In spite of what you read in the comments section to the last post, I actually got a lot of different answers to my question about what the most amazing miracle of all is. Some people said the Incarnation. Others said the Virgin Birth. Parting the Red Sea got a few votes. I got a few folks who voted for the Raising of Lazarus and Elijah being taken away by a flaming chariot.

Most people, however, said the Resurrection. And I can understand why. It certainly is the pivotal event of human history. I’ve taught about this before and will do so again this Sunday at the Highland Oaks Church of Christ in Dallas, TX. The Resurrection of Jesus is the one event that makes sense of all the other events of his life and ours. If there’s no Resurrection, it’s every man for himself. Eat, drink and be merry for tommorrow we die — and after that there’s nothing. The Resurrection certainly is an amazing miracle.

And yet….

It doesn’t get my vote. None of the miracles mentioned thus far get my vote, because we wouldn’t know about any of them without the Bible. I don’t think the greatest miracle of all time is in the Bible; I think the greatest miracle of all time is the Bible.

One of the things I’ve had to do in order to talk intelligently about the controversy surrounding The Da Vinci Code is delve into how God worked throughout human history to preserve this amazing collection of documents. Dan Brown is right on this front: it didn’t just arrive by fax from heaven one day. It’s an amazing story that gets more amazing as we discover the lengths to which people were willing to go — in some cases even giving their lives — to pass the Bible down faithfully to us.

I’m reading a book right now by Alister McGrath called In the Beginning: The Story of the King James Bible and How It Changed a Nation, a Language, and a Culture. It’s fascinating, and this is just one chapter in the story of how the Bible has impacted and continues to revolutionize our world.

But beyond the history of the Bible, the Bible itself is astonishing. Approximately 40 different authors, writing in three different languages over the span of about 1,400 years — 66 books — one story.

When’s the last time you were just amazed by the Bible?

There are lots of miracles recorded in the Bible. And there are lots of other miracles recorded in human history. Of all the miracles, which do you think is the greatest? And why?

Aquinas quoted Aristotle more than the Bible — something that seems odd for a theologian. It seemed odd to the philosophers of his day as well, because Plato was more widely read than Aristotle…until Aquinas. He devised a huge metaphysical system with all kinds of technical terms. He put forward the famous “Five Proofs” for the existence of God and dealt with the problem of religious language (how we can talk about God and actually mean something).

Aquinas defined the doctrine of transubstantiation — the idea that the bread and wine used in communion actually becomes the body and blood of Jesus in some mysterious way.

He was made the official theologian of the Roman Catholic Church by Pope Leo in 1879.

Thomas Aquinas was born around 1225 near Naples. He went to school at Monte Cassino — a famous Benedictine monastery. In 1244 he joined the newly founded order of poor monks known as Dominicans. His wealthy family was horrified and had him kidnapped. Thomas remained firm in his commitment, however, and eventually had his own way.

Aquinas continued to study at Paris and Cologne, but he was a large and slow man. Fellow students nicknamed him “the dumb ox”. One of his professors saw through the exterior, though, and said, “This dumb ox will fill the world with his bellowing.” Becoming a full professor in 1256, Aquinas taught in Paris and Italy until he died travelling to the Council of Lyons in 1274.

His work was condemned at Oxford and was not approved again until 50 years after his death. He was made a saint by the Roman Catholic Church in 1323.

Something odd happened to Aquinas in December of 1273. While he was saying Mass he either had a vision or a nervous breakdown. What we know for certain is that he never wrote again after that experience. When asked why he stopped writing, he replied, “I cannot, because all I have written now seems like straw.”

In our conversation about Anselm’s Ontological Argument for the existence of God, we talked some about Aquinas. I’ve since had several people ask me more about who he was and why he was important for us to know about. So, in the coming days we’ll discuss some of his contributions to the fields of philosophy and theology.

Thomas Aquinas lived and worked in the Middle Ages. In order to understand the Middle Ages you have to wrestle with a world that is vastly different from our own. If you lived in the Middle Ages you would believe that the sun revolved around the earth and that the earth was actually the center of the universe. You would believe that the world was created in six days like it says in the Book of Genesis. You would believe in a “Great Chain of Being”, beginning with God and going down through the angels to the lowest forms of plant and animal life with humans as the midpoint between the mortal and the divine. You’d believe that the universe possessed a fixed order; everything has its place. Math governed the circular movement of the heavenly bodies and learning was founded on the classical authors of Greece and Rome.

In the Middle Ages, most of Europe – certainly Great Britain, France, Germany and Italy – used Latin as the international language. The two most important and powerful institutions were the Holy Roman Empire and the Roman Catholic Church. The church and the Christian faith controlled every aspect of life.

This was the period that gave birth to universities. The University of Paris grew out of the Cathedral School at Notre Dame and was approved by the Pope in 1215. Universities in Spain and Italy were just getting their starts. Oxford and Cambridge received their first Chancellors. Learning was moving out of the monasteries and into these universities, and philosophy found its natural home there – becoming less and less exclusively associated with the church.

The Philosophy of this period was known as “Scholasticism” – because it was taught by scholars rather than religious clergymen. Granted, many of these scholars were religious clergyment, but they viewed themselves through a more scholastic lens as opposed to a monastic lens now.

The greatest of these scholastics was Thomas Aquinas (c. 1225-1274). His philosophy was known as Thomism.

There is an area near the equator in the Atlantic Ocean where the wind nearly vanishes. Ships would sail into that region knowing there was a good possibility that they would end up sitting there for an indefinite period of time. Imagine: sitting there on a ship in the middle of the ocean. You can’t see the shore. You know the clock is ticking. You’re running out of supplies, and your crew is growing restless with each passing hour. The doldrums could spell disaster for sailors.

One of the worst things about the doldrums is the sudden flurry of wind that would rise up from nowhere — giving you the false hope of relief. As soon as that wind came up, it would build into a tremendous storm, blowing a ship around in circles, deluging it with wind and waves. And, as quickly as it blew up, it would disappear — leaving you soaked and out of breath and just as stuck as you were before.

For some reason I feel like I’m in the doldrums. There’s no momentum, no forward motion — just a lot of sitting and waiting. Every few days or so there is a burst of activity, but it doesn’t feel like that activity gets me any closer to shore — just going round and round expending a lot of energy on something that turns out to be much ado about nothing. Activity is often full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

The doldrums are a terrible, awful place to be. I tend to be a fast-paced, task-oriented person. I’m sure I could use this time to recharge and refresh or something like that. There are folks I know who read this blog who are likely to tell me that. But I can’t seem to keep myself from pacing back and forth on the deck, gazing at the horizon and thinking, “I should be somewhere now doing something.”

I should have started with this, but I figured people who read this blog would make the assumption that it is true. That kind of defeats the purpose of explicitly stating things, though, doesn’t it?

Spiritual formation is God’s primary goal for my life. As hard as it is, I must keep reminding myself that all of my studies count for nothing if I’m not becoming progressively more and more like the One I claim to follow. My work may bring lots of people to a greater understanding of the character and nature of God, it may advance God’s kingdom in powerful ways, but if it ever hinders my ability to become more like Jesus, I will quit.

As odd as it may sound, I know lots of people who are in fulltime Christian ministry who need to quit in order to get their own focus back. I know people who make good money and end up farther away from God as a result of their financial blessings (or are they curses at that point?). I know godly people who find their families hindering their spiritual formation because of enmeshment and other unhealthy relational patterns. I’ve seen Christ followers spend too much time with ungodly friends, and it takes a toll.

So, in all my decision making I must frequently ask myself — when presented with options — which will be the more spiritually formative.

Contrary to whatever you may have heard, work is not the result of the Fall in the Garden. Frustration in our work is a part of the curse, but work actually predates the entrance of sin into the world. As such, work is inherently good and should be done with energy and an understanding that it does not detract from doing something spiritual. Work, done well, is spiritual.

Too many people, however, settle on a job based on salary, benefits or status. While these are vital factors (we all need cash, health insurance and the respect of others), there are other important values that should drive our decision.

For example, we should choose career paths based on our giftedness and interests. What are we good at? What do we enjoy? We should think beyond ourselves as well, choosing a job based on how well it enables us to contribute to society and serve others — seeking to raise the level of “shalom” and advance the borders of God’s kingdom in our generation. We should seek a match between our skills and temperament with society’s greatest needs.

I say all this because I have options. Given my physical abilities (I have a body that works fairly well) and intelligence (I have a mind that also works fairly well), I could do any number of things. I could go get a job at a bookstore. I could sell real estate. I could work in a warehouse, driving a forklift, loading and unloading boxes.

I could go back to school, finish that Ph.D. and teach in a university or a seminary. I could settle into a preaching job in a church. I could go back into student ministry or some other support role at a church.

Trust me: I’ve thought about doing each and every one of those things. In some cases, I’m still thinking about it. It’s really difficult to make a living the way I do. I have to hustle and travel and be willing to be away from my family more weekends than I am home. I’m currently on a pace to be gone 40 weekends this year. Sometimes I think it would be much easier for me to get a job at Kroger!

I get churches calling me asking if I would consider joining their staff. Some want me to preach. Some want me to oversee family ministries. I don’t consider them all, but I do consider some. Meaningful work is a core value to me. It’s what’s kept me doing what I do thus far — pushing through even when times are lean, the van breaks down, the cable bill gets paid late and we have to eat scrambled eggs for dinner.

I believe God has given me certain gifts to use for his service. I also believe he’s opened doors of opportunity for me to cultivate and use those gifts for maximum impact. As he continues to open those doors, I plan on walking through them.

Work is a core value. It’s a spiritually formative activity. It’s not the highest core value for me, though. Family comes first. If my work ever put my family in jeopardy, I would quit and get a job mowing lawns. I wonder about that sometimes when I have to travel as much as I do. Family comes first, and I need a job that doesn’t require as much travel as my current position does.

For this season of our lives, finances comes next. If my work causes me to be financially irresponsible — which it has sometimes — I need to now be willing to reconsider my vocational choices. In other words, I need a job that pays me a better salary in a more predictable manner.

Friendships come after family and finances. If I find myself unable to spend any time with my friends because I’m always working — or if my only friendships are those tied directly to my work — my life is out of balance and work is calling too many of the shots. I need a job that allows me time to cultivate friendships and spend time with people who really matter to me.

After all of that, I do need a job. Work is not something I would stop doing if allowed to. Work is part of what completes me as a human. Being comes first, but it is made complete in the doing. The work I do must be rewarding. The work I do must be God-honoring. It must truly reflect my gifts, talents and abilities. It must be done out of love for God and for the good of others. Work is highly valued — a core value — but it must know its place behind the other three core values of family, finances and friendships.

You can read more about Hearts and Minds: Raising Your Child With a Christian View of the World by going to my publisher’s website.

Neither my wife nor I get really excited about the prospect of meeting new people. What we really like is the opportunity to discover more about the people we already know. Given the nature of my work, however, I’m constantly meeting new people. Many of those people are fascinating and wonderful. I’m sure that if I spent enough time with them, they would become good friends, but when I’m on the road I really can’t wait to get home and see the friends I already have.

Having friends is vitally important to us. It’s important that we have friends like David and Pam Blackwell. I’ve known David for more than 20 years. I know his parents and his brothers. He feels more like a brother than a friend. Our wives share the life together — not just the broad strokes but the gory details.

It’s important to have friends like Dane and Christy Booth. My kids call Dane “Uncle Dane”. Christy is one of the few people we’ve trusted our kids with while Jill and I went out of town. They’re on the emergency pick-up list at Anabel’s school. When I go out of town for any extended period of time, I know Dane and Christy will call Jill and check on things.

Ken Boa, Rick Hazelip, Jeff Sandstrom, Phil Pierce, Greg Payne, Hal Runkel. I’ve got friends here in Atlanta who I trust with the good, the bad and the ugly of my life. My wife has people here who she trusts and relies upon. And these relationships are often incredibly difficult, but they are well-worth the effort. We value these people more than we could ever tell them.

We also have many really good friends in other parts of the country: Maryland, Texas, California, Tennessee. I wonder how many states I could name where we have friends. New Jersey. Illinois. Ohio. Florida. Mississippi. Oklahoma. I could go on and on.

But the reason we decided to move back to Atlanta was because of how many quality friendships we have here. That was one decision we made that really did reflect our core values.

What’s becoming more clear to me, though, is that there was a time when we didn’t have kids and friendships occupied that top slot of “Core Value #1″. That’s not the case any longer. Family is #1 for us. And, because of our season of life right now, Finances are #2 for us. Friendships are still a core value for us, but they’ve slipped down to the #3 slot.

I’m not sure if that’s how things ought to be, but it is how things are right now. We’re praying and thinking our way through this still, and I would appreciate your input here. Is it ever appropriate for finances to outweigh friendships? If you had to give up deep friendships for the sake of financial responsibility, would you do it? Or would you risk being a bad steward for the sake of maintaining your current friendships?

I know people who get nervous and uncomfortable when the conversation turns to money — particularly personal finances. They think it’s unspiritual or crass.

But money is important. The Bible even says so. Jesus talked about money quite often, and it’s no good to try to be more spiritual than he was.

I mentioned yesterday that I have three daughters. As many of you can attest, raising kids is expensive. We don’t do private schools and big vacations. But just the daily grind of providing for three growing children can be exhausting. They eat. They drink juice. They wear clothes, and the clothes eventually wear out. They outgrow shoes and pants and shirts at an alarming rate. They have to go to the doctor. And they occassionally break things that have to be fixed.

A couple of weeks ago, my wife was in charge of getting “end of the year” presents for Anabel’s Kindergarten teachers. She went into a little antique place near our house to get that one last small thing. She found just the right thing, went to the register to pay for it and heard an ear-splitting crash behind her. My youngest daughter, Amelia, had pulled down an entire shelf of glass figurines. No one was hurt, but I think my Father’s Day present might be $600 worth of glass shards.

God calls me to be a good steward — to pay my bills on time, to avoid unneccessary debt, to provide for my family and give to worthy causes. I cannot do any of those things if I am irresponsible with my finances.

So, as crass as some may think this is, financial stability is one of my core values. These three little girls won’t stay little forever, and I’m told they get more expensive as they get older. I’ve got college to think of. I have three weddings to pay for!

For a long time I was intentionally unconcerned with money. I simply assumed that if I did ministry, the money would follow. God would take care of all my needs, right?

I have since learned that God does take care of my needs, but he often does so as I practice the discipline of stewardship and learn to use wisdom in the area of finances. Financial stability is a discipline; it is also an apologetic in our society. It is not about living in opulence. It is about honoring God by using wisdom with how I handle my money. Jesus even said that the way a person handles their money reflects the way they view God.

That being said, financial security is my second core value.

As I think through big decisions, the first filter I will use is, “How will this impact my family?”

The second filter I will use is, “How will this impact my finances?”