Who's the Enemy?*

 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.

A Great Calm *

A New restaurant called Not Watson's where Watson's used to be. 

 

When I was a child, my mother liked to shop at one particular department store in Knoxville’s historic Market Square Mall. The Square was quite popular until the large indoor mall came and people flocked to the huge indoor space with several big chain department stores. The store Mom loved back in the day was called “Watson’s on the Mall.” The “on the Mall” distinguished it from the other Watson’s stores in its southeastern U.S. chain founded in Knoxville at the turn of the 1900’s.  Watson’s on the Mall had its own commercial on local radio with a catchy jingle. We would park and walk past all the fresh vegetables and artists on the Square. There were lots of smiling people in hippie tie-dye, peace signs, and smiley face t-shirts. We would go into Watson’s and go to where the women’s clothes were. Mom would peruse the newest fashions on discount. Though bell-bottom pants, mini-skirts, and leather vests with leather frill tied with beads were popular, my mother was a little more conservative in her dress. My ADHD wouldn’t let me slowly walk around with her and wait while she stopped, looked, felt the fabric, held the dress up in the mirror. I would escape and climb in and out of the clothing racks while she was distracted. (Though I was undiagnosed, ADHD was called hyperkinetic disease back then. Kids like me were called “Fidgety Phil” in the journals) I once hid inside one of the round racks spinning around the colorful clothes, feeling the fabrics on my arms, smelling the freshly shipped apparel until I got dizzy. It created a kind of multi-stim psychedelic experience for me. When I emerged from the rack, my mother was nowhere to be found.  Initially, I didn’t panic, but looked around for her. When I couldn’t find her anywhere, I began to look a little more frantically. After several harrowing minutes my mother came out of the dressing room to find me with tears rolling down my cheeks running to get a squeezy hug. I promised myself never to do it again, however, “Fidgety Phil” had other designs and each time we went to Watson’s, I climbed behind the clothes. Calming down was a challenge. 

When the disciples were in the midst of a storm on the Sea of Galilee, they were anxious and afraid and could not calm down. Jesus however, was so calm, he was asleep in the bottom of the boat. Mark tells us,  “And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.” (Mark 4:39 ESV) Sometimes storms in our lives turn our worlds upside down. Even when we try to rest, we can’t calm ourselves. Jesus can give us a peace that goes beyond understanding. His simple words to our anxious hearts are “Peace! Be still,” can bring about “a great calm,” even if we are a Fidgety Phil or Phyllis.

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

Oh Grow Up! *

Photo credit: bloomie972 Instructables

 When I was a very young boy, we moved to a new house. It had a rope swing and a tree house, as well as a traditional metal swing set with a ladder and slide. The rope swing was tied 20 feet up on a tree branch, the rope was 3 inch hemp and on the end was a large knot to sit on.  I wanted to try it. My little hands were too small to hold it well, it was very rough on my tender preschool skin, and it was so thick it was hard to make it swing, and I fell off. So, I stuck to the safer traditional swing set. The tree house was about 8 feet high and the homemade ladder was nailed to the tree.  At the top of the ladder there was a hinged hatch door you had to push up to get inside, then close it again so there was no hole in the floor. Several times I would get brave enough to climb the ladder, but wasn’t strong enough to push the solid wood hatch door open. So, I often just played on the swing set ladder and slide. When I got a little older and stronger, I decided I was ready to attempt the tree house again. I was so determined to get into the tree house that day. I climbed the ladder and pushed hard against the door. It opened but not enough to stay open and it slammed back down knocking me head first off the ladder. When I woke up, my sister was checking on me. I had a terrible headache and was so dizzy. Eventually, I conquered both the tree house and the rope swing and had hours of fun on both. Soon, the traditional little swing set had little thrill for me. I had grown up in my adventures.  

God designed us for growth. When Paul is teaching the early church about love, he makes it clear we are supposed to grow up in the ways we love people.  Learning to love other people is challenging.  Our natural bent is to love and take care of only ourselves like a child. Growing up in how we love people requires that we do some hard things. Paul reminds us: “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.” (1 Corinthians 13:4–8 NIV11) He then goes on to say that we need to grow up in our relationships with people around us. He says, “When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.”(1 Corinthians 13:11 NIV11) It is hard to be patient, kind, and humble when others are aren't being kind to us. It's sometimes hard to celebrate when others do well when they are flaunting it. It is also hard to forgive people, protect them rather than try to be better than them. It is challenging to hang there, when relationships get really tough. It's time for us to grow up and enjoy grown up relationships that can be difficult sometimes. 

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

Oh Deer!

One evening, years ago, in the Oak Knoll area of Austin, I was taking a bike ride. I had helped get my 3 preschoolers to bed and needed some exercise and solitude for a few moments. It was in the last minutes of dusk that I took a quick pedal in an effort to sweat a little and let the cooling air peel off a layer or two of the day’s tensions from a demanding day of ministry. After a few moments pedaling and praying, I heard a strange sound behind me, like hooves on the black top. I turned around to see not one, but three young bucks with ample, but not huge, racks running behind me. I had heard about bike riders being knocked off their bikes by deer crossing the road, but I had never heard of deer chasing a bike down the street. I got a little nervous knowing how fast deer were capable of running (25-30 mph). I wondered if they would overtake and unseat me. I don’t know if these three saw me on my bike in the dimly lit street as a rival, or maybe they were just spooked and I happened to be in the path of their escape route.  For whatever reason, it felt like several minutes that these deer followed me, though it probably was not more than several seconds. Even when I made a turn to a side street in an effort to get out of their way, the deer still followed me. Finally, the three bucks made a sudden turn through someone’s side yard and then, as quickly as they had appeared, they were gone. For several weird moments these young bucks had been running half speed, about 10 yards behind me. I felt nervous, but invigorated and grateful to have had this curious brush with nature in Texas suburbia. I came home and excitedly told my ATX hippodrome bicycle vs.hoofed ruminant varmint odyssey to my understandably skeptical wife. 

Deer are mentioned several places in God’s Word, but my mind was drawn to the words of the Psalmist who says, “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?” (Psalm 42:1–2) While I sought some moments with God while pedaling, panting, and praying, it felt like God had allowed me to experience something so special, that I had to at least consider the fact that He had seen and heard me and was glad to be with me in those moments of solitude. Granted, it was no burning bush like Moses had experienced, but I still ponder that experience all these years later with thankfulness of getting to meet with Him in a unique way. 

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

Stories from Student Camp!*

 It was time for my first student camp as a middle schooler. The long drive to the infamous white sands of Panama City Beach seemed to take forever. Some slept, some sang, some made up limericks, and some pranked. Some high school couples paired up and didn’t “leave room for the Holy Spirit between them,”... there was a lot of smoochie face going on when the adults were not around. Thankfully the bus had facilities, because one creative prankster had carefully rewrapped Feen-A-Mint laxative gum and placed it in Double-Mint wrappers, which he generously gave out to anyone who “would like a piece of gum.” Fortunately, there were no known “accidents” in anyone’s breeches on the way there.   When we arrived we were divided into boys and girls cabins and the cabins were divided into other rooms of 6 to 8 people. In order to keep the smallish rooms livable, the leaders had made a competition for the cleanest room. At the end of the assembly of Worship and Bible Study each night the leaders would announce the winning room and they got free ice cream. Our room never won that competition for some reason, but we sure enjoyed our time together at camp. By the third night or so, it was obvious we would not be winning that award, so we thought we would have some fun with those who came to inspect the rooms while we went to the assembly. We had filled a small trash can full of water and put it over the door and we all exited out the other door. We could hardly contain ourselves when one of the parent leaders came to the worship assembly soaked from head to toe. She was smiling, but just barely. The guys from our room had extra clean up duty for the remainder of the camp. I’m thankful for the loving adults who made sure we stayed safe, had fun, and learned how to live like God’s children. This group of students would learn and grow over the next 4 years by being discipled by some caring adults and take a life-changing mission trip to New England. We had hours of Worship and Bible Study together, mission and ministry opportunities to learn how we are supposed to act when we belong to Jesus. We also grieved together over the failure of one of the pastors who led students in ministry and learned the pain of what happens when we forget Whose we are and how to act. 

It takes a community of believers to raise up the next generation of kids who belong to and act like Jesus as adults. The Wisest Man ever says, “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.” (Proverbs 22:6) Students need lots of loving direction from Jesus' followers who are more mature than them, who help them understand what is okay and what is not okay. Otherwise, they grow up with a twisted reality of how to act, each of them doing whatever seems right in their own eyes, forgetting that their identity is in Christ.  That youth group ended up producing four pastors, a couple of missionaries, two minister’s spouses, several deacons and Sunday School teachers. Pray for parents of students, student ministers, student leaders, and students that there will always be a generation of teens learning how to love God and love others like Jesus does. 

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