Snake Handling Baptists twice*

 Snake handling Baptists. I’m not sure what part of the ministerial job description this was, but a couple of times at the same church I was asked to remove snakes from the church property. The facilities manager, who is even less fond of snakes than I, agreed to be my “wildlife relocation assistant” during our first extraction. I normally would have said, "no" to the request to handle this reptilian varmint, however preschoolers from our Child Development Center were in close proximity to this ovoviviparous slithery creature and no one from the “Aussie Snake Wranglers” happened to be available at that moment. The childcare workers reported that all the kids were looking at a "pretty cable" in the grass next to the playground, THEN IT MOVED! Initially, we couldn't find this "moving cable," but my friend decided to lift a large garbage bin. All I saw was a salamander comfortably snuggled in the mud, BUT THEN that ancient fear of serpents jumped into my throat as I saw the snake near the corner of the bin in the mud. I was trying to stay calm and not arouse fear in the preschoolers while my heart pounded so hard I could hear it in my head. I quickly grabbed the bucket because it was time for a “snake round up.” I laid down the bucket and pushed the snake in the 5 gallon bucket with a broom handle, then covered it with a towel to keep him calm like I had seen the Crocodile Hunter do on TV. My friend and I released this critter into the woods a little ways from the church, but only after we attempted to show him to some petrified secretaries who locked themselves in the office at the first mention of the word "snake" and first glimpse of the bucket that held it.  Oh and did I mention he was just a 10 inch Garter snake? Apparently this was just a practice round though, because not long afterward there was a two and a half foot Copperhead in the bushes of the church courtyard.  This one didn’t go quite as smoothly. My friend had already begun the extraction with a rake when I walked up behind him. He got so scared he flung the venomous creature into the air straight up over our heads. As we know what goes straight up must come straight down, so we screamed like little girls and ran away. We then had to change our strategy, because the snake was angry and much more aggressive. I am glad to say we finally relocated this scaled squatter, but not without a few more church cleansed expletives and screams.

 

In a similar manner, we read that the ancient serpent called the devil was hurled out of heaven straight to the earth and he led the whole world away from God.  Rev. 12:7-9 says,  “And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. 8 But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. 9 The great dragon was hurled down — that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.” He has wreaked havoc here ever since. But his time on earth is not long,  because Jesus has defeated him by His death on the cross and his work to free us from sin and hell.  Rev. 12:12 says, “He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short.” We later read in Rev. 20:10 that “the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.” The Good News is that everyone who belongs to Jesus is saved from this same fate and will live in peace with God, but unfortunately those who still belong to the ancient serpent will share his fate of burning torment forever and ever.  So, now would be a good time to insure Who you belong to.  When we belong to Jesus, we act like Him, we tell the truth, we love everyone He loves. But when we belong to the serpent, we act like him, angry, resentful, and deceptive. 

Hang in there people! God is glad to be with us! I’m praying for us all!

What Are You Full Of?*

What are you full of?  My father, as a retired physician, had an old John Deere tractor on his small farm on the French Broad River near Knoxville. He loved that old tractor, but it was frequently in need of repair. The hydraulics leaked and the tires were old, but it seemed to always run. He had to carry a tool box with it, just in case it had a problem. I suppose this was a flashback from his childhood.  His father, who was also a physician, would leave the house and tell my father, about aged 12 at the time, to make sure the field was mowed by the time he returned. My father would go to start the tractor, but it wouldn’t start. Rather than give up and make an excuse, he would start working on the tractor until he got it running. He would then mow the field.  My grandfather passed away unexpectedly a few years later. My father was just a teen.  My father’s repair skills came in handy many times around his family’s house when no one else was there to help. In his seventies, my father bought an old John Deere to help around the 18 acres. He re-lived his early years of tractor repair.  As my father reached his late 70’s the tractor was still having problems, but my father was not as physically able to fix it. So, when I was in town, he asked me to help. However, I was not quite as handy as my father. One particular day, one of the air valves on the rear tractor tire was leaking. These tires have air, water, and antifreeze in them. The water to help give better traction and the antifreeze to keep water from freezing and ruining the tire. Fortunately the valve was in a position where the water and antifreeze was not leaking out. However, when I used the air valve puller to remove the faulty valve, the air pressure from the weight of that tractor sprayed the air and fluid out of that tire right into my face. Temporarily blinded, I struggled to put the new valve into the tire to stop the flow. Once I finally accomplished the task, I was soaked in water and antifreeze. At that moment I remembered that antifreeze was toxic when ingested or absorbed through the skin. I began spitting and spewing all I could get out of my mouth and maybe a bad word or two. I also started taking my soaked clothes off. I found a towel and wiped off all I could. But the tire task was not finished, we still had to refill the tire with air. So half dressed, I grabbed the air compressor hose and filled the tire. I then went to the house, rinsed my mouth out, and took a shower. 

 

When Jesus was a boy, the scriptures say He “…grew and became strong, filled with wisdom. And the favor of God was upon him.”(Luke 2:40 ESV) Jesus was known by having God’s favor and the wisdom he was filled with. He had so much wisdom at age 12 at the Temple in Jerusalem, the Gospel of Luke says, “all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers.” (Luke 2:47 ESV) When we are filled with the Holy Spirit and we undergo pressure, patience and kindness comes out. When things get hectic, peace and joy come out.  When someone is unkind to us, love comes out. However, when we forget Who we are filled with, other toxic things spew from us onto those around us.  What (or Who) are you filled with? 

 

Hang in there people! God is glad to be with us! I’m praying for us all! 

Mind the Gap!*

Mind the Gap.  As a pre-teen I was short, skinny, active, but not really athletic. However, I did have a large imagination and adventurous spirit. I had been watching the Olympics that Summer and was fascinated by the pole vaulters who seemed to easily run with a long pole, stick it in the ground, thrust their feet upward and float over the horizontal bar with ease and flop back down to the giant foam mat on their backs. As the rest of my family was gardening in our large garden at our mini-farm on the Little River in Tennessee, I was thinking through how I could use a tomato stake to pole vault myself over the barbed wire fence so I didn’t have to go all the way to the gate, or risk getting stuck by the barbs trying to climb between or under the fence. As my mind worked, I could picture myself flying easily over the fence. Rather than flopping on my back, I would just land on my feet, since the tomato stake was only slightly taller than I was. So, while my parents and sister were distracted by pulling weeds on the other side of the garden, I decided, rather than continuing the boring task of weeding, I would launch myself to the other side of the fence. I grabbed the closest tomato stake, held it with both hands over my shoulder, pointed it toward the middle of the fence and ran.  Did I mention, I was in my work boots and Sears ToughSkin jeans. I planted the pole just like I saw the pole vaulters do, jumped, and lifted my feet, but for some reason, I didn’t get very high. The bottom cuff of my jeans hooked on a barb on the top of the fence and I fell on my head. I was partially suspended upside down with one leg securely fastened to the fence. As I yelled out, my sister was the first to find me. She was laughing so hard, seeing the tomato stake, and guessing what had just happened. She was not strong enough to free me from my inverted position. So, I had her help me take my boots off, and look the other way, as I slid out of my jeans in my skivvies to freedom. I wasn’t able to clear the fence, it was so embarrassing. Needless to say, when high school came around I did not try out for pole vaulting, as a matter of fact I kept to the water as a swimmer, rather than anything track related. 

 

Jesus told a story of a large gap between heaven and hell and there is no way to get to the other side once our earthly life is over.  He says, a wicked rich man who lived in opulence had died, as did a godly beggar who lived near him named Lazarus. Jesus says of the wicked man, “In hell, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’ But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’”(Luke 16:23–26) When we die there will be no pole vaulting ourselves into heaven from hell, we have to decide here and now what we will do with Jesus’ offer of salvation for us. When we are dead, it will be too late to decide that we want to belong with God and His people and live in His peace for eternity. We will have already chosen to keep belonging to the Evil One and we will be in torment.  So, choose this day whom you will belong to.

 

Hang in there people! God is glad to be with us! I’m praying for us all!

 

In Over Your Head?*

 In over your head? In college, I once went skiing with some friends in Colorado. It was a great trip! We had skied the Carolinas, but given the chance to ski in Colorado we jumped at the opportunity. My roommate’s girlfriend had been invited to visit her cousin who was living in Denver. We slept all over the floors, couches and beds and arose early each morning. We crammed six people into a two door Corolla, tossed our rented skis on the ski rack and drove the hour to an hour and a half to the local resorts. We skied a different resort everyday: Vail, Breckenridge, Copper, and Winter Park. Our favorite was Copper. One of our crew had skied Colorado much more than we had and knew the best parts of these mountains. He introduced us to “tree bashing!,” a term for skiing off the groomed slope between the trees where there was usually some unskied powder. This was great fun until one friend, who had skied the least, straddled a tree. Fortunately he was not going too fast and was not hurt.  But he then had a fall into the deep powder… to our surprise this 6 foot tall friend disappeared. The powder was well over his head and so fluffy he could not get out. We were able to get to him and put his skies flat on top of the snow so he could climb out onto them. Those were some pretty scary moments, not knowing if we could get him out. Then it happened to me! I fell into the deep powder, but all my friends were down the mountain from me and didn't know I was in over my head.  There was a moment of panic, not being able to see anything below the snow surface, not knowing if I had enough energy to get out of the deep snow onto my skies and ski out of the woods.  There was a moment of exhausted hallelujah when I was finally able to get my head above the snow, rest my body on my skis before  standing up and skiing out. 

When God’s people had gotten off the right path, and fallen into great darkness with their sin, the Prophet Isaiah foretold of a time when God would redeem them. He says, “ The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone.”(Isaiah 9:2 ESV) He goes on to tell them of a Savior who would rescue them and give them peace. He says, “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. ”(Isaiah 9:6 ESV) You may recognize these words from Handel’s Messiah.  When we get off the right path and in over our heads into darkness, Jesus, our Wonderful Counselor, who is mighty enough to rescue us, wants to give us His light, His peace and restore us to a healthy relationship with Himself and others around us.  We have to remember Who we belong to. He is God and He sees us when we are in so deep we can’t see anything. In our despair, He hears us, is glad to be with us, loves us and wants rescue us. That is a reason to sing hallelujah. 

Hang in there people! God is glad to be with us! I’m praying for us all!

Who's the Enemy?*

Playbees Plastic Army Men Figures

 Playing “army” as a kid with a couple of friends in the woods behind my house, we were all warring against the “enemy” well when somehow there was a disagreement between us and the overtired child warriors turned on each other. One friend became more angry and decided to walk home. This was a relatively safe neighborhood walk through the woods aside from a few dogs over protective of their turf. But if my friend chose the winding road, it had a couple of blind curves with no sidewalk. Teenage drivers had crashed a few times driving too fast; including two brothers who hit head on, one on a motorcycle and one in a car. The crash was horrendous, causing the motorcycle rider to almost lose his leg and the other brother was left with regret and sadness that he had crippled his brother. We didn’t know if my friend had walked through the woods or on the road, so we tried to search for him through the woods, but to no avail. We finally circled back home and told my mother and she panicked, she had “lost the neighbor's kid!” We all jumped in the car and drove the road very slowly, looking for my friend. We didn’t see him anywhere. We went to his house and he was not there, so the search continued. We went back to our house, wondering if maybe he had returned there. This was many years before cell phones, but when we walked back in our house, the phone rang. It was another neighbor saying my friend was with her, playing with her dog, and having a cookie. Now that wasn’t fair. We were in a panic looking for him and he was enjoying petting a canine and eating a cookie! Oh well, all was forgotten and we all played again the next week, with an understanding that if anyone wants to go home, my mother would happily drive them. 

There were rough times in the early church. The fledgeling congregations were being attacked by the Evil One who didn’t want them to succeed. God had chosen the church to be the primary instrument He would use to connect those who belonged to him, to lead people to salvation and help people mature in Christ. Unfortunately, sometimes the church members became upset with each other and forgot who the real enemy was. Paul reminds the church at Ephesus, “ Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” (Ephesians 6:10–12)  So the next time you are out of sorts with a friend or family member or even someone in your community who has wronged you, remember they are not the “enemy.” When our mind goes into “enemy mode,” our relational circuits shut down and we forget who we are really in battle with. We mistakenly use our energies to take down those who are not our true enemy, the Devil and this leads to all kinds of turmoil, trauma, and regret. (see the book Escaping Enemy Mode by Jim Wilder)

Hang in there people! God is glad to be with us! I’m praying for us all!

YOLO, Really?*

The last time I snow skied was at Snowbird ski resort. My in-laws would be moving from Sandy, UT and my kids were all preschool aged, so raising these little ones would trump many of the activities that we used to do. Great skiing would no longer be a 45 minute drive from Anita’s parents. Anita and I had skied in Utah several times while her parents lived there for 8 years. The Utah mountains are beautiful and they claim to have the “Greatest Snow on Earth,” because it is a dry powdery snow from the high desert. Growing up in the South, skiing in the Carolina mountains, the slopes were most often icy and very hard packed. I didn’t know if this would for sure be my last ski experience in Utah for a while, but since I knew it could be, I wanted to milk it for all it was worth. Anita and her parents took the kids shopping and sent me to the slopes for a day of skiing. I bought the Tram pass so I could enjoy skiing the entire mountain for the full 9 am - 4 pm ski day.  At the top of the Tram lift were some slopes that challenged my skill level, but with some slow and careful skiing, I could get down to a slope that allowed me to ski on an easy blue slope for 2.5 miles of carving back to the bottom of the mountain.  One run, including waiting in line for the Tram, to the 13 minute ride up, to skiing down took over an hour.  I was able to ride up and ski a couple of times before eating lunch and had finished another run after lunch. This was more than seven and a half miles of skiing for someone who only skied once a year, so I was a little tired. I had really enjoyed my day of solitude in a winter wonderland. The Tram closed at 3:45 pm in order to get everyone off the mountain before sunset, which happens at about 4:30 pm. It was 3:30, my muscles were fatigued, but knowing this could be my last time to ski Salt Lake for a while, I wanted one more run.  I hopped on the Tram, shouting in my head “Carpe diem!” At the top, I started my slow and careful descent on the black diamond down to the easier blue slope, but my legs were rubbery and didn’t want to do what my brain was telling them.  About half way down that challenging top part of the mountain, the Ski Patrol was frantically working to get a guy about my age who had broken his femur down the mountain before dark.  I saw his leg in an awkward and unnatural position and knew it takes a significant force to break that bone, so my legs became even more wibbly.  I rested there for a moment, but as I rested I realized that it was getting dark quickly.  I was caught between going fast enough to make it down before dark and going slow enough not to break my femur skiing on my exhausted legs!  I did make it down successfully and drove to Anita’s parents in the dark, realizing God’s grace in spite of my lack of wisdom in evaluating the situation. 

 

Apparently, those in the early church in Ephesus had forgotten how to behave and were acting like they used to before they belonged to Jesus. They were “seizing the day,” but doing it foolishly. Some people today say, “YOLO,” meaning “you only live once,” so live it up now. Paul was reminding God’s people that it matters how we choose to spend our time as Jesus’s people.  He says, “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.”(Ephesians 5:15–17 ESV) The words for “look carefully how you walk,” in the King James version is “Walk circumspectly,” meaning look around you with redeemed eyes, being aware of your circumstances and how you are living your life.  So, let’s walk (or ski) circumspectly, seizing the day in a good way, not testing God’s grace but doing good. 

 

Hang in there people! God is glad to be with us! I’m praying for us all! 

 

Buckeyes! Delicious or Toxic?*

Credit: Allrecipes

As a preschool boy, I loved peanut butter. And I discovered,  just like the famous commercial says, that peanut butter and chocolate taste great together. My mother used to make buckeye candy out of peanut butter and chocolate every Christmas, but she had to hide it, because my sister and I would eat all of them before Mom could share them with our holiday guests. She would form the peanut butter into balls by adding confectioners sugar, butter, and vanilla, and place them in the fridge. Then melt the chocolate with shortening. She would dip the pb balls into the chocolate and leave an uncovered spot so they looked like buckeyes. Once, when one of our outdoorsy older first cousins (one of our 35 first cousins!) came to babysit, he brought us some actual buckeyes he found in the woods on his land. Buckeyes are mythically said to bring good luck, so much so that historically, players on a certain football team by the same name were given buckeyes to help them win. This good luck, however, was not the case in this instance. As soon as my cousin said the word, “Buckeye” our preschool minds thought, “YUM!” So we proceeded to eat these much harder, not as tasty buckeyes.   I suppose we were hoping they would get better. Nonetheless, we ate said buckeyes not knowing that they are poisonous. I don’t know how we got through the hard shell, but we were determined little varmints. We were out of sight from our cousin or he would have stopped us. At the time, the antidote was to induce vomiting. My sister dutifully puked it all up. I, however, hated to throw up, so I didn’t. In the meantime I became sicker and sicker from the buckeye toxins. Eventually, I puked, and couldn’t stop puking. I was one very sick little boy. My cousin felt terrible and to this day, he thought I was about to die. As far as we know, there was no significant cognitive da, da, da, damage from the incident, but only God knows.

In the early church apparently they were tempted to believe in old myths, rather than trusting  the Holy Spirit to be with us. Good luck charms or rituals are not something we should put our faith in, because it can be toxic to our faith. Paul tells his protégé, Timothy,  “Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself to be godly. For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.” (1 Timothy 4:7–8 NIV) The word translated, “train” in English,  is the Greek word, “gymnaze.” Paul is saying, it is better to have your daily spiritual “workout” routine to strengthen your relationship with Christ and His people, rather than putting your hope in godless rituals or good luck charms.  So, when someone gives you a buckeye, rabbit’s foot or other charm, don’t recommend that you rely on it for good luck. Trust instead that God sees us, hears us, is glad to be with us, loves us and wants to do good things for us.  I do also recommend eating buckeyes, but only the candy ones.

Hang in there people. God is glad to be with us. I’m praying for us all.