Were You Born Last Night?*

In late elementary school and early Middle School, for a couple of years, everywhere but church and school, I wore a hat. For some reason, I was attached to this cranial covering. It was made of denim, but it was a sailor hat… I wore it flap down, like Gilligan… of Island fame. Not sure why I loved it so much. I guess it was like a special security blanket or stuffed animal, only for my head. Or perhaps it was because my creepy old balding, red-headed, round red faced bus driver used to call me “Cotton Top,” and I wanted to cover my white blond hair. He used to make me sit on the seat closest to him… gives me the heebie-jeebies even now. As I would get on the bus and try to quickly move to the back, he’d yell in a gravelly, whiskey, smoker's voice, “Get up here Cotton Top and sit in this seat right here!” I used to beg my mother to drive me to school, but that didn’t always work out. I lived in terror until we got a new bus driver...the next one was a little less scary. I still wore that hat for a while… somehow I didn’t mind the taunts of my sister over it. It finally disappeared somewhere… I guess my mother quietly threw the sweaty, dirty, old thing away one day, like mothers do when it's time to get rid of pacifiers, security blankets, and... security hats. I guess the attachment to it was only temporary.

From what I understand, we were always made for loving attachment… to God and the people He loves. The need to attach and belong is so strong that if we don’t do it properly in God’s way with Him and the significant people around us, we can end up attaching our lives to unhealthy things like addictions, work, hobbies, stuff, (hats) and even religion. Sometimes we attach in unhealthy ways to others who are unhealthily attached to us too. There is good news for all of us, though. When we are born again spiritually, like Jesus talks to Nicodemus about in the famous “Nic at night” conversation in John chapter 3, we are attached to God and we belong to Him permanently. When we are born physically there is a natural loving connection between mother and baby. It brings the security, belonging, joy, and peace babies need to grow up healthy. When the Holy Spirit connects us to God, our secure, healthy, grateful, and joyful connection with Him begins. When we attach to Him, we begin to understand our new identity as one of His children. Jesus tells Nic, the uber religious "teacher of Israel," and us, this new spiritual attachment is a must. He says, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life. So don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You must be born again.’ John 3:5-7 (NLT2) Attachment is a big deal spiritually and emotionally. There is a temptation for us to remain attached to the unhelpful stuff and detached from God and those who belong to Him. We have to fight against this trend and keep finding ways to reattach to God and the people He loves in healthy ways. If we will first reciprocate God’s loving attachment to us, back to Him, He will give us what we need to re-establish those relationships we may have missed out on and/or establish new ones. Relationships with God and other people are not like pacifiers, security blankets and old hats discarded after a while… they are important and valuable forever. We learn later, that Nicodemus, does some things for Jesus that make us think he may have been “born again” that night. Wonder if he ever said, “I may have been born at night, but not last night”? If you are not sure, be born again in the Holy Spirit, attach, connect and don’t let go, then connect with God's people and don't let go!

 

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

I’m Not Crying, You’re Crying, Jesus See Us All!*

 

I’m not crying, you’re crying! Our Chattanooga church had the wonderful privilege of joining with a downtown homeless ministry a few Sunday nights each year.  The soup kitchens were closed on Sundays so several churches joined with this ministry, rotating to provide food for the indigent population each Sunday Evening. This group also helped with clothing, shoes, socks and toiletries.  It was raining cats and dogs when about 10 of our members loaded the bus. Two other men, who had never been to our church, but heard that we were feeding the homeless, loaded up with us, eager to join in God’s work. We prayed that God would be with those we would meet and that we would see Him at work in people’s lives, and we asked Him to please lessen the rain, so the hungry people could be fed. As we drove about 15 miles to the feeding site, it was raining so hard people were pulling over on the interstate with their flashers on. I continued to pray while I was driving the bus and I am sure others did too. Strangely, as we pulled into the vacant parking lot where we were going to set up our tables, the rain stopped completely, not another drop came down the whole time we were there. We fed close to 100 people some pizza, shared a short sermon,  gave them some snacks, water, and helped them find some clothes and shoes to wear. It was obvious they needed some clean clothes after living in the streets with no money nor means to wash the ones they were wearing. One lady in a wheelchair was in great need of some new shoes. It was the only way she could get around. She couldn’t walk, but she could move her chair with her feet, if she had shoes that would grip the pavement. Her last pair had split and the soles had torn off. It was time to go and it was getting dark. We searched every box, every bag, every tote for some shoes that would fit her. We had cleaned up the site, everyone was gone but this woman and her friend, and we needed to get back to the church. Sadly, we were going to have to leave without finding shoes for this woman.  Finally, in hopeless desperation, one of the two men who had joined us, looked at his feet and her feet, then took off his own shoes and said, “please, just try these.” They were a perfect fit. She cried, and he cried and they hugged…and of course, we all cried for joy right along with them. We prayed and thanked the Lord for His providence and thanked Him for stopping the rain and boarded the bus for the ride home. The man climbed on the bus with muddy bare feet and we all cried again. As soon as everyone was gone, our bus wheels left the parking lot and hit the street, the rain poured down in buckets once again. I don’t know if I had trouble seeing the road on the way back because of the rain or the tears that filled my eyes. There was a short sermon that was preached that day by one of the pastors, but the message we all remembered, was the one we witnessed with our own eyes preached by God himself. 

The Psalmist says, “Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy.  He who goes out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with him.”(Psalm 126:5–6 NIV) 

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