The Whole Town

I challenged all the "recruits" in attendance on Sunday to spend the next 40 days (until Good Friday) reading 1 chapter a day from their "field manual" (the Bible). Well I started in Mark and am noticing something that I'd like to see happen here - crowds are gathering to have an encounter with Jesus.

There's one verse that I held on to before we ever launched and that was Mark 1:33 which says, "The whole town gathered at the door." I want to see that here in Greenville - the whole town gathering at the doors of churches because they want to encounter Jesus. Then in Mark 2:2 says, "So many gathered that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them." Again, the place is packed (even outside) and the word is preached. Today I was reading chapter 3 and in verse 20 I read, "Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered, so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat." The whole plan Jesus and the disciples had was scrapped because so many people showed up.

Isn't that great? Don't try and tell me people don't want to know more about who Jesus is and the difference he can make in their lives and others. It's not true. There's a new book out by Dan Kimball called They Like Jesus, But Not The Church that I admit I haven't read, but think I would agree with on a lot of points. If what happened in Mark happened wherever Jesus went and whenever he showed up, is it a fair conclusion that it's not happening in a lot of places today because we're more interested in "church" than in "Jesus"? I've been guilty of thinking that way, particularly when I think of the fact that this is my "job" and if people don't come to church, tithe to the church, serve in the church, then I won't get paid by the church when my mission support runs out. But when I make it about the church, that puts Jesus in second place and may even keep him out of the very place we tell people they can find him. A scary and convicting thought. Time to make sure Jesus is allowed to work and get ready for the "whole town to gather at the door."

I'm The Punch Line

I was just thinking back to the weekend and was reminded that I was the butt of one joke that was pulled off and one that was missing a critical part. I'm a big practical joker, don't get me wrong - once "borrowed" a guy's car and painted it pink - but I was set up this weekend.

First off, during last week's message I was talking about how the media influences us to spend money we don't have. I made a passing reference to how catchy the commercial was for "My Little Pony" and how even I was almost convinced that I needed one. Apparently my attempt at humor was taken completely literally as this week, someone threw up this picture.

Next, since I was getting my (to start our Back 2 Basics series) another person thought it would be hilarious to flash up a picture of head shaveda celebrity's newly shaved head. "Lucky" for me he forgot to actually bring the picture. Figured I'd just fill you in on the way people 'take advantage of me.' Besides, I think I'm way better looking than Britney!

There, I'm glad that's off my chest. Now I can go back to loving the people who do this to me.

Sunday's Buzz

Kicked off a new series called Back 2 Basics on Sunday. We're going through the basic stuff like how we got the Bible, who God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are, about Heaven and Hell and what salvation is. Since we're treating it like basic training, I figured we'd start out like every guy at basic starts out....with a buzz haircut. We were supposed to have a former military barber come, but he was a no show so the backup plan was Claude. When he was in Florida last week he got a flat top and Sunday he dressed in some BDU's so he was the barber. Gave me my cut and then did Tanner too. Also had a couple of other guys from the crowd volunteer to come up and get clipped in the background while I was speaking. Gotta say it was fun and the rest of the series should be great.

I've been wearing a "toboggan" (knit cap) around though. When I shaved my head back in Florida I never woke up to 35 degrees. That'll make your head cold.

Teacher "Learned Lesson"?

Caught an article in the news about a teacher in Kentucky who mistakenly sent text messages to a state trooper trying to arrange to buy marijuana. (full story) It turned out to be a 34 year old middle school teacher named Ann Greenfield. The trooper thought it was a joke but once he confirmed it wasn't he set her up and when she arrived at the designated meeting place, she got more than she bargained for and ended up arrested.

The part of this story that upsets me most though is the comment the trooper made. It's bad enough that a middle school teacher is buying pot, but what's worse is having one of the men 'sworn to protect us' make a comment like this. After her arrest the trooper said, "She learned her lesson. Program your dealers into your phone." What?! Are you kidding me? So the lesson is to be a better law-breaker or at least don't get caught? Wow, thanks for setting a high standard there trooper Meadows. I'll be sure to program all my illegal activity contacts into my phone since that's the most important lesson. Never mind the idea of not buying drugs - that lesson apparently isn't one our teachers (or kids) need to learn.

We're Rich

Looking through the mail tonight and noticed Lora just got lucky. It seems that Capital One wants to offer her at least $5000 in credit. Not bad, but not unlike the dozen other offers that have come through this year so far. So when I opened some junk mail from Chase I was caught off-guard. Why? Because the available funds being advertised and offered to Lora were......are you ready..... $224,000 of credit! We're rich.

Why do all these credit card companies send out the huge volume of junk mail that clogs up our mailbox (or shredder in our case)? Because there are people out there who are going to take the "deal." How sad. Now if some company wants to just drop $224,000 in my account with no expectation or requirement to return even a portion of it, I'm up for that. Until then, I'm rich in plenty of other ways - family, health, friends, employment, ideas, etc.

When Things Don't Work Out

I hate unmet expectations. I get so easily upset and frustrated when things don't go the way I thought they should or I planned they would. For instance, we're starting a new series this week called Back 2 Basics which I'm really excited about. It's got a basic training/camo/military kind of theme to it and we decided to design some programs (bulletins) to go with it. Well they sent out, but the arrival date says they shouldn't arrive until Monday! Doesn't do me a lot of good this week. And we ordered 'em two weeks back. Now, I've prayed they'd show up today and there's still time for God to answer that prayer in the affirmative, and I could deal with that change in expectation much better.

Another unmet expectation is that this week while Lora was gone, I wanted to suprise her with a "secret project" a la Ty Pennington. I just don't think I'm going to get it done. I'm working extra on church stuff so I can have all day tomorrow to try and work my magic, but we'll see. Teaching kids, making meals, doing laundry and other domestic stuff while working from home on sermon prep and church planting doesn't leave a lot of time for projects as big as what I tried to take on. Maybe I'll get part of it done though since she doesn't arrive until after 6PM

Makes me wonder if God ever has unmet expectations. I mean, he knows everything, so doesn't he just expect what happens to happen? I guess on one hand he expects us to be obedient and live a righteous life that glorifies him, but on the other hand, he knows we sin so doesn't he expect us to miss the mark? If I think about it too long my brain hurts. God's just so much bigger and better than my itty bitty understanding can comprehend.

Away From Home

Haven't posted for a few days and am finding that it's a little harder to do that when I don't have my wife around to help with kids, laundry, cooking and all the rest of the stuff so many single parents deal with everyday (talk about perspective). Anyhow, talked with Lora and was told that my 7 month old has green snot, 102 fever and is tugging at her ear, my 3 year old is coughing, Lora's sister has a sore throat and thinks she might have strep and her two kids are coughing and snotting still. Lora's the only healthy one and it's quite obvious she's not in the best environment.

As I thought about that, I thought about friends and eternity. All things considered, we're not "home" yet. We get however many years here on earth to make a difference and hopefully to be made different by Christ. We're out of town let's say. And depending on our choices we sometimes end up surrounded by unhealthy and sick people where if we spend too much time there, we'll end up sick too. Other times, we're in a safe and healthy environment and the rest of the time, we're in some sort of combination.

If we've got friends or family that are sick and far from home, we can't just leave 'em behind. So what do we do? 1) Stay healthy for starters - stay connected to Christ. Spend time reading the Bible and talking with God. Know what he's called you to do. 2) Help others get healthy - offer hope, direction and the encouragement of knowing that there's a better place, but right now we're just away from home.

If you think about it, it makes sense. My home is still being built and until I move in, I need to stay healthy and help others get healthy. Sounds alot like loving God and loving others. Sounds alot like following Jesus.