A Day for the Father

As you all know, today was Father's day here in the U.S. This day was the culmination of an emotional and very prayerful weekend for many in the congregation where I attend church. It began Friday morning when my friend Kerri messaged me through Facebook that one of the elderly members of our church had been involved in a single car accident and that his condition was very critical. What has played out over the past 60 hours has made me realized just how entrenched I am in Christ's kingdom here on earth.

Without going into very much detail I will simply say that when you see a group of people rally around an individual and his family the way that this congregation rallied this weekend to make sure that every need is met, it leaves you speechless. Add on top of that the fact that all who did so kept in mind that God's will is going to be done regardless and the experience leaves you breathless. There were prayers sent to God for comfort, understanding, safety, rest, and even literal parting of the clouds so that this man could be transferred by helicoptor to better care. All of this culminated in an event this morning at church that could only take place in the presence of righteous men.

I have to clarify here that the individual involved in this accident and his wife are like parents to all of us who know them. They are everything a Christian should be. You will never meet two more charitable people in your life. That being said, everyone's hearts were heavy as we gathered to worhsip God as a family this morning. A buzz of the latest updates on his health was prevelant before the worship time began and remarks of his courage and strength were prevelant.

No prayer was said during this time that did not beg the Lord for something that none of us even know how to ask for. Then, the sermon. My father spoke this morning and I can say that there are only a handful of times that I have ever been prouder of him (I love you Dad even though you don't have the internet or a computer and you probably will never read that). My father suggested that our congregation take the time to stop and pray for this beloved man who is like a father to all of us. He suggested that any man want to pray aloud with this congregation and in God's presence that they take this time and do so. As the first two men prayed, a nephew of the gentleman made his way to the front to pray as he kneeled behind the first pew. Well, dad jumped the gun during this man's walk to the front and closed the prayer time. He then proceeded with his lesson about Jonah and fathers (I know, those two don't seem to go together but it was actually very good).

Following the lesson, another of our elders who I know this day is especially hard for as he has had a son die, made way for this nephew to be able to offer his prayer. By the time he was finished, there were only a few dry eyes in the building and there was nothing else left to ask for. I write all this to say this: I can think of no greater honor for our Heavenly Father than to say to God "I have no control over this, I need you to step in, please Father, take this burden and do as you wish." As a father of two small sons, I am so happy that they were able to be a part of this powerful event and I thank God that they could see the helplessness of so many Christians and what it is we do when we don't understand. I was fortunate enough to get to make the final remarks at church tonight prior to leading the closing song. I asked our congregation to not allow ourselves to only rely on God during the bad times but to take the closeness that all of us felt to God on this day and never let it go.

To call this Father's Day a happy one would not be right, but to call it a day for the true Father would be accurate.

My Wife is a Great Mommy

Joy never ceases to amaze me. Joy has managed to remove our sons focus from television and video games and onto things that are actually good for them. Let me tell you what she did.

Joy and I have talked about how problematic it is that our kids (especially the oldest) thinks video games and t.v. from the time he wakes up. We have talked about how to change this and the only thing I could think of is "make" them go outside and play more. The only problem with that is that because one of our sons is a maniac (Luke) one of us has to be outside in the 90+ degree heat with them at all times. So, how can we make the boys think "read and build" when they are inside. Answer: MONEY, but not reward money but rather bartering money. YOU ARE BRILLIANT JOY!!! (Note: if this is someone else's idea and she read it or stole it, I don't want to know, let me bask in the joy of Joy's greatness darn it).

At the start of each day Joy gives Ethan and Luke 50 cents each with the understanding that they can "buy" a television program for 25 cents. That means they both can buy two shows per day and of course they get to watch sports or a movie with Daddy at night. Joy started this program this week and the immediacy of the change in their habits is astounding. Ethan has worked on his reading (he read an entire Magic Tree House book on Tuesday) and Luke is more eager than ever to work on his reading and hand writing for kindergarten this fall. Not only this, but they both are way more selective about what they watch (how many times can you watch the same Sponge Bob episode?). I actually think they are saving money.

I just wanted to brag on my wife. I love you Joy.

Christian Pronouns

Last Wednesday night a member of the Kingsville youth group had a test coming up and she was really worried about it. Of course, whenever people are worried about something they have coming up that is going to test them, the standard to flip to is Phillipians 4:13, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." Here's the funny part, her test was on pronouns which to me was so cool since this verse starts and finishes with a pronoun; "I" being Paul and "me" also Paul.
It turns out that there could be no greater verse in the Bible to do a quick study of pronouns and this study inspired me to write about all of us becomining Christian pronouns.

I can do all things through Christ who stengthens ME

If you are reading this blog post I want you to know that there is nothing that you can not do through Christ. The beauty of the verse in Phillipians 4 is that prior to this great verse, Paul is discussing how he hasn't always had things turn out the way he thought. His point was that he still knows that if it is Christ's will, there is nothing he can not do and no amount of strength needed that Christ will not provide for him. Tell yourself daily that you can most certinaly do anything you want if you do it through Christ.

YOU can do all things through Christ who strengthens YOU

I have faith that you, the person reading this, can do whatever plan Christ has planned for you. Christ will allow us to be tested in this life (1 Thes. 2:4) but never beyond what we can withstand. If you will allow Christ to take over your heart and will search for your resolve and strength in Him, He will provide it. If you meet someone today, remind them of this fact and tell them of the strength that comes from Christ.

WE can do all things through Christ who strengthens US

If you are like me, as you travel this pilgrim land you shake your head daily at the state of the world and its obsecene Godlessness. I have faith that if we, the true Christian soldiers on the Earth, can come together and decide that today is enough and that we are going to show this world the love of Christ, that we can do it. Read my post from yesterday to see one area in which I truly believe Christ is soon to begin doing great work. The New Testament speaks often about the great things that a group of Christians can do so long as they keep obedience to Christ at the center of their efforts. Tell your Christian friends, your congregation, and your family today that WE are going to begin looking to Christ for what he wants US to do as start doing it. Why you ask....?

THEY can do all things through Christ who strengthens THEM

There is a world full of individuals who need to know this message. WE must teach it to THEM. This past year I have been privileged enough to see a great number of people make the decision that they are going to start leaning on Christ and die to their self. The turn arounds in their lives is remarkable and is a testament to the fact that there is nothing anyone can not do once they begin to lean on Jesus (by the way, what a great song "Leaning on Jesus" is). I believe that if YOU will join ME and the rest of US that WE can teach THEM and allow THEM to see that THEY need Jesus as much as the rest of US.

Take note please that there was one noun in that verse that never changed and that never changes. That noun is Christ. If you remove Christ from this verse then you are left with an unintelligible mess. This is already taking place all around us and people are beginning to place other proper names or things in the place of Christ and disguising it as Christianity. We live in a society where people say, "I can do all things through E-Trade who strengthens me," or "through the NFL", "Budweiser", or any number of other things. We must return Christ to this verse. I hope that you will join me and become a Christian pronoun.

Listening for the Whisper

I want to begin this post by giving a great deal of praise to my mighty and wonderful God. He is so powerful and so wonderful and I never fail to be amazed at His ways.

A few months ago a fellow brother in Christ by the name of Jason Jarrett (hey Jason) approached me and wanted to discuss starting a men's ministry in this area. I gave him the usual "oh yeah, great idea, let me know when you do all the work and I will be glad to help" at that time. However, over the next few months I thought about it and thought about as did Jason and we enlisted the help of three other brothers in Christ to help us get this off the ground. Our first meeting with one another to officially begin this men's ministry was last night and it was powerful, spiritually driven, and Christ-centered. I know that God was pleased with our effort. I say all that, to say this. This ministry that we think began on Monday night actually began Sunday night.

Sunday afternoon, Jason, Michael (one of the other "founders") and myself went together and played 18 holes of golf. Yes, you read correctly, three Church of Christ members were playing golf on a Sunday afternoon but I promise you we did not miss our church services. Jason and Michael allow me to come along because I make them look so good but that's another story.

Anyway, as we traveled home that evening (we had about a 40 minute drive) we began to discuss the voice of God and how he talks to us. So often in many denominations we hear "God told me this or that" and many of us look at this with skepticism. We had a great conversation about this and I know that all of us in that car left with a desire to learn more about how God is talking to us. As part of our men's ministry (name yet to be decided, any suggestions?) we were all to prepare a five to ten minute discussion of something that we were struggling with or that we thought would be helpful to the group. I thought I knew what I was gonna speak on until I got out of that car Sunday night and I decided to look further into this whole voice of God idea.

To make a long story short, my studies led me to 1 Kings 19 and the story of Elijah. Here we have Elijah feeling pity for himself because he feels like no one wants to do good and serve God but him and when God finds him he sends Elijah to a mountain and it is here that God shows us all how to know when to hear Him.

1 Kings 19: 11-12

11 Then He said, “Go out, and stand on the mountain before the LORD.” And behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake; 12 and after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice.

As Elijah stands on this mountain waiting for God to show Himself, God allows a fire, strong winds, and an earthquake to affect where Elijah is standing. However, as the text says, God was not in any of these things. What was God's voice, it was a whisper; a whisper that if you finish reading this passage tells Elijah what God wants from him. As we know, from the time that Elijah listened to this whisper, God worked great wonders through Elijah.

How guilty are we of not allowing ourselves to hear God's whisper in our ear? Without getting into a discussion of how the Holy Spirit works, shouldn't we all be satisfied to know that God is whispering in all of our ears. So often we only want to see God in the big things such as fires, earthquakes, and tornadoes. I think about Hurricane Katrina and how some tele-evangelists wanted to say that this was God cleansing this city. Are you kidding me? Did God allow it to happen? Yes. Was God in it? No!

Let's all make sure that we are listening to the whispers of God before they become whimpers or even worse disappear all together. Let's stop dismissing these whispers as random thoughts and never following through. I hear so much complaining about complacency in the church these days. Imagine a church where every member listened to the whispers and acted upon them accordingly. We would have visitors constantly, activities for Christian fellowship every night, and we would always be saying something that one of our brothers or sisters needed to hear (this one especially gets me because a kind word does so much for people).

We are given an example in Hebrews 3 of the Israelites who refused to listen to the whispers and we know about their 40 year plight. The author of Hebrews warns us that to not listen to this voice and OBEY it is sinful and will keep us from reaping our Heavenly reward someday. I talked to the guys in our men's ministry about the fact that this entire year something has been telling me to read and thoroughly study the book of Isaiah. I have put this off and put this off but after that whisper in my ear on Sunday night, I will put it off no more. I am going to be more faithful to listen to the voice of God and I know that there is something in the book of Isaiah that God wants me to read again.

In conclusion, you may be asking how to discern between the Holy Spirit and random thoughts. This is how I see it: Anytime something occurs to you that someone needs something from you and that by sharing this it will not be pleasing to your own flesh (meaning it will take sacrifice on your part, great or small, i.e. stopping what you are doing and making a phone call or praying) that, to me, is the Holy Spirit / God whispering in your ear. We need to start listening and obeying today.

The Strangers

First off, let me say this. If you want to have the poo scared out of you for almost an hour and a half, go see the movie The Strangers. After leaving the theater on Friday night I was literally shaken to the core and I was still looking over my shoulder for boogers Saturday afternoon (that's right, in broad daylight) as I took the trash out. If you don't know, this movie is about a young couple who are terrorized by a group of strangers in their home. The psychological torture that the couple goes through must have made their eventual (SPOILER ALERT) death a welcomed relief.
I have thought about writing something about this movie since I saw it because it had such a profound effect on me. I started out thinking that I would write about how scary it is that people who really take lives in such a way are real and how frightening that is. As I looked deeper into the "true events" that this movie was based on it turns out that there is really a big amount of artistic freedom taken and it is more fiction than fact. Several other ideas crossed my mind but the more I thought about it, the more I have decided that I, and we as Christians, have a great deal in common with the poor couple who was terrorized in this film.
As each day of my life goes by the simpler my list of wants becomes. As of today, all I really want is to serve God, have a Christian family and friends who works to serve the Lord, be part of an active and New Testament church, and to see the youth I am so honored to work with at church grow to adults without being snared by the world. That's it.
There is a stranger at my door though. It is one that I have known in the past and one that I know wants me back because I was darn good at doing what pleased him. Just like the characters in the movie, this stranger wears many masks and although I know the forms I have seen him in I am not naive enough to think that he does not have more masks. This stranger is satan and he is very real. I know what he wants, he wants to take my life. Not my physical life though, my spiritual life as he knows that I have died to my self. 1 Peter 5:8 tells us that Satan is walking around like a lion, waiting for us to slip, doubt, or just give in so that he can devour us. While he uses many ploys and lusts to draw people from Christ, there is one mask that he wears that is most frightening of all; the mask of the Lion.
As our studies show us, we know that Christ was descended from the tribe of Judah. The symbol of the tribe of Judah was that of a lion. Many today like to look at and teach a Christ as the sacrificial lamb that replaced the passover lamb. Christ is this, and this is a fantastic representation of His love. But, what has happened to teaching the Christ who described himself in Matthew 10 as One who is carrying a sword and who will cut off those who do not obey Him and deny themselves? I fear that many have allowed satan to take that mask and not use it, but hide it.
When I talk to many young Christians today they speak of a Christianity that I do not recognize. Sadly, these are the ones who seem to represent the Strangers in my life. Christ demands that we obey Him and we do not have liberty to deviate from the outright obedience in the name of unity, diversity, or even love. Yet, when I am around people who I think are New Testament Christians today I often find myself having my walls shaken, by door knocked on, and being told that although the scripture teaches certain issues, Christ is full of love and he will understand if you mess that little part up. I fully believe this is the work of satan. Satan wants us to feel comfortable in doing what is not fully obedient. Yet, there are those who are under constant attack by satan as he knows what we aim to accomplish in the name of the Lord.
In the movie we are discussing, I know that all the victims of the crime wanted was daybreak and I think the director knew this too as he made it a point to show the viewer when the sun was up. Through the movie you think that if they can just make it to daybreak they will be fine. They did make it through the torture to see the sun one last time but just because the sun had risen that did not make the killers stop their plan. It is the same with us. We serve a risen Son but just because this Son has risen it does not mean that satan has stopped. That to me is the scariest part about this life; that our enemy is one who already knows he has lost the battle but he wants to bring as many of us with him as he can to Hell. I fear that many are being led that way by false teaching or by such a desire for relief from the torture they are already in that they will reach for anything they can get. What am I going to do about it? What are you going to do about it? We must stop letting Christ and his teaching be the stranger and make satan the stranger that he is already damned to be.