being well, part deaux (garbage in = trashy attitude)

so are you having trouble seeing things in a positive light? Do you wonder how everyone around you seems to be in a good mood, but you are just in a perpetual funk?

(disclaimer: besides 47 years of living and 25 years of marriage and 20 years of child-rearing, I have NO education in the art or science of psychology!)

but you gotta agree we are overmedicating, right? I mean, I wouldn't expect most in the medical community to agree :-) , but certainly we know that we have bought into the myth that there is a pill for every hurt, real or imagined...

here's a flyer: is it possible we could overcome many of our illnesses by relying on God instead of relying on medicine?

Yeah, I know, God gave us minds to create and help and it is truly astonishing how 'far' medical science has progressed! no doubt...

I'm just wondering... especially with regard to a lot of the more popular designer meds we take today...

why are we 'sicker' today than we used to be?

could it be environmental? I believe it is!

so, what is it that makes people depressed? what is it that keeps you from sleeping? what is it that makes you so frightened of tight spaces that you are considered to suffer from 'anxiety disorder'?

is it a possibility that we are 'filling ourselves' with garbage?

are you worried? do you stress about the future? do you lose sleep over the stock market or swine flu?

maybe we could consider exactly what we are 'filling our brains' with....

what is your 'brain diet'? what do you watch and read and listen to? are you an information junkie?

here's some hints:

• if you watch CNN or FoxNews (or any other news show) all the time, it is likely you will buy into the hysteria and be miserable.
• if you listen to a steady diet of talk radio, you are guaranteeing a particular type of dire outlook...
• if you surf MSNBC or CBSNEWS or the Drudge report online (or any other news site), I promise you will worry
• are you into pornography? listen, there is NO GOOD which can result from that
• do you fill your head with YouTube videos?
• do you know every statistic of every player on your favorite sports team?
• are you forever checking the weather forecast? ask yourself this: why?
• do you read about plane crashes and other natural disasters (especially when you are about to take a trip on an airplane?)

finally, are you rationalizing right now about how you NEED to stay informed? yeah right... whatever.

two problems will visit you if the list above describes you, and neither problem is small:

1. your brain will be filled up with crap, and you will be anxious all the time
2. your brain will have NO ROOM for good things (Phil 4:8)

by the way...the reason I know so much about the subject is this: that list above used to be a perfect descpription of ME! (and I shortened the list for time's sake) I am a recovering information junkie!

so let me encourage us all to jealously guard the space between our ears... take great care with what you allow to enter your mind.

you will be happier and more at peace, I promise! and who knows, you may save some money on Doctors and drugs...

Blessings

being well - part 1

so, how you feelin? are you well? we all wanna be, right? and so many of us believe we gotta have 'pharmaceutical help' to feel good...

(Disclaimer: I am not a doctor, I do not play one on TV, and I didn't stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night!)

I will say this: we have morphed into a society which believes that there is a pill or treatment for EVERY ILL, and I believe we have allowed ourselves to become WAAAAAYYY overprescribed! Especially with regard to mood-altering drugs.

...now everyone of you who read this - all 3 of you - will commence to cite reasons why you gotta have your Xanax or Prosac or Caduet or Ambien or whatever the designer-drug-of-the-day might be to 'make it'... or why YOUR kiddo HAD to HAVE Ritalyn or some other drug to 'pay attention in class'.... or how your aunt is a much better person when she's on her (fill in her drug here).

....and again, because I understand way less about this than more educated folks, I suppose I should back up and restate the disclaimer....

but I still stand by my statement that, for the most part, we have bought into the mentality that for every ache and pain - physical or emotional - there is a pill to fix it. So, we take our drugs...

we O.D. on our Ambien to make us sleep and pop another pill to help us wake up... we take our capsule to make us happy and another to keep us 'level'... we take our Lisenopril to regulate our blood pressure, and our Caduet to lower our cholesterol AND hypertension... and on and on and on the list goes...

so what's my point?

there are 2:

1. illness is a reality. and mental illness is every bit as real as physical illness.
2. most of us could be well and enjoy good health without medicating ourselves (are there exceptions to this? certainly - thus the use of 'most' instead of 'all' - the problem is, we all think OUR particular malady is worse than anyone else's and, thus, believe that puts us in that 'minority' which MUST take meds to be well)

I wonder - just spitballin' here - if, for instance, the guy who takes the lisenopril twice a day to regulate his high blood pressure could exercise more and eat less (or better) and control his illness (which he brought on himself with 40 years of not exercising and eating well) without medication?

I happen to know the answer to this one, because I know this guy really really well... and the answer is YES!

What about the rest of you? are you giving yourself insulin shots so you can 'eat whatever you want', then sitting down to a 3000 calorie 'diabetic-coma-on-a-plate'?

my fear is we begin to rely on the wrong thing.... we believe we gotta have a drug, so we forget about good living and prayer and devotional time and exercise, etc...

I just wanna encourage us to think through our dependence upon medication. that's all

(continued)

cryin coyotes

Walking around outside this morning enjoying the sunrise... good coffee, watching the world wake up.

First Day is singing in Mexia, Texas tonight and we stayed last night at Mr and Mrs Fisher's in Wortham... so this morning I'm seeing sights and hearing sounds which are somewhat foreign to me.

Coyotes are howling in the distance (not far enough in the distance in my opinion) and the train whistle is blowing just over the horizon... not many big trees here, but LOTS of horizon!

and it is a beautiful morning!

God Bless!

for such a time as this

Carrie Prejean is now officially a household name.

She is Miss California and, as most folks have heard by now, she caused quite a stir at the Miss USA pageant last week when she responded to a judge's question...

Asked judge Perez Hilton to Prejean, “Vermont recently became the 4th state to legalize same-sex marriage. Do you think every state should follow suit. Why or why not?”

“Well I think its great that Americans are able to choose one or the other,” Carrie answered. “We live in a land where you can choose same-sex marriage or opposite marriage. And you know what, in my country, in my family, I think that I believe that a marriage should be between a man and a woman. No offense to anybody out there but that’s how I was raised and that’s how I think it should be between a man and a woman. Thank you very much.”

that earned her a mixed response from the audience. Boos followed by applause.

Perez - the openly homosexual judge who asked her the question (intentionally setting her up) then blasted her on his video blog calling it the “worst answer in pageant history.” He also made comments that he has since apologized for.

The directors of the Miss California pageant condemned her answer on Monday morning.
“As co-executive director of Miss CA USA and one of the leaders of the Miss CA family, I am personally saddened and hurt that Miss CA USA 2009 believes marriage rights belong only to a man and a woman,” wrote Keith Lewis on Hilton’s blog. “Although I believe all religions should be able to ordain what unions they see fit, I do not believe our government should be able to discriminate against anyone. Religious beliefs have no place in politics in the Miss CA family.”

Does she regret the answer? Not at all. “I was raised in a way that you can never compromise your beliefs and your opinions for anything,” she told one reporter.

most observers and insiders agree: “She lost it because of that question. She was definitely the front-runner before that,” Hilton told ABC News.

“It did cost me my crown,” Miss California concurred. “but I wouldn’t have had it any other way. I said what I feel. I stated an opinion that was true to myself and that’s all I can do.”

We live in a time similar to the Days of Jeremiah (6:14-16) when folks mocked God and scoffed at the notion of chastisement for sin:

"They have healed the brokenness of My people superficially,

saying, 'Peace, peace,' But there is no peace.

Were they ashamed because of the abomination they have done?

They were not even ashamed at all;

They did not even know how to blush.

Therefore they shall fall among those who fall;

At the time that I punish them,

They shall be cast down," says the LORD.

Thus says the LORD, "Stand by the ways

and see and ask for the ancient paths,

where the good way is, and walk in it;

and you will find rest for your souls.

But they said, 'We will not walk in it.'"

we live in a time like those in the days of King Xerxes, who took a similarly beautiful young girl named Esther to be his queen... soon afterwards the king's evil lieutenant Haman hatched a plot to kill Mordecai the jew (who happened to be Esther's cousin), by getting the king to sign a decree which called for the extermination of the jewish race... (at the time, the king was unaware that his queen was a jew)

When Mordecai sent word to his cousin queen, she at first did nothing....

but his message back to her was such a chilling and challenging indictment, she risked her very life to save her people....

so for those of us who sit idly by and watch this and other assaults on our very Christianity, I would encourage us each to heed the words spoken 5000 years ago by a man whose existence was similarly threatened:

"Do not think that because you are in the

king's house you alone of all the Jews will escape.

For if you remain silent at this time,

relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place,

but you and your father's family will perish.

And who knows but that you have come to royal position

for such a time as this?"

I don't know anything more than you do about Carrie Prejean; but I know God gave her 'esther-like' strength to stand up as just such a time...

so, what will it take for you? what will it take for me? to finally stand up...

when will your 'time' be? (hint: probably won't be on the Miss USA stage with 20 million people watching...)

Jesus and Malchus' ear

Last night at life group my friend Jim made an analogy which I think is as good a metaphor for the CrossWork as I have ever heard...

we were talking about the concept of Jesus' blood covering us like a blanket, and how God places our sins 'as far as the east is from the west' from us.

So he told the story of Luke's account of the Gethsamane arrest...

Malchus is described as a servant of the High Priest, but was probably more than 'just a servant'. He was a pretty important person, evidenced by the fact that he was at the forefront of the lynch mob which came to arrest Jesus.... striking this servant was the same thing as trying to kill the High Priest himself! It would have been viewed as capitol offense punishable by death. So when Peter swung his sword trying, I am convinced, to take off this dude's head... he had committed an offense which earned him a death sentence.

Until Jesus touched the officer's ear and made it whole.

as if the incident NEVER HAPPENED...

let that sink in for a minute

Jesus healed that man's ear immediately, and Peter's offense was evidently forgotten... completely and forever...as if Peter never took his sword out of its scabbard!

If THAT'S not a perfect picture of Jesus' greater work on the cross, I am not sure what is.

Jesus took our sins on Himself and paid the price (made the 'situation' whole).... as if our sins NEVER HAPPENED!

So, next time you slip up and mistreat someone or curse at the guy who cut you off in traffic or act in an unChristian way toward someone.... anytime you feel like you are too far gone or too lowly or too unimportant... remember Jesus' healing touch on Malchus' ear that night in the garden. Better yet, recall that dark day in a city dump outside Jerusalem, where Jesus took our sins on His sinless self.

that's life-changing power

if you can digest that, it will liberate you... and, for most of us, completely revolutionize the way we think about salvation and sanctification!

God Bless!

the day George went home

I didn't know him well. I sang in a group for 5 years with his eldest son... and if the son's life is any sort of reflection of his daddy's, George was pretty doggone special.

But I believe a lot of people knew that.

OK, here' a crass observation about funerals: the older the person in the casket, the smaller the crowd...

When my grandma died, she was 92 years old. Very beloved, very renowned (at least in her little town), well-respected, popular... but it was a relatively small funeral.

When the family walked down the aisle at Momma's funeral, it felt like the auditorium was standing-room-only... over 300 people at my mother's service. She was 61.

My point is this: it seems that when a 85-year-old person dies, the number of 'friends and acquaintances' who are still alive is necessarily smaller than that of a 50-year-old....

OK, sorry, I said it was crass. but it seems to be true...

But here's the deal: George had celebrated his 88th birthday a couple months before he died.... but when I walked into his funeral service last Thursday, there were almost 200 people already there! and that was before the family of 130 was seated!

to say he was beloved is a terrible understatement! and THAT'S what I am trying to say with this less-than-delicate post....

George was beloved and will be missed. very much.

And the best part is this: for every dozen people mourning his death on this side, there are a hundred angels on the other side welcoming him Home!

while we cry, they party!

..... because George is finally Home!

my thoughts are with Fran and Dale and Eden and David and Terri and all the family members. My prayer is that each will remember Mr George Cowart with a smile... and that each will remember that he is very very happy indeed to be enjoying Heaven's Splendor!

juggling

several years ago, I taught myself to juggle. (hold the applause, I know it's terribly impressive!)

I started with scarves ...you know, because of the gravity issue and the ease with which one can pluck them out of the air... and now I can juggle small animals - just kidding!!!! take a breath, PETA...

I am not a very good juggler, really.... When I pick up 3 oranges from the basket on the kitchen counter and act like I'm gonna throw them up and start juggling, Kelly invariably gives me 'the look'.... accompanied by some threat against my person. probably because she's thrown away more than a few bruised apples....

The thing is, we're all jugglers. We are all called to manage the 168 hours God gifts to us each week.... we are all challenged to prioritize events and responsibilities in our lives, and some of us are, well, better than others at it. (frankly, I consider myself about average in that skill set... so I probably actually suck at it, since my opinion of me is usually higher than reality)

And the interesting thing is this: it's not as if the choices we (most of us) make are between 'good' things and 'bad' things... I mean, really, the folks I typically hang with are not struggling to make the choice of whether to 'go home and be with family' or 'go to a bar and get hammered instead' (though some probably wrestle with whether to help clean up the kitchen or play one more game of Halo or Madden NFL '09 - gotcha!)

the vast majority of us are trying to balance an array of good and noble things: family, job, household responsibilities, hobbies, 'church duties', personal ministry, etc... (and sometimes we intentionally blur the line between these 'good' things to make ourselves feel better about ourselves... "no, honey, I plan to talk about Jesus with Bill and Jimmy during our golf match tomorrow!")

and every one of us suffers from a certain brand of arrogance which believes that

"NOBODY IS AS BUSY AS ME", or its second cousin

"MY STUFF IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN YOUR STUFF".... or, my personal favorite - uncle

"NO ONE HAS EVER HAD TO DEAL WITH MY SITUATION BEFORE!"

to which we gotta say "get over yourself!" right?

anyhow, the question soon becomes: which of these 'good and noble' things gets my time? (reminds me of a book I've mentioned in this space... "tyranny of the urgent" which, in part, bemoans the fact that the 'URGENT' things in our day-to-day often - if not always - crowd out the IMPORTANT things in our lives...)

how we answer that question tells a lot about us... and people around you DO notice.

so, how good a juggler are YOU?


Blessings!

straight lines

I like things in order. I like spreadsheets and lists and contact management systems... I like rules and following them... I like.... organized things.

not a big fan of chaos... it makes me nervous and uneasy.

That's why living in the Spirit is so strange and uncomfortable for me.

If I had been an Israelite following Moses across the wilderness, I probably would have been the first one to complain about the freedom.... and I likely would have led the grousing and murmuring about 'how nice the weather was in Egypt'.

Are you like that? are you a straightline addict? I am a recovering organizajunkie... because I am committed to living in His will... and, frankly, I am scared that the same traits which make me love and crave organization serve as a barrier to following His path for my life...

paths are funny things, right? In order to fully appreciate 'em, you gotta look at 'em backwards...

and as I look back at the path I've traveled, it is quite curvy and circuitous.... and in many ways very different than I had planned. yeah, looking back, there were times of focus and seasons of wandering; periods of darkness and eras of whitehot spiritual euphoria. All, I believe, part of the path He has led me on...

So I guess my best advice for me and the rest of us similarly afflicted organizaholics is this: be patient and embrace the journey.... love the fact that God is in control... and learn to enjoy the path. even when you are wandering in the wilderness....

Blessings

It's True!

He's Alive! The Tomb is Empty! He has risen!

He's Alive!!!!!

in God's hands now...

...tubes seemed to be the only thing connecting the old man to a glimmer of life, as the beeps and blips and machines hummed and chirped...

"it's in God's hands now"

...the finishing touches were just being put on the mammoth preparations for the annual Vacation Bible School....

"it's in God's hands now"

...the taillights disappear from view as the graduated senior heads off to college...

"it's in God's hands now"


how many thousands of times have people spoken those words?

to state the idea more accurately, we should say: "well, we've done all we can... now it's up to God to do the rest." isn't that what we are truly saying?

wow.

what an absolutely backward, faithless theology!

how ignorant am I to think that I have ANYTHING to do with God's plan completion.... yeah, He will use me if I'll let Him... and He WANTS to use me... but to say that "I've done all I can do, now God'll have to do the rest" assumes that He NEEDS me to complete His will.... it presupposes that, without me, His plan will fail.

how arrogant is that?

the small part of that thinking is our misunderstanding of how small we are.

I will continue to pray for the sick, hoping for healing.

I will not stop praying for success of our VBS.

and I pray daily (and won't stop) for my kiddos as they grow and go and leave me. and I will smile...

but God help me to stop thinking that it's God helping ME... help me understand more fully that HE's controlling HIS plan, and I am a teeny tiny piece of it....

when I get closer to that understanding, the ride is MUCH MORE FUN! and much less stressful!


Blessings!

Coffee, Lucy and Cocoa Puff

Well, it must truly be Springtime! sittin' out back drinkin' coffee and watching Lucy the Wonderdog play with her new friend... Cocoa Puff.

Yeah, we are one of those families now... with two dogs.

Lucy the Wonderdog is, of course, a full-blooded and registered Bassett Hound and Cocoa Puff (so named because her mother is 'Cocoa' and, well, you know, this being Arkansas...you do the math!) is a mutt. Her momma (the afore-mentioned Cocoa, because - yep - of her color) was a long-haired miniature Dachshund, and her daddy was - apparently - some sort of Terrier... a nefarious ne'er-do-well, no doubt! anyhow, the little dog is the same age as Lucy the Wonderdog, and about 1/4 her size... she is a little 10-pound bundle of energetic muttness!

I believe Lucy knows the difference. I think she is quite sure that her station is a bit higher than "the puff's"... she sorta struts around a little while her new 'sis' bounds along nipping at her immense hangy-down jowls... and at first Lucy the Wonderdog tried to ignore her. That lasted about 20 minutes.

Then all barriers dissolved and Lucy discovered that Cocoa Puff's back legs are the exact perfect size to fit in her big bassett mouth! so she chases the puff around biting at her rear legs and Cocoa - though she can outrun her easily - allows it for a while, then turns and latches on to Lucy's jowls with her vice-grip-with-needle-teeth jaws and they tumble and yap and bark and play... yep, they are fast friends!

(there's a lesson there somewhere, right on the edge of my consciousness... something about people thinking they are better because of who their parents are or think they are... you know the type: they wake up on 3rd base and think they hit a triple... oh well, it'll come to me)

As I drink my coffee on this beautiful Spring Sunday morning, they are romping and playing and nipping and tugging at the same bone... having the time of their lives!

Life is Good! (Hey, I oughtta put that on a T-shirt!

Blessings!

no April foolin'

My friend Jimmy Wingard texted me this morning.... a three word message:

Pelphrey to Memphis

I shot back a quick text asking if Calipari took the Kentucky job.... then came Wingding's reply:

April Fools!

what a funny man....

but it made me think... how many times have we treated God's gift of salvation like a cruel April Fools' joke?

in my growing up, I was taught that perfection should be sought.... but that perfection could never be realized... How messed up is that??!?!? (of course, back in the day, that was the way Christian parents convinced their young-uns they should behave... a second cousin, by the way, to: "be good, God is watching you!")

This sort of 'doctrine' is bound to instill fear and uncertainty in Believers everywhere; I'm convinced that this type of 'hide and seek' teaching is responsible for so many neuroses suffered by adult Christians today! Are we surprised?

The more I think about it, sometimes I wonder if we all have such a screwed up version of God that we need to have a 'Bible lobotomy' and start from scratch... so we can learn it right! so we can begin to glimpse the true nature of God and His truly amazing grace... (myself at the top of the list, by the way...)

I used to have a boss that liked to say "I'd rather hire a novice than a pro... because most pros have learned the wrong way to do things, and it's easier to train than to un-train and re-train." Probably some wisdom there... but I digress (big surprise!)

let me urge us all to not 'pass along' our unhealthy "God-views" to our kiddos... for instance, let us vow to NOT teach them that the Bible Story is ALL ABOUT US... but rather that we are all a part of God's greater story, one that continues to unfold...

Thank God for His mercy and unfailing Grace... and thank God for NOT playin' "April Fools" with His Children!

Blessings!

oh, and by the way... no truth to the Pelphrey thing.... I don't think.....