the struggle to be a functional family

OK, so yesterday I shared a couple thoughts about dysfunctional families, and how Jesus' family tree is anything but spotless... I believe God designed the tree to be flawed on purpose and with a purpose...

perhaps the Creator of All wanted us to understand even more fully that, while Jesus was perfect, He was not unlike us... He was tempted just like us AND had skeletons in His 'lineage closet' just like us... yet He is Messiah.

The thought that Jesus' heritage was flawed is in harmony with other graceful facts we learn throughout His Book...

• He was tempted just like us
• Our salvation is not dependant upon our spotless heritage (or our works)
• God doesn't depend on our 'greatness'; He does great things through flawed people
• Everyone has baggage, and thanks be to God for His divine forgetfulness

One more thought about our families...

While we must understand that even the Savior of all Mankind has genealogical issues, it does not give us license to throw our hands up and give up with regard to making our families the very best they can be...

Family is Safe Haven. When I mentioned how blessed I have been by my family (both as a child and today), I give the credit to God and His Spirit... but it has taken tremendous commitment by many people to make my 'home' a great one.

Momma and Daddy went to great lengths to provide a stress free home for us kids; they made untold sacrifices so that their 4 children could live in a wonderful environment... Kelly and I try very hard to make our home that safe haven...

When I see broken people and broken families and unhappy homes it makes me very sad... and I know there are probably times when that 'breaking' is unavoidable...

But I am convicted about this: we adults (especially daddies) are charged with doing everything humanly possible to make our homes precious places of peace and safety. And with God's guidance, we simply must... there's too much at stake.

When a daddy (or a momma) decides they've 'had enough' and they leave, they are abdicating a central responsibility to God and his family...

So let us allow God's Spirit to guide us while we do everything in our power to make our families 'functional' and our homes the safe haven that God intended...

Blessings!

dysfunctional families

so I read and see a lot today about dysfunctional families.... the talk shows over the past 2 decades have familiarized us intimately with every sort of family ill imaginable - and some which are beyond imagining...

And it reminds me of how blessed my childhood was, and how incredibly blessed I am today by my family.... sure we have our skeletons and secrets and problems... (you think your family is weird... wanna compare?) but by and large, we are blessed.

I have friends and acquaintances whose families cause them untold stress... cheating husbands and ill-mannered children and unsupportive spouses and sick in-laws and bitter moms and drug-addicted sons and selfish sisters... and I pray God will provide peace in this lifetime. But one thing we learn from the story of Job is that God will provide to some the blessing of deliverance and to others He gives the strength to endure.

Wherever we find ourselves along that continuum today, we must take strength from our Father... and, by the way, our Father knows a little bit about dysfunctional families...

Because to whatever degree your family may be 'dysfunctional', take heart... Jesus' lineage was anything but 'normal'! In describing the origins of Jesus, the Gospels point to as many sinners, liars, and schemers in his genetic and historical lineage as they do to saints, honest people, and men and women of faith.

We see, for example, in Jesus' genealogy a number of men who didn't exactly incarnate the love, justice, and purity of Jesus: Abraham unfairly banished Ishmael and his mother, Hagar, rationalizing that God favours some people over others; Jacob, by scheming and dishonesty, stole his brother Esau's birthright; and David, to whom Jesus explicitly connects himself, committed adultery and then had the husband of his mistress murdered to cover up an unwanted pregnancy and in order to marry her.

And the women mentioned in Jesus background aren't much better. The Text mentions Tamar, a Canaanite woman, someone outside the Jewish faith, who seduces her father-in-law, Judah, so that she can have a child; Rahab, also a Canaanite woman, and an outsider, who is in fact a prostitute; Ruth, a Moabite woman who is also outside the official religion of the time; and Bathsheba, a Hittite woman, an outsider who commits adultery with David and then schemes to make sure one of her own offspring inherits the throne.

All of these women found themselves in a situation of marriage or pregnancy that was either strange or scandalous, yet each was an important divine instrument in preserving the religious heritage that gave us Jesus. It's no accident that the Gospels link these women to Mary, Jesus' mother, since she too found herself in a ritually taboo pregnancy and in a marital situation that was peculiar.

What's to be learned for all of this? Perhaps Raymond Brown captures it the best. What all this tells us, he says, is that God writes straight with crooked lines!

Two things to remember:

1. no matter what our families are like, God has sent His Holy Spirit to comfort and guide and keep us... so let us seek Him out daily and let the Spirit do His work through us
2. our own lives, even if they are marked by weakness and insignificance, are important to continuing the story of the incarnation

Blessings!

impact

Today, as we go through our Monday... let me encourage us to think what impact we may have on those we see.

Take an extra breath before you criticize...

Count to 10 before you honk your horn at the guy who just pulled out in front of you...

Close your eyes and take a moment before you say what you're thinking to a co-worker...

Pause for just a few seconds before you yell at the kids or at your spouse....

and while you're taking a breath or counting to 10 or closing your eyes or pausing... just ask Jesus to help you with your response.

and He will.

our 'today impact' will be much improved if we let Him guide our words and actions.

Blessings!

another great week at Tahkodah

Those of you who know me know that one of my very favorite places on the planet is a little 1300 acre spot on the Salado Creek south of Batesville, Arkansas called Camp Tahkodah...

Each year for the past 8, Kelly and I have spent a week with about 200 of the best people on earth. 170 kiddos between 8 and 18 and 30 or so college-age counselors and adults fill our lives with incredible depth in one of the most pristine settings God ever created...

100-year old pine trees stand sentinel over the 80-year-old log cabins on Salado's banks between four ancient bluffs: Tahkodah, Tahkodah Junior, Indian Slides and Horse Bluff...

The only thing more beautiful than the setting are the people who, for 8 weeks, bring it to life...

We are blessed to volunteer for the last week of camp each year, and we just got back yesterday. And, as usual, we are filled!

Thank you to Ross and Nita for organizing and running the camp each year... thanks to Penny for cooking such terrific meals and always being so joyful! thanks to Steve and Vickie for taking such care of the camp grounds all year long... thanks to nurse Karen who always watches out and cares for everyone at camp... thanks to all the parent volunteers who helped make 5th session so wonderful: old friends Todd and Joy and Mark and Lindsay and new friends Alan and Deborah and Todd and Terri... and thanks to all the college-age counselors led by fearless Nick May! and thanks especially to all the campers who taught me more than I could have ever taught them...

I am exhausted and happy and blessed!

God Bless!

another miracle

I want to share with you an email I got this morning... from a terrific great-grandma and -grandpa. They're great grandsons Ian and Tyler share a really unwelcome distinction: doctors have found a mass in the abdominal cavity of each boy. They are 12 and 9 respectively, and Wednesday night Lou and Betty begged for our prayers for these two precious boys.... Tyler's mass had been found to be benign, but the doctors were certain that the mass about Ian's stomach was malignant, and they were to do surgery to remove it (and further diagnose it) yesterday....

well, here is the email I got this morning:

Ian is doing well. He ended up with only 15 stitches. The doctor and pathologist had initially planned to excise twice as much tissue but decided yesterday to "down grade" the severity of the malignancy. Down grading from WHAT is still the million dollar question. After today's surgery, the doctor told us that he felt that the cancer was going to be gone--he said it so oddly, but sincere.

He then began "spilling the beans" (a little). He shook his head and said that the initial report led him to believe Ian would have to have lymph biopsies to find out how much it had spread and the source. Now, he doesn't know what to say except he doesn't think its there anymore. David and I think that based on their initial findings, they feared it to be so severe that it surely had to have spread. Through the power of prayer, God plucked it from our baby---

David and I are so humbled and blessed. Not because we got good news but because God was glorified through this. The one thing that has always been hard was completely giving 'our children' to God. We would worry and stress about their raising. This past week we were stripped of our selfishness and we gave our kids to God accepting his will for them, regardless. This taught/reminded us that good or bad, everything should glorify him. Some my think it sounds crazy, but we thanked God for that spot on Ian's stomach. It turned into such a blessing for us.

We should get the surgical biopsy report this Tuesday. Pray for us because we are anxious. We will send you an update when we have one. Thank you to everyone that was there this morning. Your presence was so comforting. To everyone, this has happened because of your faithful prayers.

With love,
David and Kristie Brewer
WE ARE SOooooooooooooooooooo PROUD OF YA'LL & TO BE INCLUDED AS FAMILY, GOD BLESS, GMA & GPA PFULB.


wow.

God Bless.... and may we trust His faithfulness, especially when it's so difficult.

when Bible and Culture collide

Our dear friends in Panama, Lynn and Joy, are faced with a very disturbing dilemma... it seems there is a custom among the indigenous Indians in and around Volcan which involves 'giving away' a child when that child is old enough to be helpful to someone else...

First, let me say this: I cannot begin to imagine a mom's mindset which could consider doing that. It is so foreign a concept, I simply can't get my head around it.

However, as Lynn and Joy live among the beautiful people of Volcan, they are daily dealing with different cultural issues...

as an aside, I have a friend who has dealt with certain cultural differences during his trips to West Africa... it is sometimes uncomfortable for him to worship with them because they attach 'rhythm' to every song. It is a natural, almost instinctive thing... when they sing praises to God, they clap or tap or snap or beat the ground or pound a drum.

I believe that is a cultural (not a Biblical) issue. Because I grew up in a lily-white (by that I mean hyper-arch-ultra-Caucasian) environment, our worship did not include any rhythm - NONE! Over the years and generations, some of us have attempted to attach Biblical Significance to our cultural lack of clapping/snapping/beating... and I am convinced such attachments are folly. (more on that during a later post.... stay with me here)

anyhow, I would LOVE to hear from readers of this post (all three of you :-)) with regard to the custom of giving away a child to someone whom they can live with and be helpful to...

My (limited) understanding of this custom leads me to believe that families do this when there are too many mouths and too little food, and when one of the children (usually the oldest) seems to have the ability to live with another family (or widow or whatever) and provide them with help (while eating from their table...)

I would love for anyone who knows more about this to comment...

and I would really covet your input.

here is my challenge (to me, most of all..... 'cause I am really struggling with this concept):

try to strip away our cultural mores and taboos, then try to see how (or if) we can help Lynn and Joy deal with this very disturbing situation... from a Bible perspective.

God Bless!

where is the church?

Has someone ever asked you 'where is your church?'...

Hasn't our Pavlovian response always been to give them the address or directions to the church building? And that's cool, right.... because most people who ask the question are really asking 'where does your church meet?' or 'where is your church building?'...

I am just asking us all to consider changing the language we use... to do that, we have to divorce ourselves from the notion that the building is the church. Yeah, most of us know that and many of us try to live it, but we still find ourselves using phrases like 'let's go to church' or 'come to church with me', etc...

I know it can be a difficult transition, because it's been ingrained in us over generations: we 'go' to the '6th and Murphy Street Baptist Church' or we 'go' to the 'Maumee Heights Church of Christ', etc... 'yeah, we go to SaddleCreek' or, 'yeah, we're members over at the WillowBack Community Church'....

The fundamental problem is that the church is not a 'place', it is a group of people... so, it cannot be something one 'goes to'... Our forefathers and foremothers (is that a word?) have unwittingly confused (at least verbally) the living breathing Body with a cold inanimate brick-n-mortar object.

Why is it such a big deal? Because words mean things... and until we truly convert ourselves to using correct language about The Body which Jesus Christ died to establish and will return to take home someday, we will continue the generational cycle of teaching our kids wrong.

Here's a challenge: for the next 30 days, make a conscious effort to stop using language that suggests the church is a 'place' we 'go to'... just try it.

And the next time someone asks where your church is, answer (honestly and humbly) this way: my church is in the grocery store smiling and helping and at the school teaching children and in the hospital healing people and gathering hay in the fields and at WalMart shopping and at the nursing home visiting and at home washing the family clothing.... (don't be a smart-aleck, but do try it...)

Is that not the correct answer? I know the church meets on Sunday to worship, and many congregations meet in a building... I get that.... but the church is made up of the saved, and those saved folks work and are active 168 hours a week out in the community! (and, incidentally, I believe you can learn a LOT more about the church in its 'natural' environment than you can from its 2-hour-a-week worship time)

J.B. Phillips wrote a small book entitled 'Your God is too Small'... and I would suggest that if your God is trapped in a building and 'accessed' once a week there, that He is indeed too small...

So let's try to think and speak differently about the Body....

It will keep our mind focused on what the church really is supposed to be... I think the original language (ecclesia) suggests that the church is 'the called out'. So let's start talking about it in those terms...

God Bless!

the dolphins join in

OK, so when you think it cannot get any better...

Kelly and I are walking along the beach this morning after coffee, and a family of dolpins decided to put on a show about 120 feet from the shore.

It was incredible!

We stood and watched as these creatures joined in the chorus of praise to the Father...

wow

endless speech and ceaseless praise

Listening to the waves crashing on the shore is maybe one of the top five sounds God created to tickle our ears… child’s laugh, wife’s voice, momma’s call, etc would have to be included in any ‘best of’ list…

Anyhow, as I drink my first cup of coffee this morning on the balcony overlooking the gulf of Mexico, I am closing my eyes listening to one of the most awesome sounds on the planet… and as I sit watching the surf crash relentlessly into the sugar white sand, I am in awe. I remember the first time I saw the ocean, and I remember every time I have seen it since… it really is – in a definitive sense – awesome!

I have heard the scientific explanations for why and how this natural phenomenon occurs, and I still don’t understand… all I know is that, just like the angels in heaven praise Him 24/7/365, the waves are crying out His name and proclaiming His glory… all day every day until He comes back to claim us! … and maybe the coolest thing about these ceaseless proclamations is that they cross every barrier! They are cross-cultural and cross-gender… the break down every language and caste and racial and religious wall! The 19th Psalm confirms it…

People who stood on this beach during the Civil War saw and heard these endless announcements! As did every other person since the dawn of time…

I need this. I need to recharge my soul and spend uninterrupted time with my family in a place where the ‘everyday’ isn’t. I crave this place and am drawn to this time of rest and relaxation…

But, more than anything, I need to hear the ocean cry out His name… and I hunger for the sound of His handiwork calling attention to Itself… all so He can be glorified!

The heavens declare the glory of God;

the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

Day after day they pour forth speech;

night after night they display knowledge.

There is no speech or language

where their voice is not heard.

Their voice goes out into all the earth,

their words to the ends of the world.

Today, no matter where you are or what you are doing, I encourage you to take just 5 minutes and look for something which cries out the message that He is ‘I Am’...and join creation in lifting Him up in praise…

God Bless!

turns in the road and roller coaster rides

Well, it's Saturday! And as I sit on the back porch drinking coffee with Lucy the Wonderdog (I'm having coffee, she's having water from a bowl), I am struck by the thought that life sure has a lot of turns and detours...

All the detours are good, though its hard to see the good in all of them...

Think about your life over the past few months... has everything gone exactly as you had planned? Doubtful... but has it all 'turned out'? maybe.... or maybe not or maybe not yet... (by the way, please read the book 'you can't get to heaven in a straight line' by Marvin Phillips...)

Three months ago, our oldest was transferring from York College to Harding for her sophomore year, resigned to not playing collegiate basketball again... then a guy from a recruiting service called out of the blue and said the coach from Williams Baptist needed a post player and had some scholarship money to offer....

roller coaster... exciting and scary and frustrating and fun all at the same time!

When the coach made her offer, it was not enticing enough for Cait to accept, so the plan was back on for HU! (that's a very abbreviated, drama-less version of how we got to today!) ...detour...

then, on a MUCH more serious note, my big brother was injured badly in a motorcycle accident...

more roller coaster... scary and scarier. (Greg is at home recovering - slowly but surely...thank you all for your prayers!)

that's just a couple examples... you probably have a hundred just like 'em...

Cassie has taught me something HUGE over the past few years... you see, she LOVES roller coasters... (me and Cara share her affinity for the fast twisty-turny things, by the way)... anyhow, what I have learned has taken a while to fully manifest itself to me (the lesson started 5 years ago at DisneyWorld on "Tower of Terror")... but it crystalized last year when we were at Silver Dollar City.

They have this very cool coaster called Powder Keg, which shoots you at 700 miles per hour (ok, I dunno, but it's fast) out of the gate and turns you sideways and drops you 10 stories (I'm getting sweaty palms just describing it!)... ok, to the point: I have a picture of the first time Cassie rode it... it is a photo of her in the coaster car with Cara, white-knuckled and wailing! petrified and NOT happy!

then I have a picture of Cass on the very same ride - taken two minutes later (those high speed kind they take during a negative 9G turn, where it looks like your face is falling off, then charge you $20 to take home with you) smiling and squealing with sheer delight! You know what she said to me as we were getting off the ride? "Daddy, let's do it again!"

the point? turns and twists are scary and unplanned and hard on you and nerve-wracking... but if we embrace them (and look for His plan, though we cannot always see it), we will learn to enjoy the ride...

so here's the lesson: I gotta learn to live in Him and with confidence in His will... and that's hard for a control freak like me... but the older I get, the more clearly I can see. I am nowhere near 'there' yet, but my vision is improving... if perfect vision is 20/20, then I must be somewhere near 20/300 by now... but that's a vast improvement upon 'legally blind', which is where I have been for most of my life! (OK, even I'm tired of the metaphor now!)

so, trust in Him... simple! but like most simple things, it is not as easy as just saying it....

I like the way Christian artist FFH puts it on the first cut from their 'Still the Cross' CD:

You take the wheel - I will work the radio...

You take the wheel - We'll go where You want to go

You take the wheel - Take it fast, take it slow

Whatever you choose I'm fine...

You drive, I'll ride - You drive, I'll ride

may God bless us all as we remember who is at the wheel!

harvesting

our annual Vacation Bible School is history, and it was another great one! So many people (as usual) came together to put on this unbelievable outreach effort, and it was awesome!

Big Kudos to Roger Smith for emceeing, and to Jenny and Bryan and Kerri for organizing and making it happen! OK, now I've made a mistake by mentioning names... you know who you are, God knows who you are (even if I don't) and we are so blessed by your hard work to make this interactive VBS come alive! Thank you thank you thank you!

I also want to thank Lynn and Joy for their efforts... those who know these two angels are probably wondering what I'm talking about since they are 1,800 miles away at their paradise in Volcan, Panama...

the reason I believe they both were instrumental in this year's VBS is because of the work they did in February...

Remember the tornado? Well, the Riverside body stepped up and acted like 'the church' by taking Jesus into this devastated community in the wake of the tornado... a few weeks ago, Gassville had a parade in which Riverside had a float... we handed out VBS flyers and people remembered the parade marchers as the same ones who spent the entire month of February and beyond helping them survive the worst catastrophe in their town's history...

and, in the middle of all of that... while many of us volunteered an hour or two here or there, and 'went back to work'... there was Lynn and Joy... making sure all the efforts were coordinated and signing up the volunteers and delivering coffee and lunch every day...

and the people remembered.

This year, the attendance at our Vacation Bible School was made up - in large part - of our Gassville friends who saw a church act like His Body during their time of need...

I observe none of this in any attempt to raise up Riverside as the standard. It is only when we lift HIM up that we truly see what He can do through our meager efforts....

Paul planted, Apollos watered, and God gave the increase.... praise God for His faithfulness to provide the harvest.

If it is our goal to become Jesus to our community and the world... well, we are making some baby steps toward that goal...

God Bless us all as we continue to serve in His name. God Bless our dear friends Lynn and Joy who helped us show Jesus to our community (in the wake of the February tornado) and to the world (in their little Volcan paradise in Panama)...

how cool is that?

Independence Day

Our family went to the Baker/Bailey/Schuhknecht 'compound' to watch the fireworks display on Saturday night... as usual, it was stunning! We are so blessed to have such a terrific school as ASU Mountain Home in our community... it is a really good institution with a lot of really good people working there so that our citizens can get a great higher education at a really affordable cost.... and we are undeservedly blessed to have friends like the Bakers and Baileys and Schuhknechts!

But each year on the Saturday before the 4th of July, ASUMH hosts a Red, White and Blue Day which culminates in an unbelievable fireworks display put on by the Heenan family.... and this year's show was spectacular!

I do love this time of year... picnics and pools and lake outings and bike rides and fireflies at night (by the way, Lucy the Wonderdog has developed the evening ritual of chasing and eating fireflies... truly, I did not know Basset Hounds had an appetite for lightning bugs!)... anyhow, summers in the Ozarks are wonderful!

While we experienced the dramatic fireworks display three nights ago, I thought to myself: perhaps the best part or this whole thing is reflecting on the sacrifices which are represented by each 'boom' and the gifts given by every flash in the sky. People who don't know me are, right now today, standing a post with a weapon to defend my freedom.... and people who I will never get to meet have, over the decades, given their life so I could - today - have liberty.

I love the commercial that's running right now... the one set in an airport... people just sitting and waiting for their flight to be called, and a group of soldiers - in camouflage gear - walk through the airport (either on their way to or returning from the field of battle)... one by one, each person in the terminal begins to clap until the entire airport is offering a very emotional standing ovation... I get teary-eyed just writing about it now...

This week, please think of those women and men who don the uniform of our armed forces every day and stand between you and harm. Say a prayer right now for the safe return of these husbands and daughters and wives and grandsons... each of them are missed terribly by their families.

And if you are blessed enough to actually know one of these heroes... give them a hug or give them a call and thank them for what they do for you and our country!

Happy Independence Day!

God Bless!