For the sake of the Gospel (or “How I got a rope burn at church yesterday”)

The picture doesn’t do it justice… I’ve got some major league blistering and pain going on with my left hand.

I was doing a visual illustration of Psalm 127:1, “Unless the Lord builds a house, they labor in vain who build it…” talking about how we can spend a lot of effort and not get anywhere if God is not at work in what we’re doing.  I had enlisted the help of a fleet-footed 17-year-old boy; I tied a rope around his waist and he was supposed to run in place while I held the rope and made my point.

Without incriminating or embarrassing anyone, let’s just say this young man needs to work on his understanding of the phrase “run in place.”  He took off like he was shot out of a cannon, and the rope whizzed through my left hand.  The pain was so intense and immediate that I fully expected my hand to be in flames when I looked down at it.

The crowd, thinking this was all part of “the act” laughed uproariously, and I had to soldier on as if nothing had happened.  After the service, I showed some people what had actually happened – and boy, did they feel bad!  At least I hope they did… (And thank you to Candi – she brought me some great medicine, just like a good nurse should do for her pastor.)

Oh, did I mention that this took place during a children’s sermon? 

Hey, anything for the kids…

Sunday Replay 1.27.08

A much warmer day, sunshine, and smiling faces were everywhere!  It was Family Sunday at Jubilee…

The worship combo gave us an unexpected bluegrass-tinged rendition of “Power in the Blood” to get us started.  It was awesome!  You guys are doing great – every week I get comments from people about how much they are enjoying worship.  I appreciate your desire to honor God above all else.  Thank you for leading us into His presence…

We’re in week 4 of our “Life on Loan” church-wide experience.  Good reports continue to come in from the small groups, and many of you are saying you’re getting a lot from the messages.

Sunday’s message, “You Can’t Just Sit There,” took us through those pivotal verses in Ephesians 2:8-10.  We discovered that we are completely, totally saved by grace through faith.  God has forgiven us, redeemed us, cleansed us, and made us His children.  We are not saved by works, but we are saved forworks.  That means we are changing our perspective: We no longer live just for ourselves, but we are constantly looking for ways to connect our story with someone else’s story in ministry and service.  I closed with the story of Larry Walters, who attached 45 weather balloons to a lawn chair and floated around Los Angeles at 16,000 feet for about an hour back in 1982.  When a reporter asked him why he had done it, Walters’ reply was a classic: “Well, you can’t just sit there, can you?”  Living a “life on loan” means we can’t just sit there.  We’ve got to get involved in the lives of others to win souls for the Kingdom.

We ended our time together in the celebration of the Lord’s Supper, mindful of the enormous significance of a tiny portion of bread and a little cup.  Our salvation, victory over death, and our eternal existence is all represented in a couple of small things.  Incredible!

Have a blessed week!

Sad news, inspiring testimony…

Rick Burgess is one half of the popular morning radio team “Rick & Bubba”.  They are based in Birmingham, Alabama and syndicated to about 50 radio stations – mainly in the southeast, but also as far away as Wisconsin, Maine and Missouri.  Rick and his partner, Bill “Bubba” Bussey are dedicated followers of Christ, and often speak about their faith on the show.

On Saturday, January 19, 2008, the youngest of Rick’s children – 2 year old Bronner, was drowned in the family’s swimming pool in a tragic accident.  Rick was speaking at a Christian youth conference in Pigeon Forge when he got the news and flew home to be with his family.

Times of tragedy often reveal what we are truly made of.  Rick Burgess’ faith and devotion to God throughout this terrible time are sobering, challenging and inspirational.

I submit for your viewing a 3 part video of the message Rick gave at Bronner’s memorial service on Tuesday, January 22nd.  I believe that whether you knew of Rick Burgess or not, or what you thought of him if you did, you will be blessed.

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=26816138

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=26816654

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=26817072

Here also is a portion of a blog comment by sportswriter and talk radio host Jim Dunaway, on his thoughts after attending Bronner Burgess’ memorial service:

Sunday Replay 1.20.08

I think I speak for everyone when I say “brrrrrrr…”  It was -2 when I left the house to go to the church at 8:00 Sunday morning.  The thermostat beside the stage showed 55 degrees!  That would have been fine with me, but sure some of you might have been a little uncomfortable, so I cranked up the furnace.  It was warm and cozy by the time worship started.

The worship combo gets better every Sunday!  Calvin added a lot with his bass.  I’ve heard a lot of positive comments about the direction we’re going in worship.

In week three of “Life on Loan,” we continued to talk about “seeing” like Jesus sees.   We looked at the story of the Good Samaritan.  You remember that the story begins with a traveler being robbed and beaten by a band of thieves.  Two “religious” men – a priest and a Levite - walked around the man without helping him.  It fell to a lowly, hated Samaritan to help and care for the injured man.  We took note of how the various characters in the story “saw” the man…  The thieves saw the man as a potential victim – someone they could exploit for their personal gain.  The priest and the Levite saw the man as a problem to be avoided – someone who would interrupt their religious plans.  But the Samaritan saw the man as a person with needs he could meet.  God is not calling us to use people for self-centered gain, or to refuse help to the needy in the name of our religion.  He is calling us to “see” the needs of the people around us and meet those needs using our time, talents, and treasure.

Don’t forget to be in prayer about nominations for deacons/deaconess.  We will receive nominations on February 3rd. 

This cold weather has got me in the mood for a chili supper!  Maybe with some tables set up for board and card games, or some dominoes…  What do you think?

God bless you all, I love you!

This week’s micro-drama

In a home with eight permanent human residents, plus two cats and between two and six friends, neighbors, and tag-alongs at any given time, there is going to be some drama…

It began with a phone call Tuesday morning when the bank statement came in the mail.  Vicki called me at the office and in her sweetest voice said, “I need to ask you a question… Why is there a charge for $59.95 on our debit card from dating.com?”  Of course, I went into panic mode!  I knew I hadn’t done business on any such web site.  So now everyone becomes a suspect: had one of the boys done it?  One of their friends?  Did the garbage man rummage through our trashbags?

There was at 800 number from the website on the bank statement.  I called the number and spoke with a very nice lady who told me that my debit card had been used to set up an account and the e-mail of the person who had registered the account was Dominica_ qutez147@yahoo.com .  No ma’am, that’s not me and no one I know or have ever known has ever used that address.  The customer service rep cheerfully agreed to refer the matter to their fraud department and assured me that I would be credited back my money in seven to ten days. 

I spent the rest of the morning at my bank:  The bank teller and I went over my statements looking for any other transactions that seemed strange or unusual.  There was just the usual: Wal-Mart… McDonald’s… Wal-Mart… Wal-Mart… Amazon… Wal-Mart… Christianbook.com… Wal-Mart… McDonald’s… Wal-Mart… well you get the idea, nothing else showed up.  The bank “hot-carded” my debit card so it couldn’t be used again, then cancelled it and got me set up for a new one.  They told us we were “lucky,” not the norm:  apparently only one entry was made into our bank account; others have not been as fortunate.

I’ve wondered how this could happen, but I suppose there are numerous places a person could have gotten my debit card number… We’re active online shoppers in a number of venues.  A server in a restaurant could’ve made in extra imprint.  The folks at the bank said the person who stole my number might not even be the one who used it; they might have sold it to someone else.  So I ended the day feeling relieved that no more had been taken and that the situation was going to be set right, but still creeped out by the whole experience. 

Not to put too fine a spiritual point on it, but sin can creep up on us in much the same way that fraudulent charge creeped up on me.  Somewhere there was an opening, an opportunity that some unscrupulous person took advantage of.  Satan will do the same to us if we’re not careful.  We may not realize it when we let our guard down, but the evidence will show up a day or a week or a year later, and we’re left to deal with the consequences.   The devil is a deceiver and a devourer.  We have to be careful.

Sunday Replay 1.13.08

When I was a kid, my home church used to sing a hymn that contained the line, “There is sunshine in my soul today!”  We definitely needed to draw on that “soul-sunshine” on a day that was dreary and wet outside.  In the house, however, it was nice and warm… 

The new worship combo led again, and did another great job.  Folks are appreciating what you guys are doing, so keep it up!  I hear that you’ll be adding a bass player this week.  I can’t wait for Sunday!

We began the second week of our “Life on Loan” church-wide experience.   I heard good reports from other small groups, and my group had a blast.  We “broke the ice” by asking, “Which actor or actress would play you in a movie based on your life?”  I still haven’t figured out why everyone burst out laughing when I said, “Tom Cruise or Brad Pitt…” would play me.  Now that I think about it, my feelings are a little bit hurt…

The message was, “Do You See What I See?”  based on the encounter Jesus had with Simon the Pharisee and the sinful woman who anointed His feet.  Jesus asked Simon, “Do you see this woman?”  He was really asking, “Can you see past her ’stuff’?” – her issues and problems and the things you think disqualify her from the Kingdom.  We asked God to do some spiritual “lasik surgery” on us to help us see past people’s stuff, and see their needs, and to see how we could meet those needs.

Don’t forget that this Sunday is Breakfast at 9 – featuring breakfast casserole (and yes, I’m bringing the spicy, jalapeno filled kind.)  The coffee is always hot, the food is good… the only other thing needed is YOU, making connections with your brothers and sisters in Christ.  See you there?

Sunday Replay 1-6-2008

 

Our first fantastic Sunday of 2008!

A new “praise combo” led worship for the first time.  Thanks Candi, Josh, and Ben, you did a great job!  Thanks for including a couple of tunes for an “old-schooler” like me and for teaching us a new one.  We’re looking forward to hearing more.

We also kicked off our “Life On Loan” church-wide experience – a six week journey into letting God’s story intersect our story so that we can make an eternal difference in someone else’s story.  Every level of our fellowship is involved – Bible Buddies and Kid’s Church, Friction Youth, and our small groups.  I heard a good report from last night’s small group – a good crowd and good discussion.

We continue to pray for Kathy and Tom as Kathy is treated for cancer at the Mayo Clinic.  This morning we heard that they will be coming home at the end of January for about a month, then back to Mayo for the surgery at the end of February.  Please continue to pray for healing, for Kathy’s strength and peace of mind, and for Tom’s first steps as a new follower of Christ.

The message Sunday was “Who Are You… Really?” the first message in our Life On Loan series.  We talked about some ways we identify ourselves to others that don’t accurately describe who we really are.  We talked about the fact that we are writing a story with our lives, and if we allow Him to, God will use our story to help write His Story.  We talked about our lives as trash cans that get filled up with junk that holds us down and gets us off track, and about how we have to let God take the trash out so that He can use us for His purposes. 

It was a blessing and a privilege to minister to the dozen or so who came forward to say they wanted to get the trash out of their lives!  I’m excited to see what God is going to be during in all our lives during “Life On Loan.”

  Just one more thing: I was a little concerned about how much some of you seemed to enjoy me toting that trash can around…  I prayed for you today