WHEN SELF WANTS TO BE THE BACKSEAT DRIVER

I've had to learn to let things go. Let them go.

Over the years I been proven to be my own enemy. I've tried controlling others. That doesn't work. I've tried manipulation. No good. I've tried manipulation through pouting. No good either.

Jesus has trained me over the years to be assertive with ease. Those two words didn't fit into one sentence in my earlier years. I've learned to let stuff go. What people say. What I say. What happens that doesn't go my way. Let-it-go. Life will be all right. God makes it so.

Sometimes it seems like someone raised the hurdles. At times I don't clear them. I fall down and skin my emotions. Both the event and I will be all right. God makes it so.

I once would kill off life in a project or a process by rectifying and re-rectifying and re-re-rectifying efforts. I learned to turn it over to Him. He's the expert at soul laundry while my efforts look like self-shout-it-out.

God makes life work. Assertive? Aggressive? I love the privilege of both. But the outcome isn't up to me. It is up to God. So I can back up and take a huge run toward the hurdle. Whether successfully sailing or fretfully falling....God makes everything work out for good because I love God and am called for His purpose.

I like life a lot better when I quit being my own backseat driver. Second guessing self is selfish. Try with all the might in which we love God. He gets the work done....in amazing ways!

Romans 8:26-39.

PEPPERDINE LECTURES....A PERSONAL CHALLENGE

Uh-oh. A couple of developments at Pepperdine are causing me concern; well, disappointment.

You all know I have been relishing the idea of receiving my honorary doctorate. Mom would be so proud. However, Darryl Tippens informed me he is out of town...London. You can guess what this means. No need for me to dress up big for my surprise doctorate as the Presentor is absent. Bad break #1.

And.....you know how it is when you are asked to speak at a prestigious event. First, you are elated and brag about it to friends, family, and may even stop by a local bus stop to inform those waiting. Next though, dreaded fear rushes through as you wonder.......who is speaking opposite you at the same time? Walling? Atchley? Lucado?

Well, I have the ultimate opponent facing me. It's worse than Harris. I speak at 9:00 at night. My opponent? Pie and coffee. At the conclusion of Tuesday and Wednesday evening keynotes, Jerry Rushford will step up to the mic and say these words; Folks, haven't we had a wonderful evening? The good news it isn't over yet. You are in California you know. We'll take 30 minutes and then you have a choice of ZOE's best with Mike Cope, Jeff Walling's drama guild, Randy Harris' slide show of family vacations when he was in grade school, Max Lucado signing personalized books, pie and coffee...and, oh yeah, Terry Rush will be speaking to three of you. Would you raise your hands---three of you---if you'd be willing to go hear Terry?

Bad break #2.

Somebody's got to do it. So hey, bring by an old book written by anyone...or even a magazine you like. I'll sign it. Better yet, I'll autograph your pie.

JUST FOR THE FUN OF IT

I love Yogi Berra-isms. He's a natural at it. Irony flows from his unassuming lips. Ironically, he makes sense sorta.

I remember a teacher once asking me, "Don't you know anything?" and I said I don't even suspect anything.

When you see a fork in the road, take it.

When asked at the beginning of Spring Training what size cap he wore: I don't know. I'm not in shape yet.

When honored before the game at Sportman's Park in 1947 he was so nervous he said, I thank everyone for making this night necessary.

Public Speaking is one of the best things I hate.

Carm's been a great wife and we have a great time together, even when we're not.

I always get up at 6:00 a.m. no matter what time it is.

I have little patience with people who are late. I'm always early for everywhere I have to be.

When moved from catcher to left field, the shadows would begin to creep over the edge of Yankee Stadium. It gets late early out here.

I guess I've always been serious about money. Maybe because it was hard to get, and it's never worth what it once was.

I turn out the light in a room right after I leave.

If I had to do it all over again, I'd do it all again.

UNCOMMON LEADERSHIP

What do guys like Max Lucado, John Maxwell, Rick Warren, Rick Atchley, Dave Ramsey, Marvin Phillips, and Andy Stanley have in common? They are uncommon in their leadership. When you size up the strengths of each of these men one will note a trend to create a dimension of leadership uncharted by others before them.

Guys like me tend to parrot them; but these and others of their caliber don't look for the pattern to follow. They look for the gift of God within and begin to lead. This doesn't mean we can't copy things that work. It does inspire me to want to pray for and reach toward areas of God's work within me that may have not been considered to this date....by anyone in history.

I don't believe 1% of God's talent and ability within man has been struck. Therefore, we are free to dream and imagine what can be. The kingdom, if nothing else, is the purest land of opportunity. Good for you in the good things you are getting done. While you are doing well, I encourage you to weigh what might yet be done for the blessings of man which has yet to be discovered.

PEPPERDINE BOUND...AND I'M PUMPED

Dear Readers,

Uh, I'm not sure but I may have arrived. You see I received a very special award from Jerry Rushford at last year's Pepperdine Lectures. Being me, I told my 10:00 a.m. class on Friday that I had to leave immediately after class to receive my Honorary PhD from Jerry at the 11:00 o'clock hour. (I knew I was only to have the opening prayer but.....well maybe I embellished it a bit?)

When I got the the 11:00 keynote Jerry presented me with such an honoring award. Upon receiving it in shock, I told the entire audience (laughing of course) that I thought I was receiving my Honorary PhD. Darryl Tippens commented immediately following my comments that if I wanted such an honorary degree I was to see him; not Jerry Rushford, that Rushford only directed the lectures.

Well...THIS WEEK...I received a letter from Pepperdine. The envelope is addressed to "Dr. Terry Rush".

I take this as an omen. Although the contents of the letter don't need to be discussed here (okay, it had my housing assignment), I must say I believe I am in for some sort of surprise honor next week. I want all of my friends (both of you) to hang around because I feel certain Jerry Rushford or Darryl Tippens has something special they want to present me.

Now I'm trying to decide what to wear, where to sit, and whether to have a press conference afterward.

Sincerely,
Dr. Rush

AH, BAD MOVE ON MY PART

So grade-schooler Emily Hughes saw me yesterday morning at church about 9:00. Her eyes were bright as usual. With great enthusiasm she asked if I would like to have her spray some stuff on in my mouth that tasted really good. She held up a small bottle of something; what I could not tell.

Now I've been around part of the block. I knew by her wrinkling nose and insincere talk that she was playing a trick on me. I was fairly certain it wasn't poison. But, hey, I'm a grandpa and why not make this cutie's day? Right? Wrong. Bad move.

Emily sprayed and sprayed. Oh! It was so terribly bitter! And she died laughing. I'm always good for causing people to laugh. But I could not get that bitter taste to go away. As it came closer to preach I realized I had made a very bad calculation.

So? I'm friends now with Emily Hughes. I made her day...or part of it anyway. But the next time a kid comes up with some miracle spray, I am pretty sure I'll pass.

EASY SOLUTION TO FAMILY STRESSES

Complexities loom large in this era. Little seems as simple as it once was. Rules and laws seem to grow. Ask the IRS how many pages it takes to explain their code. Over 9000 I believe it is.

Families encounter a great deal of stress these days. There is a simple solution to many of the problems; three words really.....I am wrong. Those are a tough three words for some. Impossible for others.

When one can't admit as to being wrong, a hazardous trail develops. Relationships fray. Misunderstanding escalates. And homes disintegrate.....all because one in the herd could not say the words I am wrong.

Blame then becomes the next unhealthy route. Then it will always be someone else's fault due to what someone else did/said/didn't do/didn't say. Anything will do as long as one doesn't have to say the dreaded three-worded sentence.

A lot of families would heal if grown men and women could begin to repeat the phrases like I am wrong and I am sorry. The trouble with this thought is when any reading this can see how effective this would be if the "other" would just say those words.

Roman 2:1-5 won't let any of us escape. When at odds with another self-judgment is the best place to start. For several years in the church I felt others were to blame for our ills. I was half right. They were.....but so was I. Strange. It hadn't occurred to me I might also be a part of the problem. I was a great blamer. I was an equal pouter.

But I was found being as weak and as mistaken as I thought others were. I began to notice the glory of God right where I was planted when I began to be appreciative for His mercy toward me in my incredible weaknesses.

TO LIFT THE SPIRIT OF MAN

It is a strange thing; the way God works. He spoke through Isaiah that we wouldn't believe it if He told us about His ways for they are so much higher than ours....even including our thoughts.

By the time Jesus steps up to deliver his inaugural address at the Mount he immediately begins with seeming defiance to man's muscle and mind. Blessed are the poor in spirit....wait a minute! We gathered to hear how we are going to make it. We don't need some young squirt speaking in riddles. We want answers, man....give us answers.

And he proceeded to speak promoting mourn-ism and the value of persecutions. Some kind of nut? Or, some of that "higher thinking" Isaiah prophesied?

We've read the book and we win. We see his points. They baffle; yet we do our best to line up with him. So we would not think it odd, huh, to realize that to have our spirits truly lifted up we would need to confess how far we have sunk. Only God could make that scheme work....for good.

I spoke at a seminar in Arkansas this weekend. It left me sad and glad. Sad that I am not any further down the road in maturity than I am. Glad God works among us anyway. We will do progressively well when we can grow in realizing he (as a human) had it figured when he said, Apart from the Father I can do nothing.

To really lift the spirit of man one will consistently find the creativity of God and not the intellect of man is what works for both.

I'LL SAY IT AGAIN. DEATH BRINGS US TO OUR FAITH

Do you realize we are in grave danger of living facade lives? Do you have any idea how many relationship skirmishes we go through---that we believe to be THE battle of a lifetime---that we really don't care about? Can you take it in that one of earth's greatest mistakes is that we believe we cannot forgive another....that there is no more room for love?

What lies we live beneath. What suffocating, ruinous, injurious lies.

Yesterday was Mary Watkins' funeral. This 53 year old indeed lived a life or rebellion. She spent maybe a third of her life in prison. Her addiction to drugs and alcohol followed her to her grave. Yet, a year ago she reached the end of her own rebellious rope. She was baptized into Jesus as a pre-cemetery arrangement....dying to Christ before she died in the flesh.

Mary let her family know of her baptism looking for some signal of acceptance. Yes, she had fought them and hurt them severely over the decades. She got no response. There was no more room for her love. She had burnt all of the bridges......so she assumed. They didn't care anymore...she thought.

Yesterday I stood in the family cemetery. Mary's grave is up against where her dad will be buried...right beside him....along with her deceased mother and brother. If Mary could only have known they loved her enough to bring her home to be beside them, it would have been one of her few heart-warming thrills. But the family couldn't say to her they cared. They did. They showed it....after the fact.

How about you? Who in your life has hatred blinded you to the truth that you really do possess a love for your assumed enemy? Words of acceptance may not rectify damage uncontrol, but they surely may be just enough of a hint that souls could begin to heal. We must be careful to speak words of life....even to those who betray us....for in those words we may find we have personally created a new person we had no idea existed.

MINISTRY: SHEER JOY

Yesterday was one of those days where meetings dominated the landscape. Helping one with funeral preparation, another with agonizing divorce, another and yet another session moved into the night. It seemed each meeting escalated in dramaticism with intense sobriety and need to walk wisely as a serpent and harmless as a dove.

While I don't relish the pain men and women encounter, I very much like such days. Yes, I suffer fatigue. Fatigue over schedules is maybe 10% of the load those with whom I met are carrying. Mine is the easy job.

What I treasure about yesterday is Memorial Drive is obviously such an authentic Place to Start Life Over that we actually draw people who.....need to start life over. The immediate innuendo to such a truth is "sticky wickets". One of our older members encountered a friend who attends another church in Tulsa. The friend said, "You know, Memorial Drive is nothing but a church for refugees" meaning to take a dig at our member....and us.

What a compliment to us. Yes, we are a refugee church. As far as I know each one of us is worthy of rejection....not only by God but by each other. Yet, we aren't rejected. We may have to sand and polish from time to time; but every person is valued highly.

For through the grace given to me I say to every man among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think....Romans 12:3.

Ministry is sheer joy. Our job is not to think highly of self. Our responsibility is to think more highly of others for we all rejects starting life over in Jesus....the Life-Giver.

RANDOM THOUGHTS AND OTHER STUFF

FACEBOOK: I feel guilty at not joining the many invitations to sign up as a Facebook friend. I receive the invitations from terrific people. Dusty says I need to be doing Facebook. So far, though, I have declined. One reason I don't sign up is I don't know how. And, I certainly don't know how to decline...so I don't do anything.

I focus on this blog. It is important to me to keep it current. With it, email, phones (office, home, and cell) I'm in touch sufficiently, don't I think? Yes, I think.

GOLF: Wayne Conway passed by my table Monday evening at El Chico; the Honduras fundraiser. He put two cartons of new golf balls in front of me. We both love golf. I was stunned to receive so many new balls....and they were just placed in front of me (as Casey Jones said when little) with no asking. As I opened one sleeve I saw Wayne's genius. He had ordered an imprint to be placed on each ball;

A Place to Start Life Over
Memorial Drive
Church of Christ

What's the intent? Golfers like us are always losing golf balls due to errant shots. So Wayne has devised a "Lost Golf Ball" ministry which advertises the church to those who find our stray shots. 100% Natural Evangelism at work again!

BASEBALL: I pray for Rick Ankiel of the Cardinals; I have for years. During last night's game he did poorly his first two at bats. When he came up the third time I began praying for him as he has really struggled early this season. He got a hit, then another, and the third time up he got a hit driving in the go-ahead run against the Mets only to later score. I emailed him this morning that he remains in our prayers....and that we did well in last night's contest.

MANUSCRIPT: I've been working on a new manuscript for four years. It isn't an easy process, but it sure is fun. I have a professional writer/friend assigned to rigorously edit the manuscript from cover to cover. She has to be pretty frank; like in this morning's note that the first 2/3s are stellar and the last 1/3 is unacceptably weak. Now I have work to do...again.

And I encourage you that 2/3s of your ministry may be strong yet 1/3 not so good. Don't sweat it and don't resist it. Learn from it. Grow from it. Correction is for the ones intending to get better at the jobs God gives us.

SOME THINK THEY HAVE LOST THEIR FAITH IN GOD

How many times have you become ill? Have any of those occasions presented a significant question of "what"? What causes this rash? What leads to this pain? What is bringing about blurred vision?

It isn't unusual to note physical abnormalities strike and we are clueless as to what and why. Then why is it that when we ail spiritually we so easily and quickly self-diagnose? Ah, it's the last preacher we had. Well, if the church members weren't so hypocritical. I will never go near organized religion again as it is a scam. On and on the diatribe rails against the church in explanation or excuse as to what it is suffices as reason to skip God.

But I hurt for such ones. I know their accusations against us can be accurate. But their excuses are terribly flawed for that isn't the real reason they are detached from God's community. Oswald Chambers wrote, many have lost---not their faith in God (I never met anyone who lost his faith in God)---but their belief in their beliefs, and for a while they think they lost their faith in God.

Some feel sure they don't know what they think about God when it is quite possible they have lost faith in their belief system. God isn't needing abandoned. That answers nothing. Weak belief systems should be swept away and new lines of orderly faith brought into perspective.

This just might bring a fire back into some very dimly lit hearts. How about yours? I am rooting for you.

I'M STILL ABLE TO BE WOWED

Aging in the church is a blessed process. I am more easily wowed than in my earlier years. Two things have brought about such improvement:

1. My confidence in God
2. My confidence in people

God actually does the many things we talk about Him doing. I've learned to wait. He'll be there in His time...but He will show up. On top of that, He does have a pretty good knack at effective leadership. He knows how to get stuff done.

And people....my if I had known in my earlier years the talent (God's skillful talent) which resides in everyday people. It's spectacular. Yes, we find each of us glitched on occasion. We tend to fray and even break here and there. But God keeps the body moving quite well showing us Jesus is the head of the church and not one specific member, or one specific family, or (dare I say it) one specific preacher.

God works in people. People are fueled by God. The more I stay out of the way, the more wonder He seems to display. Each of us is tremendously blessed....by God...and by amazing people.

COUNTERFEIT

I'm bugged, bothered, and frustrated that a strong portion of mankind has bailed on God as if He did something wrong. Much of the peeling away from Him, in reality, has nothing to do with Him yet He is the One who gets hurt in the process.

Man has built stubborn defenses against spirituality in general because of counterfeits. This is the distant roar from the anti-church people. God has been banned from homes, offices, and schools because of counterfeits...like me on some days...when God has done nothing but beg through allowing His son's torture and ultimate death in hope we will awaken to Truth.

Counterfeit money is everywhere, yet I've never met one person who balks against the use of money. Flim-flam sales teams hit the unsuspecting, yet the masses still make purchases. Rogues rip off the elderly through misrepresentation and, still, the elderly engage in financial strategies.

Why won't people treat God with the same mercy?

Masses are going to live eternally without God and His heaven because they focused on the bad eggs among us....which at times are us....only to rob themselves. Yes there are counterfeits. But you can't have a counterfeit unless there is a truth. God is Truth.

Whatever man may find to dismiss God, rethinking must take place. Blame organized and unorganized churches all one wants, this will not hold up as a good excuse when the Master inquires as to why He was snubbed throughout the many adult years.

THE STORY OF GOD

God shows up. Everywhere we turn, God is there. Some believe that, like preachers, He only works one day a week. Both do more (do I seem defensive?). He's done it again....and may I say in a most impressive way.

Mary Watkins is a newbie at Memorial Drive. We found Mary in our church's food pantry as her money had run out of month. Mary, with a husky voice, needed help in oh so many ways. Two of our workers in the pantry, David and Lisa Combs, began to shepherd Mary as she was so very alone. They took her groceries, brought her to church, drove her to the doctor, and moved her from apartment to apartment as demands arose.

Mary had straggly hair and no teeth. With a walker she would inch her way into our assemblies and talk during much of them. She had a lot of struggles. Mary was an alcohol and drug addict. A few weeks ago she was baptized into Christ and started life over. She continued her addiction battle but did so with a new family (church family) that exchanged smiles upon every encounter. Although she had severe health struggles her heart was light in the sheer joy of belonging to somebody somewhere....us.

Mary died last night. That is a sweet and sour statement. She suffered so much and now suffers no more. This woman had a very hard life. She looked 75.

Mary was only 53. We will forever be blessed at her passing by our church and accepting us as we are.

COVERED UP IN DISCOURAGEMENT

I don't mean to sound negative but a whole lot of my friends are covered up in discouragement. This is discouraging. A sad side to this is many have accepted or assumed they are to accept a role of living out their remaining days as sub-par in life. Not!

I wouldn't know how to count the number of hits to the heart an individual takes during a lifetime....but it is a lifetime full. But this is why the God-element is so important. It is Jesus (the one He sent) who declares that he gives us life....and in abundance at that.

One of our duties as believers in this remarkable and perfect savior is to continually and perpetually prod our friends into believing the good things about life. Struggle is not our enemy. If we will set our eyes on Jesus, we will see ourselves advantaged from every setting; negative or positive. Jesus won't go down in any battle and we belong to him.

Henri Nouwen wrote, You have to keep unmasking the world about you for what it is: manipulative, controlling, power-hungry and, in the long run, destructive. The world tells you many lies about who you are, and you simply have to be realistic enough to remind yourself of this. Every time you feel hurt, offended or rejected, you have to dare to say to yourself: "These feelings, strong as they may be, are not telling me the truth about myself. The truth , even though I cannot feel it right now, is that I am the chosen child of God, precious in God's eyes, called the Beloved from all eternity and held safe in an everlasting embrace."

You are not God's accident in life. He specifically, intentionally chose you. Push back the tears. Fight back for your place in God's arms. You are important. The world may not tell you so; but God does.

CHURCHES: SHARP OR DULL?

The visitor handed me a multi-page note. She loved our church but knew if we knew she was a prostitute we would usher her out. I went to her apartment that afternoon assuring her we needed her at Memorial Drive and many more like her. She could hardly believe it. Memorial accepted her into a new life.

This lady started life over at this place. She married and does well. So does her friend who suffered the same plight. Ashamed and depressed at how she made a living, she was suicidal. We buried her....as we baptized her into Jesus and when her boyfriend got out of prison, I did their wedding.

Churches are like people. They have peaks and valleys, good days and bad, wins and losses. What is it that makes a church successful at times and a failure at others? I would think a hundred solid responses could be given. Since it is my blog I will write about one of the crucial one hundred.

A church is sharp when it reaches out. It is dull when it focuses inwardly. (This truth applies to individuals, does it not?) Churches possessing a mission to keep everyone in the herd corrected become top-heavy with a pseudo-truth. Such a church falls into the same trap as the religious leaders of Jesus day when he wouldn't do church stuff they way they saw it.

What was it he did so glaringly errant in their sight? He disregarded religious law for the benefit of healing non-religious people. He loved the injured more than he feared the threats of the church.

Churches committed and convicted to reach society's rejects and fringe possesses a God-heart; understanding itself to also be rejected and fringe. Jesus was both.

I see a big difference in churches when one or the other of dispositions is present; reaching in or reaching out. One is sharp. One is dull. One is alive. One is dead. One is praising; the other is complaining. One is daring. The other cowers in fear. One is saved. One fears it isn't.

One is grateful for grace. The other is aggravated at those grateful for grace.

That's one of one hundred. You would add which one?

THE GOOD NEWS WHEN WE CAN'T FIX THINGS

I wouldn't know what percentage of people suffer from laziness. The unambitioned are surely among us. Yet for the most part, the bulk of society is quite willing to give life a sturdy shot including the opportunities to make significant corrections and adjustments. Puzzles present themselves for our ingenuity and solutions. Thus, we take on the world of putting things back together, righting wrongs, and extracting defects.

There is a glitch in us, though, which often throws a breaker. We ultimately hit zones we can't fix. What's going on with that?

What's going on with that is God has been trying to get our attention for a long time that He would provide. We have behaved as if it were up to us.

Centuries ago elderly Abraham was promised a son. Abraham (then only known as Abram) surveyed the land of possibility concluding his wife was too old to have a child. What's wrong with his conclusion? He forgot God knows how to make life come from non-productive arenas. So Abraham set out to fulfill God's promise. Once again he forgot God knew how to fulfill His own promise.

Abraham botched God's delightful blessings by impregnating a servant girl so he could say to God, See, you got your child! What Abraham needed to do was wait on God. Because of his prowess to "fix things" Abraham has our society in a huge mess today as noted in the mid-East crises which erupt continually. Abraham didn't fix things; he botched life for much of mankind.

We will do well to note that rather than fix things our job is better suited if we would but wait for the Promiser to do His marvelous work. Eventually Sarah had Abraham's promised child. Yes Sarah. The one assumed by the husband to be too old. But what did he know? He was only the husband. God was God. God knows how to fix everything.

MY MADE-UP RIDDLE

Riddle: What is it we have a lot of and none of all at the same time?

I made that up (if you couldn't tell). The riddle has to do with a kingdom factor which I regard as huge. I can't do without it, have it in abundance, and fight for it constantly.

The answer? Confidence.

We have a lot of it if it is placed in the Spirit of God. We have none of it in ourselves if we are positioned well with God. Proper and effective confidence is to be Spirit-provided and never self-induced. Thus, we have a lot of confidence in God; but not in ourselves....simultaneously.

II Cor. 3:4-5: And such confidence we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God.

All close to me know me to be of two extremes; no confidence/great confidence. I have no confidence (Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves) in me. So it is very weird being me or working around me; for I have great confidence in God (But our adequacy is from God).

So we live as the answer to a great riddle. It is when we have confidence in ourselves that we are jumping the kingdom track. Therefore, we find even greater meaning to the Galatians exhortation, I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me. We live while we don't while He does so we do.

God's riddles.....who can fathom?

CONTENTMENT

The elders and staff had our weekly meeting this morning beginning at 6:30. Today's gathering soon veered onto the topic of those in the church who try to manipulate a congregation's direction by complaint. This is a significant factor in a lot of church operations.

I feel certain I will not be able to word this as well as the meeting actually went, but there was mutual agreement that the church cannot afford to have its leaders manipulated by a hand full of complainers. When elders or staff move to keep men happy rather than God, the work begins to suffer for God isn't the dominate factor.

People do complain. We've been there and done a bit of it ourselves over the years. Some, though, feel they are sort of self-assigned Barney Fifes keeping order within the flock. Some just have that disposition of letting their voices be heard to the degree leaders, if trying to pacify, kill off cells of church growth.

The word contentment arose. When church leaders can be content by threats (let members threaten) without rushing to plug the leaking dam, God has a way of seeing our trust in Him. He seems to reward. Elders and staffs must be careful not to get caught up in pleasing the malcontents or else the real work of the church struggles to get going. However, when focusing on His work, it seems the workers get a charge from getting to serve in creative and dynamic ways.

If any try to persuade us with "either/or" meaning you make improvements/adjustments or else we are out of here....we surrender and let them leave. They are quite welcome to stay, but we will not chase them down. If they are of the nature to seek a change we believe God will bless them down the road and still bless us by continuing to build Nehemiah's wall.

This might sound harsh to some. I don't mean it to be. I'm simply saying when some feel we don't come through for them maybe another congregation will be a better fit. In the meantime we are learning to develop a spirit of contentment as each of us could find displeasure of many sorts. But we are more inclined to be healthier as we focus as a church family on the possibilities with Jesus.

Contentment to live together in harmony realizing we each have a lot of improving and growing up to do creates a lively church.