What Church Should Look Like-- A Community for Finding Accountability

            I knew a guy who was involved in a fiery automobile accident many years ago. An ambulance rushed him from the interstate to the nearest hospital. An emergency room diagnosis determined that he needed to be airlifted to another hospital, which specialized in treating burn victims.

            It was at the specialty hospital the guy experienced the greatest trauma of his life—even greater than the crash itself. During the crash, the poor fellow at least went into shock. At the burn unit of the specialized hospital, he did not enjoy this luxury.

            The worst part was submitting to the scrubbing. Portions of damaged flesh, scar tissue, and even good skin were brushed away—an excruciating process that provoked him to wishes of death.

            He screamed appeals to hospital personnel to stop. They never listened. To do so was to risk was to risk infection and even death, whereby the hospital would have been derelict of duty.

            Last I heard, my acquaintance was healthy, happy, and pain free. He is grateful the hospital did not give him what he wanted, and equally grateful they gave him what was needed.

            Too many churches today are the equivalent of negligent hospitals. They welcome people burned by sin, but rather than offer the treatment the victims need for healthy spiritual lives, the spiritual health care ceases at the first cry of pain.

            While the intentions are good, they produce corrosive results. Too many Christians are becoming spiritually infected. Sometimes, this lack of spiritual care leads to spiritual death.

            Transformation into the image of Christ is a terribly difficult process. Discipleship requires accountability.

            Accountability is not a popular word these days. Some of this is understandable. Through the centuries, too many churches have abused this calling. Unfortunately, we delude ourselves if we drift too far to the opposite end of the spectrum.

            Neglect, no matter how noble the intention, is still neglect.

            A significant portion of Paul’s writing reflects healthy spiritual confrontation. We must confront.

            A significant portion of Paul’s writing reflects the importance of church discipline. This is the most difficult part of offering spiritual rehab; yet, when needed, it is essential.

            Yes, Paul channels Jesus’ belief that people are free to choose Christ or reject him. Nonetheless, it is not the responsibility of the church to subsidize the lifestyles of people who choose to reject spiritual care and live outside the boundaries of God’s call for holiness.

            Holiness leads to healing.

            It is never a good thing if the local chapter of Alcoholics Anonymous models accountability more effectively than the local church. Speaking of AA, maybe we can learn a thing or two from them.

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

1. How many times have we seen this: a seemingly stronger team unable to put a “weaker” team away. The weaker team plugs away, plugs away, plugs away… and then they win. That is what we saw yesterday when Japan defeated the U. S. in the Women’s World Cup. I am happy for Japan, and I congratulate the U. S. women. They have had a good tournament.

2. Amazingly the Texas Rangers had three shutouts in a row last week, and as of today have one eleven in a row. This is still a streaky team; they have a long way to go.

3. I finished Dick Van Dyke’s new book My Lucky Life In and Out of Show Business: A Memoir. It’s a fast read, more fun than enlightening. However, he does provide some interesting details of his battle with alcoholism and his decision to ultimately leave his wife.

            I read with sadness, this former elder in the Presbyterian Church, as he described his relationship with his live-in girlfriend of over thirty years. I write this without irony. (Last week’s blog was on “living together.”)

            I am a huge fan of the DICK VAN DYKE SHOW. I consider it the greatest TV comedy of all time—maybe TV’s greatest show. Nevertheless, Dick Van Dyke is a man of flesh and blood. Sometimes, the choices of those we appreciate disappoint us.

4. Everybody is blaming the Congress, the President, or both for our debt crisis. This is not a “they” problem. This is an “us” problem. I have experienced this before in another country. Unless we change our spiritual outlook and, consequently, our values and habits, things will become much, much worse.

5. Judy, Haleigh, Abby, and I are on hour 18 of Season 1 of “24” on NETFLIX. Abby left yesterday for two weeks at Camp Deer Run. Big question: can Haleigh wait until Abby gets back?

What If I Had Faith In Jesus?

One of the hardest things to do, in the Christian life, is to allow Jesus to be relevant. Dallas Willard, in his book THE DIVINE CONSPIRACY, addresses this challenge.

Willard says Jesus seems otherworldly to most of us. He is a good person, out of touch with reality. He is like a cheerleader constantly shouting, “We are going to win,” even though the score is 98 to 3 and the clock is ticking.

The problem is many Christians have faith in faith; the challenge is to have faith in Jesus. It seems to me, so many times in my life when I have failed to be what I should have been, or when I blatantly acted sinfully, I instinctively knew what Jesus would have me to do. The problem was, I did not trust him with the answer. Often, I believed in my gut he was right, but I did not want to pay the price of acting, as he would have had me act.

My mistakes have accumulated. Could it be I am finally reaching the age, where I am willing to risk all, put my faith in Jesus, and imitate him as I have imitated other men in my life?

What if, instead of:

Believing in believing

Believing in an ideal

Believing in morality

Believing in America

Believing in marriage

Believing in family

Believing in work

Believing in play

Believing in rest

Believing in activity

Believing in a religion

Believing in a church

Believing in a creed

Believing in a doctrine

Believing in a Bible

I, first and foremost, made the decision to believe in Jesus?

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

1. So Lebron and Chris are moving to Miami, and Dwyayne is staying. Got anybody to rebound inside and play interior defense?

2. The Rangers get Cliff Lee in a trade. Now there’s a Blockbuster!

3. I want the world to know I picked Spain to win the World Cup yesterday, on Facebook, at the beginning of the match.

4. Judy took our oldest daughter, Haleigh, to Austin yesterday for the UT Volleyball Camp. Judy will return today, hopefully. I never cease to be amazed at how younger children get anxious when their mother is away. Boy, does it ever come out in their behavior.

5. We’re going to Austin later this week to pick Haleigh up. Anybody know a good, natural swimming hole around Austin? That would be a memory maker.

Let Me Share My Dad

Last year for Father’s Day, I reprinted, in my weekly blog, a letter my dad wrote to me when I was in college. It was very well received—one of my more well-read posts. Consequently, I thought this year I would do the same.

To provide some context, this letter was written to me on October 27, 1979. It was my first year at Abilene Christian University. I was playing, or maybe I should accurately say trying to play college football at the time.

In early October, my roommate contracted a case of mononucleosis. I became fearful that I would get it as well—convinced that if I did, it would set my chances of playing football back. (From this vantage point over thirty years later, I now realize that, with my talent, BREATHING would have set me chances back.)

With that in mind, daddy started his letter like this:

Dear Mark:

            Was good to hear from you last night though I detected some anxiety on your part that I didn’t like. Remember what the Apostle Paul said. “Be anxious in nothing etc”. That is easier said than done however so I want to tell you a few secrets.

He did. He went on to write a three page, single-spaced letter. He admonished me on the importance of self-discipline and the organization of one’s time and life. He also reminded me that adversity was inevitable in life.

With that as context, I want to pass along to you the last page of his letter. The letter was informal, so I have edited the punctuation a little to convey to you what he communicated to me.

Daddy’s long gone; he died in 1983. However, I had him for my first twenty-two years of life, and he was a wonderful father. So if you're sitting there as one who did not have such a father, let me share with you mine.

            Mark… [T]his is the fun of the challenge. You can see how hard it is, and, if you do what I tell you or something similar, you will get it down. When you do, it will appear very easy for you and then you start to feeling good about being able to handle so many things well. Next year you will see freshmen going through the same things that you have gone through. Maybe you can then help some of them then because you will be becoming an old pro at time management.

It is said that: Maturity in a leader is the ability to deal with people of widely differing opinion, temperament, and taste without allowing these differences to interfere with the effectiveness of work or the warmth of human acceptance.

I want you to think of Gregg’s feelings also when you are talking in front of him. [Context: In my anxiety about football, I was whining on the phone about possibly getting mono from my roommate—in my roommate’s presence.] Talking about catching mono from him could not make him feel any better. Do your part toward making life easier for him regardless of how you think he treats you. Don’t be selfish toward him—that is don’t try to treat him as he treats you, if that happens to be unlike [the way] you would like for him to treat you. I don’t have any idea what your relationship is like, but I would imagine it gets trying sometimes. Living that close to someone usually does. It is not who is right, but what is right, that is of importance.

Eddie Rickenbacker once said: “To contrive is nothing! To construct is something! To produce is everything!” Charlie Brower said, “Never trust a man who is Dr. Jekyll to those above him and Mr. Hyde to those under him.”

In closing, continue to take care of yourself, but don’t worry too much as that is the worst thing that you could do. And think about the moral to this story:

Ever notice… that when your arms are filled with packages, the sign on the door says, “pull.”

Sigh—relax—enjoy yourself—be kind—

Love, Dad and all

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

1. I got the seven games I was pulling for in the Boston-LA NBA Championship Series. During game 7, I realized I was pulling for Boston to win. Why? I don’t like either Boston or LA. Cmon Mavs!

2. I’m telling you, summer will be over before you know it. I’ll miss it.

3. I have been pleasantly surprised by the play of the U. S. during the World Cup. They might actually advance to the second round.

4. I always love Father’s Day. I like the attention from my family. My gift is getting to watch the U. S. Open—at least until it is time to go preach.

5. Is there any better musical movie theme than that of BATMAN BEGINS? It seethes with drama, and the music subtly makes you aware of the lurking danger of bats.

WWJD--WHSP?

“WHILE waiting for an elevator at the Fair Oaks Mall near her home in Virginia recently, Janice Im, who works in early-childhood development, witnessed a troubling incident between a young boy and his mother.

“The boy, who Ms. Im estimates was about 2 1/2 years old, made repeated attempts to talk to his mother, but she wouldn’t look up from her BlackBerry. ‘He’s like: ‘Mama? Mama? Mama?’’Ms. Im recalled. ‘And then he starts tapping her leg. And she goes: ‘Just wait a second. Just wait a second.’ ’

Finally, he was so frustrated, Ms. Im said, that ‘he goes, ‘Ahhh!’ and tries to bite her leg.’”

Julie Scelfo penned these words for an article last week in the NEW YORK TIMES. The article raises some interesting concerns for me.

You’ve probably heard of WWJD-What Would Jesus Do?

Maybe it’s time to ask a more specific question: WWJD—WHSP? What would Jesus do with His smart phone?

Last November, our family purchased our first cell phone family plan. Judy, our two oldest children, and I all purchased cell phones.

My motives for purchasing were multiple including family communication and ministry to our church. My inspiration came from research I did last year, which revealed to me the plethora of uses a good smart phone could offer. Moreover, the research fully convinced me that younger generations prefer communication by texts instead of email or phone.

Sometimes, your research is off. In this case, the only poor spot in my research’s performance was, it completely undersold the extent to which I would grow to use and depend upon my iPhone. I have made my iPhone my laptop computer. (My laptop computer has become my office computer.)

I use my phone for social networking, texting, personal finance, Bible reading, devotional reading, newspaper reading, magazine reading, pleasure reading (I have both the Barnes and Noble and the Kindle Apps), emailing, dictation, listening to songs, listening to digital books, and, oh, yeah, an occasional phone call.

Evidently, I am not alone. Recent research divulged the startling statistic that people now use their smart phones less for phone calls than for other reasons.

It is for these reasons this article entitled “The Risks of Parenting While Plugged In” has grabbed my attention. I know how easy it is to grab your phone in a spare moment and become totally absorbed by what you are doing.

Recently, MIT completed a five-year study investigating how parental use of technology affects children and young adults. The report found that many children felt hurt, jealous of their parent’s cell phone, and in competition with it for their parents’ attention.

Don’t laugh. Here is one example. Scelfo writes about Laura Scott Wade, who is the director of ethics for a national medical organization in Chicago. Recently, her son, who is three, Lincoln, lost patience with his mother’s repeated promises to get off the computer or cell phone. He now sets the timer on the microwave. Ms. Wade affirms, “… when it dings he’ll say, ‘Come on,’ and he’ll say, ‘Don’t bring your phone.’”

Our society began, a few years ago, the serious discussion of “should people use their cell phones while they drive.” Part of the debate was pondering the question, “What will our kids do with their driving after observing our example?”

Now it is time we put another antenna in the air. After growing up watching us, what will our children do with their smart phones outside of the motor vehicle?

Technology, like any gift, must be used well. It must be utilized; it is an instrument.

Technology, like any gift, can be squandered by little use. However, it can also become an idol through too much use.

Ultimately, the decision is ours.

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

1. Now, in light of what I just wrote, here is the antithesis. Seth Godin is a good observer of popular business culture. This is from his blog last week: “I saw a two-year old kid (in diapers, in a stroller), using an iPod Touch today. Not just looking at it, but browsing menus and interacting. This is a revolution, guys.”

2. This suggestion comes from friend Adrian Woods: Texas, Oklahoma, and Texas A & M join the Southeastern Conference, which promptly secedes from the BCS. They are all the best teams; they can decide the National Championship amongst themselves. Brilliant!

3. My World Cup pick? Brazil.

4. Just bought and started reading the book OPEN LEADERSHIP. It deals with the subject of leadership as impacted by social networking. It’s been really good so far; I look forward to reading more.

5. My blog is going out a little late today because I had the honor of officiating the funeral of Helen Donaldson—the mother of a childhood/high school friend named David Donaldson. She was a remarkable example of how to face life’s tragedies. Cancer and complications from surgery finally ended her life early Friday morning. Blessings on her family.