Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Gorwing Up

I remember when I was 15 years old.

(Stop LAUGHING!! I can remember that far back!)

Anyway--I was 15 years old, and every single cell in my body was stretching toward adulthood. Yearning for it. Straining like an overextended bungee cord.

I wanted to drive.

That was the main thing. I knew 15 wouldn't make me financially independent, free from parental authority or suddenly rich. But I also knew that I could do that magic thing called "driving!"

I couldn't wait.

But I had to. I waited and waited and waited.

No matter how much I wished it, 16 would not come for a year.

Now I am 57, and I've stopped growing up. One could even say I'm growing down. You know...the fatigue where there used to be energy, the mysterious bumps and age spots breaking out on my face (when I was a teenager, it was forests of zits...now it's age spots. Hoo boy)!


And of course, the expanding waist line.

I am planning a short backpacking trip, so I dug my big plastic gear container out of the basement clutter, huffed it upstairs and dumped it on the carpet. One of the things I did was try my two backpacks on.

Yep, backpacks never lie. They have big, solid straps and buckles. They're made not to slip, and they don't!

So my horrifically accurate backpack straps showed me now much weight I have gained.

Mercilessly.

To be fair, I have gained muscle in my shoulders and chest too...but somehow that doesn't make it any better.

I don't want to grow down; I want to grow up--spiritually.

You know, those dreams you have as a Christian: "I'm gonna pray four hours every day and have ecstatic experiences with God!" Or, "I'm gonna fast every week until I have a breakthrough!" Or, "I'm gonna memorize the entire book of First John because it's so neat!"

Growing up. I tried to do some of those things (well, all of them). And it was always a bust.

Result: Living life very disappointed in myself.

But God showed me recently that I can't grow up. None of us can.

John the Baptist, when told that "everybody" was going to Jesus instead of him, said, "A man can receive only what is given him from heaven" (John 3:27). Not more.

Just like the 15 year old who wants to be 16 so he can drive, there's no way to rush that process.

None of us can physically grow up faster. And our spiritual lives are much the same.

I don't mean we should abandon the spiritual disciplines, like reading the Bible and praying. Even 10 year olds have to brush their teeth, comb their hair, eat right and exercise.

I mean we should stop stressing about how far we've come in the Christian life. Or more accurately, how far we haven't come yet.

I see Christians who are beating themselves up. Because they aren't preachers. Or they don't share their faith enough. Or read the entire Bible every year.

And God yawns. Then he says, "You're 12. Why are you trying to be 35?"

As God showed me this, it brought me tremendous peace.

I thought, "I don't have to grow up! I can just be a kid and love Jesus!"

Because we're all kids.

You know about Jesus and kids, right?  Mothers were bringing their toddlers so Jesus could hold them and bless them. The disciples got mad about this waste of time. So they began shooing those women off. Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it" (Mark 10:14-15).

Did Jesus really mean that? Maybe we Christians need to think about this more. Because I certainly have been guilty of thinking I need to kick it in gear, grow up and earn more points for God. After all, that's what makes us valuable to him, right?

Yet when I think of the times in my life when I had major spiritual growth, they were all God's idea...in fact, I was hardly conscious of trying at all. God moved in my heart and I responded. It was as simple as that.

Let's all stop trying to grow up. Instead, let's love Jesus like crazy and live that joy every day.

Thursday, July 26, 2012

Gas Station Poverty

Were you ever too smart for your own good?

We all are...sometimes. Me more than others.

I was doing yard work Saturday and, knowing the heat would make my jeans feel like 10 kilos, decided to lighten them up. So I kept only my cellphone (necessary--like a heart pacemaker) and my keys.

And then I decided to mow the lawn. I found I was out of gas, of course. So, jumping into my little Saturn (the Silver Bullet) I went to the little Roann gas station with my red gas can. And found that I had no wallet. I had left it on the dresser. To lighten my jeans up.

So, at the pump, with the gas can ready, I have nothing to pay with. No cash, no card, nothing but my good looks. Which, even when I was younger, weren't worth much.

Happily I had my cell phone (necessary as a pacemaker). So I called Paul and asked him to bring my wallet. After I did so, a man on a moped pulled up.

I said, "You go first. I didn't bring my wallet and have to wait for it."

He said, "Here's some money. Get your gas," and handed me a ten dollar bill before I could refuse it.

I said, "No, my son is coming with some money. But thanks anyway," handing the money back.

He said, "No, it's okay, just get your gas!" 

Now, just to remind you, gas isn't cheap any more. It would take almost ten bucks to fill my little gas can. And this guy is begging me to take it!

As we talked a couple pulled up in a Jeep. I said, "You go ahead, I don't have any money, but my son is bringing some."

The young driver said, "Do you need money for gas?"

I said, "No, thanks, my son will be here soon with some money."

Now I have two people at the Roann gas station begging to give me money!

Partly to get away from these unbelievably friendly people, I walked to the road and began looking out for Paul's car.

The guy in the Jeep pulled up beside me on his way out. "Can I take you somewhere?"

Suddenly--with actual relief in the face of all this aid, I saw Paul's green Taurus.

"No, there's Paul's car!  He's coming now!" I said. "God bless you!"

I don't know if those two guys were Christians. I hope they were--they sure acted like it.

This taught me one thing: When a man filled with hate shoots up a movie theatre, remember there are good people in the world, and love still happens, and God is still on his throne.

Praise God!!

"When the foundations [of society and good] are being destroyed, what can the righteous do?
The Lord is in his holy temple; the Lord is on his heavenly throne."  Psalm 11:3-4

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

"What's Happening to People?"

The same wonder seems to be with everyone: How could a man booby-trap his apartment, weigh himself down with weapons, and go into a crowded movie theatre with the sole purpose of killing as many people as he can?
People he doesn't even know--that he could have no reasonable grudge against?

What's happening to people, anyway?


I'm a preacher and we're supposed to have all the awnsers (an urban myth). But I do have some that I can share with you in the hope that it will help.

The downward path of our society is easily traceable. One writer on this tragedy spoke of recent mass killings and said, "I'm 60 and nothing like this has happened in my or my parents' generation."

I agree.

We have been nervous about terrorists here since 9/11--but America seems to be creating its own terrorists!

Gangs in Chicago are killing so many, including children, that the mayor had to make an appeal to values (I appreciate the effort, but I doubt it did any good). Like the chaos in Mexico, these crimes are financed by the drugs Americans casually use.

Crimes against women, including rape and murder, continue to climb as a pornography industry worth billions continues to twist what men see as normal sexual behavior.

Where did all this come from? The Colorado shooter said he wanted to be "the Joker." Are movies the problem?

The body count in action movies soars as movie makers look for ever more lurid thrills to bring in millions. "Action heroes," seemingly without natural fear (or personality either!) march across screens with guns blazing. Movies and television shows (which frequently feature autopsies) portray psychotic killers with absolutely no human compassion or regret.  These killers seem to be having fun--they play "games" with police--and show no fear when captured.


The Batman movies are so dark that one actor, playing the Joker, committed suicide.

Is is possible for movies to be too dark? I believe it is.

But can movies really cause us to kill? I remember attending a Clint Eastwood double feature with a friend when I was a teenager. When I left the theatre, I was ready to fight somebody. The feeling lasted for about five minutes. Then I was normal me again.

People blame guns and the ease of buying assault rifles and pistols with high-capacity magazines. This certainly makes it easier to kill...but does it make people kill?

Other people blame poverty, the lack of opportunity to build a decent life. But this shooter--and others--have had every educational and social door open to them.

And the Colorado shooter still chose to be "the Joker."

There must be a deeper reason, right? Most people seem to know that. The phrase I hear most often is, "What's happening to people?"

As a Christian, I am not asking that question. In fact, many Christians who have what Charles Colson called "a Christian worldview" are not asking.

We know.

God makes it clear in the scriptures that as we near the time of Jesus' return, the restraints that hold people back from savagery will dissolve.
The apostle Paul prophesied about this in a letter to his protege Timothy. He wrote, "But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days [before Jesus' return]. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness [they show up at church sometimes] but deny it's power [to change their lives]. Have nothing to do with them" (2 Timothy 3:1-5, emphasis mine).

Many overlook that fact that Paul wasn't talking about his own time! Most people would consider Paul's time--the time of ancient Rome--pretty brutal. But Paul was talking about a later time, when the love of God is rejected by this world.

Paul also warned, "for the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine [the teachings of Christianity]. Instead, so suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear" (2 Timothy 4:3).

Many now teach that "good" and "evil" are relative terms, and that one person has no right to tell another what is "evil." This politically correct thinking paves the way for people to create their own morality--as sick as that might be.

Jesus said, as he talked about the last days before his return to earth (the event we call "the rapture"),
"Because of the increase in wickedness, the love of most [for God, for people] will grow cold, but he who stands firm [loving Jesus] to the end will be saved" (Matthew 24:13).

How can you possibly love people when you have no connection with the God who is love?

The apostle John in a vision given him by Jesus, saw the end result: "When the Lamb [the crucified and risen Christ] opened the second seal I heard the second living creature say, 'Come!' Then another horse came out, a fiery red one. Its rider was given power to take peace from the earth and to make men slay each other. To him was given a large sword" (Revelation 6:6, emphasis mine).

Is it possible that this horseman is already beginning his ride?

I believe it is.

What can we do?

First, make sure your life is connected with Jesus Christ. Jesus said, "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father but by me" (John 14:6).

Second, remember that as this nation rejects God's help, God will pull back until we call on him. Only when we call on God will he come to our aid and heal this country (2 Chronicles 7:14). Until then, we can expect to be "on our own" as people nurse grudges to the point of mass murder. And there's not enough security in the world to stop that.

Third, develop what Charles Colson called "a Christian worldview." Read your Bible and understand how God deals with nations that reject him, and those that embrace him.

Last, pray for the victims of this tragedy. Your prayers can give them peace beyond their understanding and reassure them they they will be united with Christian loved ones again--in a place called "the kingdom of God." In that place there will "...be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away" (Revelation 21:4).

Friday, July 13, 2012

E-Withdrawal

Work started out well yesterday, but it didn't take me long to hit a snag.

No e-mail.

The church where I work is located in some kind of internet "dead zone." High-speed Internet is not available. At all. At any price.

And our dial-up Internet server was down. This is a problem, because unlike many, I do not have a smart phone with  internet access. I have a dumb phone. [The three of you who read my earlier blog, "Cell Phone Ministry," already know this.]

Being a natural survivor, I adapted. I went to the library, and, using a keyboard that had apparently been danced on by a herd of monkeys, did my e-mail.

Then, walking out of the library, I noticed my cell phone wasn't working. (No, I didn't drop it into macaroni water again!)

No e-mail--and now no cell phone? 

My breath came harder, in short gasps. I began to sweat. I noticed my heart beating faster.

Not e-mail and cell phone at once! I'm cut off! I'm out of contact!

What if a tree falls on me? How will I let anyone know?

I tried the phone again. This screen kept coming up with "Service Unavailable" messages.

Uh oh. I was a little late paying the bill this month. Did they drop me that fast? Do I have to pay unimaginable money for late dues and reconnection fees? As it turned out, no.

I went into the cellphone office and as soon as I cleared the doorway, our likable cell phone lady said,  "We have a tower down." Whew! Not the bill, at least.

Then she said, "It may not be up for 48 hours."

I asked, "Do you have oxygen here?"

48 HOURS? No instant communication for 48 hours?  Preachers depend on their cellphones! I am constantly texting and receiving messages and making phone calls! What would I do for 48 hours?

Build a woodshed? Canoe down the Mississippi?

It is amazing how we get addicted to our pace. We simply can't slow down. And resting...forget it! We pare excess minutes off our schedules until our lives run at ruthless efficiency.

And now, no e-contact! What would I do? One of my favorite things is multitasking!

For example, I like to:
  • Eat and do computer work.
  • Drive and eat--and switch CDs while doing both.
  • Talk and watch TV and answer texts and sharpen my pocket knife--and eat.
  • Read incoming texts and drive (ok, I'll stop!!)
  • Drive and talk on my cell phone (well, yeah!)
  • Drive to pastoral calls--and eat.
I like to stay busy. Really busy. It makes me feel like a pastor!

But I find I may be going too far with it. I'm seeing bad side effects:
  • It's much harder for me to sit still and read a book.
  • Staying home an entire day is next to impossible.
  • Sitting on our deck and watching leaves blow in the wind lasts 15 minutes.
  • Listening to slow talkers makes me twitch. I don't want them to talk. I want them to report!
  • Driving behind very slow drivers makes me wail, rend my garments and throw ashes on my head.
  • And the really bad one--my patience with people gets thin.
I notice Jesus was never in a hurry. He was crowded. He was busy. But he always had plenty of time.

Jesus never said to his disciples, "If we really push it we can heal three more people today!"

Or, "If Lazarus could just hurry this dinner I could do a little preaching before dark! He acts like he was dead or something!"

Something happened with Jesus that we all need to look at. It's found in Mark 6:30-31. "The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, 'Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.'"

Jesus told us to rest!

And if Jesus said to do it, it's okay, right?

Sometimes we get an exaggerated sense of our own importance. We think people can't do without us.

You'd be surprised what they can do without you.

About 9 years ago, I got my lesson. I had a mild heart attack. It was caused by a blood clot at a minor blockage in my artery. The nitro drip almost instantly melted it. But I was in the hospital three days for observation.


Funny thing--my day timer was right beside my bed on the little hospital table. And what was written in it, all those appointments and reminders...didn't mean a thing.

And--surprise! The church people did just fine without me!

(Even finer than I wanted them to...without me.)

What would happen if we just rested--a little every day? I don't mean tearing through the woods on a four wheeler or roaring through waves on a jet ski. Not even watching TV with its 40 commercials per hour or an action movie with 40 killings per hour. Just resting.

Talking. Listening. Reading. Watching leaves.

Why don't you try it? If you will, I will.

And if someone tries to make us feel guilty about it, we'll say, "Jesus said I could!"

P.S. Today, those cell phone towers are still down. And it's okay--if I concentrate on breathing deeply.


Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Tires and Underwear

I bought a new tire today.

Exciting, huh?

Somewhere in my dim past one of the tires on my Saturn S1 Coupe (picture an enclosed skate board with a motor) developed a bump. So I replaced that. Now, the other tire needed replacing.

 Badly.

It was so bald I could see my reflection in it. Being nervous about a flat tire and having to ride around on one of those embarassing "donut" spares for two days, I had it changed.

The thing about buying tires, it isn't very exciting. It's like buying underwear. No matter how colorful it is in the package, nobody's going to see it.

So, why do we replace underwear and tires? Because it feels good.

It feels good to know your tire is thicker than bubble gum and won't blow on the first sharp stone in an intersection.

It feels good to have underwear that doesn't....well, never mind!

Doing the right thing is kind of like that.

Recently my Dad bought us a deck. Unexpectedly. He just said, "I'm going to buy you a deck. Get an estimate for me." We were thrilled! Because I never thought we would be able to afford a deck. The ancient concrete patio, which unfortunately now slanted a bit toward the river, would have to be enough. But now we were getting a deck!

So I found a contractor and had a deck built. It's great!

After the deck was completed, my Dad asked about the building permit.

Building permit?  You need building permits for decks?

So I got ahold of  the contractor who built the deck for us. He said, "I never heard of anybody getting a building permit for a deck in Wabash County."

But it's the law, see.

And with my tender, hypersensitive conscience that's just this side of paranoid, I couldn't rest with that. I asked the contractor to get a permit and I would pay for it. He said it would  be about $25. Hmm. Not too bad for honesty and a clear conscience.

Which brings me to my point. As Christians, we try to do the right thing. It isn't very exciting. Nobody's going to see. It doesn't attract attention--except the unwanted kind: "You're worrying about that?"

We do it for the same reason we buy new tires and underwear.

Because, in the end, it feels good.

Jesus said, "You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again?" (Matthew 5:13)


Do the right thing. In the end you'll be glad you did.

Saturday, July 7, 2012

If You Think It's Hot Here...

It seems like everywhere  I go, I talk about the heat.

Even when I don't even want to, I talk about it. And if I'm not talking about it, someone else is. And soon I'm joining in.

This heat is so bad, the television news just told me that 30 people have died from it this summer.

But as miserable as it is, I've seen worse.

I used to work in an aluminum foundry. On hot summers any part of that foundry was miserable.

Heat from the mold line would fill the entire building. Even with all the doors open it was about 10 degrees hotter than outside.

To combat the heat, the company would provide us with huge coolers of iced Gatorade, and we would guzzle it with determined intensity every single break. We must have used hundreds of paper cups in a single day.

On one especially hot summer (not so hot as this one) a very snide, critical, self-assured man looked at me across the finish line and said, "If it's this hot in hell, I'm gonna start going to Sunday school!"

Bad idea.

I only had this one chance to speak to this very un-Christian man, and I took it.

I said, "Actually, hell is more like the inside of that furnace over there."

Silence. I could tell my words had hit their mark.

Because this man knew who I was and who I stood for--Jesus Christ.

Many people now don't believe hell is a real place. They think it's a myth, something invented by some ugly, sour old monk in the Middle Ages.

Actually, God came up with it. Yes, our loving God!

Jesus said that on the great day of judgment, he will tell some, "Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels." (Matthew 25:40, emphasis mine).

Hell wasn't even prepared for people! It was prepared by God to punish Satan and those angels who followed him into evil. These spiritual beings had complete knowledge of God and his incredible love, yet they still rebelled--and dragged many people down with them.

Hell is not just for murderers. Hell is for everyone who follows Satan into rejecting, dismissing and laughing at Jesus Christ.

God doesn't want us to go to hell. He sent Jesus to save us from hell.

When Jesus willingly went to a cross to take God's anger over sin, God's anger was finished! God proved it by raising Jesus from the dead.

Since that time, anyone, no matter how evil they have been, can come to Jesus for mercy and instantly receive eternal life. Jesus said in John 3:16-18, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, so that whoever believes in him shall not perish [in hell], but have eternal life. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son" (emphasis mine).

Jesus is the Way God provided to save us from the evil we have done. Apart from Jesus, there is no way to avoid the punishment we all deserve--hell.

When I think of this summer's oppressive heat, I can't help thinking that there is a far worse place. And every single Christian needs to make every effort to warn people against going there.

We need to take this seriously. Because Jesus did.

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Cell Phone Ministry

I love my cellphone.
I think they're the best toys (or tools--you choose) that were ever invented for modern man.

Now I know that among my tens of readers, about 80 percent (that's an estimated 2.1 of you) will be saying, "Yeah!"

The other 20 percent (an estimated 1.9 of you) will be saying, "What are you talking about! I hate the blamed things; they're a nuisance!"

However, as that 1.9 percent probably aren't reading this, I can safely continue.

I too was once flabbergasted by the idea of cell phones. When they first came out, I remember telling my longsuffering wife, "That's so stupid! Why would anyone want to carry a phone around wherever they go?"

My longsuffering wife agreed. She always agrees.

Unless I'm wrong.

Which is another painful story.

But something changed my mind about cell phones. I had been doing my preachur thing in North Manchester and drove back to my home in Roann. Just as I was about the open the back door, Julie
(my longsuffering wife) met me.

"There's been a crisis," she said. "They called for you."

So I had to crank the car right around and drive straight back to North Manchester.

That same week I was asking about cell phones.

I was really proud of my first cell phone. I could keep it in my back pocket! It only protruded about two inches above my pocket, not including the (extendable!) antennae.

Boy was I slick.

But what I really liked was being in touch with so many people, and being always reachable for someone who needed me. That is why cell phones are the pastor's insurance policy. Nobody can say, "We were trying to reach you and we couldn't get you [insert whining tone]."

We can reply, "I had my cell phone! I was just a phone call away!"

As time passed, texting came along.

I swore by all the planets, my life and my momma's prosperity that I would never text.

Then one night my daughter sent me a text. I don't know what I was doing, but I was just bored or adventurous enough to answer with a short text.

And I thought..."That was fun!"

And it all began. Now I have a "texting phone" because I need to text faster as people are texting me and I am texting them. It's not a smart phone--it's still a dumb phone.

But it's a texting phone!

Boy am I slick.

I'm not sure why we like to text sometimes even more than we like to talk on the phone.

"News flash!! [insert dramatic news soundtrack] Cell phone technology is improving so fast, that now we are able--on some phones--to talk into the phone, and our words are printed and sent out as text! So, soon--if technology continues to improve--we might actually be able to talk on the phone  [gasps of amazement and glee]!"

I think we like texting because it allows us to be a bit more clever than speaking...and it keeps us from being ensnared in twenty minute phone conversations when we really only have a single message to deliver. (I can see how this appeals to men!)

Which brings me to the purpose of this post (yes, there is a purpose)!

I am discovering what I call "cell phone ministry."

When having devotions, as many of you have experienced, someone's name comes to you. That is the person the Holy Spirit especially wants you to pray for. Those are the people I like to flash a quick text to: "Praying for you." Or, "Jesus LOVES you."

Think about it. You're depressed, or stressed or hurting. Maybe thinking no one really gives a hoot, in spite of what they said at church. The enemy of your soul is building on that.

"Nobody gives a rip!" he says. "You might as well give up on those church people."

The devil loves lines like that.

And then your cell phone beeps and you see this message: "Praying for you."

See what I mean?

Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 1:3-4, "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God."

You have a cell phone. Use it!