A MOST AMAZING GOD-THING HAPPENED TODAY

I just have to share this. A most amazing thing happened to me this morning. It's one of those things you hear happen to others, wished it happened to us, and it did!

I drove my car to work.

I went for breakfast with David Combs.

I stood in line at the bank and waited my turn...a long time.

I filled up the car.

I took coffee by Lindbergh elementary school for the secretaries.

I brought a coffee back for our secretary.

What's so amazing?

I did it all by myself! I had the energy, the balance, the money, and the mental capacity to pull this off. Not everyone can. Ask the stroke victim, or the blind, or the nursing home resident. I did all of this by myself!

They day may come when I'm unable. So today I celebrate able! I backed out of my own driveway early this morning....and boyee am I having a good time! When I turn 98 and can't do some of this stuff, I will not wish I had noticed it when I could....I already did! I noticed me doing this.

How about your day? Ah, phenomenal as well?

HOW TO WEIGH OPPORTUNITY TO CHANGE

Students of the Word are subject (expected) to change along the way. Growth insists change necessary. When a child grows many things change; hair style, length of limbs, and weight are just a few. Other things don't; two eyes, two ears, one nose, etc.

Growing in the kingdom requires learners to sort between the changeables and the unchangeables. While the Word doesn't change, it will change any who read it.

One of the things one may want to consider is to responsibly separate scripture from method. Methods will always change; yet some will claim a method to be scripture. For example, some would believe Wednesday night church is God's establishment when such is merely a method of mid-week assembly.

Too (and this may be more important), we will do well to weigh the spirit of the change innovators. It is not unusual for various ones to have new ideas. Some might even be radical. But should any have an attitude of arrogance or superiority, be on guard.

Remember the two praying in the temple? One was so pleased that he was not stupid like the other. When one is grateful they see doctrine or scripture application better than a neighbor, inaccurate spirituality looms.

Some things will change. Change is at the core of the kingdom. Making adjustment from smug assumption of superiority is never an element of godly kingdom work. Avoid failure by refusing to hop onto an illegitimate band wagon. Be wise in making changes from the spirit of humility rather than conquerability.

A MOST FORTUNATE DESIGN

I am very grateful for the way God has designed a believer's life. He plants us amidst the body; the church. We are not a conglomeration of islands trying to unite. We are individuals blended into the growing formation of Jesus still on earth.

When I'm with my elders, I'm a part of the works of Memorial. When I'm with our staff, I'm still in the loop....a meaningful, important loop. When I'm with area ministers, again, I'm drawn into the fascination of getting to be a part of a movement of God that really makes a difference.

See, when I began in ministry it was an individual deal. I was programmed (I'd been trained in a preaching school pressure cooker) to perform ministerial acts. Well....when you are aware you are not much to begin with, it makes it difficult to get much momentum going.

But a thing that changed for me was to realize a most fortunate design of God. I am in a productive community called the church. I am connected to believers who...well...believe! I'm connected to the ministerial artist of the past and all of the believers of the now!

We aren't in the kingdom solo. We are in it via duets, trios, quartets and entire choruses. We are a part of a gigantic movement....not just of our tribe but connected in meaning as well as in search of truth with many other believing units.

We win together. We suffer together. We heal together. We are a part of a body...not a part of many bodies. We are productive, we are useful, we are successful....because of a most fortunate design.

EXCITED ABOUT THE CAUSE OF CHRIST...BUT

I was born into ministry with self-imposed conditions. I intended to preach intensely, but I didn't want to get my hands dirty. I believed God's message but to my surprise to myself I was a great respecter of persons. I choose my inner circle carefully. To no surprise they liked me and liked how I did church.

There was a kind I didn't care for. I wasn't rude to them. I simply had easy ways out to avoid them. They never knew it as far as I knew. While I thought I loved people I was a religious snob.

I thought I could do without the poor. I thought I could do without the unfriendly. I thought I could do without the critics. I thought I could do without the organized. On my list went....without being aware I even had such a concept.

My biggest mistake was I assumed them to be of no use to me or the rest of the church. I think God mentioned that in one of His letters to me; how He figures I will esteem some as significant and others as not so much. I now know He tried to lead me to realize even the least were a secret part of His intrinsic design.

I've broadened my base of acceptance assuming I will always have light years to grow. It is a marvelous thing, though, to note how much wonder God has buried within every person I know. He uses every one and every thing....including the crumbs like me.

BE SURE. BELIEVE SURE.

God is working.

He has all situations within view.

He knows how to live through every dilemma.

He knows how to get you through your treachery or your uncertainty.

You can be sure....you can believe....our God can do the most amazing, impossible, and even improbable tasks.

Let Him.

Romans 4:17-25

DON'T LOSE FAITH

Don't lose faith in your fellow man because of sin.

Don't lose faith in yourself because of the same.

Use both diseases to lift your spiritual soul to the fine art of the Jesus style.

Don't dishonor God by falling for the age-old trick of seeing man's blemishes; therefore, doubting God. Such is proof of God. Such is the necessity of God.

Don't lose faith in trials. Use them as your fuel to believe bigger than ever before.

LIFE: WHO CAN LIVE IT WELL?

Have you been bent out of shape lately? Do some just bug the tar out of you? Have you just about had it with the general human race? Specifically, do you wish church people would grow up?

Ah, that can happen to us. We are a funny sort; expecting more of others than ourselves. Some are too hard on others but not sefl. Yet others are hard on self and still hard on others.

What might be a better route is to realize we all take two steps forward and one step back. None of us are exempt from devastating accusation of sheer failure...none.

So how do we live this grand life well? I don't claim to be an expert; but I know the Expert. As we grow in him we will do his life better. Jesus is the one who scrapped our old lives in order to give us great new terrain. We will fumble and fall. He edges us closer to becoming the best us yet.

Concentrate on everything you can that goes right. Don't accentuate the hiccups along the way. Don't miss a good message because you caught "sefl" misspelled somewhere (like I planted in the second paragraph). Lift your eyes to see the radiance of your each moment! Don't miss out on beauty by focusing on the ugly and picking it apart.

Live your gift-life brilliantly! Live it well!

CRUELTY AT ITS HIGHEST

I doubt most would carry a burden I do. Not that mine is superior in any way, but there is a sight unique to my work which undoes me every time. My stomach does flips. I speak of driving by a funeral home. It is even hard for me to write this and not cry.

I speak not from lack of confidence in His resurrection power. I am as certain as you that such is reality. I speak from the anguish of heartbreak that takes place in such institutions; mommas being torn from child, child being ripped from a momma.

The wailing...oh the unbearable hours of holding others while they wail. Mouths go silent. Tears stream. Hearts crumble to the floor.

While this isn't my usual morning pep talk, in a strong way it is. Don't waste your day by missing the treasures of the moment while planning for an significant encounter with job, family, or pleasure six months from now. When you get there enjoy it, too. And do prepare for such an event well....but do not fail to note the wonder of it all at the present.

I've been in death situations where I felt my lungs could not hold up any longer. Grief is a devastating desert. The pain of it insists we lean upon the strength of God for no man or woman can endure. So we do....we do move about as normal as possible. Yet because we are acutely aware of the temporary we will not forget to say "I love you" more.....whenever now happens to be right now.

I love you.

WHEN ELDERS ARE TOO SLOW IN THEIR DECISIONS

Well....I'm guessing I have the attention of all elders just about now! Yet, elders are not my target; young leaders are. Whether a young minister or a young member in the church, you will want to give heed to what I'm about to say.

Over half of my life ago I was frustrated, perpetually so, with my elders. Why oh why were they so slow? Were they shooting up on molasses? Sometimes I've made proposals where Halley's Comet passed....twice....before I got a response.

It occurred to me at about my umpteenth irritation with them that there was a defect in my approach. I would conclude an idea that "would work" having pondered it for maybe three years or three months. I would get my recommendation together and shoot my idea....expecting them to make a decision in twenty minutes (mixed in without about eight other external ideas others were floating).

How unfair. Moreover, how unwise.

So I learned to sow seed. This is the kingdom way. I now make seed introductions and watch (fairly contently) to see which ones sprout. It took me over 25 years to finally get a lawn sign communicating we are a place to start life over...and immediately a couple saw that logo, were baptized, and now are a part of our family.

However, I think my 25 year proposal of renaming us the Airport Church of Christ since we are at "747" S. Memorial is dead seed. That idea has been rejected so many times....I don't even care for it anymore.

So what's going on young preacher? Rejection of our ideas is a secret yes of God. He is training us to yield to the Holy Spirit as we must have His fruit of love, joy, patience, etc. When our urgent ideas are neglected good is going on. We are learning to depend on Him....not our ingenuity.

Oh, but how do the elders ever learn love, joy, patience, etc?

Ah, God gives them us!

JESUS DIDN'T COME TO DESTROY THE LAW

Jesus had a problem on his hands. The lawyers were on his case for not keeping the law. He rejected their notion saying he didn't come to destroy the law but to fulfill it.

What's the beef? The Law the lawyers had in mind and the one Jesus had in mind were two separate entities. The Pharisees are including all the rules man's tradition added; Jesus did not. He would fulfill God's law.

We live under similar circumstances. Some believe I (and others) are trying to destroy the church. My goal is to fulfill it. I love it. But the debate is over two separate entities; (1) the Why You Are A Member of the Church of Christ, or (2) the church that Jesus builds. I want to be a a part of the latter for the former has both added and embedded man's tradition calling it Bible.

My problem is I am not yet like Christ. Therefore, I'm just as likely to slip something into the church philosophy that also came from man's thinking and not God's.

Yet, our goal is to fulfill the Builder's desire. May we be filled with the Spirit of Christ that the world may have opportunity to participate in the church Jesus builds.

IN OVER MY HEAD

What is it like being a minister? For that matter, what is it like being an elder or teacher or a member? From this perspective, all are the same; we should be in over our heads.

The longer I'm privileged to be in ministry the more I am filled with unanswers.

I applaud you if this fits your zone. To live in the territory of not knowing the direction, the outcome, nor the answers indicates we are serving beyond our comfort zone. I point out at this moment that those of you who are not in over your head may need to seriously re-evaluate. You may be trying to do your work in the name of God rather than yielding to His work.

Living over my head scares me. Two things set the stage for misfire: (1) I don't know what to do, and (2) I don't know how to do the what that I don't know.

But, think with me. Do you really think Noah had a grasp of the Ark instructions? Did Moses know what he was doing as he led a fleeting crowd right into the center of the Red Sea? Did the priests have a solid understanding of how the Jordan would change its mind when the souls of their feet touched the high waters?

One would think (I would have thought) that after being at one place for over three decades, a man would have more answers than I have. Not. I can't say I'm more clueless than ever because I began basically clueless. Fortunately, God lets me operate from that mode because He is well clued.

Not sure where to turn? Not sure how anything will work out? Unclear as to sober decisions exactly which direction to move? Be sure: (1) you don't, and (2) He does.

When we are not in over our heads, we many not be in the correct kingdom.

I believe, knowing God, someone really needed to read this today. Great!

TULSA WORKSHOP: EARLY BIRD CLASS

I meet with 15 ministers each Workshop Thursday from 6:30 to 8:00 a.m. On a first-come-first-serve basis, I give away 15 tickets. It is a special gathering of men who serve in various parts of the country. We may discuss sermon preparation or attitudinal adjustment or some other matter. We never know 'til it gets closer to time.

Of the 15 tickets, 7 requests have already been made for reservation. If you would like one of these, email me at trush@memorialdrive.org. I'll be happy to save you a place.

Tulsa Workshop....March 24-27....Our Journey.... www.tulsaworkshop.org

WHY "NEW" FASCINATES

New day. New hope. New job. New car. New house. New coat. New. We love new.

Why is that? Don't you know? It is God; it is the very nature of God. He is the Creator. Don't you get it? Creators create what? New. Come see the new creation; whether it be sculpture or menu or Lego design.

The Word says we are a NEW creation. It also vows we are NEW everyday. New coordinates and parallels.....God.

Leadership will be on the cutting edge of God-stuff when it is sought in the realm of the new. Henri Nouwen said, "Christian leadership is a dead-end street when nothing new is expected, when everything sounds familiar and when ministry has regressed to the level of routine. Many have walked into that dead-end street and found themselves imprisoned in a life where all the words were already spoken, all events had already taken place, and all the people had already been met."

What I look for in sermon preparation week by week is what God is saying which is new to my heart. Not that I didn't know the fundamental truth beforehand, but what does He say to me I didn't quite see that way before? Every week He affords me a hint of something new in His Word. I have years and years of it yet to learn. And when I see something new to me....it seems to cause the light to go on in others.

New....it will always fascinate because it is the nature of God.

JUST WHO ARE THE EXAMPLES HERE?

Frenzied chatter has escalated recently over two sports icons; Mark McGwire and Tiger Woods. Both have fallen from fan-grace it seems. The cry is a wearying one of, "What kind of examples are they to the kids?"

Shall we investigate?

Mark McGwire violated his sport by using drug enhancers which were improper for a professional athlete. That's bad. When he testified before a congressional committee he refused to comment; thus refusing to lie. That's good. Recently...and repeatedly, I might add...he has admitted his mistake, confessed his sin, and apologized for his failure. That is a very good example.

Tiger Woods' image tanked at the news of infidelity. That's bad. He sought immediate help through rehab. That's good. He appeared before the media--thus the world--with self-humiliating confession of his sin coupled with a deep expression of penitence and sorrow. That is a good example.

While McGwire and Woods should be embraced for their example of courage to admit in brutal honesty their mistakes, the general populace wishes to second guess and call for more public humiliation. This example on the part of fans is bad; it is wrong.

What kind of a message are we sending to our kids when one who messes up can't be reinstated? What kind of examples are we when those among us has the audacity to clearly state they made a horrible mistake and we won't accept their confession? Do we really believe kids aren't watching our rejection of these men?

Just who are the examples here? Well, more than Mark and Tiger. The role models are also moms and dads, neighbors and coaches, talk show hosts and news reporters. It is one thing to insist we walk an upright path. It is quite another to continue to kick at those fallen while pointing our narrow and judgmental fingers assuming we are not hurting our children by our lack of grace and mercy.

When these kids grow up and fail....for fail at several things they will....what will they recall regarding the treatment of Mark and Tiger? Abuse or forgiveness? Hate or mercy? Chide or applause? Believe me, it matters. The icons in sports aren't the only examples to kids. The two sitting in the front seat driving to church are overheard whether we believe it.

May we be determined to treat our wounded better.

THE GOD OF COMPLEX SIMPLICITY

God. Who can fathom? Who can manipulate? Who can understand? Who can know Him?

Granted, God is the Genius of systemic processes. He creates brilliance just by saying so. It is God who can put a message into one average-sized volume which breathes so full of life that men who have devoted themselves to eradicating earth of its presence....died first.

God. Who can gain understanding of His boundary-less and time-less presence? Who?

Along comes Jesus to reduce the quandary and increase the un-answers. If we have seen Jesus we have seen the Father. Well that surely helps....yet holds us at bay for who can grasp the injury of the cross or the vacancy sign over the tomb. So we are back to square one.

Therefore, the simplicity factor raises in substantial value. Simplicity? Believe Him. We are to believe. We can't explain. We can't prove. We can't win on our own. We can simply believe.

Jesus was asked by the reporters in John 6 what they should do to do the God-kind, God-sized works. His response. The work expected of each is to believe the one whom God sent.

Now to my point: because of our American performance-based culture, we tend to make things too difficult. Believing seems to leave the hard worker at a silent loss. Yet, we are surrounded by very hard working members who have little patience, little vision, and very little faith. Their religion is at the ends of their hands and their feet...what they can do to serve.

The complex simplicity of God is that we let Him handle the complex while we do the simple....believe Jesus. This is a winning combination which can't be explained...because it is too complex for the simple to grasp. Yeah God! And, yeah us!

WE ARE AT OUR BEST BROKEN

The church suffers from leprosy. It cannot feel; its heart has grown numb. Instead of passion for the unruly and sinful, resentment for their actions builds. The style of Jesus extending a hand and kind word of hope to the most aggressive rebels is desperately needed among us today.

We are at our best when we are broken. "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, Oh God, Thou wilt not despise." (Psalm 51:17)

When we are broken we are free to move without thought of fear. What worse could happen to us if already broken? We are free to love; we won't be caught off guard. We are free to imagine for nothing can embarrass us. We work at our best from the pit of thorough brokenness.

Henri Nouwen wrote, "What keeps us from opening ourselves to the reality of the world? Could it be that we cannot accept our powerlessness and are only willing to see those wounds that we can heal? Could it be that we do not want to give up our illusion that we are masters over our world and, therefore, create our own Disneyland where we can make ourselves believe that all events of life are safely under control? Could it be that our blindness and deafness are signs of our own resistance to acknowledging that we are not the Lord of the Universe? It is hard to allow these questions to go beyond the level of rhetoric and to really sense in our innermost self how much we resent our powerlessness."

Yet, powerlessness (due to brokenness) thrusts us to the platform of being at our best. Jesus' most masterful move was when he was in the grave powerless and the Power of the Holy Spirit quickened him. We are at our best in our most dreaded state; our worst.

Be encouraged. When you feel beaten, battered, and broken, you are just getting started in the grand scheme of kingdom productivity. This is why we must never, never give up. Take the hits, endure the slams, hold up under disappointment. All of it is for the world's benefit.....through the crucified you.

AFRAID TO BELIEVE?

Do you recall how some teens fret (or refuse) over carrying a Bible to class because it isn't cool? What would the cool kids who didn't carry their Bibles think? Would one be labeled for looking interested? And how about the pressure to sing during church? Will others think I'm....spiritual?

This fear of what others might think moves right on up the age scale. Yet, the question isn't as minuscule as toting a Bible or singing songs. This terrain is over what one will admit they believe in front of their peers.

I believe churches experience pressure to believe or not to believe certain matters. There is great pressure (I know from experience) to go with the herd and disregard the activity of the Holy Spirit. Fear on many levels overrides honest doctrine.

As fear escalates into our later ages, carrying our Bible is no longer the threatening restraint. Opening and studying it is. We are in danger of believing what our friends believe more than what the Bible teaches.

I know what it's like to be "written up" for my stances. I know the personal pain that most onlookers would shrug their shoulders in indifference and move on. Yet, when it is personal....it is painful.

However, we are not of the spirit of cowardice. It takes courage to believe God...even in the church. I urge you to keep your friends only to the extent they let you form your views from your understanding of the scriptures. Do not let their rejection of you determine how much of God you will ultimately believe. If you do, they are your god....not Him.

DON'T GROW OLD. GROW UP.

One of the kingdom's more intriguing traits is that of newness. The Start-Life-Over factor is unknown in all other circles. To be Newer-Day-by-Day is literally out of this world. What is going on and how does this apply to our routine? Is this a feeling? Is it a law?

Newness is, first, a promise of God. He strongly emphasizes the new birth and the new creation. The very nature of repentance is to determine to start again.

Growing old versus growing up surely belongs in this discussion. The reason? Whether flesh or spirit, parallels exist. The one I see clearly this morning is that of flexibility. A child is flexible. A Crappaw isn't so much. A Great Crappaw just isn't. And a Great-Great Crappaw? Ah....where's his walker?

In the kingdom growing old versus growing up is consistent with the above consideration. The very nature of the Spirit (John 3:8) is flexibility. To find a young/youthful disciple in their 50s/60s/70s+ is to find one flexible in mind. In others words, they are not set in their ways.

Rigidity has become the framework of all sorts of churches. Rigidity is followed by irritable followed by grumpy followed by deadness. This isn't a kingdom pattern.

Calvin Miller wrote, "Always abandon unnecessary rigidity for God can only direct the flexible."

One of the issues I face in being 62 is I must continue to do my stretches. For how many times have I already discovered it is easier to retreat to my tried-and-true approach to the church rather than consider new possibilities.

May we assert ourselves in the region of growing up.....that we never grow old.

ONE OF MY BIGGEST JOY FACTORS

A major thing happened to me on my way to heaven. I learned a hard lesson. However, once I learned it I can't (won't) let go of it. Oh, I am not the ideal icon of its truth....I just know it is true.

Here's my elemental discovery which affects everything I approach in kingdom matters: God operates off of incredible mystery. Jesus praised Him once for revealing such to babes. How does one remain in the church for years with a perpetual smile stretched between his or her ears? Love the mystery of God.

I can't explain everything. Now I get it I can't explain hardly anything; and this is the nature of faith-full leadership. Jesus said (Mark 4:26-27) "The kingdom of God is like a man who casts seed upon the soil; and goes to bed at night and gets up by day, and the seed sprouts up and grows---HOW, HE HIMSELF DOES NOT KNOW." The very sower of the seed operates in ultimate clueless-land.

In Acts 12 the revelation of Peter tightly locked down in prison persuades all on-lookers that the best of escape artists could not break such bonds. The matter is reasonably impossible. Yet an angel of the Lord shows up with neither explanation nor description and releases the supposed felon. Of Peter going through the reality it is said, "he did not know what was being done".

And then the leader of the term called faith, Abraham, began to follow the call of the Lord. Of this great adventurer of faith it says in Hebrews 11:8, "and he went out not knowing where he was going".

The flesh part of Christians wants explanations and oft demands understanding. Thus, we often go nowhere because we are still waiting on some divine GPS to give us respectable and reasonable guidance. We are stuck.

The breakthrough comes when we "go" not knowing how or where or why to go. We sense His call and can't explain it. Often it will feel to be against our gut insight. For me to pack up and go off to preaching school was absurd...even in my own mind and surely in those of all of my friends. It was a ridiculous move.

Later, to move to Memorial Drive was against everything my being could arouse as wise except for one thing; I believed God was calling me. My faith won over my fear.

One of my biggest joy factors is trusting God when He knows full-well I don't have a clue about the map nor the instructions that accompany it.

AFRAID....BUT NOT WORRIED

"I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling." Rather strange of Paul to say, don't you think?

I was pondering my own work and realized how afraid I get to speak and yet I don't worry about it. I evaluated whether I was naive or dishonest or mistaken. Yet, I perpetually feel the fear of stepping up to the mic each Sunday whether class or sermon; but I'm not worried.

Then I realized the apostle knew such mental gymnastics. He, too, experienced the same.

A secret for Paul (and therefore of us) is he could realize he didn't have the skill to pull off the assignment. Yet, he was most confident in the Spirit of God. Consider his next sentence following his admission of fear and trembling. "And my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God."

A mistake I made in my earlier years of teaching/preaching was my awareness of my absolute lack; yet, I tried to compensate by mustering fleshly delivery technique. I didn't trust God's Spirit with the ability to connect my English words with their spiritual ears.

Now I've learned to live with my fear. I've accepted the trembling which doesn't dissipate over time. How? Because I am sure of the Spirit's activity. I am free to be afraid; but I don't have to worry. He will connect the message deliverer to the message receiver.

This is a preaching/teaching secret. Until we get it, we will do our best to make ambitious presentations while those listening will walk away bored....untouched and unmoved.

When I prepare to approach an audience, I plead with God not to leave me up there alone. I beg Him to stand there and say something. I am merely a pipe. He is the supply of life. I may be afraid.....but I'm not worried. He knows how to effectively communicate.

DISTORTED TRUTH ISN'T TRUTH

Truth is divine. Truth is of God. Truth is Jesus. His Word is Truth.

Being conservative or liberal won't work when it comes to Truth. We think we will get by with our pet stances; but we won't. The Bible makes a perpetual call for renewal of minds that we can know the true will of God. This will require adjustment and change rather than protectionary status quo.

Pure Truth is too liberal to the conservative. It is too conservative to the liberal. Neither have it if adding due to fear or subtracting in the name of open-mindedness.

The world is in a huge hurt because we have built our denominational forts and yelled our particular slants to those who drive by seemingly unaware. The world wants to know God and God wants all reached. Truth will set men free; not perpetuated bias of brand name churches.

Surely we can see that life in Jesus is refreshing to both the church and the community. His is a drawing doctrine....not a distancing one. I want to know the Truth of Jesus. He knows things I don't. I want to know more about Him; what made him tick, why he had such courage, and how he learned to move with such power.

I pick up truths here and there....and how grateful I am. But I must admit I had to let go of the once prideful stance that my kind was the only kind that knew the Truth. My kind has and does know some of His truths and we grow to know the Truth; Jesus.

Distorted Truth isn't Truth....so we must discontinue our passing it off as if it came from heaven above. Truth is rich and we want to gain momentum in it. May we do so without conservative or liberal pride. May we be simply Christians hungry to learn.

WHY SOME PEOPLE BUG US

If you happen to have people in your life that rub you the wrong way, pay attention. These are in your life to mature you in the very nature of Jesus.

The truth is God loves everyone and we don't. We remain selective. Yes, we know the verses about loving your neighbor, loving your enemies, and that love never keeps score. But....that isn't us.

It should be.

We are given the Holy Spirit to treat others as would God. While Romans 2:1-5 will not budge from its accusation that whatever we are critical of we are guilty of ourselves, we still find justification with our inner-explanation as to why we don't care for certain individuals.

Each of these "individuals" is in our path for a reason. They are testing grounds to see how we are progressing in the areas He expects to be coming from His authentic disciples; love for others.

Why do some people, at this stage of our lives, still bug us? We still have that offensive childish nature to label others according to their behavior. We are often still in kindergarten where we are irritated by both the sin and the sinner. May we grow to realize the reason people bug us is one of the purposes of God.

FREE SPACE

All Bingo cards have a Free Space. Not all Christians do. A strong and positive response to kingdom opportunity will occur when more believers possess that Free Space.

I speak of that place where strangers are free to enter our space with room to be themselves without pressure to become as us. Oh how we talk big church talk. We oppose this and sigh over that. I think the most inspiring trait of any congregation is to know those who give strangers Free Spaces. We have those who are always taking someone in, keeping them for the night or a week. I'm talking about strangers; not friends. We have those who see homeless people and go back to give them assistance. These are Free Space offerers. So I quote Henri Nouwen....

"Hospitality, therefore, means primarily the creation of a free space where the stranger can enter and become a friend instead of an enemy. Hospitality is not to change people but to offer them space where change can take place. It is not to bring men and women over to our side, but to offer freedom not disturbed by dividing lines. It not to lead our neighbor into a corner where there are no alternatives left, but to open a wide spectrum of options for choice and commitment.....The paradox of hospitality is that it wants to create emptiness, not a fearful emptiness, but a friendly emptiness where strangers can enter and discover themselves as created free....Hospitality is not a subtle invitation to adopt the lifestyle of the host, but the gift of a chance for the guest to find his own."

A couple of Sundays ago David and Lisa Combs were on their way to Bible class. They noticed a woman standing at a major intersection holding a card foraging for help. While David and Lisa turned around to go back for the woman they saw two other cars from Memorial Drive pull alongside to hand her money.

David and Lisa took the woman to breakfast; yes, they skipped class. Not everything in her story seemed to match. But the right thing about this occasion is David and Lisa offered her a rare and important moment as God searches for her. They offered her a Free Space.

It is the vision of ones as David, Lisa, and those passing along the money at an intersection that I think really make our congregations what He wants us to be.

HOW TO KEEP OUR PREACHERS AND GROW OUR CONGREGATIONS

We have two simultaneous problems. We are loosing more preachers than we are gaining and congregations are struggling for growth. I believe the two problems are connected.

Ministry is not easy. Neither is being a congregation. Therefore, consideration for both calls for precisionistic as well as faithful love.

Two basic elements are hurting both causes. Young ministers just getting started are basically immature. We just come packaged that way. In addition and regardless of size, most congregations come packaged with at least one guardian-grump who assumes more authority than the other elders or the rest of the church. This is a catastrophic combo.

From experience, learning to fit the ministerial role is terribly difficult. Filled with embarrassing inadequacy and inferiority, taking weekly shots from the self-appointed authoritarians leaves most of us disoriented. It isn't a natural time to develop and mature. Then, if the powers-that-be move there little man on down the road as they wished, guess what sort they bring in next? A green little man full of....of the same lack as the one just fired.

So how do we help? How do we mature the preachers and build the churches?

Both groups will be advantaged to learn to be still and bear the fruit of the Holy Spirit....patience. Things will work out. We tend to give up on our people---either group---way too soon. Goodness is in both. And not so strangely, fiery ordeals are to be found among us...I Peter 4:12. Neither group has valued the wonderful weight of struggle and trial.

We are given great stress to learn to be more dependent upon God. Young preachers have trouble learning this because they, once again, are packing and moving on down the road to the next group who just let their man go six months ago. Congregations fail to mature because it's just too easy to have mob-rule and run the little devil out of town....much easier than patiently waiting for him to catch on the the larger value and components of kingdom life.

I am unusually blessed. I've been provided the abundant room to fail. Yes, there has been severe struggle as well as threat. But God has held on to me as have elders and members that I could be privileged to have a shot at growing up. I'm still in the growing up stage.

My word to all congregations is this: do what you can by faith to see past your man's flaws. He's got 'em and he's aware of several of 'em. But you've got 'em too...and you've got 'em bad. If we could replace the hiring and firing formula which stifles both groups and, instead, develop a nurturing and believing system we might see maturity and growth in both areas.

May we save ourselves from ourselves by bearing the fruit of the Holy Spirit right in the center of us. Thank you, Memorial Drive, for believing in me when I couldn't believe in myself.

HOW DO YOU BE YOUR OWN PERSON WHILE SERVING ALL OTHERS?

Any who care to minister from some plot on earth encounters immediate consternation. How do we go about avoiding the pitfalls of peer pressure and yet delicately care for all people. It isn't unusual to find one who has great sympathy for many; but who is also caught in the snare of trying to please all of them. Or, one may find the guy or gal who refuses to get caught up in such a trap so their solution is indifference to the needs of others. They just don't care.

But Jesus....Jesus had that right knack. He surely is reflective of the Father. Jesus had the ideal personality; he could love the sinner, hate the sin, and maintain a faithful posture in front of his Father. Jesus could stand toe to toe with a legalist and then turn around and die for the guy. The Son of God loved everyone without melting into the "being accepted at all costs".

As a result, Jesus was not a politician but rather a true Savior. He cared that people loved him but not at the price of self-glory. Jesus loved friends and enemies; yet he remained true to who he was without being bullied or seduced into being someone or stating some thing he didn't believe.

We are challenged day by day to walk this path. It is easy to yield under pressure. It is just as easy to develop a "who cares" disposition. Jesus did it right. He cared so much he would die....but he would not bend.

THE SEARCH CONTINUES

The fields are white unto harvest. Yawn. Many want to know God. Yawn.

Except.

Except the fields are white and many want to know. Our culture is uncertain churches know God. Could their suspicions be warranted?

How does God say one can know His people? "The world will know by your love."

It is a wonderful experience to be in touch with those of the community whether it be at a local cafe, or at a regional sporting event, or connecting with those in blog circles. I know one thing for certain; people appreciate being loved.

The world still asks that question. Love is the signal from outer space that spirituality remains a key ingredient among the variable lives of mankind.

Why is love a signal of God? Because such is the fruit of His Spirit...Gal. 5:22. Anyone can love as long as things go well; but no one can love under pressure unless God is funding it. The truest sign of spirituality is our issuing love to both strangers and to enemies. Such cannot come from one who is not backed by the currency of God.

Love is a spiritual issue. Un-oddly, the more the banks, politicians, and churches struggle, the only signal out of heaven which verifies the God-connection....is love.

The search continues by the millions. May they find it....residing in our hearts!

SHALL WE CONTINUE TO LEARN?

Isn't it amazing how exciting it is to be a learner in the kingdom. I don't know about your denomination but ours fed us a diet of "we are the only ones who know the real truth". I believed it. Many believed it. Many still do.

But our fruit from such teaching betrays us. While claiming to be of the Real Truth we are some of the most argumentative, cynical, and fearful people of any religion. The Truth is we have had many things wrong for a long time. When I (or others) point this out, fire-storms erupt.

There is nothing wrong with admitting we don't know everything. Really, it is rather a simple and noble confession. Yes, we do many things right as do other religious groups. No, not anything goes. But that statement needs to land in our own laps...and not toss it to those not like us.

We are guilty of something Jesus pointed out in John 5:39-42. We think we know our Bibles but our fruit announces we don't know the Christ of the Bible. What shall we do? Humble ourselves, apologize for our arrogance, and join in with the rest of the Christian world in trying to discover the intricacies of the amazing Son of God.

I received this note recently. It supports my claims. We are guilty of a narrow and legalistic kind of doctrine; the very kind that sent Jesus to the cross. The good news is there is a better way. The Bible is still the Truth....but we have not cornered that Truth.....there is also room for us in the kingdom if we will humble ourselves in the sight of the Lord.



"You ARE the best!! Thank you so very much!! I do not ever want to be negative about anything (a noble endeavor, huh, but impossible) so I do not "bash" the Church of Christ but I do think some of my "issues" in life come from trying so hard to follow the rules and measure up, unsuccessfully, of course. I think the way I was raised in a little narrow minded, legalistic, judgmental Church of Christ made me hypercritical most of my life. I mean, after all, if I could point out someone else's faults, and they were worse than mine, maybe it would make me look better and feel better since following the rules was impossible and the guilt was overwhelming. It was not until I retired and moved here and had an unbelievable Bible study on the gospel of John with a Baptist girl much younger than me did I figure things out better.
I was free, free indeed!! And born again....again!!

Thanks for your efforts in finding the article and sending it to me. I like it!"

LIKE KIDS SHOPPING IN A CANDY STORE

How would you describe what it is like being in the church? I would say it is like being a kid in the candy store. That wouldn't have been the case in my earlier ministry days. My earlier days would have lined up more like a lawyer/judge. And it isn't fun condemning the whole world for their many obvious errors (being oblivious to my own). Being in the church was a burden.

Not the case today!

What changed? I quit obsessing over getting the church right and became enamoured with Jesus getting me right. His righteousness is so much better than my meritorial efforts.

Today I enjoy God. I enjoy watching Him work, watching Him provide, and watching Him keep His promises. Every day is a Birthday Party opening gifts from God. Yes, deep matters burden my heart. True, some days are weighty. Yet, God has such an immeasurable presence that I cannot go long without being "surprised" by His talent and skill.

God is quick! He knows how to get things done. I don't. I want to influence the whole world for good...even those yet to be born. I want to impact those born in 2017; or all future dates. And what do I do to get it done (because I will get it done)? Relax. Enjoy the fireworks. God builds the candy store. We get to walk through to pick this and this and that and that. We can have it all.....and we do!

Let's go shopping.....again!

HE KEEPS CONNECTING THE DOTS

Our congregation is stirred over one of ours who has been hurt in Pakistan. LeGrand Stickland's outfit was hit with a bomb. All in the company were killed except him. He is unconscious. When he awakens he will discover both legs are amputated. Too, he has suffered extensive head trauma.

Reports say they are working on his stabilization for transport to an army hospital in Germany.

Do any of you recall the young woman in nursing school in Lubbock a couple of decades back? She had gone to the Public Library on school assignment and accidentally came across one of my books. After completing finals she returned for my book, read it, and was baptized in Lubbock.

I just received an email from that nurse. She is serving our country as a nurse at the military hospital.....in Germany. She sent me a note stating LeGrand has yet to arrive. Linda and her husband will give Carrie a place to stay and a car once she arrives to be with her husband.

God.....He just keeps connecting the dots.

WHEN TEMPTED TO WILT

I don't know about you, but sometimes my mind feels the temptation to enter melt-down. I become very sad for the pains of people. Oddly, that's precisely what drew me to ministry...God cares for people.

Yesterday my day ended on a surprise that a dear friend is suicidal. There is grave concern for this one who is so valuable, so important; yet has reached a point of nearly caving in to depression. My heart grieves as I have thought of this one all night and all day today....unable to get a response on the phone.

And then.....this morning our church learned of LeGrand Strickland on maneuvers in Afghanistan across the border in Pakistan. A bomb exploded and all in his company were killed except him. At this point we know he has had both legs amputated and suffers from a traumatic head injury.

My mind pings and pongs between these two friends and their families. They are the ones in pain; not me. They are the ones suffering; I'm fine. But the ache they feel transfers over into my heart....our hearts.

When we are tempted to wilt under the strain of heartbreak we must keep our focus upon the Wounded Healer. He's been there, done that, and knows precisely how to minister to us in the center of our perplexing issues. Praise be to God. He knows how to do insult and injury. He knows how to remain supreme.

May we lift our eyes upon Jesus.

IN SEARCH OF GOD

Henri Nouwen wrote The minister is the one who can make this search for authenticity possible, not by standing on the side as a neutral screen or an impartial observer, but as an articulate witness of Christ, who puts his own search at the disposal of others.

Whether a minister or a Christian leader, our positions make us uncomfortably, yet most naturally, vulnerable. The-man-up-front has an immediate problem before he ever approaches the stage. What in the world is he going to do about his image? Most usually he has to fake it for he knows full well he is not made of the shiny armor the church assumes.

Before filing cabinets and Internet we had a system of possessing the correct answers when in preaching school. We had an alphabetized order of answers written on 3 x 5 cards neatly rowed in a shoe box. How to answer Baptists? Look under the Bs. Jehovahs Witnesses? Js. Ah....so simple.

One of my problems was I couldn't find many who were asking questions to fit my shoe-box answers? When one heads into ministry as a young pup, intimidation reigns. I prayed I would turn multiple corners where people with matching questions would approach.

Image? It is like trying to build a snowman out of warm water.

But I learned something important. I learned to be a learner. I learned that a secret in connecting with community is to say I don't know. Many in the community are looking for God. When they encounter another (like a minister) who is also searching it provides them with an immediate common bond.

I will always be in kindergarten trying to learn the alphabet to the kingdom. It isn't that I don't apply myself in study. It's that the Topic runs so deeply....so widely....so far. So, leaders of the church, I encourage you to toss the image and return to your original hunger for God. In this fashion you will find clusters of friends searching for the same thing....Life in Christ.

DEATH DIED

What is the worst news you could hear? Think about it. Bad doctor's report? Negative word from the mortgage company? Death in the family?

While all of the above would be considered serious (even quite painful), there is one bit of news mankind just cannot afford to hear; there is no life after death.

I remind you of the best news which you possess day after day. Death has been killed. Jesus ruined the worst news to hit the ears of humanity. He clipped darkness' peak performance by slaying death....by arising from the grave never to die again.

I encourage you to awaken every morning and remind your mind of the best news one can hear; the worst news is no longer news for the worst news died in a cemetery over 2000 years ago.

In case you wondered if anything ever goes right for you....it already has. Enjoy being you today!

LOOKING FOR GOD? CAN'T FIND HIM?

Many really are searching for God. A problem some have is they automatically eliminate one place He might be hiding.....in the church. They don't like church and mistakenly assume He doesn't attend either.

A great bias has built over time against the church. Because we fumble and fight, our good neighbors have opted for godlessness if dullness and argument is the store-front for church. They can get the same at home or at the office. Understandably, they don't need to volunteer for more of the same.

But in reality, the church is the life-center when truly connected to God. This is why Children's and Youth Ministers are so vital. People are looking for life. Of all places the church ought to be full of the most vibrant life in the community.

So I have a message to two groups:

• Seekers, keep looking. God is available even in churches. Don't write all groups off just because you have heard stories. There are many lively congregations in your area. Find one.
• Churches, we must awaken that to be a dull congregation with a missions effort in Foreign-ville is abusive to the scriptures. To have a missions program without a congregation in love with the Christ is to lead our neighbors away from Him...not to Him.

There is work to do. Being alive, looking alive, acting alive is surely of the strong nature of Jesus.

HOW TO BELIEVE WELL

Faith is a marvelous segment of humanity. It reverses life's course. His withered hand was healed by Jesus. Fumbling and impulsive Peter walked on water...for awhile. Oddly---yet maybe not---the chains fell off of Peter when in prison and if you should think that amazing, wait 'til you read what God did when Paul and Silas were impounded.

Faith is a precision tool in the workshop of the Christian worker. As a key, it unlocks rusted doors. As a heat-lamp it thaws frozen hearts. And as a saw it cuts through the toughest struggles.

Faith is not a Sunday slogan for pew sitters. It is a part of people like arms and eyes and lungs.
Faith is a profound factor. One without it is limited as if to have no feet or hands.

What does faith do? It is the believe part of men and women. If one can't believe then such a one is stuck with whatever is. But faith can look over a condition and believe such can change.

Faith has resurrected my life. That's what it does. As we believe Jesus was raised from the grave---by faith---we believe many matters assumed to be the way it must be can be reversed. Faith puts the Yes in life---II Cor. 1:18-20---whereas with no faith one is forced to live a No.

How do we believe well? When we believe God can use a harsh cross and cold tomb as His billboards to save the world, we can believe that the impossible is possible. If death can be defeated (which is man's largest enemy), then anything else of threat can be reversed.

Have a new life!

"Empowering the Ordinary" revised

I have been working about a year on revising the book Empowering the Ordinary (originally "The Holy Spirit Makes No Earthly Sense"). I asked a couple of study groups to give me input regarding confusion and lack of clarity. I am very encouraged by their input. The new revision is now published. Below is the Conclusion.

When it comes to the study of God's Spirit, I will always be in kindergarten. This book is meant to encourage. It is not the Alpha and the Omega of Holy Spirit facts. I do not regard myself as having laid hold of a mere fraction of the existence and function of His Spirit. This book is intended to aid and enlighten. Hopefully, it will reveal that the Holy Spirit is involved in the life of the common man. He was sent purposefully to empower the plain and ordinary individuals.

There is only one Spirit. He worked with Jesus, James, and John and will work with us. His mystery is His indwelling, which enables us to bear fruit in simplicity. Only our own misunderstandings and fear portray the activity of this spiritual guide as disorder. However, true Holy Spirit participation brings about order rather than reckless religious jerkiness.

The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are one. Jesus prayed of their oneness. Man tries to separate the three in order to explain; not realizing his own extensive limits of logic. Yet, the Three are gloriously united. We are the ones who try to divide them for our own explanation and comprehension. The truth is the Godhead cannot be explained. They can only be believed.

The prayer of John 17 tosses us into Their arena. this unity will cause the world to believe. Distributing Bibles is not the conclusive display of Christian compassion. Walking in oneness is the grand and ultimate communication. Unbelievers will convert if they discover true harmony of faith. Jesus said the world would know by our love and it is impossible to live anything but fragmentation and argumentation without the Holy Spirit.

The world basically does not believe because those of us who own Bibles have failed to accept one another in love. We have refused the harmony of the Spirit while seeking to invite all the children to drink our Kool-Aid.

The Spirit of God is moving upon the face of the earth. There are many books on this subject, but they didn't help me grasp His working. It wasn't that all of the books were inferior; I am. Lord willing, this book will serve to inch those who stand upon the same ground as me toward a clearer focus of the Spirit. This material does not "wrap it up" as far as studying the Holy Spirit. I just want you to know I know that.

Jesus set the pace. He never mis-stepped. He was as common as a Missouri farmer. He was as good as a New England fisherman. And until he linked with the Spirit of the Father, he was only a man. But upon the re-union, the greatest revolution began. And the revolution continues to advance. This volunteer man (Jesus) received power.

May our human intrusion and manipulation upon this topic begin to fade. May we be able to discern according to Spirit evaluation. The Holy Spirit makes sense---heavenly sense. His very nature baffles sights set upon the visible....and we are perpetually bombarded by the visible.

"Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things freely given to us by God which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words. But a natural man does not accept them for they are spiritually appraised (I Corinthians 2:12-14)."

As it turns out, the Holy Spirit was not as expendable as we once believed. Wonderfully, we now see knowledge of Him is quite the opposite...expandable. Welcome to a new world of living for the ordinary. God is active among us....and within us.

Through the grace of God, may you find it to be true: He is EMPOWERING THE ORDINARY.

WHY FAITH IS SO CHALLENGING

Faith isn't easy. In case you missed this fact over your spiritual tenure; faith isn't easy.

Faith is the assurance of things hoped for; the conviction of things not seen (Hebr. 11:1).

The two definitive truths of faith are the two reasons it is such a difficult process; its goal is not yet present and its reality does not at first show itself.

Faith won't cooperate with Missouri; it will not show you anything until you dare believe a matter true before the fact. Faith sees what isn't as will be. Faith stands blindfolded and becomes convinced of actual development before there are any signs of such a matter coming forth.

God promised the Egyptian captives a Promised Land. Some could see that...by faith. Others couldn't see it. And what was the first test of their faith? Immediate trouble; wilderness. Trouble persuaded the majority this was a bad idea. Faith reigned in the hearts of a few and for those troopers, they entered the Land.

Paul and Silas were on a mission of faith when beatings and imprisonment asked if they were certain they preferred to believe this was the correct course. They did. Although extremely challenged, these two behaved as if they were delivered....and they were.

Faith is not step two of a salvationalistic catechism. It is a rigorous element of the heart eye; that skill to perceive when the rug has been pulled from every rational explanation. Faith is one of the most remarkable wonders of the kingdom process. It awakens us to possibility, takes us where men would usually fear to tread, and delivers the most astounding true stories.

The good thing about faith is it is not a dime-a-dozen fluff ball of meandering principle. It is the David to Goliath threat. It is the Job to the twin bullies of pressure and stress. Faith is Jesus doing what can't be done in front of a people who don't want to see it.

Faith is challenging because is the very kingpin of Life in the Son; and it will not fit the standards of flannel graphs or silly fables.

WANNA GET AWAY?

You know what is good for a congregation? A road trip. I think the time on the bus or in the van to and from any event is as valuable to a church as the event itself. So I toss out two trips to Tulsa to help you get happy....er!

Liz Pence will be conducting a Mind Makeover Saturday, March 6, at Memorial for men and women. Liz is brilliantly effective as earlier in her life it became imperative for her to transform her mind from darkness to His light. She was an ultra-devout, mean-spirited atheist...as well as suicidal at one point. God broke in. Today this servant knows how to help all of us maneuver through dark times by adjusting our thinking mechanics.

The Tulsa Workshop is March 24-27. "Our Journey" offer challenges to effective service as well as inspiration to reaching more of the world's populace. Jason Thornton and Shane Coffman are the directors and they have put together a dynamic program.

Think about it. Why not bring a busload. Of course if you live in Germany or Japan, you may think about it a little longer. But I did get an email this week from two in Australia saying they will be on their way!

Groups traveling together are a great way to build up the connection factors for a harmonious work. Think about it.

I MADE IT BACK

I'll be brief....I'm back. I've missed writing. When I went to write a blog today from Atlanta it had been so long since I had written a blog....I couldn't remember my password.

So, I went to baseball camp last week in Florida and then participated Monday in my cousin's funeral.

For now....I merely want you to know one thing.....I now recall my password!

AS WE WALK WITH GOD

If you are like me you want to see things accomplished in the kingdom. You are ambitious, diligent in your service, and you want to see results. I want to see God's creation notice Him instead of passing by unaware He is the one running life's show.

I want to see the name of Jesus praised in television interviews and world news reports. I want to hear celebs speak of God with respect and humility. And....such is happening.

But a problem I have is I want to cause this to happen....and I can't. I hunger for kingdom productivity; yet I possess not the skill nor talent to cause one meek squeak. I'm nothing.

Therefore, I pray. I pray thanking Him for working; thanking Him for setting the stage. God knows how to get things done. He knows how to bring about marvel and mystery. My job is to know God.

Therefore, walk with Him. He will run the show. He will deliver the goods. My job is to believe Him and to thank Him.....and I do.

OVERCOMMITMENT CAN RUIN COMMITMENT

Busyness is not the sign of a servant of Christ. It is a sign of American meaning; look busy even if you aren't. Busy equals success or profits to some....to most. But it isn't the sign of a kingdom slave.

Commitment is ruined because of overcommitment to too much. We don't know how to say no so we mask it with a lie; yes. We said yes when we meant no. Jesus said let your yes be yes and your no be no; but we have so restored the New Testament church that we have overridden his assertion with no conscience of wrong.

Overcommitment is ruining marriages, families, and churches. Don't we want the members engaged in the work of the church? Yes, we plead as well as plan for it. But we don't want our people knowing work and not knowing Jesus. This is happening.

Overcommitment isn't a sign of a worker in the kingdom. It is a sign of a liar who is covering up a lack of study and of prayer. It is a sign of appearance bent on approval when the grace and mercy of God is not trusted by that individual.

How do I know? I lived there. I lived in both exhaustion and guilt. I thought the visible services mattered and I was especially one who needed to be seen. And....I could never say no. I wanted to and resented that I couldn't.

But I learned. I learned God does His work. Yes, I am to respond to His call; but not every call the brethren make. There is a difference. We can try to please men by our actions just as much as by our teachings. We can tickle the ears of the one on the other end of the phone by committing to a work we shouldn't just so they will approve of us. Sinfully wrong.

What shall we do? We shall trust God that when we say no to a very good project that He knows exactly who can and will be able to carry it out. Our ability to say no appropriately gives someone else an opportunity to serve. But what if no one else takes it?

I don't know. It won't get done by me if I don't sense God's involvement in the invitation. He either knows the one who can/needs to get it done....or possibly it was never a work of His in the first place.

Romans 9:16 is very good for those of us tempted to live in overcommitment. It isn't up to us to run or to will; but it is up to God. Let Him worry over it. It is His work.

HOW DO WE FORGIVE?

Men and women are seriously roughed up by our haphazard neglect of doing what is right. No one is exempt. Every person, prince or pauper, experiences the spiraling decline of a life stricken in the heart by sin.

A grand mistake each tends to make is to live by comparative sin. This mistaken method allows us an avenue to salve our consciences because it is easy to look over at the bigger sinner (?). Such a street is really a dead-end alley.

How do we forgive others? It is very difficult as long as we see ourselves as clean on our own. It is very easy once we see we are clean only because he died on the cross as the expense of self sin was auctioned off to the highest bidder and Jesus won the bidding.

It is easy to forgive others when we see ourselves as equal or worse.

It is easy to forgive others when we hear God say He will forgive us on the basis of how we forgive others.

If we can't forgive everyone of everything.....we have simply forgotten who we really are....the chiefest of sinners.

ADDING TO OR SUBTRACTING FROM THE WORD

The Bible is clear in its warning: do not add to or subtract from the Word of God. This clarion call has sent the religious world a-spinning. True, some in the Christian realm have no interest in operating from the Bible. They have traditions, are bent on them, and promote them without blush as to the Bible's disregard.

But fundamentalists care in the name of the Word about the Word. The result is an embarrassing and splintering quagmire of push and pull. Argument, debate, and division have set up shop in the names of Methodists, Quakers, Baptists, Catholics, Church of Christ...on and on the list goes.

How do we do faith and can we do faith while clearly different; yet in perfect harmony? I think the Word answers that. Hands aren't feet and interpret no task from the same concern nor skill. The Eyes Church regards scenes while the Ears Church responds to noise. Faith's complete formation is allowed when the body parts are free to interpret those areas they are called.

Adding or subtracting is a Bible concern. As the Elbow Church must allow the Knee Church grace to operate in the overall body, we must not be so quick to yell Foul! because some are different.

When the great commission says to go into all of the world, are we subtracting from the Word when the most of the disciples never go into 1/8 of the world? Did Paul subtract from the Word when he called for a putting away of childish things when Jesus urged we become like children?

From experience I believe the rudimentary structure of Christianity has divided over adding or subtracting from man's tradition more than violating the Word. Man's tradition is a clear violation of the Word and from this we denominations give it the smug shrug and continue our discourse as to why we have biblical reason to refuse to function as one faith body.

Heaven help us. I mean....heaven help us....for we can't do spiritual life without it. The entire lifestyle of Jesus seems so much more simple than my hop-skip-and jump interpretations. Jesus remains the only one who can set us free to the free indeed extent. May we grow in experiencing that part of the kingdom truth.

THOSE SAD EYES

The eyes really do have it. As if lawn signs for the face, eyes send unmistakable messages; I lost. I won! I forgot. You ate the last cookie, didn't you? Eye billboards announce long before the lips have a chance to join in.

I write with concern over a couple of generations who were groomed in the church, killed in the church, and have walked away from us. They aren't evil people. They are good...really good men and women...who missed the message that Jesus lives to give abundant life.

Yesterday I sat (once again) with a good man who was raised in the church and then bolted as soon as he left home. His God-senses are dead. He didn't hear of mercy and grace and life. He was unintentionally killed in the line of friendly fire by those in the church who themselves were not equipped with the good news of Jesus.

I ache for his mother and father for they only passed along what had been handed down; that three-times-a-week scenario coupled with rigidity and unintended arrogance. It is interesting how Catholics were criticized years ago for the Pope keeping the Bible from the people. Yet, we have exited an age where Bibles brought were counted as we raised them in the air for all to see; but for a few the pages were no more read than if Catholic.

Those sad eyes---I recognize them immediately---haunt my heart. You see I am one who killed some good people off with my rapid-fire sermons which, arrogantly delivered, put people in their places. Such messages rarely pleased God; but did tickle the ears of a few who liked others to be told off while it gave me a false sense of power. Guys like me have caused hope and life to collapse inside the shells of men and women who may not have realized it as they assumed they were journeying toward the Light and Life of the Christ.

As I spoke with this friend yesterday, his eyes had a similar look to those we see being reported from Haiti; lonely and hopeless. There is no light coming from the billboard. Friendliness is present as well as courtesy. Yet, there is a sense of complete vacancy in his spirit totally unnoticed by himself.

This explains why the theme 25 years ago of Memorial being A Place to Start Life Over. It is this kind of person I so want to reach. I want them to learn what I finally got to learn; there is reason to hope and reason to believe we really are abundantly saved. Everyone deserves to hear the gospel. I see a couple of generations who were among us who didn't get to hear it. Jesus offers the outrageously impossible....a second chance times 70.

May we see possibility in those sad eyes for they, themselves, have not the ability to see anything. There really is a life in the church they have yet to experience. They never knew it was possible to find the church magnetic, electric, and full of celebration.

We have ample opportunity to heal the blind. May our eyes have the light in them to help those stuck in an awful darkness.

THE MAIN PART OF WHO YOU ARE

Be prepared to not understand this blog. I write as if I'm clueless myself as to what I'm about to say. I think, though, it is an important point.

Who are you? Who are we in the deepest regions of reality? What are we really like?

Who you really are is a person very much like Christ. Your flaws aren't the main you. Your sins aren't you. Your body (as is) will not enter heaven due to sin, but the you you will. The you that is strong, that is faithful, that is respectable...that you will slip through the veil into the invisible wonder of wonders.

You are fascinating. The main part of you is deliberate, responsible, and pure. The guilt part of you...that offensive segment...is not who you are. You are saved from your sins. Salvation is the you; not the disappointment and treachery.

No, I'm not sending you on an ego trip. I'm introducing you to the main part of you; the righteousness of Jesus that you now possess...II Cor. 5:21.

Humanity lives on a cynical and critical edge. We judge when we have little knowledge about that which we judge. We are quick to put down and slow to build up. As a result, we live assuming the biggest part of self is rotted.

Not true.

The main portion of a person is that saved soul which feasts upon the magnificent table of abundant life Jesus promised. We don't barely get by. We don't eek our way through the pearly gates. We step in firm cadence with head held high in honor because we believe Jesus makes us something so great even we can hardly imagine how marvelous we really are.

Ego? No...not near. Faith? Intentionally so.

A MAN CAN'T OWN EVERYTHING

How much more can I possibly want? This has gone on for years; if I just had that one thing, I would be set. But then another and another and finally so many anothers has accumulated to quite a collection of "more things". I'm storing some really good stuff in the garage attic and a storage barn. It's great stuff.....crowded out by greater stuff.

I made a tough decision last night. Recently I bought at an online auction two plaques awarded to my dear hero and friend Curt Flood. Lately, I have been bidding on his glove. I've been around that glove many times. I really wanted it because.....I really wanted it. I needed it.

I bid up to $267. It is worth much more on the memorabilia market. But if I got it I wouldn't sell it. While the bid was wrapping last night, news from Haiti was showing. That's not a good thing for a consumption addict to see.....yet it is the best thing.

I let the glove go. I really think I could have benefited from owning that glove. It sold for $584. But.....a man can't own everything.

From the clearly deep devastation in Haiti and inside many of the walls up and down my street, I must continually increase in giving my dollars away rather than spending them on more stuff I need.

OPEN OUR EYES AND SEE THE PEOPLE

I'm just like you. Just like you. I want to influence as many people as I can for Him....and everywhere I go there are more people. The question is, what am I going to do with them? What can I do about them without coming off as a Bible-pouncing radical who doesn't understand peoplehood?

Yesterday I was in the clinic for a treadmill test. The technician was 43. She was polite enough and I was wondering how I could break into this stranger's world. I asked how long she had been doing this work. She responded with 23 years. Ah, I've been a minister at my church for 32 years....time sure flies doesn't it.

That's how I know your name, she fired back. I used to go to Garnett. You wrote a book once because I bought it in the gift shop here in the hospital.....and off we went; talk, talk, talk. In this case all I had to do was knock on the most innocent of doors and they flew open.

Today I was in for an eye exam. Again a technician is working with me and I told her how glad I was to have someone who is so kind.....has she been doing this job long? She had only been there two months. She was from Atlanta. Her first husband died five years ago and left her with two children 6 and 3. She had remarried last Fall and moved to the strange city of Tulsa.

So I knocked on a door one more time and it flew open; Tell me about your first husband. I doubt anyone asks her that question much. She opened up. He died at age 41 of a heart attack. No warning. I could tell I had asked her a most honorable question...in her mind anyway. I asked about one she still loves. The conversation worked its way to church with my offer for her to call on me anytime she just needed to talk. A kingdom connection was made. She hugged me when I left and told me she loved me....as I did her.

I share these stories not to say that every time we open our mouths....glory of His work pops. Many times I knock on similar doors and no one answers; potential response lies mute. My message to you is that although doors don't always open it doesn't stop me (us) from tapping.

He runs the show. It is our job to mine for the gold. Often it is buried in the people around us.

Our job? Try.

McGWIRE ADMITS STEROID USE

Mark McGwire came out with a statement today admitting he used steroids during his playing days. Up to this point, he had denied it. I'm glad he reached a point he could come clean. I wish he could have done so years ago.

Mark is special to me. We've worked together briefly on a project via phone and email. I email him about twice year and he responds about once every two years. When the Cardinals announced hiring him as the new batting coach, I shot off a congratulatory note. He responded favorably and immediately.

Knowing he would be entering Spring Training with the team in a few weeks and knowing, too, the media would crucify him, I sent him a lengthy email Saturday urging him to have the confidence and courage to say anything he needed regarding his past that he be able to start life over. I risked in sending it for I surely hoped it did not hit him wrong. But....I really felt the urge to let him know he is loved because he is a good man....not because he hit baseballs far.

Ironically, six of us prayed for an hour yesterday morning beginning at 7:30. In that span we included McGwire; seeking God's love and direction for him.

When I saw this afternoon's news regarding Mark's statement, I could not help but wonder when he made this decision? I'm not meaning he made it due to my note. I assume he's had this in the works for maybe a month or so. But what I'm elated about is the timing of my note. For in it I told him I had been praying for him. Could it be that he needed the support such a letter offered...at just the right time...and he noticed God had provided?

Here's what I know about celebrities and fans. Celebrities are normal people who need understanding just as much as the fans. Fans tend to think because they are celebrities, they have no troubles, no concerns, no flaws. Both are alike....and mercy is appropriate for both.

HOW MUCH I FIND MYSELF LIKE THE APOSTLE PAUL

That's a rather strange heading don't you think? I mean who just jumps out and compares himself to one of the more notable biblical characters? Yet, I've been pondering him and me lately. I find some similar pockets of likely comparison.

For one, Paul said he found himself doing the things he shouldn't and not doing the things he should. Ah ha, that would also be me.

For two, the apostle said he was least in the kingdom; that he was nobody. That's strange; I am precisely as he.

For three, this giant leader expressed (and I think in all sincerity) he was the chiefest of sinners. I would receive the same grade.

Because of these self-awarenesses, I believe he was led to write that therefore power is perfected in weakness. I experience the same.

It is a strange feeling preaching for a congregation like Memorial as well as often standing in front of our brotherhood events. The reason? I never feel more than (one) as failure in more areas than a success, (two) never feel I am somebody, and (three) always find my sinfulness is ever present wherever I travel. The good news side of this spiritual coin is the fact that in spite of myself, Jesus seems to choose to work through me anyway.

By His grace and mercy....I get to be among you.

DID YOU KNOW GOD WHISPERS IN CHURCH?

What will go on in church today? Will we sing? Will we pray? Will we serve communion? Yes...to all of those....yes. Whispers go on in church as well.

I speak of the the inspiring whispers of God as He motivates His flock unto love and good deeds. Songs will be sung, greetings exchanged, and the Word heard in some fashion that hopefully God will whisper to the masses; you can make a difference; you can do this.

Mommas and Daddies will determine to dedicate their children to His cause. Business execs may be inspired to begin a prayer group in their office complex. Retirees may be awakened to a needed place to serve....all because God continually and perpetually whispers ideas to His children.....during church.

We are called by scripture to gather to build up one another. Why? For great works. The fun part about this is we are clueless as to how it happens and usually as to when it happens. What He said would happen...does. So be prepared!

...let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encourage one another, and all the more as you see the day drawing near (Hebrews 10:24-25).

We are a part of a difference-making body! We have a role (men and women), so let's do a good job assembling today anticipating the whispering of God.

ODORLESS GAS THAT HAS PUT THE BODY OF CHRIST TO SLEEP

The Church of Christ has accepted one of earth's most grievous sins into its camp. It has been here from day one of my introduction into this church that I love. We accept it because it is odorless. We are able to move about every continent while anesthetized by this cunning and sinful habit. I speak of pride.

We don't talk of pride much because it doesn't tickle Church of Christ ears....unless we are referencing someone other than ourselves. But it is a major problem about us. Ironically, while we don't detect it, the world smells it.

We look like one of the two guys praying in the temple; grateful we aren't like those denominational sinners. Yet, that sort was rejected and the humiliated one accepted. What's the deal?

In general, we are full of ourselves. Not coincidentally, the world goes basically un-evangelized. Yes, we make attempts...many and expensive...but our deep sleep causes us to be completely unaware of an invisible banner read by far too many which communicates this religion is for us...but not for them. Our failure to connect to the needy world is not due to lack of imagination and effort. It is due to our ignoring God's implicit plea for humility.

Our craving for being right and then repeating to the world we are the only ones right has caused the project to unravel on one end while we keep knitting on the other. The world wants and needs Jesus but it can't find him because we don't look like him. We are proud of being us.

While the Catholics build the hospitals and the Lutherans build the foreign schools and the Baptists scour for souls, we thank God we aren't like them. I'm not saying we do nothing of value or significance. I'm saying in general we have Church of Christ houses filled from Sunday to Wednesday with hearts brimming in pride that we know the Truth when we don't know any more than others. And it is quite clear we have ignored the part about pride.

We try to talk in classes as if pride is sinful; but our street talk betrays us. May we awaken to our great misdeed of blatant pride. My sin is ever before me.

MAY WE SWIM IN FAITH WORDS

In study this morning I came across a most fascinating point by Eugene Peterson (Working the Angles). The idea hinges on the fact that God spoke first and as a result, creation became. Henceforth, the dynamo of the language process is that we learn to speak by having language spoken into us. Language is a response to what is learned by first hearing...over and over and over. No one learns to speak Spanish without first hearing it spoken into the student.

...language is spoken into us; we learn language by being spoken to. We are plunged at birth into a sea of language. We swim in words. We are soaked in nouns and verbs. Gradually we realize that some of these words are directed to us---personally targeted words that name, love, and comfort. Then slowly, syllable by syllable, we acquire the capacity to answer: mama, papa, bottle, blanket, yes, and no. Not one of these words was a first word. Hundreds of thousands of words, for days and weeks and months, were spoken to us before we began to answer, to speak our own words. All speech is answering speech. We were all spoken to before we spoke.

How did we get where we are in our church talk? We received it. This is both fascinating and concerning. We speak what we have taken in. We learn to say what has been passed on to us. Before we learned to speak the language of faith or of doubt; it was first spoken to us.

If we received a dented and damaged faith, such is our language to speak. If we happened to absorb graceful and merciful faith, again we speak in that tongue.

For me, I had to go to language school after I had been in ministry about twenty years. I was reciting skinned and dented faith. I've learned a new language because the Word and people of the Word have spoken a new language into me.

Parents, bosses, and teachers especially have to be on high alert to this for the subjects' language reflects what we have groomed them to say. Faith language is an important tongue. It isn't what comes out that is first. The words going in are once again the powers of creation.

May we swim in faith words such as possibility, apology, and hope. May we learn well the nouns and the verbs of the Jesus-style since what we learn to say will be repeated by those who overhear.

MY UTMOST RESPECT

I sat in on a gathering today that was astounding. I was at our Preacher's Luncheon held this month at Garnett. It is just so wonderfully different nowadays compared to my earlier years of such assemblies.

There we over two dozen in attendance. At times I would sit silently and just scan the room of its remarkable power. Some to my left were Tracy Ellis, Wayne Pope, the new guy on the block Johnny Hinton, Greg Taylor, and across the way was Joel Osteen Osburn. And then on around included Mitch Wilburn, Judge Morris, Mark Crain, Bob Herdon and a bunch of others including my own teammates. All these are truly heroes of mine.

I could not help but note how humble these guys are. Don't you know Wilburn and Herndon and crew could go on and on about some work of faith they have engaged in? Yet, no bragging. No ugly innuendo about another or of someone not present. But more, the discussion was so focused on the poor in Tulsa and what we should consider.

It was a great time of food, share and prayer. It was a time to be glad for right now. I was. I am.

I was really blessed to sit in such a room. I have such admiration...such respect for these guys and gals. I doubt they know it to the extent I feel it. I started to say something about them during the gathering...but I had already talked. I should have told them, though.

While we each could tell of places we've been and people we know, today I was in a great room with royalty. What I like about me.....is I knew it! For me...around these guys....the grass is greener right where we are.....together.

WHEN GOD BROKE DOWN MY WALL OF RESISTANCE

Everything will work out all right.

I have to say that to others and myself on a weekly basis. Challenges, conflicts, and perpetual distresses pound kingdom people. We should know this by now. It is the nature of walking in Jesus. It was his path as well.

When I caught Romans 8:37, But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us, my world changed for the great. The context is tribulation, distress, persecution, life and death. I win in any setting. Everything in life is win/win. Everything will work out all right.

This was a major breakthrough for me. I resisted this teaching. My mind constantly fretted both the small and the big stuff. I worked, arranged, and rearranged in my mind how to get my work accomplished. I had discussions in my head. I replayed them trying to sleep. Frankly, I was a sinful worry-wart. I couldn't let God run the show.

Yet, the Romans passage says I am a conqueror "in" all these things; not after, not beyond, but "in". I am a winner in the middle of any and every "right now" I should face. I win. The kingdom wins. We win.

So....we are not losers. We can absolutely trust He knows two things in every circumstance; we have blurred vision and He doesn't. But we have perfect knowledge; we win because of His 20/20 vision.

I mean it. God rocked my world for the good when He transformed me to be able to believe that victory doesn't follow days of stress and concern. Victory is activated and experienced....in the center of it! Who else but God?

CARDINAL CAMP IN TWO WEEKS

I'm sore. I've been working out as baseball camp is coming soon. I make my annual trek to Jupiter, Florida to play baseball with former Cardinal players as well as fat boys like me. This will be my 27th year. I never would have guessed I would get to be me.

I hardly know what to think of this venture or how to evaluate it. There isn't a week goes by but a benefit from this effort shows up. Constantly, members of the church (some who have no interest in the game) want to bring friends and relatives by to see my office....as they have been talking to their friends about getting back into church....and these people like baseball....so they begin with a visit to my place.

I thought God would work if I could go just one time; I never imagined all of this. As a result we've done a major outreach film (High Hope for the Human Heart) and a major church motivational film to inspire outreach (100% Natural Evangelism). God gave me the opportunity to write a book that the Cardinals chose to give away to attendees on Fan Appreciation Day. And, I've just completed a new manuscript endorsed by the Cardinal stars such as Whitey Herzog, Tommy Herr, and Bob Forsch....MVP (Why You Are Most Valuable in God's Eyes).

We've gone into prisons to play ball with inmates and then teach them about Jesus. We had 61 baptisms from one talk. There have been numerous baptisms around the nations as a direct result of this idea. We even converted the guest speaker at one of our camp's banquets.

Of course I'm enamoured with each trek to the camp. I've learned to stretch my outreach efforts by working in bars and one year even at a Buddhist Temple with Orlando Cepeda. Intending to reach out, I've had to learn new ropes; and it's been good for me to see once again that all classes and levels of people still need the one and only Savior.

I've never lost my vision nor enthusiasm for this work. What's weird is....it works!

And then, one of the best things about the camp is it forces me to get in shape. At 62 it gets more difficult to do all that workout stuff. The slightest injury takes longer to heal. I went to the batting cages yesterday and then to the gym. My next stop was the chiropractor. I still hurt.

But how blessed I am. How fortunate to get to build such strong bonds over the years with guys who don't yet know God....but I know the day will come when they want to.

CONTROL

Take a look at any individual---public figure or private soul---and you are peering at one who in ways is making strong effort to build their own empire. Control doesn't just flow down from CEOs. It flows up river when momma isn't happy.

Wishing to take control is as natural as liking chocolate. The problem for all of us is running into another who is determinedly more dominant.

I know a lot about control. I've wanted to be in charge most of my life. How should I have known I was lumped in with a society which is committed 100% to each being in charge? This creates quite a contest!

And in the church? Oh my goodness. My first couple of decades in it were filled with classes and workshops regarding questions of who has authority, who is in charge, and who rules the roost. I found the entire church to have my disease.

But, I've watched Jesus. He had plenty of backbone; so much so he didn't have to come out looking good. He could avail himself to private beatings in back alleys or public humiliation upon the cross without one trivial cheap-shot at any of the unfair and unjust accusers. What I saw is Jesus was very much in control by not taking control. He let the Father handle it....and handle it the Father did.

Be encouraged. A part of the fruit of the Spirit is self-control (Gal. 5:22-23). Odd, don't you think? Just when we learn to yield we discover the Holy Spirit helps us to be in control? No. He doesn't put us in control of people.

Instead He gives us strength to control our tongues, to control our emotions, and to control our egos when we very much would like to go on defensive and/or offensive tirades. Jesus didn't and we will learn not to.....once we grasp the work of the Holy Spirit wishing to bear His fruit in our very ordinary lives.

Wanna be in control? Let go of it.

FAITHFUL TO GOD?

I wonder how faithful I am to God? Could it be that time has eroded my commitment to Him and I now find myself more committed to the pressures of being us? Are you in a similar quandary? I believe some leaders have bowed to the need to keep the church happy over pleasing the Father. This is no light accusation. Rocking the boat is still not acceptable among us. Yet of all people, Jesus will rock the boat....very much.

I know we still use faithful lingo with scriptural reference. I know we meet on Sundays and observe the Lord's Supper. I know all of that.

But I question how much the church, in general, does because it senses a great calling from God. Or, do we simply move about from one application of ministry to another good idea just hoping something smacks of effectiveness.

I believe we have an invisible Trojan horse in some camps. It can't be seen but it can be sensed. It is filled with imposing regulations which few discuss; everyone just understands the rules.

Are you openly discussing the Holy Spirit among us? Are you hearing testimony of God working? Do you see strangers being immediately welcomed by those other than the officially assigned ones? Are hearts opened to needs of others?

In some places yes. Other places no.

We are being challenged at Memorial by God. He is leading us into our deteriorating community. It is going to take money and heart and faith and patience. Our people can do it. We aren't keeping house.

When we hit such times a good separation takes place; we each find ourselves being pruned yet one more time regarding things that really don't matter on the kingdom side of the ledger.

It is good for us to ask from time to time; am I in this because of God or have I slipped into an unconscious mode of keeping everybody happy.

A LEADER'S JOB DESCRIPTION

I speak to the younger leaders. We have a great crop of disciples coming up; a very rich crop. What I wish to address is how to keep the feeling of freshness after fifteen and twenty years. There are several things to note; first know of the great possibility. Do not be surprised at the gratitude which rushes your way while you are so privileged to work with the church.

One of the questions only you can answer is how will you handle mistreatment?

Your response will affect your view of perpetually enjoying your ministry. We need to understand mistreatment is essential. We are targeted for it. It belongs in our job description. And...we need it.

Mistreatment is tough. It isn't a time for "poor me". It is a time to realize the walk of Jesus is now beneath your feet. You are in his shoes....on purpose.

Anybody can preach. Anyone can lead a committee. Whether we will hang in there when taking another abusive chewing or yet another cutting innuendo is of importance.

This was difficult for me for I wanted everyone to like me. Strangely, I thought I could make it happen; I thought I would be the exception to the rule and everyone would like me because my mom said I was lovable.

In working with a congregation of 450, I haven't been able to keep everyone happy. Before Memorial in working with a church of 100, I couldn't pull it off there either. And finally....when at my first church of 8, I couldn't do it there either...and I thought at least there the odds were so favorable.

It is important that we remember mistreatment goes two ways. I am guilty of the very thing I resent. Nevertheless, when such is coming your way.....accept it. It belongs to you. You have taken up his cross. Being bitten is supposed to be going on while you serve.

Don't be discouraged when in a tangle. Thank Him for it. Learn to boast of your inadequacies. He is serious about that....II Cor. 12:9-11. When mistreatment becomes a part of your work, suddenly you will begin to use the very thing you wished to escape as your fuel to keep you afloat. Blessed are those who are persecuted in his name. It goes on. We can prove it by our tears.

Don't quit. There isn't something wrong with you. It is part of your job description.

GOD AND HIS ROCK-PAPER-SCISSORS

I believe the church is operating from lands of darkness. While we have not been taken captive territorially as Babylon, we have been exiled culturally. Our times bear significant darkness; nuclear threat, economic stress, and familial unraveling. Too, I believe our congregations face attendance and contribution challenges heftier than normal.

All of this is said to remind us God works. When do you see Him work if not best in any situation when our backs are against the wall?

When things look their worst---seem the darkest---try to remember God is lurking with hope. This is more than a think positive plea. It is a recapping of something powerful you already know. Through every opposing system which wishes to pull you down and drag you under, God has a surprise route of escape up His sleeve which will baffle all who see.

We saw Him do His stuff when the Israelites were cornered three ways; mountain range, threatening sea, and ensuing armies. What did He do? Well....He did Rock-Paper-Scissors and then said Watch this! He could have split the mountains or squashed the armies. Rather He chose to split the sea in order to nudge His children closer to home.

When the work suffers threat, you can be sure that God has relief rolled up His sleeve. When God does His Rock-Paper-Scissors, it will always be to lead us a bit closer to home. Don't be discouraged. Be alert to His most fascinating moves at the local church where you live. There may be those moments where you wonder if there is any way of hope.....and then recall God will make a way!

THE DAY AFTER THE NIGHT BEFORE

It's a new year! How much longer will He let this place linger?

This is the perfect time to be alive. We face heavy-duty obstacles for certain. But we know the Force behind authentic life that can blast through like a plow through snow.

2010 promises to be full of highlights and lowdarks. It is encouraging to me that nations around the globe turned their calendars at midnight in testimony that two-thousand and ten years ago our Lord Jesus was born. I think it is pretty spectacular for the atheists to join in with us on this truthful matter.

The church should be very energized by the opportunities we face. May we put a dent in homelessness and hunger. May we sacrifice our wages and our securities for the greatest cause on earth.....spreading the Word to the world.

I believe the kingdom is the most fascinating system ever. It is full of strangeness as well baffling mystery. Too many claiming to be in the believers circle have settled for a faith which operates off of the clock, the calendar, the checkbook, and the heart's ease. Mystique has been abandoned. Safety and defensiveness have kicked the legs of outreach from too many members...too many congregations.

Our work is wrapped up in the person of Jesus. Should we pray more maybe we will fret less. Should we worship more possibly we will see greater blessings flow from on high. The Father is watching for the code-word. When He hears the code-word, He responds. It is "Jesus". Don't forget it in 2010.

It is now the day after the night before. Some are hung over because of being drunk. May 2010 cause some to accuse us of being drunk in the Spirit of Christ.