Posts Tagged ‘ Birthday ’

The Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything

Today is a special day in my life.

This weekend is the 40th anniversary of the day that Marty McFly traveled through time for the first time. (My favorite movie. 😉)

I also enjoy many other great stories about time travel and such, one of those being Douglas Adams’ “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” books and other media. Even though he was writing as an atheist who thought religion should be done away with, he was very witty and wrote well.

Within this story we discover that the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything is 42. (The question being discovered is part of the plot of the series.)

Today happens to be my birthday.

And it is special to me because I get to joke around that I am now the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything.

However, I am aware of the greater truth:

John 14:6, CSB
Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

John 14:15-17, CSB
“If you love me, you will keep   my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor, to be with you forever. He is the Spirit of truth. The world is unable to receive him because it doesn’t see him or know him. But you do know him, because he remains with you and will be in you.”

I am not really the answer, but I have the answer living within me.

The Creator of Life, the Universe, and Everything lives in me and gives me life amd truth, and I must be ready to share this answer with all people.

Matthew 28:18-20, CSB
Jesus came near and said to them, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

1 Peter 3:15, CSB
but in your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy, ready at any time to give a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.

2025
10/26
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God
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A Quarter-Century Re-Birthday

On this day 25 years ago, at 6:46 PM CST, I bent my knee to Jesus as Lord and Savior. (If you do a search on this site for “birthday”, you will see the various explanations.)

I like to call it my Re-Birthday, as we call faith in Christ being born again. This comes from John 3 and 1 Peter 1. I encourage everyone to remember their own re-birthday (and if you aren’t sure/can’t remember, just claim your birthday.)

I also like to bake some sort of cake and then serve it to others as a way to teach self-sacrifice and becoming a servant to all as our shared salvation is celebrated.

Sometimes it’s messy, or we’re still a little crisp on the sides, but we have a sweet salvation.

This year, I get to start Christian Worldview and Intro to Philosophy courses (as one of the instructors) with 245 students who were all born after this momentous day in my life. Tomorrow I am with fellow seminarians who also were mostly born after this date! (2 are about my age and from Africa. We actually have about 30 students from Malawi [majority from here], Kenya [Gama is the one who invited me to his home and is about my age], Ghana [the other person about my age], and Sierra Leone.)

It is a little weird to think that I have been a Christian so long, especially having come to Christ as a teenager and now working with teens (and 20-somethings) as a youth pastor and college instructor.

God is so good.

Also, it is my mother-in-law’s birthday, so join me in wishing her a happy and blessed day! If not for her, I would not have my wife!

Also also, it is my friend Fletcher’s birthday. We met in seminary. He’s a TheoBro of the hughest order.

God bless you, and remember that Jesus Christ is the reason we live and move and breathe and have meaning and being!

Be excellent and party on!

2025
01/09
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Birthday
Born Again
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A Score and Four Re-Birthday

On this day 24 years ago, at 6:46 PM CST, I bent my knee to Jesus as Lord and Savior. (If you do a search on this site for “birthday”, you will see the various explanations.)

I like to call it my Re-Birthday, as we call faith in Christ being born again. This comes from John 3 and 1 Peter 1. I encourage everyone to remember their own re-birthday (and if you aren’t sure/can’t remember, just claim your birthday.)

This year, I get to start Christian Worldview courses (as one of the instructors) with 167 students who were all born after this momentous day in my life. Tomorrow I am with fellow seminarians who also were mostly born after this date! (2 are about my age, and 2 others are in theor later 20’s.)

Also, it is my mother-in-law’s birthday, so join me in wishing her a happy and blessed day! If not for her, I would not have my wife!

God bless you, and remember that Jesus Christ is the reason we live and move and breathe and have meaning and being!

2024
01/09
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Born Again
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Score of 2 … or 2.5

I don’t normally make a big deal about this particular day of the year. I prefer to dwell on January 9, the day I became a believer in Jesus as my Savior.

What is special of this day?

Well, on October 26, 1983, I was born.

As I turn two score years old, it occurred to me that this year I will have spent two and half times longer as a Christian than not as a Christian. I was 16 years in the spiritual wilderness when I first bent my knee and confessed Jesus as Lord. This coming year, I celebrate 24 years walking as a disciple of Jesus in the Promise.

I may have completed 40 revolutions about our Sun, but I await eternity wrapped in the love of The Son.

And I am thankful for our God’s love and grace, for all the gifts He has given, especially for eternal life. (And a loving, God-fearing wife who helps me grow and stay on the straight-and-narrow. And I await greeting my mother once more in His presence.)

‭‭yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation.

Habakkuk‬ ‭3:18‬, ‭ESV‬‬
2023
10/26
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Another Re-Birth Celebration

On this day 23 years ago, at 6:46 PM CST, I bent my knee to Jesus as Lord and Savior. (If you do a search on this site for “birthday”, you will see the various explanations.)

I like to call it my Re-Birthday, as we call faith in Christ being born again. This comes from John 3 and 1 Peter 1.

I am super involved with the spreading of the faith and growing others in their faith, whether as one of the pastors at church, leading Bible studies, or teaching Christian Worldview to college students (and others in many other ways).

Care to join me? 😉

Also, it is my mother-in-law’s birthday, so join me in wishing her a happy and blessed day! If not for her, I would not have my wife!

God bless you, and remember that Jesus Christ is the reason we live and move and breathe and have meaning!

2023
01/09
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Wow. 11 years.

WordPress just let me know that I started blogging 11 years ago.

Whoa.

There some interesting insights, as well.

  • Of over 43,000 views, a third of those were just from the past 2 years!
  • Of the 2,400 posts, half of those were just from the past 3 years!
  • I have almost hit 500 blogging subscribers. At least a third of those were from this past year or so. (I remember being at 365 at the end of 2020!)
  • I lost some e-mail subscribers, but I know several were elderly who either passed away or deleted their accounts (my wife’s grandmother deleted hers this past year.)
  • I used to be the most prolific commenter on my blog, but then I got to digitally know SlimJim. He is not a spammer, but he can talk like one! (Love you, brother!)
  • Of my top commenters, Anthony has dropped down, but he is the only one I have met in person! (Love you, too, brother!)
  • Jesse Walker started blogging on here, and his stuff is also great! (Also love you, too, brother!)

Thinking about how my theology has solidified over the past 11 years, the number of people I have come to know and friends made through this online medium, and some of the stories of people deepening their faith or even coming to faith – whether through this blog, Proverbial Thought, or the blogs of friends I have contributed to – it is humbling.

(Half of my Christian walk has been spent blogging. Huh.)

Thanks to everyone who has joined me on this wild ride.

Thanks especially to our Lord and Savior.

“Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.”
Isaiah 1:18, ESV

In His Love,

Daniel M. Klem

2022
01/18
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Re-Birth Celebration

On this day 22 years ago, at 6:46 PM CST, I bent my knee to Jesus as Lord and Savior. (If you do a search on this site for “birthday”, you will see the various explanations.)

I like to call it my Re-Birthday, as we call faith in Christ being born again. This comes from John 3 and 1 Peter 1.

A great thing this year is that my Re-Birthday falls on Sunday, which means it is a true Re-Birthday and I get to be with the Church and worship our Lord today!

Also, it is my mother-in-law’s birthday, so join me in wishing her a happy and blessed day! If not for her, I would not have my wife!

God bless you, and remember that Jesus Christ is the reason we live and move and breathe and have meaning!

2022
01/09
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A Simple Decade

Wow. 10 years saying hello to this world for Jesus.

Here is a brief update about how things have gone lately, from New Year’s Eve 2020.

Basically, God deserves all the glory.

But for all of you who regularly read my blog, especially some of you who have become friends – whether we have met in person or not – thank you for your faithfulness and encouragement.

May we continue to be blessed by our Lord, no matter how long He tarries, as we share in His Word together.

The Lord bless you and keep you in His love and grace.

Daniel

2021
01/18
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A Faith Old Enough to Drink?

Today is my wonderful mother-in-law’s birthday.

Also, it is what I call my Re-birthday.

21 years ago today, in a small Nazarene church in Bloomington, IL, at 6:46 pm CST, I realized that I believed the Gospel message. Jesus got a firm hold of me, and that is when everything began to change for me.

And I celebrate with a cake.

Why?

Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.

For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate.
Luke 15:7, 10, 24

Just like the song says, this wretch was lost and dead, but now I am found and alive. This calls for celebration!

Being as I am now re-21, and I mentioned drinking in the title:

“And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. And no one after drinking old wine desires new, for he says, ‘The old is good.’”
Luke 5:37‭-‬39 ESV

I am not who I was 21 years ago. I am not who I was 10 years ago. I have grown and learned much in Christ. I have been made new to carry the New Covenant of our Lord into our world as I commune with Him by His Holy Spirit.

Therefore, let us celebrate our common salvation and share this faith with our fallen world!

2021
01/09
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Nothing New: An Introductory Foundation

I am currently the Youth Pastor for The Church Next Door in Prescott Valley, AZ. On Sunday, August 11, 2019, I took over teaching the adult Sunday School class before the regular service. (If you find yourself in North Central Arizona, specifically the Prescott Valley area, come join in from 8:45 to 9:45 AM, and then stay for the singing and sermon at 10!)

Here is the first lesson notes:

Nothing New: The Importance of Church History

Lesson 1: Some Foundational Thoughts

This class starts on what would have been my mom’s 58th birthday. The day after her 53rd birthday she went home to be with the Lord.

Why is this relevant?

My parents did not instill Christian beliefs in us growing up. When I became a Christian, they complained some. My mom in particular challenged me with hard questions. Thankfully, it is what helped lead her to Christ, and it gave me the start toward ministry and apologetics.

What else helped was overcoming my perspective on Church that came from an evolutionary mindset I was not aware I had.

Thus, here is the list of scriptural (and anecdotal) foundations for my life, ministry, and this class:

  1. 1 Samuel 16:7 – My parents raised me to not judge people based on appearances. However, I also fell into that evolutionary view that we learn more and understand better than our predecessors. (If you actually read the Bible and study history, that should change your mind.) Likewise, as Paul said in 1 Corinthians 1, God used the foolish things of the world to shame the wise. It does not make sense for God to die on a cross, but He did. Then He used backwater fishermen, farmers, and tax collectors to change the world. We need to remember not to make assumptions about people based on appearances or perceptions.
  2. James 4:7-8 – We must realize that to overcome our biases and sin we must submit ourselves to God and draw near. Only He can make us clean and change our thinking.
  3. John 3:16-17 – We must realize that God first drew near to us, through Jesus. If we do not believe in the atoning work of Christ’s life, death, and resurrection, we stand condemned in our sins, but we escape condemnation through faith in Him.
  4. Hebrews (11:1-)12:1 – We must realize that the previous witnesses, those who came before us and revealed Christ to the world, know more about God (collectively) than we. These witnesses were the biblical writers, the prophets and apostles, and those who gave their lives for the truth. We know what we know because God acted in history to reveal Himself and preserve His truth in this world. We do not know better than the Early Church, and certainly not more than the Author and Perfecter of our faith (12:2) and Founder of the Church.
  5. 1 Peter 3:15 – We must make Christ foremost in our hearts and minds. We must be ready to give an answer – apologia = reasoned defense, hence “apologetics” – for our faith, why we believe, and remember to do it with gentleness and respect to reach our fallen, backwards world. It means we call out sin, but love people as we do it, with patience and understanding. We are no better than anyone else. And we know this from Scripture.
  6. Ephesians 2:20 – We run all of Church history and all of our understanding through the lens of Scripture. Our faith is built on the foundation of the prophets (Old Testament/Hebrew scriptures) and Apostles (New Testament) with Christ anchoring everything. This is where we find all truth and our authority to speak to this world.
  7. Matthew 28:18-20 – Jesus has all authority, and He gave that authority to us to tell the world God has come to us, to teach them His commands, and to baptize them into the Trinitarian name of God. Without the risen, living Lord, we have no authority.

Church history reveals to us we still make mistakes and sin against our Lord, but He has used this history and guided His Church to better understand His Word and equip us for every good work (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

It is fitting this new class starts on my mom’s birthday, because she helped me hone my understanding of God, the Bible, and Christian life. I am sure she would be honored with such a gift as her son sharing God’s redemptive work throughout history since the time of Christ her Lord and Savior. (And this is first shared online on the 5th Anniversary of her going to Him!)

Next time:

Christ our Foundation: The roots of the Church

2019
08/12
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Apologetics
Bible
Church
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