Who's the Enemy?*

Playbees Plastic Army Men Figures

 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!

Heat Relief!*

 

Credit: All Things Thrifty

One really hot Summer in Nashville, we tried to find ways to keep the kids cool and have some fun at the same time. This was before we had joined the East Nashville YMCA, a.k.a. The East Nashville Country Club. We had tried the wading pool and it provided some relief, but with 4 preschoolers the water was soon dirty and filled with grass clippings. However, the water quickly became hot from  solar heating, and maybe some swim diaper leakage… eeoowh! We decided we would try a place called Nashville Shores. It looked like loads of fun on the commercial, but when we checked the cost for a family of 6,  it meant we could either go to the water park or have groceries next week. In looking at the backyard of the parsonage, I thought, "That is a huge hill, why not make our own waterslide?"  I went to Walmart and looked at the pre-made 10 foot slip-n-slides, but they seemed so dinky. So, I went to HomeDepot and found a 100 foot roll of plastic sheeting, the thick stuff that wouldn’t tear. We unfurled the rolled up sheet of funness and turned the water on and tried to slide, but nope! Then we got a little dish soap (then baby shampoo for less eye discomfort) and just like that we had a water slide. I discovered that the soapy slide also replaced bath time, but only when Anita was not home. It had to be carefully placed in the yard because there was a big immovable rock that smarted a little when you hit it with your posterior gluteal area if not. We had hours of fun sliding down that redneck water slide and running back up the hill to do it again that Summer. Neighborhood kids would come by for slip-n-slide, pizza, whale crackers (the Aldi version of Goldfish), cheese sticks, and apple slices.  We would hang the big plastic on the fence to dry and allow the grass to grow back when we weren’t sliding. It was the perfect solution for Summer heat and boredom! 

 

According to the Disciple John in the book of Revelation, during the Great Tribulation, there will be a time that among other horrible things, the scorching heat of the Sun will be unbearable.  Unlike my temporary and short lived slip and slide solution, John says that Christ Himself will be a permanent relief and shelter from the harsh elements for those who belong to Him.  John says, “Therefore,   “they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence.

 ‘Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat down on them,’ nor any scorching heat.

 For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; ‘he will lead them to springs of living water.’ ‘And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.’”(Revelation 7:15–17) Air conditioners break down, droughts happen, slip and slides will rip, life on this earth can be sad and tough sometimes, but those who belong to God will be refreshed.  John the Revelator reminds us that Jesus, who loves us, will not forget us or abandon us. He will protect us and save us for all eternity, in spite of the things we may have to endure here on this earth. 

 

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

Made of the Mist!*

 

A little reminder to live humbly, because our lives are but a mist. We had moved to a Georgia town to engage in my first ministry out of seminary. The congregation was very kind and welcomed us well and the students and leaders in ministry were exceptional. One lady graciously let us live in her pool house until we could find a house to buy. We found a house that would satisfy all of the most important Real Estate factors that we had heard from my mother, who was a real estate agent who repeated: “The most important factor in real estate is: Location, Location, Location!” My father-in-law was also an expert house hunter who had bought several houses as a corporate nomad. God, and our parents' experiences had led us to wait patiently to buy a house while in seminary that was in the right place at the right price. We gave it some cosmetic TLC and realized a little equity in the couple of years of owning the house. In our new town, there was a great home in an established neighborhood that was the best choice of location, however, we also looked at a new build in a yet to be established neighborhood. We were enamored with the shiny clean and brand new everything. It had all the modern upgrades. Against all the wise advice and God’s inner urging, in our arrogance, we bought the brand new house. We enjoyed the house for a short time. Unfortunately, when it was time to sell this house after I was called to another ministry, the location was not the right location, location, location. The house sat vacant for almost a year, and we had to keep paying a mortgage. We finally took a huge loss.  Family, friends, and a church also sacrificially invested in trying to help us sell this house as we were a 1000 miles away. We couldn’t buy a house in our new city, because we were still tied to that house. We felt horrible. We knew the house God was leading us to buy, yet we said to ourselves, “we will buy this other one.” It was a painful lesson that injured several relationships with people who were special to us.  

James the brother of Jesus, tells those in the early church to be humble and listen to God’s wisdom and advice. He tells them, “Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.”(James 4:13–17) We definitely missed the mark on that house, and learned some difficult lessons. Living in the real world and making decisions based on our own prideful desires, ended up hurting us in several ways. Though I was Christian, I acted like a nominal God follower, one who says I have a relationship with Jesus, but not listening to Him when He spoke to me.  The painful consequences of ignoring God played out in our finances, our relationships, and even our ministry focus for the year of having the stress of an unsold house.  Nothing happens in a vacuum, our sin affects us spiritually and relationally, but also with missed opportunities in our future. James reminds us to walk humbly with God, because our lives are like the Niagara Falls boat, we are (Made) of the Mist! 

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

Finding God's Will in the Rough Times.*

 After some particularly rough years in ministry as pastor of a church in Nashville, I had determined to resign my position. The church had experienced a congregational split the year before I arrived. The part of the church that now remained had fired the last pastor in a public meeting because they didn’t like his preaching or leadership style and about 100 families who disagreed with what was happening walked out with the pastor that day too.  When I was asked to come lead the church, the search committee was up front about the incident and the challenges that remained. In my ignorance, I said, “how bad can it be?” and I accepted the position. I knew that this church was much more of a challenge when the “pastoral honeymoon” was over within 2 weeks, when normally they give the new guy a couple of months to settle in before hitting him with big problems.  We navigated those relationship challenges between two families and it seemed like there was some reconciliation between the two. However, the next challenges were not far behind. I was soon exhausted from being a weekly pastoral referee, as well as, writing and preaching 3 sermons each week. It was an older congregation so there were many hospital visits,  home visits and a funeral every few weeks. I also had a wife and four preschoolers who needed me at home.  This went on for about 4 years until one particularly rough Wednesday night business meeting. I had no energy left to navigate the seemingly insurmountable challenges and determined I was going to resign the next day. When I returned home, my wife and I had gotten the kids to bed and sat down in our den to watch TV before heading to bed.  It just so happened to be on a channel with a sermon by Charles Stanley. He was a pastor who had gone through many church challenges himself at the much larger, First Baptist Church of Atlanta.  As Dr. Stanley was preaching, he stopped preaching from the passage he had chosen for that day, looked straight into the camera and said, “The Lord just told me that right now there is a pastor out there, who is about to resign from his church. I am telling you that if you do, you will be outside the will of God.” Then he returned to his sermon. I was floored! Anita would not have believed it unless she heard it too. We looked at each other and laughed and cried at God’s intervention at that moment. I stayed another year before resigning during an aggressive takeover by another pastor I had hired. While we were at that church, God had done some amazing things: dozens of people had been saved, the church had shown some growth again, the sanctuary was remodeled, and we started a summer day camp in an effort to reach the neighborhood kids, many of whom didn’t look like our homogeneous congregation. God had also used this church experience to humble me and knock some hard edges off of my prideful self.  

The Apostle Paul tells us to offer ourselves as living sacrifices for God’s work. Paul knew that the way of the world was to self-protect.  Paul tells us that those who belong to Jesus don’t think that way.  He says living sacrificially opens our minds to knowing God’s will. He says, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” (Romans 12:2)  As God was working to renew my mind, He knew that I needed something so obvious that I couldn’t deny it was Him speaking to me. He had to speak to me through a pastor on television at the very moment I was about to step outside God’s will. Thank the Lord that He sometimes speaks to us even when we are too exhausted and hurting to realize we have not asked for His perspective on our situation. 

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

Need A Hand?*

 Need a hand? When I was a young boy, my parents took my sister and me to the amusement park. It was usually the one set up at the Tennessee Valley Fair. The Fair had huge pumpkins, produce, and prize livestock, but we were most interested in the flashy lights, rides, corn dogs, cotton candy, candied apples and the games. The corn dogs were great but they came with mustard and my junior palate was not yet ready for the spiciness I now enjoy, so my Dad wiped the mustard off with his handkerchief, which he forgot about when he later tried to blow his nose… oops, sorry Dad! The carnival games were strange to me, with people who called out to you and tempted you to play, then heckled you to do it again and again when you lost, only to try to win a giant prize that wouldn’t fit in the car even if you had won it. We loved going to the fair because there were so many things to see and do and we got to stay up past bedtime and ride the rides. There were many multicolored flashing lights and a Ferris wheel, flying swings, a big swinging ship and a thing we now call the “Tilt-a-hurl” rather than the Tilt-a-whirl, because it twisted and tilted and spun so fast that many people hurled their cookies. I think the amusement people hired teenagers who took just a little too much glee in how many people they could make sick. My earliest memory of riding any amusement ride was a giant spinning open topped circular cage that spun so fast that the centripetal force held you to the wall while the floor dropped out. The entire circular caged room with no top tilted and spun until the floor came back up under your feet and the ride came to a stop. My physician dad must have thought it would be fun for us to ride the human version of the centrifuge he used at his office that spun so fast that it separated the solids from the liquids and gas in various bodily fluids to help determine what was causing a patient’s illness. As the ride started I was standing against the wall next to my dad. I looked up at him, eyes wide with an excited but nervous smile. The RPM’s increased and we were spinning really fast, then the floor began to drop out slowly, most people were suspended against the wall with their bodies firmly stuck to the wall, but my scrawny little frame was not heavy enough and I slid down the wall as the floor dropped further and further. I looked up at my dad in panic, just as he was reaching down to grab me and keep me from being flung out into the crowd of TVA&I Fair goers, who were waiting to be spun around in the giant human juicer too. My Dad held fast to my hand and pulled me back up the wall as we waited what seemed to be an eternity for the floor to come back up and the ride to stop. I was shaken and scared, but it wasn’t long before I was ready to ride something else.

During this time when the world seems to be spinning out of control, we can feel too small to hang on and we fear being flung into the physical and emotional unrest of the disturbing political season in our country that seems to be fueled by distrust and fear, and the social unrest sparked by violent actions and reactions by so many different groups that has spiraled into hate. Our Rock, our Heavenly Father has more than enough weight and power to be our anchor when our footing is falling out from under us. He holds us through the spinning, and tilting and unrest and His grip on us is unwavering. The writer of Hebrews was concerned about God’s people, because there were many things that threatened the stability of their faith, so he tells them God is a trustworthy person in whom they can anchor their souls. He says, “God also bound himself with an oath, so that those who received the promise could be perfectly sure that he would never change his mind. So God has given both his promise and his oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie. Therefore, we who have fled to him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us. This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. It leads us through the curtain into God’s inner sanctuary. Jesus has already gone in there for us.” Hebrews 6:17-20a (NLT2) We gotta remember that when this spinning world is shaken that our Hope transcends this world. Our relationship with God through Jesus Christ is the most solid, most reliable reality we have. Nothing on earth is more important than this relationship and nothing is more reassuring when we feel like we are losing ground. We gotta quit looking at the floor falling out from under us as the things we once thought were so solid don’t seem to be, and we’re gonna hafta look up and reach up for God’s hand like our brother Peter when he was walking on the water.

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

Sharpening!*

Whittled Walking Cane from this Story

 In my early tween-aged years I learned to whittle. True whittlers can make such thin slices of wood they curl up.  Their knives are so sharp they can hold them loosely and still cut through wood like butter. I was fascinated by their skills.  Though a sharp knife seems dangerous, a dull one is even more so. My father, who provided my first pocket knife, also got me a sharpening stone. I was so excited about the knife, I whittled and whittled, but sharpening was not quite as exciting, so I didn’t shapen very often. On one of my father’s hunting trips, he found a small tree uprooted for some reason, so he put it in the Jeep Wagoneer, thinking it may be good for making a walking cane for someone. He cut it the right length for an average adult and asked me to whittle it smooth.  The handle was formed by the root. I was elated to carve that small tree. The shape already looked right, it just needed some whittling and sanding. One day when I was carving, I hit a knot and the knife stopped. The knot was in a critical spot so the walking cane could be gripped right. Instead of sharpening my knife and trying again, I chose to try and force it through the extra tough wood. The knot was also in an awkward spot, so the rule of “never put anything in front of your knife that you don’t want to be cut,” was one that I chose to ignore. I became impatient and held the wood in front of the knife exposing the tips of my fingers. Yep, it happened, I sliced off the very end of my ring finger and blood was going everywhere. I grabbed a rag and put pressure on it and ran to show my parents. My father, who was a physician,  took a look at it and determined that because of the way I sliced it, that it could not be sutured. It would just have to heal over the raw flesh. I was in whittling “time-out” until my finger healed. I still have that smooth straight cane that was finally completed and my finger eventually healed up so you can’t see the scar all these years later, but there were life lessons of patience, diligence and skill development that I wish I could say I learned that day. Unfortunately, those character traits require some maturity that doesn’t come easily. 

The words of the wisest man who ever lived help us remember, “If the ax is dull and its edge unsharpened, more strength is needed, but skill will bring success.” (Ecclesiastes 10:10) King Solomon, in his book called the “Preacher,” reminds us of the importance of taking the time to sharpen our skills when we take on a task. I would say this is especially true in the challenge of nurturing healthy relationships. Difficult conversations can easily become harmful by word choices, tone of voice, and the force of will to just “power through it.” By valuing the personal relationships more than desiring just to win the conflict, we can take care to prevent personal injury and avoid putting that person in the dangerous path of our unhoned conflict resolution skills.  Another of Solomon’s proverbs reminds us, “The words of the reckless pierce like swords, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.”(Proverbs 12:18) Oh how often I need this reminder! 

 

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

Wedding Ring Zing!*

Driskill Hotel: photo cred. The Knot (not the couple mentioned in this story)

 As a pastor, I have had the tremendous honor of performing around 100 weddings in my years of ministry. I have also had the wonderful privilege of officiating the nuptials for all four of my own children. Each of those were wonderful and memorable in their own way.  Most of my weddings came as a young adult pastor in a large church more than 20 years ago when many couples from around the city chose our church as their wedding venue. That church had 3 unique wedding venues that were booked more than 40 weekends each year. However, one wedding, years ago, at the historic, iconic, Driskill Hotel in Austin was one I won’t forget. It was a beautiful wedding, just the bride and groom with a best man and maid of honor and about 50 people in attendance. The couple was very young. In the pre-marital counseling, I had pressed them pretty hard about their responses on their Prepare/Enrich Marriage Inventory (a tool I use to help me get an idea of where the couple’s relationship stands). Their answers to me seemed honest and mature enough to give me some assurance that they would be willing to do the hard work required for a marriage to stand the test of time.  The petite blushing bride had on a multi-layered ruffled crinoline petticoat hoop dress with about a 3 foot radius, the groom had to reach over it to hold her hand. Everything was going well, until we arrived at the exchange of rings. The best man was stressed out, shaking, and sweating.  Sure enough, when he tried to hand me the Bride’s ring, he dropped it and it hit the beautiful tile floor and Zing!.. it shot right up under that giant dress. The bride was frozen, afraid of stepping on them. Everyone looked at me in a panic. So I dropped to my hands and knees and began pushing the dress layers back like looking for something under curtains. About the time I found the ring, I realized how inappropriate this must have appeared. The audience began to laugh, the bride giggled, and my face turned beet red.  I chuckled at myself and attempted to return some decorum to the service. In the end, the couple was married, the crowd cheered,  and they always had a story to tell when anyone asked about their wedding day. 

In a rough time in history, when God’s people had embarrassed themselves and forgotten how to act right as God’s representatives, God had disciplined them significantly enough to get their attention and encouraged them to turn back to Him and get back on track.  The Prophet Isaiah was telling them that God could make all things right again.  He says, “I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. For as the soil makes the sprout come up and a garden causes seeds to grow, so the Sovereign LORD will make righteousness and praise spring up before all nations.” (Isaiah 61:10–11) Sometimes embarrassment is a good thing because it reminds us that we have lost sight of what is appropriate and can urge us back to a right relationship with God. 

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

Fireworks and Fiery Words!*

 As a young man, I may not have been the sharpest knife in the drawer when it comes to fireworks. I loved lighting the tiny little fuse and waiting for the big BOOM! Something about the smell of the gunpowder that excited me as a young boy and the thought of blowing up small things. Even when I didn’t have fireworks, I had learned that if you put “strike anywhere” match heads in the nut between two bolts and drop it on its end, it would explode with a loud noise and shoot the bolts into the air… (unless you twist the bolts too tightly and it blows up before you drop it… you wanna know how I know that?) Now the warning on the side of the Roman Candles says “do not hold in your hand, light and get away,” obviously did not apply to me, especially when my college friends and I would shoot them at each other. Any time we passed a firework stand we bought a few to make the evenings interesting. You would think that having a firecracker blow up in my fingers as a 10 year old would have cured my recklessness with the small incendiary devices, however, that was not the case. There were many fireworks launched by me and others that I wish I could have brought back, but that is impossible once the fuse is lit.  My friends almost burned down my bestman’s neighborhood at my bachelor party while shooting Roman candles at each other without considering that a dead and dried up 20 foot evergreen tree was in the blast area.  The resulting conflagration could be seen throughout his fancy neighborhood and the heat was so intense that we couldn’t approach it. Fortunately, by the time someone got the presence of mind to grab a garden hose, the fire had lessened considerably. I was just glad it wasn’t close to the house and that the grass was green and well watered. I did finally get some sense and better judgment when my own kids were young, but the firework danger was just as present.  At one family gathering some nephews decided to shoot some bottle rockets into my dad’s field that had been cut, but not yet baled. The hay ignited immediately. If not for the quick thinking of my niece, who grabbed a water hose and dowsed the flames, the whole field, and neighboring fields, houses, and barns could have been destroyed as the wind was whipping that night. 

In the early church, apparently there were some people who were “shooting off at the mouth” saying harmful and hurtful things to other people and not considering the consequences of their verbal recklessness. Their words, once spoken, like a lit Roman Candle, could not be retracted. So, James the half brother of Jesus, gave this reminder to God’s people: “Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.” (James 3:5–6) Sometimes we all need to be reminded to be careful about our words. Our words, carelessly launched into the lives of those around us can be so destructive, some to be remembered for a lifetime, even in spite of our attempts to take them back later. Our words can also be like gasoline or water on a fire of gossip.  So let’s be careful out there, with our fireworks and our words. 

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

Wasp Stings and Other Things!*

Credit: Britannica

 

When I was in Middle School, my father bought a mini-farm. It was a plot of about 7 acres on the Little River just outside of Knoxville. It had a little farmhouse, a garage that also pretended to be a small barn, a smokehouse and a boat dock. It was a place where boys could grow up, get some bumps and bruises from hard work, learn about planting and harvesting a garden, about the circle of life, and about God’s blessings. Where a kid could eat a cherry right from the tree, catch a catfish, pick a salad of bibb lettuce, green onions and a tomato.  I started growing some calluses (in the form of blisters) from using a shovel. My dad gave me a task with our new land. The smokehouse had to come down, it was falling apart and was an eyesore. So, I was given a crowbar. I started pulling boards off the little dilapidated shack that no longer smoked meat. This promised to be a fun exercise for a kid who loved to build with blocks then knock them down. As I was pulling down a board, I hit a wasp nest. They came flying out… mad as hornets. As I ran away one landed on my arm. I was paralyzed in anticipation of the pain that was coming. It felt like I was in slow motion. I couldn’t even swipe it off my arm. I watched as that wasp sat down on my arm, stinger first. My eyes welled up with tears and blurred out what happened next as that little devil stung the fool out of me.  My mother saw what happened and came to check on me. She brought a wet cloth and consoled me. This was the first of bites, stings, and bruises that I would experience on this new-to-us mini-farm. That would do it for the demo until Dad could dispatch the angry wasps and help me complete the task. I went to sit on the dock and watch the slow roll of the lazy river, the occasional fish jump, feel the embrace of the large trees and rolling green hills around me, and feel the cool breeze as my arm throbbed. After several minutes, I was throwing rocks into the water and looking for a worm to fish with. I’m thankful for parents who let me try things, and get bee stings, but also that they were there offering compassion and help when challenges beyond my capacity came. 

The prophet Isaiah tells God’s people that they will have hardships, but that God will comfort them and see them through. He tells them: “For this is what the LORD says:  “I will extend peace to her like a river, and the wealth of nations like a flooding stream; you will nurse and be carried on her arm and dandled on her knees.As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you; and you will be comforted over Jerusalem.” When you see this, your heart will rejoice and you will flourish like grass; the hand of the LORD will be made known to his servants, but his fury will be shown to his foes.”(Isaiah 66:12–14) The Bible doesn’t say God won’t give us more than we can handle, but that He will be with us through those challenges.  If we never face a difficulty that is bigger than us, what need would we have for God? God does let us endure hardships to grow us in maturity and enrich our relationship with Him. He sees us, He hears us, He is glad to be with us, He loves us, and He wants to do good things for us. (Jim Wilder) We can trust His love for us even through wasp stings and other things. 

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

A Counting or Accounting?*

 

As a seminary student, I volunteered and interned in the student ministry at a local church. One mission trip took about 100 students and adult leaders to the mountains of Colorado. We helped some churches there while learning and growing together in Christ. We generally did our mission/ministry work in the mornings and had a few hours in the afternoon of free time to hike and explore the mountains around our camp and lodge, then we had a worship and reflection time in the evenings. One particular day there were 25 of us hiking around the top of this mountain. It was beautiful, but we could see a rain storm quickly approaching. We began sprinting down the trail toward the camp, but this storm caught us on the side of the mountain. It was raining buckets of water, the wind was blowing hard enough to make the rain sting, and there may have even been some small hailstones. Some of us found a small ledge to crawl under until the worst had passed. Students and adults talked excitedly about the storm and what we had seen and experienced as the rain turned to a sprinkle and was gone as quickly as it came. We headed, cold and soaking wet, toward camp. As the leaders began to take a mental roll call of the students who came with us, we knew we had them all.  One young lady, however, noticed her friend was struggling to keep up and seemed a little confused, so she let an adult know. The nurse who had hiked with us, instantly recognized that the girl was on the verge of a diabetic coma. The girl had brought a rescue candy bar in case her blood sugar got too low, but in the excitement of the storm, she forgot to eat it and had gotten to the point where she could not even chew it. We had her sit down on a rock as her eyes started to roll back in her head. The quick thinking nurse asked the kids if they had any juice. One kid said, “I do!” The nurse helped the girl get her mouth open and sip the orange juice, all the while, telling her loudly, to “stay with us!,” and “keep drinking!” and “you are going to be okay!” The kids and other adults began to pray. After several scary minutes the girl responded and began to rouse. She was able to get her blood sugar back up and we helped her back down the mountain to the lodge. She was able to enjoy the rest of the week and return home safely. 

 

The writer of Hebrews reminds us that leaders are “those who must give an account” for their flock. When the apostle Peter was talking to the early church leaders, he was reminding them of their role as shepherds who take care of the flock. They are not just sheep counters, they take account of the condition of those in the flock. He says to the leaders, “Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, watching over them—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve…” (1 Peter 5:2) When I think of a good shepherd, I think of that nurse, who “just happened” to be on that trip as an adult leader, and take that particular hike, and recognized the signs of hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) and knew what to do, so that the story ended well. God sent her to be the good shepherd representing the Good Shepherd (i.e. Christ) in those moments. There may be friends around us who need someone to notice them struggling physically, emotionally, or spiritually. God may be entrusting us, to help them in some way, not just count them as friends, but give account for their wellbeing.  Be listening for His leading.

 

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

No Sleep For Your Eyes!*

 I was reminiscing a few days ago with Chad, a co-laborer in Christ. He had joined my adult leadership team in my first ministry out of seminary. I was the student minister, he was a big hearted skilled craftsman, whose faith had recently been radically revived. The church had an exceptional group of kids and an adult leadership group that was fantastic. On our first mission trip, I took these kids to Cordele, Georgia to help a seminary friend, Ira, who was a church planter. His church start was in the government assisted housing neighborhood he had grown up in. The first night of this mission trip, Ira took us to his old neighborhood in our church van towing a trailer and had us park right in the middle of the community. He asked if he could stand on top of the van and borrow our portable sound system to address the crowd. We said, “sure.” We all prayed and he instructed us that when he finished a short sermon we could go meet the neighbors and invite their kids to our Vacation Bible School. But the moment he climbed on top of the van and people began to come outside their apartments to listen, he said the Lord overwhelmed him and he began to prophesy against some of the people in that community. He called them by name and told them to repent. One man in particular, he called by name and told him if he did not repent the Lord would prevent him from sleeping. Ira said, “no sleep will touch your eyes until you turn to the Lord, and repent from your sins.” That man and some others yelled back at Ira, telling him to shut up and go away.  Once my friend came down from the top of the van we sang a hymn and left quickly. Obviously, after that our VBS plans were changed and we wouldn’t be going back to that community. We completed our week helping my friend clean up his rented building, hosting a very small VBS, and helping him host a revival night at his church. Some people came to Christ that revival night, but I never knew what came of those he had prophesied against, until now, 30 years later.  Chad told me that a couple of years after I had returned to Texas to another ministry position that he, by chance, was at a gas station somewhere in Georgia when a man came up to him saying he needed a little money for an alternator for his car so he could get home. He had most of the money but he needed $20 more. Chad helped the man and as they talked and walked to the auto parts store, Chad discovered that the man was from Cordele, GA. Chad told the man he had been to Cordele on a mission trip. The man stopped him and said, did you have a preacher on top of a van with a trailer behind it? Chad said, “yes!” The man said, “that preacher on top of the van told me I wouldn’t sleep until I repented. It was true, I was a drug dealer and a pimp, I was a bad man.” He said, I couldn’t sleep, no matter what I tried. He said he tried lots of alcohol… no sleep! All kinds of pills… no sleep! He became so miserable he tried overdosing, but still no sleep! He said he finally went to the church and repented from his sins and was saved that day. 

The biblical prophet, Jeremiah, tells us that true prophets of God are known by their prophecies coming true (Jer. 28:9). And when God is speaking to Ezekiel, He tells him: “As for you, son of man, your people are talking together about you by the walls and at the doors of the houses, saying to each other, ‘Come and hear the message that has come from the LORD.’ My people come to you, as they usually do, and sit before you to hear your words, but they do not put them into practice. Their mouths speak of love, but their hearts are greedy for unjust gain. Indeed, to them you are nothing more than one who sings love songs with a beautiful voice and plays an instrument well, for they hear your words but do not put them into practice. “When all this comes true—and it surely will—then they will know that a prophet has been among them.” (Ezekiel 33:30–33) Wow, I hope we are never the ones who come just to hear good music or a gifted communicator, but never listen to God’s reminders of how we are to treat Him and other people if we really love them, then end up on the wrong end of God’s prophecy.  God loves us too much to let us stay in sin, so He is gracious to pursue us and give us grace when we repent. 

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