Poor Theology?

I mentioned a couple of blogs ago about the importance of having a God who never gets tired of hearing us ask "Why" when it's part of our pursuit of knowing Him better. When you have been blessed to have had some incredible teachers through the years, those incredible teachers sometimes become so idolized that they become the personification of truth. That's a problem that students must work through not the teacher. Any teacher worth their salt wants to point their listeners in the right direction, motive them to further study, and create a seeking mindset that will sick with the student through their life. A some point, each of us must discover God's will, the truth, for ourselves or it will continue to be a borrowed theology rather than an owned theology.
For example, several of us were challenged the other day about which day of the week the Lord's Supper is supposed to be taken. I was taught that our practice of Sunday only communion was the only biblically correct view that any doctrinally correct Christian could possibly have. After all, we've always done it that way, the Church Fathers said it was done that way, and the early church, according to Acts 20:7, came together on the first day of the week to break bread. Done deal! Biblical example = biblical command = restoration of NT practices.
Why would anyone dare question it? It's poor theology, that's why. Acts 20:7 says they broke bread, and it's our tradition (and reverse interpretation - imposing what we believe on the Bible) that declares this verse to be talking about the Lord's Supper. Any really good commentary will say that "It's traditionally believed that this was the communion," but NO ONE knows that for sure. Jesus gave it to us on Thursday night and Paul reminds us of that in 1 Corinthians 11 without pausing for heart beat to point out, "But now we do it on Sunday." Not only that, the Acts 20 story is taking place on Saturday evening, when Sunday day began at 6 P.M.. As far as the Church Fathers go, what Christians did in the second and third century is a long way from what happened in the first half of the first century. Do you know how long it takes for a church practice to become a tradition and thus law? I've always said it takes about three weeks of doing it the same way without change.
There is no "church ordinance" example in Acts 20:7. When you start out looking for ceremonial acts of worship that we assume must be part of a "formal worship time," we find them. Unfortunately, we got that presupposition from Catholicism not Restorationism.
Jesus took the most common elements from every meal of that day, and said, use these tools to remember my physical body given for you and the Body you have become as my church, and "whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes." It was a simple meal to be used as a simple tool to help the followers of Jesus remember who they live for - anytime they choose to use it. In the New Testament it was always part of a common meal and according to Acts 2, they were doing that daily.

Back Home

We are back from being gone four days to a retreat at Paris Landing State Park in TN. It is one of the true highlights of each year for us as we get to see lots of old friends and have several days of spiritual feasting. The picture above is one I took Wednesday evening as a group from Alabama called the Southside Singers performed for our retreat group. They were great and I'm sure they haven't done many programs for a group as ready to "rock out" as our group was. We really enjoyed their singing.
While we had a wonderful retreat, it's good to be back home and we're looking forward to sleeping in our own bed. And, of course, we managed to hit our favorite Mexican restaurant in Florissant for lunch. It helps when you leave TN at 6 A.M. and don't stop. Isn't it amazing how it's the little things in life that you enjoy the most? Salsa makes my wife happy, and when she's happy...

Why?

This little baby bunny kept me quite entertained this morning as I sat on our porch swing cooling down from our morning hike. It was so young it didn't know to run, and it it just continued to feed and to preen itself about ten feet away from me. God's creation is amazing. Even looking at that cute little bunny, I found myself asking God why he made that little creature the way he did. That made me think of how many questions one of my grand children might ask if they were sitting beside me. I could hear all the "why's" coming faster than any parent or grandparent could answer. It made me think of a statement I made in my lesson yesterday morning. "We have a Father who never gets tired of us asking why." That is especially true if our "why" is coming from a heart that is seeking to know him better. It has been a truck load of "why's" that has driven me to discover things about God, His Word, and His plan that I never had seen in all the past years of my spiritual journey. Enough "why's" will send you all the way back to "In the beginning" and even beyond that, because the Bible tells us that God "planned" before the creation of the world, to do whatever it took to allow us a chance at an eternal relationship with Him. Talk about amazing? I'm thankful for a Father who wants me to ask "why".

Selective Forgiveness?

Did you ever notice that we tend to think of forgiveness in terms of what someone has personally done to us. Just mention the word "forgiveness" and your mind automatically goes to the people in your past who hurt you, offended you, or in some way did something that caused you to make a conscious decision to forgive them. Forgiveness isn't a option if your goal is to please God. He made it clear that we only get it if we give it. But, it's much more than a chosen response to personal injury by others. Forgiveness must be an attitude, a spirit, an inseparable part of our character - if we truly want to be like Jesus.
Maybe the key is learning to be a forgiving person as a natural response to anyone who - well, just ticks you off, gets your goat, and/or daily causes you grief and stress. Here are some people I need to forgive.
* People who don't use their turning signals
* People who walk through the mall talking loudly to the box stuck in their ear
* Folks who DON'T turn off their cell phones at the movies
* Christians who say un-Christ-like things about my President (past or present)
* Crazy people who text and drive
* Those who misuse scripture to justify their traditions or their preferences
* Friends who don't tell you there's a problem
* Drivers who risk lives to get one car length ahead
* Smokers who make my clothes stink when I leave the restaurant
* Today? Colorado Rockies players who hit home runs in the ninth inning

Transfiguration?

What was with that whole "Transfiguration" thing in Mark 9? I've always wondered about that. It just seemed so strange and unrelated to what was happening in the narrative of Jesus, but, hey, it's got to be important or God wouldn't have included it - right? It really is an amazing part of the Gospel story. Even with all the miracles, teaching, and personal time together, the apostles had a lot of things they were unsure about. They didn't exactly shout out in unison that "You are the Christ" when Jesus asked them "Who do you say I am". They were totally disconnected with his prophetic words about his suffering, his death, and his resurrection. Remember? Peter even rebuked him for saying such discouraging and "un-leadership-like" things.
I suggested Sunday that the Transfiguration of Jesus was a "Let me show you something" event for Peter, James, and John. Jesus was glorified, affirmed by Moses and Elijah - the symbols of the Law and the Prophets, and he was confirmed by God Himself, who professed Jesus as His Son and the only One they need to listen to. In fact, the whole event is pretty well summed up by the words of God: "Listen to Him!"
The three apostles were scarred to death! Peter wanted to build ceremonial shelters for Moses, Elijah, and Jesus, but the voice of God made it clear that what He wanted was for them to pay very close attention to His Son.
I wonder, is there a lesson there for us? Are we sometimes tempted to build ceremonial shelters when what we really need to do is just listen to Jesus? I'm not talking about church building, but about missing the point. What ever we do, as individual children of God or together as the Body of Christ, must be about Jesus. We must be about the business of learning more about Him and becoming more like Him, either of which are helping us draw closer to Him.
Forget the shelter building and the control of fear, and as God said, "Listen to Him!"

Cardinal's Game

We decided Thursday that it was past due time for us to take in a Cardinals game. We've only been to one since they opened the new stadium. One big incentive was having a nice cool evening ahead. So I got us some good seats just past the first base line. Donna took these pictures, and we both agree that we need to do it again.

During pre-game warm ups, several of the Cards were fairly close to us on the field. Here's "The Man" doing some short jogs out on the grass.

This, of course, is the real star of the game. Fred Bird did a little entertaining just in front of our seats. We were on the seventh row.

This is a great picture Donna took just as Albert hit his home run, the only real highlight for the Cards all night. Unfortunately, they lost.

Here is Albert just after crossing the home plate after his HR. Fun night! Come and visit us and we'll go see a game together.

Camp Jesus?

I've always said that one of my goals in preaching is to cause people to think. Thinking about a lesson after hearing it, is what gives it legs - makes it last longer than the minutes it took to share it. Sometimes, even when I'm working on the next lesson, something from the previous lesson keeps bouncing around in my mind like a golf ball on concrete. Last Sunday I made this point in my introduction. "At some point we must stop being campers for Christ and start being soldiers of the King." I was talking about Jesus preparing his apostles for his approaching arrest and death, and why he was challenging them to profess who they thought he was. They had been with him for a long time, enjoyed his mentoring, and been amazed at his miracles, but they hadn't truly been called on to do much or risk much. I described them as having been to Camp Jesus, and now it was time to move on to the next step of their spiritual journey.
A faith that never causes discomfort, sacrifice, or loyal obedience is a faith that is still at Camp Jesus. Soldiers must learn to be uncomfortable, do without, and carry out the mission regardless of the cost.
What has your church experience been like so far? Most of us would have to say that we've been enjoying Camp Jesus for a long time. Every time we have discussions about how to keep everyone happy with our assemblies, or how how to make it more comfortable for members to attend at times that work better for them, I wonder - how long will camp be in session? When do we dare start being soldiers of the King? When do we start expecting it of ourselves and members?
Just something to think about - so I'm not the only one thinking about it.

Smelling Sand & Sea?

Okay, so we don't have any self-control. We decided we couldn't wait two years before we took another BIG vacation. It's been our plan since the mid 90's to take a good vacation every two years (to give us time to save or pay it off), but the combination of REALLY enjoying that two week vacation this past year in a warm climate in the dead of winter, and the lowering of prices to attract people like us, and well, we just want to do it. We doing a 14 Caribean cruise that leave January 31 and stops at some great places - all warm. Doesn't sound so exciting in the Summer, but come January, it will sound sooooo good. We've got a couple of friends going with us, and we've also decided that who you're with is more important than where you go. So if you'd like to go with us - come on! Check it out on Princess.com and click on the search cruises tab. Click on Caribean, 8-15 day, January 2011. You'll find it. There's only one doing that on Jan. 31st. We fully expect them to come out with some better deals on this cruise as it gets closer to it, and we'll simply have them do what's called a "re-fare" where they re-book you at the lower fare even if you're already booked - and we are. Contact me if you have any questions.

Up Tight? Out of Sight!

In a day and time when we spend so much effort on feeling safe and secure, it may be difficult to know what are fears really are. Besides, when it comes to fear, we tend to think of big, major, life-threatening possibilities rather than the deep fears we carry in our hearts 24/7. When you think about it, however, it's really quite easy to determine what our fears are. All you have to do is think about what causes you stress in life. Stress comes from what we fear whether real or imagined. What makes you anxious or what do you worry about? Things you fear. And very few of those fears involve life-threatening monsters, bad guys, or catastrophic events. It's usually things that have to do with our doubts, our weaknesses, our insecurities, and our imaginations. What causes most of us stress in life is the fear of failure, fear of rejection, fear of criticism, fear of disappointing others, fear of being judged, and the fear of not being respected, appreciated, and loved by others.
Do you notice a theme in these fears? Others. We have such a strong drive to receive the affirmation of others that we fill our life with stress trying to get it. The stress of trying to look right, talk right, act right, and just BE RIGHT, so others will like us, admire us, and affirm that we are "worthy" of their praise - robs us of the peace and contentment God wants us to have. Oh - we can't completely avoid it, but at some point, "others" have to take a back seat to God. And the amazing thing is, when we please him, what others think about us isn't so important any more, and when that happens, all of a sudden a great deal of life's stress vanishes and we begin to enjoy "the peace that passes understanding" (that means "others" don't get it).
So, is it safe to say that if we want a good evaluation of where we are in our journey to a deeper relationship with God, we only need to look at our level of stress to see how we're doing? Hey, if "love casts out fear," doesn't that mean it also casts out stress too? Didn't Jesus say something about not fearing anyone in this world, but fearing the One who can "destroy both body and the soul"?
My stress is defined by my fears, but my only fear should be that I disappoint my Father. When that becomes our only fear, what do you think will happen to the stress of life?

Inspired By God?

Twenty-five years ago, if I had been asked, "Does God inspire people today?", I would have been alarmed that anyone would dare to ask such a question. It would have violated all my rational, theological, and fundamentalist training, and would have given me visions of Pentecostalism, spiritualism, and, at the very least, liberalism. I would have immediately thought about all the verses I could quote about being "thoroughly furnished" and "given all things" and "rightly dividing the Word of truth." All of which have nothing to do with the question. Inspiration does not mean new revelations, nor does it threaten existing revelation, or mean it's in anyway inadequate or incomplete.
Why do so many people find it so hard to believe that God can put something into your heart? Yes, we all know the horror stories about "crazy people" who think God was talking to them, calling on them to do something terrible. Those are extreme cases involving psychologically impaired people. Does that mean God doesn't put thoughts into our hearts? We have no problem (usually) believing that Satan can. He's the Tempter! What good is a Tempter who can't even get you to think about what he's tempting you with? Is God limited simply because He has given us His message about His plan for redeeming man? Should our fear of things unknown, things like the Holy Spirit, prevent us from hearing something God might put into our hearts? Where do "good thoughts" come from? Isn't being "moved with compassion" a Christ-like quality that God fosters, encourages, and helps with? When that pull hits your heart telling you that you ought to do something, is that just your conscience speaking or is it God speaking through your conscience? What does He mean when He tells us "draw near to God and He will draw near to you"? If prayer is communication with God, has He already said all He's going to say?
I don't have to understand how it all works, but God putting godly ideas into our heart - ideas that are also proclaimed in His written Word - is totally consistent with His nature and His Word. How can we have "the mind of Christ" and not be tuned into God? There is nothing in the Bible that says that God can't inspire or guide us through our thinking, our talking, and our writing. He's not going to inspire anyone to think, say, or write anything that contradicts what He's inspired others with in the past, but that doesn't mean He's stopped doing it!
Did Paul know he was writing under the inspiration of God? His reference to "scripture" to Timothy is talking about the Old Testament. Did he know that He was writing something that would become "God's Word" for all time? I think the answer is "no" both times, but it doesn't change our believe that God was inspiring him.
I love what Paul said to the Corinthians in his second letter. He said, "I thank God, who put into the heart of Titus the same concern I have for you." (8:16) I don't believe he was talking about a special miraculous indwelling of the Holy Spirit in Titus beyond what every child of God has. (Acts 2:38)
Just maybe, if we'd give God a little credit for the godly thoughts we have, we might be a little more motivated to follow through on those thoughts instead of seeing them as merely "one option".
Is it possible that He has directly and personally answered our prayers, but we didn't recognized that it was Him speaking?
Wow! Now why did I write this?

Cast Picture

This is the official cast & crew photo for Fearless: The Story of Esther. Ben Lanterman has taken pictures for us every year and he does a super job. He brought the DVD of pictures he's taken to my office last week and there are over 800 pictures on the two disks. He really is very professional and does some awesome work. The hard part is trying to decide which pictures to use for our official picture collage in the hallway of the church building. I can only put 10 or twelve in it. Oh, just an FYI, only one person was missing for the cast picture, so I asked Ben if he could Photo Shop that person into the cast picture. He did. Can you figure out who it is?

My next blog (I think) will deal with the question: Does God inspire people today? What do you think? I'll tell you what I think tomorrow - or the next day at the latest.

Lesson From The Porch

This is the view from where I sit on our porch each morning as I cool down from our walking. No, this isn't about the porch. If you look real close, in the middle, you'll see what keeps me entertained most of the time when I sit out there. I always love watching one of our visiting cranes (Blue Heron), but lately I've been enjoying watching the battle of the floating tire.

You can't see much of it, but you can see the turtles resting on it. A couple months ago, this tire suddenly appeared in our pond. Well, after all, it really is just a holding tank for rain run off. I didn't like looking at it and thought about rigging up a grappling hook to snag it and pull it out. The turtles love it - I guess. Every minute of the day there is a constant positioning battle going on as turtles crawl up on to the tire, and one another, to find a place to rest and get some rays. I mean turtles of all sizes, colors, and shapes. I never knew we had so many in the pond. They load up the tiny space above water, someone moves, and splash - they're all in the water and it starts again. What makes it even more interesting is that the tire is not anchored. It obviously has some muck and mud in the base of it, but if the turtles get it overloaded or out of balance - it rotates and dumps 'em all. Then they start all over again.

I caught myself in mid-laugh this morning as it dawned on me how much those turtles reminded me of mankind's constant attempt to seek preeminence, comfort, and success in a world that will, at some point, dump them like the turtles in my pond. Lessons? Climbing over one another? Repeating the same mistake over and over? Knocking everyone else off to open the way up for yourself? Following others to achieve success and ending up in the drink? Ignoring the need for balance in life? And, well, you get the picture.

They are turtles who only follow their instincts. They can't reason and make wise choices. What's our excuse? Kind of makes you want to crawl into a shell.

Thoughts On Thursdays

Tonight we will have our first Thursday evening at home since February. Why? Because we've had our play rehearsals every Thursday night since the first Thursday in March. As much as I'm looking forward to having a nice, quiet, and undemanding evening tonight, I already miss our rehearsals. It's a lot of hard work, but when you get to be with people you love and enjoy being with, and when you're sharing a mission that you all are very passionate about, it's a joy not a burden. In fact, everything about our musical production is a living illustration of our church Purpose and Steps. Our Purpose is "Helping people develop a deeper relationship with Jesus," and the play does that on multiple levels. We do it to share a message from the Bible and touch people in ways that only a musical can. We introduce hundreds to the Lord's work in this place, and invite them to see how much we love one another and are working together to glorify Him. The process of working together builds loving relationships between all the cast and crew and give us all a sense of accomplishment and shared experiences that bond us even more.
Our Steps of spiritual growth are clearly seen too. People Connect with one another. Many times it is people connecting for the first time even though they've been in the same building together for years. And, as mentioned, we grow in love for one another as we get to know and appreciate each other more. Through our labors, laughs, and evening ending devotional time, we have a special bond that truly makes us Care deeply for one another, and thus, become very Committed to our task.
Connecting, Caring, and Committing, are really just steps to relationship building - whether it's with one another, or with God. If the church is not helping that to happen, it's not functioning as God intended for it to function. Putting together a musical performance about the story of Esther is just one tool to help those involved draw closer to Jesus. I am thankful that we have it - and it works.

Random Pictures

The Odd Couple, or as we know them - Art & Leonard, do their Bigthana & Teresh song that made their trip to the hangman seem hilarious. By the way, they won the Best Duet Award for the play at the cast party.

Little Miss Ashlyn waiting her turn to run through the yard sprinkler. She was smart enough to not go near it while the boys were running through it. It's a trust thing.

This is a picture I took while we watched the bigger grand kids play in the sprinkler. Deborah is holding her nephew, our grandson, Curtis, who has really turned into quite a sweet & polite little fellow - not to mention handsome.

What can I say? With a face like that, how could you not give Daniel anything he asked for?

Just another day at the C of C - NOT! This was my rendition of Bad Bad Haman Brown that I sang with the chorus as part of the play. Probably won't do that again...but it was fun.

This is a picture that my sister Becky took of us at Union Station. It was one of the places we took her the week after the play. I can't believe that I don't have a picture of her, but like I said, Donna and I were both so busy that we both forgot to take lots of pictures we meant to take.

Deacon Root

What are deacons? Have you ever wondered what God's intent was in having a "special group" of people in his church as deacons? Did he intend on them being appointed to an "office"? Were they supposed to have authority and power as spiritual leaders in the church? Did he intend on 1 Timothy 3 to be a clear list of qualifications for the job, with some very legal requirements about their marriage history, the character of their wife, and well behaved children (who, as you remember, don't have to be old enough to be Christians like elders kids)?
Could it be that the simple word "deacon," which is the Greek word for servant, was just a simple way of referring to Christians who had specific responsibilities, and Paul was just trying to make sure that Timothy didn't put an inexperienced and unproven person in charge of something important? I mean, it's never capitalized, it's not a name or position, it's not in the Titus 1 leadership passage, - it's a servant! Which Christians are exempt from that description? Is 1 Timothy 3 really a list of required qualifications for us to argue about, divide over, and strain through a legal sifter, or was Paul just trying to say, use people who have a proven track record and "served well"? And why does that word "deaconesses," which really is the better translation of "their wives" (vs.11), frighten everyone so much? We're just talking about servants - right? We all know who the best "servants" in the church are anyway - right? Oh yes, but we've been told it's a "leadership" position, so he couldn't possibly have been talking about women deacons - right? Wrong.
I think we've had so many years of assuming "Deacon" with a capital "D" that we can't see the simplicity of what the Holy Spirit is saying. If we'd stop trying to force a pattern from everything we read, we might see that Paul was just saying, "Tim, use some wisdom, and don't give people responsibilities that they aren't ready for." I don't think for minute that Paul was setting up an "office" in the church for "special" servants, or creating a worldly hierarchy of authority, or saying that a church isn't a church if it doesn't have "Deacons". Jesus was a deacon/servant, but for him it meant that he humbled himself to the point of dying on a cross. I think we're all deacons - or at least we should be!

Family and Show Time

With the play in full swing and all our family in town - we had a full week. The crowds for each of the four nights of the play were wonderful. I couldn't get an accurate count, but it was well over the 2000 mark again for the four nights. And the cast did an awesome job. The results of five years of experience together, and the fact that I wrote the play to fit our talents and stage peculiarities made for, what I think was, the best play we've done. Still, the best part is getting to be with family.

These are pictures that Elizabeth sent to us. Donna and I both had our cameras with us, but didn't have time to take any or many, pictures. The top picture is us with the bigger grand children and the one below that was taken Saturday night with all four Milom grand children. One of the real highlights of the week was the surprise arrival of Jonathan and Holly late Friday night. They helped me keep make it a very special surprise for Donna and they were here to see our Saturday night show, and then they flew back to NY Sunday evening. It was so great to see them and spend a little time together. We don't get to do that very much because of their hectic career demands. It's only the second time they've been to St. Louis to visit us in five and a half years. For a short while, late Friday night, the entire family got to sit and visit for a few minutes. Pat and Deborah and their three boys had to leave early the next morning to get back to Dallas so Pat could preach on Sunday morning. We are glad for whatever time together God gives us.

It was a great time with family and a wonderful experience with each of the four nights of the play. Maybe I'll share more about that later. We have the cast party and watching the rough cut of the video on Thursday. God is good!

Busy But Fun!

Backyard sprinkler time!

The three big boys are enjoying Nana pancakes on the porch.

Dress rehearsal for the play last night. Everyone did a super job. It's going to be great tonight!
The next to last song in the show. I love the words in Fearless For You. It needs to be listened to by every church family. Hope you get to see the play. I think it's one of our best.
Probably won't do another blog for a few days. KINDA BUSY AROUND HERE!

Righteous Reading?

I'd love to show everyone pictures of all my family spread out all over our new porch enjoying it immensely, but - enough about our porch. Tonight is our last rehearsal for this year's musical Fearless: The Story of Esther. Tomorrow night is dress rehearsal, but it's a total show because we won't be stopping to correct anything or give Directorial changes, and there will be a small audience of those who can't be here for a show, or will be working as ushers, greeters, or parking helpers. So it's really more a performance than a rehearsal. And, we've got family coming and going all this week. All that to say - it's a busy week and I probably won't be blogging a lot. Maybe I'll get a few pictures up of dress rehearsal on Thursday morning. We'll see.
I did want to share one observation from this past Sunday's lesson. Mark 7 has always been an important passage to me. I've always loved the strong language of Jesus as he pointed out to the Pharisees that they were hypocrites, vain worshippers, heartless legalists, and essentially doing more harm to God's plan than helping it. It's a great passage to use to hammer traditionalism, legalism, and several others "isms" that should put the fear of God in us all - since they disappoint God. But, when you really look at the chapter through the lens of God, through the eyes of Jesus, and ask "What was it that they did that really disappointed God and Jesus?"- you see more than just good tradition bashing material. The real problem was the disconnecting of their hearts from God. What really disappointed Jesus was something that each of us need to be diligent to avoid. What saddens God is seeing his people REPLACE A RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD FOR A RELIGION ABOUT GOD.
The Bible is a different book when you read it looking for what God has done, and is still doing, to bring about a relationship with man. We can never correctly understand it or interpret it if we don't read it under God's spotlight.

Life's A Picnic

I know family and friends have been losing sleep wondering how our new porch is doing. Well, be at peace. You can see the few things we've done to make it a great place to sit and enjoy our quiet "outback" and get ready for all our family to visit this week. What you can't see, at least well, is the nice sealant that I put over all of it this past Monday. It turned the wood a little darker, but it looks nice. It's especially nice to see water beaded up on it this morning after last nights shower.

Just a little closer look at my latest project. We bought the picnic table at Lowes and I put it together Tuesday afternoon. Of course, it wasn't as easy as I thought it would be, but it still wasn't too difficult. I had to re-drill some holes that were "pre-drilled" but didn't line up. It's a really solid table that I know everyone will enjoy using - especially all the grand kids. Notice the cute indoor/outdoor rug we got to put under it. Gives it a little more color and matches the flowers. I expect to have my own show in HGTV soon. "If you build it they will come" - grand kids that is. Isn't that in scripture somewhere? I guess, in principle, it's part of the Noah story.

What's In A Name...

I'm not sure what to call'em anymore. I used to refer to them as worship wars, but the assembly is not any more worship than any other act of obedience that glorifies God. It's hard to find an alliterative word to go with assembly - at least ones that won't offend somebody. Since time together was intended to be used for giving and encouraging one another, I could call it Giving Grumbles, but that's just too ironic, not to mention it's a spiritual oxymoron. The reason folks fuss and fume about the assembly isn't because they have a passion for giving, it's because of a tradition of receiving. Threaten that expectation and you're in for the fight of your life. So how about calling them RECEIVING RIFTS? Okay, it doesn't really sing as an alliterative title, but unfortunately it is an accurate description.
We are blessed to be part of a church family that has very few Receiving Rifts. Oh, we have the occasional wish for certain types of songs and there was that couple that got upset because we used a video clip that had instrumental music in it. I tried to get the word out that the "opening prayer" that day was really the "closing prayer" so any use of instrumental music was technically "scriptural," but I forgot to say that upfront. We don't have much fussing here, and for that I am soooo grateful. Even more, I love the spirit of giving that just about everyone seems to bring to the assembly. Maybe my weekly mantra, "If what you're doing this morning isn't giving, then what you're doing isn't worship" has really caught on.
Anyway, what started me on this blog was my reminiscing about the most memorable Receiving Rifts I've experienced over the years. Here are a few:
* NO - we can't replace our pews with stackable chairs. "Pews are more comfortable."
* "If we cancel our evening worship to watch the Redskins play in the Super Bowl, we will be selling out to the world."
* "Telling us to stand and greet the people around us is unscriptural."
* "If you take the Lord's Table out, I'm out of here."
* "You can serve communion from the back if you leave one set of the trays up front for people who need that to focus on."
* "Why did you remove the pulpit?" (Esp. huge in TX and TN)
* "Can a bell choir be used during a wedding?"
* "You can't sing songs during the communion because that is superimposing one act of worship on another, and that's unscriptural."
* "Singing during the Lord's Supper keeps me from thinking about Jesus." (Old Rugged Cross will do that!)

In Or Out? Too Much Or Too Little?

All the church growth experts say the same thing, and I hear it echoed by dedicated and passionate brethren across the country. In fact, they've all been saying it for more years than I can remember. It usually goes something like this: "What's wrong with the church is that we are too inwardly focused. We need to be more outwardly focused." If you're not up on church jargon, no, they are not talking about belly-buttons, though they like to jokingly add that we suffer from too much "navel watching" (a symptom of being inwardly focused). I understand the concern. We'll never be guilty of too much evangelism or too much caring for the hungry and homeless. Yes, we have ministries for everything and still seem to be doing less and less missions and benevolence. Of course, when would we be doing enough or even too much?

I don't know what everyone is thinking when they see the church being "too inwardly focused" but isn't it a fact that church folks have been gradually whittling away at time dedicated to being together? Do we really have too much fellowship, too much encouragement, and too much equipping going on? Just exactly when did we reach the goal of loving one another so deeply, so sacrificially, and so obviously that the world would know that we belong to Jesus? If the purpose of church, of spiritual leaders, of teaching and admonishing one another is, as Paul said in Ephesians 4:11-16, to build "unity in the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ" - when did we do that? Did I miss something here?

If we are "too inwardly focused" its the wrong kind of inward focus. The inward focus that has failed to build members who "grow up into him who is the Head" is not the kind the family of God was called to have. When inward focus comes from institutional, traditional, and worldly history -it's "too much" before it even starts. When the inward focus is about building spiritual relationships, growing in love, and helping one another develop a deeper relationship with Jesus - there is no such thing as "too much". In fact, the biggest problem facing the future of the family of God is people who are so "outwardly focused" they don't want or need a church family. Go figure.

Sundays

Ten Things I REALLY Love About Sunday
1. Being used by God
2. People taking notes, nodding their heads and saying "AMEN!"
3. Giving hugs, compliments, and smiles
4. Songs that speak to the heart
5. George praying for me every Sunday morning
6. Seeing Shepherds praying with people
7. The joyful noise of loving one another
8. Remembering a real body hung on that cross, and real blood was shed
9. Members and guests who say, "You made me think."
10. Knowing my loved ones, far away, are giving to others and growing in Christ

Some Favorite People

I took this picture on Mother's Day, last Sunday, with Donna's cell phone camera. Wow! What a looker! Did you notice the nice flowers? Someone must really love her a great deal! She's always been one of the greatest moms in the world, and now she's the world's greatest Nana too.

Yesterday, as we've done every year for five years, we sang a couple of our songs from this years musical for our church family, which this year is Fearless: The Story of Esther. I like to do this to get everyone in the family excited about what we've been working on for nearly three months now, and also to help motive everyone to hand out our promotional door hangers. Word of mouth, tickets, and door hangers, are how we promote the play, and it's worked pretty well so far.

I am really proud of how well the cast and crew are doing. We sang two of the praise songs from the play. This one is our closing song, which as you can see, requires some coordinated clapping. You'd be surprise how hard it can be too get fifty plus people to clap together - at the right time. They're great! It has been a wonderful year and I'm excited about seeing it all come together as we come down to the last two weeks. Wow! Last two weeks? OKAY - it's officially panic time!

Mommy, Look What I Brought You!

Parenting is for people mature enough to see tomorrow. That was a sub-point I made in Sunday's lesson. Since the context was about recognizing the long-term consequences of what we do, I kept it focused on the future. If I were to adjust it so it could be a stand-alone proverb - or as some say a Rootism, I would add something to make it more timelessly applicable. Parenting is for people who can treasure today, but are mature enough to see tomorrow.
Herodias, Herod's grudge-holding wife, used her daughter to get her revenge on John, but she also robbed her daughter of, what could have been, half of Herod's Kingdom! Unfortunately, many parents use their children for their own selfish purposes, and many rob their children of the nurturing they need to grow up into the giving, self-controlled, and thoughtful people who truly enjoy life and bless others.
I've said it many times, but since I used it again last Sunday, I want to mention it again. Who knows how long it will be before I get the chance again?
There are three things every child needs:
1. Unquestionable love (We love you no matter what!)
2. Clear directions (These are our values as a family - who we are!)
3. Consistent discipline (Clear boundaries, clear expectations, and no exceptions) - remember, parental discipline (teaching/guiding) leads to and is replaced by self-discipline. If the first doesn't happen, the second won't either. And tomorrow - the child/adult will suffer.
May your children bring you more than a trophy of bitterness on a platter.

The Why of Why!

The bigger the tragedy in life, the more we ask the question "Why?". We want things to make sense, to be deserved, justified, and explainable, but most of the time there is no clear answer to that three letter question. I would guess that it's the most asked question God hears from mankind. Even people who haven't talked to him, thanked him for anything, or even remotely recognized his presence, throw the question at God as more of an accusation than something they expect to have answered.
This past Sunday I addressed the horrible execution of John the Baptist and tried to answer the question "Why did it happen?" The easy part of the answer is found in the biblical record. John was killed because of 1) A weak, guilt-ridden King; 2) A self-centered mother; and 3) A misguided child. (Not the happiest of Mother's Day lessons to preach.) But then I concluded with the toughest part of the "Why?" by asking "Why didn't God intervene?" That's really the question isn't it? I mean, when a loved one dies from cancer, heart attack, or some terrible accident - we know the what, how, and why. What we really challenge God with is why he didn't step in, make an exception for us, and stop it!
I didn't offer an answer, but gave six questions to ask ourselves when we struggle to understand why God didn't intervene to save his servant John.
1. Why should he? (Who do we think we are to make such demands on God?)
2. How do you know he hadn't intervened many times already?
3. What was God thinking? (If you know - you're wrong!)
4. Why don't we understand that we must all die? (Like John, Jesus, Peter, etc. etc.)
5. Why blame God for man's evil treatment of man? (People have been doing that from the Crusades to the Holocaust.)
6. Do you think that John feels cheated? (I doubt he missed his meal of locust & honey,)
The real question "WHY" is why do we ignore God's love? And, why do we ignore eternity? If we didn't, we wouldn't be asking him "WHY".

I'm A Swinging Kinda Guy!

I wasn't going to do another blog this week, but I had a thought last evening that I didn't want to forget to share. I'd just finished mowing the lawn and I sat on our back porch swing to cool of and enjoy a cold bottle of water. It was overcast and windy, but for some reason the scene before me struck me as spectacular. Our pond was sparkling with shimmering ripples as the wind swept across it's surface. The water was a deep deep green and the grass all around the pond was like a field of emeralds. A half dozen ducks paddled around out in the middle of the pond looking like a bunch of children enjoying what the wind was doing to the water. Higher up from the pond, the huge pine tree limbs were waving their tribute to God's daily work of art - a tapestry I felt sure He put together just for me.
It wasn't the first time that this thought crossed my mind, but I couldn't help but be amazed, not only at God's artistry, but that he placed in our minds the ability to see and appreciate the beauty of this world He created and gave to us. Even in David's Psalm 8 praise of God's creation he didn't mention the blessing of some how knowing what you're looking at is beautiful. What does that tell us about our God that He put something like that in our DNA? Doesn't it peak your interest in Him as you realize it's part of being made in His image? While our "cousin" primates may have ninety-eight percent of our DNA, but I've never heard of one being amazed by the spectacular creation that surrounds them.
How wonderful is the ability to appreciate? How amazing is it to be able to stop, smell the roses, but then be in awe of their brilliant color, shape, and structure? How incredible is it that just sitting and looking can make us happy? The best part is knowing our Father made us that way.
While it opens up a whole huge range of things to think and speculate about, at the very least it has to make us realize that heaven was made by the same God. With apologies to my high school English teacher, Miss Smith, who is already there, WE AIN'T SEEN NOTHIN' YET!

My God And I

One of the most profound spiritual discoveries of my spiritual journey has been the realization that God is relational. Just pull out your concordance or click into Biblegateway.com and do a search of "God is ____" and see what pops up. Then study every description on the list about God and ask yourself, "What do they all have in common?" Every description about God involves some element of his loving nature that deals with his desire to be in relationship with man. Everything that God does is driven by that purpose. He created us to have relationships, like the Father, Son, and Spirit have, and through our physical relationships learn and see the need for a spiritual relationship with him. Like I've said many times lately, God is the most purpose driven being in existence. We can't possibly understand him and his plan if we don't understand that our Holy and loving Father wants us and wants us to want him!
Among the many things that this has seriously impacted in my life is how I interpret the Bible. From Genesis to Revelation, every word of every sentence must be interpreted through the eyes of a loving Father who doesn't do or say anything that isn't driven by his purpose. Whatever you read in scripture can only make sense when you see how it contributes to God's plan and purpose. Everything God did, from Adam and Eve, to Moses and the Law, and the sending of Jesus to earth, is all about what he has done to make a relationship with man possible.
This week in our staff meeting we read Hebrews 10 in our devotional time. I thought I really knew Hebrews 10 - after all, it's where my study of worship and the assembly began thirty-something years ago. But when we read, "Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way..." - I was overwhelmed - again - by how much God has done so that we could have a close relationship with him. How long did it take and how much did it cost for us to be able to be in the presence of God like only the high priest could do once a year? Wow! Am I reading a new book or what?

The Purpose Quiz

As part of the introduction to my lesson last Sunday, I was trying to make the point that we all REALLY DO have a purpose in life, one we are already committed to! The problem is that a deeper relationship with God just may not be part of it, or at least, at the top of the list. How do we know what our purpose is - or what we've MADE our purpose? I came up with five short questions that I called The Purpose Quiz. For this to work or be effective, the answers MUST be quick gut responses, totally honest, and not "church answers." (While at church, we have programed ourselves to always respond in the expected spiritual manner. Hmmm!)
Here is what I used Sunday. Remember - quick, honest, and non-churchy! Give your top/first three answers for each before you move to the next one!

1. I worry most about... (top three?)

2. If I could afford it, I would... (top three?)

3. I wish I had more time to... (top three?)

4. In the next six months, I hope to... (top three?)

5. When I die, I want my family and friends to know that I am the proudest or most thankful about... (top three?)

How we answer these five questions will tell us what we have made our purpose in life. What we've done and what we plan to do is our purpose - what drives us - what's most important to us. Our answers tell us what we think about, spend our money on, spend our time doing, what our plans our, and what we think our legacy will be. See any themes? What kind of things tend to rise to the top of each list?
There is a good chance that most of what we care about is important to God too. The real question is - where does our relationship with God fit in to all this? Jesus put it into perspective for us when He said, "What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul?" (Matthew 16:26) Maybe another way to put it could be, "What good is a purpose in life that doesn't help you live with God for eternity?"

Rehearsals and Nesting

While we began rehearsals for this year's musical Fearless: The Story of Esther the first week of March, we were all on stage for the first time this past Thursday. This year's musical has 24 songs being sung by the chorus, the nobles, the maids, and some individuals, and this week we put them all together for the first time. It went really well, but it's still frightening to think that we have to pull it ALL together in just over four weeks. Esther was a lot more complicated to turn into a musical than you'd think. Still, I'm very proud of how well everyone is doing and how incredible all the music is coming along. These are some of my favorite praise songs that we've ever used. Hope you get to see it.

Both of these pics are of the closing two songs. You can't tell it now, especially with so many scripts in hand & on the floor, but the right half of the group are the Hebrew people and the left are the court of Xerxes. Costumes will help - I hope.

While I won the bird battle on the back porch, this dove won with a nest on the edge of our brick wall just to the left of our garage door. Even with us going in and out on foot and in cars, or when I mow the lawn, she doesn't budge. She must be sitting on eggs. Notice the little bit of decoration she has added to the color of our bricks.

Caution: Serious Radical Stuff!

I put the above Power Point slide up at the beginning of my lesson last Sunday after talking about how concerned I was that we weren't truly communing, fellowshipping, sharing, and interacting with our Lord's Support the way they did in the New Testament. After all, Paul's point in 1 Corinthians 10 & 11 is, if you can't use the Lord's Supper for what it was intended for - don't take it. If it's not about the Body - don't do it!

The reason I put that slide up was not to generate doctrinal panic or combat. I quickly put the next one up that had a huge red NOT across the top of the above slide. I did it to illustrate the principle that emotional reactions depend on our expectations. Some were thrilled and excited to think about such a change in how we do communion, and others, I'm sure, were close to having a heart attack just thinking about "violating" such a sacred "act of worship." I would guess that a few people, especially the few who come in so late they usually miss the communion anyways, had no reaction at all. It all depends on our expectations.

It was just an illustration, and I alleviated all hopes or fears quickly, and hopefully got my point across. But how do I really feel about making such a change? If it were up to me - and it's not, and if it could be done without masses of members keeling over with apoplexy - which it probably can't, I'd do it in a heart beat!

The way we do our communion in our assemblies in no way resembles what the early Christians did, and doesn't accomplish the purpose for which Jesus gave it - at least not very well. In Acts 2, 20, and 1Corinthians 10-11, the Lord's Supper was simple, was part of a larger meal, and was a tool to build relational intimacy as they shared, confessed, and encouraged one another as the family and body of Christ. Koinonia, the Greek word for fellowship, was never the mysterious, introverted, sacramental, every-member-lost-in-their-own-meditation-act-of-worship that we carried over from Catholicism. It is a togetherness, interactive, one-another-focused tool that God gave to His people to help them grow in love for Him and for one another. God doesn't do anything that doesn't contribute to His purpose of helping us have a deeper relationship with Him.

Frankly, while what we do isn't bad or wrong, and through focus and concentration we can get something good from it, it just can't cause the intimacy and build love for one another that God intended. The size of the group restricts it, our traditions won't allow it, and our time limitations make it unpractical.

In my humble opinion, it would be a much more effective tool in a smaller group setting like a Bible class, or even better, a small group meeting in someones home. For the reasons already mentioned, I wouldn't suggest changing anything, but there is NO reason the Lord's Supper can't be used anytime or place that Christians want to truly commune with one another and God.

A Gnawing Witness?

When I was a child, I remember having this gnawing emotional indigestion telling me I should be good. I managed to ignore it or drown it out with the darker voice telling me "Do what feels good now!" Fortunately, it was a persistent gnawing, even when I challenged it with teenage rationalizing and young adult logic. Even when others were impressed with my "goodness" and helped me feel better about ignoring the gnawing, I was comfortable with the knowledge that I was "gooder" than most - after all, I was a minister, a presenter of the Truth, and a living example of what they should all hope to become (yes, again that is sarcasm). No, I wasn't a blatant sinner, a social bad guy, or even any different than anyone else struggling with evil, and I knew I had to depend on God's grace rather than see the day of perfection arrive. But the gnawing continued. There were things, mostly of the heart and mind, that robbed me of the complete peace a true relationship with God supposedly brings. Who knows when you're struggling with things like pride, selfishness, lust, and prayerlessness? God. He's pretty persistent, and - I guess, a pretty good "gnawer".
It's been a lot of years ago, but I remember when things changed - the gnawing went away - and that peace finally came. It happened when personal character became more important than personal comfort, and personal integrity became more important than popular acceptance. It happened when secret sins stopped being secret to God, which they never where, and Christ-like consistency replaced church-like correctness. Most of all, the gnawing of God went away when the presence of God was embraced.
At some point in every one's life, personal character, integrity, and consistency must to become a higher priority than all the distractions of life, the world, and Satan. Solomon learned and spoke of that around three thousand years ago. It has to be the best "wrap-up" of all time. He said, "Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil." (Eccl.12:13-14)
We have a purpose, and we will have accountability. That's enough to gnaw at any body, but this is a gnawing that Tums can't help. The only way to stop it is to pay attention to it. It's a character issue.

Eureka!!!

And old buddy of mine (JV) sent me this picture, and at the risk of offending many who check out my blog, this was the caption under the picture:

"And thus, dear students, we have arrived at the formula for understanding women."

I emailed him back and told him "That'll preach!"

Loveless Christians?

Jesus said the world would know we belong to him when they saw that we loved one another. So loving one another is the most important distinguishing characteristic of the Body of Christ. That also means that loving one another is our purpose, our goal, and the single most important quality He wants to see in His church. He didn't say that the world would know we are his disciples if we "seek and save the lost," though that is certainly something we must care about doing. He didn't say the world would recognized us as His people if we were the MOST doctrinally correct group on the block, thought it's clearly important to follow the Holy Spirit's writings, which also include the fact that "love covers a multitude of sin." He certainly didn't say the world would see us as His followers if we "do church" just like they did it in the 1950's - or the first century for that matter. Love for one another is the spiritual billboard that shouts to the world that WE BELONG TO JESUS! It's how we learn to know God, draw close to God, and build our relationship with God! Growing in love for one another is not A ministry of the church but THE ministry of the church. It's not an activity but a pursuit, a purpose, and a goal!

How arrogant and worldly is it for us to turn loving one another into an extra-curricular church activity, or a side benefit of fellowship? How much does it sadden God when we let anything in our church life become more important than loving one another? Whatever causes a person to leave a congregation, other than normal transitions in life like moving and transfers, is something that to them is more important than the love they have for one another. When someone mentions that they left a church because of something they didn't like in "the worship," they are saying whatever it was is more important to them than the loving relationships they have with the church family. As far as what Jesus wanted His church to being doing - they didn't "get it."

It's sad to see how much we've failed to understand the real purpose of the church, and how so many folks think "doing church" has little, if anything, to do with building loving relationships. I am so thankful for those who do - get it! I have a terrible mental picture of Christians standing before God at Judgment reciting all the "ministries of the church," and all the "acts of worship" they performed every Sunday, and all the neat "outreach tools" they invented and used, and God holds up His hand to stop the religious resume' reading and asks, "Yes, but did you love one another?" The Christians, with blank looks on their faces, stare at him and say, "Do what?"

Buildings vs. Evangelism?

A long time friend of mine got a bunch of us preacher-types involved in an email discussion last week. The topic he tossed out was whether we believed the church spent money on facilities and staff salaries that could, and maybe should, be going to evangelism. At the very least, the premise was that the church spends too much money on buildings and staff - especially when compared to evangelism. I added my email to the discussion, but here are some thoughts that I didn't totally share.
There are few things in the church that members become more myopic, if not struck with selective blindness, than when it comes to church buildings and staff salaries. I can't tell you how many times through the years I've heard the "righteous indignation" of members who ranted about how much is spent on "administrative costs, employees, and facilities" rather than "the really spiritual" stuff like mission work, benevolence, and local evangelism.
First, I have to avoid the temptation of seeing this as a personal attack on my ministry, my value to the Kingdom, and a slam on our church family. Deep breath - count to ten - pray for guidance and patience!
Second, it's a fact, people judge the church, its staff, its office, and its facilities by one standard, and that is "What have you done for me lately?" If they don't see or hear about what happens, and/or it's not important to them, then it doesn't exist. Many members have no idea how much goes on at their building every day, or what their church office does for the church, or what their staff and elders are doing. They only know the building is used for a couple hours on Sunday, the preacher only works on Sunday, and the elders only have meetings. Be careful laughing at that. I feel confident that Satan laughs at it constantly. He loves it when members view God's work through selfish eyes.
Third, church facilities are not a waste of money and space if they are being used to teach God's Word, edify members, support the hurting and the needy, building love for one another, and are seen by the community as a force for good, a place for healing, and a place to connect with God. Yes, we're often not very practical or utilitarian about what we build, and yes, we tend to follow cultural and traditional models of what a church building should look like, but when they are humming 24/7 with good works that glorify God, they become tools not temples. And I have never seen my office staff do work that was "purely administrative" or self-centered. Everything the office does is to support this family of believers and the ministries we're involved in. In the business world facilities and offices may not be "the work of the company" or what the company produces, but that isn't true for a church family. As far as staff and staff salaries go, that's too big a subject for this blog. I'll just say this, if a staff person isn't worth the salary agreed upon with the church leaders, they should be lovingly removed. God said the laborer is worthy of their salary. It's up to godly people to evaluate and decide if that's true.
Finally, at least for this blog, evangelism is always available to use as a guilt whip. The most spiritual person on the planet can be made to feel guilty about needing to do more. Let me ask this question: If we took the hundreds of thousands of dollars we spent on our facilities and staff salaries, and got rid of all of it/them, and used the money for evangelism, would we really have a lot more conversions? If members where not being taught by capable and inspiring ministers, and we had no central location to connect with our community, rally the family, and build one another love, would we have more baptisms each year? I love "house churches"! We call them One Another Groups, but it's wonderful to get together with a larger family and give, praise God, and be encouraged - and pool our resources as a church family to carry out the Lord's work.
More money won't increase evangelism. Sharing the Gospel increases when godly people have a passion for Jesus that they can't hold back. It doesn't take more money for every member to be the witness for God that He called them to be.

The Final Steps

At the risk of boring those who are not family folks with my porch again, I just wanted to let the world know that it past Final Inspection yesterday morning. I finally found time to redo the larger steps you see above - since they failed the first time. I'm sure family will immediately notice the HUGE difference in the top step that is now five eighths of an inch taller. I now have three steps that are about 7 and 5/8 inches each, and I'm sure that will prevent all manner of accidents from happening. (If you're new to my blog - yes, that is sarcasm!)

I was also able to get the side steps done and you will be happy to know that they are 7 and 5/8 inches each exactly & equally. Ironically enough, the inspector who has done all the other inspections, including the failing of my original steps, retired in March and the new guy who did the final yesterday never even pulled out his measuring tape. It's nice to have it over and behind me so I can move on to the things I really want to do to the porch. I have to admit, it was fun figuring out, measuring, and cutting the six new stringers for the two stairways. Stringers are those angled board that the step boards rest on. If some one had "splained" to me back in high school how important math would be in working on my house, I would have paid better attention. Any way, it's ready for family and friends to come visit and sit in the shade and enjoy the peaceful pond and critters. Of course, we've been doing that for several months now - but avoiding those dangerous steps that were off by an inch.

Does Anyone Know What TIme It Is?

I have come to accept the fact that there are things in life that I am obsessive about. I'm not OCD about them, but there are things that I have to daily repeat my mantra "It doesn't matter" regularly. I like to think that most of the things I'm obsessive about are things that are important enough to be worth the focus I give it. In truth, I don't think having routines or set ways of approaching things as being obsessive or "set in your ways." To me, things are driven by logic and and efficiency. I want to do things in the most time sensitive and economical way. I am obsessive about not finding out later that something could have been done a lot quicker and easier than how I did it. Most of the time, my routines come from a desire to not want to waste time thinking about how, when, or why I do something. We all chose our routines because they work for us and they give us a sense of direction without making EVERYTHING a huge decision.
How would you function if your watch, phone clock, and all other clocks were removed? I've thought about leaving my watch off, but I know I'd look at my bare arm over and over again all day. I've wondered about being obsessed with time. My wife jokingly accuses me of "eating by the clock" and not hunger. (Oops, it is just about time for lunch!) I usually divide many of the tasks that I do each day by blocks of time I want to give to them, and I do know that once I've decided on a time for something - it becomes LAW for me - and I have to remind myself "It doesn't matter" - and I relax.
I've decided to not feel guilty about using time. It doesn't own me, I just choose to use it to provide structure to my life. It helps me organize and be efficient. It helps me be a better steward of the time and talent God has given me. It helps me work better, but it also helps me relax - when the time comes, and it helps me put limits on when and how long I watch TV, read, use the computer, or work around the house. I would put my work ethic and effectiveness against any ones, and using time as a tool is an important part of that.
I'm excited about seeing what heaven will be like since it will be timeless. Will I spend eternity checking my bare wrist?

Bird Battles

It started a little over a week ago. Our resident robins, and they are "Legion", decided that our new porch would be a great place to build their nest for the Spring. Last week, one mama robin had half a nest constructed on one of our beams in a matter of minutes. I've torn down about three half finished nests as they move from beam to beam, after I've tacked a bag on it to discourage them. I really hate for them to work so hard on something that I won't let happen when they can be doing the same work somewhere else - somewhere safe. But they are a persistent bird. They return over and over with mouths full of nest making materials and they have the hardest time trying to figure out why "their spot" is not available anymore. After trying to make plastic bags work for several days, I finally found a better deterrent - empty coffee containers that I've been saving for future painting plans. They are great for putting a little paint in and they have their own built in handle. Anyway, they worked great as a nest building deterrent. The robins, even this morning, are landing next to them, with mouth-fulls of grass, and wondering what these things are doing covering their nest sight.

I have three coffee containers and one bag on four of our beams. The one beam at the end of this picture is too far from a rafter for them to use as a nest sight. It offers no protection from the wind. They're not dumb.

You can see the befuddled robin on the railing. You can't see her mouth-full of grass. She is at a loss as to why that red thing is covering up her nest. If you look hard to the lower right you can also see one of our resident rabbits eating our grass.

This is a zoom pic through our window (with shades) so it's not so clear, but you can see the material in her mouth as she stares at the coffee can on her post. This is at the other end of our porch from the picture before this.

Now, back to the other end of the porch - the mama robin finally gave up and just dropped her nest material on the railing. It's hard to not let them build their nests on our porch, but it's not safe and I don't want bird droppings all over my porch either.

I am so amazed at their persistence and dedication. God made them to seek a nesting place this time of year, and they are totally focused on doing what He created them to do. It truly reminds me of something I share often. Man is the only thing in all creation that can and does chose to not do what God created him to do. But then again, man is the only thing in all creation that God wants an eternal relationship with, and love must always be a choice.

What's The Motto With You?

Back when I was coaching the Jr. High basketball team in TN, I developed a short motto or mantra that I said to the kids at every practice. It was a threefold goal or purpose statement that described what we were, or should be, all about. Have fun, do your best, and glorify God. I really liked the simplicity, accuracy, and biblical focus of each part. I have used that as our purpose statement with our musical each year since we first started it, five years ago. I still really like it. It has become a life purpose for me. I believe it is what Jesus would tell us, if he were talking with us and giving us a simple focus in life. He does want us to enjoy life, and if we are his lights - his ambassadors - we should seek to do our best at whatever we do - from basketball to Bible Action to being "a living sacrifices" for him. When we do that, he will be glorified!
We are what we believe and what we believe comes from what we tell ourselves. This is something we can tell ourselves that will keep us focused on our loving Father, who has been driven by a desire to have a relationship with us before he said, "Let there be light." The secret to truly doing all three - having fun, doing our best, and glorifying God - is being in love with the One who loves us so much.

PS. Brothers of the "cloth" - it's an easy three point sermon too! It'll preach!

A Blooming Monday

We spent a fun day yesterday taking Donna's mother ("Mither") to see the Missouri Botanical Garden. It is such a beautiful place with so many wonderful colors, smells, and sights. We did a lot of walking, but it was so neat to see so many different rooms of God's creation in such a small area. The above picture was in the large domed tropical forest setting and was full of all kinds of plants from all over the world. It was hard not to pause at this beautiful waterfall and think about the thousands of places just like this that few if any humans have seen.

This picture was actually taken just outside the entrance to the tropical building. These flowers were spectacular, even with a little overcast sky. It was a good place for a mother-daughter picture. It is always a blessing to have "Mith" visit us. She is an incredible godly lady who has been a source of encouragement to me and caused me to never tell a "mother-in-law" joke. I still remember thinking to myself, some thirty-eight years ago, that Donna was just like her mother and that made me look forward to being together for a long, long time.
We also had a really nice lunch at the little restaurant they have there, but the best part of the day was stopping at Fritz's on the way home and having some frozen custard. Hey - we did a lot of walking, and besides, my Concrete had pecans in it, and that's nearly health food!

The Non TN Titans

I just got back from seeing the movie Clash of the Titans. The best word I can think of to describe it is entertaining - especially if you like actions movies like I do. It was a neat remake of an oldie. It's amazing what they can do now with all the new computer graphic stuff they can put into movies. It's hard to tell the real from the computer generated.
The movie just reminded me of a point I was making yesterday at our monthly Preachers Meeting. As the title of the movie proclaims, it's all about the gods of mythology, who seemed to thrive on toying with humans and making their lives miserable. No one would admit it of course, but I think many folks think of God in a similar fashion. Many have no idea why He would give commands, make laws, and require obedience in carrying out things that seem to have no connection to anything except exalting Him. Many see God as coming up with all kinds of hoops for man to jump through and wonder if He gets some perverse pleasure out of putting burdens on people.
Our God is love. Everything He has ever done and will do, comes from His character as a loving Father. No, He doesn't toy with anyone, and He's never given man anything that was merely a hoop to jump through. What He does is always for a reason and He said that reason was to bring about a relationship with us.
Talk about Clash of The Titans? What about the clash of religious people who have no idea why God commands and requires what He does and why He gave things to us to help us? God is the most Purpose Driven being in existence. It would dramatically help us all if we truly took the time to figure out why God has done the things He has done. It will change the way we do what we do in His name! We might even start seeing things He tells us to do as tools to use rather than acts to perform.