Heavenly CPS

            I want you to imagine a nightmare scenario. Imagine Judy and me adding a baby to our repertoire of four kids! (If you don’t know me, I’m fifty, Judy is … well, Judy is my wife, and we have four kids ranging in age from 8-17.)

            Now, picture Judy and me placing the bulk of our attention on our oldest daughter, who is a high school senior. We dialogue with her constantly, listen to her every whim or complaint. We do all we can to make sure she is happy and doesn’t rebel and leave our family.

            Meanwhile, after the initial excitement over the birth of our baby, we pay less and less attention to it. Even though some attention to our oldest daughter is important (helping her in her transition to college, for example), logically, we should understand she has entered a state of maturity that demands less concentration. Instead, one would think it essential to demonstrate more care and concern for the baby than our oldest—or even our other three children.

            All humor aside, I want you to picture in your mind something truly awful. Let’s say Judy and I neglect our baby so much, the child becomes malnourished or even terribly ill. Unfortunately, since we are so occupied with the desires and concerns of our oldest, we neglect our baby.

            Granted, it is easier to minister to our oldest child in a lot of ways. One would be communication. Our daughter can tell us how she is thinking and feeling. Indeed, she has the confidence to seek us out.

            Babies, as you know, can’t communicate well. Sometimes something can be wrong with them, and the parents have a difficult time diagnosing the problem.

            To society, however, there are no excuses. If Judy and I neglect our baby and the symptoms began to show, CPS will come calling.

            Here is my point—inspired by months of study in the book of REVELATION. Too often in churches, we preachers (and I definitely am including myself), elders, staff, ministry leaders, and members, place the bulk of our attention on the “older children” of the church. I don’t mean senior citizens; I mean those who have been in Christ for a number of years.

            We focus our sermons on the mature Christians. We plan our worship according to what mature Christians are thinking. We listen to mature Christians, who seek us out to give opinions and feedback. We organize our congregational families around the needs, and wants of mature Christians. Meanwhile, too many of us are not paying enough attention to the spiritual babies.

            I am glad there is no Heavenly CPS. Can you imagine? Heavenly case workers taking neglected spiritual babies from one spiritual home and placing them in another—offering someone else a chance to give them the nurturing and care they need. 

            Or, maybe there is. Maybe that is where all the spiritual babies have gone.

            Maybe that is why so many of our churches are spiritually infertile.

            Excuse me, I haven’t heard anything from my spiritual baby in a while; I need to go check and see if everything is okay.

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

1. I am ashamed to say I have still not gone out and purchased the new Rob Bell book. I’ve got to do that this week--and read it.

2. Saturday was the day I sprayed the house and yard for bugs—always an ordeal. But I did get to catch the end of the Pittsburgh-Butler game to see who advances to the Sweet 16. What a finish! I’ve never seen a guy foul underneath his own goal, after a free throw, with virtually not time left. I have a feeling we are going to hear the name of Brad Stevens this time every year when major schools are looking to hire a new coach. Butler has 4200 students. Amazing.

3. With Netflix’s growing instant play library, I’m starting to wonder why I keep so many DVDs around. 

4. I finally got around to reading last month's TIME Magazine’s cover story on the young generation of leaders seeking freedom in the Middle East. Maybe this is a time to be truly optimistic about the future there.

5. Congratulations to Diann Preston’s ETCA girls basketball team for yet another honor. My daughter, Haleigh, joined Samantha Phillips in making First Team on the TAPPS All-State Basketball Team. Jenny Munoz was selected to the Second Team. Hayley Robertson was named as an Honorable Mention. Samantha, Jenny, and Hayley Robertson are all juniors and will return next year. If I may indulge in a little parental pride, I have been grateful to see Haleigh named to First Team All-State in both volleyball and basketball this year.

Who Wants Perfect Fathers?

I have a perfect Heavenly Father, yet I am so twisted in my fallen nature that, too often, I fail to respond to his love and grace. I respond better to adversity.

Here is an example. All through junior high and through my freshman and sophomore years in High School, I was basically groomed to be the starting quarterback of the Winnsboro Red Raiders. The year the coaches planned on my starting was to be my junior season. Unfortunately, I played poorly in our pre-season practices and scrimmages. So much so, I was benched in favor of another quarterback.

Guess what that benching did? It woke me up. I became determined that if I ever received another chance to play, I would play well. Instead of making me tense, my benching actually loosened me up.

We lost the first two games of the season. The third game, I received another chance and started. I never relinquished the starting role again.

I have been turning over in my mind, the past few weeks, some concepts difficult to express in words. Let me make another pass at it, and if I fail, you can email me and tell me what you are hearing.

We get so hung up on how others are treating us, or how others treated us. Typically, we focus on the treatment we receive from parents, spouses, or bosses.

Often, people lament what they could have become were their parents better. In spite of their success, some grieve their raising because they feel their parents inflicted too much pain upon them. Careful, there are plenty of instances where a parent’s flaw actually makes a positive impact on a child.

When I was growing up, my daddy smoked. Most men of his generation did. Looking back, some of my childhood illnesses were probably due to his smoking. However, I have never had the desire to become a smoker. I owe this to having a father who was one.

Listen, there are times you fail to live, as you should, and this is with a Heavenly Father who is Perfect. What in the world makes you think you would have been better if your earthly father was?

Here is the catch. God, in his wisdom, trumps our sinful natures. He actually uses the flaws of others, be it a parent, a spouse, or a boss, to motivate us to respond in the way we should have from the beginning. Since we refuse to respond to his perfection, we respond to someone else’s IMperfection.

Next time someone is treating you wrong, think—they may be fallen and mean and need your tender loving care. Or, they may be unwittingly serving as God’s instrument to help you become what he designed you to be.

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

1. Congratulations to Sandra Bullock for her Best Actress win at the Academy Awards. I enjoyed BLINDSIDE and am pleased, and a little surprised, Bullock snagged the Oscar. I was also taken aback when THE HURT LOCKER won for Best Picture, beating out AVATAR. However, I have seen neither.

2. I have seen THE SPY NEXT DOOR. Strangely enough, it was not nominated for BEST PICTURE. Judy and I saw this Jackie Chan vehicle Friday night. This is one of those movies they made for the entire family to see: no cuss words or crudity. The plot is paint-by-the-numbers, but that is okay. I am thankful Hollywood is making so many family-friendly movies that I don’t have time, or money, take my clan to see them all.

3. Remember when kids played peewee baseball during the summers? Now, even in Texas, the seven-year-olds have to shovel the snow and ice off the diamond to practice.

4. For the first time I can remember, I have no regular TV show or sport that I am following each week. Maturity, or old age?

5. Congratulations to Haleigh Edge and Jenny Munoz. Haleigh made second team on the TAPPS All-State Basketball Team. Jenny was honored with an Honorable Mention. Jenny is a sophomore and Haleigh is a junior. With the team they have coming back, wait until next year.


Have a great week!