Graduation Day

Jonathan,

As your name means you truly are a gift from God. You will never know the deep joy you have brought to the lives of your Godly Mother and I. It started with me talking to you while still in the womb and addressing you as "Junior". Then I ran down the hospital corridor in Fort Worth yelling, "It's a boy, it's a boy!"

I remember the great time we spent together during the time between Seminary graduation and our next assignment in Ladonia Texas. Your Mom worked at General Dynamics so I was Mr. Mom for that time.

The town of Ladonia Texas remembers the little boy who would follow me back and forth with his plastic mower as I mowed the grass at the church parsonage. The church there remembers the cute little boy whom a certain Deacon taught to throw rocks at the cars in the church parking lot! I remember holding you down and nearly fainting as the Doctor stitched you up.

I remember your first day of school in Henderson. Even though your new classroom was only three doors around the corner from my office it seemed like you were a world away. I remember Scooter, the tenacious little weenie dog who was always yours. I remember the first day of home schooling and how I thought we would likely just do it a few years. Today you will graduate with a whole "class" of home schoolers.

I remember soccer, and T-ball, basketball and football. Seems like I remember a broken arm during the football part. (I'm sorry it took me four days to figure out your arm was really broken!) I remember our first Astros game. The Giants beat our Astros 6-3. (Two young players named Biggio and Bagwell scored twice and had three hits. We watched them do that for two decades. We are still watching Biggio do it today!) I remember you catching a bigger fish than me. The picture is still in our house.

I remember you complaining that you had to mow. It was no accident that I was the one who came to pick you up from Youth Camp so you could tell me on the drive home that God had called you to be a Worship Leader. I remember your first guitar. I remember you turning the other cheek, not because you are the Pastor's son but because you are the Father's child.

I remember the smile on your face the day we gave you your truck. I remember the lump in my throat as your Mother and I drove the 15 miles on that rainy night to get you out of the ditch where your truck had landed after you hit the tree. We had no peace in our hearts until we actually saw you and decided you were ok. I remember how proud I was of myself for not yelling at you until the next day! I remember thinking of how thankful I was that I sold the 1966 Red Convertible GTO before you were able to drive! I remember how bad I felt that you were never able to drive it.

I remember the fits you have given your Mother. You realize don't you that when you stir her up I am the one who has to go to the bedroom and get an earful don't you!?

I will remember today. I am so proud of you. You will walk across that stage and your Mom and I will hand you a diploma. We will stop just seven paces away, stand on the tape and someone will take a picture to mark the end of your high school career. Your Mother did a great job and I enjoyed being the "Principal" and bossing her around! You will walk across that stage as a man of integrity, far beyond anything I ever was.

You have run this course of the race well. I am not going to lie to you and tell you that the next leg is easy. College is a joy but at times it is an uphill climb into the face of a cold wind. At times you will feel like giving up. Don't. I am glad that you are going to our Alma mater, East Texas Baptist University. I am sad and terrified that you are going to move away from home in August to do it. (once more, remember whose you are!)

Here is my Fatherly advice. You only get one earthly life, make the most of it; don't leave anything on the table. Trust in God; trust Him with all your heart. Never limit your vision; if He can call you to do it then by His power you can do it! There are two things that last forever, the Word of God and the souls of men; major in both. When you feel like giving up remember to cast all your cares upon Him for He cares for you. Do your best and you will have no regrets. Remember I will come to you any time, any place by any means I can. Just call. Remember prayer IS the relationship with God. Sing every day. See blue skies. Watch great sunsets. Share many sunrises with God. Love the girl you marry more than you love us. Be patient with my grandchildren (when they get here). If the Lord tarries, smile at my funeral and at your Mother's. Always watch Jesus.

Love,
Dad

Something To Crow About

I am feeling very MANLY (insert Ahhhnold Shwartenegger voice). I slew a giant venomous monster that was crouching and waiting to strike one of my unsuspecting little gifts of God as they innocently went to collect the few meager eggs from our beloved hens that would be their sole source of sustenance for the day! OK, I killed a cottonmouth in the backyard between here and the barn. (Note to country boys who think the city slicker does not know what he is talking about: I know it was a moccasin because a) It tried to bite me b) I made sure by looking it up on the Texas Poisonous Snakes website c) the big triangular head and white mouth were kind of a clue and d) Granny said so when she walked out to make sure I had adequately dispatched yon viper.)

The funny thing about "The Great Snake Incident" is the way we found the snake. After supper we were looking out the back window and saw four crows who kept hopping back and forth as if they were jumping over something. We thought it was strange and so Robin sent me to investigate. There he lay, coiled up and in a foul mood. I guess crows have the same effect on him as the Wal-Mart birds, also known as grackles, have on me. Anyway, he was not very pleasant with me and he didn't seem to understand the concept that my shotgun had a longer range than his fangs.

This has changed my outlook on crows. I used to think that crows were so bad that they were even telling the deer where I was at. Now I find that they are the next best thing to having a cat! Anyway, here is your life lesson. Go find something good about someone or something you don't like or appreciate. Anyone know where I can get a "Hug A Crow" bumper sticker?

Passing Of A Patriot

The news yesterday recorded the passing of Pastor Jerry Falwell, planter and Pastor of the mega-sized Thomas Road Baptist Church and founder of Liberty University. He is most famous in the news for his leadership in it's prime during the late 70's and 80's but lasting through the current decade, of the "religious right". He founded a group called "The Moral Majority" and brought conservative Christian influences to the political and governmental landscape. While it is hard for many of us to agree with absolutely everything he said or did I found myself agreeing much more than disagreeing. His usefulness to our country came at a time when a fresh breath of morality and values were desperately needed in a country left drifting from the disappointments of the 60's and 70's.

He is less known in the media but admired among fellow believers for his work in founding and growing Thomas Road BC and Liberty University. His most lasting achievements will likely be these two organizations. What many in the public failed to see was his deep love for people, his faithfulness to God and his down to earth attitude. Those who knew him personally (I did not)almost always refer to his kind demeanor, unpretentious nature and individual concern for those around him. His humility came through in his own admission that some of the things he said were a little over the top. Unlike many other public figures when he realized this he was usually quick with a PUBLIC admission.

It is a shame that the movement he started did not penetrate our society more deeply. He condemned homosexuality and the radical agenda of the godless voices of the nation but never seemed to lose his love for sinners in need of God's grace. On the day of his death several organizations which have opposed him throughout the years responded with a seemingly happy attitude about his death. Too bad his message could not change the hatefulness of those who would angrily defend their right to debauchery.

I certainly am not saying he was a saint. I am very uncomfortable with many of the things he said and did and some of the criticism levelled at him was justified. I note however that his attitude about his death was very different than those who opposed him. His last message to his church family was, "I am at peace with death".

Agree or not with his agenda but he lived a life that counted. May we do the same.

The Great Candy Caper

Texas Man Charged With Stealing $250G Worth of Skittles Candy, read about it here:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,272352,00.html I guess some addictions are irresistible. I wasn’t even aware there was a black market for Skittles. I beseech you to ask yourself, “Do I have a Skittles problem?” Admitting it is the first step in beating the problem.

Please comment if you like, I would especially like to hear from recovering Skittles addicts!

The Mishap of Mistakenism

Until today “mistakenism” was not a Word. This changes everything! Jesus always had just the right thing to say. Think about it. The words He spoke were very pointed, useful and “with authority” to the people of His day. Still, the skillfulness with which He crafted His words brings them swinging like a powerful punch right in to the 21st Century where they are as useful and straightforward as they were the day He spoke them.

In dealing with the religious legalism of the day, a fatal malady that ends the witness of more churches today than anything else I can list, Jesus spoke these words in Mark 12: 24:

24Jesus answered and said to them, “Are you not therefore mistaken, because you do not know the Scriptures nor the power of God?

I like how The Message, a modern day paraphrase puts it:

24Jesus said, “You’re way off base, and here’s why: One, you don’t know your Bibles; two, you don’t know how God works

Jesus’ bottom line teaching is that we are often mistaken. There is no question about it. "If you think you ain't, you is"! The interesting part of the teaching is that being mistaken is the symptom but Jesus also identified the disease. We become mistaken when we do not know the Word of God. I am reminded of some other words of Jesus, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that shall proceed from the mouth of God”. The apostle Paul fleshed that out by saying, “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.” If you are not pursuing the knowledge of His Word, you are setting yourself up for a lifetime of knowing less of Him that He desires. You are being content with dirty water from the puddle when He wants you to drink freely from the fresh, cool spring of His written wellspring.

There are two streams of thought on the last part of this verse. One is that we also don’t know the power of God. Perhaps we should be seeking the power of God in the same way as we are to be seeking the Word of God. That would mean that we need to be seeking the Lord and yielding our lives to Him. The other interpretation I like better, we don’t have the power of God because we do not know His Word. It seems we often suffer from the listlessness of an unfruitful life when God would have us slicing through the deep waters, both calm and storm tossed, to boldly reach the destination of His will.

Happy sailing.

Mother's Day Roundup

About the only thing you can do to get in trouble on Mother's Day is to forget it or to bad moth someone's Mamma. For someone like me who sort of "looks for trouble" this is a challenge. Like many churches we do the little Mother's Day ritual of giving away corsages to certain Moms. We usually do the oldest Mother, Mother with the most children and the Mother with the youngest child. Yesterday I told the church we were going to do things a little differently. I told them (in jest) that we were going to recognize the most Godly Mother, the Mother with the Godliest children and the Most Improved Mother, someone who was a pretty lousy Mother this time last year but has shown great improvement over the last year. We all had a great laugh and did it the old way. Forgive me for my thoughts but I really could have picked those three out of the people in attendance!

I don't understand high attendance on Mother's Day. I know some of those folks are coming to please their Mothers or because of tradition and I certainly don't mind that some of the people are lost. I guess I am not so confused about Mother's Day as I am about why believers would forsake the church so many other Sundays. Let's have a teach the Pastor day. Please explain one or both of the following Scriptures to me:

• Hebrews 10:24-25 24And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, 25not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.
• And/Or any portion of 1 Corinthians 12 you want to teach to me.

Both of these Scriptures have implications far beyond mere attendance. Based on your reading: how often, how consistently and why should we be at church?

A Tale of Two Tombs

Congatulations are in order for Israeli archeologists who have located the tomb of Herod the Great. Herod was the famous ruler of Jerusalem who built the temple which was in use in Jesus' time. He was also the first of a series of infamous Herods who seemed to have a pull toward evil (incest, murder, rejection of the One True God). Read about the find here: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,270575,00.html

This is an important find yet I find it ironic that man continues to pursue dead people rather than the living Lord. The hill on which the tomb has been found is "clearly visible from Jerusalem". Apparently scholars are sure they have the right place, a place that was used to house the corpse of a truly dead person. Maybe they should be focusing on the empty tomb in Jerusalem rather than the tomb of Herod.

Jesus only used his tomb three days. Herod appears to have needed his two thousand years or more. Why not pursue the One whose tomb is empty? It took Herod many years to build the stone temple and the wall around Jerusalem. Today only a portion of that wall remains and the mound on which the temple, destroyed in A.D. 71, stood is home to a Muslim mosque. Jesus said if you destroyed the real temple (Himself) the He would raise it again in three days. He did. Why not seek the King who sits on His royal throne forever? Herod built up the place known in Jesus' time as Jerusalem. Jesus is building a New Jerusalem. It is a place where there will be no more need for dead men's tombs.

What do you think?

Variety Is The Spice Of Life

This is a followup to my Doctor's visit a few weeks ago. The Dr. ordered an MRI and a new EEG. The EEG showed that my medication seems to be helping. The MRI showed nothing related to the seizures I have been having. It did, however, uncover a different problem. It seems I have an aneurysm in my internal carotid artery. I am scheduled to have an MRA (MRI's brother?) soon and then meet with another neurologist to see if this is something worth worrying about. In the meantime I have forbidden anyone from worrying about it and if it turns out to be challenging news then I will appeal for everyone to refrain from worry in accordance with Philippians 4:7-8.

The health roller coaster is so much fun! The really interesting part is that many people want to know how I "feel" about this. My honest answer is that at first I felt shock, then a little fear. Now, I just don't know how I feel. My Godly wife wanted me to tell some of the other men of the church how I was feeling. We had a Deacon's meeting and I complied. I shared two things. First, I really feel like fishing. Second, I honestly do not know how I feel. They were quite content with both of these feelings. Sweet and Precious was not nearly as content.

Let's face it. This could be something very serious or it could be a total non event. The serious part makes me want to prepare for anything bad that might happen. I reminded her where the will is and where the insurance policies are and who to call for financial help. Trust God and be as prepared as possible. That is the only thing I know I can do.

There have been some positive effects to this. Yesterday I went golfing with my Dad, my son and my brother Richard. Rich is about to be deployed so we were glad to get to spend a day with him. We played a five hour round of golf at a local muni. (Dad's club was booked as we did not know we would get the chance to play until the day before.) I decided that just to be on the safe side of things I would refuse to get angry. I figured that blowing a gasket might be a sure fire way of blowing out a vessel. Anyway, regardless of my reasoning I had a very different time on the course. I played horribly but each time I hit a bad shot, and there were many, I just started laughing. You would be amazed at how much fun I had shooting a terrible score!

The thing that makes this even more amazing is that I am by nature a little on the competitive side. My motto has always been, "It does not matter whether you win or lose, it matters whether I win or lose!" My brother beat me by three strokes and I still had a great time. Three generations were looking at me in wide eyed wonder expecting the usual outbursts, mumblings and Tiger Woods like sulking that usually accompany getting beat. I think my son even asked, "Who are you and what have you done with my Father?'

Anyway, the variety of health situations I have had have spiced things up. Who would have thought that an MRI could lead to a more fun golf game!? Variety really is the spice of life!

Witness or Worry

A blogging Pastor I know (not me) was invited by a neighbor to a block party the neighbor was hosting. There would be alcoholic beverages involved although the Pastor is personally convicted that he should not drink. (His family has a history of alcoholism.)

This Pastor was really struggling with the decision of whether to attend or not. On the one hand it would be a great opportunity to meet and potentially minister to a boatload (think fish!) of lost people. On the other hand what would others think if they saw him there, or even saw him going there?

I have a definite opinion which I feel is Scripturally based.

What do you think?

A Noah's Ark

People often ask me questions about science and the Bible. As far as I have seen the Bible never contradicts scientific fact and scientific fact certainly never contradicts the Bible. Our "scientific" assumptions are often wrong and our understanding of the Biblical text is sometimes wrong but the two, when based upon fact, have never yet proven to be in opposition.
One of the questions I get asked is in relation to Noah's ark. Here is a link to a man in the Netherlands who has built a "full scale" replica of the ark: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,269090,00.html
I say full scale because by his own admition the real ark would have been five times this size. This model took two years to build using modern tools. You can understand why it would take Noah a lot longer! First he had to cut his own wood. Then he andd the boys had to do it by hand.
This display are has life size models of many animals. One thing I like to remember is that the Bible does not say that Noah took only adult animals with him. If you allow for the size of the ark and at least some of the animals being young you can easily fit all of them on the ark. If you want to look into this further got to Answers in Genesis at http://www.answersingenesis.org/ or to Institute for Creation Research at http://www.icr.org/.
What do you think?

Man with a Message on a Mission

My wife and I joined a group of about thirty Pastors and sposes, staff members etc... to hear a challenge from Dr. Bobby Welch, past President of the SBC. It was a powerful and very down home message with a few surprises. At least they were surprises to me.

He took as a text Jeremiah 8:20. The message was very clear and inmpactful. The most meaningful aspect to me was ther down to earth personality of Dr. Welch. Both in his message and at lunch afterwards it was as if you were receiving encouragment from a loving Granfather.

A lot of bloggers have ben hard on Dr. Welch for the "million more" type goal and the bus tour. I think they should lay off and that we should all consider what we can do to be more effective in our ministry of evangelism

God Is In Control

Many of my friends and family know that I have struggled with petite mal seizures for some time now. This past week I went for my first appointment at the Texas Medical Center in Houston to see a neurologist who specializes in epilepsy. I had some pretty lofty expectations going in to the appointment. My local neurologist and I had been working on this for many months, experimenting with new medications, combinations of medicine and ongoing monitoring. My idea was that at some point we would magically find the medication that worked virtually overnight. I figured since I was seeing a Doctor who dealt with this all the time I would now be on a “fast track” to healing.

In my first meeting with the new neurologist I was in fact very impressed. It was obvious that I was dealing with a man who faces this issue every day and focuses his entire medical career on treating this issue. Unfortunately, along with the expertise comes the reality. He told me two things I did not want to hear. The first was that it would realistically take about six months to evaluate the effectiveness of the first medication. Six months! I had, patient personality that I am, been willing to give it at least six weeks, but six months! I was not a happy camper.

The second thing he told me was that there is the possibility that they would never be able to completely alleviate the seizures. Control yes, eradicate, maybe, maybe not. Suffice it to say that neither of these two pieces of information brought me great comfort. Actually I was pretty dejected (and a little angry).

That evening we had our men’s ministry meeting. We had a guest speaker; I was thankful I was not on the slate this night. The God ordained topic of his Bible Study: “God is in control.”

Yes He is. God may heal me, He may not. If He chooses not to relieve me then this one thing is true, being content in my circumstances means finding joy in the truth that God may not heal but He always strengthens. That’s the kind of thing you can do when you are in control! I’m glad He is in control and I am not.

Guilty As Charged

I have been judged and found wanting by the scales of justice. Before you cart me off to the Pokey let me explain. Like many other Christians I have read Jesus' command that we "judge not lest we be judged". Also like many other Christians I have reasoned in my heart that there is an exception in there somewhere that allows us to judge people who do and say really dumb things when it comes to the church. Suddenly today I realized I have been intolerant of a lot of people in the church just because they held to a different idea than me.

Here is the admittedly lame thing that happened. A relative I know attends a church that is looking for a new Pastor. They have actually been looking for over a year. I guess since they have a good interim they have grown a little drowsy in their pursuit. The search committee of the church is bringing a man before the church in view of a call this weekend. They have provided a great deal of information about the man including a resume with photo and some verbal testimony of the search committee members. From that information alone several members of the body have already made up their mind about how they will vote on God's will.

That deeply spiritual search for the Lord's will was expressed in this comment. "I'm not going to vote for him, he is not married and he has a beard." I did not make this up. Okay, let's be as open minded as possible on this as we can. The last time I checked Jesus, Son of God, our Savior and model for life, was unmarried and likely had a beard. I'm guessing this means that according to these two characteristics God would not be qualified to serve as the Pastor of the church. I have heard of churches historically battling over the issue of Pastoral celibacy but never have I heard of a problem like this in a Baptist Church. Did I mention that he is engaged to be married? At least he will be more qualified after June!

Forgive me, my sarcasm runneth over. To spare these good folk any further embarrassment let's forget the obscenely ridiculous and focus on the simply ridiculous. The truth is many of us often drag extra-Biblical demands to the table in the search for God's will. It doesn't matter whether it is the amount and position of his facial hair or whether we like or dislike the style of his preaching. None of these have any relation to whether he is called of God and whether that calling is to this particular ministry.

The real issue in a church's search for a Pastor, or in pursuing any other decision, is that we should be seeking God's will, not our own agenda. His will is best found through a passionate and prayerful search, not a checklist of the things we want.

That is why I am now guilty as charged. I felt God's conviction that I also bring other things to the table. Instead of looking at the banquet that God has laid out for me I crowd the table with my own junk food. Just because the things I look for are not as silly (to me) as the one from that sister church does not mean they are any less foul in God's sight. I want to learn to empty myself of everything else and seek His will alone. I am going to pray for that brother who needs to know God's will in regards to his next Pastor.

Sound of the Abundance of Rain

It's a beautiful Texas morning! Or at least I think it would be if I could see the sky. It's raining today, raining hard. We call it a "frog choker". The sound of the abundance of rain is wonderful and we are very thankful for it.

It rained at church yesterday too. The sky was beautiful outside and on the inside I felt the presence of His Holy Spirit. I am preaching a series on the family. I have received a boatload of complements and requests for copies of the messages. I have mixed feelings about that. On the one hand it is good to know that the Spirit is connecting through me. On the other I am a little frustrated that people seem to respond so well to topical messages I preach rather than more exegetical messages. Since exegesis means "to bring forth" I guess that it what I am doing with the Scriptures I used in my message yesterday, "Raising Godly Children".

The rain however, was not in the message but in the response. Several young people from a local Foster Home Ranch came forward. If you ever want an earnest prayer meeting just take a serious request from a hurting child and go to the Father. I cannot even begin to describe it so I won't except for this. I immediately felt as if heaven was silent, anxiously awaiting the appeal.

In the afternoon we had a wedding. We had decided a couple of Church Council meetings ago to have no activities scheduled for this Sunday night due to Spring Break. Now we know it was a God thing. A fantastic and beautiful young lady in our church got engaged recently and the family decided to have the wedding very quickly (two weeks!) because her brother was going to home on leave from Guantanamo. It was a great wedding. It was the kind of wedding that makes you so full of joy for the couple and happiness for the parents that you just can't help but to heap embarrassing praise on them both.

So with all this joy why was I so down yesterday afternoon? So much movement by the Spirit. So much joy among the family. Yet I was grounded, my wings clipped, leaving me feeling useless and lonely. Perhaps some of it is physical exhaustion. I guess some of it was a shared burden for a Brother in Christ who I love deeply. He was hurting so I hurt too. Maybe some of it is the side effects of the seizure medication I am taking. Some of it has to be spiritual warfare. The thought kept bearing down on me that there is so much more work to do. I know I don't do the saving but I still kept thinking, "I cannot save them all"!

If I were counseling from my own grace filled and loving point of view I would tell myself to "build a bridge and get over it"! Thankfully, God sent someone else to deliver the message. Two Godly friends and my Godly wife would not let me wallow but instead threw a rope of prayer around me and pulled me out of the mud. My wife then took me to visit and hold a new baby that the Lord has blessed one of my Bible Study couples with this last week. There is something about "baby therapy" that is amazing, like smelling salts for the soul. All the darkness was not gone but there was a growing light coming over the horizon.

The sound of the abundance of rain is slowing outside yet the amazing thunder of God continues in the distance. I feel like God has thundered His way through the darkness that clouded my heart, washed me clean and restored my vision. Maybe the light on the horizon is not just the sun. In my heart it reminds me of His love shining through. It may not burn through the clouds immediately but it will burn through the clouds certainly.

I hope you are feeling very "up" today.

My Sloth

I went to the zoo recently. I saw something called a sloth. I remembered I had been slothful about blogging. Kind of a random thought process don't you think? I have abandoned other blogs and settled on this one (for now). I will try to be more faithful in blogging. So there!

How To Handle Words of Reproof

I was confronted by a friend and they had me dead to rights. I was guily as charged, I just did not want to admit it. And to think these words should have been easier to swallow than the words of someone I might deem "unacceptable" to correct me. Faithful are the wounds of a friend (Provers). Distasteful are the words of a turkey we don't like (2 Opinions 5:13)!

Anyway, how do we accept correction from others, friend or foe? I find it helpful first of all to try to determine if the correction really is correction or is more in the nature of criticism. If it is criticism I will listen and thank the person for their insight. (Maybe more on that later.) If it seems like the person is genuine, whether I like it or not, I try to ask them more about what they mean. "Could you help me with that? Tell me more about what you mean. When did you see me do that last?" If you get people squarely "on your side", think counselor not crucifier, there is almost no limit to how helpful they can actually be.

Listening to their response to these questions/comments will give you a great insight in where they are coming from. Honestly, even if their words hurt my experience has been that they have found an area where I really do need to improve. Sometimes this is simply because others can see things we cannot. Recently I was in a church committee meeting and several good Christian souls seemed to gang up on another. After the meeting I mentioned it to the "gang of three" and they were all totally unaware that they had done anything offensive in crushing the spirit of the offended one.

One of the benefits of being open to others is that they may have some very real answers to what we need to do to correct the problem. Sometimes the one who spots the problem also has a very good suggestion about how to to fix it. Then again, sometimes they don't! Listen with open mind and a wisdom from the Father.

Always be thankful. Unless the person coming to you is one of the "well intentioned dragons" of the church it probably took some degree of courage to approach you, especially if you are a position of leadership.

I hope this helps. So, take my advice; I'm not using it anyway!

Class Reunion

I admit I am terrible at keeping up with this Blog thing. The fact is I already know what I think and I am therefore more interested in reading other peoples blogs to see what they are thinking. That means I end up writing mostly about personal expeiences that interest a few of my friends and family and not all you suave current issues types. So today I am going to tell you about the exciting and terrible experience of my 20 year college reunion. It was exciting to see some old friends, though too many did not show. It was terrible to suddenly be faced with the realization that, despite how I feel, I am old enough to go to a 20 year class reunion!
Of course I graduated from college at the age of 10. If that were true I would be in good shape. The truth is I was 21. You do the math. I could have told people it was my wife's reunion and that I am much younger than she is, while this would have been true it would not have been accurate. We graduated together so there was no honest way to avoid it being my 2o year landmark since irresponsible fun ended and reality showed up for a very long stay.
This was all made worse by the fact that we had several conversations with Professors who currently teach at the University regarding my son who will start at the same place next fall. Let's face it, life slips by very quickly. (Side note: A funny thing happened as shortly after we turned in his application for admission we received a call from campus security to let Jonathan know that, based on family history, they would be watching him very closely. This despite the fact that my son is so much straighter of an arrow that I was that he makes his Godly Mother look like a reprobate. Come to think about it, maybe they were calling because of the way SHE acted in college. Hmm, I don't think so.
To my faithful yet disturbed friends and family who read this blog, all three of you, please feel my pain.
The final straw though was that the reunion occured on the opening day of deer season. May I just ask, what kind of a place called EAST TEXAS Baptist University schedules important events on a religious holiday? I think my neighbor shot my buck. Meanwhile our worship leader, who does a great job every Sunday leading us to worship the King of Kings, took a nine pointer and rubbed it in by sending me pictures. This leads me to think email is of the devil and Bo is such a heathen!

What's Your Motive?

What is your motive? I struggle with understanding how we frail creatures of dust can do some of the things we do and convince ourselves we are doing right. I'm not talking about the issues like murder, adultery or parking in handicapped parking spaces without a sticker. I am talking about the things we do at church and in our denominations. For example, when we judge others by a standard we refuse to hold ourselves to or when we impose additional restrictions on someone that go beyond Scripture and consider them unworthy of service if they do not fulfill our expectations. I believe Jesus referred to that as "teaching as doctrines the commandments of men."

The surprising thing is when we can do something blatantly wrong, obviously hypocritical and oftentimes just plain mean and defend to the death that we were doing it "in the Lord's name" or "for the benefit of the church" or "to protect the institution/denomination". I find it necessary when I get stirred up about something, clench my teeth in anger and haul off to "set somebody straight" to take a moment and ask, "What is my motivation"? "Why am I really doing this"?

From the public comments in relation to the issue at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in the controversy over a private prayer language it would seem that a Godly man, Dr. Dwight McKissic, is being sold down the river for taking a theological stance that is held by other, though not a majority, of Southern Baptists. In advocating acceptance of a private prayer language (as far as I can tell he never proposed that every believer needed one or needed to pursue one) he has run afoul of the powers that be. The unfortunate thing is that "the powers that be" in this case would seem to be men whom many of us have looked to with great admiration for their role in leading our Southern Baptist Convention to throw off the fog of liberal theology and return to a more conservative and wholesome view of the Holy Word.

I pray that all involved in this current fracas would be smitten by God's rich supply of grace. I pray that we would all put down our stones and save them for the real giants. Since the father called me to His ministry (1980) I have never really known an SBC free from contention. I would ask those to whom God has entrusted leadership of our Convention, our SBC entities, our theological discussions and most importantly our missionary efforts, please, show me a Convention, show me a Seminary, show me a Mission Board with hearts set ablaze in passion for Jesus and in prayer and fervency to share Him with a lost world. I pray for that Holy Spirit revival to begin in me.

How My Son Is Getting Even

My son began the long process of getting even with me this weekend. After years of discipline and reminders like, "Elbows off the table", he now has his revenge. Yesterday we drove on to the campus of East Texas Baptist University, my alma mater, the place where next Fall he will begin his journey away from home. I associate this hallowed place as the place of my youth. This is where my faith grew and I at least made some progress in growing toward the goal of being the minister God wants me to be. Ok, I also associate it with practical jokes like Kool Aid in the fountain on the Quad and welcoming the incoming class of Freshmen girls each year.

As I walked on to the campus I was returning not as a young skull full of mush with my entire exciting future before me. Now I was coming up the hill as a middle aged man about to throw his "baby" to the wolves. It seems like a really short time since I was a student there meeting Jonathan's Mother and now she and I are "the cute old couple" walking across the campus trailing our son as he drinks in the wonder of his soon to be new home.

If he doesn't wipe that silly grin off his face I may smack him! I know the fun that lies ahead of him. I know the challenges, the temptations and the disappointments. I wish I could protect him from some of those, make him cherish the others and convince him that some of the things he thinks are so important right now will be very unimportant in the long run. Yet, I know that is not only misguided and impossible, it is wrong. It's not just that I cannot deliver him from those things but also that I should not. I would be robbing God of the opportunity to create His fullness in my "little boy".

Thanks for listening. I'm going to eat a gallon of Blue Bell and things will be better tomorrow!

AWOL And Ice Cream

My Granddaddy Mayrant has always been my idol. He was, first of all, the most positive male role model in my early life. He was also a war hero, at least to me, part of “The Greatest Generation”. In World War II he went into the Navy. The United States Navy assigned him to a submarine and he told them flatly that he would serve on anything but a submarine. People from Sweetwater Texas don’t tend to like being under water.

The Navy, not being used to sailors who disobeyed orders, pushed back that he would serve on the submarine. He loved his country but he wasn’t getting on that thing. He is probably the only sailor in history to go AWOL and leave a forwarding address. The Military Police picked him up at home, where he said he would be when they got ready for him, and returned him to the base where he was promptly reassigned to a pocket sized aircraft carrier, the U.S.S. Gambier Bay. He may have wished he took the submarine.

In June 1944 General Douglas MacArthur was busy cashing in on his “I shall return” promise to the people of the Philippines. In order to do that the United States Navy had to locate the Japanese Navy. Locate it they did, not with big carriers and battleships but with Task Force ??, a group of pocket sized carriers and their destroyer escorts. One of those small carriers was the Gambier Bay.

“Finding” the Japanese Navy meant heavy damage to the carrier group. One saving grace was that the Japanese thought they had found a major task force. They literally thought they were firing at Lexington or Yorktown or some other major carrier. This meant the Japanese sent heavy Cruisers, large, heavily armored ships into what they thought was the opportunity to turn the tide of war back in their favor. The difference this made was that the Japanese were firing heavy armor piercing shells that were literally going all the way through the relatively unarmored carriers without exploding. The shells would come through one side of the ship, fly across the hanger bays and exit the opposite side of the ship.

Many of the ships took heavy damage but none more than the Gambier Bay. In a very brief time the call to “Abandon Ship” was sounded and the U.S.S. Gambier Bay became the first, and only, United States Aircraft Carrier ever to be sunk by Naval gunfire. My Granddaddy actually had the advantage of being in the line of communication coming down from the bridge so he heard all the reports the Captain and Staff officers were giving and receiving during the battle.

In addition to his wartime duties he was busy being “industrious”. Granddaddy is a tea-totaler and has been all his life, including the times when “Liberty” would be declared and beer was somehow made available. Each sailor was rationed a certain amount and Granddaddy, having no use for the ale was glad to sell it for cash or other negotiable items, and there were a lot of negotiable items!

In the midst of the battle there was one funny note. He had a small business up and running aboard ship where he would take scrap metal that was not going to be recycled and form it into jewelry. He would sell it to other sailors who found it very useful as either an exotic gift to send home or a nice gift for a local “girlfriend” in some port of call. Just before he was about to abandon ship he remembered his store of jewelry and turned back to see if he could retrieve it. A Japanese shell exploded and hit the place where he had been standing, the blast had occurred under the side of the ship but the section where he had been was gone. He decided two things: to forget the jewelry and to jump into the water.

He describes the time from when he went under the water until he came back to the surface as the longest time of his life. Shells were exploding in the water and he was temporarily deaf when he finally came back to oxygen. It was a bad situation. The life preservers many of the men had on were now useless, as they had taken so much shrapnel, small bits of flying metal. The holes in their life jackets made them take on water and as a result they were weighing the men down more than they were helping them float.

Granddaddy and a few others found a cargo net with small buoys around edges and somehow, a small raft. There was a man who had had most of his legs shot off and they were able to get him on the raft. Miraculously he survived. They rest of the men took turns exchanging places on the small buoys to keep as many of the men alive as possible. Some of the sailors who went into the water that day died from their wounds, some from hypothermia or fatigue, and some from the sharks. Granddaddy does not like to talk about that part of the story.

His rescue, and the rescue of many others is a miracle itself. The men were in the water for a long period of time. Granddaddy told me 68 hours one time though that seems almost unbelievable. Whatever the time was they were rescued by an American Navy vessel whose Captain disobeyed orders. The ship was running silent, no communication and no lights. The Captain later said that he “felt like God wanted him to turn the lights on”. He did and found himself surrounded by hundreds of men in the water. The men of the Gambier Bay were saved!

I am thankful for that because if he had not been saved there would have been no Mom and no me. And of course I would not be able to tell you about the ice cream. Granddaddy was diagnosed as a diabetic many years ago. He went on medication and “Doctors Orders” to avoid sweets. Once again he showed his penchant for disobeying orders and doing things his way. The only problem was that this time he faced a more formidable enemy than the United States Navy; he faced Granny.

She made sure he “towed the line” in many aspects but he was sneaky. They had a barn out back of the house that had electricity run to it. Inside the barn was a deep freezer where they kept all the food they could not store in the inside freezer. Granny did not venture to the barn very often, usually sending Granddaddy to retrieve whatever she wanted to fix for dinner. Here he saw his opportunity.

His favorite treat has always been strawberry ice cream. He would buy strawberry ice cream and hide it in the freezer. He also was wise, and sneaky, so that along with the cream he hid a spoon. He being Granddaddy and I being the only grandchild at the time a second spoon was soon added to the freezer. Yes, Granddaddy taught me to be sneaky, hide things from others and disobey orders you were not willing to follow.

I guess I can forgive him because he also taught me some great lessons about hard work, sacrifice and integrity, ice cream lying strategies not included. Years later he was no longer diabetic and in his seventies we feel like we “saved” him after surgery by hiding Ensure in an ice cream milk shake. The lesson about sneakiness was well learned! He is now eighty six, is not a diabetic and still loves ice cream; you just have to watch him.