Simply Christian

How many of us have taught "first principles" classes in our churches? N. T. Wright's latest offering Simply Christian is an attempt to be sort of a first principles kind of book. It is following in the footsteps of C. S. Lewis's Mere Christianity. I've been reading NT Wright for several years now and I've never thought to associate the words "simple" or "simply" with his writings. He is one of the deepest thinkers I've known even though he rarely uses big words. I never need a dictionary in reading him. This latest book continues that trend for me at least.

The book is divided into three sections. He follows a pattern similar to Lewis. The first section discusses four longings that Wright believes are universal to all humanity. He weaves these longings into the rest of the book to show that Christianity does make sense because it answers those longings. The second section of the book is about the Godhead and how God fulfills those longings. The third and last section concerns living out the image we find in the second section.

I had trouble reading the first section. Perhaps because it is Wright's reflection on how he sees the world. I knew what he was doing but still found it hard to follow. The second section was easier reading but the third was where I found myself slowing down and trying to take in every word. Maybe that's just me.

Wright states in his forward that he is writing for those inside and outside Christianity. Indeed the subtitle of his book is "Why Christianity Makes Sense." On the back of the dust cover is the recommendation of several well-known authors. Yet I don't think that these recommendations will tell others whether or not Wright's book has really accomplished his purpose. It seems to me that the publisher should have set up some kind of focus group that included a wide range of people inside and outside of Christianity. Then select recommendations from those groups for the dust cover. That would tell us if he really accomplished his purpose.

An interesting development is that Touchstone Magazine is featuring an article by Wright about C. S. Lewis's book Mere Christianity. You can read it online here. It is entitled aptly Simply Lewis. Then if you like you can join in a discussion about Wright's comments on their blog (here).
Wright brings up some interesting points about Lewis and Mere Christianity that I didn't know (of course I am not a Lewis scholar or avid fan, just a causal fan). I think it is well worth reading and will perhaps add to your understanding of Wright's book as well as Lewis's book.

I really believe that Wright's book is a valuable addition to a preacher's library. For me the highlight of the book was his brief section on baptism (p.212-215), . I started emphasizing some years ago that baptism was a participation (and identification with) by faith in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus in my invitations. I think that is the intent of baptism. Wright's discussion of baptism has really added to my understanding of baptism and its place in the proclamation of the gospel.

The interesting part of the book was his chapter on the New Creation. I was intrigued by his view that we are going to live on a redeemed earth when all is said and done. At this point I'm not sure about the whole discussion (you can go to Bobby Valentine's blog for a discussion from his perspective on the new creation - Bobby like Wright has some interesting points to make). However, Wright didn't really deal with the tension in the NT between the idea of a redeemed and liberated creation (Romans 8:18-25) and the idea that our citizenship is in heaven (Php.3:20-21). I have no doubt that part of God's redemption is restoring creation back to its original state. I'm just not sure whether that means we are going to inhabit it. What I do know is that we will be in eternal fellowship with God in a spiritual bodily state (1Cor.15:42-49) when all is said and done. I'm not sure this is an appropriate topic for new Christians. It will definitely be tough to teach it as Wright does in some of our congregations or even present it as a possibility. I think that is a pretty heady topic but I do understand why he included it.

All in all a good book. It will be valuable as resource material for those teaching first principle classes. It also serves as a reminder to the rest of us as to the general flow and content of the Bible. He seeks to take all the additional stuff religious people have added over the years and boil it down to what is simple and important.

Florida is for Lovers

We were introduced to a recurring phenomena last September here in Florida, love bugs. These crazy bugs emerge twice a year (late April,early May, and then September) to mate. Some of the locals call this "Fly United" season. I thought about calling this post "Love is in the air" in order to get a musical theme in.

These pests apparently migrated from parts west (Louisiana) to Florida. They are seen from South Carolina to Florida. If you want to read a little more about them click here. Last Thursday I got out my lawn mower but the bugs were so thick that I decided to wait until later. It is at times like this when I think God has a great sense of humor.

Public reading of Scripture Part II

While doing my senior thesis at Rochester College I came across this fascinating article in Interpretation Magazine by Donald Juel (Interpretation: Essays on Bible and Theology, January 1997, "The Strange Silence of the Bible," Donald Juel, p.5-19). The strange silence to which the article title refers is the lack of public reading in the assembly. Juel isn't talking about following a lectionary schedule, but rather practicing reading the Scriptures out loud for effect. Words are powerful and can be very powerful when spoken in the right way.

Juel actually makes two points in his article. First, the Bible was created to be read aloud (p.7). He maintains that part of this reason is that the Bible was created in a culture that was oral in nature. So even though we have a written text it is still meant to be read aloud. He mentions a time when the Gospel of Mark was "performed" in public. He noticed that the audience laughed on occasion. The reader knew how to dramatically portray the situation so that the audience not only heard what the text said, but heard the way in which Jesus might have spoken. The audience actually heard the exasperation in Jesus' voice from the text.

His second point is that we preachers (or teachers) haven't done our exegesis properly unless we read the text out loud (p.6). He gives three examples of texts where the reading might be done differently so that the audience will see something different in the text than what they normally see (Luke 15:11-32; Mark 15:39; Mark 4:1-20). In particular is the passage in Mark 15:39 where the centurion looks at the cross and claims that Jesus must have been God's son. A student in one of Juel's class suggested the text be read sarcastically. Of course that reading affected the way the class looked at the text and it's meaning. I haven't read out loud of late, but for a time I practiced this and found it to be helpful in my study each week. I would read the text aloud several times and from several translations. I tried to alter the way in which I read it each time.

I experienced this idea of reading the text out loud in public while we were in Tabernacle, NJ. One year we wanted to emphasize reading our Bibles daily in one year. So we kicked off the year on New Year's Eve by gathering at the building (in the old auditorium) and for two hours we read out loud from Genesis 1 to 25. As each man read a chapter I noticed that the text seemed to come more alive for me. It was better when a little inflection was added but still the over all effect was grand. Then on the fifth Wednesday during the rest of the year we read for services instead of our usual class. I would choose our section (Psalms, Gospels, and other sections) and assign the readings. I really loved that time. I would hear new things in the text I hadn't heard before. What a powerful experience.

One of the down sides to this is that we live in a society that is tied to the clock. One of my teachers at Sunset (can't remember which one - maybe Richard Rogers) used to say we were "clock-eyed." To really be effective we need more time in our assemblies to hear the word read out loud. If a congregation will take the time to listen, they will be hooked.

Interesting!

Anthony Esolen, editor of Touchstone Magazine and a Catholic, was invited to speak at Faulkner University. You can read about his impressions of the university and his reception here. It is fascinating to read about the contact that other individuals and groups have with us. Perhaps our reputation is not as bad here in the South as some claim it to be. Esolen was invited by the Great Books program to speak about Dante's Purgatory. Only the first paragraph of his post is about Faulkner, the rest is about some other experiences he had recently with other groups.

Public reading of Scripture

Paul wrote to Timothy (1Timothy 4:13):

Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching. (NIV & TNIV)

Until I come, give attention to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation and teaching. (NASB)

Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching. (ESV)

Till I come, give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. (NKJV & KJV)

It is interesting to me first that the word "Scripture" doesn't appear in this text yet several translations put it in assuming that is what Paul means when he tells Timothy to devote himself to reading. Only the KJV and the NKJV leave it out. I don't have any doubt that we should assume in interpreting this text that Paul is telling Timothy to pay attention to reading the Scriptures publicly to the gathered church.

What I would like to know is why in our fellowship (Churches of Christ for those of you who may not know my background) we did not include this as one of the acts of the assembly? It seems pretty obvious to me that reading of Scripture was approved in Scripture and practiced by the early church (and even in the Old Testament). This is why lectionaries developed. I have the church where I serve now (and churches in the past) read my text for preaching just before the sermon. But I have not talked them into reading a text or text's as part of a pattern.

I have several questions for all of you who may come by.

1. Does your congregation have Scripture reading as part of your worship service apart from reading the text for preaching?
2. What pattern do you use for reading Scripture? Do you use a lectionary or some other way of choosing the text or texts to be read?
3. Was this a part of the congregation's worship service before you came? If not was it difficult for you to have them start doing it? How did you convince them they should have reading of Scripture as a regular part of the assembly?
4. How is the reading working out? Have you noticed a difference in the congregation?
5. Are you working on developing this as a part of your assembly?

I think I like this!

You Are Mexican Food

Spicy yet dependable. You pull punches, but people still love you.

What Kind of Food Are You?

You Are a Chocolate Chip Cookie

Traditional and conservative, most people find you comforting. You're friendly and easy to get to know. This makes you very popular - without even trying!

What Kind of Cookie Are You?

I took this quiz over at Lisa's blog and these are my results. I'm pleased. Considering my post yesterday the first result is understandable. I like what kind of cookie I am since that is my absolute favorite cookie. Loni and I bake really good chocolate chip cookies. In fact we have doug in the refrigerator right now and will probably make some tonight (we ate up the home made ice cream last night). Still how can you tell what kind of food or cookie you are from just five questions? I guess this is a part of blogging, silly stuff on occasion. So take the quiz and have some fun.

guacamole live

When we were visiting Pat's folks (Lon [Grandy] & Jeanne [Nana] Mohundro) recently we went out to South of the Border for lunch. They had an interesting appetizer called Guacamole Live. The server actually came to your table with avocados and various extras (cilantro, jalapeños, tomatoes, onions, lime, etc,) and mixed up the guacamole right there while you watched. You of course got to control what all went in but what a treat (that is if you love guacamole). So Loni and I decided to have guacamole live at our house tonight. Pat planned to have tacos for dinner, so Loni bought avocados and other goodies and we made guacamole (pictured above). Instead of frying corn tortillas (we usually do them soft and not crispy) we had flour tortillas (fajitas style). It was great. Now anyone want to share a guacamole recipe? Loni and I are looking to expand our taste bud horizons.

Bob's First Golf Tournament

Since not many of you appreciated my sense of humor with the last post I will move on to golf. Yesterday I got to play in a golf tournament (Trey are you jealous? That's Trey my son not Trey Morgan). It was a fund raiser for Central Florida Bible Camp (click here). The tournament was a scramble type. For those of you like me who are not as up on golf terminology, a scramble tournament means that you play as a team (foursome). When the team tees off, the team decides which tee shot is the best. All the team members then place their balls within a club length's of the ball. They continue that process to the flag. The first putt made counts for the whole team as well. So the whole team ends up with the same score. Our team shot an 82, 10 over par. Not bad for my third game ever and my first tournament ever. I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Of course my score is due to my team members (Doug Horton, Eddie Stillwell, and Ricky Brown). I had two tee shots that were the best of my team and a couple of putts that went in first as well. Each team started at a designated hole and we just happen to start at #1. We shot a 43 for the first nine and 39 for the back nine. We shot par on only 2 holes in the first nine and six on the last nine. I had so much fun. It turns out the Bible School here has a couple of fund raising tournaments a year and I plan on playing in them as well. Plus several men in the congregation here are serious players and want me to play a round with them. I guess after all these years, I'm going to have to take up golf.

Top Ten Ways You Can Tell Someone Near You Is Only Using 1 Square Of Toilet Paper Per Visit

I'm sure you have heard Sheryl Crow's suggestion that we all do our part in helping to be more environmentally conscious by using only one square of toilet paper per visit. I thought I would help you identify those close to you might be actually taking Ms. Crow's suggestion seriously. I'm sure most would not discuss such delicate matters in public so you might need to know the signs of those who are "green" when it comes to toilet paper. So here are the Top Ten Ways To Identify Someone Close To You Who Is Using Only 1 Square Of Toilet Paper Per Visit.

10. They are constantly running comparison tests at home trying to decide which toilet paper is the thickest and most absorbent.
9. They ask restaurant managers how many plies the toilet paper in the restrooms have.
8. They run comparisons tests at home to see which toilet paper is the thickest and most absorbent.
7. They have a new gig - doing commercials for the toilet paper company that claims to have the thickest and most absorbent paper.
6. They're getting fatter - saved money from toilet paper goes for more food.
5. No one shakes hands with them.
4. People are seen running away from them holding their noses.
3. Their hands have turned a funky color.
2. They've dumped their stock in toilet paper and purchased Clean Butt's Bidetspa stock.
1. They've put photovaltaic cells on their roof to power their new Clean Butt's Bidetspa and save electricity.

Not my birthday today but . . .

More Fun Quizzes at QuizPox.com

Jack Bauer & Battery Life

We are currently trying to upgrade our cell phones. We've been pouring over the specs to see which ones are the best. One of the specs that is important to us is talk time or to put it another way, battery life. Most of the phones we've looked at are rated at somewhere between 3 hours and 4 hours of talk time. Standby time (no talking just waiting) is somewhere in the neighborhood of 300 plus hours (some as high as 16 days or 384 hours). So if no one calls you, your battery can last up to 16 days without recharging (yea right). But if someone (or several someones) does call you have at most 4 hours or so before you need to recharge.

So how does Jack Bauer talk on his cell phone during the 24 hour crisis he faces each season? I have yet to see him charging his phone in his car or at CTU. Maybe he carries around extra batteries (at least 6, 6 batteries X 4 hours of talk time = 24 hours). He carries around ammo clips so why not batteries? I have yet to see him change a battery. Maybe he does it while he's off the camera and we are seeing another scene.

Then again I have never timed how much time he spends on his cell phone. Maybe if we timed it he doesn't use his cell phone for more than 4 hours. You know that would be an interesting feat for someone, timing how much Jack Bauer uses his cell phone on 24. I can just see it now on Trivial Pursuit under the "Entertainment" category - How much time does Jack Bauer actually spend on his cell phone during the season of 24?

Christians as Victims

I was reading in World Magazine about an incident that took place in my former home state of New Jersey. Indeed the incident took place in the very county where we lived for 10 years, Burlington. It seems that Burlington Township High School on March 22 of this year staged a terrorist drill to help prepare the school in the event of a terrorist attack. Two police officers stormed the school masquerading as the terrorists. So far so good. The problem came when the local residents discovered the script for the scenario. It seems that the masquerading police officers were pretending to be members of a right-wing fundamentalist group called "The New Crusaders" who don't believe in separation of church and state. In the script a daughter of one of the members was expelled from the school for praying before class. The attack was in retribution for the expelling. Details of the script leaked and all ----broke loose! (how about all heaven broke loose?)

Anyway, local and national Christian leaders demanded a formal apology from the police department and the school. Legal action is being considered. It seems they felt that blaming conservative Christians is not only "inappropriate but outrageous, and raises serious constitutional questions as well." (quoted from World Magazine, April 21, 2007; p.28) Our religious tenor today has approached the victimology used by other groups. If everyone else is doing it, hey, why don't we?

Contrast this approach with the Apostles in Acts 5:40-41. The apostles had been arrested and while the Council was debating what to do with them Gamaliel warned them to take care because if the actions of the Apostles were of God they could not stop the Apostles. The Council decided to flog the Apostles and then ordered them not to speak in Jesus' name. The Apostles went away rejoicing that they had been counted worthy to suffer for the name of Jesus. Oh for us to return to that kind of an attitude.

It is a shame that our country was founded on principles from the Christian-Judeo heritage and that now our society seems to be doing everything possible to stop us from having any political influence. Certain ones in our society want to lower the moral standards that we find in the Bible. It appears to me that there is a concerted effort underway to undermine Christian teaching and influence in the public arena. Maybe instead of responding to these outrageous insults with surprise, shock, and threats of lawsuits, we should take to the streets with prayer, rejoicing that God has found us worthy to suffer for His name. Maybe we should thank those that attack our faith. Maybe we should claim James 1:2. What kind of response from the media would that create? I dont think they would know what to do with us.

Where's Bob?

I am currently in Christiansburg, VA visiting Dan, Lisa, Nathan, Jeremy, and Derek. I haven't been keeping up with my blog or your blogs. I'm having a grand time playing with the boys, helping Dan assemble a ping pong table, getting beat by said son-in-law at ping pong, getting up early with the grandsons, and talking with my other darling daughter (the other darling daughter I get to see daily) whom I haven't seen in a while. So I'll catch up with ya'all later on.

What do these stones mean?

Across from the building where the Mt. Dora congregation meets is a funeral home. The owner and manager are members at the congregation. When I first arrived I told them both that if they ever had a family that didn't have someone to do a funeral for them to please feel free to call on me. In Northern New Jersey I became friendly with a funeral director near our building and he asked one day if I would do a funeral for a family. Of course I said yes and from then on the director would call on occasion. Within two months of arriving here in Mt. Dora they called for me to do a funeral.

His name is Kirby. His late wife is Anita. She had a Ph. D. in some education field. She has written a couple of books in her field. She was 20 years older than Kirby. They had been married for 23 years. I met with Kirby for about 10 minutes before the funeral. I did the service there at the funeral. Then we went to the cemetery which is just about across the street (it's actually right next door to our building). After the services I invited Kirby to come to our worship services. He promised.

About a month later Kirby showed up one Sunday. He had been visiting his wife's grave and met one of our members whose wife was also buried in the same cemetery. Ed is in his late 70s or early 80s. He's one of our more active members. He and Kirby talked for a while and Ed also invited him to our services. With two invites Kirby decided to come.

Kirby has been coming on and off since that time. I've given him a DVD from World Video Bible School to view in order to learn more about us. He doesn't have much of a church background (maybe none at all) so I haven't pushed much. He's come to several of our activities. He's getting to know some of the folks here in the congregation. He's making progress but slowly. That's okay.

A couple of months ago he made an unusual request. The headstone for his wife's grave would be done soon, would I come to the cemetery and bless it when it was finished. I of course said yes. This past week he called late in the week to say it would be up on Friday, would I come on Saturday to bless it. I had a wedding at 2 PM on Saturday and he said no problem he thought 12:30 PM would be okay.

So his wife's sister, his wife's daughter, and two friends gathered to see the headstone. I used the text from Joshua 4. God told Joshua that the stones would cause their children to ask why are they here and what do they mean. Then they could explain the history of Israel. I told Kirby and those gathered that this headstone was there to mark the history of Anita. Not many people would ask about why it was there, they already knew. But they could come and remember the life of their friend, mother, and wife. Of course my talk and blessing lasted longer this this short paragraph. Then I said a prayer and ask God's blessing on this gathering and this headstone.

I don't know if Kirby will stay on this spiritual journey with us. He's still coming. But the more I live and the more I do ministry, the more interesting the journey has become.

Sermon Notes

For anyone who is interested I am trying out WordPress for my Sermon Notes (click here) as well as Blogger (click here). I've posted my texts for this coming Sunday. Any comments, insights, applications, illustrations, or whatever are greatly appreciated. I am hoping that you ladies who might be reading this will come and offer some comments. I want to make sure that I give voice to feminine concerns in my lessons. I'm starting a series from Colossians called "Living Heavenly Values on Earthly Soil." On Sunday evening I'm continuing my pattern of preaching from our daily Bible reading schedule. My text will be 1Samuel 17. Hope ya'll have a good week.

Spring Break Campaign 2007

Our spring break campaign is now part of Mt. Dora's history. But the work continues on. Here are the fruits of our efforts granted us by our gracious God:

Doors knocked 1386
Contacts made 527
Studies set up 16
Studies taught 15
Correspondence Courses set up 28
Prayer requests 125
Door slammed in our faces 5

The students came from Heritage Christian University (formerly IBC - International Bible College) in Florence, AL. There were 11 students and 7 adults plus Stephen Guy. The adults came from two congregations in Strickland and Booneville, MS. What a great bunch they were! All of the students and adults were good workers. All of them had a passion to serve the Lord.

Brother Guy's theme for the week was Revival. Starting Sunday morning and going through Wed night he preached lessons designed to reach those who were searching and those in the congregation. We had several of our folks go forward to ask prayers for strength and renewal. We had one baptism - one of our teens (Tyler Newton). His dad (Jeff Newton) baptized him. Jeff really got choked trying to get out the words as he baptized his son. We had several of the people that we contacted through our door knocking attend at least one the meetings. So we have a lot of work ahead of us as we follow up and make sure that we try to help these folks come to Jesus.

One of our teams actually came across a Hindu family that had never heard of Jesus. What a time they had trying to help this family understand the gospel. They spoke to them at the door and really had an interesting discussion with them. Who knows where this might lead.

Several of our members came out each door and door knocked with the students. It was great to see so many of our folks involved in this way. We had quite a food crew that served breakfast and lunch to the campaign workers each day. It was a great effort.

Door knocking consisted of taking a religious survey of five questions. I wasn't all that impressed with asking the first and last questions. As I interviewed people I tried to listen to their answers and ask "take off" questions. Sometimes it would lead to some interesting side issues. For the most part those who were home seemed willing to answer the questions. I've been told that the first three questions on this list are what Rick Warren used when he first began in the Saddleback community.

1. What do you think is the greatest need of people in our community?
2. Why do you think people do not go to church today?
3. If you were looking for a church to attend, what kind of things would you look for?
4. Do you have any prayer requests?
5. Would you like to study about the church mentioned in your Bible and how you and your family can be saved?

The prayer requests (125) mentioned above were actually community prayer requests from our survey. We wrote down their names and requests and then put the requests up on PowerPoint and then specified someone during the service each night to do the community prayer. What a joy to pray for our neighbors.

During one morning of door knocking we (the group I was with) met a young homeless couple. They were recently evicted from their apartment and were just visiting the neighborhood where we were knocking (God certainly was at work that morning). After talking to them we invited them to come have lunch and breakfast each day with the campaign workers. They came a couple of times but have since disappeared. One of our elders was trying to contact some local business people that he knows to help them find jobs. We also have some food and other things left over from the tornado disaster relief materials that we can give them. We have a cell number so we hope to contact them and help them even more.

I know that door knocking campaigns have pretty well run their course. Not many congregations think they are effective so they don't do them anymore. It does seem strange to knock doors during the day when most are working. However, regardless of whether of not this is considered effective I'm convinced that God did direct us to people that needed the gospel or needed help. As a congregation we will be thanking God for the fruit borne during the campaign and for the fellowship we enjoyed with these wonderful campaign workers for quite some time.

March 17, 1980

In January of 1980 Tom and Karen DeGarmo showed up at services. I had just been at the Dover Church of Christ (in Randolph, NJ) for about nine months. They were newlyweds and Tom was fresh out of college with a degree. Tom had been hired by Bell Labs in Whippany, NJ. They moved to an apartment complex that was within 1/2 mile of our building. Karen was raised in a Church of Christ in Mill Hall, PA (not too far from State College) and Tom in the Catholic church. Tom however was quite interested in learning more about us.

Pat, Lisa (she was all of five months), and I went to visit Tom and Karen the very next evening. Tom and Karen seemed pleased and Tom was willing to study. He proposed that we take turns coming to each other's home and eat dinner together and then study. We were so pleased at his willingness. So we studied and studied (and ate and ate) for the next few weeks. One Monday night Tom looked at me and said, "So when are you going to baptize me?" Tom can be direct when he needs to be (a good trait that he often uses well). So we made a few calls and went up to the building. I don't remember who all was there but a few showed up and Tom was baptized by faith into Christ. It was March 17, 1980.

Tom and Karen were a real asset to the congregation. They were both quite involved. Tom actually called me about two days after his baptism to get my advice on what to say to a co-worker on his van pool about the gospel. I couldn't believe that a babe in Christ only two days old was out evangelizing. There were a good many people who were brought to Christ because of Tom and Karen.

After a few years they moved to Bethlehem, PA so that they could afford a home. Now years later Tom is a deacon for the King of Prussia congregation outside of Philadelphia. He and Karen have raised three children (Beth, TJ, and Seth). They have continued their involvement with the local congregation and are surely as valuable today as they were back then.

Tom calls me every March 17th. He started calling the year they moved to Bethlehem (somewhere around 1986). He called me today. He calls to say thanks. He calls to say "I love you." And I look forward to his call every year. He almost had to call me from the Mid East. His company has sent him over on occasion. I am blessed to know such a gracious servant as Tom.

The Restart and Undo Button

I enjoy some distraction during my work day. The computer and Palm has afforded an opportunity to provide that distraction. Both have a "Games" folder where I keep a couple of games, mostly some form of Solitaire. What is really cool about these games is they come with two buttons - the undo button and the restart button. I usually go through a game and then when I lose I hit the restart button and do the game over. I can usually see two or three moves that I can make differently and possibly win the game. You may wonder why I do that - the games keeps statistics and I'm looking to best my win streak of 13 games. During a game I can see two possible moves (e. g. two red sevens and one black eight show up) and the undo button allows me to see which move might be the best. In spite of the two buttons, I don't always win but I keep trying.

Don't you wish life came with a restart and undo button? When we find ourselves down the wrong pathway we could hit restart and get on the right pathway. Or when we say something that someone obviously is offended by we could hit the undo button and say something more appropriate. But alas, life doesn't come with these two buttons. And even if life did that wouldn't guarantee that we would always win.

However, most of us know when we make certain decisions know what the consequences will be. When a man decides to cheat on his wife, he knows that the other woman could become pregnant. He also knows that if she is a minor he could go to prison. He also knows that his ministry will not only end but will have a bad reputation and outsiders will trash the church (Romans 2:21-24). He also knows that his sin will find him out (Numbers 32:23). And yet a decision is made and an action taken. He has placed his desire above all else. Sometimes the decision is easy - we want pleasure or whatever else the action might bring. Sometimes the decision is not easy - the battle between the flesh and the Spirit rages on (Galatians 5:17).

There are a some good posts in light of what has happened recently to the Pitman congregation in Southern New Jersey. Trey Morgan has two posts - here and here. Steve Pucket (here) has a good post with links to some resources . Finding out that a fellow preacher (and in particular a preacher I know personally) has committed sexual misconduct used to surprise me. Not because I believe we are immune to such temptation but because I have always thought they (the ones I knew personally) were so strong. A preacher friend from eastern PA that committed such an act would have been the last one I would have ever thought would give in to such temptation. I thought I was the only one who struggled with such feelings. But I am not the only one. I read a newsletter a couple of months ago about a young fellow going into the ministry. The church where he started had just been rocked by the sexual misconduct of another minister who was in his 50s. The young man had a wise grandfather (around 70) that he consulted. He wanted to guard himself against such a sin. He asked his grandfather when these sexual urges stop. His grandfather said when I find out I'll let you know. He was surprised to find out that his 70 year old grandfather was still dealing with the urges.

I am grateful that my wife is of such a personality that she will let me know when she thinks a situation isn't wise for me to go alone. I am grateful that God has provided me with other escape pathways. But I know that Satan is lurking around every corner waiting for any of us to come into a situation that he can exploit. When certain decisions are made and actions taken there is no restart or undo button, the damage is done. The rest of us need in these situations to throw out a lifeline. Satan may have claimed them for the moment but God is still waiting for them to come back.

God's Mysterious Ways II

Last year a brother in Christ, named Jim, called me from California. He is a Lt. Colonel in the air force reserves stationed at Beale AFB but full time. He is getting transferred to McGuire AFB which is about 20 minutes away from Tabernacle, NJ, in order to be a wing commander. I sent him information on real estate agents in the area. About a month later he emails me and asks if I went to Sunset. I emailed back and said yes. Then he asked if Steve Davis was best man at my wedding. I of course said yes, knowing that there was more to these questions. It turns out that Cindy Davis had remarried. Her husband and Jim were elders in Yuba City, CA. Cindy is his wife's best friend. Jim and his wife, Nancy, were really excited to find a friend of Cindy's out there in desolate New Jersey. I emailed Jim back and told him our situation, that we were moving to Florida. I haven't had time to find out whether or not Jim and Nancy got situated but I found Jim's email address and sent him a message. I haven't heard back just yet.

Last month here in Mount Dora, FL one of the elders told me that a fellow was moving up from Clermont (about 30 miles away). He had some foot or leg problem and was in a wheel chair. The congregation he was attending down there was of the type that didn't believe in helping benevolent needs out of the church treasury. Apparently their benevolent nature didn't extend much beyond their talking about it because this fellow didn't feel very welcome and he claims they didn't do much to help him in terms of giving him a ride to services.

David McCaig showed up (he wasn't in a wheel chair but on crutches) one Wednesday evening. The elder who had originally told me about him picked him up for services. He lives near another one of our members who also needs to be picked up. Anyway, after a couple of weeks, David and I found some time to really talk with each other. I thought he was a new Christian but he said no he was raised in the church even though his parents have since fallen away. I asked if he was a Florida native (some natives are called "crackers") but he said no he was from California. Mentioning California always gets my attention. So I asked where. He said up north (people are usually vague about things like this because they assume that most people won't know the name of the town in which they lived). I asked specifically and he said Livermore. I said I knew a preacher at Livermore, Don Downey (actually it's Ron, Don is his father). He said he didn't know a Don but did know a Ron. Well, we got to talking further and low and behold he knew Steve Davis! Steve was a counselor at a summer camp where David attended. Couldn't believe it (well actually I could because this sort of thing happens all the time).

I know some of you are waiting for the big - there were hundreds of baptisms kind of ending to this story. Actually the story isn't over. I don't know why David is here in Mount Dora and if the connection we have to Steve is even relevant to our current situation. This is just another quiet chapter in God's mysterious ways. There are a lot of questions about this story I have that I hope God will answer when we get heaven.

1. Why didn't Steve get to go to Liberia with the Crons and Littlejohns? (maybe his family didn't need to be there or maybe one them needed to be here for some task that God had for them)
2. Why did Jim and Nancy make contact with us just as we were leaving?
3. Why is David here? (This one may be answered some day soon)

God's providence surprises us all the time. Sometimes we are in the right place at the right time. Sometimes all our plans fall into place. Sometimes the signs are there but nothing (or at least nothing that we can actually see) ever comes of it. Through it all I know that God is in charge. That is what faith is all about - trusting that God is in charge and holding on to him whether or not plans fall into place. I may never get the answers to my questions while we are here under the sun, but God's light is still shining in my life and my family's life.

God's mysterious ways

Steve Davis was best man at my wedding. We met in class at Sunset School of Preaching (now Sunset International Bible Institute). He was from California (Marysville, outside of Sacramento) and I was from California (Lompoc, up the coast from Santa Barbara about 55 miles). For some reason we became instant friends. We teamed up with two other guys in class (David Cron and John Littlejohn). We were the "wolfpack." David was the only one of the bunch who was raised in the church. We asked a lot of questions. We didn't accept anything until we could see it. We weren't rebels in the usual sense, we just wanted to be sure. I'm sure we wore our teachers out. Steve was married (Cindy) when he came to Sunset and he had one son (Matthew). While at Sunset Cindy gave birth to another son Joel. I finally found a wife myself (the lovely Pat). Steve was obvious choice for my best man. We had a great wedding and great honeymoon.

Toward the end of school I had told the elders at Lompoc (the church that put me through school - with the help of my wonderful, supportive parents) that we would come back and work with them after school. Just after that promise, two churches showed up at Sunset wanting four families to go to Liberia. If not for my commitment to the church in Lompoc it would have been a match made in heaven. I wanted so bad to tell the elders I wasn't coming but my parents had taught me to keep my word (and so did the Lord!). So Pat and I finished the missions program and in July 1977 we headed to Lompoc. Steve and the rest of the "wolfpack" stayed for the third year graduate program at Sunset with plans to go to Liberia.

Steve and gang finished Sunset in January 1978. I had heard from Steve that they were having trouble getting visas to Liberia. Then I didn't hear much at all for awhile. One Saturday night in April 1978 we were having a youth devotional. Someone had prepared some questions that everyone was supposed to answer in an effort to get to know each other. One of the questions, "If you could get a phone call from anyone who would it be?" I naturally said Steve, since I hadn't heard from him. The next morning just before the alarm went off, the phone rang. Not it wasn't Steve it was Don Downey, Steve's father-in-law. His voice was quiet, almost a whisper. He said, "Bob, Steve was killed last night in a traffic accident." Pat and I were crushed. That morning at worship, all we could do was cry (literally!). We had Joy Bus kids sitting in our laps who couldn't understand why we were crying.

We drove up to Marysville for the funeral. Everyone kept asking "why Steve?" and Cindy kept responding "Why not Steve?" It was a wonderful service for such a faithful young man. I miss those days in Sunset. But there is more to this story.

Lines in the Sand Revealed

The president who said the quote (click here) I liked so much was former president William Jefferson Clinton. The occasion was the dedication of his presidential library in Little Rock. The date was November 18, 2004. If anyone is interested in the transcript you can read it here. The speech is not long so don't be afraid to read it. I'm amazed at how ugly politics and elections can be and then how the same politicians are so gracious to each other at times like a library dedication. President Clinton was gracious to President Bush (both H and W) as one can read in the transcript. President Bush apparently sent quite an entourage to the dedication.

President Clinton's special quote came toward the end of his speech when he tried to blend the value of both conservatives and progressives in our society at the close of the 20th century. I'm not sure that his application is exactly the way the two sides would have seen it but it was an interesting application. The quote continues to speak to me about the need in our fellowship to talk with each other and recognize the need for each side. I don't know if we will ever have that kind of harmony but it is worth the dream.

Papa's Got a Brand New Blog

I'm launching another blog (click here). This one is about my sermons. Each Monday I will post my sermon title and text for the next Sunday. Anyone can stop by and share with me your thoughts on the text. If you have any insights, stories, illustrations, applications, or sermon outlines I would appreciate such. Just something I'm trying to do to improve my preaching skills.

I tried to use WordPress but didn't find it as intuitive as Blogger. I've got a site started on WordPress and maybe one of these days I will work with it but for now I'm sticking with Blogger. Plus PC World did a little comparison article on blog sites and Blogger came out on top. So here I take my stand.

Thanks.

Lines in the Sand

I ran across this quote the other day. It is absolutely fantastic! At least to me. Guess which president said this. I'll reveal in the next post who said it.

"Conservatism, at its very best, draws lines that should not be crossed. Progressivism, at its very best, breaks down barriers that are no longer needed, or should never have been erected in the first place."

I think it speaks volumes. Conservatives are those who try to identify what is important and what should never be forgotten. They identify what is fundamental, what is foundational, and what all of us should agree to. They draw a line in the sand and demand that we never cross it. Doesn't mean that everything conservatives identify as important is right, this is just the reality of the situation.

Progressives challenge those fundamentals. They dare to cross the lines in the sand that conservatives have drawn. They challenge what has become central to us. Sometimes the practical becomes identified as fundamental. For instance, four-part harmony is certainly singing without instrumental accompaniment but that particular type of singing isn't central to Scripture. In some instances progressives help us to rethink our understanding of what is truly fundamental. We should also realize that progressives, as conservatives, are not always right. This is just reality.

Sometimes what the conservatives identify as important needs to be shown that we no longer need such. Perhaps we could use playing cards as an illustration. I don't know all the reasons why cards were outlawed by churches (I suspect that it may have something to do with gamblers who used them in the saloons in the West). Some conservatives probably still hold on to this one. At one time not using cards had validity and no one should have used them. With time and other cultural changes the reasons no longer exist so cards can be a part of a family's entertainment.

Even though dialogue between conservatives and progressives is never easy, it is a necessary one. Both sides benefit (if they can stay at the negotiating table long enough) from the discussion. But both sides need to give grace to the other side. Dogmatism exists on both sides of the aisle. Judgmentalism exists on both sides of the aisle. I don't know how to accomplish keeping both sides talking but I just know they should.

Prayer Time

This past Wednesday we had a prayer devotional for our upcoming spring campaign. I always am encouraged when we as a congregation spend time in prayer mostly about one particular event. I interspersed the time with some songs and scripture reading, both designed to support the prayers about our spring campaign (we had five men offer prayer during this devotional time). Wade Tannehill's series on prayer (Can God be Persuaded to Act? click here) has caused me to think a lot about prayer and how God responds.

When I was asked to leave Tabernacle, Pat and I increased our prayer life - individually and together. We prayed fervently about where God wanted us to go, where we wanted to go, and hoping He would do it soon. We had our wish list but we knew that God would take us to where He wanted us in His own time. The frustrating thing was listening to the "quick responses" that others experienced when they prayed about their situations. One preacher friend told me he was fired by this congregation on a Monday some years ago. He and his wife prayed when he got home. That Thursday another congregation called to ask him to consider leaving his current congregation and come to theirs. Our prayers were not answered for almost a year (long search!).

I'm frustrated when prayer is made a mantra (say this prayer for 30 years and God will be with you each step of the way), when optimism rules (I'm an optimistic guy but my optimism doesn't
doesn't always seem to rule God - I think C. S. Lewis said something about people manufacturing positive feelings about prayer in the hope of getting a positive response from God), when faith is the key (I guess sometimes I must not have much faith) or when some formula is thought to activate God (say it in this way and He will listen). There is no magical formula about prayer and getting what you pray for. There is just me and God walking through this dark world together on the way to the land of rest. I pray about my situation and God guides me as only He knows best. Regardless of what happens (good stuff, bad stuff, really bad stuff, really good stuff, bland stuff) I stay faithful and continue praying until we reach our destination. We live in an imperfect world and our prayers will often produce imperfect results. So I continue to trust that my God and my Savior will be with me until the end of the age.

Allowing Time for Growth

A passage that has fascinated me is 2Kings 5:1-19. It is the story of the healing of Naaman, who is the captain of the army of the king of Aram. He is a valiant warrior and well respected by his people but he has leprosy. Naaman is told by a servant girl that Elisha can heal him. So he goes off in search of Elisha. Naaman arrives and is told by Elisha to go dip himself seven times in the Jordan River. He is furious because he thought the healing would be more sensational than a simple dipping (v.11). Besides he has some rivers back home that are better (v.12). One of his servants suggested he go try Elisha's solution even though it wasn't quite what he wanted (v.13). So Naaman goes and dips himself in the Jordan and is healed (v.14). He returns to Elisha and praises the God of Elisha (v.15) for the healing. He promises never to sacrifice to another god again (v.17). He is converted and becomes a servant of the Lord. He recognizes his need to be loyal and serve God alone. However, because of his role as captain of the army he must go into a house of worship and assist his master (v.18). He knows what he is doing is wrong and goes against the promise he just made but he is not quite ready to make a clean break. He asks the Lord to pardon him for this violation and Elisha grants him a blessing as he leaves (v.19).

I really believe that this passage speaks to we Christians today as well. We will share Jesus with someone who is truly converted and wants to be loyal and do what is right. They may even recognize what is right but for whatever reason cannot stand as firmly as they should at that moment. I hope to grant them grace and a blessing, not to stay in their current state but to continue to grow and eventually say no to whatever they need to say no to. It would be nice if everyone we converted (ourselves included) could change immediately upon conversion. However, those of us who are spiritual need to allow them some time to grow. We don't expect our infant children to walk so we shouldn't expect babes in Christ to walk as firmly as they hopefully one day will. We also should realize that we will meet people who are not yet converted and our goal should be to get them into Christ. So preach Christ and him crucified and then once they pledge their loyalty to Christ, give them time to grow.

The Gospel is for all

Trey Morgan has a good post (click here) challenging us to make sure that we don't turn people into our vision of what is respectful before we convert them. What if the individual above turned up at your church? After picking yourself up off the floor would you not only invite them in but ask them to sit with you?

Let me tell you about an experience I had in my last congregation (Tabernacle, NJ). A young couple (late 20s) showed up with two young children. He was Caucasian and she was Asian. Both had rather extensive piercings (she - nose, lip, tongue, eye brows; he - bridge of the nose, eye brows, lips, tongue) and some tattoos. I think we did a pretty good job of welcoming them in without staring too much. It turned out that they were looking for a church that was a little more traditional than where his parents (actually Mom and Step dad) were attending. At the other church the deacons wore Bermuda shorts, sandals, and waved in the air. They wanted something more sedate. At first we seemed to fit the bill. They were pretty regular in their attendance for a while. During my visits with them I discovered that she was still married to some other guy and the oldest child was his and the youngest belonged to the current guy. They wanted to know if their marital situation (or lack of) would be a problem. She had trouble getting a divorce from her husband because of his obstinance. So she gave up. The current guy was content to live this way and their previous church encouraged them to not worry about it. I had never experienced anything like this and was so surprised that an evangelical church would encourage such behavior. I told them yes it would but now I wish I had told them that our goal was to get to know them first. They quit coming after that. I'm not sure they quit coming because I told them their situation would be a problem because I continued to pursue them and tried to make sure they felt comfortable with us. After a while it became evident that they were no longer interested in coming for whatever reason.

I have no doubt that sooner or later we would have to deal with their situation. But I think we try to clean up people's lives before we get them into Christ and we lose some because they don't fully appreciate their position. That means we miss some in our evangelism because they don't clean up as easily as we want. I don't want to suggest that we accept sin but we do accept sinners who need to learn and grow and that may take a while. Better to get them into Christ first and then demand that they grow.

Super Hero

Your results:
You are Spider-Man

Spider-Man 55% The Flash 55% Catwoman 45% Robin 40% Hulk 30% Wonder Woman 25% Green Lantern 25% Iron Man 25% Superman 20% Batman 20% Supergirl 10%

You are intelligent, witty, a bit geeky and have great power and responsibility.

Click here to take the "Which Superhero are you?" quiz...

Happy Birthday Nathan from Gramps

This is my favorite picture of Nathan and me. It was taken in Radford, VA when Dan, Lisa, and Nathan moved from Arkansas to Virginia in 2001. We were in Dan and Lisa's new home and I guess Lisa took this picture. I've forgotten all the circumstances. But it's still my favorite of the two of us. Happy Birthday Nathan and many more!

If you could own any car

Others have done some spiritual questions about "what if. . ." so I thought I would do something a little materialistic. If you could have any car in the world what would it be and why? Mine is the above. 1991 Porsche 944 S2. Dual overhead cams, 16 valves, 5 sp manual, turbo-nose, and what a sight she is! This was the final year Porsche made the 944. I loved it the first year (1982) it came out. I loved the turbo model because the nose was smoother than the regular. So when they put the turbo nose on the regular with a better engine, I was really hooked. Maybe because it was a little more affordable than the 928 or the 911. Actually I just fell in love with how it looks. Maybe not everyone would like its lines, but I did. It was more muscular looking than the 924 which it replaced. Now of course they are slowly becoming classic or antiques. Every now and then I cruise eBay just to see how much they cost. But if I had the money ($10,000 plus in good condition), this would be mine. It would be either dark green or black with a tan or cream colored interior. Ah, dreams.

Post fad

No the title is not about "posting" on blogs as a fad. I just notice that "post" anything today seems to be a fad. Let me share with you what I mean.

1. Post modernism (this philosophy actually began in the architectural field contrasting newer styles with traditional styles. Of course it has morphed into those who distrust "modernism" which came from the Enlightenment era. Modernism is the belief that there are truths and universal facts to our universe. Post modernism rejects universal or absolutes. Francis Schaeffer's book Escape From Reason mentioned one author involved in what became the post modern philosophy long before anyone really recognized post modernism.)
2. Post liberalism (George Lindbeck's book The Nature of Doctrine attempted to explain this new movement. Hans Frei's books also are about the post liberal approach to Christianity. Actually post liberalism has quite a bit that our fellowship would like. Lindbeck's book however is a difficult read. One reviewer called it "tortured prose.")
3. Post conservative (don't really know much about these folks but have read a couple of articles so I know that they exist.)
4. Post restorationist (just saw this the other day. Don't know much about them either but their title provided the inspiration for this "post" of mine.)

Are there any other "posts" out there that I'm missing. I'm sure there are. Actually considering the mind set of our society today "post" could be applied to almost any philosophy or field. We appear to enjoy changing the traditional, so "post" seems an apt prefix.

Tag, you're it! Or maybe not

Matt Dabbs has tagged me. So now I'm supposed to tell you six weird things about myself. Actually I've already done this, click here. I was tagged by Lisa, my oldest. For those of you who didn't get to that post I reiterate my weirdness but I think I'll change #4 & #6.

1. The buttons on my shirt, my belt buckle, and the button or snap on my pants must all line up. I don't have OCD but this is just an occasion of weirdness.
2. I want to wear long hair. I had it long in college and would do anything to grow it long again.
3. I get up early every day (5:00 AM, seven days a week). I seldom sleep in unless I'm sick. I can't go to sleep at night if I sleep in. You know that OCD thing is starting to look real.
4. I still love peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, especially on hearty, whole grain bread.
5. I hate to sweat in nice clothes. I really hate it when my DW (the lovely and gracious Pat) wants me to do something Sunday afternoon that might require me to sweat. I feel I have to shower again after sweating. I would rather take a nap.
6. I have this really quiet side to me. I love to be around people. I love to be in meetings where we work together as a team in producing something (like curriculum or a DVD about our congregation). I sometimes start conversations with strangers at the store (depends on whether or not they are buying something weird that I can comment on - you know it takes one to know one). I sometimes go up to strangers to find out information. We saw a Harding sticker on a van at Sonics with no one in it. So I started to quiz all the folks sitting down at tables until I found the owners of the van. But occasionally I just want to go unnoticed or be by myself. Sometimes I don't want to talk to anyone. Weird perhaps, but my weirdness.

Since I tagged others earlier I won't be passing this tag on unless I come across someone more weird than myself. If I think of anything else that's weird about me I will save it for the next time this tag comes around.

Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day to the love of my life. You have traveled with me from Texas to California to New Jersey to Florida. I'm glad that God brought us together for this journey. May our love for each continue to grow throughout our journey in this life.

more on church buildings

A few years back I think some congregations got tired of spending such a big chunk of Sunday's contribution on their facilities when the building was used only three times a week. They wanted their facilities to be more practical and usable. After all, the church building is not holy or sacred. That's when auditoriums became gymnasiums and they started adding family life centers. The purpose was to get the most out of their buildings. They also thought they could attract more people to the building for evangelism. Think about having a basketball game after Sunday evenings services where the community is invited. I think they had a good idea I'm just not sure the implementation was right. Instead of revamping their use of the building maybe they needed to revamp their understanding of the building altogether.

William Willimon once quipped (I've forgotten where) that the church needs to be the church. It isn't an entertainment company, it isn't in the business of doing things that the world can provide. It is here to be the church. Mainline denominational churches in the 60s tried to be more socially relevant. Certainly some of the issues they dealt with are important to us as Americans and as individual Christians, but they became so focused on those issues that they lost their relevance as people serving Jesus here on the earth. Their evangelism suffered as a result. Willimon's book, Good New For Exiles, deals with some of the results of this focus (maybe that's where I read the quote I mentioned earlier). Some of the "conservative" evangelical churches today are trying the same tactic but with global warming and poverty. My guess is that these issues will dominate their agenda and they will become less relevant as a spiritual community.

We need to ask whether or not church buildings, social issues, or anything else takes us away from being the community of God. If we focus too much on this world and its issues then we become less than we should be. Perhaps the environment of a church building feeds our need to be relevant whether through social issues or through events designed to attract the community. If we are not willing to give up our buildings, perhaps we need some different thinking about its use. I don't like making it an exercise center or a place where we discuss social issues (although sometimes social issues do need to be discussed in reference to how we are affected as the church). We are the people of God and we gather to take the Lord's Supper, preach, worship, and tell the story of how God sent His Son to this earth to save us from the coming judgment. All that we do should be focused on that. All else is a distraction from our spiritual purpose.

church buildings

When I was in Sunset (around 1975) a church in our fellowship was hailed as the first one to give one million dollars in a single contribution. That took a lot of sacrifice on the part of many in the congregation but it was for their building. It wasn't for evangelism (although I'm sure that they thought evangelism would be done as a result of their new building), it wasn't to feed or help the poor, it wasn't for overseas mission work, it wasn't for a children's home, it wasn't for a ministry, it was for a building.

Our preacher's group in North Jersey read an article from back in 1920s about a church in Nashville that built a new church building for $100,000.00 (back then apparently that was a lot of money - still is but in a different way). They hired a preacher that would help them raise the money. They were severely criticized because of their extravagance. A lot of the criticisms is that the money could have been spent on evangelism or benevolence.

A Christian friend told me of a big congregation that was building a new building. They were arguing about whether or not to put marble in a certain part. An elder stated during that discussion that nothing but the best should go in the church building. Nothing but the best for the church.

A friend of mine left the mainstream churches of Christ years ago and joined with the non-institutional group. I happened upon his email not too long ago and we corresponded for a while. Since he was in a group even more concerned about doing things the first century way, I asked him about justifying using church treasury money for the building. His answer was the usual - since we are commanded to meet together it can be inferred that we must have a place. I thought about that response over the years and think I've come up with a response. I would ask, "Were they commanded to give in the first century?" Then I would ask, "Were they commanded to assemble in the first century?" Then I would conclude, "They had the command to give and to meet together (which they did), yet they never purchased a building. Seems to me that if we are to exactly like them we would do well to follow their lead and not purchase a building." But I'm probably preaching to the choir here.

An interesting theory in a book not related to church buildings is found in Shane Hipps's book on the electronic culture (it's listed on my reading list) is that form communicates a message. The church building communicates a message by itself regardless of the message we may be preaching inside. The church building becomes the church. We go to church. Buildings suggest permanence. Buildings suggest belonging. "This world is not my home" is kind of hard to sing in a building that suggests we are permanent and belong to this world.

Matt Dabbs has a good post about this issue (click here). I don't know the final conclusion to this subject. Maybe we need to educate a new generation and hope that they will continue the discussion. Well, that's my blather on the subject of church buildings.

The Joy of Service

The first picture just above this text is the disaster relief truck at the church building in Leesburg. It was supposed to arrive Monday evening but didn't arrive until around 11:00 AM on Tuesday. The picture just above that is the gang (composed of volunteers from four or five congregations) working. The picture above that is another truck at the Orange Ave. church in Eustis. The truck arrived around 11:00 AM on Wednesday morning. Another truck arrived Thursday afternoon (today at 2:00 PM). Then there's a picture with me working and the last one is the gang (members from the Eustis congregation, Sojourners, and senior class students from the Christian Home and Bible School) working, actually taking a break during their work. While we were waiting for the truck to arrive at the Leesburg church, several of us went to help a member of the Leesburg church in the devastated area. Most of the devastated areas have police or National Guard keeping people out. We got in because we were with a disaster relief group (they had signs on their vehicles) but we couldn't the house. The street where we thought the house was located was blocked off by workers. So we went to the house in front of us and carried their debris to the road so that it could be run through the chipper or picked up. It was great to help people in need. It was also good to work with so many good people wanting to help. I only wish I could have spent more time working. As it is I'm behind in my sermon study and other things I need to get done. But this was urgent and important work.

Super Bowl Caps

For those of you naysayers about the article from Kent Anderson's blog on what they do with the losers' Super Bowl Caps, here is further proof from the New York Times. So you disbelievers can now become believers. It seems that many teams are known the world over as the Super Bowl champs.

Cessation of miraculous gifts

For those interested in a rather long arduous study of whether or not the miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit have ceased, Pulpit Magazine has an ongoing study by Nate Busenitz (click here). The series of articles are under the title "The When Question." Nate is contrasting the views of "continuationists" and "cessationists." Continuationists believe that there are still prophets today who receive some direct revelation from the Holy Spirit. Cessationists believe that revelation by the Holy Spirit (as well as other miraculous gifts) ceased some time after the apostolic age. I find the study quite illuminating because many of the arguments our brethren have used are used by some in the evangelical community. Anyway, just thought I would share this with anyone who cares to do some more reading on the subject.

The Swift Rule Super Bowl XLI

For all you Bears' fans, this article by Kent Anderson may give you some consolation. You can read his blog by clicking here. It is a blog about preaching but he had this little ditty about the Bears.

Where the Losers Won

Did you ever wonder what happens to all the hats that were prepared for the losing team at the Super Bowl or other such championships? Within minutes of the end of Sunday’s game, Tony Dungy, Peyton Manning, and the rest of the Colts were wearing hats declaring them to be the champions. But what about the hats that were prepared in the event that the Bears won the game?

Apparently those hats were kept under tight security until the end of the game when they were immediately shipped away before any of them could be sold on ebay. The hats were sent to an African village that has never heard of American Football. There, apparently, the Bears will forever be known as the champions of Super Bowl XVI (sic).

Small consolation for Rex Grossman, I’m sure.

The Lord and the Storm

Disaster hit close to the Bliss home here in Central Florida. At least one tornado (and possibly 4 others) touched down and did a considerable amount of damage. At least 20 people are dead, thousands of homes and businesses damaged or destroyed, one church destroyed (the Church of God in the Villages), and who knows how many cars and trucks by the F3 tornado. The Church of God church building was built to withstand winds of 150 mph. Apparently this tornado exceeded this building's ability to handle high winds.

This coming Tuesday members from the area churches of Christ will meet at the Leesburg Church of Christ to unload a truck that will arrive from the Disaster Relief Effort (click here) in Nashville, TN. This organization provides a variety of items for such a time as this. I'm looking forward to helping out and seeing this organization (and our local congregations) in action.

Our family from California and several from the Tabernacle congregation (and some from the Randolph congregation) called or emailed to see if we were okay. This destructive force hit only a few miles from our home. We slept through most of it. The storm woke us up about 4:30 AM but had been raging since before 3:00 AM. At the time we didn't know a tornado had touched down. I think we will be getting one of those weather alert radios for future use.

All of this brings up a question in my mind. We in modern times tend to downplay God's role in the destructive side of events like this but praise him for his protective role. In other words we are glad that God protected us from the storm but we hesitate to claim that he may have caused the storm. Why is that? We know that he can and does cause disasters to happen. In the Old Testament many of the disasters were used to discipline Israel. The faithful in Israel saw God in all that happened even the storms (Psalm 29). Even though we can't today claim to know what God is doing in the storm (because we have no prophet to tell us) we can still know that he is in charge even of the storm and its destructive force. James tells us to rejoice when trials occurs (Jas.1:2). The problem to me is that we haven't defined very well what is good and what is bad. We think that damage and destruction from a storm is bad but if the storm misses us that is good. Maybe we need to rethink our definition of bad and good, at least in regards to disasters.

We are quick to downplay any active role on God's part in a disaster but quick to play up his active role in protection. Is it because when bad things happen we believe God is in a punishing mode and we don't want to believe that he could be punishing us (or those around us)? As Job asked his wife, "Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity?" (Job 2:9 NASU) What shall we think about disasters and God's role in them? Maybe we haven't seen the good that can come from disasters.

Bowling for fun

It seems like this congregation is testing my athletic ability (what little remains at least). We went bowling as Loni pointed out on her blog. My first game was a 126 which isn't too bad considering I haven't bowled in 20 plus years. My second game went much better. I found my groove about the third frame and got 3 strikes in a row. The score board above the lane flashed my name and a turkey. I wonder where they got the idea to call three strikes in a row a turkey? I did a Google search and found out that around the turn of the 20th century during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays bowling establishments would offer a turkey to anyone who got three strikes in row. The name stuck. Anyway, I finished with a 160. It was the second highest of the night. One of the guys who used to bowl in league and probably averaged 200 plus bowled a 168. The last game they turned out the lights with blue lights on the pins. It's called Cosmic Bowling. I couldn't line up on my spot and my bowling went south. I was doing really lousy (my forearm was getting tired by now as well) and then they turned off our lane. We were bowling by the hour not the game. We had a lot of fun being with our brothers and sisters from the congregation. It was great to be with adults (no kids allowed!). I think I'll do some weight lifting for about 6 weeks before we go again.

His & Her Spatulas

This post is inspired by Lisa's His & Her Ice Cream Scoops. The spatula on the bottom is a woman's spatula. It is quite useful It flips burger, pancakes, French toast, and all kinds of things. The one on the top is a man's spatula. It has a cover because it has sharp edges (I know because I've cut myself trying to pry apart frozen burgers). It came with directions (directions actually appear to the male spirit because we want to prove that we're not as dumb as those who need directions, so anything with directions is considered a challenge to us), which I've lost. It has a bottle opener, which is good for those bottles of Coke that are sitting in the cooler in lots of ice (yes I know that other men use it for other kinds of bottles). It can do a variety of functions - meat tenderizer, slicing into meat to see if it's cooked properly. Oh yes, it flips burgers as well. So it's a man's spatula because it's dangerous, provides a challenge, and just looks like it takes a man to operate (at least that's what we men think). :-)

Off Kilter

While Pat and I were at Epcot we just happened upon a band playing in the World Showcase area. They were specifically in the Canada area. One of the guys had an electric bag pipe and they all wore kilts. Their name - Off Kilter. They were great! Click here for their site. The guy with the bag pipe did Amazing Grace to close out their session. Fortunately for me they had CDs on sale at a kiosk next door. Unfortunately for me the CDs cost $20.00. I just ordered four CDs from BMG and paid $35 (with shipping). I think I will add them to my Christmas list and let someone else spend the money. But these guys were a hoot.

Paul & Sandie - This one's for you

Thanks for calling Pat on her birthday. Paul told Pat that he goes into work early to read family blogs. So I thought I would say hi. For those reading who may not know Paul and Sandie, they are our daughter's in-laws (Lisa's in-laws). Since being asked to leave Tabernacle they were extremely supportive of us. They started sitting with us up front during services. They called or wrote or dropped by every now and then. During hard times you discover the true nature of those around you. Paul and Sandie are spiritual family and proved to be very good friends. We love you two and appreciate very much your love for us. We are proud that Lisa married into your family. We know that our good relations will continue, we just hope we get to see you a little more in the future. You both know that you are always welcome in our house and we hope that Disney is on your list of places to visit. We are only about 40 minutes away. We can be great tour guides since we know our way around (at least a little bit). Thanks again

Basketball

Last night I played basketball for the first time in at least 20 years. I was sure I would be huffing and puffing during the first game but I didn't. Anyway, in an effort to get the men together and to invite their friends we are playing basketball twice a month after Sunday evening services. Now we can afford to do this because our PM services start at 5:00 PM (yes you read that right!).

10 of us got together last night and played for almost 2 hours. We each shot a free throw and the first five to make a free throw was team one and the others were team two. After each game we shot free throws again so the teams were different each time. We played to 21 (had to win by at least 2). Each basket was 2 points unless shot outside the 3 point line. I was surprise at how well I did considering I'm 53.

The youngest guy was about 25. The oldest was about 62. Three of us were over 50, I think everyone else was under 40. What a blast I had! I'm looking forward to the next game night. It would be nice if our group grew and we got a lot more outsiders to come and play. All for the glory of our God.