WHAT SHALL WE PREACH AGAIN TODAY?

What shall we preachers step up and say today?  What hasn't been said a hundred times?  A thousand?  Ten thousand?

What hasn't been said is life for the moment; Jesus the perpetually resurrected Lamb.

Ears will never tire of hearing the message of success found in failure, endurance found in struggle and, most of all, life found in death.  As much as we have heard this about Jesus it is still new-s.

What shall we preach again today?  The Word of God in all of is backward accuracy and its upside down fascination.  We will learn again to give in order to keep and to die in order to live.

My friends, when we step into that pulpit today, I don't know about you; but I will be afraid.  I can't wait to get there and fear getting there.  I'm given grace when I hear Paul reference that he was with them in much fear and trembling.

Afraid of God?

Afraid of the people?

Afraid of the message?

I think he was afraid of himself.  He knew himself to be far to weak for the task. Surely God would chose someone better equipped.

But not the case.

Not the case with Paul and not the case with me....and not the case with you.  If we are in sync with the Spirit of God, we are filled with delight and fear.  Enthusiasm and intimidation are worn on our sleeves.   We are thrilled we get to be the preacher and scared we will miss the connection between Him and them.

What shall we preach again today?  Vibrant hope in Jesus who once was deader than a door-nail and now lives so that we too might see His glory day by day.

Don't hold back!

NEVER DEAD TO OURSELVES

We are to be put to death; dead to our sins and dead to our flesh.  But we are to live; robustly and wonderfully!

The "ourselves" are to be alive...very much alive in Christ!

Our lives are to be exaggerated in wonder, in sacrifice, in beauty, in persecution, in celebration for we live a resurrected life!  Love right now; every right now that is right now.  Let nothing set you back but what isn't beneficial to the kingdom when enduring setback.

How many times one can look across the faces of the gathered and there is not a showing of we just won the lottery!!!!  Sometimes it appears more like oh I just hate it when we sing this song.

Every day is a new Today and every one of those new todays is loaded with the fullness of God...Eph. 3:19.

I visited with a brother this week whose feet hurt and his shoulder is separated and on the dismality went. He is always down and out; poor me-ism has him by the throat.  Yet a lot of people have feet which hurt; some have no feet at all.  Others have shoulders separated while children have parents separated.

Ours is surely not to deny our stresses; but to give them to God's care.  Whether Paul was in prison or a free man, he was still singing.

Keep singing!  Keep smiling!  Keep believing!  God makes a difference.  May our hearts burst in wonder at every occasion for God is aware of a tomb with His own Son while also aware the third day was coming!

The ourselves of us is bravely and courageously alive!  May we notify our faces!!!

WHY DO THINGS GO WRONG WHEN WE TRY TO BE SO RIGHT?

Let me guess.  Lately you seem to have more days where you are worn down and out than up and in? Ummm, I wondered.  Me, too.

Why do things seem to go so wrong when our only intent is to get so many things done right?  What's up with disappointment, with discouragement, and with failure?

Is there hope of breaking this mold?

Yes.

But in my case, and I wonder about yours, the process doesn't seem to take Easy Street the way I had it figured in my mind.

Why things go wrong is to break us from our stubborn and self-sufficient independence.  The most of us reading this are steeped in American culture which can include a pride in independence.  We are movers and shakers.  We expect to get results.

Yet the kingdom lifestyle is dependent upon a King.  He requests and requires our submission.  We don't do submission well.  It bugs us.  Give us enough time and we can accomplish most anything.

So God gives us time; time to fail, time to try again, time to whine and complain, time to blame, and time to finally reach the end of our ropes.  At last we get it; our righteousness is not a self one but a Saviored one.

I get very discouraged with me.  I feel younger; not older.  I like my church role better; not less.  But I get so frustrated that I am this age and so useless, ignorant, and disoriented.  The more I read about God from His Word or from words of other authors, the more I realize how less I am....which is precisely His pattern.  But I don't enjoy the feeling of realizing how little I am.

I had hoped that by this time I would have become rather big!

When things don't go right, stop.  Observe.  Detect.  Most likely great lessons of the King are within reach. See them.  Accept them.  Use them.  And then be a blessing to Him and others because you have learned again the value of decreasing that He might increase.

Why do things go so wrong?  We are slow learners.  We require repeat frustrations because we tend to not learn the first or second time around.  He alone can give us an abundant life which would be much more than the one we would have provided from our own intellect and skill.

Try to relax.  Turn the stresses of life into classrooms on how to depend on God more.

THE GREATER HEIST OF FAITH

There is a sin which quietly moves with great strength among us while remaining hidden throughout its term.  I speak of doing God's work according to the natural.  This is a very slippery topic because once we are embedded into the spiritual this becomes a new line of natural as well.

The problem is that if locked into the fleshly, the flesh regards and promotes those as spiritual when they are not. They are man-made rules simply called spiritual.

Thus, the great strain as well as the greater heist of faith.

Being aware of my own severe inadequacies, may I run ideas by you which might awaken to permit the hand of God to become freer in and for our own walk?

The flesh is bossy.  It insists it is right and it is the only one right.  Therefore, the flesh makes up rules (laws) as to how things will go and what combination will produce.

On the other hand, the spirit is willing to yield to the bossiness of the flesh.  Like God, it will wait in the wings ready to break in when given permission.

By the flesh, we constantly block the hand of God.  The flesh prays little because it believes in its own ability. The flesh makes meager financial contribution because is has high regard for its economical astuteness.  The flesh reads very little of the Word because it gets that do this to go to heaven stuff; but has bigger fish to fry for now; like raising kids and holding down a job.

When one opens to the provision of God, the flesh yields to the spirit world and the hand of God then opens to display incredible opportunity.  One becomes open to prayer, to giving, to study and an assortment of new avenues because there is confidence in the Holy Spirit rather than man's controlling rules.

May we unlock the closed hand of God.  May we dare walk into the spiritual arena which holds no explanation; only mystery.

The WOW factor of God is always, everyday, and constant.  Let us live there!

HAVE WE GROWN TO OVERLOOK SIN?

Whether we have grown to overlook sin would possibly depend on a couple of elements: (1) is it a personal sin with us, and (2) do I sense the personal guilt?

(1)  We have a knack of discounting our own sinfulness while elevating one's sin which we would never find the slightest temptation.

(2)  We also can develop inclination to dismiss my personal sin as rather average or low-grade of which we intend to get a handle on it sometime in the future.  Efforts for self-correction are accepted because relapses just happen to the sincere like myself.

Simultaneously, we tend to elevate the sin of another which is different than ours.  The church has practiced this for as long as I have been around.  Sighs of disbelief over another's sin often come from the smug and the proud who would never commit such an atrocity; yet the smug and the proud is found rejectable by Jesus.

Have we grown to overlook sin?  Yes and no.  We still see another's sin as blatant.  Our own, however, we tend to discount as not trying hard enough.  We vow to do better.

Could it be the deepest sin is to fail at both of the above?  To be filled with scorn toward another for their failure and yet excuse our own horrible missteps surely is to have participated in a miscarriage of the Good News.

His admonition will forever ring with precision.  Once we remove the log from our own eyes we will see the specks in others.  The Cross always has a message.  Excruciatingly, the Son of God bled for all sins for there was not one sin that was not devastating.

May we each keep our own forgiveness from destructive sinfulness in the forefront and then gather as many as we can---sinner after obnoxious sinner---at the foot of His 70 x 7 Cross.

ON THE EDGE OF MY SEAT TO KEEP YOU ON THE EDGE OF YOURS

Preachers are just a most unique and unusual sort.  One of the reasons I vowed as a kid growing up in my little Presbyterian church that I would never be a preacher is our guy seemed so dull.  To me he caused church to follow those boring steps.  I had two main questions when it came to Sunday mornings; Do I have to go? and How soon will it all be over?

However, now that I am one, nothing has changed as far as sensing the importance of biblical presentations.  Guys in my shoes are constantly called to look and be alive because we are ambassadors for the Great Liver!  We must not communicate that God is irrelevant and the Word is much to do about nothing.

Jesus offers us ABUNDANT LIFE.  I say let's dig in!

Watch Jesus.  Ponder him.  Study his moves.

Jesus cut against the grain of everything including dull and deadening religion.  Truthfully, he gave church leaders the most trouble.  Sinners, he loved.  Leaders who seemed to have forgotten they were too sinners, he baffled.

Jesus led a life of risk, loneliness, and danger.  He keeps us on the edge of our seats because he seems to never function according to assumed reasonable script.

Communities don't want to know churches who are keeping house.  They want to know if anyone can break the cemetery code.  One can.  One did.  One does.  One will.

I live in the church on the edge of my seat just wondering what he might be doing next.  Try to chart God and you'll fail.  Seek to explain Jesus and you'll turn onto an avenue of complete surprise.  Take a stab at putting Holy Spirit lingo into English concepts and you'll wonderfully throw up your hands in frustration.

Preachers, we might out to let God keep us on the edge of our seats so that those who listen might remain on the edge of theirs.

STAY AWAKE

When one becomes fatigued, it is both a threat as well as hindrance to try to keep moving forward.  Should the weariness continue even danger may lurk.

Within the church borders familiarity can cause a slumber to develop.  Similar danger is poised.

We must awaken!

Routine and tradition can become so normal that we can walk the walk and talk the talk in our sleep....without even thinking about where we are going, what we are saying, or what we are doing.

The danger?

We grow numb to the Wonder of it all!

Wake up!

Smell more than the coffee and the roses.  Realize.  Realize the thrill of eyes that see color and ears which hear pitch.  Celebrate the steadiness of friends and the purpose of living.

Don't dare go through your marvelous day without telling God a hearty thank you for letting you get to be you!

We are miracles living in the land of miracles.  Think like it, act like it, and smile like it!

A GOD-SECRET ABOUT THOSE WE CALL "BIG"

You know what I mean, don't you, when I reference those we know as big?  These, in our estimation, have made it to the top.  From Max Lucado to Beth Moore to Ricks Atchley and Warren to Andy Stanley, we perceive these as nearly unreachable both in relationship as well as talent.

These seem to be the cream-of-the-crop with God-blessed destiny.  We treasure their teachings, their walks, and their well-known successes.  Off in a private corner we somehow believe if we had the breaks these did, we too would be somebodies.

Yet, there is a huge God-secret about each.  Power is perfected in weakness.  If any of these five (and you have your own list) were trying to do their work from political schemery, we would smell it out.  The authentic always have one thing in common--the God-secret--each is nothing but sheer and unglorified weakness.

Not that we are adequate in ourselves for our adequacy is from God, insisted Paul, is the God-secret about them.....and you....and me!  Nothing more!  Our problem, as was expressed to young Timothy, is that we have tried for formulate what will work but have denied His power; the Holy Spirit.

Power is perfected in weakness, speaks consistent Paul,  for when I am weak, then I am strong.

Weird aren't we?  Weakness is the last thing we want and is the only thing that leads to the strength we wish we possessed.  God.  God is up to His usual baffleistic moves that one will either enter by faith or will not enter at all.  No one would believe this theme from education nor from robust research.

The bulb only works if the power is on.  The believer's only effectivity is truly the same.  We have spent far too much time trying to make our churches, our ministries, and ourselves powerful.  Yet, we continually seek such in the latest publication or hottest DVD.

Power, however, is only found in the Holy Spirit and the Word insists we have denied Him.

Terry, we have heard you say this before.  And, I intend to continue to say it for the global church is effective when connected to the power and exhausted when not.  Regardless of knowing this truth, ministry is just too tempting to take the bull by the horns and throw in our muscle; more form and no power.

The God-secret about those we call big?  They are big and honorable because through their availed weaknesses they allow the Spirit of God to shine....very brightly!

May you and I have the humility to do the same!!

WE LIVE IN A VERY DANGEROUS STORY

Kiddie cars are cute.  Ballerina outfits are the theme for many little girls.  Somewhere along the way both are discarded for bigger cars and cuter dresses.  Maturity happens.

There may be a maturity factor lacking in the church which simply needs a bit of attention.  I speak of the story of God and where we fit in.

Faith is the most exciting element of any walk.  It puts the motion to meaning and purpose.  While it can't see with eyes of the head; it has even better vision due to eyes of the heart.  The believing system isn't available so that one can go to heaven when he or she dies.  It is to maneuver through a treacherous obstacle course called life.

I don't think we get it.  We live in God's story which actually includes great danger.  Why, then, do we raise our kiddie car/ballerina children with very little preparation for significant danger....in the church....as an adult?  God's story is a most dangerous one.

God's dangerous story is one that is trying to awaken us from slumber of the routine.  John Eldredge abruptly points out, Notice that those who have tried to wake us up to this reality were usually killed for it: the prophets, Jesus, Stephen, Paul, most of the disciples, in fact.  Has it ever occurred to you that someone was trying to shut them up?

God's call is for our hearts to enter a very dangerous story.  The Cross isn't just an inspiration for a song.  It is a means of death to ourselves.  The Word issues the concept of dailiness attached.

Safety at all costs in the church is anti-scriptural.  Risk.  Bravery.  Endurance.  Death with confidence in His resurrection power is what we are about.

You and me....we live in a very dangerous story.  Think on these things.

ARIEL CASTRO FOUND HANGED IN OHIO CELL

Fifty-three year old Ariel Castro had been convicted of severely abusing three women as hostages for over a decade.  Found guilty and to serve the rest of his life in prison, Castro took his own life overnight.

His crimes are atrocious to the extent that much of society will breathe a sigh of good riddance.

But, not so fast.

We have such a knack of underlooking (thoroughly inspecting as a car upon a rack) another's blatant sins while overlooking our own.  We seem to look at another with the comment of how awful.  

If I understand Hebrews 2:14-18 correctly, Jesus was devotedly attentive to Ariel Castro to the extent he would be pre-executed for his sins.  I believe the Word says (Hebrews 4:14-16) that Jesus was sympathetic. Such perspective does not condone sin.  Rather, it empathizes with the sinner.

Jesus saves is not a banner for church lawns.  It is the hope of the lost; Ariel Castro and me.

In no way am I supportive of Castro's sinful actions.  Excuses don't belong.

Yet, I must ask us to probe important matters.  Who neglected him in school?  A teacher in third grade?  A volunteer coach?  A bus driver?  An Aunt?  Dad?

This man arose from the dust of handed-down-since-Adam sin.  On his own he chose to be the man he was; but he also had incredible and distinctive influence which abounded from The Garden.  We must, I believe, drop our churchy inclination to bemoan such a behavior when we unconsciously dismiss our own neglectfulness.

It is very possible we may be neglecting the little boy who lives across the street.   I would remind us to see him as more than a little one who pedals his tricycle up and down our sidewalks.  He will grow up to partake in a future community.  We can make a difference today for his neighborhood of tomorrow.

I desire to awaken us to the active world around us.  Before Ariel Castro reached the sad fate of last evening, he was once a toddler and then a little boy, and then a young man.  It matters that people like him (us) be noticed and drawn into the loveliness of Jesus.

Reach, my friends.  Reach now.  Attendance drives, VBSs, Back to School Blasts; all have the potential of taking future Ariel Castro's into an entirely rerouted direction.

Everybody counts.  Everyone matters.  There are no exceptions.

Little children grow up to be big people who suffer from the quagmire of sin.  They need not our criticism; but our sympathy.  And like Jesus, sympathy has an outstretched arm.

Jesus saves.

MINISTRY IS A CONTEST.

Oh to be like him....we often sang.

Uh, I don't know that for sure about me...about us.  To be like him from our phraseology tends to run up beside handy and useful as if we are on an early morning jog.  To be like Jesus must become more of a walk along Calvary's path.

Ministry is a contest.  It isn't a matter of winning; but a matter of finishing...who will finish?

Suffering and struggle are to be dominant.  Joy and celebration are to be worshipfully engaging as well.  To be like him, oh to be like him, will always be a new way for a new day.

Let's look at Jesus again:

1. He began ministry quite lonely in the woods to fast and pray.
2. He was targeted by the legalists.
3. He was intentionally trapped by the opposition.
4. He was disrespected.
5. He was doubted.
6. He was despised.
7. He was rejected.
8. He was betrayed.
9. He was misrepresented.
10. He was often alone.
11. His colleagues didn't understand him.
12. He was publicly challenged, beaten, and executed.
13. One of the twelve turned him in.
14. The remaining ones scattered at his death bewildered and stumped....and disappointed.

Jesus didn't seem to be the Rock Star I wished to be when entering ministry.  Yet, I will encourage the young just getting started....hang in there and let the tar be beaten out of you....and you will love ministry!  

Rock Stars we are not called to be.  

Following the Rock?  Absolutely!

SPEAKING SYRIA-OUSLY

Tiny Israel is poised once again by extreme threat.  The Middle East in upheaval within country after country continues to surround this small land once inhabited by Jesus.

The news from the East flows as well toward our land.  Trouble.  Confusion.  Tactical approach is up for grabs.  Syria demands this week's headlines.  Distress times mess looms large for both the Mid-East and America.

As little as Israel is, we might do well to speak Syria-ously about another region in this great big world.  I reference the territory known as the individual created and loved by God.

Individuals are under tremendous threat.

There is valiant need for ministry by each of us to both protect and defend others.  People are targeted by more than nerve gas.  We are targeted by discouraging words, disappointing news, and dilapidated circumstances.  We are as Israel surrounded by ego-maniacs and erratic missiles intending to do damage to the person.

Heavy artillery is incoming in places while strongly rumored in others.

As nations bully other nations; individuals oppress individuals.  The threat of war is great.  The approach to handle such danger is a front-burner agenda....everyday.

If we are going to speak Syria-ously about the day's routine, our speech must communicate personal support, leadership, sensitivity, and intense love for these potential victims.  The enemy is poised to strike. We must be alert to defend.

May we be equipped for the daily battle of preserving life in the hearts of men, women, and children.  Some have been hit.  We must Syria-ously help as well as defend.

SWIMMING AT THE SHALLOW END OF THE MINISTRY POOL?

My experience in Kingdom Life is we each lean toward a certain facet of church productivity.  It may mean teaching a Ladies Class on Tuesday mornings or directing a Food Pantry or teaching one-on-one Bible studies in the neighborhood.  All are noble.

Simultaneously, there seems to be a consistent trend that while one is engaged in his or her forte', there seems to be a natural criticism flow toward others who are not as intrigued by "our" sense of gifted direction.

Among us are the Big Dogs, the Driven Dogs, the What's Happening Now Dogs, and the What? Dogs.

My observation is that most of us are merely swimming at the shallow end of the ministry pool regardless of which sled we pull.

• Those devoted to doctrinal purity tend to become self-righteous.
• Those devoted to educational intricacies must be careful not to miss Jesus during personal infatuation.
• Those devoted to winning souls one on one may be operating more toward a sales percentage of cold calls than with the partnership of the Holy Spirit.
• Those devoted to the latest and greatest worship fad may have made an idol rather than loving God.
• Those devoted to writing blog posts....well, I didn't need to get personal...may be wanting recognition more than wishing to inspire a hurting sort.

How would one know if we are serving from the shallow end of the ministry pool?  One way we can tell is if we spend much of our time critical of another's devotion more than giving attention to our own development in the Holy Spirit work of God.

HOW SHALL WE STAND AGAINST SIN WITHOUT OBLITERATING THE SINNER?

We continue to struggle in a most basic area.  I would add that if you aren't wrestling with it then you might want to take heart-inventory for possibly you should be.  I speak of sin, the sinful, and the church that encounters both.

The world news is having a heyday reporting of a Church of Christ in Tennessee that has disciplined a member who stands beside her lesbian daughter.  Media seems to get a high when it has opportunity to church-bash.

What and how that particular congregation chooses to deal with their issues is surely and appropriately their call.  However, such a move sets the stage for an important consideration about sin and sinners.

I have experienced times when our congregation disfellowshipped some; usually because they no longer attended church. It just happened that none making such a decision were guilty of the same.  Stubborn unbelief, American greed, dangerous lust, and judgmental divisiveness were never marks which needed in-front-of-the-church correction for much of it, coincidentally, also lived within several of us leaders.

It seems both absurd and ironic that to any of the above charges we would give a shrug by saying, We were born this way.  Thus my/our hypocrisy.  And the world loves to parade our hypocrisy.

Yet sin is sin and it is grievous.   We have not surrendered the grievousness of others' sin; but we have our own.  The problem with the church picture is we do not take our own lusts, greed, and self-serving seriously.

What is the answer?

It is not to be found in formula nor equation.  It is only found in the Son of God.

Jesus dealt with sin and sinner.  He became the sin that the sinner might be set free.  Our call is to stand in the sinner's place by being executed upon our own cross for his or her sin.  This is the only way we were healed and the only way they will be healed.

When we accepted Jesus' rescue he did not hand us a diploma; but asked us to lean upon a new world-evangelism tool.  That tool is a cross.  It is to be used to save lesbians and thieves and elders and preachers and Sunday School teachers.

A quote that came from one observing the Tennessee situation says, We must make a strong stand on this issue for the sake of our families and our nation.  This is THE issue of the next generation.  We can't let them down.  We must lovingly fight sin.

THE issue of the the next generation is not same sex-attraction.  It is the same THE ISSUE which has always been since the garden; the self-attraction.  We are all a dilapidated, ugly mess.  All of us.  Jesus would fight sin and fight for the sinner.  He did it by dying to himself that others might live.  

Ours....our call is to take up our crosses and die for the repulsive sinner....for such already happened for us when we wore similar garments.  

Where are we....how are we to stand?  

We are not to stand.  We are to hang. 

ARE WE SET FOR WORLD CALAMITY?

The news out of Syria isn't good.  It hasn't been good from pockets of the Middle East for quite some time. We appear to be poised for yet another war.

Before we brace for adjacent attacks upon American entities which might include some upon American soil, I would ask if we believers are also poised for possible hostile circumstances.

We must be ready.

We must be prepared to do our best work.

Do the words poor, helpless, and downtrodden ring a bell?  All calamities produce these three zones.

Uprooted, people enter into days of franticism and nights of terror.  These are poor, helpless, and downtrodden.  And truthfully, we don't need a new war to birth such extreme standards; they are already present.

We have immediate connection due to the nature of the Kingdom of God.  We live to assist, to revive, and to resurrect.  Ours is the mission of Jesus.  And, His mission is within this terrain of deep need.

I like Henri Nouwen's observation; there is connection with the blessing given by God and the blessing given by the poor.  Blessed are the poor in spirit seems to be the opening line of His many public speeches.

Let not fear intimidate.  Rather let mission ignite.

Life isn't about whether one is safe.  It is about the heartbeat of Jesus in the center of each dilemma and disorienting circumstance.  Ours is not to flea in cowardice but to move forward into heroic warfare to benefit the riches known as the poor.

Always hope.  Never shrug with indifference.  Refrain from fear.

Jesus is the Life and Solution to all conflict.  By spiritual nature we are to be set for grand and glorious response when calamity is presented.

WHEN GOD CALLS AND FRIENDS DIDN'T HEAR HIM

In the life of faith the pressure of forethought is transferred to God by the faith which fulfills His behests: we have faith in God's accountable rationality, not in our own.  If we have never heard the call of God, all we see is the accountability that we can state to ourselves.  Practical work is nearly always a determination to think for ourselves, to take the pressure of forethought on ourselves: I see the need; therefore I must do something.  That is not the effectual call of God, but the call of our sympathy with conditions as we see them.  When God's call comes, we learn to do actively what He tells us and take no thought for the morrow.  Take a step of faith in God, and your rational friends will say: "Very beautiful, but suppose we all did it!" 

As I read this Oswald Chambers quote this morning, wow ran through my veins.  I've encountered two major calls of God in my time; (1) to pack up family and few belongings in a U-Haul and venture off to preaching school in Dallas, and (2) to pack up family and few belongings in a U-Haul and move to Memorial Drive in Tulsa.

I truly sensed His call for both; yet there is no rational conversation nor explanation to how one knows such is a call from God.  Chambers' last sentence is stunning.  Those were the words used with intent to halt my course....by very dear friends....for both moves.

Finding ministers is a perpetual church opportunity.  A conflict all seekers need to consider is whether such a man is called to your place or is merely looking for employment.  If called one will tend to endure because while there is no explanation which satisfies the practical evaluator, there is a clarity which will tend to withstand hardship.  If merely employed, though, church troubles usually call for another U-Haul rental.

It is neither illegal for unspiritual for a preacher to move about.  It is important to make all moves the best we can by leaning into the Spirit's whisper rather than earthy needs.  The practical and the rational are often the mockers of the spiritual (I Cor. 2:14) and this must be weighed seriously.

STAY PUT

The victory that overcomes the world is not human love, but Christian faith; it is not won by natural heart, but by the recreating cross.  Forsyth

Weariness seems to be a major player today.  I know I am worn down trying to track too many things from messages yet to be returned, to usual appointments, to full-blown crises.  No one in my circle is shirking their duty.  My plate appears to be as all of the others; really full.

I don't live overwhelmed very often; but of late the feeling is that I am failing.  If the door bell isn't ringing or the phone messages insisting calls be returned, the texts remind me, You are very much (sorry, had to take that call just now at 7:15 a.m....really) behind.

So what do we do when these times hit?  Complaint will do no good because some of you would tell me to go to the back of the line; you've been there for awhile.  Pouting won't help.  I tried that years ago and no one cared.

Victorious faith will.

We must move by faith.  Friends and neighbors may not understand; but then, they may not be flirting with discouragement at the moment.  Their turn has been or will come...again.  No, we must be brave enough to tell a screaming world to hold on; we are pedaling in your direction.

Faith that God can deliver is our concrete hope.  We receive problems too big to solve...on purpose...that He might show us who runs this Universe.  It isn't Congress.  It isn't the IRS.  It isn't the last two calls of emergency.  And it surely isn't me.

It is HIM.

May we lean upon Him for He first led the way via the cross.  That's where the victory is found.  Walk like a winner!

LIVING UPSIDE-DOWN IS THE RIGHT WAY TO GO

At 66 I find myself still surprised at the routine of God.

It is anything but routine!  That IS His routine.

The thrill of study and the exuberance of anticipation of what God will show/do next perpetuates indescriptivity.  We cannot get a grip on His multi-tasking Holy Skill-set.

All we can do--at best--is to believe Him.

God will not hold still for a photo op.  He's mobile, He's stable, He's fluid, and He's defiant to the human mind which wishes so badly to explain Him.  Mystery bugs the controlling mind.  We are bugged.

Community church egos do not prefer that the foolishness of God is wiser than the award-winning thinking of man.  This, of course, bugs us even more.

Congregational strength is put in its proper place by the weakness of God.  Once again...we are bum-fuzzled.

When it gets down to the nitty-gritty, men and women seemingly from day one train to finish toward the top while God calls us to a very upside-down trek.  Lose your lives, die to live, give to keep....these and more do not fit our assumed Success Scale.

Upside-down, however, is the right way to go.  There is no wowing resurrection dynamic if there is not first a suffering Cross which insists upon a very personal death to the serving and preserving of self.

All backward, huh?

THERE ONCE WAS A BOY

I want to tell you about a small boy I heard about that has a fascinating story.  When he was much younger in years he was typical kid; wide-eyed with imagination galore.

His family didn't have any money but that didn't stop him from building imaginary riding toys; tractors and cars and even trucks that....well they didn't really move about because they had no wheels.  Yet, he had such a strong imagination his newly formed vehicles (from scrap lumber) took him up and down country lanes. 

Ah, you should have seen when he put it into third how the dust flew!  Occasionally, he would venture out onto the daring highway; always only in his mind of course.  And, my goodness, the neighbors who saw him actually driving down the highway on his tractor at age 7....well they were all smiles!

The little boy's mom was a good woman.  She was very outgoing and intricately aware of the needs of others.  She had a huge heart for people. 

She did laundry by an electric ringer-washer on the back porch.  The water came from the well on that same porch.  There were no bathrooms.  The outhouse was at the far end of the chicken house.

The boy's dad was strong. He was a very hard working farmer.  His arms looked especially strong as he donned his summer farmer's tan.  All of the neighbors thought he was the best.  His kids agreed.  Who wouldn't want to be strong and popular like him. He made little money; but he was a hard worker to see there was food on the table.

However, there was a problem behind closed doors.  The dad had a significant problem with extreme anger.  The mom and kids never knew what would set him off.  Something always seemed to cause major upset.  Neighbors most likely never guessed; but surely some of the relatives had a clue.

The family walked on eggshells day in and day out year in and year out.  Trouble brewed and if there wasn't any all knew the clock was ticking.

The kids were well-disciplined yet the punishment was often conveyed in rage.  Spankings (which were a trademark of the home) turned into uncontrollable whippings that killed the others as they had to listen to the screams and wails from the other room.  It was unforgettable torture to either receive the poundings or overhear.

The kids survived. They eventually grew up to be adults.  I suppose in their later years they carried remarkable baggage of guilt, regret, and severe confusion.  Yet, they did not waste their distresses because from the pain grew understanding of their adult friends and neighbors who have also experienced a history of mistreatment and abuse.

What I would like you to gain from this story is that much mercy is needed for our relatives, colleagues, and friends.  There are times when their behaviors are both puzzling and just simply out of line.  But if we could just pause a moment to look into their possible erratic past, maybe we might find reason to pull alongside rather than push back.

Upheaval still lives.  Jesus clearly understood injury, pain, and abuse.  When you experience it in the church, much as the little boy did, try to remember such mistreatment is supposed to be ours so that those who assail may find healing themselves....for they, too, have been terribly wounded...I Peter 2:21-25.

It could be---no I think it is true---the ordinary people on our streets are trying their best to use their tears of private as telescopes to help the wounded public....just hoping to cheer someone on. 

We can do it.  We should do it.  And we will do it.

Bless those who curse you for they may have been badly hurt in their earlier years as well.  Together we, as Jesus, will use our wounds to save others.

ONE OF MY HARDEST LESSONS THAT I AM STILL LEARNING

We are a funny and weird sort.  We get down on ourselves far before anyone else does; yet we are most defensive for ourselves because no one else seems to be defending us.  We note that our self-criticism is depressing.  And then we rare up if anyone dares to point out a correctional idea.

We beat and blame ourselves; but also defend ourselves if another should utter blame.  We are sinking while trying to throw ourselves a life raft.

One of the hardest lessons seems to be that we aren't all we wish to be nor are we all God wishes us to be.

The answer isn't criticism or blame of another as to why my bad day.

The answer isn't avoidance and hiding seclusion so we will go undetected.

The answer isn't depression.  Rather it is surrender to Jesus.

We don't need Jesus to fill in our personal lack-gap.  We need Jesus to be our Life.  He is the one who knows us from head to toe.

I continue to impose my wisdom upon my walk; I can handle, I can fix, I can correct.  When all is said and done, if everyone in my circle corrected their many blatant errors, I would still be undone if I have failed to yield to Jesus the Lamb.

He is our life.  Our organizational skills are not.  Our political pull is not.  Our ranking education is not.  Our devotion, our commitment, and our determination are not.

Jesus is.

We must work at believing him...Jn. 6:29.

MATURING VS. GROWING OLDER

We must not be flippant toward the II Corinthian 4 passage which insists the inner man is renewed day by day.  Man is continually tossed and challenged by the earth process that age implies maturity.  The stress over this is that it is true that we do tend to mature over time.  One must guard, however, to see that the maturing does not develop hardening of the faith arteries.

So how do we get younger as we age?  Only the Spirit-realm would instigate such a concept.  Yet, we are called to abide.

Age, it seems, can either harden or renew dependent upon whether one is natural or spiritual.  To me, a mark could be whether one is growing dim in kingdom vision (old) or increasingly wide-eyed (younger and enthused) about matters of the God-Life.

Some age in crusty stuckness; others in pliable openness.

The line is drawn at death and the resurrection.  To abide in death is surely stuck.  To experience resurrection power (II Cor. 13:4) is to become newer day by day.  Believers grow younger.  Followers of the Jesus model grow newer; new life, new vision, new direction, and new experience.

This is why church is never to be ho-hum.  It is not stuck.  Jesus pleaded that the traditions of men would stall the church.  Why?  Unspiritual men cloud the Light of Glory.  In this case our eyes are distracted to follow the restrictive measures of failing man.

God is the Visionary and the Creative Wonder of each new day.  May we join in robust enthusiasm for the talent of God which He insists He has yet to display even a hint of all He has in store...I Cor. 2:9.

Crotchety and complaining or positive and adoring?  Grumpy or cheerful?  Age; natural age takes us one direction and spiritual age leads us into the marvel of another way.  One spreads death; the other...life.

WAITING IS THE NAME OF LIFE'S GAME

Wait is a dirty four-letter word to the driven, the ambitious, and the assumed wise.  Yet, within those four small letters is a gigantic secret code of God.  W-a-i-t.  

Wait has patience and joy and endurance embedded within.  Oddly, it seems ambidextrous.  We can tend to expect others to wait patiently for us; yet, we likely grow frustrated at the time lapsing while we await with expectation for another to change.

Wait is often mistaken as in conflict with want.  Yet, the lack of waiting is very often the undermining deterrent to getting what we seek.

When we deeply desire that people and circumstances change (in order to be more pleasing to us) without the nature of God's patience, ruin is usually prowling the path.  We simply give up on our own blessings because, somehow in this twisted universe, cutting people off and out seems to give our egos some sort of weird control boost.

Isaiah reminds us when we are tired and weary, Yet those who wait for the Lord will find new strength. This isn't hope-so-ism.  It is a promise of God.  Marriages, vocations, and other general life situations have bit the premature dust all because one could not/would not wait for God to do His stuff.

Waiting is the name of life's game.  Nothing will offer better insight than God's promise to deliver.  Sadly, frustration has replaced faith and spite seems to have overridden love.  The good news is that these can be and should be reversed.  It isn't a matter of anyone else's cooperation.

Waiting is between God and you.  There are no other players.

WHAT CAN THE HURT-EE DO ABOUT THE HURT-ER?

Men and women tug at one another in skirmish and battle.

So do men against men as well as women against women.

Children can be added to the mix.

Conflict is a norm to many.

The solution is the cross.

The victim (the hurt-ee) is to remain on his/her cross that the assailant/culprit/offender (hurt-er) can find new life.

The cross.  The simplicity of resolutions.  The ruggedness required of mankind.

The hope of every relationship.

Often the last effort.

IS OUR BELIEVING IN JESUS A WEAKENED CRITERIA FOR SALVATION?

I have been wondering about something that goes totally against the grain of what I/we have said for as long as we have been serious students of His Word.

I know the answer before I reveal my question.  Yet, I can't quit wondering if there is an element I just can't get because of a misfire in my programming of church answers, etc.

Is our believing in Jesus a weakened criteria for salvation?  The mere question causes me pause.  Should I delete the this post?  I'm tempted.  But there's a place in scripture that bugs me, so I put myself before you to see a perhaps more-flawed-than-we-would-have-ever-guessed Terry.

I reference Romans 5:6-21.  Note the entirety; but specifically verses 17 and 18.

• For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of the righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.
• So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men.

My questions:

• Are we to understand it is easier to be lost than to be saved?  
• Is condemnation more powerful than righteousness?
• Would this make Adam's sin stronger than Jesus' salvation?

Is our believing in Jesus a weakened criteria for salvation?  Is the way we tend to believe in him somehow a church short-sheeting that retracts from his deeply masterful move?  Have we reduced belief in Jesus to a quick-step in our plan of salvation which is to cause a gain in momentum on our way to the big and meaningful step; baptism?

It is possible I'm doing nothing but hair-splitting.  Again, from experience though, I have been through too many tearful moments with a brother or a sister who checked off the five steps, sat in the pews three times a week, were facing death any day now...and were terrified they were lost.

Thus, my original question.  Are we saying words like believing in Jesus in a way that weakens his mission as well as our own hearts?  Has the Christ-ian realm spoken rather nonchalantly over time to the extent mankind has come to receive Adam's unrighteousness without a blink of a thought while giving hoop-service to Jesus' conquering move of love from the Cross?

He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him....II Cor. 5:21.

DUCK DYNASTY CONTAGION

Several of us pray for God to show up in the media.  I have for maybe four years.  And, He is.  News reports, talk shows, and internet are increasingly afloat with stories of God and His wonder.

One of the more profound elements to arise is the phenomena of Duck Dynasty.  The Robertson's are taking America hostage by their captivating humor, warmth, and appearance of truly being happy, happy, happy.

They not only appear on their own show, but a wide range of other network programs.  I have admired this family for twenty-five years, plus.  Devotion in faith coupled with intentional outreach is a part of this family's DNA.

I can't imagine what it must be like to be them.  Due to crowds of crowds, they have trouble moving about in any sort of normalcy.  Me?  I walked in and out of my local cafe this morning and no one wanted my autograph...even after I offered.  Pictures anyone?  They must not have heard me.

Last night was Alan's debut.  It was a great story-line as he was the elder son/pastor who married his already married parents on their anniversary.  From Phil and Kay, Uncle Si, Willie, Jase, Jep, and now Alan, and their beautiful wives and kids, the Louisiana cast appears on television they way they are in real life; a tight-knit family with bursting personality.

There is definitely a Duck Dynasty contagion sweeping the streets and county roads of America.  I would urge you to join me throughout the days ahead to pray in thanksgiving for God to hold them together.  The responsibility of constantly being in front of microphones as guests on one media link after another surely carries a new sort of pressure.

We must be in serious prayer for this family and their labor for Kingdom matters.  It is all fun for us to watch, but they need us to participate in the seriousness of behind-the-scenes prayerful support that together we can reach millions for Jesus....that IS the reality show.

And, Alan, congrats on your debut!

THE EVANGELISM SPARK

When in preaching school I wanted to learn how to reach others and win souls.  I loved the thought.  I dreamed about it, imagined it, and deeply desired to be in on the most wonderful work upon all of the earth!

However.....I couldn't do it.

I tried.  Instructors advised and admonished.  Others in the class caught on in astounding ways.  Not me.

I'm glad.

I'm glad I couldn't succeed because this lets me know how many in the church feel at this moment.

I'm glad again because God helped me learn.  Today I live in that dream world of productive outreach.

What lights the spark?  Inner reconstruction?  Outer education?  Godly props?  Lucky breaks?

Hint: how would the empty tomb sound to you?

When Mary Magdalene and the other Mary (Mt. 28:1) came to look at Jesus' grave they found it empty. This spark of excitement gave them the chills as well as overjoy.  Immediate response was to turnabout and head right back into town declaring what they had just experienced.  Why?  They were told by the angel to go quickly and tell the disciples.

Not coincidentally, it is the resurrected Jesus in that very chapter who issues the great evangelism command to go into all of the world.

What's the spark?  The grave is empty.  Something beyond calculation and imagination occurred.  Spreading the word is easy when we have that immeasurable news!

The reason we struggle with going into all of the world...quickly...is the fascination of the empty grave has been reduced to creative programs and impressive speakers.  This is not so in God's territory.  When we are personally struck with awe at the empty tomb, we cannot help but spread the word.

THE EARTH IS PREGNANT WITH HOPE!

Hope is surely the highest motivating factor!

Whether hope of graduation, hope of the loan going through (or being paid off), or hope of a purposeful life, the ignition to our daily movement is securely based upon that bedrock word.

This word gives me reason to awaken day after day for six-plus decades with a drive and an energy that does not slow.  Jesus resurrectionally thrust all followers into a pattern of even the impossible can become possible.  Show me a person who is dragging just to get by and I'll show you one who possesses no hope.

A good question is how do we get there?  How do we land upon assurance of such?  Hebrews 11:1 specifies that the faith factor is the key that unlocks the wonder in our trek.  Faith is the assurance of things hoped for the conviction of things not seen.

Faith is not possessing the want for things.  Anybody can want improvement, blessings, and successes. Faith is an assurance, convictedly so, that what isn't can be.  Review Romans 4:17.

And then read on through verse :25.  The key that shifts us from wishful thinking to reality is faith that if the Son of God can come alive from the tomb after being dead, we can believe (are permitted to believe) that the impossible can happen for us!

The earth is pregnant with hope for those who believe God works.  Nothing says it's over.  No message of death or non-existence shuts down hope for we believe in the mighty and glorious hand of God.  He can make something of nothing and give life to the dead.

Hope is every direction a believer turns.  Join in on seeing the impossible become possible.

Everywhere we turn is pregnant with hope!

THE DEMISE OF CHRISTIAN INFLUENCE

A significant portion of Christianity has been sabotaged.  The reason for its obvious limp is it shot itself in the foot.  I speak of guys like myself and any of you who would have Christian tendencies.

Where has this wounding taken place?

When our faith shifted from our hearts of gratitude to heads of doing church right, a comparative spirit broke out that has set up major roadblocks of distraction and destruction for the movement for which Jesus died.

Those who haven't become know-it-alls may have at least participated in our squint-eyed judgmentalism of community sinners as well as those other-brands-of-church sinners.  Our eyes have gone blind to our own hazardous Bible selectivity as to what we determine will be our faith focus.

When they measure themselves by themselves, and compare themselves with themselves, they are without understanding, wrote the Apostle Paul.

The Christian influence is suffering because we have traded seeking and knowing Jesus for a myriad of lesser matters.  We have divided into brands all the while fighting both other brands and within our own ranks.  In the meantime the poor and the hurting struggle to find a day's worth of hope to see them through.

My ministry world has been rocked; well....shattered.  It needed it.  I had it coming.  So much of my emphasis was on me being right.  Such stinkin' thinkin' caused me to be wrong on so many fronts.  I knew a lot and served in many places without relating to Jesus the authentic Savior for every person.

May we be devastated by our own lack; our own ignorance, that the life of Jesus may become necessarily more prominent as we grow toward influencing any community.

When we begin to compare ourselves to the Son of God, at that point we may become humbled that the world can begin to find realistic hope; but never until then.  May we shine and not glare.

LIVING AMONG THE DEFEATED

Truth has always been paraded often in a bully's fashion that was unTruthful.  It seems Truth was backed by the loud, the prejudiced, and the narrow-minded.  Yet, Truth is the very honesty which sets a person free.

We always need it.

May we awaken to robust life.  May we not revere Truth as a whip to be used on any who are too ignorant (our opinions) to read their Bibles.  But, may we read our own from hearts hungry for His grace and mercy.

Michael Wells was very direct in pointing out that some Truth-Toters are, in reality, a defeated crew.

The defeated can be found among those who were baptized in the "proper" manner at the "proper" time, who are submitting to spiritual authorities, who lead shepherding groups, who have whole books memorized, who promote devotional and quiet times, who are tireless evangelists, who maintain levels of separation from the world, who make positive confessions, who read only the King James Version, who will not own a piano, and who have read all the good Christian books on parenting.  We believe the words of Jesus, "You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (John 8:32).  Obviously, those things which we are mentioning are not the Truth, for those who practice them are not free.

From experience it seems that God continually whittles at our perspectives and standards to show us clearly which came from Him and which from man.  We crave life.  He craves to give it.

Could it be we are in the mix for increasingly living among the victorious as we learn to shed the walk of living among the defeated?

THE CONTINUAL COLLAPSE BY FORBIDDEN PROMISES

Nothing has changed since Adam and Eve.

Eve understood the doctrine of fruit-bearing trees.  She was one of two experts at the time.  Yet, a third party assured her that what she clearly understood contained blurred and narrow understanding.  Eve re-looked at the forbidden fruit and began to ponder beyond original instructions.  The more she thought about it the more seemingly better evaluation arose.

She would do it.  She would eat, though God pleaded not, because it appeared she would be even wiser. In the name of wisdom the First Lady crossed the line. Mankind's emotional health, coupled with eternal destiny, came immediately crashing down.  A new thing called fear struck the hearts of an otherwise oblivious couple.

Yet, we must not be too hard on Sister Eve, for we follow only a very close step behind.  While we don't look into sin with a delightful eye of becoming more intelligent, we do so because we believe we will be happier.

We walk among the wounded living.  We are the wounded living.

How did we ever enter into such perpetual collapse?  It seems we believe as Eve that what is clearly forbidden by God will somehow bring us happiness; each of us feels we are the exception in that we can handle sin.  And, Eve's pattern remains firmly in tact; what seems filled with promises of delight soon turns wormy.

The wishing for more (for some other place, somebody else) versus living with contentment with what we have and who we are is a major Garden Battle.  Yes, the World News repeats concerns in and from the Middle East.  Today multiple American embassies will be shut down in several countries.  Threat looms.

However, the Sin War is always our greatest enemy and is as near as our conscience. Promises of feeling good, being really happy at last, and living a grand life of eventual peace fall into immense ruin once sin has a grip.  We all speak from experience....all of us.

Our hope is in Jesus.  I believe the church's strongest avenue of recovery is to admit we are too far gone to recover on our own; that only Jesus can make us pre-Garden whole.  Promises offered to intensely impressionable eyes are always a scam if such are not the promises of Father.

Wretched man that I am!  Who will set me free from the body of this death?  Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord (Romans 7:24-25)!

WHAT DRIVES THE KINGDOM ECONOMY OF SERVICE?

God gives all disciples a big hint on what He is wishing for us, in us, and through us.

What is it that drives each of us to keep going, to stay on track, and to accomplish His will?  That is a big question and His answer matches.

God's children are ignited to serve by one word; compassion.  Even being of the stature of Himself, He so loved the world He gave....His only Son.  He cashed in all of His chips for us.

Reflective of Father, Jesus took off on the human-walk of John 3:16.  He so loved the world that he gave....God's only Son....himself.

Albert Nolan addressed these thoughts when he said, The remarkable thing about Jesus was that, although he came from the middle class and had no appreciable disadvantages himself, he mixed socially with the lowest of the low and identified with them.  He became an outcast by "choice".

Why did Jesus do this?  What would make a middle-class man talk to beggars and mix socially with the poor?  What would make a prophet associate with the rabble who know nothing of the law?  The answer comes across very clearly in the gospels: compassion.

The very fruit of the Spirit is to assist in our walk of compassion.  Jesus was continually moved with compassion.  He accepted the rejects and rejected the accepted.  I think it is true that true religion is caring for those disadvantaged.

The world stands before us naked without hope.  We carry the news for all to hear.  Jesus is the rescuer of the unrescuable.  He reverses the course of life.  Our fires are lit as we continually engage in movement away from our comfort zones and into the broken, hobbled, and cobbled streets of the lowest of the low.

It is our choice to make.

THE PRIVILEGE OF PREACHING THAT BELONGS TO THE SPIRIT

R. T. Kendall lists five preaching positions:

  1.  Preaching down to the people; patronizing the listener.
  2.  Preaching up to the people; this occurs when intimidated by the people.
  3.  Preaching for the people; this is a form of entertainment.
  4.  Preaching at the people; in reality, this is cowardice.
  5.  Preaching to the people; which what one is supposed to do.

In my early years I was mainly guilty of #s 1, 2, 3, and 4; especially 4.  In preaching at the people I had a particular person or group in mind that I hugged in the foyer and blasted from the pulpit.

If it would be alright with author Kendall, I would like to add one more consideration:

  6.  Preaching with the Spirit of God; this relays the message from Him to us.

I know of no preacher who is more than standing upon clay feet.  Name the top-liners and I'll show you weak individuals destined for the grave.  Their/my only true power is that of the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit possesses solutions for all of our concerns.  Will we be interesting?  Will we have selected the correct texts?  Will we be understood?  Will we speak to the moment?  Will we inspire?  Will we convict?  Will we get in the way?  I carry all of these questions to the microphone every time I preach.

The only true answer I can find to any and all is that of the Holy Spirit; the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of God. He knows the thoughts and intents of the speaker and the listener.  He knows the secret battles of the ears that hear.  He knows them...and He knows us/me....and He alone knows how to make the connection bear fruit.

It is not up to us to produce a well-oiled outline (as I once assumed).  It is up to us to allow the Spirit of God to rent our bodies and use our lips in proclamation of the most magnificent message EVER heard.

May we who stand at pulpits receive our information from the Word of God and be empowered by the Spirit of Christ.

WHAT SHALL WE DO WITH ALL OF THIS STRESS STUFF?

So yesterday was a normal day.  There was nothing unusual about it.  I liked it well enough.  No, I liked it a lot.  The day was full of adventure and wonder; just like our other times called Today.

Oh, there was the call that came in that one of the really good guys in my Small Group that meets on Sunday nights was discovered to have cancer in both hips.  I went to the hospital to check on him; but he was out for more tests.

Oh, and there was the man who walked in off of the street into our offices.  He wanted money for a utility bill on the spot.  When I told him we would need to run it through a budget process which would take a bit of time, he left pretty unhappy with me.

Oh, and there was the email from my Cardinal Camp group regarding Matt's 17 year old son who is suffering from cancer.  The young man is so very ill.  The bone marrow transplant is in the immediate wings. Matt's pain is all over the map regarding watching his loved one suffer.  It brings me joy that we can find a door of ministry opportunity in this scenario.

Oh, and there was an issue communicated to the elders and some of the staff regarding a fairly heavy upset that has deep concern, if not train-wreck, for some.  This one carries missiles of high-level drama which will not be ignored.

Oh, and there were other encounters of challenges for the moments.

Mary asked me last night, You holding up under this stuff okay?

The question caught me off-guard.  Why would she ask that?  I was fine....really.

And then I realized, Jesus walks with us.  He is the one carrying the load.  Yesterday was just a very normal day.  He is so good at what he does with, for, and through us to the certain extent that it had not occurred to me that I might not be okay.  I love what he lets me get to do.  I don't love the pain.  I do love the purpose.

Oh, by the way, my Cardinals also lost a double-header last night....and fell out of first place.  Not to fret. There are tougher things in life than sports reports...don't you think?

What shall we do with all this stress stuff?  Care deeply and believe intentionally in the One who has been through it all....especially when hanging publicly from the Cross.

JESUS: THE ONE WHOM WE SAY WE FOLLOW

I will forever be learning to follow Jesus.  At this moment I assume to be decades behind where He would expect me to be.  I am little, weak, and most shallow.

Jesus is a different sort.  He is not the Sunday School flannel-graph Jesus who inserted his teaching amidst cookies and Kool-Aid.  He is not the one who lived as the nicest guy on the block for one doesn't crucify any who set out to just be nice to everyone.

No.  Jesus disrupted that which means so much to so many; their religion.  You can mess with a lot of things in the community; but don't touch a Conservative's religious perspective.  It just wont' fly!

Thomas a Kempis reminds of us of Jesus' backwardness toward humanity.  He says that Jesus has many lovers of the Kingdom, but few  bearers of the Cross.  Many seek his consolation while only a hand full walk the path of tribulation.  The giddy seek his miracles; yet they pale at the pathway of walk of shame.

I tend to want to pay my bills and be liked by all.  That's almost a prerogative of man.  Jesus, however, upsets the glaring self in all of this.  The Kingdom of God is full of treachery and risk filled with a powerful destiny of sheer and harsh rejection.  Many are called.  Few endure.  

Jesus is the one whom we simply must get better at following.  I can't do this well.  Thank you, each of you, who have taken a great amount of time to try to help me.  Maybe together we can get better at this.

ATTENDANCE DOES NOT MEASURE SPIRITUALITY

It has long been thought that those who faithfully attend the church assemblies are the strong in the faith.  The three-times-a-weekers were assumed the cream of the crop.  Me being a minister might be put in that safe category of God's delight.

Yet, as we develop in the Spirit of Jesus, we begin to note that pew-sitting can be somewhat like baby-sitting; not really ours but we will be responsible while fulfilling understood assignments.  This has developed a shallow people; leaders, ministers, and followers alike.

Jim Cymbala and Dean Merrill clearly point to a true challenge among us.  In the organized church, too many pastors are interested in attendance alone, which has nothing to do with a church's health.  What matters is not how many people are showing up, but how active and vibrant their faith is in the God they serve.  You can easily pack a building without pleasing God, because crowds do not equal spirituality.

I write this not as an excuse for low attendance.  Memorial Drive's will run between 450 and 500 on our good days attendance-wise.  It is the spirituality of walking, talking, and serving Jesus that is the litmus test.  

Do we know Jesus?  Do we study him?  Do we credit Him?

Sunday Schools are abundant world-wide this morning.  Sermons will reap even a higher number of listeners. The question isn't how good are we doing nor is it how bad we must cease doing other things.  The rock-bottom issue is the Rock; Jesus.  Do we know him?

Study goes on.  Signing up and serving goes on.  Prayer is minimal.  Driven by the Spirit is questionable.  Yet, we can get there.  

Attendance doesn't make us spiritual.  The Holy Spirit does that.

MY SYMPATHY FOR THE CHURCH'S FRUSTRATED

I like meaningful church.  I like devoted and active church.  Equally, I have intense sympathy for those who attend only; seemingly to possess some sort of hope that eternal damnation will be escaped.  This is a miserable way to try to connect to church.

This person(s) causes me great sadness for I once sat in similar pews.  Bored to death, I counted the time by segments of worship at our little Presbyterian church.  The choir, then the welcome, then the songs, then the prayer, then the collection plate, t-h-e-n  t-h-e  d-r-e-a-d-e-d  s-e-r-m-o-n (Oh Lord, would it ever end?).

And, then I gladly stood in line at the door to shake the pastor's hand, get counted as "present", and go get my bat and glove!

I had done good roosting in church that I might not get bad roasting in hell.

We continue to have a percentage of those who attend only.  I'm not on their case for not helping us out.  I love them.  Their presence is valuable.  My concern is for their possible boredom and restlessness while believing that sitting in church house somehow affords abundant life.  I speak of the Jesus-less, Spirit-less, and prayer-less individuals who were trained to go to church on Sunday and be a good person.

Good persons don't go to heaven.  Rotten ones do and Jesus became all of our wrongs that we could become all of his rights...II Cor. 5:21.

I'm filled with sympathy for any who received such mistaken training that church attendance keeps God off of our backs.  I speak from first-hand experience.  This is a frustrating way to be church-connected.

Jesus would want us to live robustly!  He would give us abundant life---now and then!  He would interact with us; actually walk with us.  What a person does in kingdom performance is not my concern.  My wish is that all would know Jesus as an authentic presence and not a figment of one's best hopes.

People come alive when we realize we aren't on our own.  Individuals arise in abundant hope when we grow in awareness God is intensely active today. He awaits our relationship with Him.  To be related to Father, Son, and Spirit is anything but safe and boring.  It is risky, outrageous, and life-CHANGING!

THE DOVE AT JESUS' BAPTISM

So many words in the Bible seem to have slick spots.  I just gloss right over them for the deeper meaning...I tell myself.  Yet, the Word perpetually flourishes with newness.  It is as if this Bible of ours is somehow alive. Hummm....there's an idea.

When Jesus came up out of the baptism waters the Spirit of God descended upon him as a dove.  The power of heaven slipped onto earth as an elegant bird.

I like the way John Piper puts it; The image is very different.  Not a flaming sun of intolerable brightness, but a soft, quiet, vulnerable dove--the kind of animal poor people offered for sacrifices in the temple.  God's pleasure in his Son comes not only from the brightness of his majesty but from the beauty of his meekness.

Jesus was a supreme servant.  He was a targeted escape-artist of the heavenly caliber.  He would be tracked down and executed only to escape out the front door of earth's confining best....a large and heavy boulder.  That's what a humble dove can do.

So it is with you and with me.  We are possessed by the dove-like, quiet, Spirit of the all-powerful God.  May we move about our day without glare; yet with insistent confidence...just like Jesus.

ARE YOU SPIRITUAL?

I wouldn't know all of the factors which would count as to being spiritual.  One would surely be a focus upon the Holy Spirit.  Watching the action of Spirit Father has to be a significant clue....if not an enormous revelation.

Yet, there is a move of our physical person which tests our spiritual life; the power to descend.  Self prefers the lime-light, the mountain top, and basic supportive attention.  To lose self is spiritual; it is a spiritual move of the flesh. This would be known as surrender.

Who else but Oswald Chambers would have significant comment?

The test of spiritual life is the power to descend; if we have power to rise only, there is something wrong.  We all have had times on the mount when we have seen things from God's standpoint and we wanted to stay there but if we are disciples of Jesus Christ, He will never allow us to stay there. Spiritual selfishness makes us want to stay on the mount.  We feel so good, as if we could do anything--talk like angels and live like angels, if only we could stay there.  But there must be the power to descend; the mountain is not the place for us to live, we were built for the valleys.  This is one of the hardest things to learn because spiritual selfishness always wants repeated moments on the mount.

Jesus was built for the valley.

In relationships, whether marriage or friend or God, man has failed to respect the need for the valley walk. Jesus, the Groom, came to earth and died of insult and wound in order to experience resurrection power which came not from himself but from the Spirit.  Our appetite for the mountain top experiences with no taste for valley pain has warped our walk with God.

We are happy when happy while ignoring the "yes factor" during the sad and discouraging times.  This has left us both boring and impotent.

Paul and Silas were imprisoned.  While being shut up and shut down, they roared in lavish praise of God. We know the rest of the story.  When one insists on mountain top or nothing, the roar vanishes.  The whine and complain arises.  The opportunity to glorify God fades.

Are we spiritual?  To the degree we are willing to endure the valleys may give us our first hint.

CHANGE: A FOOLISH FEAR WITHIN THE CHURCH

If ever there is a perpetual problem within the framework and system of the church, it would be that we have frozen our theology and His people due to fear; fear of change.

Do you not think it odd that every generation that comes down the pike has a burr under its saddle to do kingdom life a bit differently?  There seems to be a twist of concern which takes concentration to hold congregations together while the young and rambunctious age and the new young and rowdy have ideas.

Could this process be something we should grasp rather than battle?

Could it be that the reason change is necessary is because God is creative, always new, and man is subject to finding his comfort zone and sticking with it?  Did not Jesus warn all disciples in no uncertain terms about tradition?  Yet, every generation goes through similar procedures; young and ready to get on with it, middle-aged and happy the way things are, and then older and irritated at the younger who are making a mess of our comfort.

God gave us the old law and then changed it to the new Spirit.  We read the Old Testament and then the New.  To top it off, He concludes Holy Writ with a final book that we still can't grasp.  In reading the book of Acts there were various means of conversion while we have tried to formulate and prove that each act was in reality identical.  We struggle to let God be young.

In the battle for change, can you think of a time a proposal was made that we no longer believe Jesus is God's Son?  Or, that we no longer accept the Father as father?  Or, that we must now care less about prayer?  No, none of these things fit the change mode and they won't.  When we battle, though, we tend to behave as if these are the ultimate battlegrounds.  Not.

So take a good look at the church terrain.  Show me the old style of doing church that is thriving and I'll show you a hundred that are dead while trying to live; all in the name of Truth.  Take a good look at congregations robust with the young.  New ideas, venues, and concepts bring thrivation to all.

When Memorial Drive basically had no children and we were a dying congregation, Linda Scott was added as a Children's Minister.  This change brought about new life.  Halls once dim with no clatter and chatter began to bounce with the young.  Change.

We are a foolish people if we think the Creative God is not pushing His people to awaken to new; His kind of new.  At my age one would think the feeling could be expected to shift into coast mode within the church.

But not.  We must be wide-eyed and open-hearted to take note of God's walk and talk.

We are not in the preservation business.  Nor are we called to restore what was.  We, the church, are called to live incredibly high-risk lives which dare to break the strong bonds of controversy.

Yes.  We are called to live in resurrection power of the Holy Spirit.

Wasn't it God who said He would do more than we could imagine?  Don't you think that if such is beyond our ask or think ability it would naturally insist "things must and will change"?

BURN-OUT HAPPENS WHEN WE TAKE OVER

Don't you love to hang out with Christians who are on fire?  I'm not speaking of the pseudo-hype nor of the attention-drawing vocal.  Rather, I address those who seem to burn with drive, determination, and destiny.  I want my family to be around such a valuable sort.

Henri Nouwen targets our call to live fully alive.  What needs to be guarded is the life of the Spirit within us.  Especially we who want to witness to the presence of God's Spirit in the world need to tend the fire within with utmost care.  It is not so strange that many ministers have become burnt-out cases, people who say many words and share many experiences, but in whom the fire of God's Spirit has died and from whom not much more comes forth than their own boring, petty ideas and feelings. Sometimes it seems that our many words are more an expression of our doubt than our faith.  It is as if we are not sure that God's Spirit can touch the hearts of people: we have to help him out and, with many words, convince others of his power.  But it is precisely this wordy unbelief that quenches the fire.

A part of the man-following-God issue is whether we are tending the fire.  It truly takes faith eyes to watch patiently for Him to open the doors and provide the power to pull off a good day's work.  Man tends to want to inject his I-can-fix-it-I-think trade.  The trek will be strenuously uphill when working from our own spirit-muscle rather than relaxing in the Holy Spirit trend.

Try not to be sucked into the down-draft of making things work on your own.  Rather, move from the Martha tendency to the Mary accuracy.  Enjoy God.  Sit in His presence.  Allow Him to stoke the fire.

Burn-out comes from using up all of the energy we can muster; and we just can't exert will-power in the big stuff for very long.  Keep learning to lean in upon His heart.

Hear it beat.  Relax.  Enjoy.

Let God be the one who runs this spectacular show!

LIVING CHURCH AT THE SHALLOW END

Life in the church is to be more than where we attend.  Living in Jesus' order is 24/7; not three times a week.

What is the difference between those who stay in the church and those who leave?  God addresses this in the parable of the sower; those who stay and those who are temporary.  The temporary leave due to shallowness and shallowness is present when difficulties are side-stepped.

And the one on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, this is the man who hears the word, and immediately receives it with joy; yet he has no firm root in himself, but is only temporary, and when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he falls away (Mt. 13:20-21).

This shallow-rooted one experiences what we often hear of some; they were blown away.  Of course they were blown away because they developed no root system to find anchor under chaos.

Therefore, I ask elders, teachers, and preachers to direct our sheep to concentrate on their roots.  Bible stories reveal historical information intended to inspire toward living abundantly.  However, some scan scriptures simply for meaningful information without awareness of biblical direction.

God is to be praised for those in the kingdom who bent with the high winds; but did not break.  Instead they are productive.  Shallow don't produce.  They leave.

Move from the shallow end for the deep.  You may struggle; but you will never quit.

DOES GOD KNOW AS MUCH AS GOOGLE?

During last night's MLB All-Star game, I noticed the Baltimore players had an orange patch with the 4 on it. I assumed someone had died; but couldn't recall who might have been #4 on his uniform.  I googled #4 patch on Orioles' uniforms.  

It is in memory of long-time Orioles' manager Earl Weaver.

What micro-mini secretary lives inside of my iPhone 5 that can check on this data to come up with incredible information?  And, does God know all of these details?

Ah, that's what excites me.  I am just fascinated with Google's intelligence bank.  It is more than I will ever explore.  Yet, it is God who created the creators of the Google concept.  Both are beyond me.  If the created can be so spectacular, how about the Creator?

The response should be obvious.

Yet, I ask this question.  Is this wow-ful One the dynamic God presented at your place?  Does your congregation have a sense of Beyondness and Wowedness and How Can This Be-ness?  The very definition of
g-o-s-p-e-l is not good news; but in reality is too good of news to be true.  

Churchers, we have some work to do.  At times we may have communicated a God weaker than iPhone 5.  At times we may have implied we have a dull religion with a yawn and a roll of the eyes.

Yes, iPhone 5 really impress me for I just converted from the slider.  Yet, this joy has been surpassed for a long time because I deal with over-joy in getting to co-labor with One who know EVERYTHING!

HOW TO VIEW CRITICISM

Is anybody out there touchy like me?  I flunked Basic Critique.  I so steered clear of it I feel certain I mistook gestures and comments toward me as a negative rather than valuable.  I find in the church we do many things; but overall we don't do criticism.

Oddly, it is this venue that is most necessary.  II Cor. 12:5-11 is the masterpiece of revelation declaring each disciple must have in front of him or her a strong critic(s) to decifer who it is that is really running this show.  It is God; not us.  It is our weakness borne in frustration that fits perfectly into the power of Christ.

Weird huh?  It turns out we shut off the faucet of power because one thing we certainly will not tolerate is insult and persectution.  No sir!  People ought to be grateful we are one of the good guys.  We could be hoodlums, you know.

Philip Yancey's point is poignant.  How would telling people to be nice to one another get a man crucified?  What government would execute Mister Rogers or Captain Kangaroo? 

We aren't called to be nice.  We are called to be hurt.  We are drawn into a life of woundedness for the sake of our enemies.

We are called to be reps for the Kingdom of God and this isn't going to go over well.  The tendency to save our own necks has thrown kingdom impact to the wind.  This is so serious that it isn't a matter to the masses that we are liked; we just don't want to be disliked.  We hate that last part.

Yet, criticism is the Miracle-Grow of life in Jesus.  It helps us to be centered upon the trelles of the cross that we may ideally bloom where we are planted.

HAPPY 36TH ANNIVERSARY TO ME!

It is just the strangest thing to be a co-laborer with God.  And...with age it seems to get stranger.

Today is my 36th anniversary of getting to be at Memorial Drive!!!!

It is a miracle!

I had no concept of what it would feel like to be in ministry at one place this long.

1. We do get younger day by day.
2. We never gain momentum in the Kingdom for the more we learn through study and experience the bigger He becomes and the smaller we get.
3. We feel less at home.  I feel more awkward stepping up to the pulpit and more temporary in my role.  Both are good things.
4. We live in perpetual awe.  Church life is neither routine nor dull.  It is full of God-elements and God-productivity.
5. We cannot begin things nor fix things.  Our role is to note what God is doing and get on board.
6. I assume we learn newer things by being at one place 36 years and than being at 9 places 4 years each.  New rough terrain shows up.  And, new blessings appear.  It is weird to baptize or marry children whose parents I baptized or married.  How fun is that?

On the list goes.  I'm the luckiest man I ever met.  Life gets tougher; not smoother.  Too, it becomes more meaningful; not duller.  I can't believe what God has called me to; yet, I always wished I could grow up to like who I am and where I am.

I am the most nobody of all nobodies and it just feels pretty awesome.  He is the True God and the only Somebody.

How fun is this?

WHY CHRISTIANITY?

We have believing to do; effective, fruitful believing.

There seems to be a nebulosity about us.  While we feel committed to God and church, there seems to be a huge, gaping, vague pocket as to what we are to be about....as to who it is we really are.  It is within this context that I offer a targeted hope that will give definition to our Christian walk.

The defining moment for true believers is found at the foot of the cross.  I speak not from churchiness; but from fulfilling purpose.  It appears that even vigorous church action, if it is a trek away from the cross and yet in assumed meaningful ministry, will offer eventual empty and unsatisfying distractions compared to the reality of carrying a personal cross.

Christianity has the most unique role upon earth.  No other entity equals it.  Yet, we who wear that brand have a tendency to basically neuter its purpose.  As a result we in general have become an anemic sort who are devoted to Bible study, spiritual development, and extensive servitude; yet without the one thing that both separates us from man-made religions and thrusts us into the soaring glory of the living God.

I speak of genuinely and authentically carrying our Cross daily as we follow him.  One cannot experience daily resurrection power (II Cor. 13:4) without daily death to ourselves (Lk. 9:23-24).  The cross gives us meaning and the resurrection gives us hope.  When you put real meaning with anticipatory hope you have a person who lives pumped about life.

Christianity is not a social organization as the Red Cross.  Neither is it a religious hoop like Buddhism.  It possesses a singularly unique element.  Its followers believe that they are to die for their enemies that both the enemies and themselves will come out of it alive!

We are wasting good boys and girls who become even better men and women by grooming them to serve where they prefer and give what they can coupled with respectable church attendance.  Our young are dull as well as bored because, while they may not realize it, they have been created for something far more than living.  They/we have been called by the Living God for dying.

Why Christianity?  It is the only system on earth which packages life via the tunnel of death.  If a baby refused to leave the womb it would live a most sheltered un-life while living...for awhile...and then it would die from refusal to risk exiting.  We must leave the womb of the safe and keep-us-happy church.

Why Christianity?  It is the road to True Life.  Only God would come up with a living scheme that insists one can only find something by losing it first.

WE JUST GO BY THE BIBLE?

Really?

No, really?

It seems that from my very earliest days of conversion to the Church of Christ I heard it said, We only go by the Bible.  We only believe what the Bible says.  The Bible said it.  I believe it.  If God didn't say it, we don't believe it.

Are you familiar with any of the above?

Going by the Bible is noble and right.  Claiming we operate by it and only it is dishonest, if not dark.

From experience I submit to you that the vast majority in the church do not go by the Bible.  Rather, they go by that faith the one whom they admire and respect most possesses.  Some are of Paul and others of Apollos.  Some are of Max and others of Batsell.  Others are of Truitt while others of Terry.

No, we have long left the regions of Bible speaking to us.  The church has cast her confidence in men and women rather than knowing Scripture.

I'm not saying that we have no one studying, applying, and effectively following the Word.  We surely have many bright men and women; young and old.  I am stating it seems to be fact that the majority of our members could not conduct a healthy Bible study with a neighbor nor could they find the book of Amos.

We go by the Bible is the wish of a church on cruise control; but not responsibly accurate.

Why do I believe this?  One reason is to watch our actions.  We are anemic.  I put my name at the head of the list.  How many Christians do you know who read their Bibles simply to let God speak to them? Several, but not the majority?

How many faithful followers do you know who fast and pray once every ten years?  Maybe....one?  Two?

What's the point?

I wish to join in on the curbing of smug statements we make which are both untrue and offensive to public ears.  When we make such brash statements we are sounding big to one another while the community around us has gone completely deaf to His message.

We do not go by the Bible.  Rather we have greater tendency to go by what those whom we treasure telling us what we are to believe the Bible says.  Do we not criticize this same approach in the Mormons and the Catholics?

SHOULD CHURCH KIDS PLAY SPORTS?

The Christian Chronicle gave recent coverage to the topic of church vs. sports. Polar opinions were expressed; all in good conscience.  When I had three teens, I lived in such questioning moments.

As is typical church, we tend to offer typical answers.  Never skip church.  This causes doubt.  Etc.

Of course I would have an additional slant.

I wish our parents would train their children to see these as honest and prime times to be good examples by professing their faith.  I'm not merely talking about good behavior. I mean intentionally playing the game to develop relationships; to connect with those families who have no God nor church nor faith.

Missing church isn't the main issue as much as missing the opportunity is.  Since and when our kids/families are in such gatherings, please intentionally use these times to sow seed for the kingdom.  With a Bible tucked under your arm and a verse prepared to quote?  No.

With invitations to go out to eat?  With invitations to church next Sunday...or some Sunday?  Of course.

Jerry and Sherian Myers were members of Memorial for years?  Their son Mitch played sports with my kids.  Sherian was baptized.  Mitch was baptized.  It all began because our kids were at ballgames and we were there, too.  What was my approach?  Would you like to know the secret?

We intentionally sat by them.

That's all.

Each of the comments in the Christian Chronicle carried weight in some area.  Joshua Tucker's, though, had a power too easily missed by the church in general.  Sports and other activities can be a great way to be the light of Christ, but many Christians seem to just approach it as general family time or extreme competition time.  Church attendance isn't the biggest deal to me personally, but if people are already pretty unfocused spiritually, regularly missing the assembly sure doesn't help.

Should kids play sports?  Should moms get their hair done?  Should men go to Lowes?  I say yes to all three.  And as we go, we should watch for those holy moments to sense when planting the seed of the Kingdom might just be a very good and needed and productive move.

HOW TO KNOW IF WE ARE JUST GOING THROUGH THE MOTIONS

For those who are filled with church ambition, I thank you. For others who are also brimmed with excitement for great things of God, you bless me. For many of us who have Kingdom awareness; yet feel we may just be going through the motions, I am most sympathetic. One of the things that I grow in at a very slow pace is prayer. I excused myself from prayer for many years. Even at this point in my life, I am no poster-child for prayer. But...I am discovering that I look toward it increasingly and differently. I believe much of ministry is a fluid movement of itself without the support of the Divine for we are "imaginers" and "fixers" without the time spent in dialog with God.

EFFECTIVE OUTREACH; ONE ON ONE

Some church members find it easy to reach to relatives and neighbors. However, most find it to be painfully uncomfortable. I once nervously and guiltily (is that a word?) looked the other way for I did not know how to reach. Today is new! I know how. I don't know all of the ways; nor do I know the best ways. I just know how! One way that works for me is to enter during casual talk about how wrong I got ministry; that I was rigid and mean and critical. It is just weird how many times the question comes back, "Well what changed you?" When I tell them that I quit preaching church and began to preach Jesus, then he changed me, deeper inquiries follow. It has been assumed we need to know answers before we could reach out. Not so. We need to know Jesus, admit our weaknesses, and watch doors open in favor of learning about God.

THE INSANITY OF FAITH

Has the church moved up in social rank over the years?  Have we purchased prime locale, modernized our buildings, become a two-car, chicken-in-every-pot sort who now feel respect should and can be given us?  Have we stepped up in our own image?

 

A sort of body rash breaks out when reminded of the not of this world position.  How we forget.  If we don't forget, we at least tend to go deaf and blind until the reminder passes.  We've worked so hard to be respected that we may have shot ourselves in the go-into-all-the-world foot.  We have possibly forgotten that to believe in God has the edgy appearance of being insane.

 

Our decent and in order recital became abusive to the point that sterility of church movement became the norm.  Wild and vigorous energy for God was reserved for the eccentric few nut cases of any congregation.

 

Faith in God is not only not average; it isn't normal.  Normal wouldn't approach a swollen river even if God did want to part it.  Normal wouldn't thank God for His ability to dismantle a prison cell.  Normal wouldn't think that giving would find life's provisions. 

 

This is all nuts to the unbeliever.  This is nuts to the fearful believer.  This is nuts!

 

Yet, God's people marched on dry ground as tall waters gave the nation a standing ovation.  God's Son breezed through the tomb as if death is whiny.  And the apostles witnessed stark moves of faith that the weak would whisper, That's nuts.

 

We offer a well-planned array of adventure and interest to our church kids.  Mine surely enjoyed it.  In addition, may we parents walk a terrain of risk, extreme, and impossibility that the Living God could have windows to flex His divine muscle.

 

Are they servants of Christ?—I speak as if insane—I more so; in far more labors, in far more imprisonments, beaten times without number, often in danger of death.

 

For some who choose not to believe God, there appears to be an insanity among those who do.