Jonah and Ministry While Dying

Some of the most painful hours in ministry for me are those days when I’m called to the hospital to pray with a family and a loved one when the patient is moments away from passing to the next life. I don't take the requests lightly and recognize that it is a great privilege to participate in these sacred moments. I want desperately to help, but I never feel more like Jonah as a reluctant minister than on those days. As I drive to the hospital, I want to turn and escape to the lake for a boat ride (people on boats need ministry too, right?) Instead I proceed on and I am swallowed by the great emotion that drags me to whatever depth it chooses, in spite of my attempts to buoy myself up and keep my head above the swells.

When I arrive the air is often thick with unrest, especially if it is a labored homegoing. There are often livid moments of life followed by almost complete stillness. Each one in the room wants to help their loved one escape the pain and make the journey that can only be made alone. And yet, in a way, each one of us dies a little bit with each arduous in-breath of the person we care about. The horribly descriptive "death rattle" is not a pleasant sound; It just hangs in the air until it mercifully ends. Furrowed brows, muted sobs, and soft sweet words of encouragement usually make up the feng shui of the otherwise sterile room as the patient struggles to both hang on and let go. God usually refreshes us momentarily with emotional daylight and fresh air as we speak prayerful requests and praises to Him. Most of us gulp down the reassurance eagerly, knowing that the sorrow is going to plunge us to the bottom, like a giant catfish on a small Zebco again soon. We are reminded by the medical beeps and whooshes that this journey won’t be cancelled, even if it is postponed temporarily.

The dying experience seems to be different for everyone, but these ministry opportunities don’t seem to ever get any easier for me. It makes me so appreciate the hospital staff, ministers, hospice workers, volunteers, friends, and chaplains who are gifted at helping others through this part of life. These are definitely “take up your cross and deny yourself” moments for me. I want to help people through this difficult time, but I often take on so much of deep sadness of those around me. I sometimes get a hard shell of protective covering or spew mushy emotional talk while I attempt to get a handle again. That is selfish, I know. They need ministry and I have been invited to give it. I guess the reality becomes only Christ in me can do it.

There have been a few notable exceptions to this trail of tears type journey toward the hereafter. I once had the privilege of sharing the final moments of one lady whose Catholic Priest and several of the lady’s family members were present. Each had said “goodbye”, there was a great peace in the room, and there was no struggle. The nurse had disconnected the respirator and the "beep, beep'" of the heart monitor was the only sound in the room. The family gathered and held hands around the bed and the Priest began with the traditional last rites. The "last rites" ceremony was a new experience for me as a lifelong evangelical. The words were comforting and reassuring. As the Priest finished his last words with “Amen”, the monitor immediately went flatline and the beep, beep of the monitor was replaced with an unbroken tone. The nurse turned the monitor off and we all celebrated this woman’s transition to eternal life. At the instant she heard the last goodbye of her faith from this life, she heard the welcoming sounds of the place promised by Jesus. Her loved ones were gathered around her on this side of heaven to say “so long”. And, (according to many of the near death stories I have heard), her loved ones in heaven were gathered to welcome her to her place of comfort and rest. It was a beautiful drama played out in one of the best possible scenarios. A life well lived with few regrets, a passing that was easy and celebrated with loved ones into the welcoming arms of family and a Savior who have gone ahead of her to heaven. This was a wonderful serendipitous trip to the hospital.

Regardless of the amount of duress in dying, the hope that comes from Christ is what ultimately sustains us. Whether it is an easy celebration of a life well lived or a laborious and tragic passing, the result for those who are in Christ is a wonderful place full of love, where tears are wiped away, and sin and death no longer taunt us. The victory is won and we are safe and secure in LIFE; in real, never to be taken again, LIFE.

I request your prayers for this Jonah’s brother and any of the other ministers in your life who may struggle this part of the calling too.

Learning from the Three Amigos!*

An old movie I enjoy is the Three Amigos.  In one of the scenes the three friends are riding their horses across the desert.  They are all parched.  They are hot.  They are obviously in need of water.  So they stop and get out their canteens.  Steve Martin’s character turns his canteen up and one little drop of water comes out.  Martin Short’s character opens his canteen, turns it up and only sand comes out.  Chevy Chase’s character opens his canteen, puts it to his mouth and water gushes out soaking his mouth and clothes.  The other two turn to him hoping he will share just a little with them.  Chase’s character, however, is oblivious to their need and proceeds to not only gulp down the liquid, but spill it out all over himself, swish it around his mouth then spit it out. When he has had all he wants, he throws the canteen to the side and the rest of the water pours out all over the ground.  He then blissfully pulls out some chap-stick and coats his lips.  Finally he notices his friends’ woeful stares and offers them some lip balm… a sad consolation for these two were desperate for some water.   

Sometimes we believers are like that; we have the living water of Jesus. We are refreshed and enjoying His blessings, but we are totally oblivious to those around us who are spiritually parched.  We enjoy worshipping, and studying God’s Word.  We enjoy the Christian fellowship of the body of Christ.  We are refreshed when we serve others in Jesus name.  But  we neglect to share the blessings of salvation with those who are desperate to know Him.

Stop the Negative Pollution and Change the World!

Have you ever been in a great mood, smiling, laughing, and enjoying life when someone with a sour attitude huffs into the room? They can send the mood of everyone in the room into a vortex of yuk. Researchers have discovered that a person with a negative frame of mind can affect others just by walking by. They don’t even have to say anything… not even sigh, gesture, or snarl. Their body language and facial expression alone can communicate their pessimistic point of view, and others in the room will join in without even knowing it.

There are lots of good reasons to avoid the Typhoid Marys of Negativity in your life. The consequences of negativity can be quite destructive. Studies have found that if a person's mood is negative and they are taking a test, they perform more poorly. Parts of our brain actually shut down in the most negative situations. Negativity affects not just the negative person, but it oozes the toxic pollutants into those around them.

The good news is the opposite is also true. One positive person can enter a room and change the whole point of view. She can take the negative to a positive simply by looking for and pointing out the positive aspects of the situation. There is always an upside; we can train our minds to see it and show others.

If you want to perform well, test well, have a good meeting… find a way to get happy and positive. Not surprisingly, researchers have studied the effects of a positive attitude on performance. Shawn Achor, author of the Happiness Advantage says, that time after time studies indicate that a happy, positive outlook improves performance on exams, on productivity, on creativity, even on intelligence. That’s right we are actually smarter when we are positive. Companies like Google have keyed on this truth with their employees and they have come up with lots of innovative ways to keep their workers happy and positive knowing it will ultimately affect their bottom line. Their recruiting literature spells out that they “nurture an invigorating positive environment” and that they want quality employees who have a “great time” doing what they do.

After Jesus taught His disciples how to be happy with the be(happy)attitudes in the beginning of the sermon on mount he told them they were to be light, to go and do positive, good things that would encourage those around them. Like a lamp, they would brighten up the perspective of all those around them and they would in turn bring glory to their Creator. Then those people could shine the light too.

If we are sons and daughters of God, if we have been created in the image of our heavenly Father, then we are children of light and we bring light and positive encouragement to those around us. If, on the other hand, we bring a negative, destructive attitude we act more like the one who is a destroyer.

As I write this, I can hear the preschoolers from the Child Development Center on the playground outside my window. Just one child began crying for some reason, within about 5 seconds there was a chorus of children crying in unison. I am certain many of them didn’t even know why they were all crying, but they joined in the mournful drone of half-hearted lamentations anyway. The wise teacher redirected them toward something more fun and exciting and soon after the playful squeals and laughter returned to normal. I had to snicker out loud a little. I was not laughing at the kid who must have had a legitimate booboo, or even the kids who turned to the teacher and joined in the dirge, but at myself, knowing that my nature is just the same. I am prone to joining in the whining and complaints of those around me instead of being like the wise teacher redirecting thoughts back to the positive.

T.M.I.*

Do you remember having to do a major research paper in school? When I was in high school, every student had to do a major research paper. The only thing I disliked more than doing research was writing about the research I had done. However, I set out in earnest to tackle my literary equivalent of Mount Everest at the school library. This was a place I rarely went on purpose, so the trip was something of an adventure. One of the first things I discovered was a group of cute girls who had listened to the in-class lecture on how to use the card catalogue, so I talked with them to get the scoop. My next discovery was the librarian with a demerit pad, quickly scribbling the words “Bill McGinnis, talking in the library.” With a gleam in her squinty eyes, but a frown on her face she ripped the page from the pad and handed it to me. I left the school library with a dearth of information and a Thursday School verdict (the sentence was two hours, after school, on Thursday, in Webb School’s version of Brushy Mountain penitentiary on lockdown… no talking, no air conditioning, with no one who wanted to be there, including {the warden, i.e. the study hall proctor). So, a few days after I paid my debt to society, I went to the public library and found a little more information, but no where near enough information for the kind of paper my teacher was expecting. Then, my teacher told me how I could get a temporary library card at the University of Tennessee Knoxville library…Hallelujah! When I walked in I was amazed at the amount of books stacked higher than I could reach, and lower than I could squat, on each floor of the UTK library. I did all the Dewey decimal system searches, the periodical searches for hundreds of newspapers and magazines on microfilm and microfiche (I think this is why I have to wear glasses today). I searched the scholarly journals. I even learned how to get a quote from a “scholarly fellow.” It took me a whole semester to gather enough information to write my paper, but I passed. 

Things are much different now. My kids could access more information with a couple of mouse clicks, or google searches than I could find in several weeks of searching at UTK library. Between our two generations there has been a tremendous shift in how to gather and handle information. In my school years the problem was, we had no quick and easy way to gather the information we needed. Now, there is way too much information available and it is way too easy to access. We can be inundated with trillions of bits of information at the touch of our fingertips. The biggest challenge is no longer in finding information; it is finding a way to handle too much information. Even with modern search engines that filter and rank information it's still a challenge to pare down the results. 

 In Jesus day, there was a lot of religious information being offered to the people. There were great teachers and leaders who were quick to overload people with religious rules and information. The people didn’t know what to do with all the information they were hearing and definitely couldn’t keep all the rules that were being heaped upon them. So, when some of the rule-keeper-heapers asked Jesus what was most important, he gave them a filter, "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'  This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'  All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." Matthew 22:36-40 (NIV) The people who followed Jesus knew that if they did things that showed that they loved God and loved other people and loved themselves they were living based on the right information. So, when you are snowed under with too much information (or T.M.I.) just go back to loving God and loving your neighbor as yourself, then filter out all the other stuff that doesn’t help you do that. God will be pleased and your life will be much easier than writing a high school research paper.

Do You Need a 4 G Spiritual Upgrade?

Many of us Christ followers are still living in a 3G world, but life gets better with a 4G Spiritual upgrade.

We were created in the image of God, so we were created GOOD.
But we sinned and we are GUILTY.
So, God sent Jesus to die for our sins, that’s GRACE.

Those are the 3 G's of the Gospel. They are great, but if we stop there, they can leave us living short of the joy filled life Jesus intends for us. Our faith can become a kind of "Back Buddy" apparatus that helps us pat ourselves on the back... because of all the rules we can follow or the good things we do. Our faith can also become a cat-o-nine tails we use to flog ourselves (and others). We can even use our faith as a license to keep on living in sin and we grant ourselves diplomatic immunity for our heinous behavior. What we really need is a healthy relationship with Jesus, one in which we interact with Him in expressions of thankfulness for an incredible gift we could never afford.

If we get stuck in one of those three traps and we may never enjoy the life of faith for which Jesus paid such a precious price.

1. Some of us think we are GOOD – usually this comes from comparing ourselves with other people: saying “I am good, because I’m better than these other people.” “at least I don’t do those sins that those people are doing.” “I am a good person.” We become very vulnerable to justifying our actions, because we think we are good. We become “Goody-Goodies.” Jesus had a big problem with those who were self-righteous about their rule-following as did his disciple John.
1 John 1:8 (NIV) If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.

2. Others of us run around feeling GUILTY all the time – we feel bad about ourselves, so we tear ourselves and others down. We feel sorry and guilty all the time. We know we can never live up to the religious rules we study and read. When we feel guilty we can be easily manipulated by someone else(usually a goody-goody) who will take advantage of our vulnerabilities. We are an open target, when we are operating out of a guilt mentality. We can fill up with bitterness, become toxic, blow up, and sabotage what God wants to do in us and through us. Then we feel even more guilt! We have got to live by faith in His Grace. Paul helps us understand that living in guilt is not God’s plan for us.
Galatians 3:10-11 (NIV) All who rely on observing the law are under a curse, for it is written: "Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law." 11 Clearly no one is justified before God by the law, because, "The righteous will live by faith."

3. Some of us give ourselves license to go on sinning because we are under GRACE. We ARE under grace, but that doesn’t give us permission to go on sinning. The apostle Paul was pretty adamant about it.
Romans 6:1-2 (NKJV) What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?

4. We need a 4G Gospel upgrade. We all need to live in GRATITUDE, being thankful for God’s salvation and grace. What if, in everything we do we are thankful? We could change the world. Would you rather hear someone who is thankful for all that they have or someone who complains all the time about what they don’t have? Some people live to complain, but others have unlocked the secret to Godly living by living in gratitude, grateful for all things. God works all things together for good for those who are in Him. So, we can be thankful for even “not fun” circumstances.



Colossians 2:6-7 (NIV)says, “ So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness." Gratitude changes the picture in our lives. Even when we are saved we can revert back to the ways of the world. We are forgiven, but not joyous. Our whole perspective changes, when we find a way to thank God “in all things”. Our lives become motivated by thankfulness, not by guilt, or because we want to be a better goody-goody.

Kara Powell, from the Fuller Youth Institute says our lives should be “a thank you note to God.” Too many of us just stop with a 3G Gospel – Guilt is a motivator for helping us repent, but guilt is not a good motivator for living our life in faith and joy. Being a Goody-Goody has its rewards but they are cheap and fleeting and don’t allow you to joyfully serve God’s greater purpose. And grace is great, but grace must come full circle, it must be poured out of your life into the lives of others as an act of gratitude. God saved us to be a blessing by living thankfully.

Go ahead and get your spiritual upgrade. Get grateful. Go 4G!

Loving God and Loving Others

Wow, What a privilege to serve with so many helping and encouraging the Tornado victims around Chattanooga in the last several weeks. I loved watching God at work as He used His people to comfort and minister to those who were hurting in the storm's aftermath.

Some people lost power for several days. Others lost valuable property. Some lost businesses. Some lost homes. Some even lost family members, friends, and loved ones. But God used many people from here and all over the country to bring help, consolation, and supplies to those impacted by the storms.

Many churches and other Disaster Relief agencies are still working to help people get back on their feet. Many of you were there on the ground being the hands and feet of Jesus to help bring some reassurance to the storms victims. Many of you contributed resources. I want to encourage you all in your acts of love in the name of Jesus Christ.

In the history of the church, Christians have been known for how they love others especially in times of crises. During invasions, plagues, storms, floods, earthquakes, etc, the surviving pagans often ran away, abandoning family and neighbors. The pagans felt those harmed by the disasters had angered the gods and they were afraid they too would suffer if they didn’t sever all ties with the victims. But the Christians on the other hand, had a reputation for staying in the middle of the disaster to take care of those who had been hurt, gotten sick, or suffered loss. Jesus said, they will know you are my followers “by your love.” We have a privilege to join in the Body of Christ’s great history of helping those who are hurting.

I want to say thank you to those of you who helped. Ridgedale's shower and laundry trailers were deployed on three separate sites to help and encourage some of the communities affected by the tornados. The trailers went to Bradley County, Apison Baptist Church, and Cherokee Valley Baptist Church to provide some assistance in the relief efforts. Some clean up crews also helped clear debris from some sites that were devastated by the tornado. I know many of you helped with other churches and organizations. I just want to encourage you in Christ and say keep up the God work!

Southern Culture of Honor

I read about a concept the other day that I thought was interesting in Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers. It is called the (Southern) ‘Culture of Honor.’” We southerners are nice and congenial for the most part. We may even make it a habit of going out of our way to accommodate someone, but apparently, we as a whole, are also hyper-sensitive to the feeling that someone has disrespected us. We are pretty laid back and easy going, until we perceive that someone has dishonored us or someone or something we value.

Some research shows that when someone does or says something intentionally offensive to a person whose family history goes back several generations in the south, they become angrier than people from the north. We get angry enough to show physical signs of anger like a flushed red face or an exaggerated frown. There are physiological effects too, like extra cortisol and testosterone in bloodstream. It doesn’t seem to matter whether people are wealthy, more intelligent, or if they are healthy or not. Only those from the south seem to let the insult stick in their craw, whereas, those from the north seem to let the insult roll off their backs. Northerners seem to intentionally make themselves stay calm and not over react.

Apparently, this phenomenon has to do with the cultures our ancestors came from. For the most part, those who came out of shepherding communities like Scotland and Ireland settled in the southern states and those who came from farming communities settled in the North. Back in history, in the old country, those who raised livestock had to fiercely protect the flock or they could easily lose everything if threats were left unchallenged or they appeared weak. Any threat to their honor had to be confronted with great force. Livestock raising families became very independent, circling the wagons at any hint of danger. On the other hand, farmers needed to foster a sense of community with each other, helping each other out when times got tough. They were more prone to let a passing threat go in order to preserve the peace. It seems strange that this “culture of honor” would be passed down so many generations later, but it is true today according to this research.

So, it appears that, even though we are in the “Bible Belt” and are considered more religious, we seem to be more prone toward a hereditary anger problem. So, what do we do about it? It is contrary to Jesus teaching. He says in Luke 6:27-31 (NIV)"But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. 29 If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. 30 Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. 31 Do to others as you would have them do to you.”

We even call verse 31, “The Golden Rule.” These are tough commands for us, because we want others to obey them all the time, but we give ourselves a free pass when someone has insulted us. This takes an active, willful choice to change our reaction. We can choose not to be offended, even when someone is offensive. We can choose not to sin in our anger, even if something inside us says, “you have every right to get revenge, look at what he/she did to you.” We can pray that God would fill us with His Spirit, who gives us things like peace and goodness, kindness and gentleness, even patience to deal with affronts to our honor. (Galatians 5:22)

Jesus warns that if we who claim to follow Him don’t change our reactions, our lives are no different than anyone else. Luke 6:32-34 (NIV) "If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' love those who love them. 33 And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' do that. 34 And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' lend to 'sinners,' expecting to be repaid in full.”In Luke 6:35 Jesus says, “But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.”

The scriptures don’t say, I will honor those who fight for their own honor. It says in 1 Samuel 2:30b (NIV) “Those who honor me I will honor, but those who despise me will be disdained.” Our honor comes from God, not men. If we dishonor Him with our reactions, we will be disrespected.

Shalom,

PS. I write this fully aware that I may be challenged on this point before the day is over. Pray that I get it right this time.