More Family Time

It's back to the routine again, after an incredible week with family. "Incredible"? I've been chewing on the thought that we have become a people in search of superlatives - but that will have to wait until the next blog. Right now I wanted to share some additional pics from last week while the experience is still fresh on our minds.
If you look real closely at the above picture you will see tiny blurs of snow flakes falling. See the blurs off to the left? It was neat to have a beautiful snow fall for just a short time last week. We had a little of everything with sunny and 70 on Monday, rain storms, dropping temps, snow, and cold sunny winter-like day's on Friday and Saturday.

Again, if you look hard you can see the snow flakes that Curtis, Ashlyn, and Caleb are trying to enjoy.

This looks exactly like the earlier picture of Joshua in my double tree stand, but it's Chad and his oldest Carter, settling in for an evening hunt. Carter did really well. It was cold and windy and the deer weren't moving much, but they still saw a buck way up the hill directly in front of them. I was about forty yards away in another stand, and I saw five does, who all stayed a long way from my effective range with a bow.

This is a better zoom in picture. Carter had his camo on and was really excited about going on his first hunt with his Dad and Papa. I really think there is something special that happens when kids spend time in the woods with their Dad, or Mom. There is something about appreciating nature and God's handiwork, and learning patience and enjoying time to think and meditate, and having stories of things seen and experienced that - well, it bonds you like nothing else. If I had to do it all over again with my three, I'd have taken them with me a lot more than I did. It's a lot harder when your day off is a school day, but I'd still like a few more memories of having them with me. Back then, we never even thought about taking daughters hunting, so I only took Jonathan with me, but today, the largest group of new people coming into bowhunting is girls/women. The new bows are so much easier to learn how to use, and the ladies are proving to be excellent bowhunters.

So, maybe next year Ashlyn will go hunting? They do have pink bows now.

My Favorite Holiday!

I hope that you are having a great Thanksgiving. We are really enjoying having ALL of our family here this year for the first Thanksgiving we've had together since the year before we left TN. We moved six years ago, but it was seven Thanksgivings ago that we were last together for this special holiday. Lots of food, fun, and just being together. I got to take our oldest grandson, Joshua, on his first hunting trip Tuesday afternoon. He wasn't hunting, just seeing what it is like. I got this two man stand last Summer just so I could start taking our grand kids with me, so they could see if it was something they might like to learn how to do.

It was a beautiful day, but it was a little chilly. Joshua was cold within 45 minutes, but fortunately I had my heavy fleece coat on my backpack and I used it to wrap him up and keep him warm. We didn't have any deer come right by us, but we did get to see a nice 8 or 10 point buck about sixty yards away. He was big and pretty. I told Joshua, a lot of hunters go hunting for years and never see a deer that nice and he got to see one on his first trip. I know, I've had years like that.

It rained all day yesterday (Wed.), so we took the grand kids over to the church building and let them run around while Chad and Pat helped me move chairs around. We had a wonderful area-wide Praise Service Sunday night, and we had put all our extra chairs in the auditorium. We needed to set up a couple adult classes that use the same chairs, and stack some up in the back so we wouldn't have too many seats for our normal Sunday morning assembly. Once the chairs were moved, we got to toss a football around a little, and just let them burn off some energy that couldn't be burned off in our house - with fifteen people in it.

These two smaller pictures are ones that Pat took with his phone camera.

It sure was nice to have some extra muscle with me to move all those chairs. After all the food we've been eating, we needed the exercise as badly as the kids did. Speaking of food...it's about time for our Thanksgiving dinner. There may be some additional pictures later.

Happy Thanksgiving 2010

"It's Not Easy To Stay In Love!"

Since I told some folks that I'd share the following from last Sunday's lesson on my blog, here are the ten "SIGNS" I mentioned in my introduction to illustrate that "It's not easy to stay in love."
1. Did you think you were "falling" in love and found out that you only tripped?
2. Did your spouse offer you the moon, and all you got was an RC and a Moon Pie?
3. Did he promise you precious jewels and it turned out to be Lucky Charms for breakfast?
4. Did your Prince Charming end up being one of the Seven Dwarfs in a suit?
5. Did your "Message in a Bottle" come from Anheuser Busch?
6. Did your "Sleeping Beauty" wake up and start flying a broom?
7. Has your George Clooney turned into Loony Tuney?
8. Did she say she'd worship you, but all you've gotten are burnt offerings?
10. Did you marry a Mac Truck that was disguised as a Mini Cooper?
All this to help me set up the point: Love is the vehicle that takes us to God!
Really! I was able to make the connection!

It Doesn't Have To Be Tough!

We have been so excited as we look forward to having all of our family together for Thanksgiving for the first time since we left TN six years ago. I was reflecting on that as I did my walking this morning and I found myself thinking about how close we are to having grandchildren becoming teenagers. It truly does seem like yesterday when our three were going through their teenage years. They were wonderful years, and we have nothing but great memories as a family when we think back over those times. Unfortunately, many families go through some pretty tough years of conflict, rebellion, and stress. For a lot of teens, those transition years are traumatic and, in some cases, life altering.
Why are the teen years so difficult? It's the time in our life when some major things merge, or maybe crash, together. Three things are impacting the teen brain: the desire for independence, the desperate need for acceptance and affirmation, and the discovery of desires, experiences, and challenges not available previously. Any young person, who doesn't have a good foundation of character, self-control, and self-esteem, will have a serious struggle on their hands as they try to walk through the mine-field of peer pressure, decision making, and temptations.
Healthy parenting is still the best hope for preparing any youngster for those tough years. The right kind of parenting provides the balance and the merging of self-control and self-esteem. All parental discipline is, or should be, about helping a child move from parent control to self-control, because it's in those teen years that the parent won't always be around. However, if the parenting is just about parent control, and it isn't building self-esteem along with the proper discipline, that parental control will simply be replaced by peer control and the absence of self-control.
When parental control is driven by parent comfort, the need for peace, frustration, or just being in charge, and there is little or no building of self-worth or of significance and confidence in the child, that child will not be ready or capable of resisting the three brain attackers mentioned above. When parenting provides lots of love, clear direction, and consistent discipline, that new teenager will feel good enough about himself or herself to "Just Say NO" to anything they need to resist.
No one ever said it was easy being a parent. In fact, next to your own walk with God and maintaining a healthy marriage, it is the most important thing any of us will ever do - and we only get one chance to do it right!
I'm excited, if the Lord lets me hang around that long, about seeing my grand children become teenagers. They have incredible parents - no brag, just fact - and I know they will all have a wonderful time through all those challenging years. We did, and I thank God for it often.

Let Me Introduce You To God...

Not only do most of us have a difficult time understanding and grappling with God's love - agape' - but that means we struggle with knowing God too, because "God is love." What does that mean? How is God love? What does that tell us about him?
In all my years of studying and preaching on 1 Corinthians 13, I discovered something in studying it last week that thrills me to my soul, but also has me thinking, "Why didn't you think of that a long time ago?" Maybe I did, and I forgot. Maybe it hasn't been as important to me in the past as it is at this place in my life. Here's the point. 1 Corinthians 13 is the love chapter (though 1 John 4 is too), but the description of love given by Paul in verses 4-8 is the most detailed and applicable account in the Bible. Isn't a description of love a description of God?
What does it say to you to read that passage like this?
God is patient, God is kind, God does not envy, God does not boast, God is not proud. God is not rude, God is not self-seeking, God is not easily angered, God keeps no record of wrongs. God does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. God always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. God never fails.
Wow! If that doesn't help you know a little more about God nothing will. Maybe we should quit calling it The Great Love Chapter and start calling it The Great God Chapter.
Now go back and put you name in each spot where God is mentioned. That's called god-li-ness!

FYI

Jonathan has been doing some really funny videos on YouTube. Check out YouTube RootDownStupidity'sChannel. They're all funny, but the last one "Not a Christmas Song" is really funny.

Warning: Dead Critter!

It has been three years, but I finally got another nice IL buck this morning. It was so beautiful outside. The temperature was mild, the leaves were raining down giving a yellow cast to everything, and I'd just had the thought, "It's wonderful to be out here even if I don't see the big boy," and then he just walked right in like he'd read the script. My stand, and the spot I shot this big guy, is just over my shoulder in this picture, about forty yards down the hill. It was nice that my good-buddy-land-owner, who left work to come help me haul this heavy guy out, was able to drive right up to this fence on a neighbor's property. To say I was excited is an understatement, but I guess to those who know me, it's hard to imagine seeing me TOO excited about anything. Well, this was it, and I am very thankful for the successful hunt - and even the new taxidermy bill we'll have.
He came by at 8:15 in the morning. I watched him do a lip-curl - checking for does - before he walked straight across the clearing in front of me some fifteen yards away. After the shot, he circled right behind me and dropped on the top just five yards from the fence, just a couple yards from where the picture below was taken. How's that for being cooperative? He is a twelve pointer even though his G4 on his left side is broken and only an inch and a half long. He has a curled kicker point on both G2's, but it's hard to see the left one, and his right brow tine looks like a can opener. Lots of character. He's a beauty. So now I only have doe tags in IL and the land owner said he'd like to see us take about fifteen of them. I wish! I'd settle for a couple during Thanksgiving week - who knows...

Inny or Outty?

If your church/congregation is trying to grow, and who doesn't want to do that, and you attempt to objectively determine what is hampering your growth, you will at some point - whether it's a member, minister, or "church growth expert" you bring in to help - hear some form of the following comment, "Our problem is that we are too inwardly focused and we need to be more outwardly focused on serving and evangelising others." If that is said in the right spirit, how can anyone argue with that logic? Of course more involvement in unselfish acts of benevolence and soul saving is not only good for the church, but these are things that God wants us to do.
I have to ask, however, are we really TOO inwardly focused? Does your church have too much fellowship, too much compassion and caring for one another, and too much togetherness? Now, if you are talking about TOO much attention on THE assembly, or TOO much fussing about "What I want," or TOO much self-centeredness in TOO many people - YES, YES, YES - you are TOO inwardly focused. On the other hand, if you talking about a family of God's people growing in love, responding to one another's needs, building one another up, and using time together to truly help one another draw closer to Jesus - call me simplistic, but isn't that why God wanted his people to get together? Read Paul's letters again and ask yourself how much of his writing was about children of God growing in Christ, growing in love for one another, and challenging them to focus on unity, the body, and love. I guess Corinth, Rome, Philippi, and the other places he wrote to were not focused enough inwardly.
And here's another question to consider, if you challenge people to be outwardly focused, but you haven't provided them with the inward motivation, support, and spiritual maturity to do it, should you be surprised if it doesn't happen? Maybe the problem isn't about being more outwardly focused, but about providing the correct inward focus. Remember, the New Testament is very clear about why God wants his people to get together. (Eph.4:12 equip/prepare; Heb.10:25 encourage; 1 Cor.14:26 edify/strengthen; add all the one another passages)
A question I hope to answer this Sunday is: With all the serious problems the church in Corinth had, what did Paul challenge them to do to solve it? Did he call for more inward focus or say that more outward effort would cure their problems?

A Sad Hunting Story

Talk about making a bad choice, I had planned to take off part of the day yesterday to go hunting. We had a full schedule of events on Saturday, so I wanted to get in another hunt this week. I couldn't decide whether to make it a morning or an evening hunt. When I woke up at 4:30 AM, I thought about it for a few seconds and decided that an evening hunt would be better. It really wasn't a sleep issue but more a "I need to do a couple of things at the office" line of thought. When I got to my stand yesterday afternoon, at about 3:00 PM, I checked my trail camera to decide if I was going to hunt there or move my stand to a new location. Ugh! The picture below was taken by my camera at 9:34 AM. It's not the best picture in the world, but the camera is only five yards to the left of my stand. This huge IL buck is walking right down the trail at fifteen yards. He's at least a huge ten point, big bodied buck on the prowl for does. How do I know? You'd never see this big boy out at nine-thirty in the morning if he wasn't looking for love. Oh well, at least I know he's there. He was one of five different bucks on my camera, all passing by between 8:30 and 12:30. And where was I??????

My Rules for Preaching

I was my turn to lead the discussion for today's monthly Preacher's meeting. I had agreed, and was assigned the topic of Preaching and Teaching, as we look at a different element of ministry each month. As I told the guys, talking about preaching to a bunch of preachers is packed with potential problems as every preacher has strong feelings about how and why they do what they do. So, I just decided to start making a list of, what I called, My Rules for Preaching and Teaching. I thought I'd put together ten - a good, solid, and biblical number, but I ended up with twenty, and it would have been more if I had allowed myself to keep doing it.
For the sake of any preaching buddies out there, and the guys who didn't take notes this morning, here is my list - in no special order and certainly not by priority.
1. Never preach anything you haven't first internalized and struggled with personally. Your lesson should be an extension of your private devotional life.
2. Always have a clear and stated objective. I always have a Bottom Line statement - for me - at the top of every lesson.
3. Stay true to your non-negotiables. Mine have always been - every lesson must be biblical, logical, & simple.
4. Represent God, Jesus, and the Word accurately. Never get in the way of people seeing Jesus.
5. Never talk down or condescendingly to your church family.
6. Don't expect huge changes, but guide them toward baby steps. Be patient.
7. Always make it clear that you are on a journey together. It's about "us" not "you".
8. In teaching, remember there are no wrong comments or answers from students. Make it fit, or you'll never get another response.
9. No matter what the point is - explain, illustrate, and apply!
10. Capture attention - don't demand it!
11. Make people think! You don't have to provide ALL the answers.
12. Stay fresh or leave soon!
13. Preach from the overflow not the scraps!
14. You can say anything - if they know you love them and they love you back!
15. Mid-week marvels are better than Saturday night specials!
16. Consider destroying your sermon file regularly - at least ignore it!
17. Be real - be honest - be open!
18. Feed your spirit! Read, go to things, find a mentor!
19. Find a hobby that lets you REALLY get away from church stuff!
20. All the talent and all the admiration of brethren can't replace the power of a vibrant prayer life with God.

Stacked Forgiveness

As I've mentioned before, I really don't like to re-preach my Sunday lesson on my blog, but since our web page is under construction and the online lessons aren't available, AND I truly feel these points are important and need to be remembered by every child of God - I want to share them with those of you who would appreciate them. Wow! Was that a long sentence or what?
The lesson was about forgiveness, and these points to remember are about understanding the nature of forgiveness. It's vital for at least two reasons: One, forgiveness is an integral part of God's love, and two, ignoring or forgetting about forgiveness may be the single biggest obstacle to our walk with God. Forgiven people forgive people! Our love for God IS our awareness of what being forgiven by him means. (See 2 Pet.1:3-10 & Rom.8:1)
Here is a stacking system that I came up with to help me remember these points about forgiveness. Maybe they will be of help to you too.
Visualize the scales of Justice - then on top of that visualize a band aid - on top of that a broken heart - on top of that a Cross - on top of that a red traffic light - and the last thing is a clean slate (a clean black board). Picture this stack in your head. Now, what do they stand for?
1. The scales of Justice = Forgiveness doesn't remove guilt! When you forgive, you don't let anyone off the hook, you're refusing to let what they did make you bitter. Bitterness doesn't punish anyone but you and those you love.
2. The band aid = Forgiveness doesn't remove hurt! That's not the point of doing it - though it does begin the process. Jesus forgave while still on the cross - the hurt didn't stop.
3. The broken heart = Forgiveness doesn't heal relationships! It makes it possible if the goal is reconciliation, but THERE IS NOTHING ABOUT FORGIVENESS THAT MEANS YOU MUST HAVE A RELATIONSHIP WITH THE ONE FORGIVEN. Trust takes time and track record to rebuild - and a desire to rebuild it.
4. The Cross = Forgiveness has nothing to do with deserving it, but everything to do with grace! Needs no explanation!
5. The red traffic light = Forgiveness is essential to our forgiveness. STOP - when you feel tempted to not forgive! We are only forgiven if we forgive! Grace is given to be given!
6. The clean slate = Forgiveness is an essential part of love! Our sins are forgiven (clean slate) because God loved us so much he sent Jesus to died for us. We must have the same kind of love.
Maybe if we can remember these, it will help us be a little quicker to forgive instead of looking for a rationale to hang on to anger, bitterness, and malice.
"Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you." Eph.4:32

Mixed Bag of Pics

It's not the best picture in the world, but this is the display case in my office with my 'HERD' in it. The top two shelves have loads of little ones that are difficult to see. The biggest one on the top was from my brother-in-law Randy who carried it all the way back from his mission trip to India. It's heavy. I remember where, or from whom, most of them came from, but a few leave me clueless.

This is the view from one of my tree stands. Two weeks ago, while at another stand some thirty yards behind where I am while taking this picture, I saw a really nice ten point buck standing smack in the lower middle of this spot. He was beautiful, but I haven't seen him since.

This is just another picture from my trail camera. It was about thirty yards to the right of the last picture. Had it up for a week and got several pics of turkey, which I can't hunt in IL, and a couple of does who came by in the middle of the night. Even with trail cams, there's nothing easy about bowhunting.

The Herd Effect

In the Summer of 1970, right after my graduation from High School that May, I spent the entire Summer working as one of the Recreation Directors at a Christian camp named Camp Wamava. It included eight weeks of campers of different ages, and two weeks of pre-camp set up with brother Nelson Smith, the Camp Director. It was a wonderful time, and I have loads of great memories from that Summer in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. I actually began going to Camp Wamava as a camper back in 1960 or '61, so it was fitting that my last Summer vacation before college, marriage, and ministry took over, was spent there.

Memories are truly special blessings. Even the bad ones remind us that we learned something, and that life's lessons aren't always about fun times and happy moments. That same Summer, while taking a weekend break with my good buddy Bruce, I bought a ceramic elephant at a gift shop. It was my first one. Then in July, Bruce gave me a marble elephant as a birthday present, and that really started the herd going. I don't know why I wanted to have an elephant collection. Maybe it was my Republican leanings. Can you imagine that in 1970, I was really excited about Nixon being in office. He was the first president I ever voted for. Ouch! I did say not all memories where good.

Anyway, over the next three to four decades, my herd grew. I bought some in Europe, while on campaigns and mission internships in college, and I picked up a few special ones a special places, like Disney World, and a coal carving in WV, but most of the - now large - herd is made up of gifts from people who have been special friends through the years. The whole herd has been in boxes in our basement for the last, almost six years now, and I finally got a display case for my office to place them in. In truth, I was more excited about clearing out space in my basement, but this morning, as I unpacked and unwrapped each elephant and placed it on a shelf, nearly each one triggered a special memory of a special friend and shared experiences from the last forty years. Wow! How blessed it that? Gifts from people who were thinking of me when they traveled across the country or around the world. Gifts from my Youth Group in Arkansas, from the church family in Virginia, from elders, from families, from my brothers travels in the Navy, from my wife, and a few from people who I never realized cared much about me - but they did.

And the stories I could tell about so many of those miniature pachyderms and the people who gave them to me! But, that's not why I wanted to write this. I just wanted to write a post that shared with anyone who reads it, how wonderful it is to have great memories. Memories of being loved and of those you love. I am thankful to God for each one.

Maybe it's fitting that elephants helped me remember to "never forget".

"It Ain't Easy!"

I agree with Rick Warren when he says that forgiveness my be the hardest part of love. We are in the middle of his "40 Days of Love," which is basically a study of 1 Cor.13. Part of what it means for love (the real kind of love that is God's love) to be patient and kind, is that it "keeps no record of wrongs." Love can not grow in an unforgiving heart. The refusal to forgive is the acceptance of bitterness, rage, and anger, which causes malice, and is not the kind of heart that Jesus lives in. (Eph.4:31-32) To seek God is to seek love because God is love, which means that forgiving those who hurt us is not an option. Our forgiveness depends on it!
With apologies to my high school English teacher, sister Smith, "It ain't easy!" Jesus never said that it was! In fact, the Cross shows us that it's usually very very hard and very painful. And to pile on to that Jesus' teaching that it be endless, limitless, and - if I understand Paul - countless, well - "IT REALLY AIN'T EASY!" How can it be endless when the hurt doesn't go away?
Forgiveness isn't about taking away hurt, it's about not letting what someone has done to you have any power over your walk with God. That is why it has nothing to do with what "they" need, want, or deserve. It's about us having a heart like Jesus.
I have always thought about Jesus' shocking reply to Peter's magnanimous willingness to forgive seven time, as being a little "over-kill" to make the point of endless forgiveness. After all, if you let some one hurt you four hundred and ninety times, and you have to forgive them four hundred and ninety times - shouldn't you have moved a long time ago?
As we studied that passage in Matthew 18 again this week, it suddenly dawned on me that it's not just about 490 trespasses that need to be forgiven, but maybe it's about the 490 times you will remember the hurt and relive the pain and disappointment in your head, and you'll have to refuse to let bitterness and anger seize your heart! You'll have to remember to forgive again - and again - and again, because forgiveness isn't about forgetting or about not hurting, though it helps with both, it's about growing in Jesus and learning to love just like he and our Father do.

Monthly Musings

I love November and December mainly because they cover Thanksgiving and Christmas, which for me means only one thing - family time. I love April and May too, with their comfortable warm days that seem so incredible after a long cold winter. And those spring flowers, and the re-greening of trees, and the return of birds singing, and all the things that just give you a sense of renewal, rebirth, and freshness.
That being said, nothing in my book compares to October. September toyed with nice weather, but October brings it. The cool mornings, the burst of color in the trees, and the comfortable evenings that make watching the sun set worth all the work of building a porch on the back of my house. Okay, so you're ahead of me, yes it's the start of bow hunting too! But it's the sitting in a tree stand in October that is so special. Everything is alive and moving, and every time you come back, new colors appear and new views materialize where leaves used to be.
There has always been something very special about being in the woods in October. I mean special in the sense of feeling close to God. It's a time and place for thinking, mulling over things, solving problems, reflecting on life, ministry, and family, and - most of all - just talking with God. I think I understand why Jesus would often climb a mountain or a hill, to spend some quiet time with the Father. I have so many memories of wonderful days in the woods of Northern Virginia, Texas, Tennessee, and now, Illinois and Missouri. Memories of sorting things out, planning next steps, addressing short-comings, and refocusing on what really matters. Those times have been a very important part of my spiritual journey, and I am deeply thankful for them all.
I don't know how many more times God will let me enjoy these October excursions. I've already had more than I deserve. So, if I don't get many more, it's really okay, because for some reason, I can't help but think that it's always October in Heaven.

Lighting Fires or Being Lights?

Since "I heard it through the grapevine" (Welch's, of course) that my last blog caused a few of my members to wonder if I was talking about our church family, let me clear that up quickly with a "NO". It was a generic observation about churches as I have been letting my brain chew on the topic of Church Growth over the last several weeks. I have been especially troubled lately with how far from the Word of God our perceptions and assumptions about church growth have come. I can't help but wonder what Jesus would say. He was far more concerned about the one lone sheep who wondered "away from the fold" that He was with the ninety-nine still there or the nine thousand who could be there.
After a couple centuries of evangelical traditions, followed by the post-war mushrooming science of church growth, it's normal and expected that we will focus on "getting people excited and involved" and "providing the church with a clear vision of who we are and where we are going" (as if Jesus wasn't absolutely clear) Church leaders are forced to meet in long sessions to hammer out "how can we light a fire under this church and attract our community to our services." Yes, for most of my ministry career, I've seen it as my job to create ideas, programs, and ministries, and to offer up "brands" and "slogans" that will ignite the imagination of members, build a sense of excitement, and challenge everyone on to greater works. Some have been good and some haven't. None have ever been sustainable for more than a few years.
Here's where my heart aches. "...love so amazing so divine, demand my soul, my life, my all." Can you even sing that and not feel the tug of truth in that song? If it's true and if we are honest when we sing it, why do we have to spent even thirty seconds discussing how to get church people excited?
Paul said, "The love of Christ compels us," and John said, "We love him because he first loved us". Paul's argument against Christians being cavalier about sin was that grace was so amazing, "how can we who have died to sin continue to live in it?"
I guess the question is, why isn't Jesus enough? Why isn't grace enough? I mean, enough to fire us up to give and do all the "one another" things the Spirit called on us to do when we get together? Enough to make us excited about Him and His family? Enough to cause us to witness for Him when He gives us the opportunity throughout each day?
I know, every one's not "mature in Christ" and many folks need neat ideas, new opportunities, and organized excitement. But still - one of these days - Jesus needs to be enough.

Sweeping Judgements?

If the minister of a church is the kind of people person a minister should be, then there is probably no one who has as good a perspective on the spiritual health of that church family as he has. Yes, there are always exceptions to any general statement like that, but no one, again assuming we're talking about an effective minister, mixes with more members, more age groups, and has more interaction across all segments of the congregation. The average member, including the shepherds, have a circle of church friends that they do most all their "church stuff" with and no one circle of church people has a complete or accurate perspective on the whole congregation. Unfortunately, many members, again including shepherds, don't realize how often they make sweeping judgements about the entire church family based on what their small circle seems to think and feel. If their circle has several disgruntled members who complain about things and seem to be constantly "bent out of shape" about something, many shepherds have concluded that "we have some serious problems" or "we've got to do something or a lot of people are going to leave." That leader's perspective is slanted, incomplete, and does not speak to the feelings of the vast majority of members.
Any of us can fall into the trap of assuming that if my few contacts are unhappy everyone is unhappy. Leaping from the specific to the general in a church family is very egocentric, paranoid driven, and unwise. It's probably one the single most important arguments for having multiple shepherds, who can compare notes, offer alternate view points, and slow down the rush to judgement. It's also a good time to ask the minister what he thinks.
I can't tell you how many times I've been in a leadership meeting and found myself wondering, "Are these guys going to the same church I'm going to?" Elders hear from complainers. They tend to get bombed with negativism, and sometimes that is overpowering. As the minister, I see those who are excited and those who are growing and doing things that encourage others - like me. I don't sit in one section and see the same group of people week after week.
The challenge is to slow down, observe, pray a lot, and truly try to objectively analyze the problem - if there really is one. I think every church and it's leaders needs to remember two simple things before making sweeping judgements about the spiritual condition of their church family. First, as mentioned, remember our circle of input is extremely small and often a grossly inaccurate way to measure the whole. And the second is, in most church families, we don't know how wonderful our church family really is because we have nothing to compare it to. Satan loves to take a loving family of God's people and sow just a few seeds of doubt, complacency, and pessimism. He loves to create problems where there are none.
God' wants us to "grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ," and that's not the same as the world's standards for church growth. It's also not about fabricating some activity that creates a sense of excitement that we incorrectly label as "growth." Events and ministries are just tools. We live between the events, because the goal is not excitement, but as Paul said, "Be devoted to one another in brotherly love." (Rom.12:10) That's what FAMILY does.

Tired of talking about love?

I really try not to re-preach my Sunday sermon the next week as a blog, but sometimes there are some truly crucial concepts that stick in my mind and I just can't drop them and move on to the next lesson so easily. This past Sunday I posed the question, "Is is possible to be a loving church and not be an obedient church?" Depending on how you define love, the answer may be either yes or no for you. If you use the world's definition for love, and tend to think of love as the warm, fuzzy, and subjectively emotional feeling that makes ladies dream and gives men nightmares, you've seen loads of love that wasn't supported by loving actions. On the other hand, when you understand that agape, God's love, is choosing to love the way God loves, you understand that nothing of any true value to God actually happens without love. If it's real love - God's love - it's impossible to not be driven to please him.
There is no such thing as "just being a loving church" and not being a committed church. Maybe the problem is that we don't understand what it really means to love our Father with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love others as we love ourselves.
* Do we mistake friendliness for love?
* Do we mistake peace for love?
* Do we mistake talk about love for really being in love?
I have actually heard church leaders moan about "Too much emphasis on love and not enough on ministry, outreach, and giving!" Where do we think these things come from? REAL LOVE LEADS TO COMMITMENT! To demand commitment without building love is why churches can't get members to volunteer, witness, and increase their contribution!
We need MORE LOVE, but it must be THE RIGHT KIND OF LOVE. Here are the reminders I pointed out Sunday - they are but a few on the complete list.
1. Love is the ONLY command of God that is number one! Mk.12:29-31; 1 Tim.1:5
2. Love is the ONLY thing that gives value to every spiritual act! I Cor.13:1-3
3. Love is the ONLY answer for fear! 1 Jn.4:18
4. Love is the ONLY way to know God & live in God! 1 Jn.4:7-8; 11-12
5. Love is the ONLY thing that covers a multitude of sins! 1 Pet.4:8
6. Love always builds up! 1 Cor.8:1; Eph.4:15-16; Heb.10:24
7. Love motivates us! 2 Cor.5:14; 1 Jn.4:19
8. Love is the ONE thing that Jesus said identified us as his disciples! Jn.13:35
9. Love is why Jesus was crucified! Jn.3:16; Rom.5:8
Conclusion:
A. Nothing of value happens without love
B. Nothing is Christ-like without love
C. There is no commitment without love
D. Without commitment ALL the ONE ANOTHER stuff doesn't happen! (I have 24 one another passages on my list) With love/commitment - WHAT DOES HAPPEN? All of it!

More Trail Camera Fun

I placed my new trail camera on the same tree as my hunting stand, which is on the edge of a cut corn field where it's been for four years now. I put it in on opening day, Oct.1 and I checked it yesterday, Oct.8, before hunting that evening. There were over four hundred pictures on it. About half of them had noting on them. It was either the wind blowing vegetation and setting off the camera, or some critter (bird or ground animal) zooming across before the picture can snap. You can see the date and time of the picture on the lower right corner below the picture. I liked this picture because the doe is so still. She looks like a one legged 3D target, but she's very real. The following series of pictures are just part of the pics recording two bucks sparing. It's really neat. I've been blessed to watch it in person a few times, but most people never get to see it. Enjoy.

This was more of a playful pushing contest. The big boys, during the rut, actually get very vicious and deadly. There have been plenty of nice bucks found dead with antlers locked together. Below, there were lots of pics of the local raccoon, who left a couple of very personal mementos on my stand.

With mama standing guard, this yearling was very intrigued by the little box on the tree.

While there were several pictures of about 4 or 5 bucks, this big boy had several pictures, but this was the most complete and still. He's a nice ten point, probably three and a half year old buck. There are a couple of really nice buck scrapes about fifty yards to the left of this picture that he probably made. When you hear us hunters moaning about the really mature bucks being nocturnal, we're not just making excuses. Look at the time in the lower right corner. Hopefully that will change in just a few weeks as he gets a lot more serious about looking for some girl friends.

Once Upon A Time...

Fred and Mary were quiet folks. On Sunday mornings at church, they were as happy and friendly as anyone, but they never really took a lot of initiative to go up to members or visitors and just talk and visit. They were a little more laid back, and generally only responded to members who came up to them. Like I said, they were quiet folks - I guess you'd say shy, introverted, and meek.
After a quiet Sunday dinner at home, Fred and Mary just quietly got to work, doing things they did nearly every day of the week. Mary fixed a meal to take over to an elderly couple who had visited their church, but, because of poor health, hadn't been back in a long time. Fred and Mary knew they were both in poor shape, so they have been taking food over there two or three times a week. Fred cut their grass for them, and put their trash cans out front for the Monday morning pick up, and he always came back on Monday evening to check on them and return their trash cans to the back porch.
Fred and Mary left the elderly couple's house and drove to the Elder Care Center, to visit with the many folks, all of whom they knew by first name. They went straight to the central TV room where most of the folks spent the afternoon, and they just talked with each one and got them smiling and laughing, and did dozens of little things for many that the Care Center workers just didn't have time to do. At one point, Fred and Mary, sat with half a dozen folks and sang some of their favorite hymns for them. It was soft, but sweet, and the folks were all so appreciative of the attention Fred and Mary gave. They hated to see them go, but it was getting dark, and Fred and Mary always spent Sunday evening teaching Bible class for the small children in the inner city church about 45 minutes from their suburban neighborhood. They always got home late on Sunday night and fell asleep exhausted from all their labors of love.
After the evening service at their church that night, the elders had a meeting. After dealing with several budget concerns and figuring out how to keep some disgruntled members from leaving, they began to talk about the spiritual needs of members. They were deeply concerned about the seemingly weak faith of several families. They spent the rest of their meeting discussing how they could get Fred and Mary more involved in "church work" and thus, help them become "more faithful members of the Lord's church."
Be careful when you judge members as complacent and inactive. You may be judging their walk with God only by church generated ministries and involvement opportunities - but that's not all there is. Church is a tool to use not a standard to judge by. God is the only one who doesn't miss a thing. Leave the judging to Him.