pastorrudytlc

William Gladstone, in announcing the death of Princess Alice to the House of Commons, told a powerful story. The little daughter of the Princess was seriously ill with diphtheria. The doctors told the Princess not to kiss her little girl and endanger her own life by getting too close to the contagious disease. But if you’ve ever been a parent, those directions given to her were much easier said than done.

Once when the child of the Princess was struggling to breathe, her mother, forgetting herself entirely, took the little one into her arms to keep her from choking to death. Rasping and struggling for her life, the child cried out, “Momma, kiss me!” Without even giving it a second thought and like it was done by reflex, the mother tenderly kissed her daughter. Princess Alice got diphtheria within days and soon thereafter died from it.

Real love doesn’t play by earth’s rules. It never assumes that the one we are supposed to be looking out for is ourselves! Real love is unconditional and administered with no strings attached. Real love is born in heaven but it must be lived out here on earth. Real love is never driven by selfish desires but always operates by doing what is best for the other person receiving the gift. We only taste of real love when we are willing to forget about ourselves and hold nothing back in our giving- even if there is no guaranteed “getting” in the equation. Real love lays it all on the line even if while standing on that line- the giver is about to be run over by an eighteen wheeler! Real love is willing to sacrifice the most precious of gifts- one’s life- given freely for the life of another.

Because God loves you, He will always be direct with you. He will always tell you the truth. He is absolutely ruthless in going after the things that spoil the flow of His grace and blessing into our lives. His process is to subtract in order to add. He will never allow you to get too comfortable with a selfish mindset that will eventually do you in. He will insist on removing everything that prevents His glory from shining through you so that you can love like He does. A beautiful loving cup you can never be if there is still dross still in the mix.

So there are times that God allows us to be in situations in which we are beyond our ability to cope on our own. He permits difficulties to come to us. Contrary to popular opinion, God does give us more than we can handle in order that we will hand over the steering wheel to Him! And when we ask, “Why God?” which almost all of us do, He reminds us that He is refining us and teaching us to love Him back the way He loves us. He is drawing us away from our own strength so that we may depend on Him. He knows exactly how much heat to allow in our lives. He will never scorch us, but if we jump out of one cauldron because it is too hot- there is probably another one waiting just around the bend. The dross must be removed! The dross kills real love.

Do you know how the ancient refiner knew when he was done and the heat could finally be turned down? It was when he looked into the cauldron and saw his own reflection in the shining silver. As long as the image was muddy and rippled with flecks of slag, he knew he had to keep working. When his face finally showed clearly, the silver had been purified.
This is exactly how it is with our spiritual refining process. God’s plan for us has always been to look and love just like His Son Jesus does. As Jesus works carefully in our lives, standing beside us through it all, He keeps looking into us to see His love reflecting back. In the midst of all our mess- He sees His face in us. There is less of us and more of Him and we all win because a fruit of that process is that we produce a love of another kind.

Jesus chose to kiss us when we were dead in our sins. Judas’ kiss to the Lord was to betray Him. Jesus’ kiss to us is to rescue us! This is what Easter is really all about! It is God’s passionate love for His people come alive! Jesus chose to love us when we couldn’t possibly love Him back. But when we stop fighting God and surrender to His Hand touching our lives- it brings lasting beauty to our ugliness and allows a love that satisfies to flow both to us and through us. God isn’t out to get us as much as He is out to love us and in that love- we finally learn how to live because we finally understand how to give- no matter whatever. Love isn’t love until you give it away. And on Good Friday_ God gave us the very best He could possibly offer! He gave us Himself!

And His kiss lives on because on Easter Sunday Jesus came back in grand fashion! Do you need a kiss like that today? Fall on your knees and let His love raise you up to be more than you ever could make of yourself! Forget the chocolate bunnies- I will take my Master’s kisses! What about you? Is His kiss on your list today as the best things in life? Who needs some godly loving in your world today? Happy Easter my Family! Love you all!

Let Pastor Rudy know what you think by emailing him pastorrudytlc@comcast.net

Where have all the manners gone? Whatever happened to etiquette? Why is disrespect so readily accepted in our society today? What makes so many human beings act like every aspect of this life was made to revolve around them? I am the center of the universe is their motto! And they behave with a belief system that shouts “If you should just happen be bothered by my behavior then get used to it because it must be your problem! I am not changing for nobody but me!”

The other night I took my daughter to a concert. The artist on stage presented her music to us in a very simplified unplugged fashion. There was no rocking band backing her up. There was no blinding light show. There were no exploding pyrotechnic displays. There was just a girl and her guitar and her amazing voice singing before a packed out auditorium. I loved hearing the purity and sincerity of a voice that hasn’t been enhanced and messed with electrically via all the technology available to performers today! I enjoyed her friendly banter she attempted to have with her audience trying to set up the atmosphere that we were all in her family room at home. What I didn’t appreciate was hearing the loudmouth joker sitting behind me who took not one but several cell phone calls in the middle of two of the beautiful ballads- totally ruining the magic of the moment for all in our area. Others would wait for a silent moment right before a new melody would begin just so they could scream incessantly with no other goal but to hear the annoying pitch of their own tonsils! Another couldn’t control the intake of his own alcohol consumption thus becoming a belligerent jack-ass looking to pick a fight to the soundtrack of the singer on the stage singing songs of peace and love!

What our world needs now is love and a whole lot more of it in a hurry! Love means putting the best of others before your own personal needs. Love is willing to sacrifice what you want until later so that somebody else gets your best behavior now! It means taking into consideration the feelings of others before you act impulsively! It looks to not draw attention to you but to reflect the rays of polite mindfulness so that others can enjoy the spotlight! It means not having your cell phone ringer on full blast in the middle of a church service. It means not kicking the seat of the person sitting in front of you at the theater. It means not using abusive language when you are at a ballgame and there is a family with children sitting in your neighborhood! It means dealing with your crying baby outside in the hallway and not staying in your seat when there are those on a stage trying to perform and do what they do the very best they can! It means not looking to cut somebody off so that you can be first! It means treating people with respect as if they really did matter and were so much more than the inconvenient nuances that have somehow only gotten in your way as you hectically run your race to fulfilling your own agenda!

Open a door for somebody! Say “Please” and “Thank You.” Help a neighbor in need. Pick up a blown over garbage can before you pummel it with your car as you race on by! Why wait for somebody else to do what you know you can do? Wash your own dish! Turn your own clothes from inside out to the right side before chucking them into the laundry hamper. Make your own bed. Clean your own table. Carry somebody else’s load! He ain’t heavy- he is your brother! Speak with kindness! Don’t demand or talk down to somebody! Work with them and not against them! Look up to your elders. Obey your parents. Tip waiters and waitresses well. Help those in authority get what needs to be done accomplished. Parents don’t exasperate your children. Don’t use one another! Stop all the lies. Tell the truth with grace. Go out of your way so that God’s will can be done God’s way on earth as it is in heaven!

I hear lots of talk about tolerance these days but see less of it than I ever have before. People criticize what they do not know and attempt to summarize intelligently what they have never taken the proper time to become educated about. Just listen to the way people talk about God. How can someone speak about The Bible if they have never even taken the time to read it? How can we say we know what we have never even taken the time to properly grow? How can somebody judge what they willingly choose to stay ignorant about? Study to show yourself a well-rounded and grown up adult who has properly invested his brain power and his heart into that which matters forever!

I know that selfishness reigns supreme in the souls of most of our culture today. We have just focused on the wrong number one to be looking out for! “It’s all about me, me, and me!” is the usual mantra! There are too many “my” in our vocabulary! It is my house, my car, my money, my rights, my way and my family. Whatever happened to “us” and “we?” There isn’t enough “Yes Ma’am, “Yes Sir,” “Thank You Mom,” Please Dad” or “Let me get that for you.” The neighborhood should be a community of looking out for one another no matter what. Maybe it is time to make common courtesy more prevalent again! Today is the day to reintroduce the golden rule to a whole new generation. It all starts with turning our “I’s” upon something greater than our own reflection!

Many years ago, whole communities and mostly the children would be wiped out by a dreaded disease called diphtheria! Diphtheria is a highly contagious upper respiratory tract illness and before the proper medicines were available, it was commonly known as the “strangling angel of children.” Diphtheria causes the throat to become blocked with a thick, leathery coating that makes breathing very difficult. Without treatment, death by suffocation is a likely conclusion! Today I want to revisit the story of a famous sporting event that had its origin as a race of mercy literally saving people from the brink of certain doom.

In the winter of 1925, a lone physician and four nurses in Nome, Alaska faced a crisis beyond belief! An outbreak of diphtheria was threatening to kill most of the region’s population of about 10,000 people. In December 1924, Nome doctor Curtis Welch watched as the outbreak snuck into his neighborhood disguised as cases first thought to be simple sore throats or tonsillitis. But by early January of the New Year, 2 children died of diphtheria and the impending crisis became clear. Dr. Welch ordered a mandatory quarantine, but by that time because diphtheria is so contagious it may have been a good move made just a bit too late!

What was necessary in Nome, as their only hope to curb this epidemic, was a fresh diphtheria antitoxin. On January 22, 1925, Dr. Welch began sending dozens of SOS telegrams pleading for any help to find and deliver this antitoxin. National leaders in Washington, D.C., helped to locate the closest and largest supply of the saving serum and it was uncovered in Anchorage, hundreds of miles away from Nome!  This introduced the next debilitating dilemma and that was figuring out the fastest way to get the antitoxin to Nome. There were no roads or railways available to nowhere Nome! Air service was still yet to come and ships could not reach the town because of the large amounts of sea ice around the city. The only way in was to somehow navigate dogsleds via the Iditarod Trail. This crisis made national newspaper and radio headlines all across America.

After weighing all possible solutions, Alaska’s Territorial Governor Scott Bone approved a relay of sorts transporting the remedy via train to Nenana and from there passing the torch to the 20 best mail carrier men sled dog drivers known as Mushers and their 150 noble dogs along the 674-mile Nenana-to-Nome Trek, a trip that usually took 15 to 20 days. If it took that long this time, there would be little life left to attend to when they got there! The dedicated Mushers and their pushed-to- the-limit animals traveled day and night, enduring intense blizzards and temperatures of 50 degrees below zero! Against all odd they reached Nome on February 2nd. This Great Race of Mercy was completed in a record 5 days and 7 hours which is still a record to this day.

Just 2 weeks later, after the diphtheria antitoxin was given to the infected patients, the quarantine was lifted. While at least 5 children still died during the outbreak, the collective efforts of hundreds of people to deliver the diphtheria antitoxin prevented the deaths of many others in Nome and the surrounding area. The solution to the crisis also became the founding of an event still well known today—the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.

The Iditarod is still held every winter although the goal is no longer a selfless sacrificial one but a self-serving money making pursuit! What was once a radical gamble to rescue those about to die has evolved into just one more profitable contest where humans race to win a personal prize of monetary means! What was once a profound statement of the willingness of others to pour it all out so that death could be averted is now another program on our athletic calendar! It is the same course but not the same conclusion! It is the exact path but a totally revised purpose! And yes it makes me wonder if our American churches haven’t wandered down a similar slippery slope!

Jesus commissioned his followers to go into all the world and take the good news that anyone of any race or color or creed can receive eternal life by knowing God and that we don’t have to die in the disease of our own sin if we would just receive his gift of forgiveness that he sacrificially won for us when he took on all that death and destruction could throw at him on the cross. We’ve got the salvation serum and it is time for us to jump on the sleigh that can slay all that stands in the way of people and God! Being a believer needs to be more about sacrifice than safety and more about compassion for others than comforting ourselves! Yet have we made going to church a higher priority than being the church? Have we made it a race for our own gain- “What can God be for me?” rather than an all-out run to bring the anecdote to remove sin’s stain- “What can I be for God?” It is time to reexamine our focus to make sure that we are motoring to the correct finish line!

I want to close with Paul’s words about a race he was running in 1 Corinthians 9:24 and following.  He passionately expresses, “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.” We run a race that when we willingly give it all-not only do we win- but everybody around us benefits also! We are to run not for our own gain- but to justify our Lord’s pain and do all we can to make sure that he didn’t sacrifice his one and only life in vain!

It is possible to live under a personal delusion. You might think you are a kind, considerate and gracious human being but you might be the only way who thinks so! You think you are investing positive principles into your children when in reality, if you could check with them twenty years later, whatever you did do has long been purposely forgotten. What if you could read your own obituary? How do people really see you? Here is the story of a man who actually did get that chance and it changed absolutely everything!

One morning in 1888 Alfred Nobel, inventor of dynamite, awoke like he always did and when he grabbed his morning paper he was shocked to see that his own death notice was included in the obituary section. The obituary was printed as a result of a simple journalistic error. You see, it was Alfred’s brother that had died and the reporter carelessly reported the death of the wrong brother. Any man would be disturbed under the circumstances, but to Alfred the shock was overwhelming because he saw himself as the world saw him.

The headline in clear black and white had labeled Nobel as “The Dynamite King!” It went on to tell that the great industrialist who had made an immense fortune from explosives was nothing more than simply a merchant of death. And like it or not, it was for that alone he would be most remembered. As he read the article with horror, he resolved to change his ways right there and then! He would make clear to the world the true meaning and purpose of his life. This would be done through the final giving away of his fortune. His last will and testament allowed for an endowment of five annual prizes for outstanding contributions in physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature, and peace (the sixth category of economics was added later)—and this would be the expression of his life’s ideals and ultimately would be why we would remember him. The result was the most valuable of prizes given to those who had done the most for the cause of world peace. It is called today, the “Nobel Peace Prize.”

Like it or now- we all live like time is an infinite resource that will never run out and will always be there for us in a steady supply- but unfortunately it isn’t! Definitely not this side of heaven! And just like a ball game that runs by a clock- we only have so many seconds to get done what we need to accomplish and to waste precious minutes is never a good strategy! So let’s move away from just staying busy- attending to only what is good- to begin to prioritizing our focus to only being about what is best! Are you giving life away to all that will last? Are you laying a foundation that even eternity may build upon? Remember that where your heart is- there your treasure will be also!

As I write this article, it is dark, gloomy and stormy outside of my window! It seems very appropriate because death has appeared again uninvited into my life in its earth shattering ways! Today’s rain reminds me that not all tears are wiped away yet! Weeping is still a part of life this side of heaven- especially when we have to experience letting go those loved ones that we have never had to live without! God knows that our spirits were created to live in community forever and all creation groans for that day when death will no longer be allowed to get its ugly grip upon us. Until that day I pray often words like this: “Lord Jesus- please receive our aching cries and know that we look to you to never let us go even when this journey takes us through that dreaded death valley that we know that one day soon- we will never have to pass that way again! Come quickly Lord Jesus! And thank you that because of what you did for us on the cross and by rising from the grave- death won’t have to be the final destination for any of us who simply believe! I believe Lord and please help my unbelief on days like today when it hurts so much.”

Family- what kind of life story are you allowing to be written about you? Will they have to lie at your funeral service to exaggerate something nice about you? What are you doing about making sure that your legacy mattered? Don’t forget to unwrap each day as the precious gift that it is. We don’t have the luxury to throw too many twenty four hour periods away! And if you are going to overdo it in any direction- make sure you go overboard in the area of your relationships with those that you love deeply because in less than a twinkling of an eye- they may no longer be here for you to love upon! Yes my gut is exploding this week because I didn’t properly get the chance to say goodbye to those that I genuinely and deeply loved. I am so ticked at myself for once again allowing myself to get way too busy to heed God’s clear promptings to slow down so I could go and see these individuals and today was too late! If God brings somebody to mind today- make sure you allow your body to do something with that special gift because if you don’t open it immediately- you may never get another chance again! If I am going to be known as the dynamite king- then I want my biography to read that he exploded with God’s love wherever he went and he blew up the darkness with the hope that living in the light is pure delight! What about you?

This article is dedicated to the loving memory of Ruth Pashley and Larry Murdock and their precious families…

Our God is a God of all or nothing at all! God created us with that same ingredient of passion strategically placed deep within our hearts! But it was never meant to stay buried treasure. God longs for us to respond back to him just as he first responds to us. This is why the greatest commandment that the Lord ever gave to us was both relational and rhythmic in its reply! “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.” God is saying to us, “I want you to put some muscle into it, put some energy, put some emotion into your relationship with Me.” Jesus is saying, “If you’re going to follow me, you’ve got to go for it and do it with devotion and desire. You’ve got to give it some oomph, some spark, some zip, some enthusiasm and some zest. I want you to learn to live passionately.”

Passion gives you a reason to get up in the morning and spout off with conviction “I’m going to do something with my life today.” Jesus doesn’t just teach us sermonettes so we can stack them along with the rest of our notes lying dormant within our Bibles! Jesus inspires! How have you allowed God to pump you up lately? We don’t need another hot air blower who does nothing more than tickle our itching ears. We need a devout Coach who gets us up off of our behinds and gives us the necessary incentives to press on and gain new ground by marching forward! But to receive inspiration without transformation will only result in nothing more than useless information! If you don’t apply it- then no matter how great you might think it is- it goes unused and so one can easily conclude that it must not that be all that important in the real world. So knowing without going will forever keep you from growing. You can behave properly and do good things but not exactly have your heart right but if you get your heart righted then God can ignite it and what will flow out of you is the real deal! I believe this world is starving for authenticity and genuineness and love that backs up its words with wonders that never cease to amaze!

I was mulling this idea of passion and came up with these words that I pray will encourage you today and will jumpstart you to allow God to give you your own divine directed script. We don’t have forever to get this thing called life right! But we will have forever if we allow God to make life right now! As the Scripture promises us in one of Paul’s greatest benedictions: “Now to Him Who, by (in consequence of) the [action of His] power that is at work within us, is able to [carry out His purpose and] do superabundantly, far over and above all that we [dare] ask or think [infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, hopes, or dreams]—To Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever. Amen (so be it).” Ephesians 3:20-21 The Amplified Bible

THE SONG YOU GAVE TO SING By Rudy Sheptock
“We’ve traveled so many miles Lord- so many adventures along the way-
It seems like I’ve never needed You- Like I need You today.
The longer I go on this journey- The firmer I grab on to Your hand-
The less that I trust in myself Lord and the more I need You to understand-
That I couldn’t make it without You- You are my only reason to live!
I still wonder how I ever could doubt You- When I look at my life and all that You give!
I want to dance in the streets- I want to play in the rain and tell the world that I can’t stop singing!
I want to run with the wind with the heart of a child and tell the world that I can’t stop singing- The song that You gave just me to sing!

I have no idea what’s ahead Lord- and part of me really doesn’t care-
The guarantee that I have Lord- is wherever we go I know You’ll be there!
So I give it all over again Lord- and make my vows so fresh and brand new-
Because I want to live with such passion- and I want to be sure that I share it with You!
Because I couldn’t make it without You- You are my only reason to live!
I still wonder how I ever could doubt You- When I look at my life and all that You give!
I want to dance in the streets- I want to play in the rain and tell the world that I can’t stop singing!
I want to run with the wind with the heart of a child and tell the world that I can’t stop singing-
The song that You gave just me to sing!”

I close with my own benediction: “May the Spirit of God come alive in you and the vision of Jesus so grip your heart that it stirs your imagination to such the extent that a holy passion and fervent fire will blaze from you and others will warm to the love of God through you- Amen!”

Did you know that I have been writing this weekly article called “Speaking In The Light” since the Summer of 1997? Did you know that I am debuting the Talk-Music Radio version of Speaking In The Light this Sunday afternoon at 3PM on 1020 AM WIBG? Did you also know that I will be back playing the oldies at 4PM on WIBBAGE FM 94.3? And did you know that Sunday is my Birthday? See, there is so much you don’t know about me and I probably don’t know about you but the only thing that is standing in the way is communication. So- I am going to give you 54 random facts about Pastor Rudy in honor of each year that I have been on Earth and I am going to ask you to do the same for me! Give me random facts about you numbering how many years you have graced this place. You may Facebook them to me, or email them to me at pastorrudytlc@comcast.net

54 FACTS ABOUT PASTOR RUDY:
1. I was raised Roman Catholic and have always felt connected to God.
2. I am not religious- I just love the Lord!
3. I said the words “It’s Time” right before I planted my first kiss on my wife Terri when we were dating.
4. I always wanted to be a radio DJ ever since I visited Radio Station WMTR in Morristown, NJ when I was in Kindergarten!
5. I love connecting with people on Facebook both old friends and new ones!
6. I like to read even though I listen to books these days. I love author- Richard Paul Evans.
7. I play the piano and have written more songs than I can count.
8. I am an over the top baseball fan forever rooting for the Amazing New York Mets!
9. My favorite all time Movie is the 1947 version of Miracle on 34th Street.
10. I keep my Christmas Stuff up in my office all year long!
11. My first album that I ever bought with my own money was 1964’s Meet The Beatles.
12. My first 45 record was the Dixie Cups singing Chapel Of Love.
13. I want to work at worldwide Radio Station- HCJB- the Voice of the Andes- in Quito, Ecuador.
14. I am a Senior Pastor on the outside but a Youth Pastor on the inside!
15. I have had a crush on Olivia Newton-John since 1973!
16. I love the TV Show The Honeymooners with Jackie Gleason and Art Carney.
17. I love the winter and it can never snow enough for me.
18. I have always been loud but was a very shy kid growing up!
19. I want to someday visit Alaska.
20. I love being a Husband, Daddy and Pop-Pop (which is why I’m a Minister and not a Priest!)
21. I am a lifelong Philadelphia Eagles Fan and my all-time favorite QB is Roman Gabriel!
22. My all-time favorite player is Tom Seaver who wore the number 41- but now I wear #41 as an expression of my faith that everything I do is FOR ONE!
23. I love my burgers and steaks about as raw as the cook will allow me to eat them.
24. I like anchovies on my pizza!
25. Barry Manilow is my all-time favorite singer.
26. I see my wife Terri and me as Disney’s Lady and the Tramp and this is why it is my favorite Disney Movie.
27. I am half Italian on my Mom’s Side and half Polish on my Dad’s side.
28. I have a Turntable, a Reel to Reel Tape Player, a Cassette Player, an 8-Track Player, a CD Player and a few Radios in my Office at The Lighthouse. Guess I love music!
29. My Dad was my hero and I miss him every day. He graduated to Heaven in September 2000.
30. I think Buddy Holly was a musical genius!
31. I would rather listen to the radio than watch television!
32. My favorite Bible Character other than Jesus is Habakkuk.
33. I used to listen daily to Bob and Ray on the Radio.
34. My life Bible Verse is Ephesians 3:20! Look it up!
35. I tend to treat even strangers like we have known each other forever.
36. I sweat profusely no matter what time of the year it is.
37. My favorite flavor of Ice Cream is Butter Crunch.
38. I do not like chocolate but I love Peanut Butter!
39. I prefer my Movies from the 1940’s!
40. I prefer my music from the 1940’s through the 70’s!
41. I interviewed Shirley Jones once and she adopted me into the Partridge Family!
42. If it wasn’t for my Faith- I would have checked out on life a long time ago.
43. My Uncle Joey used to be on a New York TV Show with Connie Francis.
44. I like Broadway Musicals and always wanted to be in West Side Story!
45. I miss Shea Stadium!
46. I grew up listening constantly to Music Radio 77 WABC out of New York City and carried my transistor everywhere I went!
47. I love the TV Show the Odd Couple with Tony Randall and Jack Klugman.
48. My all-time favorite action hero was Disney’s Zorro- Guy Williams.
49. I relate more to Jimmy Stewart’s character George Bailey of It’s A Wonderful Life than any other character that I have ever read about or watched in a movie.
50. I can’t wait to get to Heaven! It won’t break my heart to leave Earth behind!
51. My favorite candy is Reece’s Pieces and it has nothing to do with ET.
52. I am incredibly loyal.
53. I get homesick very easy and hate leaving my family.
54. I love doing what I do and hope you do too!

So now it is your turn. What would help me get to know you better? I would love to hear from you. Other than that- I will return to the drawing board and start dreaming up my column for next week when I will be another year older on the outside- but staying very young at heart on the inside! Thanks again for being so kind to me through the years! Each day should be unwrapped as the precious gift that it is because when you get right down to it, life really is all about loving God and loving one another!

When did life get to be such a chore? When did we all grow up so much that we have actually believed that it is a badge of honor to have the ability to make even the simple things way too complicated? What happened to our childlike faith and our youthful invincibility and our naïve but persevering approach to champion the capacity to really go after our dreams and shoot for the accomplishment of our highest of hopes? When did we buy into accepting the status quo as the right road to go? When did we buy the lie that we are too tired and too old and too locked in to be let loose once again? When did we allow our lives to be drained of its color?

I want to share with all of you as my Valentine’s Day gift, a wonderful email I was sent the other day. I have altered it just a bit to give it the “Rudy” touch. It reminded me that fairy tales really still do come true- as a matter of fact- they still can happen to me and you if we stay young at heart and are willing to still live life rather than just put in our time with no greater goal other than trying to make it through another day.

MY RESIGNATION AS AN ADULT…
I am hereby officially tendering my resignation as an adult. I have decided I would like to embrace the outlook of an 8 year-old child once again. I want to go to eat a rare and juicy hamburger and think it’s the best piece of filet mignon. I want to jump in the puddles after the rain and go romping in my backyard looking to catch the flakes on my tongue during the next winter snow. I want to go to sleep tonight with the transistor radio under my pillow and allow the music of yesteryear to be the soundtrack of my dreams for tomorrow.

I want to think that the greatest thing in the all the world is a new pack of baseball cards, or getting to watch my favorite show on television and spending quality time with the ones I love. I want to linger at the dinner table and chew my food rather than inhale it because I have to hurry to get back to work. I even want to anticipate dessert once again. I actually want to treat myself to a Reece’s Pieces Sundae with Butter Crunch Ice Cream with no worries of what it is going to do to my cholesterol. And I want to reinstate the importance of including some recess time into my life and provide significant minutes where I make playing just as high a priority as I make working.

I want to be a student again and rather than becoming overwhelmed with all I don’t know- I will just take the simple steps to learning something new and wonderful with each day. I want to once again make being with my friends even more important than what we are actually doing. I want to be part of a group that believes they can restore justice and make things right like my all time action hero Zorro! “Out of the Night- when the Full Moon is bright- comes the Horsemen known as Rudy!!” I want to believe that anything is possible and I want to become oblivious to the complexities of life and be overly excited by the little things once again. I want to live again. I want to laugh every single day. I want to have the wit of the Marx Brothers, the ingenuity of the Little Rascals, experience the adventures of Robin Hood with the enthusiasm and vertical leap of Peter Pan.

I want my days to consist of something more than heartburn and ulcers and stress and anxiety and high blood pressure. I want to still be able to every now and then climb dirt hills and not just do mountains of paper work. I want to believe in the power of smiles, hugs, a kind word, truth, faith, peace, dreams and be in a place where you are still encouraged to use your imagination. So here is my official resignation as an adult for even Jesus himself said that unless you become as a little child, you will never see the kingdom of heaven and there is no way I want to miss that party! So if you want to discuss this any further, you’re going to have to catch me first, because “TAG- YOU’RE IT!”

To prove that these are not just empty words written on a piece of paper that just amount to nothing more than another nice sermon- I am applying some actual walk to my talk. I have been revisiting some of the wonderful television programs that we grew up watching like Zorro and Father Knows Best and Donna Reed and The Honeymooners and Ozzie and Harriet via DVD and sharing them with my family. We have been listening to Classic Old Time Radio on Sirius/XM being entertained by programs like Fibber McGee and Molly and The Great Gildersleeve and Suspense and Yours Truly Johnny Dollar where you have to use your imagination rather than have everything spelled out for you. I have been reading more than I have ever have before and taking the time to be with those I love rather than just bump into each like two ships that pass in the night. It is not like I am trying to live in the past. It is more like I am trying to recapture my present before there are no more future days to depend upon. Wherever you are- be all there because it might be the last time we get that chance!

So I will meet you on the sandlot after school where we will pick up sides for a game of baseball! And then we will play our hearts out like it is Game 7 of the World Series until the last ray of daylight remains. We will then go home gather around the supper table- chow down on some macaroni and just cherish the moment and perish the thought that I don’t have a choice to make every minute a memory! Stop pushing me around adulthood- cause I am going to push back and stay golden through it all!

Why is somebody sitting in an office in Connecticut making a life or death decision about whether a young girl in Kansas needs the medical treatment that her Doctor has prescribed for her to beat the cancer that is ravaging her little body? How can a determination of that magnitude even be attempted without eye to eye and soul to soul and people to people contact? It seems rather cowardice to me to hide behind rules and regulations when what is truly necessary is relational evaluation. And yet we have become more and more an impersonal society as each day goes by!

My wife gave me a compelling book for Christmas entitled “Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10” by Petty Officer Marcus Luttrell. Luttrell was one of four US Navy SEALS who departed one clear night in early July 2005 for the mountainous Afghanistan-Pakistan border for a reconnaissance mission. Their task was to document the activity of an al Qaeda leader rumored to be very close to Bin Laden with a small army in a Taliban stronghold. Five days later, only one of those Navy SEALS made it out alive. That one man was Marcus Luttrell.

This is the story of the only survivor of Operation Redwing, SEAL fire team leader and the extraordinary firefight that led to the largest loss of life in American Navy SEAL history. Luttrell and his 3 fellow squad mates fought beyond normal human strength right beside one another until Marcus was the only one left alive. He ended up being blasted by an RPG into a place where his pursuers could not find him. Over the next four days, terribly injured and reported dead to even his family, Luttrell crawled for miles through the mountains and was taken in by sympathetic villagers who risked their own very lives to keep him safe from surrounding Taliban warriors.

What really stirred my heart and made my blood boil was the fact that his three comrades died because of our goofy American political correctness and our ridiculous “try to please everybody” philosophy that unfortunately paralyzes way too many a leader to do absolutely nothing good in our day and age! Luttrell said it this way, “These are the problems of the modern U.S. combat soldier, the constant worry about overstepping the mark and an American media that delights in trying to knock us down. The sad truth is that we have done nothing to deserve this abuse except, perhaps, love our country and everything it stands for.” Good American men died that day because the Navy SEAL team members had to make a quick decision when they were suddenly visited by a couple of unarmed goat herders who appeared out of nowhere. The SEALS could either execute the herders, a move that would have been justified in any war time situation or let them go and risk these guys being spies that would give away their position to the Taliban. The men of SEAL Team 10 made the decision that comported to the rules of engagement, but it ended up costing the lives of Luttrell’s best friend, two others and 16 more servicemen who tried to rescue them. They let the herders go. Within the hour they were under attack by the Taliban. Marcus Luttrell now calls the incident “the stupidest, most Southern-fried, lame-brained decision I ever made in my life to vote to let them go … I actually cast a vote that I knew would sign our death warrant.”

Why do men and women in suits playing politics and having no real connection to the life and death situations that our men and women in uniform are in get to dictate what is done on the battlefield? Why have we become such a wishy washy generation that is always looking for approval from the masses before we make any courageous moves of just doing what is right? People die when they could be saved in medical situations because of the whole chaotic insurance dilemma that again is determined by looking at policies over the very people involved! And if we are going to put our young people in harm’s way- then we have no right to tie their hands when they are trying to get the job done in the midst of a war with an enemy that damns all the rules!

Jesus never played to the crowds! He knew that he would never get anything accomplished if it was his goal to please the population! As a matter of fact, every time a crowd seems to make a decision in the Bible- it never leads to anything good! The crowd voted that Noah was off his rocker and they all drowned when the rains came! The crowd voted not to take the Promised Land that God had clearly promised to give to his people and they all perished in the wilderness! And when it was left up to the crowd with what to do with Jesus- well they voted to crucify him! As a Pastor- I know that if I want to properly shepherd the people- I sometimes have to ignore what they are asking for so that I can supply them with what they really need! And there will always be critics who will second guess every first choice you might make! But if we cease having the guts to make those moves- than nothing good will ever happen! And hence why the greatest generation was the one in the past and not so much the days to come!

Marcus Luttrell writes “Fear is a force that sharpens your senses. Being afraid is a state of paralysis in which you can’t do anything.” The Bible tells us that “perfect love casts out fear.” And if you love someone so passionately- than you must kick fear in the rear so what is good and best and noble and right may be done! We need a little less worrying about what everybody thinks and lots more movement via what is the right thing to do-even if isn’t popular! If you don’t stand for something, you will fall for anything- and unfortunately I believe that is a trait of our present age that I would love to do something about! Anybody want to join me?

Last year, on an ordinary day while I was touching base with what I like to refer to as my Facebook Family, I saw a powerful and inspirational quote on the wall of a young lady who used to be in the Youth Group that I pastored up in North Jersey back in the 1980’s named Michelle Faro. She had shared the words of another young lady also named Michelle! Michelle Borquez Thornton had written “Don’t miss the view or the beauty of where you are right now because you are stuck looking at the past and what could have been or what should have been. Letting go of what was, allows you to move toward what could be. Every season of life brings new things, different things. Flow with it and embrace the now. God has something new and beautiful for you in every season of life.”

Those life giving words pumped spiritual adrenaline into my soul. Contrary to what some might think, nobody can hang ten on the floater killer wave every single moment of their days! We all have our down days when we need to be reminded why we are here on this planet at all! This is why I am thankful for the awesome words of others that get me through the days that life grabs my tongue and tries to tie it into a permanent knot! This little snippet from this God Crazy Lady had me seeking more from her well of wisdom and I was not disappointed in what I discovered!

Michelle Borquez Thornton is a lover of life and a dedicated fanatic of the Man from Galilee! She calls her approach to every day the living the “Vida Loca” Jesus style! She loves the Lord God with all of her heart and soul and she knows personally the undeserved grace and mercy of that God and practically beyond anything she ever could ever imagine! Michelle demands from herself an excellence in all that she puts her hands to. But no stranger to the rain- she also can tell you that it has been her failures that have played a huge part in her growth as an individual. She shares, “Real leaders are teachable, and while fear attempts to paralyze you–faith mobilizes you, and in being a life-giver instead of a life-taker, your words have power and so much more that you would ever be able to share along the journey if everything always went your way!”

Maybe I am drawn to Michelle’s writings because she is an eternal optimist with just enough dose of reality to get things done. She believes in a God whose love knows no bounds, whose grace has no end, whose character encourages obedience only because He loves us so and wants us to experience freedom on this earth.

I have been called crazy more than once along my adult pilgrimage! But if I am out of my mind- it is because of Jesus in my heart! I don’t want to be a casual Christian and live a lukewarm life! I have been longing to live in the wide open space of God’s grace with no more worldly weights upon my ankles trying to keep me from God’s dance floor! I know too well the obstacles that attempt to steal, to kill and to destroy what the Lord has in store! I have experienced the sabotage of the serpent when I thought the fruit salad was going to be yummy yummy! The enemy has robbed me of so much of my past, I would rather not he have dibs on my days to come!

If this is the cry of your heart then I want to invite you to join us at The Lighthouse Church this weekend of February 2nd and 3rd! We are calling it the “God Crazy Super Bowl Weekend!” Michelle Borquez Thornton and her husband Michael will be speaking at all 3 of our Celebration Services- Saturday Night at 6PM and Sunday Morning at 9 and 10:45AM. There is no charge for you to come on out and experience the challenge that this courageous couple will be cooking up for us! And I hear that Michelle is quite famous for her spicy “Sassy Salsa™” and incredible Italian sauce. Also part of Michelle’s impressive resume includes hosting and co-producing I-Life Television’s “SHINE” and she has also hosted an 8 week DVD series for women entitled “Live Again after Divorce” which will be released in June 2013 with Aspire Publishing. Michelle is also the national spokesperson for Beth Moore’s “Loving Well” Television Special and has authored several books including “Live Laugh Love Again,” “God Crazy” and “Overcoming the Seven Deadly Emotions” with Harvest House. Her new releases for this year include: “Forever God Crazy,” “God Crazy Freedom”, and the “God Crazy Freedom Series” releasing in stores nationwide April, 2013 in conjunction with the national “God Crazy Freedom” speaking tour. We are going to get a sneak peek into all of this before the rest of the country gets in on it! How about that for those of us who live here in Cape May County? Michelle and Michael have four children, Joshua 20, Aaron 19, Madison, 17, and Jacob 15, and they reside in Nashville, Tennessee.

Michael is also a big Dallas Cowboy Fan and has written a new book about legendary Coach Tom Landry, but I have warned him to leave his Cowboys jersey at home!

So consider yourself invited to stop playing it so safe and dive into living life the way it was meant to be lived! God is not a compartment within our existence but the engine that drives it all! We may not have all that heaven has to offer us yet- but something tells me that there is a whole lot more to be tasted and we choose to settle for so much less. Come on out and play and see what the God crazy is all about! If you are going to be “koo koo” for something- God makes a whole lot more sense than Cocoa Puffs! Hope to see you this weekend. Call us at 609-465-6690 for more information or check it out at http://www.tlccma.org

If we think we can do life on our own, we will never take prayer seriously. Our failure to pray will always lead to us making excuses like: “we lack the discipline to do it regularly” or “we have way too many other obligations that make us busy.” But when something is actually important to us- we make room for it! There are no “if’s” “ands” or “buts’” about it! Our weakness is actually the engine light of our souls going off alerting us to the necessity of refueling and recharging our very hearts! This should be our loud and clear message that we aren’t as strong as we think we are! We need to learn to not run from our helplessness- but run to God with it! This is how a fiery prayer life is born! On any given day- when do we not need somebody much bigger than you and I to see us through to the other side of those flood waters of the chaos of life that attempt to drown us for good?

The power of Jesus being personal to us is actually linked to the helplessness that he sees in us! The apostle Paul said in 2 Corinthians 12:9 the following words: “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses- so that the power of Christ may rest upon me!” Our frail and fragile humanity is the channel that allows us to access the cable of what makes us able and that is God’s amazing and present grace! But while God’s compassion is very much available to those who admit their helpless state- it is to those who are proud and self-sufficient that miss out on the banquet that could satisfy their weary and starving souls! And it all comes down to the fact that they were too full of themselves to leave any room for God’s intervention! God’s power is essential if we are ever going to understand the process and principles of what made Jesus unique as a person! To those with childlike faith- he was everything and more that anyone could wish for! But for the stubborn and stuck up spirit- Jesus could be the biggest of irritants and boldest of whistle blowers exposing the facades of the fake and phony hypocrites! He knows whether you need him or not!

Life is hard for all of us. If you are a believer, you are not exempt from being tested daily! God doesn’t put a holy shield of protection over certain people while exposing others to all of the dangerous elements of life! The Bible tries to explain the need for us to never leave the house without the spiritual armor of God on every piece of our well-being. Ephesians 6 shouts at us to be prayerfully prepared each and every minute- twenty four- seven of every second of our lives! If we go out into the battlefield without our uniform- why are we blaming God when we get hurt? If we get lazy in our exercise, why are we shouting at heaven when we don’t have the endurance that it takes to not be knocked over by all that attempts to trip us up for good? Prayer is our privilege to be in contact with mission control all during the maze we walk here below! Prayer is like the hearing device that allows us to know what to do and where to go and the rest of the details. But yet, like Katniss Everdeen in the Hunger Games Series- we sometimes find the equipment overbearing and we ramble off alone right into disasters that could have been avoided if we only kept praying!

The one who made the mountains can also move the mountains! The one who calls us to live doesn’t leave us high and dry without all the pieces and parts necessary to complete the masterpiece! Jesus points us to pray and to seek God and to be devoted to him and to look to His hand and His insight in order to receive the answers that we seek! God’s power is more valuable than our own. Bold prayers put us in tune with a Big God who never wrote defeat into our destiny! Losing comes when we fail to play the game as it was designed. We don’t practice! We don’t prepare! We don’t pray! And we wonder why we miss out on miracles! It is mostly because we don’t expect any!

When you go to church do you expect to encounter the living God? When you read your Bible- are you doing so in the same way that Payton Manning is reading his playbook? When God is looking for volunteers, are you making eye contact or shrinking back? Have you given up before you even have given looking up an honest chance?

There is a big difference between saying your prayers and living to pray! Both might sound similar on the outside- but one is born out of guilt and obligation and the other is nourished by the necessity to stay connected! I can’t do life on my own! I can’t make it happen but I can live in the midst of the happening when I expectantly call upon God to use me and mold me and make me according to his will his way doing his work here and now!

2013 is a time for bold prayers prayed by believers who trust that God can do what he says he will! It is time to practice what we preach and live what we say and if Jesus is our Lord then we have to go all the way! Our life is a book of all that we live for and we can’t waste any more days when we could have given more to a God who can outdo super abundantly far over and above anything we bring to the table! Don’t just settle for another weekend in church! It is time to ask God boldly to make us his church and his body right here right now! For when we are weak- it gives him the opportunity to be oh so strong and that is a pretty good sight to see! Let’s hunger for our eyes to see more of that because our hearts are praying like our sight depended upon it!