Think Different--pt. 2

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

            Bringing Gentiles into the Kingdom had "blown the fuses" of the Jews. The question in the New Testament would prove to be: would it blow the fuses of the New Testament Church? Could the Jewish Christians welcome the Gentile Christians? Could the Jewish Christians place God's agenda over their own preferences? 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 served as missionaries to Argentina. The groom’s dad officiated the ceremony.

One of the things he emphasized was a bride and groom cannot focus on individual happiness in marriage. They cannot obsess with individual wants. Each must focus on Jesus. Jesus’ Kingdom must transcend all things—even the marriage. (“Seek ye first the Kingdom of God…”)

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

            The problem for Israel was that seeking the Kingdom first was not the goal that transcended their lives; their own personal agendas had superseded God’s Kingdom. That led to division and their own destruction.

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

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

            Sometimes these concerned non-negotiables. I Cor. 6:9-11 offers an example of attitudes and morals that could not be compromised. But passages such as Romans 14 and 15 call upon these churches to make decisions that will help build young Christians 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 make decisions that were to help these who were new to the faith, be able to stay in the faith, so that they could be formed by the faith.

            This meant that for some of the questions addressed, Christians had to put aside their personal agendas, their personal preferences, their personal comfort zones, even their personal understandings of 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 have been the one I saw Argentina years ago. We were planting congregations in different 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 our assembly, followed by a Bible study, which was followed by our monthly family meeting.

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

            It was so bad that one of my teammates finally said, “Stop! Let's table this and talk 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 the sermon the next week. He preached out of Philippians chapter two, 1 So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, 2 complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. 3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others….

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

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

            If I can paraphrase an acquaintance paraphrasing Martin Luther King, I have a dream 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 man wearing 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 to sing old songs, alongside a person who is emotionally expressive, alongside a person who is emotionally reserved… and all of these people bringing into the assembly different cultures and different ways of viewing things.

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

           

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

1. Curse you John Feinstein! You came out with another book I cannot put down—One on One. In it, you describe in exquisite detail your behind-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 a book absorbs my attention—please stop writing them.

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

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

4. Yesterday, I preached on Hebrews 2:1, which talks about drifting away from Jesus. I promised my church yesterday I would place a link to the Casting Crowns’ 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 the future. Most stats I see show younger people growing increasingly more pro-life. Someday, I predict, culture will place the stigma on the pro-choice position that it has placed on the old Jim Crow laws.

Go Out There and Fail!

            John Wooden retired because he won too many championships. Let me explain.

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

            People were not designed to win all of the time. Life is about the journey—the pursuit. The Texas Rangers’ loss to the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series reminded me of this.

            Some people 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 less than one a decade.

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

            Dean Smith, for a few years the winningest college basketball coach of all time, won only two championships in over 35 years of coaching.

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

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

            Right now, 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 in that position again.” If they do, they will not have to worry; they will lose.

            I feel 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 the destination. Isn’t this what Hebrews eleven is about?

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

            There is 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 handle constant success. We NEED failure.

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

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

1. Congratulations ETCA girls’ volleyball. You are going to 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 in six games. Still, it was an entertaining series.

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

4. At least we still have the Cowboys. (Guffaw. Guffaw.)

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

The Gift

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

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

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

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

            The little son set the truck down and gave the hospital orderly a great big hug. He thanked him profusely for the gift. Meanwhile, standing behind the windowpane, the father began frantically waving his arms to get his son's attention. The son did not notice. The father cried out, “It's me, son. I made the truck for you. 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 to the 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.”

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

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

            He gives us wonderful wives, and we fall in love with them more than him. He gives us 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!”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

5. Friday, Travis Gilbreath and I depart for Miami for brief trip to study a church. More specifically, we’re observing the role the preaching ministry plays in a growing, multi-cultural church. The preacher’s name is Rick Blackwood. He wrote the book THE POWER OF MULTI-SENSORY PREACHING a 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 and biblical. I have been attempting to engage in it the past few years and am very pleased with where we are.

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

My Opinion: LOVE WINS by Rob Bell

(I had to edit this post--again! I could not live with myself without doing so. 

Sorry: April 20, 2011)

             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 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. J) 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.

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

1. Two good games in the men’s Final Four on Saturday. I’m sticking with my prediction of Connecticut to win the National Championship tonight.

2. Two fantastic girls’ games last night. Way to go A & M! I’m picking the Aggies on Tuesday night.

3. Way to go Texas Rangers—way to sweep the Red Sox!

4. I think GLEE is channeling humanity’s deep, instinctive desire for community, love, and acceptance. It offers a watered down imitation of the experience church should offer.

5. I’m finishing up the book MOON SHOT by former Mercury Astronauts Alan Shepherd and Deke Slayton.  A great read about the NASA space program—through Apollo. I saw the documentary years ago in Argentina; it was good too.

Preparing for Launch

            Last Thursday evening, I took Haleigh on a trip to Harding University in Searcy, Arkansas. She and I had never taken a trip together before.

            Her sister, Abby, and I have (one of the few things Abby experienced before Haleigh.) A few years ago, I took Abby to Houston, to NASA, for a workshop for Homeschool kids.

            Haleigh was going primarily to try out for Harding’s volleyball team on Friday afternoon. Haleigh was going to stay with Kelli Mott, one of our Shiloh Road graduates, in one of the girls’ dorms. We arrived so late on Thursday night that Haleigh missed the dorm curfew. She had to stay with me at the local Hampton Inn.

            Friday morning, I dropped Haleigh off at the dorm, and with the exception of taking her to the tryout, saw very little of her. She attended some of Kelli’s classes and met some of Kelli’s friends.

            On the way up, I told Haleigh that one of my parents’ strengths was to never be overbearing. I can only remember them visiting me at college a handful of times, but each time they did, they made sure to give me space and not make me feel I had to entertain them every moment of the weekend. (Franklin Roosevelt’s mom moved into an apartment with him at Harvard. Egad!)  I told Haleigh I want to do the same for my kids.

            Friday, I met with someone from the financial aid office, dropped by and visited my old Argentina teammate, Bill Richardson, and I checked out the Harding campus. (It had been eleven years since I had been there.)

            Friday night, one of Kelli’s roommates managed to scrounge up a ticket for Haleigh to join several of them for a performance of the musical THROROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE. I know this will sound sad for some of you, but I arrived at my hotel room Friday evening, at six o’clock, and never left the room. For me, it was actually bliss. Living in a family of six, I cannot remember the last time I had so much time to myself in peace and quiet.

            I had stuck into the Suburban a couple of sacks of books I picked up at the Doctors’ wives’ book sale on Thursday. I spent the entire evening working through the sacks. I had so much fun—I never turned the TV on. I went to sleep about eleven and got me a good night’s sleep.

            We left for home on Saturday morning. On the way back, we stopped in Little Rock at the Bill Clinton Presidential Museum.

            In Friday’s tryout, Haleigh had sprained her ankle during a volleyball game with other high school students and the Harding volleyball team, but she did not tell anyone until she told me on Saturday morning. I asked her if she would rather drive on home, but she said she would rather tour the museums. This is the first president Haleigh can remember, so she wanted to see the exhibits. She put on her boots and toughed it out.

            (That night, Judy about pinched my ears off when she saw Haleigh’s ankle; it had swollen to the size of an orange. Don’t tell her basketball coach about this.)

            While in Little Rock, Haleigh and I had lunch at a classy restaurant. Then it was back on the road.

            Haleigh and I had a total of twelve hours in the Suburban together. We talked a lot, listened to a lot of music, she slept some, and we listened to Drew Brees' new book on CD. (Her choice—I had brought it to listen to when she was asleep.)

            I felt interesting emotions Friday on the Harding campus. Even though it has been thirty years since I was an undergraduate, I can still remember those days clearly. Now I am watching my oldest preparing to launch the second phase of her life. This seems real, and this seems right.

            Driving home, a voice in my mind put words to my feelings. For a long time, I have been thinking about Haleigh launching into a new phase of her life. Saturday evening, that voice told me I was launching into a new phase as well.

The Luckiest Man on Earth

            Incidentally, on the aforementioned Friday evening, I had a chance to read from my recently purchased copy of Luckiest Man: The Life and Death of Lou Gehrig by Jonathan Eig. I had always heard about the famous speech Gehrig made as a dying man, “Today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of this Earth…” I had never read the extensive context to that story.

            Gehrig began the 1939 season playing horribly. Everyone noticed this in spring training. Gehrig himself thought he would play himself out of it. Instead, he grew worse.

            A few games into the season, Gehrig made a routine play at first to make the third out of an inning. When he arrived at the bench, several players congratulated him for his play.

            That night, Gehrig grew more and more disturbed. Had it come to this? Had his quality of play fallen so low that his teammates felt compelled to compliment him so profusely for a normal play?

            The next morning, Gehrig approached his manager, Joe McCartney, and asked to remain on the bench, “for the good of the team.”

            That afternoon, Lou Gehrig missed his first ballgame since 1925. The story was national news.

            Of course, as you know, Gehrig traveled a few days later to the Mayo Clinic, where he was diagnosed with the disease that would later bear his name. The New York Yankees organized a special day honoring him. The ceremony took place between games of a doubleheader with the Washington Senators.

            The Yankees brought in old teammates including Babe Ruth. Gifts were showered upon Gehrig, including one from the archrival, New York Giants.

            Finally, all the speeches were made and the throng that filled Yankee stadium began calling upon Gehrig to speak. But he was too overcome. Overwhelmed by kindness, Gehrig stood to the side, weeping.

            After it became obvious Gehrig was unable to respond, workers began to dismantle the microphones at home plate. Then Joe McCarthy walked over to Gehrig. Whispering in his ear, the manager gently coaxed him to say a few words.

            That was when Gehrig strode to the microphones, and, head down, uttered these words, “Fans, for the past two weeks you have been reading about the bad break I got. Yet today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of this earth.” What I did not realize was that he went on to offer a brief, gracious speech, thanking various groups and individuals, before saying his final words, “So I close in saying that I may have had a tough break, but I have an awful lot to live for.”

            I’ve got to tell you, I was crying reading this account. You talk about feeling silly. Here I am, in a hotel room, reading about something that occurred over seventy years ago, and I am crying like it is happening in real time! (Who knows, maybe my emotion was a “Freudian” response to Haleigh’s visit at Harding.)

            Good stuff from Jonathon Eig.

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

1. Here’s what I want for Christmas: a TCU vs. Oregon matchup for the National Championship—an awesome defense versus an incredible offense.

2. I am happy with the Ranger season, but I can’t get out of my mind what happened to the Mavs. They came so close to defeating the Heat. They’ve never been back to the Finals again.

3. Haleigh and I have listened to almost four CDs of Drew Brees’ new book, COMING BACK STRONGER. So far, we have both been struck by Brees’ faith in God. Neither of us knew his faith was as extensive as it is. Tyndale House, which published the book, is a religious publishing company. This is a religious book.

            It is also inspiring. He has faced much adversity. I was glad Haleigh got to listen to it before she arrived to her tryout. I think it put her in a good and realistic frame of mind.

            We cannot wait to finish the book.

4. I think it is naïve to believe we will ever have bipartisanship in our Federal government. And this may be a good thing.

5. I tried something called Ethiopian coffee last Saturday. I found it to have a decent taste with no coffee bitterness. Not bad.

How To Pray

Matthew 6:9-13 is often called “The Lord’s Prayer.” Actually, as many in Christian history have noted, “The Lord’s Prayer” is probably the prayer Jesus prays in John 17. We can think of the prayer on the Sermon on the Mount as “The Disciples’ Prayer.”

This prayer has assisted me in my prayer life on and off for over 30 years. There are many nuggets here, rich in spiritual content, which give us insight into God and into people.

I like acronyms. I know there a lot of acronyms out there for assisting people in their prayer lives. Let me give you another based upon “The Disciples’ Prayer.” It's longer than most, I know, but my hope is you will find this a help.

So, without further a due, here is how to pray:

9You should pray like this: Our Father in heaven, help us to honor your name.10Come and set up your kingdom, so that everyone on earth will obey you, as you are obeyed in heaven. 11Give us our food for today. 12Forgive us for doing wrong, as we forgive others. 13Keep us from being tempted and protect us from evil. CEV

Deference… to God

Invite… God into the world

Sovereign… may God be Supreme Ruler on earth as in heaven

Comply… with the will of God

Implore… God to meet my needs

Pardon… others as God has pardoned me

Lead… me from temptation

Extract… me from evil

Defer. God is holy; he is sanctified; he is set apart. He is the One who, when Isaiah caught just a glimpse of His glory, was moved to proclaim that he was a man of unclean lips. When you pray, you begin by giving God glory.

Invite. This world would be a better world if God were more fully involved in it. God will not force himself into person’s life. He allows us the freedom to invite Him in.

Sovereign. God reigns in heaven. In heaven, there is no doubt who is king. May those of us on earth offer the same recognition to God that all of the beings in heaven do.

Comply. We are called to submit to the will of God. Again, in heaven, no doubt exists as to whose will, will be done. There is only one “will” in heaven. On Earth, there are roughly 6.8 billion “wills”—and counting. We pray that only one will exist on earth–God’s.

Implore. It is hard to pray for God to meet our needs when we have a pantry full of food. Yet, we should remember the biblical reminder that God traditionally taught his people to look to him, each day, for sustenance. That was all they could count on. Tomorrow would take care of itself.

Lead. We so often desire to be tempted. We often enjoy the titillation. Jesus encourages us to pray to God that He will lead us away from temptation. Our will should assert in prayer that we wish to not even get close to sin.

Extract. When Jesus led his disciples in prayer, he modeled for us a prayer that asks God to deliver us from evil. If we desire to be like Jesus, we pray to God that he will lead us away from temptation and deliver us from the impact of the work of the devil. In doing so, we become more like Jesus, which helps us fulfill our humanity.

I think it is not a coincidence that the root of the word “discipline” is the word disciple. Disciples are followers. We are certainly followers of Jesus. We desire to discipline ourselves to be what He would have us to be. Part of this discipline is the discipline of prayer. May we pray faithfully, and may God bless us as we pray.

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

1. If you find many errors today, don’t blame my usual editor, Sherry Bobbitt. She is out today due to an injury and hopes to return tomorrow. I REALLY hope she returns tomorrow.

2. We had something happen in our AM worship service yesterday that I am sure gratified Chuck Munoz, our worship leader. He led us in the singing of “There’s a Stirring,” which is definitely a stirring song. I was watching the audience; beginning at the back and moving to the front, people were so moved they began to stand as we sang the words “rise up.” Definitely a beautiful moment.  

3. Jerry Jones is a true visionary when it comes to the business side of football. And, as an owner, I have only one criticism: he needs to fire his general manager. Over the years, his general manager has made terrible personnel decisions and, occasionally, poor coaching hires. The day Jerry Jones fires his general manager—Jerry Jones—and turns the reins over to his son, Stephen, will be a better day for the franchise. Stephen may prove to be a poor choice, but he will be better than his dad.

4. The BCS is un-American. It is the weak attempt of university presidents and football coaches to be like old Europe—to advance, you’ve got to have the right blood. Sorry, Boise State and TCU, merit has nothing to do with your chances to succeed.

5. Who do I like tonight in Game 5 of the World Series? Loyalty motivates me to select Cliff Lee and Texas. However, I really wish I had the religious acumen to perform an exorcism on the Ranger bats.