Mark's Remarks

Think Different--pt. 2

2012-01-23T16:51:00.000-06:00

Lastweek, we began by talking about marriage, community, the mission of Israel andof the Church. We also noted that God spoke to the Apostle Peter in a vision,telling him, in essence, to think differentlyabout those God desires to invite into His community of faith.

BringingGentiles into the Kingdom had "blown the fuses" of the Jews. Thequestion in the New Testament would prove to be: would it blow the fuses of theNew Testament Church? Could the Jewish Christians welcome the GentileChristians? Could the Jewish Christians place God's agenda over their ownpreferences? It would mean fellowshipping those who prove to be extremely different.

Recently,our family attended a wedding. The groom was the son of parents with we servedas missionaries to Argentina. The groom’s dad officiated the ceremony.

One of the things he emphasized was a brideand groom cannot focus on individual happiness in marriage. They cannot obsesswith individual wants. Each must focus on Jesus. Jesus’ Kingdom musttranscend all things—even the marriage. (“Seek ye first the Kingdom ofGod…”)

The starting step to making a marriage workis to have the Kingdom of God as the goal transcending a couple’s marriage. Manand wife are looking UP to Jesus and His Kingdom. Everything is about “how dowe help the Kingdom in this marriage?” It is a lot easier to find unity inmarriage when SERVING the Kingdom is the primary goal.

Theproblem for Israel was that seeking the Kingdom first was not the goal that transcendedtheir lives; their own personal agendas had superseded God’s Kingdom. That ledto division and their own destruction.

Andso, in Acts chapter ten, God was handing over to a new community of people thismission yet to be fulfilled. The new community was called the Church. Tofulfill this mission in love and unity, they would have to elevate the Kingdomof Jesus and His will as the primary goal above all else.

Jesuswanted more people to come into his kingdom. He wanted them to grow in hiskingdom. And so much of what you read about in the New Testament having to dowith unity and love, division and discord, is this struggle between the JewishChristians and the Gentile Christians.

Sometimesthese concerned non-negotiables. I Cor. 6:9-11 offers an example of attitudesand morals that could not be compromised. But passages such as Romans 14 and 15call upon these churches to make decisions that will help build youngChristians in the Kingdom. These were negotiables.

Paul typically does not give them the answers.He gives them a framework for negotiating the negotiables. Hence, these Christians were to makedecisions that were to help these who were new to the faith, be able tostay in the faith, so that they could be formed by the faith.

Thismeant that for some of the questions addressed, Christians had to put asidetheir personal agendas, their personal preferences, their personal comfortzones, even their personal understandingsof God's teaching in Scripture (unless it was clearly connected to salvation)for the sake of Jesus and His kingdom.

You know, the biggest disagreement I've ever seen in a church might havebeen the one I saw Argentina years ago. We were planting congregations indifferent parts of the city, and for a while one met in our home.

We met on Sunday afternoons at three o'clock. One Sunday, we had ourassembly, followed by a Bible study, which was followed by our monthly familymeeting.

Somebody suggested that we change the assembly time to Sunday mornings.That started a huge fight.

Itwas so bad that one of my teammates finally said, “Stop! Let's table this andtalk about it next week after the assembly and Bible study.”

Well,it just so happens that this brother was the one who was supposed to bring thesermon the next week. He preached out of Philippians chapter two, 1 So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfortfrom love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, 2complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in fullaccord and of one mind. 3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but inhumility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you looknot only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others….

Whenit was time for the family meeting, everyone had a suggestion about when tomeet, and no one suggested the time that he or she had originally proposed.Everyone suggested a time that was beneficial for someone else.

Iwill never forget my teammate taking us to Philippians to help us understandhow you place the mind of Christ–the mind of the Kingdom–above all else. In theend, isn't it the Kingdom that matters the most? In that case, we had to learnto think different when it came to starting times for assemblies.

IfI can paraphrase an acquaintance paraphrasing Martin Luther King, I have adream that someday, on the same pew, will be sitting a woman wearing a burqa,alongside an elderly woman wearing a hat and earrings, alongside a young manwearing a nose ring, alongside a middle-aged man in a three-piece suit,alongside a person who likes to sing new songs, alongside a person who likes tosing old songs, alongside a person who is emotionally expressive, alongside aperson who is emotionally reserved… and all of these people bringing into theassembly different cultures and different ways of viewing things.

All of that would be okay–because the gluethat holds everybody together in love and unity is the Kingdom of God, which isabove all.

Five Things I Think IThink (witha nod to Peter King for this idea)

1. Curse you John Feinstein! You came out with another book I cannot putdown—One on One. In it, you describe in exquisite detail yourbehind-the-scenes activities writing about sports these past thirty years.Especially fascinating is your account of your time with Bob Knight writing A Season on the Brink. I hate it when abook absorbs my attention—please stop writing them.

2. A lot of people got the Super Bowl they wanted. I cannot help butpick the Giants.

3. Texas Rangers—I believe in Yu Darvish because I believe in thejudgment of Nolan Ryan.

4. Yesterday, I preached on Hebrews 2:1, which talks about drifting awayfrom Jesus. I promised my church yesterday I would place a link to the CastingCrowns’ video SLOW FADE—a cool video and a great song. Here it is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QASREBVDsLk

5. Saturday marked 39 years of Roe v. Wade; yet, I still believe in thefuture. Most stats I see show younger people growing increasingly morepro-life. Someday, I predict, culture will place the stigma on the pro-choiceposition that it has placed on the old Jim Crow laws.

Think Different

2012-01-16T19:38:00.000-06:00

I’veseen various versions of the following joke. My favorite was sent to me by afriend:

His and HerDiaries

Wife's Diary:

Tonight, I thought my husband was acting weird. We had made plansto meet at a nice restaurant for dinner. I was shopping with my friends all daylong, so I thought he was upset at the fact that I was a bit late, but he madeno comment on it. Conversation wasn't flowing, so I suggested that we gosomewhere quiet so we could talk. He agreed, but he didn't say much. I askedhim what was wrong; He said, 'Nothing.' I asked him if it was my fault that hewas upset. He said he wasn't upset, that it had nothing to do with me, and notto worry about it. On the way home, I told him that I loved him. He smiledslightly, and kept driving. I can't explain his behavior. I don't know why hedidn't say, 'I love you, too.'

When we got home, I felt as if I had lost him completely, as if hewanted nothing to do with me anymore. He just sat there quietly, and watchedTV. He continued to seem distant and absent. Finally, with silence all aroundus, I decided to go to bed. About 15 minutes later, he came to bed. But I stillfelt that he was distracted, and his thoughts were somewhere else. He fellasleep - I cried. I don't know what to do. I'm almost sure that his thoughtsare with someone else. My life is a disaster!

Husband's Diary:

Boat wouldn't start, can't figure it out.

Marriage is hard.Spouses see things differently. Tobecome married, you have to transform your mindset to a different way of thinking.

Wehave seen this in other fields. Apple, a few years ago, launched a newadvertising campaign—“Think Different.” (Think different, not grammatically.) The company was integratingeverything: music, computers, cell phones… a complete break from the rest ofthe industry.

A mantra for God could be, “Think different.”For example, in Acts 10, God was doing a work that was going to blow Peter'smind. He had to show Peter whatHe was up to.

In Acts 10, we have a very good man who wasknown as Cornelius. He was a Gentile. Cornelius was in a journey of faith, buthe was not yet in a saving relationship with Jesus. So God went to a lot oftrouble to see to it that it happened. However, there was a problem.

God had chosen to work through the people ofthe church, and they did not have the same mindset He did. For example, hespoke to a fellow named Peter. Peter was an apostle. Peter was part of thehousehold of Israel. One day, Peter went up to an out-of-the-way place to pray.

Peter had been trained to look at food inspecific ways. Now God was telling him to thinkdifferent. God was telling Peter to think different about food so that he could think different about people. God wanted to bring different people into the kingdom. This was going to be a hugestretch for Peter and others who were like him.

WhatPeter did not remember was that God was always about community. You go back toGenesis 2: God started building his most fundamental community–and what wasthat? Marriage.

Nowfolks, Judy and I are married. We are very different.Our bodies are different. She is afemale, and I am a male.

Do we think alike? No. She is an early riser.I have built pyramids of pillows on top of my head trying to cut out any signof sound and light at 5:30 in the morning while she is getting ready for herday; I'm trying to sleep… because I am a late-to-bed person. (Of course,according to Ben Franklin, Judy is healthy, wise, and, now that she is afull-time teacher, surely soon to be wealthy!)

Judywould love to set a thermostat to 70° in the winter time. I would be happy toturn off the heater until the temperature drops below 50°. (It is winter afterall; we can bundle up.)

Afew years ago, we negotiated.

Judysaid, “Let’s put the thermostat at 65.”

Isaid, “Let’s put it at 60.”

Wecompromised… at 65.

God,in his mysterious wisdom, has called Judy and me together in community.Somehow, we work it out. Sometimes it is through submission; sometimes it isthrough compromise–but we make it work.

Now,there are those in our society today who are trying to eliminate the differenceand create marriages for those who are as much alike as possible—includingalike in gender. But God has always said, in His word, regarding marriage–thinkdifferent.

Asfor Judy and me, God, in His infinite wisdom, understands that Judy and I, aswe struggle with our differences, if we submit to the work of the Holy Spirit,are being transformed more and more into the image of Christ.

Let'sexpand this a little bit. God called the world to his community of people,initially through a fellow name Abraham. He cultivated a people. Later, hewould call that community Israel. They were to take the good news of God to theentire world,  “It is too small athing for you to be my servant  to restore thetribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept.  I will also makeyou a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the endsof the earth” (Is. 49:6.) NIV 1984

Godwas saying: I want to call the world to this community.

But this community–Israel–could not get overthe difference between themselves and the rest of the world. They could notthink different. They wanted tothink--same. They wanted only those who were like them in their community.

Whatthey did not realize is that God would have done a work on them had theyallowed him to do so. He would have transformed them into a people of hischaracter through this difficult work of interacting with those who were different, but that was not a priorityfor the Israelites.

Unfortunately,too often, the Israelites thought about what they wanted and that messedup the work of God. You have got to think about God and his Kingdom—what Godwants.

(To be continued next week.)

Five Things I Think IThink (witha nod to Peter King for this idea)

1. I found the book Eisenhower-TheWhite House Years by Jim Newton to be enjoyable. I had read that it brokenew ground because of the access the author had to classified documents thathad recently been declassified. Yes, the book broke new ground, but… it was notto the extent as advertised. However, these new revelations continue to drawout the fact that Eisenhower was thetrue leader of his White House. Moreover, I found those endorsing the book onthe cover (including a few democrats) fascinating

2. John Eisenberg’s book ThatFirst Season did not break much new ground either about Vince Lombardi’sfirst season with the Green Bay Packers back in 1959. Probably, the more accuratestatement would be Eisenberg provided a few more details about what occurredthat first year in Green Bay than other books. Still, the book was interesting;furthermore, I was impressed by the quantity of people the author interviewed.

3. Okay, so I was wrong last week about Denver’s defense. They lookedawful. I am picking San Fran over New York and Baltimore over New England.However, the glamour Super Bowl matchup would be New England vs. New York—arematch of their epic 2008 battle.

4. I’m intrigued by Kiefer Sutherland’s newTV show Touch.

5. I downloaded new music to my iTunes last week, andeveryone in my family loves it. It’s called “Hero in Waiting”, and its composedby David Robidioux of NFL Films. You might recognize portions of the piece. Ifind it stirring and beautiful.

Is Saturday the Sabbath?

2012-01-10T15:31:00.001-06:00

The late preacher and writer, J. Vernon McGee, once told of a man who came to him and said, “I’ll give you $100 if you will show me where the Sabbath day has been changed.”

McGee replied, “I don’t think it has been changed. Saturday is Saturday, it is the seventh day of the week, and it is the Sabbath day. I realize our calendar has been adjusted, and can be off a few days, but we won’t even consider that point. The seventh day is still Saturday, and it is still the Sabbath day.”

The gentleman, with a little mirth, next asked, “Then why don’t you keep the Sabbath day if it hasn’t been changed?”

McGee answered, “The DAY hasn’t changed, but I have been changed. I’ve been given a new nature now, I am joined to Christ; I am a part of the new creation. We celebrate the first day because that is the day He rose from the grave.”

I have been at work in Hebrews the last few months preparing for a preaching series. While I resist the temptation to reinstate the old Sunday “blue laws,” I do believe that we hurt ourselves by trying to cram so much into our Sundays.

The preacher who wrote Hebrews tries to encourage a discouraged people. His number one application is this—you guys need to be assembling together on Sundays.

After that, the more we can set aside for physical, emotional, and spiritual rest, the more blessing will be a byproduct. Scripture does not tell us God will condemn us if we don’t, but it will be our loss.

Five Things I Think I Think (with a nodto Peter King for this idea)

1. Something caught myeye the other day. Somebody wrote, “When you are doing something that someoneelse on your staff could do 80% as well, you are probably wasting your time.Learning to delegate effectively is even more important in determining the sizeof your contribution in life than your native intelligence.”

Ithink whoever wrote this is right.

2. Just when you think TimTebow is done, he comes back and amazes you. What a game against Pittsburgh!Considering Denver’s defense (excellent), and New England’s defense (horrible),I would not put it past Denver to defeat New England on Saturday night.

3. It was hard for me to get excited about last night's game. I looked for LSUto defeat Alabama again. This was an amazing and interesting team from LSU. Yet, Alabama's performance was staggering last night. Considering the quality of LSU athletes, Alabama's defensive performance was perhaps the greatest of all time. Furthermore, the entire Alabama team received only one penalty all night--late in the second half. Is any other team more well-coached than Alabama? I hold no affection for Nick Saban, but I admire him.

4. I’ve never before watcheda Muppet movie. I’ve never even watched the TV show for more than a fewminutes. Last week I took Annie and Abby to see the recently released movie—THEMUPPETS. I really liked it—funny, heartwarming, nostalgic, witty, and clever.

5. My nine-year-old son, Timothy, got a Red Ryder BB gun from his grandad over the holidays. Consider this your warning. :)

My Opinion: LOVE WINS by Rob Bell

2012-01-02T15:02:00.000-06:00

[On December 26, 2011 and January 1, 2012, I'm going to berunning my two top viewed posts for 2011. I hope you enjoy these once again--orfor the first time.

I'm pleased that today’sblog, which I first posted in April, was highly read. It's my take on Rob Bell's controversial book LOVE WINS. ME]

I tell you—I want to believe it. I think millions of Christians DO believe it.

“It” is what Rob Bell has written in his latest book, LOVE WINS. If you watch news shows like GOOD MORNING AMERICA or watch news channels such as MSNBC, you may have seen Bell interviewed the past month.

Rob Bell, in case you don’t know, is a very popular preacher out of Grand Rapids, Michigan. He is the creator of the NOOMA videos, which are extremely popular in mainstream Christianity. Bell has also written some bestseller books. SEX GOD is one of the best treatments of the subject of sexuality I have ever read.

If Rob Bell had stopped after the first 93 pages of LOVE Wins, I have a feeling there would be no fuss. Most of those pages are things he has already said, and he makes some very good points. For example: the way Christians, and I am using the term loosely, often come across so negatively to nonbelievers, is lamentable. Research continues to bear this out.

In chapters two and three, Bell does an excellent job of channeling great thinkers such as C. S. Lewis and N. T. Wright, in explaining how heaven and hell don’t begin in the life to come—they begin today.

My one negative critique of chapter three is, Bell invested an enormous amount of stock in the story of Lazarus and the rich man, seeing it as an indicator of what life will be like in the age to come. I, personally, believe that parable is more of an explanation of Jesus’ attitude toward the poor. To be fair, many others join Bell in using the parable in this way.

Bell accurately points out how little the word “hell” is used in Scripture. This can be misleading. The concept of judgment is found throughout the Bible, culminating in the book of Revelation. I join the majority of Christendom as seeing these references as signs pointing to an ultimate eternal separation from God for many.

In Bell’s weakest moments, he pulls a number of judgment passages out of context, seemingly having them argue that God will offer mercy, redemption, and restoration to those recipients of judgment in scripture. He seizes upon the parts of Scripture that are ambiguous about the afterlife and combines them into a view that God will save everyone, or almost everyone, ultimately. To put it succinctly, God's love will change, virtually, everyone on the other side of death into a follower of Jesus.

I need to be careful here. I follow where Bell is going with some of the Old Testament examples. I get his point that God’s earthly judgment, for example, with the Israelites, does not mean they will be banished to hell forever. Nevertheless, I see it as going beyond the scope of biblical revelation to say this is the prototype for how God will relate to every human in the after life.

Again I say, if God so chooses—great! Who am I to judge? (I’m sorry… that last sentence made me crack up. :) ) However, this does not seem to square with the way God seeks to portray himself in scripture. It is almost like Bell is saying—I know this is what the Bible says about the character of God, but I want you to know, he does not mean it.

I've got to admit; it sounds awfully good. But here is the problem: the overwhelming essence of Scripture attests to a coming judgment, where some will be saved and many will be lost. The character of God revealed in Scripture seems to support this understanding as well.

Herein lies part of the problem with Bell in this book. Bell, like many of this age, has focused on love of God—to the extreme. God's holiness, God's justice, and God's anger take second place. He is more balance in this book than I thought he would be, but this is faint praise. I found something that Tim Archer, of HERALD OF TRUTH, wrote last week, which applies well here, “More often than not, we choose not to believe in God or some aspect of God’s nature because of our own wishes and desires, the way we wish things were.”

I saw LOVE WINS coming a few years ago, when I saw Bell’s video THE GOD’S AREN’T ANGRY. That video was another masterful work, but it also put God in a box. It connected the concept of God's wrath to the needs of ancient peoples, who visualized their deities as angry, wrathful, and demanding of appeasement.

Bell converted the wrath of God into a metaphor designed to address the fears and beliefs of ancient peoples. It was almost as if he was saying, “We’re past that now. Civilization has grown up.” Again, his is not the only voice that says this. Many in Christianity feel the same way. Bell has simply articulated these views to a new generation, in a powerful and engaging way.

Frankly, it’s not fun to disagree with Bell. To do so, sometimes, comes across as the equivalent of stereotypical old man, sitting in a lawn chair wearing shorts, dark socks, and dress shoes shouting, “You kids get off my lawn!”

I read LOVE WINS with the impression, he was seeking to find a way to package the Gospel, to make it more palatable for unchurched people. This I can understand, because so many unchurched people hate Christians. Consequently, I see Bell's message here “selling” well.

Not everyone in the secular world seems to be buying it though. Journalist Martin Bashir zeroed in on Bell in a recent interview on MSNBC:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjAdRJZib3Q Bashir pointedly and repeatedly asked, if what Bell wrote is true, was not Jesus irrelevant?

I saw the interview, before I read the book, and thought Bashir was sharp and perceptive. After reading the book, I found Bashir’s “questioning” to be unfair and inaccurate. Frankly, I wondered if he had read the book, or if he was instead relying on reading summaries provided by his staff.

Bell very much comes across as supporting the idea, Jesus is the only way. In LOVE WINS, it is Christ's work and love, which ultimately point to salvation. Any Hindu, Muslim, Jew, unchurched person, or anyone else, will find salvation only through Jesus. What Bell does is offer them the hope of finding salvation after death.

At some point, Bell believes, even the hardest of hard-hearted sinners will turn to God—because of God's relentless love. To put it in a sound bite, Bell is saying you can surrender to Jesus now—or surrender to him later, but you WILL ultimately surrender to him.

The idea conveyed is, in the afterlife, lots and lots of people are going to be enjoying life with God. Those who continue to reject Jesus, will be on the outside looking in—a self-imposed exile. Sooner or later, they are going to give it up and join the party.

At the end of the book, Bell writes, if the reader wants more on hell, to consult C. S. Lewis’ THE GREAT DIVORCE. Having been a few years since I read that book, I did consult it.

I found a number of passages I had underlined in Lewis’ book. The more I skimmed it, the more I realized Bell’s view of hell in the eternity sounded similar to Lewis’ view. Lewis did not get into near as much trouble, perhaps, because he expressed his thoughts in the form of a fictional story.

Bell offers a scriptural Jesus, the Son of God in skin, who happened to also live the perfect human life. And if, you choose to love Jesus now, you'll enjoy the abundant life of knowing Him now. God’s reign, “heaven”, is expanded a little more on earth.

I’m reading where some Christian leaders are wanting to disfellowship Rob Bell. (Of course, they don’t want to disfellowship C. S. Lewis. Maybe it’s because years ago, Chuck Colson said C. S. Lewis was okay with him.)

Beware. If they do, they are going to have to disfellowship half of Christendom. The dirty little secret is a lot of people in the pews believe the same thing as Rob Bell—God is going to save most, if not all, people.

I suggest they not worry so much about Rob Bell. He has a high view of Jesus and of sharing good news about Jesus. He affirms the saving work of the cross and the glory of the resurrection. A lot of people in our pews don’t believe, on an emotional level, even that. Perhaps, that is what we first address.

Obviously, I don’t have all of the answers on hell. I gave it my best shot for my church yesterday morning in a sermon I called—not jokes please—“Why Hell?” (I just finished an overview of the book of Revelation; I thought I could relax by taking on a popular subject. J) All modesty aside, I am grateful that the sermon was well received, and you are welcome to listen to it by clicking on this link: http://srmp3.kentdavis.com/04-03-11am.mp3 Meanwhile, I’ll keep attempting to grow.

Plague of the Gnats

2011-12-26T14:54:00.000-06:00

[On December 26, 2011 and January 1, 2012, I'm going to berunning my two top viewed posts for 2011. I hope you enjoy these once again--orfor the first time.

Today’sblog I first posted in 2009. Every year this has been the toprated post. ME]

A plague of gnats struck ETCA a week or two ago. Mrs. Munoz would be teaching her second grade class when, suddenly, out of nowhere, a gnat would fly toward her face. Strange. Gnats had never been around the building before.

Next door in her first grade class room, teacher Holly Shultz would find periodic irritation from these pesky insects. Likewise, first graders were constantly swatting the gnats that had begun attacking her classroom.

To the south, in the cafeteria, fifty yards and a courtyard away from the first and second grade classrooms, gnats occasionally made an appearance.

On the other side of the building, administrator Brenda Craig faced an occasional battle with the kamikaze creatures. What’s going on here? ETCA never had a problem with gnats before.

Brenda took the initiative to call the exterminator. “Sorry, Ma’am,” came the reply, “our contract with you does not cover gnats.”

And so the mystery deepened. Where had the gnats come from? What had ETCA done to offend a holy God?

And then it happened. Last week, as her students worked, first grade teacher Holly Shultz was digging through a locker in her classroom when she spied a lunch box. Whose was it? She faintly recalled seeing it before. She opened up the lunch box.

Avalanche! Look out below! All hands on deck! The sky is falling! The sky is falling!

Attacking Mrs. Shultz was the greatest clouds of gnats ever seen by man. She danced, and hollered, and swatted as if she were awash in a swarm of killer bees.

Students screamed and scattered. At last, order was restored. Enough so that Mrs. Shultz was able to investigate, further, the lunchbox. In so doing, she solved the mystery. The lunchbox had been long forgotten, and then suspected lost. Inside, were just enough remains of—a banana—to allow Mrs. Shultz to deduce that said banana had been the source of attraction for all of the gnats. (My personal opinion is that the insects violating everyone’s personal space were teeny-tiny fruit flies; however, I will hopefully never be able to prove my premise.)

After presumably all items involved were destroyed, order was restored and ETCA has reestablished a sense of order. And the owner of the devious lunchbox? One Timothy Edge.

When contacted by the press, Timothy’s father issued only a one-lined statement, “At least it wasn’t his underwear in the lunchbox.”

Donald Miller

Thanks to Jeff Christian and my friends at Glenwood, I had a chance Wednesday to eat lunch with Donald Miller and approximately thirty or so preachers and community leaders. If you have read my blog, you know that Miller is one of my favorite authors. He has begun a mentoring program for boys that he hopes to partner with churches nationwide in the near future.

Miller grew up without a father, so he knows firsthand the impact that void can have on a young man. Miller reminded us that 94 % of all U. S. prisoners are males. Of these, 85% grew up without the presence of a father.

Miller is serving on a presidential task force investigating this problem. The government’s conclusion—and I know this will be music to the ears of many Tylerites—government is not the solution. The federal government believes churches can do the best job of addressing this challenge. Miller is looking for ten male mentors in every church to spend a few hours a week with targeted young men. I think Miller is on to something, and I hope Shiloh can participate in this process.

Wednesday night Miller spoke at Glenwood. I thought he did a great job. He is hilarious, yet thought provoking. He proposed that the “God-shaped hole” in the human heart is an ill-conceived idea that is not biblical. Rather, he says, even in the garden before the fall, before Eve, Adam did not have his “God-shaped hole” filled by God. Something was still missing from Adam’s life, and she was Eve. I’m not sure I agree, but I am going to think about it.

Having read Miller’s BLUE LIKE JAZZ, SEARCHING FOR GOD KNOWS WHAT, and THROUGH PAINTED DESERTS, I am looking forward to reading his latest work, A MILLION MILES IN A THOUSAND YEARS. I’ve already read the first couple of chapters. Miller made me think and he made me laugh—out loud.

The Girl Who Sobbed

2011-12-19T20:10:00.000-06:00

[This is an edited version. I forgot when I originally posted this to credit Alexander Wolff's article in the Dec. 12, 2011 issue of SPORTS ILLUSTRATED for the Pat Summitt story. My bad.]

In2008, the University of Tennessee Lady Vols’ basketball team prepared fortakeoff on a chartered jet. They were traveling on an SEC road trip.

PatSummitt, Tennessee's head coach, took her seat on the first row, as she alwaysdid. The flight attendant took the jump seat across from Summit. She began tosob.

Summitinch forward and asked, “What is it? Tell me, what's the matter?”

PatSummitt is the winningest college basketball coach of all time. She has won morecollege basketball games than John Wooden, Adolph Rupp, Dean Smith, and MikeKrzyzewski, her fellow award winner for this year’s Sports IllustratedSports [Person] of the Year award.

Ifyou are a woman playing high school or college sports, you owe a great deal toPat Summit. If you have a daughter who has played sports, you owe a great dealto Pat Summitt. Pat Summitt, as much as anyone else, has made women's athleticspopular.

ButPat Summitt also has a compassionate heart. Not everyone sees this.

Afew years ago, the Lady Vols were playing a game at Louisiana Tech. After thegame, when Summitt was leaving the floor, she saw a girl in a wheelchair at themouth of the coliseum tunnel. Kneeling down beside her, Summitt said, “… Youcan overcome anything if you work at it.”

Thatgirl took Summit’s words to heart. She, one day, left that wheelchair. Shedecided to become an airline attendant. I suppose, among other motives, was themotive to travel, which would make sense for someone wheelchair-bound for solong.

Shedid so well as an airline attendant that, when the University Tennesseeathletic department requested an attendant for their charter flight, thecompany they contracted with chose their best–the once wheelchair-bound girl.

Andnow, she found herself sitting across from Pat Summitt. She was so overwhelmed;she could not help but begin to sob.

Ithink something else Summitt told her that long ago day in the flightattendant’s childhood made an impact upon her. She told her, “Don't let the wayyou are now define who you will be.”

InJohn 21, Jesus invited Peter and the other disciples of Galilee to leavebehind, once and for all, their fishing business. They were called to trulyfollow Jesus and become fishers of men. You cannot encounter the risen Christand return to business as usual.

The disciples accepted Jesus’ challenge and left behind their old lives.I'm sure these poorly educated men of Galilee had no idea they would change theworld forever. I am equally sure Jesus did.

The risen Christ calls each one of us to leave our old lives behind. Itis for our best, and He believes in our future.

Ibelieve that Pat Summitt mouthed the words that Jesus would love to whisper toeach one of us, “Don't let the way you are now define who you will be.”

Five Things I Think I Think

(with a nod to Peter King for this idea)

1. Okay, the Cowboys won on Saturday night. I still thinkif Jerry Jones would fire himself as general manager and hire a good one, Ipredict that Cowboy fans would one day build a huge statue in his honor—theCowboys would win enough Super Bowls to inspire that gesture.

2. My first Christmas with a college daughter home for theholidays. So far, I really like it. And it makes me feel mature.

3. Wow. If Newt Gingrich receives the Republicannomination for president, it will sure bring an interesting challenge toconservative Christian voters who believe their president should live a lifethat reflects family values.

Who to vote for? A man wholoves his one and only wife, is faithful to her, and is a good father to histwo daughters?

Or a thrice-married man whotwice left wives for women with whom he was having affairs—not to mention a manwhom his own party forced to resign during the Monica Lewinsky scandal becausehe was maintaining an affair himself.

Don’tget me wrong. It’s probably no secret I am a conservative Christian and believein family values. However, I am wondering if I should offer more grace to thosewho disagree with me politically.

Itappears to me it is hard to vote for anyone in the political process who is notflawed in some way.

4. I like Christmas falling on Sunday. It is a greatevangelistic opportunity in the nation with the fourth largest unchurchedpopulation on the planet.

5. Rest in peace Hazel Cross. You were a godly, Proverbs31 woman.

“I Like Ike”

2011-12-12T16:15:00.000-06:00

General Dwight Eisenhower was named commander of “Operation Torch”in 1942. Under his leadership, the Allied forces attacked the German troops inAfrica.

Ike did not want the job. He wanted to lead men into the field of battle.Nevertheless, he performed well as commander.

On Christmas Day, 1942, Eisenhower was informed that President FranklinRoosevelt wished to award him the Medal of Honor for his success.

Eisenhower was shocked and angered. He sincerely believed that the Medal ofHonor should be awarded only to the men who were fighting in the horrificconditions of the Tunisian hills. He considered it an insult that the Armywould award a medal to a general “safe in headquarters–or a warm Villa–far tothe rear” and away from battle.

He told the messenger that he had a message for the president, “I don't want it[the Medal of Honor] and if is awarded I won't wear it.” He would not even keepit.

From this story one can gather why Eisenhower, a man of war, would ultimatelybecome one of most respected and beloved men in the entire world. He had aready understanding of his role in any endeavor; and he held deep appreciationfor the roles of others. However, watch out!

It is tempting to think that Eisenhower was a man with little regard for hisown ability and efforts. What one must understand is that Eisenhower's intensemodesty held in check his large ego, which was necessary in order for him tolead the Allied armies. Eisenhower was charged to command generals such asBernard Montgomery and George Patton—a difficult task to say the least.

Large egos have never been a disqualifying factor in God's service. Inscripture, men like Moses, David, and the Apostle Paul had sizeable egos.

By in large, they were able to submit those egos to God’s service. Indeed, Iwould argue that the biblical word “meek” would especially apply to those whohave large egos and have placed those large egos under God's control.

Still, that is easier said than done. Yet, when one succeeds in subjugating hisego, people appreciate it. After all, millions proclaimed, “I like Ike.”

Source for the Eisenhower story: Eisenhowerby Geoffrey Perret

Five Things I Think I Think(with a nod to Peter King for this idea)

1. Congratulations toRobert Griffin III for winning the Heisman Trophy. Here is a guy: who graduatedearly, is about to complete his Masters Degree, and if he stays his final yearof eligibility at Baylor, will begin law school!

2. I saw last night’s game. Howbout them Cowboys! Early in the game, I told some friends, “I’m concerned aboutDemarco Murray. I don’t remember him ever completing a season at OU. Seems likeevery year, he got hurt."

Shortly thereafter—boom! Murray goes down. Fractured ankle… with a high anklesprain for good measure.

Needless to say, my friends were not pleased with me.

3. I like the singer Adele.

4. I find myself wanting towatch Meryl Streep’s new movie THE IRON LADY.

5. I have never done anythingcourageous… except—ride in the front seat while a teenager daughter is learningto drive.

A Man of Vision

2011-12-05T16:24:00.001-06:00

Through the ages, hundreds of engineers died trying to invent a machine that would fly. Orville and Wilbur Wright succeeded. However, the highest aspiration they had for their machine was that it would become a recreational vehicle.

When I read that piece of information, I was astonished.

The contemporary scientists of the Wrights’ day were in agreement. In the first decade of the twentieth century, American Scientific Magazine disparaged the idea that the airplane could impact everyday life. Shortly thereafter, the United States began to trail other countries in the airplane industry—such as it was in that day.

The Wright brothers never saw the implications of their flying machine. Their imaginations failed to help them understand how their aircraft could be used in business and military. Consequently, you have never flown on a “Wright” airplane. But if you have flown on an airplane, quite possibly, you have flown on a Boeing.

In the year 1910, William Boeing lived in Seattle, Washington. In that age, he was isolated, both geographically and metaphorically, from the primary locations of aeronautical research along the East Coast.

Boeing did not know how to build an airplane. Boeing did not know how to fly an airplane; he had little technical knowledge concerning aeronautical engineering. However, he had the one vital element that was missing from practically any other human being in the Western Hemisphere–he had a vision; Boeing understood and could visualize the potential of the airplane.

Boeing could see in his imagination that airplanes could become commercially successful in the transportation of passengers and goods. His problem was that technology had not yet caught up to his vision.

Boeing did not just stand around and wait. He invested virtually all of his resources seeking to create the technology that would put his vision into place. He moved to form a company that would find success in this new field of aeronautical transportation.

Boeing encountered obstacle after obstacle. One of the first arrived when the United States entered into World War I in 1917. This would be the first war in which airplanes would participate.

The U.S. military was looking for planes. Boeing had a new design that he envisioned the U.S. military using, but he had to confront the fact that the military was testing new planes in the state of Florida. That was over 3000 miles away from Boeing's project site in Washington State.

The distance was too prohibitive for flying Boeing’s tiny planes. So his team took the planes apart, packed the parts in boxes, and shipped them across the country. They were put back together in Florida, tested, and later used by the military.

Technology and income opportunities slowed development in the aeronautics field. Boeing made do by using his airplane factory to make boats and furniture. Nevertheless, he stuck to his long-range plan.

Seventeen years after Boeing first dreamed of airplanes, Charles Lindbergh made his historic flight from New York to Paris. Finally, the airline industry saw a boom. Boeing was ready, and he dominated the industry.

William Boeing—a man who initially knew nothing about flying or making airplanes—changed the world because he had a vision.

Behold the power of vision.

Source: How Life Imitates Chess: Making the Right Moves, from the Board to the Boardroom by Garry Kasparov

Five Things I Think I Think (with a nod to Peter King for this idea)

1. The NFL announced that Madonna will be the half-time entertainment at the Super Bowl. Nothing says entertainment like a 53-year-old woman singing “Like a Virgin.”

2. LSU vs. Alabama for the National Championship… yawn.

3. Poor OSU. Like the Texas Rangers, you have to ask, will they ever receive this opportunity again?

4. I took my son, Timothy, hunting on government owned land Saturday near Alto, Texas. We did not see a soul in the woods, and only a handful of people on the roads. I was pleasantly surprised, and I want to take him there again.

5. I don’t know about where you live, but at last, here in East Texas, we’re starting to get a little rain—for that I am grateful to God.

I Broke my Brother-in-law's Collarbone for Thanksgiving— What Did You Do?

2011-11-28T14:37:00.001-06:00

“So what did you do on Thanksgiving?”

Myanswer would be–break my brother-in-law's collarbone. Let me explain.

Forsome reason, early Thanksgiving week I had the bright vision of playing a touchfootball game on Thanksgiving. I envisioned all of us old uncles playing ouryoung nephews. Most of our nephews are in high school or in college. I figuredwe old folks could take them on. I miscalculated.

Firstof all, most of the old uncles did not want to play. They all wanted to sit, digesttheir turkey, and wait for the Cowboys to come on TV.

Only onefellow competitor dared to dream as I did. David Denman, my wife's brother, hadbeen thinking exactly the same thing I had. He thought it was a marvelous idea.

The other problem was this–only two of the young whippersnappers wanted toplay. The others muttered excuses such as, “I don't want to get hot and sweatyand come back and watch the ballgame.” So, it was my brother-in-law, two faithful and godly collegiate nephews-- and my wonderful, loyal eight-year-old son,Timothy, who finally motored over to the Cleburne High School practice field toplay.

Itwas a nice day for football. The wind was blowing pretty hard, but that did notseem to be much of a problem. We did note that our footing was not sound, sincethe field was very slick after some recent rains. That fact would come back tohaunt us.

Sincethere were five of us, we decided the two old guys would take on the two youngguys, and Timothy would play center and pass receiver on both teams.

Theslick field gave us old guys an advantage because the speed of the youngerfolks was somewhat negated. However, I probably should have sensed we were introuble when, after the first pass play, my brother-in-law came back and saidto me, “I think you need to run a pattern. I twisted my knee.” Plus, he was pretty tired.

I ran two patterns. Afterthe second pattern, I returned to the huddle drenched in sweat. I practically looked like Jennifer Beals inFLASHDANCE after she poured a bucket of water on herself. Walking on the treadmill does not equate to runningpass patterns against college kids.

Inorder to prevent our lungs from exploding, David and I decide to take turnsplaying quarterback. It also helped that Timothy could catch and run well.

Imust confess, initially I viewed him as our liability. Ultimately, I viewed himas our salvation.

Wehad a nice game going, and except for those passes that I threw to theground when David and Timothy were open, I felt I threw the ball fairly well.(Strangely enough, I seemed to throw better when the receiver was covered.)

Thisleads me to our finest hour, or our moment of tragedy, depending on how youwant to view it. David decided he would run a “streak” pattern down the leftsideline. (A “streak” is running in a straight line as fast as you can towardthe goal line.)

Hewas well covered by one of our nephews, so I threw the ball about the onlyplace I could throw it. It was catchable, but it was by necessity pretty farahead of David. This kept the ball from being intercepted. David, running fullspeed, made a great catch. Unfortunately, his momentum carried him to theground.

Herolled on his right shoulder. He came up and very calmly said, “I think that's it. I think we're going to have to stop.”

I asked him if it was his knee. He said, “No,I think I broke my shoulder.” Considering how calm he was, I was hoping that hehad misdiagnosed his injury.

Weimmediately got inside his vehicle. I drove us to the emergency room of thehospital in Cleburne. Incidentally, if you ever need to go the emergency room,go to that one in Cleburne on Thanksgiving Day. There was absolutely no onethere when we arrived except for hospital personnel!

David was immediatelyescorted to the x-ray room. We waited there for x-rays to be processed. Medical personnel cut David's shirt off for him. This caused me to experience a flashback:

When I was a sophomore in high school, I was headed for a touchdown when a linebacker caught me from behind, jumped on my back, and rode me to the ground. (I never said I was fast.)

I saw a bright light and heard my collarbone break. One of our coaches and a player helped me walk off the field to the bench.

The coach asked me where I was hurt.

I told him, "I think I broke my shoulder. You're going to have to cut my jersey off."

With deep compassion, my coach said, "Edge, that jersey cost a lot of money. We ain't cutting that jersey off."

By golly, they didn't either. They tugged and pulled until that thing came off.

Thediagnosis was that David's collarbone had a terrible break. The ends of thebones were shattered. They had to do surgery on Friday. He has to miss sixweeks of work.

Davidhas been a real trooper throughout this ordeal. He does not blame me. In fact,he says I threw a good pass to the only place I could have thrown it.

The doctor told David to retire from football; he cannot afford any more broken bones. While I have not heard him say heconsiders himself the luckiest man on the face of the earth, I have heard himsay he has no regrets.

Besides,David says the doctor has not told him to retire from basketball….

Whathave I learned from this? I don’t know.

Idon’t want to be stupid, but I don’t want to quit living, either. Seems likewhen people start trying to live cautiously, the process of dying accelerates. Most people Iknow who have broken their hips have done so trying to be careful.

Ijust hope my exit injury is less catastrophic than David's—like, say, a pulled hamstring. Maybe there is something to be said for getting so old, no one picks you toplay on their team. That's it--forced retirement!

Five Things I Think I Think

(with a nodto Peter King for this idea)

1. Was that Case McCoy I saw lead the Texas Longhorns to a big win inthe last minute of the ballgame against A&M Thursday night? Or was it ColtMcCoy?

2. I finished reading over the holidays the book America's Quarterback: Bart Starr andthe Rise of the National Football League by Keith Dunnavant.I am normallya big fan of Dunnavant-his biography of Bear Bryant was excellent-and I enjoyedthis book. However, I found this work at times to be more hero worship thanbiography.

Don'tget me wrong; I love Bart Starr. I find him to be as decent a human being asthere is, but he is human. Indeed, Starr himself went into much more detailabout his humanity in his autobiography than did Dunnavant. Nevertheless,Dunnavant did break new ground--thanks to the dozens of interviews heconducted.

Bestof all, I think Dunnavant provides intriguing statistical material making thecase that Bart Starr is the greatest NFL quarterback of all time. Some of thematerial was gathered by resources such as http://www.coldhardfootballfacts.com/.

Thisbook is available on Amazon and in Barnes & Noble stores.

3. Making a movie? Want to get the best bang for your buck? Well,according to the latest FORBES magazine, Shia Labeouf is your guy. For everydollar you pay him, he will bring in $81. Anne Hathaway is next: $64 for everyone dollar you pay her. The worst deal? Drew Barrymore brings in forty centsfor every dollar paid. Incidentally, I was surprised that Will Ferrell wasthird on the worst list: $3.50 for every dollar paid.

4. Why did I get suckered into watching the second season of 24by my oldest daughter? We have a few episodes to go, and we will have to waituntil Christmas before watching them because she had to return to college.

5. I enjoy religious author Calvin Miller's non-fiction writing more than I do his fiction.

“Unity–not uniformity” or… What Gay Marriage has to do with the Church

2011-11-21T16:52:00.001-06:00

Okay. Just so you’ll know. My wife hates this title.

She thinks I ought to dump it.

Ihope by the time you read this blog you’ll know why I chose it.

Aphrase I have heard all my life has been this, “Unity–not uniformity.” Usually,

that statement is said in the context of passages such as Ephesians 4:1-16 orRom. 14-15

that talk about the importance of church unity.

Whatthis statement means, of course, is that members of the church do not have to

look alike, act alike, or even think alike. As a matter of fact, the appeals inScripture for unity

imply that Christians are often extremely diverse,different, and divergent in their cultures,

attitudes, and views. Otherwise,there would be no need for a call to unity.

Iam fascinated by how we accept that humanity’s most fundamentalrelationship-

outside of one's blood family-is based upon the biblicalpresupposition that two humans

will enter into it as different. The two willenter into it totally distinct in terms of genetics,

culture, and gender. I amof course talking about marriage.

Inmarriage, you have the union of a man and woman. Typically, this is a collisionof

temperaments and hormones, ambitions, and hobbies. Anatomically, they wereeven built by

God to be fundamentally different.

Yet,a man and woman in marriage are called by God to build unity through their

relationship with Christ. Is this difficult? Well… yes! In spite of this, Godbuilds this challenge

into His call to creation.

Whena man and a woman pull marriage off, it is a beautiful thing. And the more

diverse, the more beautiful.

Again,we Christians assume the difference of the sexes, but it is fun to see a couple

harmonize hobbies and sleeping schedules, thermostat settings and toothpastecaps (on or

off?). I especially enjoy watching a couple cancel out each other’svote in an election—each

one a member of a different political party.

Aneven more critical community is the church; for it is within this communitythat

Jesus has chosen to express His saving work (Eph. 1:22-23, Col. 1:25-28.)Keep in mind,

before God established the church, he established the communityof Israel to call lost people

all over the world to find a relationship withHim through His group of “called-out” ones.

Godspecifically instructed the members of His community to be a light to theworld.

They were called to call foreigners to join their community and findGod.

Butforeigners were so enormously different! Yes; still, God issued that call.

Unfortunately,Israel would not tolerate the difference. To put it in fancy terms: Israel

did not want heterogeneity; Israelwanted homogeneity. That is to say, Israelwould not

accept diversity. Israel insistedupon uniformity—to her own peril.

Sadly,early in the first century, the community that we know as the church sufferedfrom

the same problem. Jesus told his disciples that they were to take Hismessage of reconciliation

to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to all corners ofthe earth. God had to allow persecution to

arrive before those Jewish Christianswould be willing to begin doing His will.

Evenafter that, the Gentiles entering into the Kingdom created a crisis for theJewish

Christians. Many seemed culturally and temperamentally incapable ofwelcoming Gentiles,

unless the Gentiles agreed to buy a view exactly like theJews. This especially meant Jewish

customs such as observation of the Sabbathand diet.

Now, don't miss this. In the critical communities-marriage,Israel, and the church-

God consistently calls his people to relate in communitywith those who are different.

Behold – the pattern!

Paulfought many battles against those who refused to fellowship with Christianswho

were different. Again, to put it infancy terms: many Christians, especially JewishChristians,

did not want heterogeneity; they wanted homogeneity. That is tosay, they would not accept

diversity.They insisted upon uniformity—totheir own peril.

Itwas this battle that motivated Paul to write letters such as Galatians,Ephesians, and

Romans. Over and over again, Paul argued that through creationand community, God has

called people to engage in relationships that createunity in spite of diversity.

Indeed,God’s presupposition was that there would be no uniformity, only unity (see

Eph. 2:11-22.), just like in marriage.

It'sfunny, today so many in the Christian world disagree with gay marriage on a

fundamental level. I certainly join with them in this opinion.

Gaymarriage goes against the creative work of God. In gay marriage, peopledo not

seek heterogeneity; they seek homogeneity. Theycelebrate homosexuality instead of

heterosexuality. This iswrong.

Ingay marriage, two people are attempting to construct the most fundamental of

relationships on the basis of uniformity. This move is a perversion of God'screative work.

Anatomically, they are uniform. Hormonally, they are uniform. Interms of the culture of gender,

they are uniform.

Thiswas not the way God intended it. We get that.

Nevertheless,some churchmembers who blanch at the subject of gay marriage,

without irony,fight tooth and nail for uniformity in a community in which God did not callfor

uniformity–the church. These members want homogeneity not heterogeneity.

Godcalls people of different races, languages, cultures, genders, and politicalpositions

to come to the cross and form a unified community. Yet, there areChristians who would pervert

the gospel by insisting that Christians eliminatedifferences.

Insome extreme cases, the call is to eliminate different races within the samechurch.

In other cases, and this is more prevalent, it is the insistence thatmembers hold the same

positions on as many issues as possible—even those thatare opinion issues. ESPECIALLY

THOSE THAT ARE OPINION ISSUES.

Uniformity!With it–there is no need for unity.

Withuniformity (homogeneity), Christians are attempting to enjoy the love ofGod as

expressed through people in His church in a way that is artificial.Anytime we force members

to be uniform, we do not experience the real thing. Itis a shallow, sad imitation.

ManyChristians, who are physically repulsed at the thought of same-sex marriage are

totally oblivious to the fact they are trying to achieve the same thing on aspiritual level: they

are trying to force community through uniformity (forcinghomogeneity instead of heterogeneity.)

Iwonder if God is spiritually repulsed by that?

Five ThingsI Think I Think

(with a nodto Peter King for this idea)

1. For some reason, I can’t get fired up aboutcollege football this year. The BCS race just

doesn’t do it for me. Maybe ithas something to do with the Southeast Conference West having

the top threeteams.

2. Still, I wish I could have seen theBaylor/OU game Saturday night. Robert Griffin III is a MAN.

3. Nice to see Vince Young enjoy some successagain. That was a crucial drive he led against

the Giants last night.

4. Haleigh is in town, so we started over theweekend watching the second season of 24 on

Netflix. What do I do this? I’mgoing to bed so late every night. I can hear Haleigh’s voice

reverberate in myhead, “Oh, come on! Let’s just watch one more episode.”

5. Have a happy Thanksgiving. Be safe.

The Serendipity of Compliance

2011-11-14T16:29:00.001-06:00

Serendipity—“The faculty or phenomenon of finding valuable or agreeable things not sought for.”

Compliance—“The act or process of submitting, conforming or adapting to a desire, demand, proposal, or regimen as required or requested”

Yesterday, Steve Ridgell spoke to our church. I first heard Steve Ridgell speak when he came to do a youth meeting at my home church in Winnsboro, TX back in the summer of 1978.

I must admit, I did not want to go. This took place over the last free week I had of the summer. I had just resigned from my job sacking groceries at Brookshires–a very important job I might add–so that I might enjoy one last week of vacation before football two-a-days started. However, for the sake of compliance, I attended our youth meeting.

The first thing I heard Steve do was teach a Bible class. I thought to myself, “Okay, this is not so bad.”

Next I heard him preach a sermon. Then I thought to myself, “Hey, this is really pretty good.”

Before too long, I was attending, not because of compliance, but because of desire. Through serendipity, my compliance would lead to a life changing experience. My relationship with Christ was restored; additionally, I grew to be very close friends with Steve Ridgell. He became my mentor and began to disciple me. This influence helped me decide to become a preacher, which was to ultimately become my profession. I know many in Christianity are not big fans of compliance, nor should we be.

Sometimes, though, compliance can be a good thing. I know I am thankful that as a 17-year-old in the summer before my senior year, I was compliant. It changed my life.

Five ThingsI Think I Think

(with a nodto Peter King for this idea)

1. So, anything happened at Penn State last week?

Wow, how quickly things change. When I was writing my “five things” last week, Penn State was barely on the radar. Now the winningest college football coach of all time has been fired. How tragic it had to end this way.

I saw over the weekend that Barry Switzer reacted in an interview in this way: “Having been in this profession a long time and knowing how close coaching staffs are, I knew that this was a secret that was kept secret. Everyone on that staff had to have known, the ones that had been around a long time.”

I never thought I would see the day when Barry Switzer would chastize Joe Paterno on matters of morality—and be right.

I saw a story yesterday where Joe Paterno was compared to a character in a Greek tragedy. That is probably an apt comparison, but the ultimate victims of tragedy are the boys. I know my prayers go out to the families of the victims.

2. As I've mentioned last week in a tweet, someone had a great idea for Penn State—hire Tony Dungy. That would restore respect to the University. His reputation is impeccable—perhaps greater than Paterno’s was at its peak. Not only that, I see Dungy’s hire as coming the closest to recruiting better football players than any other coach I can think of.

3. I have begun reading Walter Isaacson's biography on Steven Jobs. I say “reading;” actually, I checked out the unabridged audio book from the public library. Let me sum up in one word my opinion about 1/5 of the way through–spectacular! Just an absolutely fascinating and incredible read.

My favorite unknown tidbit so far–as a young man, Steve Jobs attempted many faddish diets. One of them was a fruit diet that supposedly eliminated any problems with mucus; moreover, it supposedly eliminated body odor. Consequently, Jobs became convinced he only needed to bathe once a week. Furthermore, he was convinced he had no need for deodorant.

There was absolutely no other human being on the planet who agreed with Jobs. Consistently…constantly… to his face… behind his back, people complained about his body odor. Keep in mind, this was occurring while Stephen Jobs and Steve Wozniak were founding Apple.

You think you've got problems? Consider this–you want to introduce a product that will change the world, and you've got bad body odor.

4. I find myself wanting to see the movie J. EDGAR. Perhaps if I knew more about it, I would not.

5. Thanks Steve and Marsha Ridgell for visiting us at Shiloh this past weekend. Steve, you hit it out of the park in your seminar on “Sharing our Story.” You've got a great ministry at Herald of Truth. Marsha, you've got a great ministry in the Kingdom of God.

Boy and a Box

2011-11-07T15:45:00.001-06:00

Lastmonth, the news reported an event that made me think of something I heard TommyNelson tell about in a sermon over twenty years ago.

A churchhad welcomed a little six-year-old boy who had begun attending their church.Members observed something erratic about his behavior, so they decided to findout more about him.

Someof the members asked the boy about his parents. The boy told them that hismother was dead and that his aunt was raising him.

Theyasked him, "Where do you live?"

He replied, "I livein a box."

"Howbig a box?"

Theboy used his hands to indicate how big the box was.

They asked,"You sleep there?"

"No,I live there."

"Youeat there?"

"Yeah."

"Whendo you get out?"

"WhenI go to the bathroom. When I go to church."

Now,these church members took into account they were speaking with a six-year-old.Consequently, they decided to visit the boy’s house.

Whenthey arrived, they found this little boy was not living in a box; instead, hewas living in a casket—in a coffin. His mother had died when he was born. Hisaunt was granted custody. She thought that he was brain damaged.

Inher perverted way of coping with a fallen world, she purchased an old, unsoldcasket and made the boy live inside. She would feed him, and then she would putthe lid down on the coffin. The boy never complained for one simple reason—hisaunt had told him that all little boys lived in boxes.

The story is awful;yet, like Tommy Nelson, I have met many people symbolically experiencing thatlife. They live in a casket—and don’t even realize it. They live life believingthat once you go into a casket, you will never come out.

Theybelieve this is normal because they are surrounded by people, who, just likethem, live in doubt and fear of death.

Iwant you to know – I do not live my life in a casket! I know that even though atime will come when I will be placed in a coffin, someday Jesus will bring meout.

Shortlybefore raising Lazarus from the dead, Jesus told Lazarus’ sister, Martha, “I am theresurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even thoughthey die”(John 11:25.) I believe that, and I live my life without fear of death.

Five Things I Think I Think

(with a nodto Peter King for this idea)

1. The event that made me think of Tommy Nelson’s storywas the sad case in Pennsylvania of a mother and stepfather accused of lockingher seven-year-old son in a coffin--http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/04/us-coffin-boy-idUSTRE7935FF20111004Regardless of what the courts determine, this is a sad event.

2. Two books I have recently begun reading,having checked them out from our local library:

One is by TimTebow—THROUGH MY EYES. It has been a very good read so far. I am especiallyimpressed with Tebow’s descriptions of former Alabama coach Mike Shula. Tebowcame within an eyelash of playing for Shula at Alabama. One reason was thebasic decency and Christian faith that Shula demonstrated.

Whoa! Would not collegefootball have been different had Tebow chosen Alabama?

The other book, fromjournalist Jim Newton, is called EISENHOWER: THE WHITE HOUSE YEARS. Newton’sbook is mesmerizing.

Having access to some recentlydeclassified documents, it crackles with a spirit of freshness and authenticityI have not encountered in previous Eisenhower biographies—and I have read afew. The work confirms what many historians have begun arguing a couple ofdecades ago. Far from being a detached president, Eisenhower was in totalcommand of his White House and presidential policy.

3. Every time I see THE TRUMAN SHOW, I amreminded how great a motion picture it is.

4. Two years in, and I have digitalized halfof my audiotape library. This is taking a lot longer than I thought. I had noidea how many audiotapes I had collected through the years.

5. Congratulations ETCA girls. Even thoughyou lost in the state semi-finals last weekend, you have taken the program tonew heights.

Go Out There and Fail!

2011-10-31T15:46:00.000-05:00

JohnWooden retired because he won too many championships. Let me explain.

Atthe close of his career, John Wooden’s success changed the way people treatedhim. He had won a number of NCAA championships (ultimately: ten in twelveyears); consequently, Wooden felt that people were treating him in a way thatwas unnatural. His life was growing increasingly out of balance, so he retired.

Peoplewere not designed to win all of the time. Life is about the journey—thepursuit. The Texas Rangers’ loss to the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Seriesreminded me of this.

Somepeople refer to Cardinal manager, Tony La Russa, as the greatest of all time.However, La Russa has won only three championships in 33 years. That is lessthan one a decade.

DukeMen’s basketball coach, Mike Krzyzewski, has four National Championships—anaverage of a little over one a decade since he has been coaching. Moreover, hetraveled to four Final Fours before Duke finally won a championship.

DeanSmith, for a few years the winningest college basketball coach of all time, wononly two championships in over 35 years of coaching.

Thegreat Tom Landry won only two titles in 29 years as the head coach of theDallas Cowboys. Winning championships is hard.

Fortunately,none of these leaders got discouraged and quit. From them, I (and I hope theRangers) have been reminded that the more pain and failure you can tolerate,the better chance you have to win a championship.

Rightnow, on some level, I’m sure it is easy for the Texas Rangers to feel this way:“We got so close. It hurts so much to lose. I don’t ever want to put myself inthat position again.” If they do, they will not have to worry; they will lose.

Ifeel this principle of tolerating pain and failure for future rewards…transcends other fields. It applies to business, teaching, and church work.Bottom line—the cliché is true: the journey is more important than thedestination. Isn’t this what Hebrews eleven is about?

Yearsafter his retirement, John Wooden would write, “… for those many coaches, whomI respect … I would wish each one national championship…. For those few coachesfor whom I have less-than-warm feelings, my wish would be that they would winmany national championships. However… I’m not sure I would wish that onanybody.”

Thereis a famous line in the movie A FEW GOOD MEN—“You can’t handle the truth!”Insert the word "success" for "truth." We can’t handleconstant success. We NEED failure.

Solet’s all go out there and fail—and relax when we do.

Five Things I Think I Think (with a nodto Peter King for this idea)

1. Congratulations ETCA girls’ volleyball. You are goingto state! Speaking of waiting patiently and enjoying the journey, Diann Preston, enjoy the fruit of your years of labor.

2. Okay, so I blew my prediction the Rangers would win insix games. Still, it was an entertaining series.

3. Weird, with the Rangers playing inthe World Series the last two years, seems like October is consumed bybaseball. Now what?

4. At least we still have theCowboys. (Guffaw. Guffaw.)

5. Parentalpride: Abby Edge, you did a great acting job, subtly registering the non-verbalfacial expressions on the video for our church. Well done.

National Treasure

2011-10-24T16:25:00.001-05:00

Iwas reading LEADERSHIP JOURNAL a while back, when I encountered a story thatmoved me deeply.

Backin 1944, James Hampton, “a quiet, virtually unknown janitor” from Washington,D.C, began to search for items discarded by people. He collected anything fromold furniture to kitchen foil, from coke bottles to cardboard—anything he couldfind.

Hewas moved by a verse in the Bible—Prov. 29:18: “Where there is no vision thepeople perish.” James Hampton believed that people should have a vision of theglory of God, so, using his collection of abandoned materials, he set to workcreating an artistic work portraying the throne room of God.

Usingglue, tape, tacks and pins, James precariously fitted together his articles ofart. James worked on his project for twenty years, and then he died; he had not told a soul about his endeavor.

Perhapshe decided his project should be for God’s eyes, and God’s eyes only. It may beJames thought his work was not very good. Maybe, in time, he thought tohimself, “I’m a janitor. Who am I kidding? Who would ever want to see my work?”

Afterhis death, someone found James Hampton’s artwork in his garage. Today, all 180pieces of James’ work reflecting the throne room of heaven is prominentlydisplayed near the entrance… of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Art.

JamesHampton’s composition is now considered a national treasure.

WhenI read that story, it brought tears to my eyes. Here is a man, who labored on awork he believed no one would see.

Millionsdid.

Itinspires me to hope.

Allof us will die having done work we believe is beneath God’s standards, or incomplete.Yet, we can die hoping God will take that work and bless lives with it,bringing glory to Himself.

Andwhy not hope? Millions of people have entered a museum, some surely expectingto see neutral works of art, only to be transported into the throne room ofGod.

FiveThings I Think I Think (with a nod to Peter King for this idea)

1. What a series! First, the Rangersbecame the third team to come from behind and win a World Series game aftertrailing 1-0 in the ninth inning. They did so against a closer, who onlyallowed one hit (and base runner) for the past month.

Then,Saturday night, Albert Pujols became the third player in MLB history to hitthree home runs in one World Series game.

Asof this writing, the series is tied 2-2. Why not stick to my originalprognostication—the Rangers in six games?

2. I had agreat trip to Miami over the weekend. Joining me was my sermon-visual go-to-guy,Travis Gilbreath. We traveled to take a closer look at Dr. Rick Blackwood’s preachingministry and the evangelistic work of his church. Rick is the author of The Power of Multisensory Preaching and Teaching: IncreaseAttention, Comprehension, and Retention.

I have written much about this book before; I consider it to beexceptional. Moreover, his church is made up of members from over seventy nations,spread over five campuses in the Miami area.

Rick graciously hosted us in his home on Saturday. We also received anextensive tour of their Palmetto Bay campus and attended one of their worshipservices. I have never seen such a multi-cultural collection of church membersin a worship assembly. We closed out our trip by meeting with Rick in hisoffice after the worship service.

I considerwhat Travis and I did akin to college football coaches traveling to anotheruniversity to see what the staff does there. This can be invaluable for churchleaders.

Ithank Rick and his staff for being so hospital to us. I left inspired and withmany new ideas.

3. While on the plane, I read Rick’s book for thesecond time. I was blessed as much as I was the first time back in 2008.

4. Incidentally, some of you may be familiar withEric Geiger. He joined Thom Rainer in writing the book SIMPLE CHURCH a fewyears ago. He was formerly on the staff at the Palmetto Bay campus, having leftearlier this year.

5. Fun fact from our Miami trip—Travis Gilbreath andI got one of those HOTWIRE deals where we got a great hotel for the price of aninexpensive motel. Consequently, we stayed in the MIAMI AIRPORT HILTON, whichhosted the Chicago Bears during the Super Bowl of 2007 as well as three otherNFC teams in years past. One of those teams was the 1989 World Champion SanFrancisco 49ers. Just think, Joe Montana could have stayed in our room 22 yearsago!

The Gift

2011-10-17T15:47:00.000-05:00

Oneof the most compelling stories I have ever heard comes from the experiences ofCharles Swindoll. In his book ELIJAH, he writes about an experience he had manyyears ago when he visited a man in a Veteran’s hospital. The vet was a ratheryoung man, who had unfortunately suffered a number of heart attacks.

Theman had a young son. On the day of his visit, Swindoll noted that this fatherhad made a little wooden truck during his hospital stay for this young son.

Aswas customary in those days, the boy was not allowed to go into the area of thehospital where his father was a patient. Consequently, a worker from thehospital brought the gift down to the child. The son was standing in front ofthe hospital with his mother.

Outof the fifth floor window of his hospital room, the father watched his sonunwrap the present. As the little boy opened the package, he became excited.Seeing the marvelous little truck, he embraced it, holding it close to hischest.

Thelittle son set the truck down and gave the hospital orderly a great big hug. Hethanked him profusely for the gift. Meanwhile, standing behind the windowpane,the father began frantically waving his arms to get his son's attention. Theson did not notice. The father cried out, “It's me, son. I made the truck foryou. I gave that truck to you. Look up here!”

Finally,the mother and the orderly were able to encourage the little boy to look up tothe fifth floor window. At last, the son understood. Then he cried out, “Daddy!Oh, thank you! I miss you, daddy! Come home, daddy. Thank you for my truck.”

Inthe end, the father experienced the joy of knowing his son had received hisgift. Tears poured down his cheeks.

AsSwindoll so aptly asks, how often in life do we as God's children receive hisgifts—food, friends, refreshment, relationships—and then we fall in love withthe gifts, rather than the giver?

Hegives us wonderful wives, and we fall in love with them more than him. He givesus wonderful jobs, and we fall in love with the jobs more than him. Meanwhile,he stands at heaven’s window and cries out, “Look up here. I gave this to you!”

Whathe yearns for is for us to say, “Oh, thank you Father! I want to be with you.”

Weknow from what Jesus’ brother tells us in James (1:17) that God is the giver ofgood gifts. We may not know those gifts point toward him. He yearns for us torespond in gratitude and to enjoy a relationship with him.

Five ThingsI Think I Think (with a nod to Peter King for this idea)

1. Way to go Rangers! I feel good about their matchup withSt. Louis and predict the Rangers win the World Series in six games.

2. This sounds strange, but Dallas’ loss to New Englandyesterday makes me feel BETTER about this team than their two wins. Dallas’defense is much more powerful than I previously thought. Really, my onlyconcern now is the offensive line. However, I think this team is going to win aplayoff game come January.

3. I enjoyed having our first born in for Fall Break. Itis easier to say goodbye the third time than the first (or second.) I thinkboth family and Haleigh are adjusting to our new lives.

4. I took Haleigh and Abby to see the new SteveMartin/Jack Black/Owen Wilson movie, THE BIG YEAR, Friday. We went expecting tosee a comedy about bird watching. It WAS funny—lots of times. Nevertheless, itwas not a comedy. It was a movie addressing profound relationship themes withinthe midst of a humorous story line. This movie addressed friendship, marriage,parenthood, father/son relationships, romance, and the pursuit of a life to theexclusion of the above. I give this movie a big thumbs-up. Oh, by the way, Ilearned a lot about birds, too.

5. Friday, Travis Gilbreath and I depart for Miami forbrief trip to study a church. More specifically, we’re observing the role thepreaching ministry plays in a growing, multi-cultural church. The preacher’sname is Rick Blackwood. He wrote the book THE POWER OF MULTI-SENSORY PREACHINGa few years ago. That is the book I bought all of our elders, staff, worship team,and sermon advisory group. I believe multi-sensory preaching is theological andbiblical. I have been attempting to engage in it the past few years and am verypleased with where we are.

Iam taking this trip in lieu of a traditional minister’s conference. In additionto attending a worship service, I will be meeting with Rick, and Travis will bemeeting with his counterpart. I would appreciate prayers for safe travel aswell as personal and professional growth.

The Oscars and Church

2011-10-10T16:34:00.000-05:00

I saw a few weeks ago that Eddie Murphy hasbeen asked to host the 2012 Oscars. Organizers hope that his presencewill increase ratings. Earlier this year, Anne Hathaway and James Franco hostedthe gala—an appeal to younger viewers.

Aswe grow closer to the broadcast date, more articles will appear detailing thechallenges that producers face increasing ratings. Typically, these challengesconcern a dilemma: how do we reduce the length of time of the show vs. how dowe attract more viewers.

Everynew idea increases the length of the broadcast. Unfortunately, the presentbroadcast is not drawing enough viewers, so what can be added to pique theattention of someone who would not normally watch the show?

Newspaperand magazines will detail the internal debate: “Should we cut the choreographyor add new dance numbers?” “How dowe get the award winners to reduce the time of their acceptance speeches?” “What if we get Billy Crystal to host—hewas fantastic back in the 90s?”

Recently,it dawned on me. I have heard church members raise many of the same questions.Well, maybe not how many choreography numbers a church needs for its Sundayworship service, but addressing some of the same issues. Instead of “How can weincrease the amount of viewers?”, the question in churches is, “How can weincrease attendance?”

Ideaswill surface: “Let’s have a communion talk.” “Let’s increase the number of songs we sing.” “Let’s shorten the sermon.” “Let’s have an elder wrap-up.” “Let’s sing only contemporary songs.”….Certainly, nothing is wrong with addressing the strategy of our publicassemblies. Actually, that is agood idea.

Ido find it interesting, though, that in The Academy Awards, theparticipants seem to buy-in fully to the experience. It is the spectators thatappear to be difficult to attract.

Hmm.I wonder if the same is true regarding our Sunday assemblies.

Five ThingsI Think I Think

(with a nodto Peter King for this idea)

1. I expected OU to win last week, but not by that much.

2. The Texas Rangers are up 1-0 in the ALCS. Why do I notrest easy? As I watch, the Rangers lead 2-0 in Game 2, and Derek Holland justwalked the Detroit batboy.

3. Keith Dunnavant is a good writer—having written amarvelous biography of the great football coach, Bear Bryant. Now he’s come outwith a new biography on Bart Starr. The book is called AMERICA’S QUARTERBACK:BART STARR AND THE RISE OF THE NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE. I’ve almost completedthe first hundred pages. It’s a good book, which is saying something for aDallas Cowboy fan. Bart Starr broke my heart in the 1960s.

4. I have a soft spot in my heart for the old classics.I’m taking today off to be with my three youngest kids (they’re out of schoolfor Columbus Day.) One thing we did was watch ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEETFRANKENSTEIN. The Wolfman was played by movie great, Lon Chaney. Celebratedactor Bela Lugosi portrayed Dracula. Of course, Abbott and Costello are legendsin the movie business. We laughed a lot—a fun movie.

5. My oldest child arrives home, Lord willing, later thisweek for Fall Break. We all look forward to this visit.

GLEE

2011-10-03T15:49:00.000-05:00

Have you ever seen the TV show GLEE? Well, I would not recommend it. There is too much in there that, as you would clearly see, I disagreewith. However, I recognize that this show is extremely popular with high schoolkids. I realize this show is somewhat popular with college students.

Millionspaid attention when Chevrolet paid millions of dollars to produce and run acommercial with the cast of GLEE during the Super Bowl. Moreover, I takenotice when a TV show takes the songs of my youth and makes them popular withmy children's generation.

GLEEis about misfits in high school who initially cannot find their place. Otherstudents are mean to them–even cruel to them. And they somehow find themselvesbanding together in a singing club. Under the direction of a gifted director,these misfits use their talents to make beautiful music.

GLEEasks a very important spiritual question, or better yet, expresses a veryimportant spiritual wish. Wouldn't it be great if there were some way formisfits to join together and offer their abilities and skills to make beautifulmusic for the world to hear? And wouldn’t it be great if, through this process,despite their diverse backgrounds, somehow this group of misfits could findunity and, yes, even love?

Guesswhat? God has the same dream too. He calls it--the church.

Thechurch is the place where God calls misfits from all over the world and empowers them to use their gifts to create beautiful music for theworld to hear—to bless the world with the beauty of God’s love.

Iprefer to think of GLEE in this way:

G–God's

L–love

E–expressed

E–everywhere

(This painting was done for a sermon by one of our college students, Calep Gonzalez. My iPhone photo does not know do Calep's work justice.)

Letthe apostle John illustrate this in John 4. You have this woman at a well. Sheis an outcast. Jesus is with—what the Jews called—a sinner. She is a misfit.She comes to the well alone—even her Samaritan town has ostracized her.

Jesussits down with her. He begins talking with her. During this conversation, shebegins to sense that this man is different. There is an insight that this manis real.

WhenJesus asks about her husband, she hedges a little bit. He responds with thetruth: she has had six husbands, and the man she is now living is not herhusband.

Now,she gets a glimpse of who Jesus is—God. As a result, she sees her own sin.Something is wrong here. She becomes very self-conscious. All she can think ofis the need to sacrifice for her sins. Ultimately, Jesus points toward himselfas the ultimate source of forgiveness for sins.

Atlast, she begins to realize: "Here is a man, the Messiah, who sees me as Ireally am, and he still loves me."

Peopleyearn for that.

Soshe goes and she expresses that she has found what everyone is looking for.Read John 4:29 “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Couldthis be the Messiah?”

Peoplehear her message. Misfits from her village come to Jesus. And they ask Jesus tostay with them. They tell him, in essence, “Now we know the love of God, and wehave a relationship with him.” It’s as if they are saying, “Stay. Be ourdirector. Let us form a group using our gifts to provide beautiful music to theworld.”

Ultimately,they do. Jesus leaves, but, even though they're not fully Gentiles (they haveJewish blood in them too), they are, in part, our ancestors. It is because ofgroups like this that we have the church today. Today, we descendants aremaking beautiful music.

Technically,none of us “fit” into God’s Kingdom. We are placed into this Kingdom by thissame Messiah, who sat at the well. If you trust Him, he will transform you,little by little, to fit into His eternal Kingdom forever.

God will gift you to singyour part—and direct you (along with the rest of us) to make beautiful musicforever. We will bless the King, and we will bless the world, with our music.

Just thethought of this gives me great glee.

Five Things I Think I Think (with a nodto Peter King for this idea)

1. What a blessing it was to see my daughter, Haleigh, atHarding University last week. It was neat too seeing many of our kids fromShiloh out there. I always enjoy visiting with college students. I would liketo think that it keeps me young.

2. I really appreciate getting to stay with my oldArgentine teammates, Bill and Holly Richardson, last week. Part of the fun ofLectureship is seeing old friends.

3. I want the Longhorns to beat OU this weekend. I expectOU to win, though.

4. Texas Rangers—nice run your on the last 17 ball games.

5. Haleigh took me to see MONEYBALL last week. It was avery good movie; so compelling that I went out and bought the book. I wouldlike to find a stat nerd to compile the variables on the tens of thousands ofunchurched people in Tyler. If we could exegete our culture well, we couldreach more people by going where the fields are white unto harvest.

Funnels

2011-09-26T15:00:00.000-05:00

I want to say something here that may confuse some andoffend others. We live in a very self-centered culture. One of the marks of ourculture, according to Charles Colson, is that we pass all of our decisionsthrough basically two grids—two funnels if you will: personal success andpersonal pleasure. In other words, in our society today, behind each decision, oneof these two criteria has to be met.

I want to talk about the funnel of personal pleasure and its impact on the lives of Christians. This funnel has influenced many ofour spiritual activities. I see the quality of some Christians’ prayer lives tobe in direct proportion to the amount of vivid personal pleasure they expectprayer to provide.

Someone speaks on the powerful experience he or she isfinding in his or her prayer life, and some of the hearers think, “I want toexperience that too!” What is often occurring is these Christians are passingdata through the funnel of vivid personal experience.

Careful. That motive for prayer easily morphs intoself-centeredness. I know, because I have tried it.

We cannot sustain Christ-like prayer lives withself-centered motives. The motive for prayer is rooted in relationship withGod. I wonder how many people fall in love with prayer more than they do withGod.

Just to clarify, I am not saying that it is wrong to desireto tap into the power of God, nor is it wrong to desire a profound spiritualexperience through prayer. However, if these are our dominant motives, we areultimately going to experience pain and heartache. Our prayer lives will suffer;our spiritual lives will suffer.

Five ThingsI Think I Think (with a nod to Peter King for this idea)

1. Today I am blessed to be in Searcy Arkansas with mybeautiful daughter, Haleigh. The Harding University Lectures are going on thisweek, too.

2. Great job Case McCoy and David Ash. You two are alreadyserving as marvelous quarterbacks for the UT Longhorns.

3. I must thank the Winnsboro Church of Christ for makingme feel so welcome on FAMILY DAY yesterday. This is my old hometown church, andthey honored me by inviting me back to serve as their resource speaker. Sinceit was Family Day, I decided to lay a little Proverbs on us concerningparenting, purity and partnering (marriage.) It was especially neat to see someof the other guests who came in for the day.

4. Texas Rangers—I believe in you.

5. I felt so bad about this error, I felt compelled to put it inmy blog in case anybody listens to last Sunday night’s sermon (Sept. 18) on theInternet. The following is actually from the apology I wrote in our churchbulletin:

“Iam so glad we are saved by grace. I could never live a perfect life. Toillustrate, I want to offer an example from last Sunday night.

“I arrived home and I askedJudy about a lingering doubt in my mind from that evening’s sermon. Sheconfirmed my error.

“Duringmy sermon, I mentioned that watching the ten o’clock news could disturb aperson’s sleep. My encouragement had been to pass on the late news; it can waituntil morning.

“Ithen ad-libbed that if something important should happen, somebody will let youknow. As an example, “If someone kills Osama, your daughter will awaken you andtell you.” This is exactly what my daughter, Haleigh, did last spring—sheawakened me to tell me that Navy seals had killed Osama Bin Laden.

“Unfortunately,my mental gears were out of whack, and I substituted a “b” for the letter “s.”I’m sure I sounded flippant and even disrespectful as referenced our president,instead of Osama. I apologize, and I want those present to know that I wouldnever intentionally show any disrespect to anyone who is serving as ourpresident.”

Mymistake was an honest one, but it was still a mistake.

Time to Pray

2011-09-19T15:41:00.000-05:00

There have been times in my life when I havestruggled with prayer. I struggled in the sense that I did not make time topray in my everyday routine. Without question, a big reason for my struggle wasselfishness.

In college, I had to make time for mystudies. I was preparing myself to be a preacher after all. I also had to maketime for my friends. Obviously, I had to see the sports report every day on TV.And I enjoyed reading a TIME or SPORTS ILLUSTRATED when I got the chance. WhenI was in student government, there were meetings to attend. There were alsospiritual activities: church, daily chapel, Tuesday night devo... Many times Ifound myself doing no more than beginning a prayer as I lay down at night.Usually I fell asleep before finishing it.

Finally, I graduated from college. But guesswhat? I was still too busy to pray. A few years later, I moved to a foreigncountry to do mission work—still too busy to pray.

Finally, I had to get real. What I had wasnot a time problem. What I had was a priority problem. I had about 163 thingsthat I wanted to do before I prayed. The issue was not that I needed morehours, more minutes, or more seconds in my day. The issue was that I neededmore Jesus and less Mark in my day.

Today, spending time in prayer is still abattle. I often reflect upon the absurdity of that reality.

Think about it. When I spend little timepraying in a given day, what am I saying? I’m saying with my attitude, “Excuseme, God. But I think I can make it on my own today. I’ll call you when I needyou.”

I’m saying, “No offense God. But today, ‘GoodMorning America,’ ‘The Dallas Morning News,’ five telephone calls, twoappointments, two ham and cheese sandwiches, one ten minute nap, two hoursof research, two more appointments, time with two of my kids, two phone calls,one visit with a neighbor, a conversation with my wife, playing with anotherchild, putting my children to bed, and reading from a good book are moreimportant to me than spending time talking with you.”

Take what I just said and apply it to couplesand marriage. I know of too many couples that divorced because they allowed anaggregation of little things to prevent them from spending time with theirmates. What is it about taking such a relatively minute portion of our day totalk with God that makes it so difficult for us?

I think one reason is that the god of thisworld has so much power. Satan has tremendous resources, one of which is ournature, which is predisposed to sin.

Another thing that Satan has going for him isthat he is one of the most humble beings on this planet. Much more humble thanwe are. He doesn’t care if we realize we are serving him. What matters to himis that he’s got us. And if we are living to please ourselves, he’s got us.

Can you imagine if I treated one of my fourkids like I do God? What if the standard that determined if I fed my kids wasthe same as the standard I have that determines when I pray—personal desire.

“What sweetie? You haven’t eaten all night?You want some breakfast? Well I’m watching ‘Good Morning America’ right now.How about after it’s over?”

After ‘Good Morning America’ is over: “Whatsweetie? You’re hungry. Well I’m reading the paper right now. How about if Iget you some later?”

We have a name for parents whose quality oftreatment for their children is based upon personal desire—child abusers.Obviously, a parent does not determine the feeding of a child based on what ispersonally most satisfying for himself. The fulfillment of the physical andnutritional needs of a child is based on a commitment. Personal desires andconveniences cannot be the priority.

I wish we took the nutrition of our spiritualneeds as seriously.

A good prayer life is a decision. It is not based upon when we want todo it. It is not even based upon when we feel like doing it. It is based upon adecision by our minds, by that special place called the will.

Five Things I Think I Think (with a nodto Peter King for this idea)

1. What an exceptional TV Special by Diane Sawyer on thejust released tapes of Jacqueline Kennedy. If you have not read about it,Caroline Kennedy recently released the audio tape recordings of interviews thathistorian Arthur Schlesinger conducted in early 1964. Having read manyhistorical works on the Kennedys, I heard some insights I had never read. Very welldone.

2. Just finished an audio book for the second time—BABE by RobertCreamer. It is a biography of Babe Ruth. Scratch that—it remains THE biographyof Babe Ruth.

3. Next movie, see WARRIOR. I am not a fan of UFC fighting (althoughpeople occasionally confuse me for a UFC fighter), but this film is not aboutUFC. It is about family, including a dysfunctional family, and it is aboutpeople. UFC is the tool to tell the story. Mark my words; Nick Nolte will winthe Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. His portrayal of an alcoholicfather is perfect. I especially love the added detail of his characterlistening to tapes of the book MOBY DICK. You will appreciate this movie.

4. I owe the Dallas Cowboys an apology. I pronounced them dead lastnight to my church. Season over, I said. Afterwards, one of our elders gave methe news—the Cowboys’ pulled it out and Romo’s a hero. Okay, rumors of theCowboys’ death are exaggerated. Time will tell if the exaggeration was great.

5. Happy 78^th birthday today, Martha Edge. Much love to you.

Prayer Preoccupation

2011-09-12T18:10:00.002-05:00

Have you ever beenlistening to someone pray and your mind wander? I can be in church, in a prayergroup, listening to my wife or daughter pray, it makes no difference, and Istruggle with keeping my focus on their prayers. Shoot, I sometimes havetrouble keeping my concentration in my own prayers! Why is that?

I truly believe a majorbarrier to an effective prayer life is a preoccupation with self. It isselfishness.

I’m not proud to admitthis, but when someone is praying in church I sometimes have a problem tuningin. I find my attention being naturally drawn to income taxes, or financialproblems, or a family problem, or a Dallas Cowboy problem, or any problem thatis important to my life in that moment. Sometimes, I find myself thinking aboutmy sermon. Sometimes, something the guy mentions in his prayer causes me tostop and reflect on his point. Meanwhile, his prayer has left me behind.

In Argentina, a teammateand I use to meet with the college students of our church at 6:30 a.m. onWednesday mornings to pray. It so happened that because of schedulingdifficulties, we had to choose that particular time and day of the week.Wednesday was my day off, but since the prayer session took place before myfamily awoke, I cheerfully went.

You might think mystruggle there would have been to stay awake. It wasn’t. Instead I found myselfmaking a massive effort to stay focused on what the person was praying. Time, however, would chip away at my concentration, and, at about the third or fourthperson in the group, I would begin to struggle with the distracting thoughts.(“It’s my day off, what should my family and I do today?”)

Now, we can say that allof these struggles are human. And they are. And you can tell me that youstruggle with this too. I appreciate your honesty. But the fact is, the reasonthis is a shared human experience is that our own selfish interests basicallydominate us.

We want to talk about whatwe’re interested in. We want to focus on our concerns. Let’s face it. Sometimesit’s not fun to listen to what someone else is praying about. Sometimes,someone else’s problems don’t compare in our minds to our own.

We say we are God’speople, and we are. We say we are New Testament Christians. And we are. But, asGod’s people, as New Testament Christians, we should pray along with otherChristians in their prayers.

It is simply the rightthing to do.

Five ThingsI Think I Think (with a nod to Peter King for this idea)

1. I readLARRY KING’s TRUTH BE TOLD. I got to tell you, it is a fun, fascinating, andquick read. Larry is the king (get it?) of anecdotes; nevertheless, there aresome profound insights from his life and connection with his guests as well.Our local library has a copy—read it.

2. I thinkBrad and Colt McCoy’s new book is so impactful, I have decided to read it to myson—a little bit every night.

3. A friendof mine recommended we see SEVEN DAYS IN UTOPIA, so Judy and I saw it LaborDay. Good flick. Robert Duval basically plays a Christian “Yoda” to LucasBlack’s “Luke Skywalker.” It is a sweet movie with Christian and spiritualthemes. My kids could have watched it. I recommend it.

4. It ishard to believe ten years have passed since September 11, 2001. I think fewpeople have changed the world like those 19 hijackers did. Unfortunately, theyhave changed the world for the worse. When I think about the thousands of liveslost that day and in the wars to follow, all of the freedoms lost, all of thetens of billions of dollars that day has cost the world (the economic impact),I feel saddened.

5. Nothing worse than seeing the Cowboys almost win a game I expected them to lose, and, then,right at the very end--lose a game they should have won.

Failure Is An Option

2011-09-05T16:44:00.000-05:00

I have an interesting sermon looming ahead. In a few weeks, I will bepreaching on Elijah's great depression. This text has offered me much to thinkabout.

Forthose of you who may not remember, Elijah went into a period of depression (Iwould call it a deep depression) following his confrontation with the prophetsof Baal. I could not help but reflect upon the life of preachers as I read thatstory.

Letme offer you a peek into the world of a preacher. A lot of preachers I knowfeel depressed on Mondays. I am an optimistic person by nature, but even I havenegative feelings on the typical Monday. Most Mondays, I feel down; someMondays, I feel downright melancholy.

Preachingis a strange endeavor. It involves acute mental concentration, extensivephysical involvement, a high emotional commitment, and of course, it is bydefinition a spiritual exercise.

Somepreachers I know preach three or four assemblies a Sunday. I preach two, buteach one is a different sermon. You add to that teaching a Bible class,conducting meetings with guests who are interested in the church, as well asother meetings that occur on Sunday—and by Sunday night, most of us feelphysically, emotionally and mentally exhausted.

Depending on how the day goes, we can eitherfeel exhilarated or deeply disappointed. For this reason, some preachers takeMonday off. I take Saturday off so I can be with my kids; consequently, Mondayis a full day. My feelings Monday characteristically range from “feeling down”to a growing melancholy by the afternoon.

Interestinglyenough, the way I perceive how the sermon goes does not affect the outcome.There have been times when I think everything went well, and I still feel downthe next day. At the very least, I always feel worn out.

Iusually feel the most tired on Tuesday. I get through the day, and sometime onTuesday afternoon, I pick up my second wind. I then move into the phase of theweek when I grow increasingly more alert. By Saturday night, I am oftentimes sokeyed up, I'll sleep only an hour or two, wake up, and sleep fitfully the restof the night.

Idon't want to preach my sermon now, but let me put in here the passage from IKings Chapter 19. Notice how Elijah feels:

1 Now Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done andhow he had killed all the prophets with the sword. 2 So Jezebel sent amessenger to Elijah to say, “May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely,if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them.”

3 Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he cameto Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there, 4 while he himself went aday’s journey into the desert. He came to a broom tree, sat down under it andprayed that he might die. “I have had enough, LORD,” he said. “Take my life; Iam no better than my ancestors.” 5 Then he lay down under the tree and fellasleep.

All at once an angel touched him and said,“Get up and eat.” 6 He looked around, and there by his head was a cake of breadbaked over hot coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then lay downagain.

7 The angel of the LORD came back a second time andtouched him and said, “Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you.” 8So he got up and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he traveled fortydays and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God. 9 There hewent into a cave and spent the night.

And the word of the LORD came to him: “Whatare you doing here, Elijah?”

10 He replied, “I have been very zealous for the LORDGod Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down youraltars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left,and now they are trying to kill me too.”

11 The LORD said, “Go out and stand on the mountain inthe presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by.”

Then a great and powerful wind tore themountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was notin the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not inthe earthquake. 12 After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not inthe fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. 13 When Elijah heard it, hepulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.

Then a voice said to him, “What are youdoing here, Elijah?”

14 He replied, “I have been very zealous for the LORDGod Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down youraltars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left,and now they are trying to kill me too.”

15 The LORD said to him, “Go back the way you came,and go to the Desert of Damascus. When you get there, anoint Hazael king overAram. 16 Also, anoint Jehu son of Nimshi king over Israel, and anoint Elishason of Shaphat from Abel Meholah to succeed you as prophet. 17 Jehu will put todeath any who escape the sword of Hazael, and Elisha will put to death any whoescape the sword of Jehu. 18 Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel—all whoseknees have not bowed down to Baal and all whose mouths have not kissed him.”

Again,I don't want to give away all that I have learned here. Not in this blog. However, I dowant to address a different reality. What I have been describing aboutpreachers has been going on for thousands of years. I don't see it changing.Consequently, as my old Prof, Charles Siburt, used to say, I believe it isessential now for us to “make reality our friend.”

Morethan many realize, part of the Christian life is striving, feeling bad, feelingmelancholy, feeling depressed, and dealing with what we perceive is failure.Notice I said, “perceive as failure.” Elijah’s depression followed the heels ofwhat we would call his most successful triumph for God.

Inlight of that, here is something important to note: we do not have theuniversal insight into the world or even into our lives that God has. We cannotsee the future. What we view as failure, God may view as success. Furthermore,as my friend Steve Hemphill says, we must remember, “We play to an audience ofone.” He means—God. This understanding is essential.

Itis fascinating to me how many great men of God in Scripture end theirministries and lives in what we would call failure. Everybody wants to go outon top, but not many do.

Moses,I'm sure with great embarrassment, died on a mountain overlooking the PromisedLand. Jeremiah probably died in exile from his homeland. John the Baptist dieda violent death after having served God in prison. Tradition tells us that Peterdied crucified upside down. Paul spent his last years under house arrest and,ultimately, being executed (tradition says) by Rome.

Peopleusually do not throw triumphant parades in honor of God's men and God’s womenat the end of their lives. Few of us are sent to heaven in a chariot of fire…and that's okay.

Whenwe signed on to do God's work, we signed on to do GOD’S WORK. We play to anaudience of one. As long as He is satisfied, that is enough.

Recently,I saw the movie SOUL SURFER. I was struck by how, even as a young teenager, thesensational surfer, Bethany Hamilton, had such a strong sense of discipleship.Ultimately, she could say, in essence, you want my arm, God? Here–take my arm—useit for the Kingdom.

Mygoal for the rest of my life is to walk so closely with God that I can sensewhen God feels pleasure–and, consequently, God's pleasure becomes my ultimatemotivation.

Ihave resigned myself to moody Mondays. As long as I don’t let my feelings rule,I think I am going to be okay. What is there to be depressed about?

WithGod, “failure” is always an option.

FiveThings I Think I Think (with a nod to Peter King for this idea)

1. I have started reading GROWING UP COLT by Brad and ColtMcCoy. I’m thoroughly enjoying it. The part I most appreciate? How many timesBrad and his wife, Debra, had to spank Colt when he was growing up. There ishope for all of our kids!

2. Speaking of kids, my family had a much needed diversionat supper last week. Now, you’ve got to understand, I am usually focused atsupper on training my kids to at least half-way offer the appearance they havetable manners. At this stage, I’ve given up on them eating with the Queen ofEngland. All I want now is for them to be able to have a picnic without thewild animals saying, “Hey, I think they're one of us!” Consequently, I probablycan get a little uptight at supper.

Theother night, one of the younger ones was sharing a joke from school. Thatjogged the old memory bank, and I shared one from my school days. Do youremember the story of “Pete and Repeat?”

“Peteand Repeat,” I explained to them, “were brothers. Pete and Repeat went to thecandy store. Pete bought licorice; Repeat bought peppermint.”

“Now,which brother bought the peppermint?”

Timothyanswered, “Repeat.”

“Okay,”I said. “Pete and Repeat were brothers…”

Well,you never heard laughing like my kids did when I told that joke. They said, “Tellit again.” So I did. They laughed harder the second time. By then, they had megoing. Before long, all of us were laughing so hard, we were crying.

Thatwas a good reminder to me—sometimes, you need to just loosen up and laugh withyour kids.

3. Incidentally,Timothy took the joke with him to school the next day. That night, he reportedto us at supper.

“Howdid it go?” we asked.

“Notgood, nobody laughed.”

“Letme hear you tell it,” I asked.

Hetold the joke. Everything was perfect until the end. Instead of asking, “Whichbrother bought the peppermint”, Timothy asked, “Now, what did Repeat buy?”

Morale:if you’re going to tell an old joke, be sure to get the punch line right!

4. I loved seeing Boise State marchinto Georgia and clean up on a SEC team.

5. Some of you read articles writtenby Skip Hollandsworth of TEXAS MONTHLY. Skip is my second cousin. Last week,Skip’s dad, Ned, passed away. Ned was a highly thought of preacher in thePresbyterian fellowship for many, many years; he blessed a lot of lives,including my own. For the past few years he battled Alzheimer’s. Rest in peace,Ned.

Shaved Heads and America’s Bond Rating

2011-08-29T21:50:00.000-05:00

My senior year in high school, our football team had a plan that would help us win the state championship. I don't know whose idea it was, but it was brilliant.

The plan? We would all shave our heads. In doing so we would find unity.

Keep in mind this was the age when all of us looked like masculine Farah Fawcetts—with our feathered hairdos. Everybody was on board. Every player thought it was a fantastic idea. It would be sacrifice, yes, but that sacrifice would propel a spirit of unity; this spirit would be the impetus to win the state championship.

There was only one problem. No one would be the first to shave his head. We did not win the state championship.

I think what I'm about to propose will never work in government or politics, because I see no politician willing to be the first one to propose it. Nevertheless, I believe strongly in what I'm about to say. I reserve the right to grow.

California has been in deep trouble for a few years now. They owe too much money. One symptom of the crisis: at times, the state has had to give government workers unpaid furloughs—a difficult choice—due to a lack of funds.

Watching California through the years, I consistently thought: I have seen this before. I lived for 5 1/2 years in a country that was always on the verge of economic ruin (Argentina.) I have seen many of the same symptoms in California. Now, I am starting to see the same thing happening within the federal government of the United States.

Both major political parties are guilty. I want to address only two of the problems as I see them.

Number one. Greed. We want so much more than we need, and we're willing to borrow money that we do not have to get it. We are borrowing it from future generations. We're asking our future generations to pay for good things such as museums, statues, PBS (and an assortment of pork barrel projects that may not be so good.)

There is nothing inherently wrong with a number of things our government spends money on—if we don’t have to borrow money to pay for it. Therein lies the rub.

I had a friend a few years ago, who sold one of his cars and began riding his bike to work. Nothing wrong with having two cars, but his wife returned to college to get a graduate degree. They could not afford two vehicles without borrowing money. To stay out of debt, they sold a car.

Borrowing money can be presuming upon God—particularly with regard to things that are not essential. All financial experts I read discourage buying things on credit that will not appreciate in value. Although Scripture never condemns borrowing, it never encourages it either. It always encourages the follower of God to avoid debt.

Our government does not seem to remember this. Perhaps this is because we citizens typically do not remember this; therefore, our government reflects our values with regard to money. To fully address the national debt, the federal government must make cuts and/or fully eliminate the funding of many good things.

Number two: we need a strong theology of accountability. I recently did a study on accountability. What I am about to say, I realize, will also not be popular. Let me take some time to set this point up.

Aristotle viewed virtue as the mean between two extremes. That is a good rule of thumb in terms of viewing sin.

Often, sin can be visualized as two opposite poles, with the virtue lying in the middle. Mercy is the virtue. Cold, hard hearts are those that show no mercy. That is sin. However, showing too much mercy is sin as well. It prevents God from using discipline to help people who need to grow.

An example: the alcoholic who is enabled to continue in his drinking problem because no loved one will confront him. His loved ones will lie, cover up for the alcoholic’s mistakes at work, and conceal his brutality at home. A chief reason is the loved ones feel so much compassion for him. Unfortunately, in the end, the loved ones hurt the alcoholic.

One of the things I've learned from the Old Testament book of Jeremiah is how important circumstances are in God's work. God uses circumstances to get us to see the error of our ways. For example, when I was a young man, I believe God used circumstances to help me address spending habits that reflected greed and presumption upon God. (See point number one.)

Helping the poor is important. But the more layers of government and/or bureaucracy that are added, the harder it is to have someone come to grips with sinful activity that leads to poverty. And make no mistake about it; there are times when poverty is rooted in sin. This is why relationship is so essential in terms of a godly approach to ministry to those who are in poverty. Through relationship, one can better discover who is in need and who needs to face the consequences of his sinful lifestyle.

The genius of the free market, and of the freedom in our country, is this: it has held us accountable for our behavior in more ways than any other government in history. If we maintain a flawed behavioral pattern, typically, we fail. The free market plays no favorites; it is impersonal.

The more we try to remove this mechanism of accountability, the more people will be hurt. Without accountability, more money is needed to compensate people who refuse to address their flaws of character. Ultimately, society runs out of money. We are careening to that point now.

Few people like to be held accountable, including me. I DO want to be held accountable, because I know it is in my best interest. Even so, I don’t like it.

What I have written today will not solve the debt crisis alone. Much, much more needs to be addressed. Nevertheless, I would like to think that these two points are two pieces that are part of a larger mosaic that would, ultimately, help us move in a healthier direction.

Five Things I Think I Think (with a nod to Peter King for this idea)

1. I watched SOUL SURFER with my family Friday night. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. It is based upon the true story of surfer Bethany Hamilton, who lost an arm at thirteen when a shark bit her while she was surfing.

What followed was an amazing testimony to her faith and fortitude. Clearly, Bethany had made a decision to be a disciple of Jesus. Somewhere along the way, she grew to the point that she could say, in effect, “If God can use my arm for the Kingdom, so be it.” She was literally prepared to present her life, and any part of her body, as a living-and dying-sacrifice.

This was not some cheaply made picture with a microphone creeping into the shot; it was a first class production. This movie also offered high quality actors and actresses. What I liked was that they clearly respected Bethany’s faith, and they did not shy away from depicting it.

The special features are also worth checking out. The documentary on Bethany goes into detail portraying her faith. Again, I am grateful the production company allowed this independently produced documentary to be included in the package.

I have never had a problem with Hollywood sharing stories that turned me off. This is a big world and this country is a free one; there are a lot of stories to share, no one should have to gain my approval to tell a story.

I have been concerned about Hollywood censoring the telling of a Christian’s story. In the case of SOUL SURFER, Hollywood told a Christian story to the best of its ability with respect and even affection. For this, I am grateful.

2. I finished the baseball book THE LONG BALL by Tom Adelman over the weekend. Adelman chronicles the 1975 Major League Baseball season, peaking with his account that year’s classic seven game World Series between Boston and Cincinnati.

Adelman’s work is detailed, funny, informative, and interesting. I particularly enjoyed his tidbits about what high school student Ricky Henderson and five-year-old Ken Griffey, Jr. were doing that year.

This book was not well publicized when it appeared in bookstores in 2003. That’s a shame; it’s a great read.

3. Sometimes I wonder if the Rangers simply get bored. They have won five out the last seven against the Angels. Strange how they seem to turn it on when they have to. I’m going to suggest to Ron Washington that Nelson Cruz have a designated runner from home plate on. Cruz pulled another hamstring on the base paths last night.

4. I don’t care if the Dallas Cowboys begin the season 15-0, with their defense, this year they would be lucky to win one playoff game.

5. Today, for the first time in 16 years, the Edge family is cable free. Long live the internet! And here’s hoping we can find an antenna that will televise signals on our vintage 1980s era TVs.

Leading the Field

2011-08-22T16:32:00.000-05:00

The historian, Jay Winik, recounts in his book APRIL 1865 the state of the South after the Civil War ended in 1865. Economic, physical, emotional, and spiritual devastation prevailed. Survivors searched for healing.

One warm spring Sunday, the St. Paul’s Episcopal Church was participating in a communion service. Dr. Charles Minnergerode was administrating the emblems.

Unexpectedly, one of the first to arrive to the communion alter was a tall, well-dressed black man who had been sitting in the section reserved for “Negroes.”

A stunned silence prevailed in the sanctuary, marked by tension. Before the war, whites were always served communion first. Now, a line had been crossed.

Church members remained seated in their pews, unsure of what to do next. Dr. Minnergerode was clearly mortified.

As the black gentleman knelt before the minister, the strain became almost unbearable. And then … an older, white man arose from the congregation, and, in a very dignified manner, strode to the front of the sanctuary. He knelt beside the black man. Others in that church took note and soon followed his lead.

The white gentleman leading the way was the former general, Robert E. Lee.

Whether it is treating people of all races or economic brackets as equals, offering the “sinner” the love and hospitality of the Lord, or standing up for holiness when no one else will, God will always need people willing to courageously stand up and lead the way.*

*This story is one that I am sure many of us have heard for years. It is so good, a preacher fears it will appear on SNOPES.COM someday, proven to be a myth. I appreciate Winik investigating this story in his marvelous history of the end of the civil war. His conclusion, after much research (including interviewing the church historian of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church), is the event did indeed occur.

Five Things I Think I Think (with a nod to Peter King for this idea)

1. I told the fathers of my church yesterday, "Guys, when you take your daughter to college for the first time, don't let her walk you to the car when you say goodbye.” Let me explain.

As I wrote last week, Judy and I were to take our oldest daughter, Haleigh, to college for the first time, Thursday. We tried to script our departure. Everything proceeded well until Haleigh volunteered to leave her roommate, suite mates, and all of the activities going on in her dorm to walk us to our car.

Bad idea.

I should have thrown a “hissy fit” and insisted she stay in the dorm.

Instead, I said nothing.

Haleigh followed us to the car. We said our goodbyes, and I was doing relatively well when I got into our vehicle.

Then, as we were pulling away, I made the mistake of looking back in the rear view mirror. I saw the strawberry blond hair of my oldest child walking away from me. She looked so alone and vulnerable.

Now, for all I know, she might have been singing, “Zip-a-dee-doo-dah; Zip-a-dee-A…”—happy to be rid of us. Unfortunately, my emotional state wouldn’t allow me to think that.

Analyzing the situation: I knew Harding U. had a cookout planned in an hour. I knew she was going back to her roommate and friends in the dorm, but I could not help but think of that scene in the movie FATHER OF THE BRIDE, where Steve Martin sees his college-age daughter morph before his eyes into her four-year-old former self. In my case, Haleigh morphed into the toddler she had been years ago.

I told Judy what I am sure Lot told his wife, "Whatever you do, don't look back!” It was too late for me; my tears had already turned me into a pillar of salt.2. What is Labor Day going to be like with out Jerry Lewis hosting MDA?

3. I like what Cardinal Daniel N. Dinardo recently said, “Pregnancy is not a disease, and children are not a ‘health problem’—they are the next generation of Americans.

4. Have I mentioned how much I appreciate the iPhone app NEWS 360°?

5. I am sorry, but I am having a hard time getting excited about the Dallas Cowboys this season.

Do Your One Thing

2011-08-15T20:22:00.000-05:00

I’m not a Boston Red Sox fan. But I was thrilled to watch what happened back in the 2004 divisional series between the Red Sox and the New York Yankees. The winner would go to the World Series.

New York got ahead three games to zero in the series and seemed poised for a sweep. No team had ever come from behind after another team led 3-0.

Boston trailed by one run in the fourth game, and future hall of famer Mariano Rivera was called in to close it for the Yankees. Rivera was unhittable. However, he walked Kevin Millar. Millar was slow, so Boston’s manager decided to put in a pinch runner—Dave Roberts.

Dave Roberts was traded to Boston from Los Angeles in July of that year. He had hardly played in the two months he had been with Boston, and he had not played in the two weeks leading up to that ballgame.

Yet, there was one thing Dave Roberts could do well—run. Suddenly, he was thrust into a very difficult situation. He was called upon to use his discretion to steal a base.

It was cold that October night in Boston; the temperature was probably in the 40s or 50s. Roberts had little opportunity to stretch, having sat on the bench for almost nine complete innings. However, Roberts had studied Rivera. He knew his moves to first base and home plate. After Rivera had tossed three balls to first base to hold Roberts to the bag, Roberts made his move.

It was a critical moment. Sportswriter Peter King later asked him, "Were you nervous?''

"Well,” Roberts replied, “it was one of those things where one side of my brain is saying, 'Go for it!' And the other side of my brain is saying, 'Take it easy, now. If you get thrown out, you'll be exiled from this city for life. And it'll be another year of Red Sox failure.' They're doing battle. But I just thought it was something I had to do. The game depended on it.”

He was safe. Iconic Yankee shortstop, Derek Jeter, took the catcher’s throw. After the play, he offered his tribute, “I don't know how you sit in this weather for eight innings and come in and steal a bag like that. Good job.”

Shortly thereafter, Red Sox batter Bill Mueller hit a single to score Roberts and tie the game. Boston won in the twelfth inning.

Boston went on to win game five and then games six and seven in New York. They did the unthinkable—they defeated the Yankees four games to three after being behind three games to none. Unprecedented.

The Red Sox went on to sweep the St. Louis Cardinals 4-0 to win the World Series—Boston’s first since 1918. The curse of the trade of Babe Ruth had been broken—if you believe in curses.

Dave Roberts did not play in the World Series. He had hardly played at all in Boston the entire time he was with the team. Yet, if Dave Roberts had not done that one thing—steal a base—Boston would not have been World Champions.

That one thing had to be done, and he did it.

You may be reading this post, gifted by God to do one thing and one thing only. Are you willing to offer God that one thing?

That one thing could make an eternal difference in the Kingdom.

4There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but they all come from the same Spirit. 5There are different ways to serve the same Lord, 6and we can each do different things. Yet the same God works in all of us and helps us in everything we do. 7The Spirit has given each of us a special way of serving others (I Cor. 12:4-7.) CEV

Five Things I Think I Think (with a nod to Peter King for this idea)

1. I can’t wait to read Thom and Jess Rainer’s new book—THE MILLENNIALS CONNECTING TO AMERICA’S LARGEST GENERATION.

2. I recently received a complimentary copy of the magazine, THE WEEK. I liked it a lot. Were I not already reading so many “mags” and journals, I think I would subscribe. Perhaps in the future.

3. I think I appreciate more and more the talent and personality of Justin Timberlake. Here is a quote from the aforementioned THE WEEK regarding the beginning days of his old band, ’NSync, and their serving as opening acts for heavy metal rock bands, “[One concert] it was literally raining beer cans and glass bottles the whole time from 500,000 people who wanted to see AC/DC and not [me.]”

4. Still waiting for a review from my mom on the new movie THE HELP. The previews looked good.

5. This week Judy and I take our first born, Haleigh, to college. For almost a year, I have used the Beatles song SHE’S LEAVING HOME as Haleigh’s ring tone on my cell phone. I guess I’ll have to replace it. Maybe I need to go back and look up the lyrics to the old HALL AND OATES song, “She’s Gone.” That might work.