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Most of us live like we have no other choice other than to do our dutiful best to attempt to cover up the emptiness of existence that many of us deal with each and every day! We strive tirelessly towards the illusion of thinking that we can actually arrive to a point where complete satisfaction is genuinely obtained. We are tempted to try to buy into the charade that happiness here can last and linger but we all know that this side of heaven-even the best of times come to a close and we awaken to find ourselves a pumpkin all over again! I think a limited party is all that this earth at its best can offer us and while it may have its upbeat moments- its fleeting nature leaves us yearning for so much more. That desire was actually designed and placed inside our souls by the God who made us but rather than try to fill that vacuum with pseudo substitute adventures and possessions- only a lasting relationship with our Lord will ever really fill the bill and do the trick! We can’t fix a vertical problem with a horizontal solution!

Left up to our own ingenuity, we compile a tower of coping mechanisms that we look to medicate the pain left by unsuccessful attempts to slay our dragons of despair. I have even experienced a scary inner desperateness although also a helplessness to make the hurt go away and leave me safe and sound in a home where horrors are no longer welcome! Nothing really got better until I gave up trying to hide the chaos and decided to invite God right into my personal nightmare! And with the entrance of God’s presence- I finally felt hope return for the first time in what seemed like ages!

Human beings will do anything they can to escape the pit of futility. They go the route of stockpiling their experiences with lots of noise and distractions in order to numb the loneliness and the crying ache in their inner souls! They settle for shallow acquaintances rather than have the guts to dive deep and allow somebody else the same courtesy to get to the nitty gritty of the heart! We run away from getting serious with the nagging questions by just staying busy! But we are still bombarded with deeper thoughts such as, why am I here?  Does anything I do really matter?  Is there a God? What is he doing?  Why do good guys finish last?  Life is short.  Time flies. The years go faster and faster.  What’s it all for?!

I have discovered the hard way that one can’t be rescued until they admit they need help! I found my higher road when I finally willingly entered my dignity of deep despair and allowed God to speak the truth to the mountain of lies that I had allowed to dominate my terrain! Despair does not have to be our final destination- but I believe we must taste of it if we are ever to recognize what healing and hope is actually made of. Because until the wisdom that comes easily now fails to stir you with hope then; Until available pleasures no longer satisfy or even bring more than a temporary relief to your empty soul; Until whatever wealth you have accumulated, whatever possessions define your life, whatever achievements decorate your resume; Until all of it leaves you with the realization that more will not fill the emptiness in your heart; Until time with friends doesn’t energize you as it once did; Until you have nowhere to turn for the satisfaction of your soul’s desire, not to the Bible, not to prayer, not to music, not to friends, not to church; Until all of this happens, you will never be free enough to know where life really is and where it is not! You will waste countless hours and even days looking in the wrong wells to quench your deepest thirst! You will not hear God’s song of love as clearly and beautifully as angels have learned to sing it. You will not know that every moment of your crazy life is still a perfectly tuned note in the eternal harmony of the masterpiece that God has orchestrated. And God doesn’t want you to stay in the dark about what He is doing with you in the light!

We can all try to settle for the shallow happiness and limited excitement that this earth at its best attempts to offer us- or we can invite God fully into our despair and muck and meet our emptiness head on! You can’t really be rescued until you finally admit that you are drowning! I was almost suffocated by my senseless striving but when I surrendered my futile efforts to His almighty Hands- I finally got a glimpse of the light at the end of the tunnel and it is not an oncoming train- but the beacon beckoning me to the home I have always longed for! And until I get home- you will find me clinging to Jesus! I am not as strong as I used to pretend to be! I know my weakness and I know that God shows up in my inability to prove that He is able!

So Lord, help me to make space, find the silence and dare to dive right into the deep end of your grace! Help me to recognize your voice there and to tune into your station with the courage to stay there. Empty me of my mess so that you can fill me with what will prove to a lasting joy. Let me desire to love others the way you love me in this brief, but beautiful, journey on earth. And when it is time for you to call me home- may you not have to cry out twice! I’ll be there the second that you open that door! I love you Lord!

How many so called “religious” people would have given up on the Lord’s friend Moses after he angrily killed a man to attempt to cover up his mistake of taking the matters of an infinite God into his own finite hands? How many “church going” individuals would have written King David off as a “man after God’s own heart” after he committed willful adultery with Bathsheba and then proceeded to concoct a plan that would lead to the murder of Uriah? How many “holier than thou” comrades would have never even given the Apostle Paul a chance to prove that Jesus had knocked him off his high horse and literally changed his heart and altered his whole life’s purpose and direction on a road to Damascus? I would dare to venture an educated guess that the majority of today’s local congregations would have shunned and voted all of the above incumbents of Heaven’s Hall of Faith as destined failures and outcasts of divine blessings!

If you have never received anything else out of my articles over the years- please grab this! No human being who presently inhabits this planet has any authority or enough knowledge to make a pronounced spiritual judgment or holy indictment of another man or woman’s heart! Only God can judge the heart! And when people start treading in territory that should be limited to the Almighty- nothing positive will be reaped from such a narrow minded garden!

Now please listen when I say that all of us as men and women have the responsibility to confront one another when we exhibit behavior that contradicts what we say we believe! I long for people to exhort and rebuke me when I get out of line! I love others too much to remain quiet when a word of instruction and correction must be shared. But I have no right to label another as a “Christian” or “Non-Christian” based alone on a limited summary. I have no idea what God may be doing deeply beneath the surface of another and neither do you! And when it is all said and done- the only opinion that matters at the end of this race is the one offered by the God who made us! I have a strange inclination that there will be many surprises on the final day! There will be many people dancing at God’s Celebration Banquet that nobody thought was even invited to the party never mind got welcomed in! There will also be many of the goody two shoes that thought by their careful observance to their overt outer legalistic ways alone that they had earned a place at the reception! How many will be shocked to discover that Jesus didn’t even know their name?

I think that you are getting the gist of what I am trying to share by now! Stop labeling the hearts of others! Stop talking and acting like God signed you up as if there was suddenly an opening in the Trinity! A huge pet peeve of mine is when another busybody who masks themselves as a so called brother or sister- assumes to know exactly how you are really feeling and then proceeds to tell you with obnoxious inaccuracy why you are feeling that way! They truly have no clue and their best bet is to just stay quiet! Here’s one to grow on: Instead of trying to fix the other person- why not just learn to love them as they are? The two greatest commandments are to love God and to love one another! Nowhere in Scripture does the Lord appoint others to be his Secret Service when it comes to designating who is in and who is out based only upon the knowledge of earthly things!

Don’t confuse knowing the history about another as knowing his or her real story! Truth always lies below the surface and must be mined as gold! Until you have connected soul to soul and heart to heart- you really don’t know another person! Are you willing to wait enough to wade enough in the deeper waters where the treasure is buried? Before you eliminate the next disciple named Matthew or the beloved Mary Magdalene because of their outer professions- maybe you need to invest the necessary blood, sweat and tears that it takes to know what their inner soul cries out as their true possession! Stop with the gossip! Cease with the labeling! Invest in the relationship! Choose to attempt to plant love where only misunderstanding and just plain ignorance now abide!

It is not the version of the Bible you read. It is not the way you choose to dress. It is not the town you live in or the ethnicity of the family you were born in. It is not the denomination of the local body that you choose to gather with. It is not whether you sing with the tongues of angels or speak intelligently with an immense graphic knowledge of both the Old and New Testaments. It is not if you give all your money to the poor or even end up being martyred for your beliefs. God could have not made it any clearer or get any nearer to the nitty gritty of it all! Without LOVE you are nothing and you have nothing and you know nothing! It all comes down to the love of God! And God saw in Moses and David and Paul and you and me what nobody could or would observe from the outside alone!

So “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” Psalm 139:23-24
I am so grateful that I am not what I see my Lord- but what you see and what you say! So turn my ears towards your voice sweet Jesus and give me the faith to fix my eyes steadfastly upon you. Give my heart the courage and confidence to ignore the noise of what others may shout from the crowd so that I can receive what you choose to graciously shower down upon me as my redeeming Coach! And keep me from making conclusions about those around me when I should be responding to the conviction that you put in me to passionately come alongside of them and love them in the same manner and way that you do! We are not what we seem! We are so much more!

There is no denying that one of the gifts that I have held nearer and dearer to my heart than almost everything else is being a Daddy! My kids Rudy and his wife Lindsey, Leah, Abbie and Joel and my two grandsons Jude and Gideon mean more to me than all the material riches that anyone could ever throw my way! I cherish my children! Being called a Father and now Pop-Pop are two of the names that I have never minded answering to! Having a front row seat to observing and participating in the journey of my offspring is what I hope will be my lasting legacy. I love them and in loving them truly and fully, I have learned life lessons that I would never have discovered in any other way! Surely- these instructions would not have connected if they were only available to me via a book! Life has been a book of all that I stand for and I have prayed to not waste too many days when I know I could have contributed so much more!

Let’s just say it- when you choose to love in such a sacrificial and wholly committed way- you become vulnerable to getting hurt! My sons and daughters are not just action figures that I can control and pose in any way that I deem best. I was admonished by the Lord to train up a child in the way that they should go and not molded by my agenda to chase after the destination that I desire them to be directed towards! They were given the same free will by God that we have all been endowed with. Free will is a tricky deal. It means that you can passionately love another and never receive an ounce of attention in return! You can give your best to only be slapped back. You can offer caring counsel that will not only be ignored but reviled! Your heart can operate like a beating pin cushion with big chunks of it being attacked not by your enemies- but via your own flesh and blood! There is no guarantee that any of the time you have invested will be redeemed in a satisfying result. But as a Daddy- you love on! You give on! You care on! You invest on! You hope on! You have faith that love will lead them home!

One of the most poignant and powerful stories that Jesus ever told was the parable of “The Prodigal Son.” Jesus compares the Father in the narrative to his own Heavenly Papa. The younger son despises the old man and the older son serves his parent faithfully but bitterly believing that he is not loved or appreciated. One leaves home to have his heart rescued. The other boy stays home and allows his heart to become hard. But never in the account are we informed that the Father stops loving his boys! He loves on as he waits for the younger to come home and he stays approachable to the other who is always around but never truly engaged. This is true agape! God’s love is not conditioned upon our behavior or none of us would ever be good enough. God’s love is also not limited to our receiving it or responding to it! The Father loves us no matter whatever! He does so because we are his own! We belong to him even if we might spend most of our days trying to change our name!

My children do bring me much joy- but they also at times pain me in places of the soul that nobody else even knows exist! I celebrate their victories and cry with them through their failures. I am there for them when they invite me into their inner corners and even when they don’t. My love for them is like no other. They are a part of me and nothing could ever change that! I long to be their booming voice of encouragement and the loudest positive utterance flying out of the cheering section devoted to them. I also pray to be a human safety shelter and their safest refuge. I want to tell them the truth bathed in love so that they never settle for being anything less than their absolute best presentation of themselves. I want to forever be a human Daddy that points to their desperate need for their Holy Abba! No matter what may or may not happen and even when I am ignored- my love for my children will be bold and courageous and available in ample supply.

We live in a day when culture has reduced us Dads to being nothing but ignorant buffoons on television sitcoms and absent when we should be present in the lives of young people. Society’s version of the “modern family” is a joke in the worst of way! I believe that now more than ever- children need positive adult male role models. Where are the men who can be trusted and valued and believed in to keep their word? Where are the men who won’t disappear and leave the brunt of the upbringing to the women? Where are the men who will take a stand and dive into the nurturing and the discipline and the mentoring of these boys and girls who God desires to grow up to be impacting sons and daughters of Heaven?

While Father’s Day will never garnish the attention or get the face time that “Mother’s Day” achieves- it shouldn’t matter a bit for we who have been blessed enough to have participated in the making of a baby! Daddies don’t let your babies grow up to be unloved! Don’t leave them or abandon them or chicken out on them in their time of need. Celebrate this special day by not looking for recognition but be alert to recognizing the fact that being a Father is a precious gift! You have children to love and invest your best into. To love another can hurt and wound and rip you to the core- but take notes from another Father who loved his children even when they were running away from him! Make this Father’s Day about loving your family with no strings attached! Who needs another tie when what we all need are ties that bind us to a Rock that will not move- when everything else is washed away? Stay strong! Stay true! Stay near! Happy Father’s Day!

Like it or not, we’ve all been born with a deadly sickness. This disease needs to be dealt with at some point along our journey or we will die not just physically but spiritually. We were all born with what I am calling “Spiritual Pica’s Disease.” Pica is the unnatural desire and craving to eat what is not edible. When my Mother used to be a nurse, she had a patient who battled this predicament called Pica. It is diagnosed when a person longs to eat things that are not considered food! They chase after meals made up of such things like wooden toothpicks, dirt, chalk, coal or even foam rubber. One woman, who was a nonsmoker, would burn cigarettes to get the ashes so she could eat them. And when her husband smoked, she would literally and eagerly follow him around with a cupped hand to catch the ashes as they fell. How would you like to sit down to a nice bowl of ashes? Well you just might if you had Pica’s Disease.

Why do I say that we have Spiritual Pica’s disease? If you open up your Bible to the verses that come from the Prophet Isaiah in chapter 44, you will discover that he is speaking here about the nation of Israel immersed within their idolatry! Rather than giving the praise and affection that only God deserved- they were wasting the best of their intentions and attentions upon their man made idols. God had blessed them with so many wonderful gifts that should have pointed them to the Giver- but they became so fascinated with their presents that they ignored the ultimate Presence of the Almighty One!

But before you think that this practice only occurred in the olden days, let me warn you that it still very much applies to every human being born today! We are all born with wandering souls. Because of sin, we have all inherited those insane desires that actually drive us to prefer the muck of this mess over the majesty of the Mighty God! All of us have turned to our own way! All of us have ignored God! All of us have chosen to do what we want rather than surrender to what he deemed best! God has prepared for us a banquet from heaven and we are settling for the slop of the fast food joints of earth! Isaiah could have been talking right to each and every one of us when he said in Chapter 44 and verse 20, “The man feeds on ashes, his deluded heart misleads him; he cannot save himself, or say, ‘Is not this thing in my right hand a lie?”

Do you want to know why we don’t fight for the feast that God provides that includes the free gift of eternal life? It is because we have all been born with spiritual taste buds that prefer ashes instead of God’s home cooking! I admit that it is insane and inane to feed on ashes, but that’s exactly what we do when we trade the relationship that we could have with Jesus who is the true bread of life for whatever else we choose to find our soul nourishment upon! The very fact that we do not desire God’s ways naturally is pure evidence of our spiritual sickness that will lead to our own demise! What person who is healthy doesn’t want to eat food? What person who is in their right mind wouldn’t choose a hot bowl of spaghetti over a plate of tangled and knotted string?

But the problem is that we are not in our right minds! We are in desperate need of a divine reboot to renew our spirit to get back to rightfully meeting our hunger with a whole new choice of menu. This was the very condition of the disciples in the New Testament Gospel of John in Chapter 6. They suffered Spiritual Pica’s Disease! Jesus was offering them a whole new diet founded in surrendering their kitchens to God’s cooking! Jesus was offering them all a new relationship with the Chef! Jesus invited every individual in that crowd to “Come to me and you will never hunger or thirst again!” But not everybody came! Not everybody was hungry enough to surrender their heart! It says in John 6:66 that, “From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.” This is a sad verse because it also describes too many who are still choosing to walk away today! They will dine on their own dirt before they will depend upon a new driver of their heart and soul. It describes people who have been presented with the way to live forever, by feeding on the benefits of Jesus’ death! They are presented with a feast of grace but they willfully push away from the table and turn back to chew upon the ashes of their own stubborn way.

What about you? Where do you go when your spirit is quenched and your soul is growling? Will you stick it out as a slave to your own pride and settle for rock soup? Or will you come to the Rock of Ages and cry out in humility, “Here I am God. Forgive me of my own ways and feed me until I am healthy and new!” Don’t die from a disease that you can be cured from. Don’t get stuck in the river of your own denial when you can swim in the ocean of God’s amazing grace!

I fear that we have become a generation of “paper towel” believers! We are so busy being the “quicker picker upper” that we don’t always take the necessary time to discern whether what we are allowing into our lives is truly best for us! We at times absorb so much of the culture that we don’t leave enough room in our hearts for the Christ that we claim to follow!
All investments that we make into earthly ventures are still only temporary at best! No man will be president forever. No job will last until the end of time. No family member will be able to outlive the finite amount of time allotted to them. Every season eventually ceases. What is here and now will not necessarily still be around tomorrow! So why don’t we address our days with a little more tender loving care than we presently give them? Why do we waste so much of our time trying to please those who are already committed to misunderstanding us? Why do we pour our absolute cream of the crop efforts into what is only passing away? Why do we use people and love things? Why is our heart towards God more often a last minute exercise than a first move priority with each new dawning?

Now we may not go around worshipping statues and trinkets like primitive tribes of old- but idolatry is still a major problem. We are so fascinated by the creation but don’t linger long enough to develop a real relationship with the Creator! We love our stuff but don’t appreciate the giver of all good things as we should. When someone or something replaces the Lord God in the position of where your main applause goes, where your committed dedication lands, and becomes the main reason that you are living for- that person or thing by definition has become an idol in your life! Who or what gets your “A” game? Who gets the prime attention- the most of your time- the best of your love? God is smart enough to know where He fits or doesn’t fit in your life. What is a crime is when those who claim to be followers of Jesus hardly pay him any mind at all! What part of “Love the Lord with all of your heart, mind, soul and strength” have we forgotten? Are we so consumed with trying to suck up to all that doesn’t count that we have cut out the one who we can’t make life add up without?

Finish this sentence for me. I can’t live without BLANK… Fill in that blank! If we were to be honest, how many of us are trying to already live successfully without God on a regular basis? How many of us are replacing the spot that the Lord should have with people and possessions that couldn’t complete us no matter how hard they tried? Is God like the air you breathe? Is the Lord your daily bread? Or have you assigned that role to a much weaker vessel?
Idolatry seems so primitive and irrelevant. What next Pastor Rudy? Are you going to write an article about rain dancing and witch doctors? And yet did you realize that idolatry is the number one issue in the Bible? Idolatry comes into every book. Did you know that more than fifty of the laws in Genesis through Deuteronomy are aimed at this issue? In all of Judaism, it was one of only four sins to which the death penalty was attached. So what if it’s not about statues in your living room at home? Maybe you aren’t bowing down to a golden cow when nobody else is looking! But what if the idols of here and now are so ordinary that we don’t even recognize them as gods at all? What if we do our “kneeling” and our “bowing” with our runaway thinking, or our finances, or our smart phones, or our media centers and our day timers and daily choices? What if I challenged you to think about the fact that every sin you are presently dealing with from discouragement to depression to lousy choices to addiction to the lack of positive purpose are all because of idolatry?

I told this story last week at The Lighthouse Church. Imagine a man who has been coughing constantly. This cough keeps him up half of the night and interrupts any conversation he has that lasts more than a minute or two. The cough is so unrelenting that he goes to the doctor. The doctor runs his tests and discovers that it is lung cancer. Now imagine the doctor knows how tough the news will be to handle. So he doesn’t tell his patient about the cancer because he doesn’t want to hurt his feelings. So instead, he writes a prescription for some strong cough medicine and tells him that he should be feeling better soon. The man is delighted with this prognosis. And sure enough, he sleeps much better that night. The cough syrup seems to have solved his problem. Meanwhile, very quietly, the cancer is eating away at his body.
As a Pastor- do you want me to lie to you and tell you that every day can be a jolly holiday when you follow God? Or do you want me to challenge you with the truth? Your heart is always up for grabs. The enemy wants to sift your spirit like it was shredded wheat! But God is there to fight for you and alongside of you. But will you be aligned with the right power source or will you keep digging at your own wells to quench your thirst?

Let me close with a prayer. Feel free to join me if you long to become more than just a Paper Towel Believer!
“Here is my heart, Lord Jesus. If you don’t rule there, then nothing else I do will matter much or remain for very long! I get up from the driver’s seat of my life and invite you to take the wheel. One day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess you as King of kings and Lord of lords! I do it willingly today! Be my God. Be my vision. Be my first love. Be my life. I choose to follow you and serve you and give you the control of all of me. Amen and Amen!”

There are too many phony baloneys taking up precious space on planet earth these days and the culprits are us! Hypocrites are not just filling up our churches- they are everywhere you look. You may see one as close as your own reflection in the mirror! I believe mask wearing has become unfortunately an accepted way of life. Every morning that we wake up- we can choose to dress up in the latest popular cultural costume of who we think we want or need to be to be accepted or loved or we can come clean and be the real deal! I can assure you that God already knows who each one of us are under all that cover-up and here is the greatest news- He still loves what He made!

Now I need to clarify something here about removing our false fronts! This is not permission for anybody to try to get away with being a jerk! I am not talking about doing away with our responsibility to be courteous or putting aside the definite need to learn and display your proper manners or giving up practicing healthy social behavior! I think the most stifling attitude that anyone can take is where they cease striving to improve themselves. “That’s just the way I am,” can leave you stuck in a deep hole and lead you to being a very lonely individual and result in a never ending stunted growth holding pattern!

What I am talking about is the hours, days, months and years we human beings waste by investing more time in polishing up a superficial image or fine tuning a fake façade rather than just learning how to be honest about whom we are and what we need to do to grow in the areas of our weaknesses! Rather than tossing years away protecting a pseudo appearance that feels encumbering and so far from fulfilling- as well as keeping all those individuals that surround you daily in the dark about who God originally made you to be in the light- why not lay the whole show down so the real story starring you can finally start? And amazingly the new adventure all begins not with overloading our ego to accentuate only our strengths but with us recognizing and confessing and admitting that we all have glaring shortcomings! I am thankful for the many steps that I have made- but I am still cognitive of the many miles that I still have to go!

Now church life can be a haven for wannabe’s! This is especially sad because church should be a hospital for the soul and not a beauty parlor for the fabricated! If there is ever a place where people should be honest about what we all have been given to work with- it’s a body of parishioners who have genuinely tasted of the amazing grace of God. But rather than shooting for the excellence of what God can do- we settle for the mediocrity of today’s tired script of the same old performances!

Anybody who makes you think that they have it all together or never struggle with sin or don’t deal with doubts is lying! I have come to realize that there isn’t a person alive who has become a finished product! We are all still under construction and as believers we should be celebrating the fact that we are under new management! Now even as a Minister, I can either be real about it all and say God do whatever you have to do to continue to make me the man you want me to be- or I can put on a big show and pretend that I am something that I am really not! I call it hiding behind the pyrotechnics of position or the clergy cloak! Make no mistake I take my calling as a Pastor very seriously- but I also need to always remember that I am nothing more than a sinner saved by grace! And the last I checked there is still lots of sin that needs to be dealt with! This is not something I am even proud of! This is just truth!
Christians don’t need Jesus because they already are perfect! We desperately need Him because we are so far from the real deal! And I must tell you that no man or woman will make that destination on their own! We all need a Savior and God knew that when the Lord gave us Jesus!

So I plug away at my assignments. There are some days I shine like a diamond! There are still too many that I show more soot! But the One who began the good work in me is faithful to complete it! All I need to do is stay out of His way when He longs to pave a holy highway right through my present heart! I put away my idols. I packed away my show tunes! I am singing the song of someone who has been loved not because of what he has done- but in spite of it! Bring on the love of God- because we obviously need lots more of it! No Perfect People Allowed! Come as you are! You don’t have to dress up. You don’t have to be any particular age. And please don’t feel the need to pretend about anything. God meets people who are far from perfect. That means anyone is welcome no matter where they are on their spiritual journey. And you will definitely see me on the way! It isn’t a road to nowhere! It is the only path that takes us to where we were always meant to be!

Recently, because of the recommendations of more than one of my friends, I rented the movie entitled, “Parental Guidance” staring Billy Crystal.  Crystal who in real life is a true baseball buff like me plays a character named Artie who was recently fired from his job as a broadcaster of a Minor League Baseball team in Fresno.  He and his wife Dianne, who is played by the lady who gave Barry Manilow his big break- the Divine Miss M- Bette Midler- are summoned from California to Atlanta in order that they may take care of their 3 grandchildren while their daughter Alice and her husband Phil go away on a business conference. They are referred to as “the other grandparents” because Artie and Dianne do not get to spend much time with their grandchildren like Phil’s parents do evidenced by all the pictures of Phil’s parents present on the mantle of the fireplace. And also because their way of living life is very different than the hyper organized and obsessive compulsive structure that Alice and Phil have chosen for their kids: oldest daughter Harper, and sons Turner and Parker. Alice and Phil live in an annoying and obtrusive “Smart House” that makes it feel more like a sterile facility than a happy home!

Needless to say this meeting and mixture of personalities causes many comedic moments that had me laughing out loud but also caused me to again wonder why we have allowed our culture to become so politically correct! Case in point is the scene that has Artie attending his grandson’s Turner’s baseball game. While watching the contest, Artie recalls what a good pitcher his daughter Alice used to be when she was a kid and how they would have fun together when she would go with her Dad to work and be with him in the press box as he commentated about the action on the ball field.

Alice and her Pop are now together again at the old ballgame but instead of eating a tofu frank- Artie is chomping down some chili dogs!  The two of them are in the stands to see Turner pitch! He is a pretty talented lefty with great form. As he faces one of the kids that bullies him all the time, Turner ends up actually striking him out. However, in our “Don’t let anybody ever have to deal with a hurt feeling World that we now all find ourselves living in” the league has a rule that there are no outs, and everybody keeps on batting until they hit the ball. Artie finds this whole premise ridiculous and confronts the umpire and in doing so discovers that they don’t even keep a score! Everything is all about fun and no competition. Artie spouts out, “What fun is competition if you don’t keep score?” Artie’s boldness inspires other parents start to speaking up! Some of them agree that this technique is boring and lifeless and doesn’t really teach anything while others hold to the conviction that for the safety of the children’s self image- all the kids should win.

I love the fact that Artie had the guts to just communicate on the outside what he really believed on the inside! Grandparents Artie and Dianne had much wisdom to offer their grandkids and should not have to be restricted to “eggshell walking” when it came to sharing their love and their many life experiences along the way! I am seeing way too many wonderful individuals who have something quite important to say, stuffing their words and ideas and opinions just because it isn’t the popularly accepted dogma of the day! Speak out! Speak up! And to the younger generation- I humbly implore you to not be afraid to listen! Contrary to whatever mantra being preached today- none of us know it all! We all need others to make it in this world! God has given you loved ones not to compete with- but to complete the journey with!

The very best point that this film drives home with several creative instances is that parents need not train up their children in their own image- but be willing to help shape them and coach them to becoming who God intended them to be! Pushing or using others to try and achieve your own agenda is never rewarding and in the end, even if the goal is reached- causes more harm than it does good. Parents love your children as God designed them to be. Children- love your Parents and realize that not every way things are being done today are essentially the best ways! And all of us need to do a better job cherishing one another while we can- because there will come a day when you won’t have those options anymore! Maybe that is why the best parental guidance any of us could ever have is the loving powerful grace given to each and every one of us by a Heavenly Father who loves us no matter what!   

I saw the new movie “42” the other day which was based upon Jackie Robinson’s breaking the color barrier in the sport of baseball back in 1947. I have been a fan of Jackie for most of my life. My Dad who was a Brooklyn Dodger fan as a kid, would tell me many times of that historic season when Branch Rickey dared to go where most others were afraid to venture. He opened the door for a black man to participate in what was up until that time only a white man’s privilege. It took a very strong, talented and courageous individual to be the first through that door and in so many ways- there was not a better man for that task than the great Jackie Robinson.

It wasn’t his athletic ability alone that made Robinson primed for the great experiment. It would also take a man who had an endearing internal strength and the self-discipline to be able to harness all that thunderous emotional passion. Robinson would be beat upon and yet not be able to retaliate in any way. The only other individual that I remember ever taking such abuse was Jesus himself. Jackie literally had to turn the other cheek as he would be verbally torn apart, spiked mercilessly, treated inhumanely and even beaned with baseballs intentionally. And he did so with very few others standing in his corner. Sure he had Mr. Rickey and an amazing wife named Rachel- but his teammates at first were that in name only as many of them made it very clear that they did not want to share a locker room with a black man. In so many ways, the story of “42” shows the ignorance of intolerance and the stupidity of a hatred that has no legs to stand upon.

I still wonder why more individuals didn’t stand up for Jackie but I also question why so many were silent when the Jewish people were so mistreated and literally annihilated with so little public outcry. How can we human beings be so oblivious when we are witnesses of injustice? Why don’t more of us have the guts to stand up and get by the man who should not have to face such foolishness alone? Ever since the first time I read Jackie’s story, I have sensed his loneliness and the unfairness of why such a good man had to put up with so much tomfoolery? It is quite understandable why he aged so early and why he died so young. I don’t think we his fellow man did a very good job of accepting our responsibility of carrying our brother’s burden in this case.

In the Movie “42,” we see a few rare occurrences where his teammates begin to have sympathy for their fellow Dodger. As Jonathan Eig wrote in his excellent 2007 book, “Opening Day: The Story of Jackie Robinson’s First Season,” both rated the fiery Eddie Stanky as Robinson’s earliest important backer. It was Stanky, Stuart Miller wrote in the New York Times in 2007, who threatened to fight the Phillies when they treated Robinson so awfully early in the 1947 season. During those infamous matchups between the Dodgers and the Philadelphia Phillies, Phillies manager Ben Chapman had he and his players berate Robinson with raw and vulgar racial slurs. To this day, the Philadelphia Sports Media still apologizes to Rachel Robinson for the audacious cruelty those Phillies attacked her husband with.

Still Eddie Stanky opened the door for others to step up and do the right thing! The great Dodger shortstop Pee Wee Reese also became heroic for being humane and understanding when he too publicly displayed that he would not stand against Jackie Robinson! As the story goes, the Cincinnati Reds fans were giving Robinson a particularly tough time as the Dodgers took the field in the bottom of the first. In a show of support, Reese temporarily left his position at shortstop and traveled over to Robinson at first base and put his arm around the rookie, silencing the crowd, which was awed by the act of racial empathy by Reese, a popular All-Star from nearby Kentucky. There is a statue of that moment captured outside of the stadium where the Brooklyn Cyclones currently play out on Coney Island.

It was Jackie Robinson who once said, “Life is not a spectator sport. If you’re going to spend your whole life in the grandstand just watching what goes on, in my opinion you’re wasting your life.” Too many of us are still doing absolutely nothing when it is within our power to make a difference! We can bring justice and friendship and hope and faith when we decide to step out of our complacent zones and get involved. Prejudice is based upon ignorance and hearsay. To judge a man upon the color of his skin or a label that has been slapped upon him is pure laziness. I choose not to do something just because everybody else is doing it. I want my life to matter and make a statement that I am no better than anybody else. I am a sinner who has been loved by a merciful God who longs to share that same kind of amazing grace and compassion with others. Why is it so hard for us to lead with love?

“42” is a movie that every one of us should see. Sure it is a nostalgic look back to the “hey day” of baseball and I love the fact that Ebbets Field comes alive again! It is a movie that sure made me miss my Dad! But it is a film that reminds us that Jackie Robinson said, “I’m not concerned with your liking or disliking me… All I ask is that you respect me as a human being.” Respect is the least of the gifts that we can give one another just because it is the right thing to do! I pray that we would be very liberal in giving away our love and respect for one another!

God knows what He got when He purchased me! He knows that I am more a goofball than a gentleman! And He knows that I needed to be delivered from the sad, selfish and inconsistent individual that I know I can be! But in order for that transformation to take place, I had to man up and stop hiding in the shadows! God doesn’t work with facsimile facades! I had to open up to the Lord and give him total access to all of me! It is so easy to just get comfortable with pretending! But God doesn’t want to abide with some cheap fake when He knows the potential and the power of the genuine article that He created with His own hands!

Fake fruit can sometimes fool even the keenest eye! I have to admit that I have fallen for the old “I tried to take a bite out of the artificial fruit that looks real in the basket on the table” situation. I love apples and if I ever see an apple displayed somewhere out there for the taking then you can be sure that I will take it. But I am not a fan of fake fruit! It just doesn’t taste very good! And I have been duped into a decision to dig into wax- only to end up very disappointed and even more embarrassed! Well God is not looking for phony, fraudulent, fictitious fruit from me either! His way is to display His wonderful work through the original! He wants to put His seal on the real deal!
But we shy away from being authentic because most of us are deathly afraid of our true selves being rejected or taking a hit! We have all asked that poisonous pondering question, “What if I give my all and nobody likes it?” Worse yet, we all know that not being accepted is a very true possibility! “What if my very best gets booted and booed off the stage?” So there is a temptation to play life very cautiously and become guarded and in our hesitation to reveal the genuine article- we never get our soul off the ground. But I have learned that life is going to beat on you no matter what and if I am going to fly or if I am going to fall- I want to experience it all as the me I know I am!

Do you know that if you ever buy an original painting from an Art Gallery that has been created by a master artist- well first of all you call it “A Piece” and second of all you actually get two when you go to pick your purchased “Piece” up? Why do you receive two? You get the real one which is museum quality and very expensive and truly priceless as a one of a kind! Most people don’t want to hang the original in their homes because it could easily get damaged and so they store it away, lock safely in a vault- of course where it might be safe- but nobody ever gets to enjoy it! The other identical painting is the decoy and it is the copy that most individuals will hang for all to see! I have to ask you, “Which one would you put up in your home?” We all know the risk of displaying the real deal! It is rare! It is a one of a kind! It is irreplaceable! Yet- God longs for us to hang the original of us out there every day so that the world can see His true handiwork!

God so loved the world that He didn’t send us his body double! He didn’t give us His entourage! He didn’t present to us His public relations assistant! God gave us His one and only original begotten Son! In a human man we saw perfection up close! We tasted true love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, generosity and self-control packed up in a Person like no other! God knew that Jesus was going to take His share of hits and yet He came anyway! And what did we do with God’s greatest work of art? We hung Him up alright! We hung Him on a cross, after beating Him mercilessly and He went through it all because it was the only way that God could ever redeem us and buy us back from sin’s gallery so that we could be proudly displayed by Him in the Family Room of Glory! We weren’t cheap! For us to become a masterpiece, the Majesty of God took all that this world threw at Him and because of that- to the Lord- we are not worthless anymore! We are priceless! We cost everything God had to recreate us! And our life is that one piece that can’t and won’t ever be painted again! So what’s it going to be? Are we going to hide in a vault? Or are we going to “Hang Out” with Jesus?

God invites us to live life as we really are! And while we all may get beat on by the elements and others may try to desecrate and cheapen us with their futile attempts at abusing God’s artwork- if He is at the root then no amount of fussing will frustrate the fruit that God will be allowed to produce through you and me! I believe that God hangs our portraits proudly in Heaven’s Hallways! Our Lord delights in His work that is being done in us which include the scars, bumps, bruises and all! Let’s be honest- for most of us- it has been surviving the storms of life that has produced within us the character that most of us are most proud of! And it all goes back to the fact that God used the so-called imperfections of Jesus to make us indescribably indestructible! So let’s go God’s way which is to display the original! No artificial substitutions will do!

I want to share with you an actual letter written by a young person. It reads,
“I know it sounds silly, but I’m afraid of what other people say and think about me. My Christian friends say what God thinks is the only thing that matters. That’s hard for me to really believe. Can you help me?”

I think if most of us were honest, we would admit that at one time or another- fear of what others will say or think about us has prevented us from attempting something that we believe strongly is right for us to do. We have allowed ourselves to be intimated out of something that could have been such an inspiring moment for everybody! Yet our fear of negative public opinion has prevented us from sharing an idea or passing on a personal belief or going for a position that we know we would be passionate enough to perform! Fear of failure has kept way too many of us from flying to the heights in the way God intended us to soar! Our fear of rejection has kept us glued to the lazy boy of “Comfort Land” rather than being daring enough to set to go off on the launching pad of making an impact with this gift of life that the Creator has so graciously given us!

God never meant for His people to be spectators of life but rather active participants in the process! The gifts God has given individuals are not meant to be used for selfish gain or just to acquire enough creature comforts so that one can retire to await the arrival of death safely, but His gifts to you and to me are to be used on the playing fields of school, work, church and the community. When you actually use what He has given you to impact others in a positive fashion, you are making your Heavenly Father very proud in the process and you are fulfilling His very purpose for you being on this planet in the first place. Contrary to what you may have been told, you are not a random accident and your existence here does matter. Kick the political correct posture that wants to tie you up smack in the can! There are those who would want to steal your life and destroy your life, even take it away but there is a God who wants you to grab life and really live it just because you still can!

The secret to grabbing life is actually in being willing to give it away. Jesus modeled for us what an extravagant love looks like when He gave His own life and all of the very best to us when we deserved none of it at all! We need to sacrificially give our lives back to the God who made us and allow the Author of this masterpiece to direct it and call the shots and set the pace.

When I was five years old, I was given a bicycle for Christmas. I was so excited when I unwrapped the package and there it was- this beautiful blue bike- on the picture sitting in the box in all of its glory right before me. Unfortunately, it had not been put together yet. Santa must have had an extra busy night! Now, how foolish would it have been as a little boy for me to say to my Dad, “Where’s the screw driver and the pliers? I want to put this bike together myself!” What would that effort ended up looking like? Now I could dream on and say it could have resulted in a wonderful eclectic piece of “Modern Art” and I could have made a million! But we all know what a mess that would have been and it would have never looked like a bicycle! It would have totally been a wasted gift. I asked my Dad to put it together and he did! Well how many individuals are wasting their gift of life because they are too proud to ask their Heavenly Father to help? He wants to be involved in the process. He holds our blue prints, He made the plans, why not let Him put it together the way it was meant to be constructed?

Once we realize what a gift life is- and the more you hang around God- the more you realize what a gift it is- you come to know that the best thing to do with a gift is to share it with others. It all comes down to grabbing the truth that your life was given to you by a loving God who is still crazy about you even though He already knows all about you. In spite of our utter failure, God wanted so much to have a relationship with us that He has sent His very Son Jesus to give His life away so that by trusting in Him we may know a quality of life that begins now and never ends. Why would you pass that up for the choice to use your life as a never ending journey to keep on performing to gain acceptance and please a crowd that will always keep you working harder, dancing faster, and fearing that at any time the applause will stop and you will one day be rendered invisible? Why live to attempt to please a society that is so fickle that one week a crowd yelled, “Crown Him King” to Jesus and the very next week the same crowd yelled, “Crucify Him.”

The Bible says that perfect love drives out all fear and God has provided for us that kind of love that gives us the freedom to live out fully the life designed specifically for us. It may be hard to believe at times and even harder to do but I want to close with an old proverb that I pray will challenge us to not let fear prevent us from being who God made us to be. It goes like this, “There are always two choices. Two paths to take, one is easy. And its only reward is that it’s easy.”
Let Pastor Rudy know what you think by writing him pastorrudytlc@comcast.net