to be forgotten

I watch with interest from the sidelines the 2008 State Volleyball tournament... my daughter Cara plays middle hitter for MHHS, and their season is done for this year. Lake Hamilton ousted them last night in a hard fought match 3-1...

As I watched this match, I noticed that the coach got really caught up in the excitement of the game and... well... forgot about my daughter on the bench.

Now I know this is a daddy talking here... and I know my Cara is not the only player who gets 'forgotten' on the bench...

But there we were at the state tournament by virtue of our performance during the conference season (to which many girls contributed including my middle child), and the coach simply forgot to put some of the girls in the rotation... most notably (and not just to her daddy) - my Cara.

And I was amazed. I know it happens every day in sports and in other parts of life... and I thank God that Cara places the proper amount of importance on sports... (as Kelly said, she was doing just fine watching 'what not to wear' last night, seemingly already over being left out of the most important match of her high school volleyball career...)

You hope that a coach will a) 'dance with what brung ya' (interpretation: play the girls who helped you win enough to make it to state!) and b) not get so caught up in the game herself to forget about your bench players!

Oh well... season's over for this year... onward and upward!

But it still hurts. ...to be forgotten.

How marvelous it is that we serve a God who doesn't forget! Yeah, I know, He has a mercifully terribly memory about all the things we screw up...

but God knows His own...

Matthew and Luke record Jesus' words which confirm this blessed memory:

"even the hairs of your head are numbered"

wow!

What a God! ...who will never forget!

Blessings

27 degrees this morning - yikes!

OK, so you know I love the changing of the seasons... and I really enjoy the blessing of living in a place where we get to bask in all 4 of them.

But each time the weather change signals that one is over and the next one is here, I am always taken a bit by surprise... no, I know it's coming... it just sort of, I dunno... surprises me!

such is the weather this morning... it's flippin' 27 degrees!!! that's freezin!

I know it's cold when Lucy the Wonderdog scratches at the door to go out and then, when we crack the door, she backs away from it and looks at me like "what happened??!?! that's cold!"

anyhow, this weekend we 'fall back'... and set our clocks back an hour, gaining 60 minutes overnight! And I, for one, have been missing that hour ever since it was pried from my fingers back in April...

yep, fall has fell... and I love it!

and winter is not far behind... ouch!

I do love the crispness in the air this time of year...

and I don't know why, but on crisp cool mornings like this one, I am especially reminded of a youth song we used to sing all the time... of course it comes from scripture:

the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases

His mercies never come to an end

they are new every morning

great is thy faithfulness!

new every morning... I like that!

Blessings!

Spiritual exercise

Every time I turn on the TV, I see at least 3 commercials for getting healthy... weight loss and diet scams and ads for the Ab Burner Plus Ultimate... or my personal favorite, the Super Duper Pull Up Bar which looks for all the world like a piece of electrical conduit but evidently gives you a 6 pack and makes all the girls on the planet - especially those wearing bikinis - desire you with an uncontrollable passion...

anyhow, it is no secret the Americans are FAT and/or out of shape!

Some of us are a little overweight and some of us are corpulent (my word for the day - means morbidly obese, which just sounds bad!), while others are just not in good cardiovascular condition....

So we Americans spend about $40 Billion a year on 'getting healthy'. wow.

Yet we are still in poor physical condition... why? simple! Diet and Exercise! ...simply put, we eat wrong and don't exercise enough!

(Analogy alert!)

Most of us are in poor spiritual condition as well... for the same reasons: we 'eat' wrong and don't 'exercise' enough!

So what are you filling your spiritual belly with? Do you read the Word daily? (we sure wouldn't miss a meal, right?) when you study and read the Word, what is your purpose? It seems that when most of us study, it is to prepare for a Bible class (in which we are trying to help people reach a certain conclusion) or to 'check out' what that preacher said... when we study like that, we are depriving ourselves! Or, for the vast majority of us, I'm afraid we don't even touch a Bible until we are on the way out the door to 'church'... so we get all our 'nourishment' from someone else... and all in a nice tidy package 2 hours per week! When that is our method for feeding ourselves, we are STARVING!!!

what are you doing to 'exercise' your spiritual body? note: when Jesus is separating the sheep from the goats in Matthew 25, he is doing so based on how they treated each other, especially the 'least of these my brothers'... note further: when God speaks through Amos (recorded in Amos 5) to His people, He is warning about the disconnect between the 'Tuesday them' and the 'Sunday (ok, Saturday, but you get the point) them'... when Jesus Himself defines 'religion', He says that it is taking care of widows and orphans and keeping one's self pure....

Momma used to say that losing weight is really simple.... (and by the way, I have lost about 3,756 pounds in my life.... but I've gained just over 4,000 lbs)... to lose weight, you simply take in less that you put out! eat less, exercise more!

I wonder how that works in an analogy? If we were foundering on the Word - absolutely FULL of It, I guess the application would be clear.... but we are starving for His Word... AND most of us don't get NEAR enough spiritual exercise!

so, while God instructs us to know His Word ("write in our you hearts"), He spends a LOT more 'ink' on how we treat each other... the EXERCISE!

ok, now I'm rambling...

I know that most of us are spiritually unhealthy. And I know studying the Bible - by itself - will not make us well... we gotta put It into action... (to be continued....)


Blessings!

don't hesitate - do!

just a quick encouragement as you start your day today...

when you see someone who needs a smile... don't hesitate...

when you see someone who needs a lift... don't hesitate

when you learn of someone who needs a phone call... don't hesitate

when you find out there is someone who needs an email or a text... don't hesitate...

God will place tons of opportunities right in your path today.... so be present and alert and aware and...

don't hesitate!

Blessings

Honduran school children

I just heard from my friend Michelle Moore at the Mt Comfort Church in Fayetteville... and she wanted to tell me about the results of our fund-raising efforts last Friday night...

Their goal was to sponsor (scholarship) 200 children to go to school and learn to read and write... (a luxury in Tegucigalpa) It costs $75 per child for a year...

They received enough money to sponsor 120 kiddos that night, and are continuing to receive donations, hoping to get to the 200 number...

If you would like to sponsor a child, please email Michelle Moore at battlebuddies@hotmail.com

You will receive a postcard with the child's name and picture, so you can know exactly who you gifted this education to... very very cool!

The concert went great, and was very well-received... and the comedian was very very good and really funny! check out Mike Williams at http://mikewilliams.tv/

very funny, and very engaging....a wonderful ministry! he spent a lot of time with the First Day guys and anyone else who wanted to visit with him...

anyhow, if God moves you to sponsor a child, please email Michelle!

God Bless!

fences and gates and padlocks

I saw something yesterday that stunned and disappointed me.

While driving to a friend's house to watch the Hogs lose to Kentucky (AARRRGGGHHH!), I noticed a little country church building... I'd seen it a hundred times before... I've even attended worship there...

So as we drove past this little building which sits in a field about 200 feet off the highway, I noticed something I had never noticed before... it has a barbed wire fence around it... OK, maybe there are cattle in the field where the building sits... then I noticed there was a swinging gate across the driveway.

Then I noticed the most striking feature: the gate was closed and latched and...

padlocked.

Wow. A church in a field with a fence and a gate and a padlock. now there's an analogy begging to be made!

I also thought it an unwelcome sight when I first saw the sign beside a church building on highway 60 on the way to Springfield:

the King James Bible Church

I don't know what kind of hearts the members of these churches possess... but the sign and the padlock speaks pretty loudly.

In a day when - more than ever - people need to feel welcome in God's presence and in the presence of His people, it would seem that we should do everything in our power (and everything in His name) to attract seekers to our lives... and to Him... and even to our houses of worship.

Yet these two examples - especially the church behind the padlocked gate - seem to send a very unwelcome message...

Oh, and by the way, there were no cows behind that padlocked gate... evidently they are not welcome either!

May God Bless us as we lift up His Son!

"But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself."

red and yellow, black and white

While I was in Tegucigalpa, Honduras a few years ago, I was surrounded by many stark reminders of just how good we Americans have it... In this huge central American metropolis there are very definitely two distinct classes of people: the affluent and the poor. And by poor I don't mean poor by American standards...

I mean those trapped in abject hopeless poverty. Most of the 'have nots' live in shanties with dirt floors and no indoor plumbing at best ...and a very large portion live in houses made of scrap lumber and refrigerator boxes...

The wealthy of Honduras' capital city do not want to be bothered with the poor. Their pristine mall (worthy of any large U.S. city) is surrounded with large walls topped by concertina combat wire. Armed guards stand sentry at the mallwall gates as if they were protecting Fort Knox.

Yeah I saw a hundred heart-breaking things and heard as many soul-rending stories.

But by far the most dreadful story was one where a group of wealthy store owners paid the police to rid their 'side of town' of the street urchins...

for years the rumors had run rampant about children disappearing from the street never to be seen again... the rumors were confirmed about 5 years ago when a mass grave was discovered outside the city. It was filled with dozens of tiny decomposing bodies of these street kids...

When I returned from that trip, I remember standing next to Cassie's bed one night before I kissed her good night. And I wept and I sang...

"red and yellow, black and white

they are precious in His sight"

Tonight I am blessed with the opportunity to sing with my First Day brothers for the children of Honduras...

We are helping to raise money so they can be rescued from the street... so they can go to school and learn to read and write... so they can grow up to be productive citizens of their home country...

please pray for our efforts and those of the Mt Comfort Church of Christ...

Jesus loves the little children of the world

Revealing Bible Study

So last night Doyne led our Wednesday night Bible study... it centered around the 'reveal' study which Willow Creek is undertaking (with help from 500 churches around the country)...

I found it very interesting and challenging...

the concept of the Willow Creek study is that we (churches) are still paying attention to the wrong things... with regard to 'growth' we still look at the numbers...

a couple years ago, WC determined that they were gonna stop that practice and try very hard to help individuals grow spiritually... along the way, they developed four 'tags' for people as they journey along the path...

1)Christ Seekers 2)Growing toward Christ 3)Closeness to Christ 4)Christ-centered

number 1, of course, is sort of the least mature sort... while number 4 is the most spiritually mature...

the idea is that everyone who attends church fits somewhere on this continuum...

The study endeavors to discover two primary things:

1. where does each 'attender' fit
2. which ministries tend to meet the needs of which type(s) of attender

additionally, the study purports to learn what the needs are for each type of attender...

So far, their research has revealed that the 'seeker' and those 'growing toward Christ' were - generally speaking - in NEED of being ministered to... while those who are 'close to Christ' and those who are 'Christ-centered' are in NEED of opportunities to minister to others...

Essentially, however, most churches have paid a LOT of attention to the first two groups with our ministries.... and scant little attention to those further along on the 'maturity continuum'... in other words, we are providing service to a large number of seekers and growers while many more mature Christians are unfed.

I believe this to be a worthwhile exercise... so I challenge all of us to try to understand these concepts as they relate to our congregations...

and please let me know your thoughts!

God Bless!

God's Mosaic

God is developing a thought in my feeble brain... (I promise, I will give Him the credit if it turns out to have 'legs', and I will take the blame if it turns out to be lame!)

Anyhow, as we study prayer and its power and its result, it is clear that there is still a whole lot which seems mysterious, at least to me...

and the mystery deepens as we try to understand God's answers to our prayers.... and inevitably, we end up at the doorstep of 'why'?

Now it could be (as we have all heard from our pulpits) that it is simply a matter of faith.... just a simple thing of trusting Him to provide and answer prayers in the way which is best (in His divine eyes) for us. And I get that.... I still struggle with it, but I get it...

And, on one level, I know that's how we should view His answers to our petitions as we mature.

On the other hand, we know there are examples of man's prayer changing God's mind throughout the Bible...

I have seen Him heal people and change situations and touch hearts as a direct result of people's fervent prayers (at least I think it results from that...)

So I'm sorta stuck.

OK, to the thought which is just beginning to crystalize in my gray matter...

The ground floor of the McInteer Bible Building on the campus of Harding University in Searcy is a tile mosaic. As you stand on it, it is almost impossible to see what the mosaic represents... If you climb to the second floor and peek off the landing, it becomes a little clearer... then, if you go to the top floor landing and peer over the side, it settles in with crystal clarity that what you are looking at is, in fact, a beautiful 'picture' of the globe... it is a tile mosaic of the earth!

Is it possible that we fail to see the divine mosaic of life because we are busy living it? Could it be that we are so 'close' to the events and 'prayer-answers' that we only see them as they relate to our little bitty speck of time on this sphere?

I wonder if God were to take us to the 'top floor' and allow us to gander at the whole picture, would His Mosaic become clear?

Dunno.... but there's a thought starting to form... (I know, dangerous.)

God Bless!

true ministry

when most people think of ministry, they think of a minister... you know, the kind with the 3-piece suit and a degree who preaches at a local church. He also visits the sick and shut-ins (don't you love THAT word), and he teaches the occasional (or every-Sunday-auditorium) class....

Well, last Sunday night at my house, I saw ministry in its purest form.

The discussion moved to prayer and, frankly, whether it works or not... and one of our ladies just spilled her heart about how she aches every day for her son who died a couple years ago... and how, without prayer, she would 'not have made it'.

That was powerful...

but by far the most seminal moment of the night was when - just after the 'official' meeting ended - another precious mom and grandma poured out her soul about how hollow her heart is since her daughter died just over a year ago. Then the first mom knelt beside the second mom and they shared their heartache with each other....

and true ministry happened.

As my wife has observed often... whatever trials and hardship and heartbreak have befallen you, THAT is YOUR ministry!

you need no degree nor suit nor particular gender nor pulpit to minister. you just need a heart to share your common experience...

and ministry breaks out!

God Bless!

Sunday - family reunion day!

What a beautiful day we woke up to in the Ozarks today! 60 degrees, bright sunshiny skies, low humidity.... lovely!

and especially lovely because in a few minutes we all get to go to our weekly family reunion! We get to see and visit and worship and praise and commune and just be together...

That the Godman Christ would envision our deep need for this weekly gathering still astounds me... that anyone would choose not to join in is a constant source of amazement to me.

I minister and I am ministered to... and it is spectacular!

God Bless us as we gather today in His name...

reaching requires stretching

About 15 years ago, I played racquetball 3 or 4 times a week... I mean I loved it! I was actually racquetball champion at the Mtn Home Racquet Club one year in a row back in the 90s... (admittedly, I beat some guy with a bad toupee in the semis and another dude who was 5 feet tall and 4 feet wide - but uncannily quick - to win the title)

anyhow, I learned a lesson from r-ball... (ok, two lessons: the first was to NOT wear a rug during strenuous physical activity)

I learned not to give up on a ball that I thought I couldn't get to... you see, God blessed me with a sort of long frame... I'm about 6'3" with a similar wingspan, and I learned that I could get to a lot more balls than I imagined... I just had to not give up and... I had to stretch to reach 'em...

I am just beginning to understand how that lesson ('reach and stretch', NOT 'lose the rug') applies to ministry...

Our number one priority in life is to reach others for Christ... to lift Him up so He can draw people to Himself... so how do we reach?

some of us are inviters. and that's a wonderful way to reach people... I heard last night of a young lady who invited a young man to her youth group all through high school - every week - until he finally said yes.... he is now a full time youth pastor serving about 40 kiddos at a local church... so inviting is one very good strategy...

others of us are examplers. and that is a great way to reach people as well... not as in-your-face as the inviter, but very effective... just living Jesus in front of our peers...

still more of us are wonderers and wanderers... not really sure how to reach, and not real settled on our own walk...

the point is (and, yes, I do have one): while Jesus' message NEVER changes, our methods must!

so, just like reaching a well-placed shot on the racquetball court requires stretching, so does ministry!

you gotta stretch to reach!

So let me challenge us to apply this to ourselves... today, I encourage us to intentionally try to stretch ourselves to reach someone for Him.

Show kindness to someone you hadn't planned to... ask someone to pray with you... share your testimony with a co-worker or class mate...

stretch!

I promise - better yet, He promises - that He will bless our efforts....

God Bless!

so, you wanna go to heaven?

so, you think you wanna go to heaven...

are you fit for the kingdom? What will it be like? What are the prerequisites for getting there? What will go on in heaven?

Well, the only thing I feel certain about is that we will be forever with Jesus, the One who died to give us that Home...

We read in the Bible of certain characteristics of the place we look forward to. Some seem to be metaphorical (though God can make the place whatever He wills): pearly gates, golden streets, etc. Some seem to be very real to us: no pain, no regrets, everlasting peace and happiness...

Whatever wonder He prepares for His own, there is one intriguing question we seem to like to debate: Who will be there?

Well, for all my growing up, I was taught that the litmus test for entry into Heaven was how we worshipped on Sunday morning (oh, and whether your church had one pastor or several elders... and whether your church had a headquarters... and - for some - whether you had a kitchen in your building or not or used one or several cups to serve communion...) and, perhaps - way down the 'qualifications' list - how you lived...

As I continue to learn and understand just a little bit, my 'qualifications list' gets shorter and shorter... as if it matters what I think!

i.e.: Are you a believer? do you believe Jesus is God's Son and came to earth through a miraculous virgin birth, lived as a man, died on a cross for our sins and rose on the 3rd day?

(I have lots of friends who have such a myopic view of who's gonna 'make it', I wonder if they will be shocked to see folks in heaven who didn't believe exactly the way they do...)

God's Spirit inspired Paul to write 'there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved'

but here's the best part: we don't have to decide! God is the righteous judge, and He came to earth in human form so that "none would perish, but everyone would have everlasting life"...

We have spent so much time arguing about who's right and who's going, and I have stopped... really... I have stopped that fruitless exercise...

Our job is to scatter seed....

so how 'bout we stay busy doing that?

Let's let God be God and get out de way so He can do His work...

Blessings!

understanding prayer

I just love it when we humans act like we have something figured out... my own arrogance about such is astounding!

We live in the world of possible and serve the God of the impossible. Yet we are so enamored of our intelligence and understanding... I think I have it all learned and then God puts someone or something in my path as a gentle reminder that I don't know jack!

God said through Isaiah: "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts"

I had one of those "My Ways are Higher" moments last night...

during our life group discussion, a very earnest seeker made the comment that he was not sure if or how prayer works... for those of us who consider ourselves somewhat studied (see, can't you just smell my arrogance), it was a little offensive... so we trotted out the 'usual suspects' like Paul to remind us that 'the effectual prayer of a righteous man availeth much' (notice the KJV condescension?) and 'all things work together for good for those that love the Lord and are called according to His promise'...

then we quietly congratulated ourselves on having those - and other - Bible verses at the ready for just such an occasion...

meanwhile, the earnest seeker humbly asked us for proof...

how come your momma died (asked the seeker) when you prayed so hard for her to be healed?

why did your friends' marriage dissolve after counseling and praying and asking God to make it right?

aren't you righteous? aren't your prayers effectual?

well, that stopped me...

my only answer (and I admit it's lame and theoretical) is that we cannot see the big picture... and God can. We see only our eensy teensy little bitty speck of the monstrous mosaic which God is painting... and maybe someday He will reveal the how and why... (told you it was lame)

All I know (really) is that we have to "trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding"...

beyond that, I have very few answers.

and I feel really really small... and that's really really ok... because I serve the God who sees it all and knows it all.

grudges are heavy

do you carry past pain? are the times when someone mistreated you always at the front of your mind? Do you recall - with crystal clarity - when and how this person or that person hurt you?

Please let it go.


On most days, I visit my momma's grave. I know she is in heaven... and I know that her gravesite holds nothing but the shell she shed... I get that. But I stop by the place where her body is buried, nonetheless.

It's a pretty place... quiet... and, on days like today, it is especially beautiful! Bright sunshine and cool temperatures and low humidity... Momma loved days like today.

As I stand beside her headstone, I notice the dates shown: 1935 - 1996... and I think about the dash. Just a small horizontal line connecting the first and last date...

Mom's dash was very full! Great Husband, 4 loving children, 8 grands (during her life) and a lifeful of living... During mom's last days, she told me several times that she was ready to go be with Jesus. But she would really like to see her kiddos continue to grow and her grandkids grow up...

I guess if I were pressed, I might say those were 'regrets' she had... kinda weird to talk about now...

as I looked around, I saw that there are are other headstones that show a 'born' date but no 'died' date.... just a four digit number and a dash:

1943 -

1961 -

1928 -

and it occurs to me that we - those of us with the open dashes - have living left to do... and we have opportunities to make things better. To correct mistakes and right wrongs... and to forget the times when people didn't treat us well...


so, if you are carrying bad feelings for anyone... but especially family... drop them. Drop them now. Forget who said what and who was right and who was wrong...

I have watched as some around me held onto grudges and 'wronged' feelings... until, finally, it dominates their every thought process. It literally consumes them... to the point where the grudges they carry become their identity! and, sadly, they may as well have cancer because they are literally being eaten from the inside...

and for what?

Here's the deal: there's only One Who won't ever disappoint... only One who will always always be there!

but people are people and they are gonna disappoint you... so get used to it! Get over it! That doesn't mean all people are bad or that everyone is out to get you... it just means we're human... even those with the best intentions will let you down or do things differently than you might...

so what do you do with that? you got two choices: a) know it going in and live with it, or b) be surprised and let down and hurt and always upset and miserable and make it your life's work to remember every wrong ever done to you...

know this: we are all gonna 'close the dash' someday, and your kids or friends are gonna put your shell in the ground... and, as far as this life is concerned, that will be that!

So how you gonna fill in the dash?

May I suggest that we all try to be in the constant state of forgiving? We all need mercy from each other... so live the way Jesus did: always eager to forgive and move on...


God Bless!