When Things Don't Go Our Way...

 When things don’t go our way… In elementary school, I participated in Royal Ambassador basketball. “Royal Ambassadors,” or “RAs,” was a Baptist missions organization for boys. Every week we had a Bible Study and learned about people who were telling the Good News around the world. Every winter we had RA basketball where we competed with other RAs from other churches around the city. We had some great coaches who were quite good at basketball and they invested their time in teaching us the game. We practiced on Sundays after church, which was kinda weird for the time (early 70’s) in Knoxville, TN, because there were still “blue laws” and Sundays were set aside for church, rest and Sunday drives to the country-side. However, no one could practice any other time during the week, so we brought our tennis shoes, knee socks, shorts, and t-shirts to change into from our “Sunday Best” and had practice after church. McDonald’s was open on Sundays. So, after leaving church, we would run to McDonald’s, get a Big Mac and a Coke, devour it quickly, change clothes, go to the gym and hopefully not hurl it back up when running laps. Before our church had its own gym, we went to the local school to practice. We learned to dribble, pass, shoot and learned the rules of basketball. One year, our coaches were so good we defeated all the local teams and were invited to the state RA basketball tournament in Nashville. We were all giddy. We got there and as I recall, won our first game on Friday night. Then we were all wired up about being in a hotel for a sleepover, juiced up on Coke and Cheetos, we somehow coerced our coaches into letting us watch “Crack Through the World'' movie on television. It was a disturbing late 1960’s apocalyptic movie about how the earth was destroyed by an ill-fated plan to harness the Earth’s geothermal energy by shooting a nuclear bomb deep into the earth. This of course, as you would guess, began the earth ending crack through the world. The movie showed many people dying in horrific ways (landslides, train wrecks, molten hot lava - to which one of the boys quipt “fried to a crackly crunch. Cheetos, cheese that goes crunch!” We all laughed, but kind of guiltily.

Of course, I didn’t sleep at all because I was so disturbed by the images seared into my brain, not to mention the copious amounts of fizzy caffeine and sugar that I consumed. Needless to say we were all tired the next morning. We played our next couple of games and won, which should have made us RA State Champions, but the host church decided that their team needed one more chance to defend their title against us with their best player who had not been able to play the earlier game. So they required a short play off game. I knew that this was not right and in my sleep deprived, elementary school immaturity, I threw a tantrum and began to cry, stating that I would not play another game...not that my playing had any impact on the team, I wasn’t that good, but I wasn’t bad at dribbling, passing or defense. I gave myself a free pass to act badly, because I perceived someone had disrespected us. The coaches tried to remind me that we had come to play basketball and agreed to the rules of the tournament. They also reminded us that we needed to represent God and our church well. So, in my “self-righteousness,” I still sulked and sat on the bench, while the rest of my team battled the title holders. The host church’s plan worked, they won the short winner-take-all game and we went home with a 2nd place trophy and my little tantrum, justified or not, did nothing but make me look like a crybaby and abandon my team.

We were supposedly “Royal Ambassadors,” we represent The King of Kings. Our motto was, “we are ambassadors for Christ,” taken from 2 Corinthians 5:20. Paul was reminding the young and immature church at Corinth, that they belonged to Jesus, and they represent Him now, so their behaviors had to change. Their own selfish, childish ways in which they used to live were not okay anymore. Paul tells them, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”(2 Corinthians 5:17–21 NIV) Things don’t always go our way, but that is not a free pass for us to act badly. When we belong to Jesus, we act like Him even in difficult situations, when sleep deprived, wronged by someone else, angry, tired or _____. Our identity changes when we are "in Christ," and we mature into acting like Him more and more regardless of our circumstances.

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

Why Are We Still Here?*

Why are we still here? I sometimes wonder how kids survive ‘til adulthood. I had gotten an archery set for a birthday in elementary school, not the rubber stopper arrows, but actual practice tip arrows. Not sure what my dad was thinking, because the whole BB gun thing had gone badly a couple of years before (you can see that story here: https://williampmcg.blogspot.com/.../parents-dont-run...). Eventually, after shooting my arrows at the target for a while, I became bored and began shooting at "other things." Then, I don’t know what possessed me, but I decided to shoot the arrow straight up into the air. Once I released the arrow and it disappeared from view in the Sun, the realities of Newton’s Law came flooding into my pre-adolescent brain… “what goes up, must come down”… Oh no! The panic set in and I began running as hard as I could aimlessly to try to avoid being impaled. Odds of getting hit by said arrow would probably have been better had I just stood still. Thinking about it now, it was silly that I didn’t run under the protection of the carport. Thank goodness I heard the thud of the arrow as it stuck in the moist ground several feet away. So, what did I do next? Not take my bow and arrow and put them in time out until I could use it more responsibly… NOOOO!, I did it AGAIN! Thank goodness Mr. Gravity and the soft spot covering my yet to be fully formed brain didn’t join forces for a significant injury. I later heard of kids in a neighborhood across the lake who did this as a group activity. Standing in a circle, the kid in the middle shot the arrow into the air and everyone ran in all directions as soon as the arrow was released. One poor kid was taken to the ER, impaled by an arrow through his neck and shoulder. Fortunately it didn’t hit any vital vessels or organs. In spite of my reckless childhood thrill seeking, God had plans for my life. Why is God so gracious to us when we willfully challenge the laws He has put in place physically, relationally, or spiritually? He must have plans for us.

I’m encouraged by the words of Moses as He talks about how God protects His people for His purposes, sometimes even when they were not being so smart. God has us here for a reason, to be His people, to represent Him well. Moses could look back and see the many times God had taken care of His people as they escaped from Egypt, from plagues, armies, pestilences, starvation, thirst, and other terrors. Moses tells God’s People, “The one who lives under the protection of the Most High dwells in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say concerning the Lord, who is my refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust: He himself will rescue you from the bird trap, from the destructive plague. He will cover you with his feathers; you will take refuge under his wings. His faithfulness will be a protective shield. You will not fear the terror of the night, the arrow that flies by day, the plague that stalks in darkness, or the pestilence that ravages at noon. Though a thousand fall at your side and ten thousand at your right hand, the pestilence will not reach you.” ‭‭Psalms‬ ‭91:1-7‬ ‭CSB‬‬ Satan misrepresents the second part of this passage to Jesus, when he was tempting Him in the wilderness. Matthew 4:5-7 says, ”Then the devil took him to the holy city, had him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. For it is written: He will give his angels orders concerning you, and they will support you with their hands so that you will not strike your foot against a stone." Jesus told him, "It is also written: Do not test the Lord your God."

I am so thankful for God’s grace, all the many times, against better judgment, we test His gracious compassion and protection for us, in ignorance or by willful rebellion. God has plans for those who have chosen to belong to Him… we are to be His people, to love and represent Him well, and to love those He loves. He will protect and keep us so we can represent Him until it is time for us to come Home.

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

Who Has The Keys?*

Who has the keys? In my tweenage years in the Summers, I was outside playing most of the time, playing pickup football, basketball, stickball, tennis, fishing, or riding my bike. Occasionally, I would return home and find that I was locked out of my house. One day, I had gone to the churchyard next door to play football with the local “gang.” The game ended and I climbed the steep grassy hill for home, sweaty and grass stained. When I got home, the house was locked up. Every door was locked, and no one was home. This was before there was an exterior garage door key code panel, so, I did what I usually did when I was locked out, I looked for the “spare keys.” But whomever (probably me) had used them last had failed to return them to the top secret and secure location, i.e.under the doormat, just like most other people. So, then I went to my usual plan B, which was climbing up the side of the house to the balcony, jimmying one of the sliding glass doors and getting in. However, this time, the sliding glass door security pole (a.k.a. sawed off broomstick) was securely in place, but it allowed the door to open just enough for the alarm to sound. In a panic to get in and silence said alarm, I jimmied the other door, but it too had the failsafe broomstick. Then, I was in a real mess. The alarm was obnoxiously alerting the neighborhood that someone was breaking in the McGinnis house and I was stuck on the balcony. BTW climbing up the side of the house is much easier than climbing back down. Once on the ground, I tried all the doors again, but to no avail. In spite of all my best efforts, I was still outside, alarm blaring, I had exhausted all my efforts, I realized I was helpless. Finally, in despair, I sat down in the grass, and cried until my mother returned with the keys, turned the alarm off and let me in. Glad to be inside, I washed my dirty tearstained face, and appreciated the benefits of belonging in the McGinnis home. From that day on we made sure a set of keys was available.

Six times in the book of Matthew, Jesus indicates that outside of heaven there is “weeping and gnashing of teeth.” He tells all who will listen that entry to God’s kingdom is not about our efforts, knowledge, goodness, cleverness, or anything else we can do, it's about a loving faith relationship with Him. I’ve always wondered what gnashing of teeth meant. One commentator says the word connotes "extreme anguish and utter despair." The apostle John, as he was writing to one of the early churches, says, Jesus, the Holy One, always has the keys to let us into a secure relationship with God. No one can lock us out from being with God when we belong to Jesus. He says, ““Write to the angel of the church in Philadelphia: Thus says the Holy One, the true one, the one who has the key of David, who opens and no one will close, and who closes and no one opens: I know your works. Look, I have placed before you an open door that no one can close because you have but little power; yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.”(Revelation 3:7–8 CSB17) Apparently, it is very important that we remember Who we belong to, that we identify with His name. The keys to God’s Kingdom are granted by our loving attachment to God through Jesus, who died and rose again to secure that relationship with Him forever. What is the evidence that we have the keys?... We are an insider; we belong to God, we are His child, we are in healthy loving connection with God, we love God and treat everyone in the ways He tells us in His Word. There is no jimmying the door, there is no spare key, there is no pretending nothing is wrong, the alarm is sounding and there are no other ways into heaven. Jesus says, “I am the Way.” Our salvation is not a problem to be solved, it is loving attachment to God to be secured and grown and the key is loving, trusting and belonging to Jesus.

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