplace what's that double tree? Okay, and Yeah, and that's that was that was in a really good location too, I mean that was that was fine.

But I mean, there's just no there's it if you want to run around downtown London if you want to go eat at tortillas at Trafalgar Square if you want to you know, see the sights. There's just no place like the Royal Horse Guards.

It's just it's just perfectly located and there's a There's a tube station right down the block. Yeah. Well, I actually There's tube stations all around that that area depending which line you want to get on.

And and I had a lot of fun just running around downtown ran over to the the Marian Martyrs plaque and the Wallace plaque and and Now I'm bummed because I didn't realize how close I was to the Handel house.

So that's the next thing on the list is going and visiting the Handel house. Which is well within running distance of everything's well within running distance just about Depending on how far you're running these days.

Just it's such an amazing city. It really really is an amazing place and it's even more amazing now that I've found decent Mexican food to eat there. So that's that's that's pretty good. But yeah, I think that was that trip.

That's also when it went down to Durban did the debate with Yusuf Ismail down there on Election and stuff like that. So that was in that was in August and I knew it wasn't I wasn't gonna be home very long before we headed out again on the Reformation tour to Germany and Despite the fact that some of the people on the tour had an almost fatal case of Deutsche phobia.

Just you know, just you know, I Just really felt sorry for some people who will remain nameless. And they're in their Deutsche phobia we just Rarely does Kelly my wife get to go with me on most of these things but she finally got to go and and On the way over we both managed to snag our upgrades, which is really nice.

That that helped a lot. Coming back not so much but going over is the most important thing because you know coming back yeah, you can crash for a few days, but but Just a. Well, what was it just what about ten days ago?

Two weeks or so ago. I posted the links to the video from the Opportunity that I had early on very early on we We flew into Berlin and I I didn't know how these things worked. I had I had seen for example about what was it a month and a half earlier is when y 'all were in with with Ligonier and Al Mohler and stuff.

Okay, I had seen Tweets and stuff. Hey, we the program can't be operating right now. I need to turn the work drive back on. Sorry. There we go, all right, whew, ah man. What? Yeah. Yes. I see that the warp that the warp core is dead.

The dilithium crystals had died or something I don't know, but we had to we had to fix that. Anyways, I had seen tweets and stuff. So I had an idea of the various places that people were going but I I didn't have a in my mind How this is gonna work and so one of the things I had done is I was going man.

We're gonna be having to pack and unpack and pack and unpack I need to pack so I can pack and unpack every night and move someplace else and well That's not how to do it. And that's not how we did it.

So we Stayed in in Berlin and then we stayed in Mainz Weimar Weimar and then in Frankfurt and then you would you would take the bus to the various locations each day and You know. That's that's the easiest way to do it logistically now.

Chronologically, it meant you were sort of bouncing around as far as Luther's life and stuff like that went but That was you know, it's sort of like when it whenever you lecture on history. How are you gonna do it?

You can do it chronologically you do it thematically you got to make choices and So like we get to Berlin and the first day Kelly and I run down to the Brandenburg Gate and I know some of you are too young to To have even been around when Reagan, you know stood outside that.

When the wall was still up and mr Gorbachev tear down this wall and and we're sitting there taking pictures of the foundation stones that are still in the street from where that wall was and You know being a World War two buff, you know, it's not the first time I'd seen it.

I've been to Germany a number of times and when I was teaching for EBT see the first time they took me down there. And so I had seen it before but it's still it was just so so cool just to go for a run Through this really wooded area and then all of a sudden you come out and poof.

You realize you were in the East German part part that no one could have gone to before, you know. And so that you know that that's a great way to start things off. But then you start. You know, we go from there to Wittenberg.

I've been to Wittenberg. I had spent days in Wittenberg earlier in the year, but what's interesting is even though I had taken the obligatory picture outside the Door and things like that. I'd never been in the castle church I'd never been on any of the tour things where you get to go in and So what had been planned and of course I.

You know, it's it's hard not to get your heart set on something but you always know the things can go wrong at the last moment and so you don't really want to Really get your heart set on something you want to go.

Well, you know if it happens if it happens, that's great but it had been planned for quite some time that I would have the opportunity of speaking there and I Had seen pictures tweeted a month and a half earlier.

When dr. Moller had spoken in the castle church in the high pulpit and I was like, oh. And so I had actually talked to friends in I have some good Friends in Frankfurt. In fact, I actually extended my stay Kelly went home before me so that I could speak at the Reformed Baptist Church in Frankfurt and And You know just tried to be an encouragement to the Reformed Baptist Brethren there in in Deutschland and so I had contacted them and I had sent them some quotes that I wanted to use in the Sermon because I chose to basically do a sermon.

Obviously it was historically based but it was it was still a sermon and So I had sent them these quotes. And I wonder if they could find the originals in Luther's German writings, which of course they did for me.

Though in the process they were like man those English translations you got. Someone's you know Playing around with stuff here. It's not overly literal and here's a better translation and stuff like that.

Because I wanted I've never been in there before and so I knew Luther was buried. No, I just didn't know exactly where where well if I had if I had leaned over The the pulpit which I didn't do but if I leaned over it, you'd be looking straight down at Luther's headstone.

I mean, he's right there and so. That was that was a risk on my part. It's it's a risk To throw some original language stuff into a sermon. You only have 30 minutes in the first place and it was a little bit of a risk, but I decided I needed to do it.

Being right there and it was. It was fascinating. There was a room back behind. It's been a lot of modernization done based on the back part behind the church I mean the bathroom that I went into back there was like The Star Wars spaceship type thing, I mean, you know automatic everything it was sort of freaky.

But there's this this room back there. Where I got changed because I wasn't gonna run around Wittenberg all day in a suit and tie. Though some other people do that. I can't pull it off so I got changed and as I'm waiting to to go there because there's like a Dividing wall and then you you have the the stairs that go up.

I know I had not even gone up there. So I did not even realize until I ran into it that there is a swinging door at the top. Says like, oh, I guess I need to get around that. Hope we don't fall all over ourselves.

But I'm back there waiting to get started and there's this guy who works for the church and He speaks he's from America. So he speaks perfectly good English though. Most believe me. Most Germans speak much better English than we speak German, but that's been my experience anyways and So he sees that I'm getting ready to go up because I'm all duded up and stuff and and He says I don't want to put any extra pressure on you.

He says but Just thought you might want to notice that when you stand up in that pulpit. You're on the same level as the statues of all the Reformers in the room. And if you look at the video or the pictures, yeah, you'll see, you know Luther's right over there and then you got Melanchthon and you got you know, you boots are I think boots isn't there somebody.

They're all on the same level and as we were standing in the pulpit, you're saying the same level of the Reformers. Like thank you very much. Appreciate appreciate that comment right as I'm getting ready to go out there.

I I think he stuck around and listened though. So that was that was good. Look. There aren't that many people that have ever stood up there and looked out over an audience in that room especially if that audience is actually listening to you and You know, that's I've described as a bucket list type thing, I mean I Hope the Lord preserves me in such a way that when I get to my old old old age I'll still remember that at least I've got a video we can we can show it to me.

I can go. Oh, I'd forgotten that. I hope that's not what happens but it was just it's just amazing to stand up there and to look out and and and I really hope that that what I had to say was was important and we We did have.

And I'm thankful we had a little buzz in The sound system it wasn't all the time and it sort of went away toward the end. But we had this little Sound in in the sound system and I that kind of thing really doesn't bother me.

I've been a sound man most of my life. And so I understand things happen. But when we got done I was talking with some of the brethren afterwards and I sort of jokingly said well, you know We talked about the you can hear in the sound system I said, I think that was brother Luther's spinning in his grave because a Baptist was preaching from his pulpit.

I think that's just high-speed revs Down there, but but maybe after I quoted him a few times in German, then he's like, okay, the guy's not too bad. So we'll we'll let him we'll let him slide but that was.

That would have been enough, you know, but there was so much more came because that was very early on. That was like the second day We started visiting other places and You know visiting all these different museums that I was pretty museum doubt by the end but it was fascinating to see the different kinds of guides we would have and You know some just doing their jobs some really obviously enjoy their job.

And they're the ones that are the most interesting people to talk to and stuff. And we had this one guy that was just so friendly that we invited him to come eat with us later on the day and you can just tell you know the people that do their job because they're getting paid to and the people who do their job because They really enjoy it.

It's it was fascinating to see that kind of stuff, but The the places we visit obviously for me The The visit to the Vartberg castle was the next big thing on the on the trip and Do we have an idea Mike when that's gonna gonna be available.

No, no, no, no the The Fritz Erba video next week probably next week. Hopefully We'll be posting a link to and this was it's not just because they happen to be staying in the other room this is you know, I'm not Trust me didn't talk with anybody about this and I'm the world's worst marketer.

But I've already said this on the program said this to other people in other contexts. One of the things that struck me Was I was I was informed that I was touching on elements of the Reformation that many other people sort of avoid the very first night in Berlin I've said look I realize I Would not be welcomed in Geneva under Calvin.

I would not be welcomed in Wittenberg under Luther. I would not have been welcoming Zurich. Even Martin Buzer. I'm not sure would have been overly kind toward me and You have to learn to do history you have to do the work.

We don't one of I had not thought of it before we got over there. But I think the very first night or the second night I came up with the line. We don't want comic book. Understanding a comic book understanding the Reformation.

We want to know who these men really were we don't want to whitewash anything and So What had happened was I've got to thank dr. Moller for this. He had tweeted a picture While he was over there month and a half was it a month and a half month and a half earlier and when I had seen it it had Made a little light come on.

He it was a picture of this hole and He mentioned that this is where Fritz Erba had been imprisoned. And I was like So I you know jumped online ago, oh, yeah, I started doing some reading. I'm like, oh man I got to see that I've got to see this and so I let the folks at sovereign know I said we we got there.

I'm like I'd really like to see is this a part. Is this is a normal part of the tour and they're like Fritz, ooh I mean, that's what's pretty much y 'all have never heard of him before me, right? You had you had heard something but but The the nice lady that took me there had not heard of this person and so They made phone calls for me and said yeah, it's like 50 cents to go up the South Tower and you know see that but Yeah, that can be arranged.

So I actually skipped Boxhouse To get up to the castle early and Go visit this this site and And the lovely Kathy came with me and we had some you know, we had to get all the tickets and stuff arranged and we got up there and stuff like that, but We finally get over there and I'm nervous Because I'm afraid of heights and if I can see through steps and stuff.

I Mean, I could not make it up. No, I probably could now but back in the 90s, I couldn't make it up into the torch or Of the of Lady Liberty because you can see through the stairs and I couldn't do it.

That is just there's too much for me. So I was a little worried about what we're gonna be running into well We plunk our 50 cents in and it's 40 steps up and boom. I look to my right. There it is. Now we went all the way to the top later on but there it was and You know while we were in there a couple people stuck their heads in and sort of You know, but this is not the most popular location in in the in the Vartburg Castle.

I was just You know, I looked down that first I looked down that hole. They have a light down at the bottom because they didn't have a light down there. You'd it would just be a black hole. You have no earthly idea how far down that is and I Knew what had happened.

I knew that Fritz Erba had been put in that hole in 1541 and died down there in 1548 seven years. There aren't any windows down there. I Mean, it's it's a it's this it's the inside part of that tower.

With no means of communication with the outside world. No light. No, nothing other than that one hole. It's called the terror hole because you'd be bound and lowered down into the darkness. You don't know what's down there.

Don't know how far down it goes and so I Knew what it represented and and after we took some pictures of it and looked at it. We went on up to the top and we're sort of look because it's beautiful views up there looking around and I just start blabbering about just the The contrast here we stand in that tower right above where Fritz Erba lived his last few Years, and why was he down there?

Because he had read The Bible that Luther had translated 150 yards over there and Believed it. But because of sacralism because of Constantinianism because the state church The Bible was translated over there.