Are You Legitimate?

I don’t know whether anyone noticed, but things sure were much brighter on Sunday. No, I wasn’t any brighter, but our PowerPoint slides sure were. Projector bulbs evidently aren’t like the 100 watt incandescent bolbs that light our homes. When a bulb at home goes bad, it just pops and dies and quick death. Projector bulbs (at least ours) died a gradual, linfgering death as they get dimmer and dimmer over time.

Our projector finally got so dim that even I noticed it, so I ordered a new replacement bulb over the internet from Bulb and Battery Center in Mableton, GA. They had our particular battery as their "featured special" (if you call a $350 bulb "special"). You never really know how legitimate a place is after they turn up on Google, but I ordered the bulb and put it on the credit card and forgot about it. When it came in and I unboxed it, I left the invoice on Cathy’s desk and forgot about that too. Steve, being his usual efficient treasurer self, found the invoice, thought it was a bill and paid it. So we bought the same $350 bulb twice (which makes it less of a deal). Before Cathy called to try to straighten out the problem, I said jokingly, “I guess we’ll find out how legitimate this place is, huh?” Well, she never made the call. That day we received our check back in the mail, already voided out. I now have the business card for Bulb and Battery Center in my desk drawer; we’ll order from them again. Treat people right and they know that you are legitmate.

So, are we legitimate? Do we live our daily lives in such a way that we legitimize our faith? Do people at work, at school, and in our neighborhoods take God seriously because of the way they see us living? Paul says, “I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received” (Eph 4:1). He tells the Thessalonians, “Live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory” (1 Thess 2:12). He tells us to live in such a way we “will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive” (Titus 2:10). What do people see in us? Do we treat others with such dignity, sincerity and courtesy that they respect our faith and our God? Do we legitimize what we claim about faith by the way we live? If you treat people right, then they will know that you are legitimate.

A Day of Praise

Well, I am absolutely exhausted. I’m usually pretty tired on Monday mornings. Not only is the designation of Sunday as “Christian Sabbath” theologically dubious, it is also pragmatically incorrect-- Sunday often anything but restful! But yesterday was a particularly exhausting day of praise. I preached on David rejoicing, so we sang about half of the up-tempo praise songs that we know to emphasize that theme. And then we sang the other half (one after the other) during our special “Evening of Praise” last night. In case you weren't keeping score, we sang 12 songs yesterday morning and 16 last night! I don’t know how the praise team held up so well, but I was completely sung out! The words of an old song came to mind, “I’m tired of words and I’m too hoarse to shout.” (That’s probably the only time I’ll quote Meat Loaf in reference to worship!)

Yesterday was a wonderful day of praise; I truly felt God’s presence in our worship. Now understand that is a statement about me, not about God. Our God is not a genie in a bottle that we can summon to our side if we do worship just right. God is just as much present among us when our singing drags, the sermon is a bit stale and our prayers seem to go no higher than the ceiling. But sometimes the act of worship touches us in such a special way so that we become more aware of His presence. Moses asked Israel, “What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the Lord our God is near us whenever we pray to him?” (Deut 4:7). God was near to His people, but they needed to be reminded of that.

Worship should always reminds us of the presence of God. The words of our songs and prayers, the teaching of scripture, the symbolism of communion all point us to God being near. But sometimes any of that or all of that touches our emotions in such a way that we feel His presence more powerfully. Indeed, we serve a God who is so near to us. I am so grateful that my church and worship can touch me in ways that allows me to feel and experience that nearness so powerfully.

Farewell, Old Friend

I am in mourning this morning, and it’s really hard to type while wearing a black armband! My constant companion for the last year and a half has left me and will not return. Oh, don’t waste too much sympathy on me—someone STOLE my iPod from my car. They took it out of my car parked while it was parked right in front of the church building beside Roger’s car. I usually take it inside with me, but I intentionally left it this time on the charger in the car. (They didn;t take the charger). What I did not intentionally do was to (evidently) leave the car unlocked! So today, I am tuneless. I’m always clueless; what idiot forgets to lock his car? Clueless is OK, but tuneless is tough.

What hurts the worst is not the monetary loss ($250) or the sense of violation or the fact that I was about 3/4 the way through the new Tess Gerritsen audiobook. No, what really hurts the most is that Lynn had just said not long ago, “Someone’s going to steal that thing!” Hey, the KEY was in the car; why didn’t they take the whole car and leave me the iPod? Answer: They WANTED the iPod!

My first reaction when I realized it had actually been taken was, “Hope they choke on it!” Aside from this being logistically unlikely, that was not a very good line of thought or attitude. So I changed both. My new attitude and line of thinking is this— my iPod is filled with Christian music (Casting Crowns, Mercy Me, Hallal, Zoe, and three or four WOW and WOW worship albums) and even has a copy of the audiobook Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt by Anne Rice. Maybe they will listen to what is on the iPod before they sell or hock it and learn something. Maybe they needed my iPod more than I needed it? I hope they enjoy it… I really do.

Just in case you are wondering, my lunch hour today will be spent at Best Buy looking at iPods Maybe I can’t do too much about being clueless, but I won’t be tuneless for long!

Church, Change and Controversy

Edward Fudge is one of my favorite writers. He is a practicing attorney in Houston, an elder in the church, and has preached and written for many years. He is best known for his GracEmail that he sends out several times a week. The latest one is the first in a series that looks at changes in churches of Christ.

When my generation was growing up in the 1940's, 50's and 60's, we knew exactly what to expect when we went to church. My town had perhaps a dozen expressions of the Church universal, each carrying forward its own traditions of thinking, speaking and doing. And if people from our town visited a church of their own variety somewhere else, they could anticipate in advance what they would find when they arrived. My group thought it was the only one that did things right, but most other Christian groups probably thought at some level that their ways were also best.

Today, to put it mildly, things are different. It is not uncommon now to see as many independent or nondenominational churches as churches with the old brand names. Also common are what I jokingly call "stealth churches" -- congregations affiliated with traditional denominations or fellowships which omit that association from their name. Within five miles of my house are
"stealth churches" that are really Baptist, Presbyterian, Methodist and Lutheran. Other churches use a location or community name, disclosing an affiliation in smaller print on a second line. It is not uncommon to hear people say, in all varieties of churches, "I think of myself as a Christian who happens to attend such-and-such church."

Things really get exciting when one moves about. Within my own tradition (non-instrumental Churches of Christ), one finds most churches singing without accompaniment but some that use instruments now and then. Most of our congregations still limit public functions (leading singing, praying, serving Communion, ushering, passing offering baskets) to the males but a growing number of churches make no distinction between men and women. Some use a song leader;
others feature a praise team. Some celebrate Christmas and Easter while many others do not. Many have fellowship halls, family centers or multipurpose facilities but a minority avoids them all. The issues vary with other denominations but the diversity is clearly present in most Christian groups.

One finds many different attitudes toward change. Any church usually contains an element of people who not only prefer the familiar old ways but believe that anything else is wrong. Another group seems to think that anything is better than what has always been. A larger group -- who perhaps did not grow up within the particular Christian tradition -- doesn't care either way and cannot quite understand what the fuss is all about. Meanwhile those charged with responsibility for leading the church try to balance old and new, to do the most good and the least harm, and to maintain unity while promoting progress.

If you would like to read the rest of the series, you can find it at his web site. Edward is one of those guys who began his spiritual journey with a very narrow spectrum of our very narrow fellowship. His walk with God has brought him among believers of all stripes, and his has been one of the clearest, gentlest and most relentless voices calling us to a wider fellowship within the kingdom of God.

The Power of Prayer

I remember reading of two different scientific studies on prayer, both of which were widely reported in the secular press. Both centered on the effectiveness of intercessory prayer where groups of people prayed for those who were sick. Some knew they were being prayed for and some did not. The result of the two studies was that prayer works… and that prayer doesn’t work. Take your pick.

Well, I doubt that there will ever be an empirical, scientific study that demonstrates the power of prayer. Prayer is just not so tidy and neat that we can demonstrate its power with surveys or point to it at the bottom of a test tube. Yes, we can share stories in which prayer seemed to be so powerful. But face it, even those stories don’t really “prove” prayer, do they. People do get well on their own, right? And we can all also tells stories in which we prayed for a healing that definitely did not take place.

Should it surprise us that scientific studies have difficulty with prayer? The scientific method is limited to the five senses; prayer inhabits the larger world of faith and God. James assures that the power of prayer is to be found beyond the world of the empirical. After telling us to pray to God when we lack wisdom and assuring us that God answers prayer, James says, “But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt.” Petterson’s The Message puts James 1:5-8 like this—

Ask boldly, believingly, without a second thought. People who “worry their prayers” are like wind-whipped waves. Don’t think you’re going to get anything from the Master that way, adrift at sea, keeping all your options open.

The power of prayer is faith. There will be times when we will prayers for things that we will not receive—sicknesses that are not healed, marriages that are not saved, jobs that are not found, babies that are not conceived, churches that are not renewed. Our job is not to understand unanswered prayer; our job is to “have faith and do not doubt” (Matt 21:21). Ultimately God’s promise in prayer is to give you “what you need” (Matt 6:8). The power of prayer is the faith that assures us that He knows that need better than do we.

Good to Be Home

It’s good to be home after a week of wandering in the wilderness (driving to and from Arkansas). It was great spending time with my sister Sonya and her family in Nashville (Darcy is still a hoot!) and with my parents in Little Rock (both of them are doing well). And of course, the point of the trip was to pack up Tressa and move her home after her 6 year sojourn in Searcy (4 in school and 2 working). Her friend Courtney and her children rode back with us, and Tressa will take them on to Philadelphia (or actually New Jersey) where they move into their new place this week. (Then Tressa will spend every waking hour finding a job... so if anyone has any leads in the education filed, pass them on). And I also got to spend a little time with Angelynn too... though college girls have little time for their Dads... though she did squeeze in enough time for me to take her to Wal-Mart! It was actually a fun visit… except for all the driving. I was a little concerned that I was going to be stopped by the police on the way home because the car was so overloaded (think “Beverly Hillbillies” without Granny on top in her rocking chair), but we made it.

It was also good to spend time with Mark Pugh yesterday. Mark was in the area attending his 36th high school reunion at Denbigh High School. Mark is a good friend who preaches in Corpus Christi, Texas, and we enjoy getting together at Pepperdine every year for pie and coffee. Mark is a great preacher, and he graciously volunteered to preach in my absence. And it was even better that I came back a day early and was here top hear him and eat lunch with him. The only problem was that he insisted on showing the picture at right, a 1967 shot from dear old Camp Idlewild. From left to right (back row), Sonny Respess (Clarita Gay’s brother), Greg Hammer, (front row), Tommy Dossett, Bobby Dossett, The Unknown Camper (can anyone help identify him?), me (the one with the gangsta sneer going on) and Robert Pugh (Mark’s middle brother, now deceased). We are a bunch of cool dudes, aren’t we?

My original plan was to stay over thr weekend in Nashville with my sister and go to church with her at Otter Creek (I’ve not yet see their new building), but we decided to come home. When you get right down to it, there is no place that I would rather worship than right here with my Denbigh family. And especially throw in some good preaching, and why would I want to go anywhere else? It’s good to be home.

Tariq the Hafiz

Tariq Khan is in many ways a typical New York City twelve year old. He loves to play Grand Theft Auto on his his Playstation 2. He loves to listen to the hip-hop music of Fat Joe, T.I. and 50 Cent. But what is not typical is that he also just became a hafiz in the Islam religion by memorizing the entire Koran in its Arabic. He doesn’t understand the Koran very well, but he can recite it from cover to cover. He accomplished that feat in less than two years by working 40 hours a week. According to Islamic tradtion, this gives him the priviledge of taking ten people from his family to heaven with him—

Whoever reads the Qur’an and memorizes it, while he regards what it makes lawful as lawful and unlawful as forbidden [practices what it says], Allah will admit him into Jannah [heaven] and will accept his intercession on behalf of ten such persons of his family who were doomed to the fire of Jahannum [hell].

So you get a free ticket to heaven (and out of hell) because your kid memorizes the Koran? I guess that encourages parents to stand over the little tykes and “encourage” them to stick to their studies! We may want to dismiss such a belief as ridiculous, and rightly so. But Muslims believe that the Koran is the word of God and that God's word is something good to know. So they read and even memorize it. Does that really sound so silly?

How about us? Do we believe the Bible is God’s inspired word? How do we show that? Do we read it to find what it is that God wants us to know? Do we teach our kids the Bible and give them a thirst for its truth? Is it possible that Muslims may live more consistently with what they believe about their book than many Christians live consistently with what we say we believe about ours? This is something we may need to think about.

Blowin' in the Wind

We were all ready for Sunday morning to be “Denbigh unplugged.” Tropical Storm Ernesto blew through North Carolina and Virginia, dumping 9 inches of rain on our area and rearranging power lines to the point that we were in the dark from sometime early Friday morning until late Saturday night. So for basically two days we were without power (at home and church building), and those were the two days leading up to Sunday.

Now I’m not the most organized guy in the world, but I do like a little planning and preparation when it comes to Sunday morning. Unfortunately the sermon I finished writing late Thursday afternoon was still in my inoperable computer in my dark office. So Saturday I threw something together, had Roger pick some other songs (the old ones went with the sermon I couldn’t get to), and we prepared to do church in the dark with Coleman lanterns crammed in the family room. (Neither our auditorium not our family room have any windows, so “in the dark” is no exaggeration). We pulled the pin on Sunday School and got ready to do church like we did when without power for 8-9 days during Hurricane Isabel. But the power came on around 10:00 p.m. on Saturday night. Roger and I came in early enough on Sunday mroning (after saying that we wouldn’t) to have time to throw together a bulletin and PowerPoint slides for church. Worship probably came across much as usual... except the praise team got the week off and I probably used Greek works like “ahhh” and “ummm…” a whole lot more thn usual as I tried to think of something to say next.

There are a lot of things that we connect to church that seem like part of church. The list of these things could go on forever—church buildings, Sunday school, order of worship, four-part harmony, fellowship dinners, adult Bible classes, committees, Sunday night and mid-week services, full-time paid staff, pitch-pipes, communion trays, invitation songs, announcements, and PowerPoint slides (ask angelynn how often she remembers doing church without “singing off the wall”). What if you went to church where they had NONE of those things? Would you even feel like you had been to church?

Church is not about HOW we do things when we are together. Church is about worshipping and serving God, focusing on what God did through Jesus at the cross, and what God does in us through the Spirit that calls us to holiness and service. And it is about how we love and support one another as we focus on all those things together. The way that we do those things matters a lot more to us than they do to God. Sometimes maybe we need something to blow some of those tools-traditions-techniques around a bit so that we can more clearly focus on the heart of the matter.

End of Summer

We spent Labor Day at two Labor Day cookouts. The lunch cookout was at Randy and Betty Tanner’s house (or was it at Nathan and Dawn’s). Wherever it was, it was good! The kids were in the pool when we got there and the parents had just dragged them out as we left; I don’t even think they got out to eat. The adults (I use the term loosely) played a game of full-contact “Spoons.” If you have never played spoons, it is a card game where you pass around cards one at a time looking for four of a kind. When you get four of a kind, you get to grab a spoon… and everyone else grabs a spoon too. Because there is one less spoon than players it is a mad grab and someone gets left withouy a spoon. There is this scene at the beginning of “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” where there is going to be a knife fight and Butch says, “We have to get the rules straight” and the reply is “There aren’t no rules in a knife fight!” Well, he was taking about our Spoons game! We had elders diving across tables and people wrestling over spoons. It was great! I have the bruises to prove it!

Then we went to our supper cookout at Bob and Kate Looney’s house. This was more of a young adult gathering (except for the preachers)… so everyone here was much better behaved. The topic of conversation revolved around dachshunds— there were 4 of them at the party, though at times it seemed more like 40 running around! I just think those little wiener dogs are so cute, don’t you? The highlight of the party was when everyone pointed at Kate and were just sure that they saw the baby move through her shirt; Kate missed it, but everyone else saw it. I didn't— I was watching the game on ESPN on the big screen TV in High Def. There was also the pool table, a game of dominoes... at least, I was told that there was! I was watching the game on ESPN on the big screen TV in High Def!

I think it is important for a church family to really enjoy being with one another. Yesterday reminded me that we have a great group of people that do just that. The Westminster Shorter Catechism suggests that “Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.” He wants us to enjoy one another as well.

BTW, Tank Daniels made the Philadephia Eages practice squad. That means that he is on the team but will be inactive for games right now. I think that will change. The Eagles are carrying only six active linebackers on their main squad, so I think it is only a matter of time before they activate Tank. Anyway, congratulations, Tank!

Hurricane Memories

I’m writing today’s blog entry from my laptop in my den. Tropical Storm Ernesto blew through last night, and the electricity is off at the church building. The power also went out here at the house for a couple of hours; it came on long enough for us to make coffee (God is good), but it is off again and who knows when it will come back. I know the power is also off at Ken and Alicia Moore’s house… Ken called looking for someone with a working internet connection. I think withdrawal was beginning to set in. Somehow I don't think my little laptop and dialup was what he was looking for!

Sitting in a darkened house with the wind blowing and sheets of rain falling outside bring back memories of Hurricane Isabel. This little storm is nowhere near the same as Isabel, but the experience was enough to serve as a reminder. Most of us went for a week and a half without power, lost (or had to eat in a hurry) all our frozen food, had to wait in huge lines for gas, and had to put up with a great deal of inconvenience. Of course, we didn’t have long to tell our Isabel stories; Katrina and the suffering that went with her battered the Gulf Coast and made what we went through seem like a party.

In fact, in some ways it was a party. I have good memories of Isabel. Having church in the dark using handwritten sermon notes and no PowerPoint. Cooking everything from coffee to frozen casseroles on the gas grill. Reading by Coleman lantern light. And working hard together as a church to process and give away three tractor-trailer trucks worth of food and supplies to people in out area as we worked with Church of Christ Disaster Relief. So our little storm outside today brings back some good memories.

It also is a reminder of the continued suffering brought about by Katrina and two other hurricanes that hit the Gulf Coast almost exactly one year ago. Let’s continue to pray for those whose lives still aren’t the same today.

On Cell Phones and Reader's Digest

Angelynn’s cell phone recently was damaged to the point it doesn’t work. Make a note-- If you drop a cell phone into your fast food bag the Coke in the bag spills, that’s not good for the cell phone! Angelynn’s is the only cell phone on which we have (or need) insurance, so we get to see if Alltel will live up to their bargain. Someone told Angelynn that if the cell phone is damaged due to your own negligence (like baptizing it in Coke), then the insurance won’t cover it. So she had to decide whether to tell the truth about its demise… or simply say that she lost it. I am proud that she went with the truth... and is it turns out, Alltel is going to come through (as sone as Dad coughs up the $50 co-pay). Of course Angelynn, I think, had already figured out that there is a second Alltel store in town and it is pretty easy to loose a non-working cell phone!

Two questions? First, you do think that it would be a great idea for Dad to get the new cell phone and give Angelynn the old, beat-up one, right?

Second, just how honest are we? I mean, honestly now? Sure personal integrity and honesty are high on our list of desirable qualities, but are we truly honest when life gets difficult. Like when you might have to face life without a cell phone! (Shriek! Gasp!). If you would like to find out how honest you are, the nice people at Reader’s Digest have an online honesty test. I would think that Reader’s Digest readers are a basically honest group of folks. Here is their survey (I’ve shortened some of the questions a bit) and the percentage of peole who said “Yes.” The questions is, “Have you ever…”

1. Cheated on a test in school? 48%
2. Misstated facts on a resumé/job application? 17%
3. Called in sick at work when not ill? 55%
4. Taken office supplies from work for personal use? 62%
5. Shifted blame to a co-worker for a mistake you made? 11%
6. Taken something valuable from work for personal use? 13%
7. Sneaked into a movie or concert without paying? 13%
8. Munched on something in a store and not paid for it? 22%
9. Undercharged or received too much change and not told? 51%
10. Found something of value and not turned it in? 20%
11. Taken towels from a hotel or silverware from restaurant? 23%
12. Downloaded music from an Internet site and not paid? 46%
13. Switched price tags to get a lower price for something? 12%
14. Not declared the full value of purchases made abroad? 45%
15. Damaged an unoccupied car and not left a note? 26%
16. Cheated on your tax return? 18%
17. Lied about one’s appearance to avoid hurting feelings? 71%
18. Parked in a handicapped space you weren’t entitled to? 22%
19. Lied to your spouse about the cost of a recent purchase? 22%
20. Driven 15 mph hour over the limit or through a red light 46%
21. Lied to your spouse about relationship with another person? 45%

How would you do on such a survey? You know what the number one excuse for people who admit to engaging in all of the above behaviors? Everyone else is doing it!

Light the Night

I was in CompUSA yesterday buying memory for the church office’s computers, bringing Cathy’s machine up from 256 to 512 meg. (That is “shared” memory; that means some is sliced off the top for use as video RAM. I’m surprised XP even ran with that little memory). We can now all expect Cathy to get twice as much work done since her computer should be running now twice as fast.

As I was buying the memory, the guy at the upgrade desk asked me if I wanted to donate a dollar to the “Light the Night Campaign,” an effort to raise money to fight leukemia and lymphoma. I said “sure,” and the man practically lit up. Evidently he had been turned down several times in a row, and so he vented his frustration in thanking me for my “generosity.” He said, “I can’t believe how many people come in here and spend hundreds of dollars on themselves to upgrade on their computer but won’t give a dollar to help fight a deadly disease. A dollar! People are so selfish. It’s just a dollar!” I was glad that I had decided to spring for the dollar.

But the man is right, isn’t he? We can be so selfish. We can clearly see what we “need” to get, and be blind to the needs of others. We can generate what amounts to moral outrage if we find we have been overcharged on a bill or not given credit for a discount for which we qualify. But we have a great deal of difficulty getting too upset over the suffering and injustice suffered others. One of the recurring themes in the prophets was God’s condemnation on a nation that denied justice to the poor (see Isaiah 10:12, Amos 5:12). How many times have I been so focused on me that I didn’t see opportunities to help others? I’m glad I coughed up the $1 last night, but how many other times have I been too selfish to notice need?

But in thinking about what guy behind the counter at CompUSA said, it dawned on me what he didn’t say. He didn’t say anything at all about CompUSA matching donations or even making donations. There is only one mention of the program on their web site, and it is not mentioned on their main page. It says “CompUSA customers can support the Society's mission by contributing a $1 donation to the Society.” And individual stores are organizing tam to walk in the fundraiser. But isn’t CompUSA itself participating in the event? After all, “It’s just a dollar!”

Here is another application, boys and girls. It is always easier to think of good things that others should do (like CompUSA matching funds) rather than get involved doing good yourself. Right?

Update From Blogville

It’s almost time to go home, and I forgot to write something today. So how about a quick update on two past blogs? Remember Tressa and Angelynn’s friend Tank Daniels who was trying to make the Philadelphia Eagles? (see My Wife and Football, Tuesday August 8 ) Tank’s wife Courtney is a member of a very exclusive club—people who have replied to my blog!) Well, anyway Tank is still playing with the Eagles and still doing well. He survived a couple of big cuts and is fighting hard to make the team. We saw him get quarterback sack and force a fumble Friday night at the Kings after small group. And thanks to the magic of TiVo, we saw it over and over again!

I just remembered that I had said that I’m was going to buy Tank's Starter Jersey if he made the Eagles. Well, I just checked NFL.com to check on that and wow!!! This could get really expensive! Maybe I can get Tank to change his last name to "Owens." They have those really CHEAP! Maybe I can borrow money from Art Edlow who is a huge Eagles fan; Coutney told him they would get him tickets! Either way, go Tank!

Also an update on Maggie (see What Do We Expect from August 2). Maggie had a really good successful last night. She got to go crazy on our walk chasing another cicada up and down the street… with me trotting behind laughing at her (while the neighbors no doubt were laughing at me). I was surprised when she gave up the chase so easily and trotted back home. It made sense when she spit out the cicada that she had been holding in her mouth on the kitchen floor and went to chasing it around the kitchen! Fortunately, Lynn was upstairs and missed all that excitement.

OK, that’s all for today.

Good Lesson from a Bad King

My Bible class last Wednesday night was on King Manasseh. It wasn’t supposed to be (only) on Manasseh, but we didn’t get as far as I planned. But then, we never get as far as I plan. (I had this great fear when I started preaching of getting half-way through a class and running out of material, and I still generally prepare too much material). But Manasseh was an interesting fellow. He ruled longer than any other king of Israel or Judah, and he was sandwiched between the two greatest kings of Judah— he was the son of Hezekiah and the grandfather of Josiah.

Despite this pedigree, he was also the most wicked king of Judah, undoing all the reforms of Hezekiah and going even further in introducing pagan evil into Judah than Ahab and Jezebel had done in Israel (see 2 Kings 21:2-9). There is some question as to whether the worship of Molech that he re-introduced included child sacrifice. The NIV rendering of “he sacrificed his own son in the fire” is more literally “he passed his son through the fire” which may indicate a pagan fire dedication rather than burnt offering. Whatever it was, Manasseh was one bad dude who led his people so far from God that not even Josiah would be able to stem the slide into oblivion.

It is the depravity of King Manasseh makes the little story that the Chronicler throws into the mix seem a bit out of bounds. After Manasseh was humiliated and taken prisoner by the Assyrians, “he sought the favor of the LORD his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers (2 Chron 33:12). And God restored him and the Chronicler says “Then Manasseh knew that the LORD is God.” And Manasseh even evidently started some of the reforms that Josiah would complete (2 Chron 33:15-16). Was Manasseh’s conversion what led the young Josiah to also seek after God with all of his heart?

No one is beyond redemption. No one is so evil that they cannot seek God; no one is so depraved that God will refuse to forgive them once they do repent. As Manasseh sat alone in his prison cell and calling on God and promising the moon if God would save him, most of us would likely doubt his sincerity. We may dismiss his repentance as “You are just sorry you got caught!” But God knows genuine repentance, and He always honors it. No one is beyond God’s mercy. That is the good news part of the gospel!

Two Big Changes

There are two big changes around the Tucker house. First, today was the official end of summer as Lynn went back to her job at Denbigh High school. There was a moratorium on me mentioning anything about this impending certainty, but ignoring it didn’t help-- Lynn is back to school. (The good news is that the students won’t be there for another week and a half.) But Lynn going back to work is not the big change.

No, the big change is the boomerang. Tressa will be moving back home in early September. The plan is for me to drive to Arkansas on September 12, help her pack up, spend some time with my parents and sister, and be back by September 18. Of course, Tressa has a couple of job irons in the fire, and this timetable will be accelerated if one of those jobs works out sooner. She is looking for a teaching job in high school or middle school Social Studies. So if there are any school principals out there in blogville...

How do I feel about Tressa coming back home to live? Well, Lynn and I thoroughly enjoyed our empty nest. (We didn’t exactly throw a part when Angelynn joined her sister at college. Or did we?). But at the same time, we are also thoroughly excited about Tressa moving back home too. We were happy when she went off to school; we’ll enjoy her for as long as she’s back home. And when she gets her career going, moves out on her own, makes her first million and buys her Dad a new truck to make up for the one she blew up, we’ll be OK with that too!.

Circumstances change. Even in the relationships that we treasurer the most, the circumstances always change. The secret to a happy life is being happy right now, and not looking to the future waiting for the circumstances to change. Paul said, “I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation.” But in the very next verse he said, “I can do everything through him who gives me strength.” (Phil 4:12-13). That secret of contentment comes only when we rely on God’s strength.

Fiesta!

Another year’s VBS has wrapped. This was an interesting year for several reasons. Some of the folks who would normally work with VBS weren’t available this year, so we had to break in some newbies this year. Also we decided to have VBS early in the summer so it would not compete with our big Mexico Mission trip. For a variety of reasons, we moved it back to the middle of August, so once again VBS and our Mexico trip were practically back to back. But this year it made sense, at least— the VBS theme was Fiesta!

We had about 50 kids (ages 2- 5th grade) each night, most coming from our community, and it seemed that the largest attendance was on Friday night (unusual). Our kids had a blast, and it was good that they could share their fun with friends and neighbors. We had a ton of people working, and it seemed like everything went very smoothly. A month ago we were talking about calling the whole thing off; by Friday, we were talking about next year!

My highlight was on Tuesday when I helped Lynn teach the Bible adventure. The Bible lesson was actually a new mini-play each night. Though she did the lion's share of the teaching (and memorizing lines), she did have helpes each night. So Tuesday night I got to play Lazarus (Jesus is our life, Viva!) I knew they had Bible costumes here at the building, so I didn’t think much about it. Right before we went on, Lynn told me that I shouldn’t wear my tennis shoes. Well, I don’t own sandals and I wasn’t going to borrow any. I insisted that the kids weren’t going to notice. But right in the middle of our first session, one of the little darlings yelled out, “Hey, if he is Lazarus, why is he wearing tennis shoes?” I wonder if Sir Lawrence Oliver ever had that problem!

Thanks to everyone who worked so hard to make VBS a success. We are looking forward to next year. I think we are also thankful that it is next year and not next month!

If We Are the Body

If there has ever been a better album than Casting Crowns self-titled debut album, I don’t know what it would be. Some of my favorite songs ever are on that album. And I’ve been playing it a lot this week because I’m using one of the songs in my sermon Sunday (reading the lyrics, not singing it!). One of the songs on the album gently chastises the church for accepting an identity that is less than that of the body of Christ. The song is entitled “If We Are the Body.”

It's crowded in worship todayAs she slips in
Trying to fade into the faces
The girls' teasing laughter is carrying farther than they know
Farther than they know

CHORUS
But if we are the Body-- Why aren't His arms reaching
Why aren't His hands healing-- Why aren't His words teaching
And if we are the Body-- Why aren't His feet going
Why is His love not showing them there is a way. There is a way.

A traveler is far away from home He sheds his coat
And quietly sinks into the back row
The weight of their judgmental glances tells him that his chances
Are better out on the road

A bridge that is sung before repeating the chorus says, “Jesus paid much too high a price, for us to pick and choose who should come, and we are the Body of Christ.” Has the church been much too apt to “pick and choose who should come?” Are we more about “me and my friends” than we are reaching out and including others? The song hits the nail on the head, doesn’t it? If we are the body, then why don’t we look more like Jesus? Why aren't our arms reaching, hands healing and words teaching?

Cold Case... Closed?

It would appear that the nation’s most famous "cold case" is finally on the way to being solved. John Mark Karr, a 41 year old school teacher, was arrested yesterday in Thailand and confessed to the 1996 murder of JonBenet Ramsey, one of the most high profile cases in memory. He has confessed to the crime, saying that he killed the girl "accidently" during a kidnap attempt.

So maybe the “umbrella of suspicion” that had been over JonBenet’s parents, John and Patsy Ramsey, has finally now been lifted. They had always said that they would be proven innocent and that their daughter's killer would be caught. Sadly, Patsy Ramsey did not live to see it; she died earlier this year from ovarian cancer. William Gladstone once said, “Justice delayed is justice denied.” But sometimes justice delayed is the only justice there is.

Surely Jezebel thought that justice delayed meant that justice was denied... and that she had gotten away with murder. Queen Jezebel orchestrated the murder of the righteous Naboth so that Ahab could have a new garden. Elijah confronted the two and pronounced God's judgment on the wicked Ahab and Jezebel (see 1 Kings 21). But nothing happened. Well, Ahab was killed in battle and the dogs licked up his blood—that is something. But Jezebel remained alive as the power behind the throne for two other kings for twenty years. What did elijah know? As it turns out, plenty. Justice had been delayed… not denied. 2 Kings 9 tells of the rise of King Jehu and the ignoble demise of Jezebel in a most un-queenly way. No one was sorry to see her go, especially not the dogs who had dinner on her (2 King 9:35-36). Justice had been served.

God is in control. Even during times when things look completely out of control, God reigns. We struggle with his methods and timetable, but we can have faith that God is in control. Larry King interviewed the Ramsey’s along with their chief accuser, Boulder police detective Steve Thomas in 2000, when most people still saw the Ramsey's as the chief suspects. At one point in the interview, Patsy says this—

God knows who killed JonBenet Ramsey. Steve Thomas does not know, Patsy Ramsey does not know, and John Ramsey does not know. God knows, and the truth is going to prevail.

And God does know. Now maybe we will know as well. The TV show Cold Case always ends with the poignant and surreal scene of the victim watching as the killer is carried away in slow motion with some haunting tune playing in the background. I can imagine that scene being played out for JonBenet, except this time she’s there in the arms of her mother. Maybe we will see justice done. But then, justice was always going to be done-- it had been in higher court all along.

The Big Stick

We spent a very long day Saturday taking a little cruise-- and I’m not talking about tooling around the harbor on some dinky old party boat. we were able to go on the Friends and Family Day cruise aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier. Randy and Better Tanner invited us and served as our hosts and tour guide. God blessed us with perfect weather, and the Navy treated us to a great show.

The church at Denbigh has always had a high Navy presence, but this is the first time in our 26 years here that I’ve been on board a ship. And in case you haven’t seen one of these things up close, it is REALLY big! And I think we walked up and down and around most of it! Randy spent two tours aboard the Teddy Roosevelt and just got off her sister ship the Carl Vincent. So he knew the boat really well… and made sure we saw just about every square inch of it (except the parts where nice young men with guns suggested that we not go). By the way, trying to keep up with Randy up stairs and down passageways is a great way to get your exercise… or have a heart attack!

The highlight of the day was an air show. We saw a F18-Hornet land (after several touch-and-goes) and take off. Several did bombing runs and a mock dog fight. And we heard one of the last sonic booms that will ever be made by a F14-Tomcat. The Tomcats are being retired to the desert; this last cruise by the Roosevelt was their last hurrah. If you want to see a Tomcat from now on, you’ll have to rent Top Gun.

I appreciate Randy and Betty taking us on the cruise—I learned a lot. I have always had a great deal of respect for the men and women who serve and defend our country in our armed forces. But I’m sure that I have taken them for granted as well. It was good to get this up-close-and-real reminder of some of what goes into defending our freedom.

This Is For All the Lonely People

An article on CNN.com suggests that there is an epidemic sweeping our country. This ailment affects people in all walks of live and social strata from “nursing homes and vibrant college dorms, in crowded cities and spread-out suburbs.” In often goes by such designations as social isolation or disconnectedness. This epidemic is that of loneliness. That is not to say that loneliness is a new problem, but it is a rising problem given the increase in one-person households and the shrinkage of our circle of intimate friends.

We may think that we are connected as never before— we have cell phones, e-mail, instant messaging, text messaging, and blogs (read through all the replies to my blog recently and you see why I’m writing about loneliness). Even though we have the technology of connectedness in place, we are more isolated and separated than we have ever been.

The article suggests several reasons for this. Time: we are busier and more programmed than ever before, and intimacy and friendship take time. Mid-Life Singles: Divorce has created more single middle-aged people than we’ve ever seen before. Shrinking Circles: One study shows that the average American today has 2 people with whom they can confide on important matters; in 1985, that number was 3. And 25% of Americans have no one with whom they can confide. This all makes me think of the old song by the group America--

This is for all the lonely people,
Thinking that life has passed them by
Don't give up until you drink from the silver cup
And ride that highway in the sky

God designed church to be a one-another fellowship in which we share the ups and downs of life as we encourage, support and hold each other accountable on our trip to heaven. The language of scripture for the church is not institutional but familial and communal. We are a family. We are a community. We need to do better are offering support and encouragement to those who desperately need it. God today is pointing to his church and saying, “This is for all the lonely people…”

A Wild, Heroic Ride

Charles Edward Ives is considered as one of the first American classical composers of international significance. He was not a widely known musician during his life, but he was a very successful in the insurance business. He was once asked how he could justify selling insurance instead of pursuing his art full time, “If one has a nice wife and some nice children, how can he let the children starve on his dissonances?” Eventually Ives would be regarded as an American original, combining American folk music with the classics.

Darrryl Tippens tells of Ives being with his father when they heard a stone mason singing church music while he was working. He was singing enthusiastically, but “irritatingly off key.” Ives’ father told him something he would never forget—

Watch him closely and reverently and hear the music of the ages. Don’t pay too much attention to the sounds—for if you do, you may miss the music. You won’t get a wild, heroic ride to heaven on pretty little sounds.

I wonder if we ever get too wrapped up in the “pretty little sounds” and miss the “wild, heroic ride to heaven?” Can we find ourselves focused more on the traditional or the technical than on the theological? For example, I once played a 2 minute video clip from the Matthew video to make a point in the sermon. One person complained because the video had an instrumental track playing in the background, and that has to be wrong. Someone else complained that the actor playing Jesus just didn’t look Jewish enough. Somehow I think both of them missed the point… and perhaps missed coming to see God more clearly.

We can become so obsessed with the mechanics of worship that we miss the One to whom worship points. We can focus on the fact that the worship is too draggy, too spirited, too contemporary, too traditional... We can focus on "the pretty, little sounds" andf miss the “wild, heroic ride to heaven.”

My Wife and Football

To suggest that my wife has never been a football fan would be an understatement. Lynn never has liked football. Her father and brothers watched football all the time, and she decided she would never marry a football fan. God really does have a sense of humor, doesn’t He! Perhaps the greatest declaration of Lynn’s love and devotion to me was agreeing that we would watch together the second half of Arkansas play Oklahoma in the 1978 Orange Bowl… while we were on our honeymoon! Arkansas won in a 31-6 rout, and she seemed to enjoy the game… or she enjoyed me enjoying the game. With that one exception, I don’t think Lynn has ever really enjoyed football.

Until Sunday night. She thoroughly enjoyed watching the Hall of Fame preseason NFL game between the Eagles and Raiders. We watched the whole game. Even when she dozed a bit near the end, she didn’t want to miss anything and had me wake her up when the Raiders got the ball. Why? Torrence “Tank” Daniels is a rookie free-agent linebacker for the Eagles. He was a four year star at Harding University, and he is married to Tressa’s best friend Courtney. Lynn still doesn’t really care about football, but she cares about Courtney and Tank and their kids. She wasn’t really pulling for the Eagles, but we were both cheering for Tank. Oh, yeah, Tank had a great game—at least three solo tackles for losses and forced a fumble and recovered it. (The fumble was reversed by instant replay, but it was worth it to watch them replay Tank smacking the guy over and over in slow motion and then hearing John Madden ranking about how “in the old days, that’s fumble!”)

When you care about someone, then you care about what they care about. And what God cares about is His family. The church is at times is a motley crew of very different people with very different backgrounds, expectations, needs and interests. And yet we have been brought into relationship by the greatest unifying force—the blood of Jesus Christ. The wall of partition has come down, and the differences that once kept us apart no longer make a difference. We become important to one another because we are all so very important to our Father.

If Lynn can get excited about a football game, then it is a simple thing to get excited about our relationship in Christ and live together as a committed family.

A Peaceful Time

This past Saturday, Clauzelle Reynolds, my mother’s oldest sister, passed from this life to the next after 88 years in this world. She had several different health problems, but her death took us all by surprise. She was sitting at home on minute, groaned and then was with the Lord the next. One of the old prayer phrases that I remember hearing as I was growing up was “Give us a peaceful time in which to die.” Saturday was her peaceful time.

Aunt Clauzelle was school teacher—I always thought that she looked like a school teacher. I might have the families stories scrambled up a bit here, but I’m sure that she taught my uncle, and I’m pretty sure she taught my mother as well. Aunto Clauzelle baked the best yeast rolls that I have ever eaten. I have great memories of staying at her house, tagging along behind my older cousin Randy… and eating rolls. Clauzelle was wife and mother, and a gracious lady in every sense of that word. And more than anything, she was a Christian who loved the Lord and the church with every part of her being. Her family will miss her terribly.

The other day before we found out that Bob Bean’s Dad had died, someone called Lynne to see how he was doing. Lynne said, “He doing much better now” and only then explained that he died. What a great Christian sentiment, and it applies so well to my Aunt Clauzelle. She had been having some serious health troubles, but she is doing much better now.

On Wednesday Nights

We always start off our Wednesday night services with a devotional before going to class. Why? Tradition, Tradition! We started off having devotionals back in the day, and they've continued. Besides, the devotional is a grace period for people who can’t get here right at 7:00 p.m. If we started off with class, many would miss the first 15 minutes!

During our "devotional" Wednesday, I asked our folks (the ones who were there on time) what was “good” about our Wednesday Bible study. Why was it important enough that they would come? I had a PPT template ready and typed in their answers as they gave them. And they had some good answers:

• Recharge our batteries
• Fellowship: See our family
• Refocus: Middle of the week
• Encouragement and Support
• Couple hours of down time
• Learn more of God’s word
• Listen to God

All those are good reasons to drag yourself and your family out in the middle of the week for the mid-week church gathering. Simple fact of life—fewer and fewer are bothering to drag. Back in the day, we had about 50% of our Sunday morning attendance come back on Wednesday night. Now we can have as few as 50. Why? Life is much more hectic than it is; our kids lives are more programmed and busy. But don’t we still need our batteries charged, to refocus priories, to encourage and support one another, and to learn God’s word as we listen to His voice. Those reasons are still valid.

But maybe we need to rethink how we meet those needs. Like our devotional period at the beginning, are Wednesday night meetings simply a tradition that no longer meets its objective effectively? Can we do a better job of using that time and meeting those objectives?

Assignment: Do you think there is a better way to use Wednesday nights? And what is it? More small groups? More prayer focus? Ministry night? Stay home and watch Law and Order? What do you think?

What Do We Expect?

Maggie, our 10 year old (or so) mix-breed pound puppy, reminded me the other night of something important about our worship and Bible study. It seems that the new joy in Maggie’s life is chasing cicadas. Cicadas are those strange insects that live as larvae in the ground for 17 years and then emerge into mature adults only to die within a month. That has always seemed anticlimactic somehow. We used to call them “locusts” when I was a kid, and that caused problems for me in Sunday school. If locusts emerge only every 17 years and John the Baptist ate locusts, then he must have gotten powerfully hungry between meals! Of course, John ate grasshopper-locusts and not cicada-locusts, so his meals were much more regular… if not more tasty.

Last week as we were walking Maggie one evening, a cicada in its death-throes skittered across the road. Maggie gave chase, and she completely wore herself out chasing the thing all over the street. I am not sure that the bug enjoyed the game that much, but Maggie had a grand old time. Every night for the last two weeks, Maggie has gone to that same spot on the street checking out every dark spot, leaf or stick, looking for another cicada to play with. She has only found one more, but every night she insists on finding the spot where she had such sun. Her expectation of meeting the cicada makes her enjoy her walks even more.

Have you ever been to a worship service where your spirits were lifted and you seemed to just experience the presence of God in a powerful way? Have you ever been in a Bible class on Wednesday night or Sunday morning where things just clicked and it seemed the mind of God was opened to you in an especially poignant way? No, that doesn’t happen often, but surely they do happen. This special awareness of God happens when our life situation, emotional focus, intellectual readiness and our spiritual need all converge at one time and place. That doesn’t happen every week; in fact, it can’t happen every week. The mundane and normal is what makes the special really special, right?

But maybe what is lacking in our worship and study experience is an expectation and excitement. Maggie knows where she found the cicada, and every time she goes there, she has an eager expectation and excitement. This is the place! Maybe that is what we lack in our worship—the eager excited expectation that God is the time and place where we come before God together. Sure, we can experience His presence in all places because He is everywhere. Sure, we don’t experience Him in the same way every week that we worship or study together. But is that because some weeks God isn’t here? Or is it because some weeks we really don’t come seeking or expecting Him? When we show up for worship or Bible study with an excited expectation, then it is much more likely that we will find God. And even if we don’t have one of those weeks where we see God powerfully in worship or study, our expectation will make the whole experience more meaningful. Just ask Maggie.

Who Gets the Credit?

Today it’s a history lesson and a personal reflection. But first the history lesson... because we all love history.

On March 11, 1942, Gen. Douglas MacArthur left the Philippines under orders from President Roosevelt. It was inevitable that the Philippines would fall to Japan, and MacArthur left for Australia, making his famous promise “I shall return.” On April 10, 1942, US forces in the Philippines surrendered to Japanese forces after bloody battles at Bataan and Corregidor. Some 70,000 troops were forced to march almost 100 miles to a prison camp in what has come to called “The Bataan Death March.” The men were beaten and tortured along this forced-march, and about 10,000 died along the way. Many more would die in the prison and labor camps that they were forced to endure; more than half would not survive the war.

In October of 1944, General MacArthur kept his promise and returned to Philippines. Japanese control of the Pacific was being broken island by island, and the Philippines were finally liberated. And now those hungry and abused POW’s would be able to leave that wretched prison camp and experience freedom. MacArthur had returned.

About 20 years ago, I was surprised to learn that one of our members (now deceased) had survived the Bataan Death March. For years he never discussed it, but then one night after church Howard told a small group of us his story. And while he did not go into details, he told us enough to get the idea. Howard survived the camps because he was a clerk typist, and the Japanese always had lists for him to type. Once he was pulled off one of the “Hell Ships” that carried doomed prisoners to labor camps in Japan, Korea and Manchuria because he convinced them they needed another list.

I was surprised that Howard had no great love for Gen. MacArthur, the liberator of the Philippines. Why? It seems that while the POW’s were given food, supplies and medial attention, they were prevented from leaving the camp for another three nights. Why? Howard said that MacArthur would not let them leave the camp until he got there to be photographed in person at the liberation. MacArthur’s ego and desire to get the credit was more important (at least for three nights) than the men who had suffered through the horrible experience.

I wonder if we can be too interested sometimes in who gets the credit. I remember someone getting pretty wrapped around the axle when we started working with DUCO and PORT because these benevolent efforts did not allow our church to personally get the credit for these good deeds. It seems Jesus warned about us about worrying about “getting the credit.” He said that when giving, “do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing” (Matt 6:1-4). Paul wasn’t concerned that he wasn’t getting credit for missionary success. If others planted churches to further their own personal reputation while Paul was in prison, he would rejoice because Christ was preached— even if the men who did it had selfish motives (Phil 1:18). It was Harry Truman who said, “It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.”

Taking a Wrong Turn

I would assume that worker’s comp covers things like this. After all, Tatyana Simanava sustained very serious injuries—broken arm, dislocated shoulder, cuts on her face and head—while at work. Well, what she was really trying to do was find the bathroom. It seems that the 21 year old Russian model was on her way to a photo shoot on a luxury bus when she asked the way to the bathroom. She got confused in the passageway and walked through an exit door. The bus was traveled on a freeway at about 40 mph when she tumbled onto the pavement. A passing car saw the accident and immediately pulled over to help. She is quoted as saying, "Everybody said it is lucky that I am alive." It is probably just a coincidence that it turns out that Tatyana is blond. Probably.

As one with a notoriously bad sense of direction, I can understand how it is easy to get turned around in an unfamiliar place. More than once I have gotten up to leave after visiting someone and opened the door of their closet. (Of course, I did not step into the closet, nor was the closet traveling at 40 mph!) I can understand getting lost. It is easy to get lost. And sometimes there are serious consequences when you are lost.

That is the human experience. We are lost and there are serious consequences. The mission of the Son of God was to "seek and to save what was lost" (Luke 19:10). The word translated "lost" literally means "to ruin or cause destruction," and it is often translated by the word "perish." Paul says, “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Cor 1:18). He says that evil "deceives those who are perishing" (2 Thess 2:10). The condition of mankind is that of being lost; we have all taken a very serious wrong turn.

Shortly after her tumble from the bus, the banged-up fashion model said, "I am not angry, but I would like that there are some changes made, that nothing like this can happen again." OK, watching where you are going might help keep one from falling out of a moving bus. But then, we plunged into sin with our eyes wide open. The cross is God’s answer; He is "not wanting anyone to perish" (2 Peter 3:9). But those who know the good news that God found us and rescued us at the cross must share it with others. By our words and our lives, we are the smell of salvation. Paul said, "For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing" (2 Cor. 2:15). Our call today is to be the aroma that draws the lost to the only one who can save them.

What I Really Need

I like gadgets. I always have liked gadgets. I remember as seeing as a kid someone with a remote control for their television. I thought I had touched the future! This was the ultimate gadget—you could change channels and adjust the volume without moving. Now this was in an age in which no one got more than three channels, so channel surfing really wasn’t all that big a deal. But this was THE gadget! Now it was at least twenty years later before I owned a TV with a remote control. I love gadgets, but I’m seldom on the cutting edge of actually having them.

The gadget I am looking at now is PDA phone, like the Palm Treo (I’m not sure whether I want the Palm or Windows Mobile, but If it goes like the TV remote, I have 20 years to decide). But my reason for wanting the PDA phone is much higher (and spiritual)— I would always have access to my Bible program. There are times when you are out and don’t have a Bible with you, but it would be right there on the phone. Several versions. With search capability. I need all that because I am a preacher. Let me know if any of this is working for you; I have spring it on Lynn at some point.

OK, seriously. Is the reason that we don’t read the Bible more than we do really because we don’t have it yet in the optimal form? Would you read the Bible more if you had the perfect edition with just the right print size and style? Will I really read my phone more than I do my printed Bible (or computer Bible)? Or do you think our failure to make reading God’s word more a part of our lives has more to do with our priorities?

There was a man in Kansas City who was critically injured in an explosion—he was blinded, lost both of his hands and mangle in other ways. As he recovered, one of his great frustrations was that he could not read the Bible for himself. He heard about a woman in England who could read Braille with her lips, so he decided to learn Braille. He was discouraged again because the explosion had also damaged the nerves in his lips. But as he was trying to make the Braille-through-the-lips technique work, he accidentally he touched the Braille page with his tongue and he could feel the little bumps. He went on to learn Braille, and he would read through the Bible many times after that.

Here was a guy who wanted God’s word so much he could literally taste it! I think the “gadget” that would allow all of us to read the Bible more is a heart that so desires God and His truth in our lives that we’re going read and feed no matter what. OK, I still want the Treo, but what I really need is that hunger of heart that won’t be filled with anything less that God.

How sweet are your words to my taste,
sweeter than honey to my mouth!
I gain understanding from your precepts;
therefore I hate every wrong path. (Psalm 119:103-104)

The Pilgrim Heart

I am currently reading Pilgrim Heart by Daryl Tippens of Pepperdine University. I hope by the end of the day to have it finished, but I wanted to write a few lines now. This is an extremely well-written and unique look at the pilgrim life of the disciple. The book is subtitled, “The Way of Jesus in Everyday Life.” Drawing from ancient and modern writers on the spiritual disciplines, Tippens paints a dramatic head and heart picture of what it means to walk in the way of the cross every day. Quoting Edward Fudge—

Tippens' vision of discipleship is not only human and personal; it is dynamic, earthy, and social. Biblical faith is embodied in a journey, Tippens insists, not in the clouds but here on the ground. It is a pilgrimage of people living in human bodies, experiencing "passion, tears and laughter" in company with others on the same journey with Jesus. "A faithful heart is always a passionate pilgrim heart," Tippens concludes, "ever on the road, ever moving forward - searching for understanding, seeking the face of God."

The spirituality for which Tippens is looking is one that seeks the heavens but has its feet firmly planted on the ground. He speaks of “a God-focused spirituality that is also paradoxically creation-centered. Tippens spends the bulk of his book exploring 14 spiritual disciplines, what he calls “practices of the pilgrim heart,” that can lead us in the way of Jesus everyday. These
include—

1. Emptying: Lessening our attachment to possessions, power and prestige.
2. Welcoming: A holy hospitality reflects Christ’s grace in everyday life.
3. Resting: Rest and solitude refresh us and acknowledge our place in God’s creation.
4. Befriending: The “mutual regard and care for souls” requires time, distance and self-sacrifice.
5. Confessing: We must tell the truth about our weakness and hear a word of absolution.
6. Forgiving: The divine activity of reflecting God’s forgiveness to other people.
7. Listening: Waiting patiently and expectantly for God to reveal himself and speak to us.
8. Discerning: Learning to think with one’s heart, head and imagination.
9. Singing: Singing is “words of faith set to music convert us, encourage us, console us, sustain us, and take us to heaven’s door.””
10. Feasting: The sharing of table fellowship and meories of the past.
11. Creating: Focus on God’s “truth of beauty” in an appreciation of the arts.
12. Reading and Story: These remind us who we are, where we are going and Who has called us and is traveling by our side.
13. Suffering: We experience the suffering of Jesus and “the fire that purifies.”
14. Seeking: The pilgrim heart is always on the pilgrimage, seeking the end of the journey.

Tippens not only writes of the quest for everyday spirituality, we writes about it very, very well! He quotes writers that I would have likely never read on my own (the college professor pointing out the holes in my education), and he often points me in directions that I found fresh and often surprising.

Edward Fudge has a great review of this book in New Wineskins. You can buy the book from its publisher, New Leaf Publishers.

The Great Physician

A doctor and two nurses who cared for patients in the aftermath of Katrina were arrested yesterday and charged with second degree murder for intentionally administering lethal doses of morphine and Versed (a sedative) to patients too sick to be evacuated following the disaster. Louisiana State Attorney Charles Foti said, “This is not euthanasia; it is homicide.” The doctor allegedly told a nurse administrator three days after Katrina hit that that the patients remaining at the hospital would not survive and “a decision had been made to administer lethal doses.”

The investigation will be ongoing and very difficult. Some health care experts point out that administering morphine and Versed to critically ill patients suffering in 100-degree heat was an indicated response. “No doubt it was appropriate to receive some morphine. The question is, did they give too much?” said Dr. Maria Silveira, a specialist in end-of-life ethics. These issues are complex ones, made even more so by the political complexities following the Katrina disaster. It is likely that we’ll he hearing more about this story for months to come.

One of the lines of the Hippocratic Oath is “to never do harm to anyone.” (Of course, the next line is, “To please no one will I prescribe a deadly drug nor give advice which may cause his death. Nor will I give a woman a pessary to procure abortion.” We’ll leave euthanasia and abortion for another blog, OK?) If these health care workers really did intentionally kill people, for whatever reason, then that is a violation of the trust we placed in them and they should be prosecuted. If the State of Louisiana is making political hay at the expense of dedicated medical professionals serving in an impossibly difficult situation (one which the State of Louisiana may have exacerbated by their neglect), then that is unconscionable as well.

We are especially outraged when people entrusted with the special responsibility to serve abuse that trust to hurt the very ones that they are to serve. That was one of the things that really got the juices of the prophets flowing (See Isaiah 1:23, Amos Micah 3:11, 7:3). The princes, priests and prophets of Israel were extorting bribes and promoting themselves rather than serving the people. Jesus says much the same thing about the religious leaders of his day. Jesus blasts the Scribes and Pharisees for their self-promotion that serves to slam the door of heaven in the faces of those who would seek God (see Matt 23:13, Luke 11:52). Like Old Testament leaders, the scribes and Pharisees leaders were supposed to serve people and show the way to heaven. But their legalistic piety only promoted their own status and served to obscure the face of God.

Has not the church today been given the sacred trust to help people see God? Is not our job to point to the Great Physican who can heal sin-sick souls? When the church turns inward on itself and promotes its own interests and fusses and feuds over its own issues, are we not violating that sacred trust given us by Christ? Jesus is the Great Physician who has sent us out into a sick and dying world. Are we seeking serve that world, or are we too busy erecting barriers to cross and hoops to jump through that keep the sick away?

Ever After

The Daily Press carried a story Friday from The Roanoke Times about a couple named John and Jessie Mason. John ("JN") and Jessie met in the fall of 1936. When married, they stayed married. In fact, in the more than seventy years that they were together, JN and Jessie were seldom apart. They lived in the same town and the same house most of their lives. Jessie didn't drive, so JN drove her everywhere-- to the store, to the bank, to church. He would wait out in the car while she was at the hairdresser. Even after he started loosing his eyesight, JN would drive and Jesse would navigate. (Don't try this at home).

Jesse died of a stroke last June at the age of 93. After learning of her death, JN told a friend that Jessie was waiting on him. The friend called JN’s son and said, “You better get over here because he's going to join her.” And within 10 hours, JN died as well. The couple had been in declining health, and JN had survived for almost five years battling lung cancer. But there was no need to go on battling once Jesse was gone. His son says, “The cause of death is listed as pneumonia related to lung cancer, which is not accurate. He died of a broken heart.”

What a great story. In this day and age, you don’t hear too many stories like that (of course, most of their story wasn’t lived out in this day and age). If I could script the rest of my life story, I would like to use this same script. It is a sweet story. But remember that this real life story was lived out in real time. Imagine a man in a Buick with the window down reading the newspaper for two hours waiting for his wife to “get her hair fixed.” Imagine an old woman struggling with her own eyes reading to an old man who had gone legally blind. Imagine all the ups and downs, setbacks and struggles, tragedies and triumphs that together make up real life. The fairytale ending to the love story of JN and Jesse Mason was won by day-to-day life commitment and sacrifice that likely didn’t seem one little bit like a fairy tale! Happily-ever-after is always lived out one day at a time two people commitment themselves to each other and to living out what Paul describes in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 (NLT)

4 Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud 5 or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. 6 It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 7 Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

The Beautiful Game

I have to admit that all the hoopla over the World Cup escaped me. I know that soccer (called “football” by parts of the world who don’t have real football) is called “the beautiful sport.” But I just don’t get it. One of the things that gives human beings an edge over the animal kingdom is our opposable thumbs… so we invent a sport where you can’t use you hands? The most significant moment in sports history was in 1823 when William Ebb Ellis picked up the soccer ball during a match and ran with it!

Well, it could be that a few folks don’t share my lack of appreciation of soccer. It is the most popular sport in the world... by far. It was estimated that 1.1 billion people watched the World Cup final on television. That means that roughly one sixth of the world’s population saw French star Zinedine Zidane's meltdown and head butt an Italian opponent! And FIFI estimates that if you counted all the people who watched the entire World Cup event including all the qualifying matches, the number would be 28.8 billion.

OK, so soccer is popular. I'll grant you that. Big deal. Just because a lot of people take something seriously, that doesn't does make it serious, right? Consider the following “serious” sporting events—

• Checkers: Ron King (great name for a checker player) won the U.S. checkers championship in Medina, Ohio. He is known as “Muhammad Ali of checkers” because he trash-talks opponents. Also competing was Alex "The Mad Russian" Moiseyev. These guys take their checkers very seriously.
  
• Polo: The Gilgit tribe beat Chitral, 9-6 in their annual no rules allowed Pakastani polo match. No rules means if opponent gets in the way, club him! (Just like in the World Cup). You can’t hit the guy’s horse though; that’s frowned on. When a star player was “killed” (really “only” a broken neck and concussion), fans screamed for him to be dragged away so the match could continue! Tough crowd.

What makes soccer the world’s sport is that a lot of people watch it! Profound, huh? If more people watched, then guys would make millions playing checkers, and No-Rules-Polo would be “the beautiful sport.” Right? Just because a lot of people watch something, doesn’t make it good. It just makes it popular.

At the risk of overstating the point, Christians need to have a very healthy skepticism of the popular. (I'm talking about life here, not sports). Is it true that we are to not love the world or the things in the world? (1 John 2:15). Is it true that the world in its wisdom does not know God? (1 Cor 1:21). Is it true that to follow Christ, we must follow Him outside the camp of the world? (Heb 13:13, July 12 blog). Because something is popular does not necessarily make it good. Christians need to be very careful when following the crowd unless we know where the crowd is going!

OK, if you like soccer, that great! It was a good World Cup. I was just kidding around a little; I’m not trying to pick a fight. (The last think I need is a head butt from some outraged soccer fan.) Sometimes something that is popular can be good as well. But I’m more of a purest. I am a fan of Arkansas Razorback football… which is usually neither popular nor good!

The Blessing of Frosty Glasses

Things can really look different from different perspectives. One of the things I have always disliked about wearing glasses (which I’ve done since first grade), is their negative impact on coping with weather. A light drizzling rain is no big deal; you don’t even have to walk fast to keep from getting wet. Unless you are wearing glasses, and then the raindrops that keep falling on your head obscure your vision. And what about those hot and humid days when you step outside and your glasses fog up to the point where you can’t see?

Well, that just happened to me a little earlier, but I had a whole new perspective on the experience. It seems that our air conditioning has been conspiring against us of late. My old Taurus decided that I really didn’t need AC, and so I drove around for while really wishing I had the AC back. Then both AC units at home decided that right before having company would be a great time to go on strike until they got some Freon. And then the AC went out completely on Lynn’s car last week. It needs Freon, plus a new line and switch... and a compressor to drive the whole thing. Arghh! So this morning, when I stepped our of my old, frosty car and my glasses fogged up, I had to chuckle to myself, “That’s what I’m talking about!”

A change in perspective would solve a lot of our minor annoyances and gripes. Ever complain about the soaring price of gas? But what happens if you pull into the same gas station and they are completely out of gas, as is every other station around? Sure, it’s annoying that gas is so expensive, but at least it is around for me to buy. And it’s relatively much cheaper than it is in the rest of the world. And I have a car (two cars) in which to put gas. And I have a job that allows me to have money to buy gas. The things were generally find to complain about usually are a whole series of God’s blessings if we will just look from a different perspective.

I was thrilled that my glasses fogged over this morning. It was a great gift from God. I hope I can become better at finding His goodness and gifts with the other daily aggravations of my day!

Outside the Camp

The most imposing sight you will see driving down the Outer Banks of North Carolina is the Wright Brother's memorial in Kitty Hawk. The monument is dedicated to Orville and Wilbur Wright, the two men who launched the modern age of flight. But if you would have read about the Wright’s in the papers of their day, you would have gotten the idea that they were rather strange eccentrics who were out of touch with the real world. They lived in a day and age when people said that it was physically impossible for a heavier than air vehicle to ever get off the ground. If God would have meant for man to fly, He would have given him wings!

But the Wrights would not listen to the conventional reasoning. They had a vision of flight, and they were dedicated to its pursuit. They paid a heavy personal price at times, but they seemed to be on to something. Today there is a monument to their courage in Kitty Hawk… and there are other monuments at LAX and DFW and LaGuardia and even Newport News-Williamsburg International. The critics have been silenced, drowned out by the roar of vehicles that have taken man to the moon and back.

The Hebrew writer points his Jewish readership to what happened to Old Testament sacrifices after they were offered. The blood was offered at the Tabernacle, but “the bodies are burned outside the camp" (Heb 13:10). Ultimately the sacrifice was taken outside the walls of the camp. His point is about what it means to follow our sacrifice Jesus (Hebrews 13:11-14)

12 And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood. 13 Let us, then, go to him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore. 14 For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come.

If we are to live out the Christian faith in our postmodern, post-Christian world, then we must be willing to leave the camp of our culture. Through Christ, we have a vision of what man’s destiny can be and will be. But we must understand that this is a vision that differs greatly from the vision of our world. The conventional wisdom of the world must be left behind as we follow the Christ where He leads us. And where He leads us is outside the camp of respectability and acceptance by our culture. It is never easy to run counter to the prevailing culture; just ask Wilbur and Orville. But it is only when we leave the camp that we can soar to the heavens.

What a Party!

Well, Friday night turned out to be quite an experience! It wasn’t exactly a surprise 50th birthday party. I mean, I knew that I was having a birthday party... and was fairly sure I was turning fifty. But wow! It was really something! I had been kept completely in the dark about any of the details. For the past three weeks, Lynn has taken all phone calls in secret (I was beginning to get paranoid). I was expecting a few folks for dinner and maybe some good-natured ribbing... but I had no idea that there was going to be all the hoopla!

Will and Michelle really outdid themselves with the “This-Is-Your-Life” video (of course, they are waaaay too young to remember the “This Is Your Life” TV show, right?) Len and Anna Caroline (and the group) did a great job with the “It’s All Right (to Turn Fifty)” song. And whoever it was that talked Len out of the "viagra" line in the song... thank you.

Millard with help from his trusty (or rusty) sidekick Randy was hysterical (mostly) with the comedy routine. I especially liked the "never got a dinner" routine. And I do appreciate him making me feel younger—most of his jokes were way older than me! I greatly appreciated all of you who brought gifts. Even though it expressly forbidden. The thank you cards will be on the way.

Lynn did a fantastic job putting this all together, all the while keeping me pretty much in the dark (of course, that part wasn’t all that hard since I am pretty clueless). She cooked most of the food herself and took care of most of the details. What a blessing she has been in every part of well over half of my fifty years of life!

I was humbled and embarassed by all the attention. After all, all that one really has to do to turn fifty is just hang around long enough. All of those who participated in Friday night really make me glad that I have hung around this long. I have truly been blessed by God to have been a part of this church family. Thank you for my night; it really was something special.

25th Anniversary of My 25th Birthday

Today marks the 25th anniversary of my 25th birthday. Somehow that just sounds better than saying that I am now fifty (as in 50) years old today. Any birthday with that ends in zero seems more significant, but 50 somehow seems more significant still— one half of a century. I’ll have to live to 100 to be middle age now. And because most people don’t live to be 100 (the average lifespan in America is 77.2 years), then I am older than middle age. And the only thing older than middle age is old. Wow, how did that happen?

I checked to see what significant things happened on my birthday. Not much. John of Arc was found not guilty of witchcraft in 1436 (4 years after being burned at the stake... ooops). Tennis star Chris Evert doesn't like July 7-- she lost 5 Wimbledon finals on this date (3 to Martina Navratilova and 2 to Billy Jean King). I do share a birthday with several celebrities-- Satchel Paige, Doc Severinson, Ringo Starr and Ralph Sampson (different years, of course). So it seems that not much of significance has ever happened on my birthday. What was most instructive to me was to note some of the things that happened in the year that I was born. Current events for the year 1956 included the following—

• Abigail Van Buren's "Dear Abby" column first appeared (Jan 9)
• Canadian Football Council was formed (Jan 22)
• Elvis Presley's first hit "Heartbreak Hotel" became #1 (Apr 21)
• The Red’s Frank Robinson hits the first of his 586 HRs (Apr 28)
• "The Bob Hope Show" last aired on NBC-TV (May 22)
• John Lennon and Paul McCartney met for 1st time (Jun 15)
• Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin ended a 16 film partnership (Jun 19)
• Dick Clark's first hosted American Bandstand (Jul 9)
• U.S. national motto “In God We Trust” was authorized (Jul 30)
• Chet Huntley and David Brinkley (NBC News) teamed up (Oct 29)
• "The Wizard of Oz" first appeared on television (Nov 3)
• President Eisenhower was re-elected over Adlai Stevenson (Nov 6)
• Supreme Court struck down segregation on public buses (Nov 13)
• Elvis Presley's first movie "Love Me Tender" premiered (Nov 14)
• Wilt Chamberlain's scored 52 points in his first college game (Dec 3)

Elvis’ first #1 hit record, the first meeting of Lennon and McCartney and Dick Clark’s first Bandstand-- all in the year I was born? Well, at least the list above doesn’t include “dirt was invented!” Why does fifty years seem like a long time and a very brief time all at the same time?

It’s been a great first 50 years. God has blessed me more than I can imagine… and much, much more than I deserve. I have been blessed with a great family. It would be pointless to expect better parents, a better wife and or two better two daughters that the ones which which I have been blessed... they simply don't exist. And I have been blessed with a wonderful church family that has had such a rich influence on my life. In fact at some point this year (some math whiz with too much time on their hands can figure the exact date and time) I passed the point where I've been the preacher here longer than I lived before being the preacher here! Is that scary or what?

All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ. (Ephesians 1:3, NLT)

Show Me the Way to Go Home

Our first annual Denbigh July 4th Picnic was a huge success! Betty Tanner did a marvelous job planning every detail of the day. Michelle King and Sheila Sandoval did a great job producing and directing all the activities, games and prizes. And Becky Sweatt did an outstanding job putting together all the food... and the beef brisket she smoked was out-of-this-world! And we all appreciated the flexibility that allowed us to move everything inside into the AC when the thermometer hit 100! We moved chairs out of the way and had two multipurpose rooms filled with fun at both ends of the building. That’s what we intended when we remodeled the worship center, but we had never used it like that before. The whole day was great… thanks to all who participated.

Good habits are hard to create and easy to break. I decided to take a couple of days off work (and my blog) Mondays and Tuesday for the holidays. Mom and Dad are visiting with us this week, and I wanted to spend some extra time with them. Well, now it’s Thursday, and my blog responsibilities are still being shirked. Frankly I don’t know what you regular blog readers (both of you) have been doing for the last several days!

Mom and Dad lived here in Virginia for 46 years or so before they moved back to Arkansas (guess they decided they didn't like it). The whole time that they lived in Virginia, they referred to our annual trips to Arkansas as “Going home.” But now that they have lived in Arkansas for ten years, they say that they are “Going home” when they come back to Virginia. So they were never completely at home in either place-- they have family and friends that they want to spend time with in both places. So wherever they lived, they have had to “go home” occasionally. Thomas Wolfe’s often quoted titled really is true, “You Can't Go Home Again.” But we do try to go home, don’t we?

There is something restless in us all that never quite seems to feel totally at home. Part of that is the old “grass is always greener” thing that keeps us from being totally satisfied with whatever it is that we have. But on a deeper spiritual level, we understand in our better moments of clarity (though they be rare) that this world is never really going to feel like our home. With our spiritual ancestor Abraham, we are “looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God” (Heb 11:10). We are “aliens and strangers” who are looking for a home and “longing for a better country—a heavenly one” (Heb 11:16). We live as strangers and pilgrims in a land that is never fully ours, never really home (1 Peter 1:1, 1:17, 2:11).

We remind ourselves of this as we sing “This world is not my home, I’m just a passing through; my treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue” and “I can only imagine what it will be like when I walk by your side.” Oh, much of the time we do feel comfortable and contented, and that is good. But then there are times when our restless souls cannot find the true and lasting peace that comes with we are really at home. We are not fully at peace because we are never fully at home.

You see, our real home is not a place at all—it is a story. Home is the story of the cross, the empty tomb and the home with God made possible by them both. So with Abraham, we continue to look for that unseen home. We live as pilgrims who enjoy the sweetness of the journey around us as we look to home. We live as sojourners who endure the perils of our passage by keeping our eye on our true home. We are never fully at home, but we are content in the knowledge that we are going there. St Augustine framed this truth in these words, “I am made for thee. My heart will not rest until I rest in thee.” We are never really home until we are finally with the Father.