At the Name of Jesus*

In a church in Texas our church had the wonderful opportunity to partner with another congregation for a Vacation Bible School desiring to connect with families in an impoverished neighborhood.  A friend and mentor of mine was the pastor of a missional church ministering with families in this community and he and I used to meet together each month to talk, share some coffee, and pray with each other. I had a wonderful secretary who helped us team up and organize a Vacation Bible School in the courtyard/playground of one of the apartment complexes not far from my friend’s church. We distributed Free Bibles and invited all the kids to come learn with us, play some games and have some hot dogs and snacks. It was a great day.  As we were teaching some 1st graders things were going well, we had played a game and had some goldfish, and began with a childrens’ Bible story. Then, out of nowhere one kid saw a beer bottle smashed it against the curb and began threatening the other kids and us with it… the mother bear protector came out in one of our ladies and she stood up and walked straight toward this broken glass wielding 1st grader saying, “In the name of Jesus, put down that bottle!” The kid dropped it, she hugged him, and we went on with VBS. We found out weeks later from my friend that this young boy had decided to follow Jesus. Later, at that same VBS in that housing project… the battery on the truck from the church that towed the trailer and all the supplies died, and the battery of the minivan of our friends who were jumping off the truck also died. AAA roadside assistance refused to come to that community at that time of day. Our friend’s van finally started, but the truck still would not. So we sent our kids home with our friends. The projects became a very different place after dark. No more kids laughing and playing, no more grandmothers sitting outside smiling, watching the kids. As it got darker we began to seeing the darker side of drug and human trafficking. We again called on the name of Jesus for help and my pastor friend had an idea and went home to get his truck. As we sat and waited for my pastor friend to come pick us and the trailer up, a van with blacked out windows slowly pulled up and stopped. Anita and I looked at each other and said, “it’s been fun…” and we silently called on the name of Jesus. The window slowly rolls down and inside we see police officers, who say, “what are you doing here?” They needed to keep patrolling to protect and serve the people there, so they kept driving. No taxis would come to that area and definitely would not tow a trailer.  Finally, my friend came with a tiny Datsun truck to tow our giant 2 ton trailer loaded with chairs, tables, and grills… we loaded it up and Anita got in the cab with my friend and I rode on the hitch to make sure it didn’t come loose because the ball didn’t fit the trailer. We slowly drove through town with sparks flying from under the hitch with every bump as it bottomed out and scrapped the pavement. When we finally arrived home with our kids late that night we once again called on the name of Jesus praising Him for making it home alive and in one piece! 

Paul told the church he loved, that because of Jesus’ humility to come to the earth and save us, His Name would be powerful and above every name. He says, “For this reason God highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow — in heaven and on earth and under the earth — and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” ‭‭Philippians‬ ‭2:9-11‬ ‭CSB‬‬ What’s in a name? When we are fearful, we can call on the name of Jesus! When we are blessed we can call out praise to the name of Jesus! His Name is powerful and wonderful...above all names! 

Hang in there people, God is with us! I’m praying for you all!

Log Jam!*

 Photo: Fort Collins Science Center

My father and I were trying to clear the Tuckahoe creek that ran next to his house from a log jam caused by a flood. The creek flowed into the French Broad River which made it a perfect canoe landing place on our property after floating the river.  The creek normally flowed gently and freely, but a flood had made a debris pile that had backed up limbs and small trees washed downstream by the flood waters.  The blockage made the creek unusable for canoes.  My dad and I were in his canoe with a transom and motor on it. We agreed that he would operate the motor if I would hang over the front while wedging my body and legs in the canoe, grab the logs and pull them loose to float them down the creek and into the river. The first few dislodged easily, the next ones were a little more difficult, so we tied a rope to them and attempted to pull them with the canoe. They weren’t moving so I grabbed a hold of each one and began to shake them and yank them loose from the pile as Dad reversed the engine. It worked until one limb that was really jammed in there refused to release. I grabbed it and vigorously began to yank it; Dad would gun the motor as I yanked.  We then perfectly timed his revving and my tug on the limb just right. I gave my best karate k’ihap (this is the guttural shout forcing air from your lungs using your abdomen). I just knew this was going to un-wedge the limb from the pile this time. However, this stubborn branch did not move… but I did, it dragged me right out of the canoe and into the muddy debris filled (and occasionally snakey) water.  I came back out of the water laughing at my silly antics. I was ready to climb back in the canoe and try again, but the motor had also conked out. The rubbish floating in the water jammed the water cooling system and the motor locked up. So, we were done for the day and the logs stayed in the creek. 

As I think about my failed attempt to clear these logs from the creek, I am reminded of Jesus' words to us about being careful when we are offering reckless, unsolicited “accountability” (i.e. judgment) to someone.  “Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take out the speck that is in your eye,’ when you yourself do not see the log that is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brother’s eye.”(Luke 6:41-42 ESV) Sometimes we become myopic to the log jam of shortcomings and sin in our own life, but we can easily point out the failings of others.  This rarely works for either of us, because we have injured the very relationships that will allow us to remind each other of who we really are in Christ. When we come from a perspective of self-proclaimed superiority, we forget about the reality of our own failings. The truth is - every one of us is messed up and in need of Jesus to make us new and we need each other for encouragement in our faith journey.  I love the way Eugene Peterson’s thought for thought translation of Paul’s letter to new believers in Galatia says, “Live creatively, friends. If someone falls into sin, forgivingly restore him, saving your critical comments for yourself. You might be needing forgiveness before the day’s out. (Galatians 6:1 MESSAGE) 

Listening Wisdom!*

Photo credit: brianeccleshearing.co.uk

At one of my churches, I had arrived on staff with a big celebration. There was a parade with cars, firetrucks, and lights in the yard of the newly renovated parsonage. The congregation gave us a “pounding.” I was a little anxious about this. Because the only poundings I had received were in Middle School by the prevailing bullies at recess. This pounding however, was when they brought you a pound of some staple, i.e. a pound of sugar or flour, a pound of butter, or my kids favorite, a pound of their own breakfast cereal. In spite of the wonderful welcome, the church/pastor honeymoon ended pretty quickly. I had only been at this church for a couple of weeks when two couples were embroiled in a disagreement and they weren’t making any progress on resolution; instead each family was pretty insistent on convincing me to take their side. As a new pastor there, I decided to lean in and invite them all to my office to talk through it one Sunday afternoon. I knew I needed to address this interpersonal conflagration since it had literally disrupted Bible Study that day. I also wanted to include the chairman of deacons, a wise man who could possibly speak some wisdom and peace into this situation. I prayed then called the couples and asked them to meet at my office. They agreed. Then I called the chairman of deacons who lived down the street. He said he would be there. I began to pray that the Holy Spirit would guide our meeting, that our words would be pleasing to the Lord and helpful to reconciliation. Everyone arrived at the church, but somewhere in the mile and a half drive to the church the chairman of deacons had completely lost his voice. He had literally just spoken clearly to me on the phone when he was leaving the house, but he could not talk at all when he arrived. I do not know what happened but apparently he would end up being the example of one who listened well rather than speaking into the situation. I listened and spoke with the couples and we came to some resolutions to their issues… for the moment, because apparently it was a pretty deep seated and painful conflict and would resurface again in a few months.  

When James the half brother of Jesus was trying to help the early church remember how to treat each other now that they belonged to Jesus, he said,  “My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.” (James 1:19-20 NIV) Maybe we should all lose our voice temporarily, be more curious, and be quick to listen when there is a conflict. Jesus himself fulfilled Isaiah’s prophecy and remained silent before his accusers at his trial which would ultimately accomplish the salvation of many. He certainly could have spoken and silenced them all. 

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

Almost a train wreck!*

Once as a young driver, in my 1967 Convertible Mustang, my mind was doing what teens with undiagnosed ADHD do, it was all over the place. I was in traffic and late to something I should have left 15 minutes earlier for, but because I thought I owned the road, I had no doubt I could outsmart any traffic. I quickly made a decision to take an alternative route, thinking it would be faster. But, NOPE! There was actually more traffic on this street. Eager to make it through the next stop light, I didn’t notice the rather large sign that said, “Danger, Do Not Stop on Tracks!”  So, of course, the light turned yellow and I was shouting at the cars in front of me to keep going through the intersection, however, those drivers were also stuck in traffic.  So, there I was, front tires on one side of the tracks and back tires on the other. Then, it was like a movie… the lights began flashing, the safety arms came down and there I was right in the middle of the rails. I looked to my right and there was the train headed toward me. The train horn blared and I panicked. As the train approached, I had no place to go, forward or reverse in the bumper to bumper traffic.  The safety arms in front and back seemed to hold me in place as the metal serpent slowly slithered toward me.  Fortunately, it was not a speeding train, or I would not be here to tell you this story. It was a slow moving train, but moving it was. Each yard it came closer, I was imagining my life as a slow motion train wreck… being folded into my convertible like a metal taco. At the last moment inching forward and backward I was able to drive off the tracks just enough to not be hit by the train. The train operator was none too happy with me, blaring the horn as the 1000 tons of steel missed my little car by inches. So, I finally arrived at my destination with no blood in my face, humiliated, late, and shaky. 

King Solomon sharing his divinely gifted wisdom says, “Before destruction a man’s heart is haughty, but humility comes before honor.”(Proverbs 18:12 ESV) God has always been faithful to humble me when my arrogance begins to rise. Though often it involves devastating embarrassment and sometimes bodily injury, I am grateful, because it at least slows me down from running headlong into destruction and it shows me how much He loves me. The writer of Hebrews says this, “And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons: “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son.”(Hebrews 12:5-6 NIV-GK) We can be thankful when we are headed for a train wreck and God humbles us and takes us off the tracks. 

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

What Will You Harvest?*

My mother thought it would be a good idea to give my sister and me some diverse and character building experiences in our early teen years, so she worked it out with a family friend who had just bought a tomato farm for us to help with the harvest. The farm was in Walland, TN between Pigeon Forge and Maryville (pronounced “Murvul” by the locals). The tomatoes were headed for the cannery so we had to pick them when they were just starting to ripen, so they could continue to ripen on the truck and not spoil before they got there. The owner said, "turn the green tomato over before picking it and see if there is a red/pink star on the bottom.” This seemed easy enough to me. So, I was assigned a row and given a 5 gallon bucket to fill just like the 20 or so other migrant pickers. When the bucket was full, a runner would come down my row, pick it up and take it to the truck. By the way, I was much slower than the migrant workers who were experts and very fast. There were about 20 Hispanic workers who lived in one mobile home on the farm for the harvest season, before they would move on to live at the next farm to pick another crop. They were very hard workers and they were very kind to me and my sister.  They shared their homemade burritos with us at lunch time, They were so spicy and hot that they chuckled at us gringos when we asked for water (!Agua, Por favor!).  As we were picking, the owner said, “who is picking the green tomatoes? I thought this was funny, because they all looked green to me except for the red/pink star on the bottom. Well, they followed the buckets back the next round and identified me as the “green picker,” because all my stars were green, not red. It was at that moment I realized that I was red/green color blind. Guess who became the bucket carrier? Yep, the harvesters would yell, “bucket!” and I would run down the row with an empty bucket and exchange it for the full one, which I took to the tractor trailer truck and handed it up to the one who poured them gently in. The days were hot, so after a day of picking we would go to the cold mountain water of Walland Creek nearby to cool off before heading home to eat, sleep and do it again the next day. After a some days of bucket carrying, the owner decided it was a better idea to send me and my sister to the  farmers market to generate another income stream by selling the tomatoes too ripe for the truck. I think the real reason was because about 10 more workers had arrived from another farm and we were picking much too slowly and hindering the operation. 

 

The Apostle Paul encouraged the early church to keep going, keep picking good things to do and choosing to live right so they could enjoy a harvest of real life and true blessings from God. He says to the Galatian church, “Don’t be misled—you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant. Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit. So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up.” (Galatians 6:7-9 NLT)  It is our connection with the Spirit of God that changes who we are and how we live, so we can enjoy the blessings that come from those changes. 

 

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

Just Travelin' Through*

 

After my father’s early retirement from medicine and his 35 different missionary travels around the world, my mother found a piece of land on the French Broad River near Knoxville that she knew he would love. It was 18 acres of farm and woodland.  My father, realizing her brilliance, bought the land. Affectionately known as “Tuckahoe,” named for the creek that laves its north boundary line, we instantly knew God had blessed it. My father hunted, fished, farmed, built a log home and a barn, while he became the primary caregiver for my mother who declined there with Alzheimer’s for 17 years until her passing. The family loved and enjoyed my father’s soul refreshing place of solace. The rich bottom land had apparently been enjoyed by the indigenous people many years before, because we found many flint arrowheads when we tilled the garden. The property brought great joy to all those who came there. The peace that washed over you when you drove the gravel road, walked onto the wrap around porch and heard the river, dropped your blood pressure by 10 points. We canoed, tubed, waded, and fished in that cool rolling river. We hunted deer, turkey, and other game birds. We drove the old John Deere and helped plant and harvest the yearly garden. Writing this, I am filled with nostalgia for the life events we celebrated with family and friends there: birthdays, holidays, graduations, funerals, reunions. We also celebrated God’s creation itself from season to season, year to year, high water and low water, living and dying. We watched as bucks jousted in rut and as speckled fawns emerged in the Spring. We watched the spectacle of a firefly show, as millions of them covered the field in Spring… It was better than any firework show I have ever seen and much more calming.  A few years ago, tortured by the prospect of having to sell the place when my parents had both passed away, we tried to make the property a vacation rental. Though it was a popular spot that received high ratings, this became untenable, because it exhausted my sister, and I was in ministry a 1000 miles away and couldn’t help care for the place or the guests. After much prayer and wringing of hands we sold it. We decided it was time for someone else’s family to celebrate life and God’s creation there, while we continued cling tightly to the memories and tell the stories. 

 

As King David was speaking to Israel, he said, “We are here for only a moment, visitors and strangers in the land as our ancestors were before us. Our days on earth are like a passing shadow, gone so soon without a trace.” (1 Chronicles 29:15 NLT-SE) And the writer of Hebrews, speaking of heaven, picking up where the words of the Hebrew King left off, says, “For this world is not our permanent home; we are looking forward to a home yet to come.” (Hebrews 13:14 NLT-SE) My family is forever thankful for the blessings and memories from Tuckahoe, “Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart.” (Ecc. 3:11a) 

 

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

Do Not Worry About What You Will Eat.*

Growing up in my home, one of the ways my parents expressed love to the people they cared about was through food. My mother could cook anything… I used to open the pantry doors and didn’t see much, but when she opened them, she saw endless possibilities. She never seemed to worry because she could take a little of this and a little of that and make delightful meals. My dad could do the same thing with outdoor cooking. He could smoke, grill, and deep fry anything he found in the freezer. Anita’s family also liked to gather around the table to enjoy good meals, good conversation and lots of love. It was a generational thing. My grandmother was a wonderful cook and Anita’s grandmother loved to feed us until we were swoll up like a tick. When our kids were young, we tried to always gather around the table for a hot breakfast every morning and a hot meal for dinner every night. By the time my kids were teens, they began wanting to express how much they liked their friends by cooking breakfast for them. On Saturdays and Summer days, our kitchen became known as the IHOW (International House of Waffles) with the neighborhood kids who would come over for homemade waffle creations with fruit, chocolate chips, syrup, juice, milk and whatever else that made breakfast taste good. Anita always had some waffle mix and fixin's on hand. Occasionally there were “kitchen incidents” where something went wrong. One kitchen incident involved all my girls. We had an overused toaster oven (think 6 of us in the kitchen) and my youngest was reheating an over buttered waffle, which started a flame inside the toaster oven: My oldest and youngest daughters ran around the kitchen flailing their arms and screaming “fire, Fire, FIRE!” My middle daughter, who happened to be walking by the kitchen at that moment, simply unplugged the appliance, calmly opened the door, blew out the small flame like blowing out a candle, and kept walking. The other two just looked at each other, began laughing and fixed another waffle. 

 

God loves us all so much and shows that love when He provides for us in so many ways. When Jesus was talking to His disciples, He tells them to make a priority of loving God and people.  He tells them not to worry.  He reminds them that God knows what they really need and He will provide. He says, “So don't worry, saying, 'What will we eat?' or 'What will we drink?' or 'What will we wear?' For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you." Matthew 6:31-33 (CSB) One of the ways we can love each other well is preparing good food to share, thanking God for it, and enjoying it together. 

 

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