pastorrudytlc

They say, “Real trust develops in the dark.” And if that is true then the faith quotient of many should be rising to an all-time high because they live more like a mole than a marigold. Do you feel like it has been way too long since you have honestly believed and expected God to shower the light in on you and bring personal blessings your way? If you do you are not alone!  Too many sadly operate and navigate their way through days as though God labeled them peasants and relegated their residence to that no higher than the basement.

And when life has been on track- anything that is good that happens doesn’t last!  But when they get it wrong- the hammer comes banging down on hearts and souls without rhyme or reason.  And most can honestly admit that they do more wrong than right!  They know that being faithful in keeping regular company with God and pursuing him first like we all know we should is so much easier said than done! Does your life ever seem way too orchestrated and not very raw and real and authentic and genuine?  If you are there or have been before- it results in an experience that amounts to a journey that has all the anticipation of circling an airport but never receives the excitement of actually landing!

It is a sobering moment to get to a season in your life and then start to wonder if this is the best that it is ever going to be on this earth. It can get depressing to think that there is nothing more to look forward to because face it- life can be basically hard and just plain stink lots of the time. Days like these lead to needing more than cliché laden spiritual pep talks! You need passion! You want substance! You cry for understanding! You don’t need a going through the motions church service that lends to be more sitcom than soothing.  When a soul cries out for nourishment and has a burning desire to taste life and not just have to fight longing and hunger and thirsting and pain and disappointment without solution- we need real compassion and mercy and grace!  Is there anything worse than knowing that even those who hate you are happier than you and are receiving what you know eludes you?  As a Pastor I know if individuals could and would be honest- they might be articulating thoughts like: “Why when I play by God’s rules do I get screwed in the process?”  I resonate with the need to deal with what is actually going on in hearts and not just placating our nice and neat little facades that we present so often and easily in public!

I know God is real and I know my times are in his hands and I want them to be right there!  I don’t want to go my own way and get going on a path that strays and veers away from his sovereign love and providence.  But if there are times that I feel like I am busted and rusted and thoroughly disgusted! I am angry and humbled and I’ve erred and fumbled! But I don’t want my life to end like this with this defeat. I want to live again and fly again and rise again and see again and sing again and taste again and thrive and survive and drive and be fully alive!  If that is stirring within me, I know others have got to be sensing similar stuff!  I know the status quo is not enough to make it go!  We’ve got to get back to where we once belonged!  Return to when we once believed!
Have faith that we will still become! 

As a matter of fact, we have just begun a series at The Lighthouse Church simply entitled RETURN!  I have come to accept that the answer to all of these issues is to not try to just make your life work.  We need more than pragmatism!  We need an internal and eternal soul jam revival!  We need to know how to dwell as close to the Lord as we can this side of heaven where nothing is for sure and there are no real guarantees that we can be exempt from evil- both our own and the consequences of the behavior of others!  If you just try to settle, you will miss out by compromising and corrupting what God has deemed best for each and every one of us! 

O God, help us to know the way to enter fully into this mystery of life that if we are open to you-we will never have to taste it without your ever present love on the menu.  It is so much more than making this life live-able!  It knows life within us even when there is nothing but the stench of death all around us!  We know we are spoiled.  We know we demand when we should be asking!  We know we don’t say “Thank You” near enough and our attitude is definitely lacking gratitude!  But you provide us holy-do overs where we get to start again and we worry so much what others think when you have already given us an open invitation to come on home and return to the one who knows us best and loves us anyway!  I pray that we will entrust our hearts and souls fully to your hands!  It isn’t about us just being good to get more good!  It is about us being with you God!  I want me to be all about you!  In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit- Amen!     

True faith is not sentimental, nor is it sloppy!  It is not random, scattered or vague!  It actually must exclude more than it embraces. Being “born again” is not cultural, political, emotional or simply a feel good warm and fuzzy religious exercise.  Being “born again” is not right wing, republican, a pseudonym, or an invitation to cultish like behavior.  Being “born again” is not an option to Christianity but a command from the Lord Jesus Himself!  In the gospel of John, chapter 3 and verse 3, it was Jesus who clearly proclaimed, “I tell you the truth, unless a man is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”  Faith is surrender, allegiance and the submitting your own heart to that of God’s word, will and way!

When you catch Jesus declaring something in scripture, it is probably a wise thing to do to pay extra attention to the statements flowing from his heart!  When you see Jesus beginning a sentence with “I tell you the truth,” it literally means, “Pay Attention! This is your Captain speaking and if you ever want to get to a destination worth going to- you won’t want to miss this!” To be born again is for you to allow God to do his “holy do-over” in you.  The Bible’s theological big word is “regeneration!”  It is a miraculous spiritual transformation that takes a person out of the darkness and brings him or her alive into God’s glorious light and everlasting life!

What I do love about Jesus is that when he first made this definitive statement about the need to be born again, he didn’t preface it by also adding- “And by the way- you aren’t allowed to ask any questions!”  If you ever hear that true believers ask no questions- ignore it because it is pure bunk! When nobody asks questions- it is probably a good indication that “nobody cares!”  As a pastor, it deflates my spirit when there is not enough wrestling over the facts!  The first thing that happens after Jesus makes his bold statement is that there are legitimate questions being asked!  ‘How can this be?”  Good question!

The word skepticism in our society has gotten a bad rap!  When it is genuinely defined- being a skeptic is a very good quality to own!  The word skepticism actually means to examine a matter closely, to scrutinize it, to study with great care- and minute detail!  Based on this definition, I would summarize that the church today needs more skeptics! 

Now I have met more than one person in my life who tells me, “I am not a believer because I am a skeptic.”  My first question to that individual is a sincere, “So what did you think when you read and studied the Bible?”  When I hear in reply, “I have never read the Bible” I know that this person is misguided and not a real student at all!  Skepticism is someone who will investigate and ponder and gather data!  One thing that a skeptic is not is lazy!  And I know that too many Americans misuse the title of “skeptic” as nothing more than an excuse that keeps them from making a meaningful and deep search of what they truly believe! A true skeptic is a hunter and a detective that stalks the evidence, laying ambush, rummaging for clues and dredging the river bottom!  A skeptic is passionate about discovering the whole truth and wants to believe- but uses safeguards against the hypnotic power of wanting something too bad- so they do the proper homework to get the answers right!

Thomas is the disciple in the Bible that I believe gets wrongly labeled a doubter when he really is nothing more than a real skeptic!  Thomas doubted not to excuse his belief but to establish a robust and real faith!  He doubted so that his belief might be based on something more than rumor and bandwagon wishful thinking!  Thomas said, “Unless I see it with my own eyes and touch it with my own hands, I will not believe.”  “Unless I see,” is not an expression of a lack of faith but rather an expression of his honest heart position.  He wanted his faith to be found in something concrete, something authentic and something of substance!  And when Thomas’ eyes are finally open- he immediately makes a bold proclamation of genuine devotion when he says to Jesus, “My Lord and My God!”  Thomas didn’t hem or haw or dilly or dally!  He was totally in and went to his death because of his solid beliefs!

But just be reminded along your pilgrimage of asking questions!  The basic flaw of doubt is that it will never be fully satisfied.  Doubt by its nature wants to consume you and not complete you!  You must remember that in your entire quest for evidence- and there will be plenty of that along the way- you must still allow and leave room for the infinite!  You must surrender to the notion that finite can’t put God in a box!  God is supernatural and without faith is it impossible to know God and please God because somewhere along the line- man must admit that he is not God! 

Coming to the Lord means admitting your helplessness and we humans don’t do that easily.  The problem goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden when we were duped into thinking that we could really do all that God does!  We thought that it couldn’t be that hard! We thought wrong! Not only is it too hard for us- it is impossible to pull off!  God wants us to come to him- not empty headed but empty handed!  There is a huge difference!  Ask your questions!  Ask them often!  Ask them regularly!  But know that it does take faith to believe in what you might not see with your eyes- but definitely have witnessed the evidence of in your heart, soul and spirit!  And if you want to experience the reality of a “holy do-over in your life” then you must hand over the driving to the Savior!  Jesus take the wheel is not only a hit song- it’s an awesome way of new life!  It is the only way to new life!        

I just officiated my umpteenth wedding this past weekend in Malvern, Pennsylvania.  I truly wish all the best of God’s richest blessings upon Steven and Bethany as they begin the great adventure called marriage!  Love isn’t easy, though.  And love is sure lots more than mere giddy feelings in your tummy and sweaty palms when he or she walks by!  Actually, genuine commitment is a choice of the will and the true foundation that this verb called love should be built solidly upon.  Too many individuals are going into marriage wrongly thinking that “until death do you part,” means that they will stay together until the untimely death of their love or the sensation that they are “still in love” is no longer real which by the way is not an accurate interpretation of the essence of the sentence at all.  As a matter of fact, it is this kind of faulty rationalization that has the divorce rates skyrocketing!  You have got to mean what you say and say what you mean and when you make a promise- at the very least be ready to intend to keep it! 

It just saddens me how many couples seem so ready to give up before they even have had a chance to look up!  They don’t even give their holy matrimony an honest effort once the rocky roads begin to appear on the horizon.  The last I checked, I made sure that I still included the words “for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health and until death do us part” as an important component of the ceremony.  Do we not even heed the words that we are saying?  Are we just robotically repeating what is fed to us without even engaging our whole hearts into the sacred vows that are crossing gingerly across our lips?  Oh just let me kiss the bride and get on to the honeymoon already!    

I recently came across an amazing story that I believe every married couple or those who are intending to get married should take the time and invest their futures to reading!  There was actually a movie out earlier this year based upon the story but as in the case of most movies- the book is so much better and carries much more weight than Hollywood is ever willing to invest into a story because for them it is too much about entertainment and not enough innertainment! 

When Kim Carpenter uttered the words, “Until death do us part,” to his new bride Krickitt during their wedding service, he was making a promise that he was determined to keep!  Little did he know that keeping that promise would take him to the edge of almost losing his sanity in the process!  The two met in September 1992 when Kim, an assistant athletic director and head baseball coach in New Mexico, called a California sportswear company to purchase team jackets. Krickitt Pappas took his order. Kim fell in love with the voice that attended to him.  After lots more calls to “check” on the orders, Kim also discovered that they had much in common and were both Christians. Soon they were talking for several hours a week. It was still the day of landlines and very big long distance phone bills! 

In April of the next year, they finally met in person for the first time. Neither was disappointed with what they saw!  Kim would say about that encounter, “It was like I had known Krickitt all of my life.” He proposed two months later, and they got married September 18, 1993.  It truly was the stuff that dreams and fairy tales are made of. But it didn’t take long for the hard times to appear at the door step of the Carpenter family.  Less than ten weeks after their wedding, their vows were put to the ultimate test. As they drove to visit Krickitt’s parents for Thanksgiving, Krickitt swerved to miss a slow-moving vehicle and was broadsided by a truck as a result of her actions. Their car flipped twice before landing upside down. Kim suffered a broken rib and contusions to his heart and lungs, a concussion, and a broken hand. But the car’s roof collapsed around Krickitt and fractured her skull. She would hang upside down for 70 minutes before rescuers were able to free her. The doctors doubted she would survive. Krickitt’s parents arrived the next day. Told of the slim chance of recovery, they joined Kim in prayer. That day the swelling in her brain started to subside, and her dangerously low blood pressure miraculously began to rise. Within ten days she was off life support but remained in a coma. As Krickitt awoke 21 days later, Kim soon discovered that she would never be the same.

The trauma to her brain caused retrograde and posttraumatic amnesia–erasing from her memory virtually all of the two years surrounding the accident. Kim was heartbroken the day he heard his wife say she wasn’t married. She had no memory of her husband either in her head or in her heart. During the initial weeks of Krickitt’s neurological rehabilitation, Kim was by her side pushing her toward recovery and trying to jog her memory with stories and photos. Krickitt, though, resented “that stranger” and told him that she hated him.  Kim was acting much more like a father and a coach than the young husband that he was!

With medical bills soaring out of control, and no spark in Krickitt’s memory of her hubby- Kim reluctantly returned to work. Many in his position might have given up and left to make a fresh start; after all, 90 percent of the bills belonged to a woman who didn’t even know him. Kim did have doubts about their future, but he had made a vow to God and to Krickitt and he intended to run to it and not from it. Krickitt remained confused as to who she had been. The old Krickitt was gone and she could not grasp the role of being a wife to a man that she had no heart connection to!  

When all seemed hopeless, Kim finally agreed to see a counselor and when the therapist saw the two of them together, upon his advice- the couple began dating all over again to establish brand new emotional bonds that develop in the early days of a relationship. New memories and new love emerged. Kim was willing to court his bride as if it was all new because for Krickitt, it literally was- and the girl who fell in love with Kim once- fell in love all over again! In a story that only the unconditional love of God could initiate, On May 25, 1996, Kim and Krickitt married again, exchanging new vows and new rings. “Only one thing can surpass forever the painful events we have felt and that is the love I have for you,” Kim promised. Today they are still married with two beautiful kids and they tell their story to anyone willing to listen! 

Are you ready to give up on the promises that you once made before God and family and friends gathered together in a church many years ago?  Like every other couple who ever said “I do,” you will encounter highs and lows and ebbs and flows- but unless the union has been pronounced DOA- could it be that maybe you could rekindle what once was if you just got back to doing and being who you once were?  Do you remember the vows you made?  When was the last time you lovingly gazed into the eyes of your spouse and reminded each other of those passionate promises that you know you once meant with every living fiber of your soul?  I encourage you to go beyond the movie, The Vow- to the book!  The Vow: The True Events that Inspired the Movie written by Kim and Krickitt Carpenter for less than $10 on Amazon.com.  If you promise to read it and don’t have the money- I will buy one for you!  You have got my word on it!  A vow I plan to keep!

I have just completed another memorable and meaningful venture to San Marcos in Puerto Plata of the Dominican Republic.  And now, whenever I do return back to New Jersey these days, I still end up leaving big chunks of my heart back in the Caribbean with some of the most incredible people that God has placed upon this planet.  I can honestly tell you that my devotion has nothing to do with the climate of the DR.  I am not going to lie to you. I hate the weather there!!! The excessive heat does a number on my body and physically wipes me out early and often in any given day.  I don’t care what kind of super power deodorant that I do try, I am never dry for longer than a minute or two over there.  But I am realizing that here in the States, it is my eyes that are not too dry for longer than a minute or two because of the genuine compassion and love and mercy that God has given me for my brothers and sisters who inhabit that little corner of our globe.  God has made us full-fledged family!

We here in this country are always bragging about how blessed we are! And I can’t help but notice that nine times out of ten when we do talk of all of our good gifts- we are referring to the animate objects that we have compiled in our possession! We brag as if it is this and that which makes us so well off- but does it really?  Look around you!  We’ve got more junk than any other part of this planet and yet we are all still yearning for more and still unsatisfied in our gut!  It is very true that we may not have all the so called “comforts of home” when we are in San Marcos of the Dominican Republic- but something tells me that maybe comfort is just flat out overrated!!! I do know that I love living life when I am there.  I do things there that I never do at home! 

Do you know that last week I played baseball again?  Not slow pitch softball mind you, but the real hardball deal!  We got together at a sandlot in the neighborhood, invited the men to come on out and play some ball.  I was 12 years old all over again- except that now I am 52!  We chose teams and I was back at first base playing with some guys who had amazing talent.  One young man almost put a hole right through my glove hand because he threw so hard and fast!  My palm is still a shiny bruised shade of black and blue!  But I came alive and even though the temps were a blistering 100 degrees- we played and shared and had a picnic and I even got to tell them all about my story and heard some of their stories and we connected heart to heart!  When was the last time we had a neighborhood impromptu picnic in the states?   Maybe I should ask- would there ever be a first time?  We don’t get together like we should because we are too busy taking care of the stuff that we are tied down to that we say makes us so blessed!  What is wrong with this picture?

Maybe the secret of success really is more about loving God and taking care of one another more than the gathering things part anyway! We are so busy competing with one another for more rights to hoard the items that we don’t even need that we usually don’t even realize that what we really want to do is just have the time to come out and play! Hey, your stuff may look nicer and cost more and be bigger and better than my stuff but in the end it is still just stuff and stuff can’t love you!  You can have my stuff because the less I have the more mobile I can be!  I don’t want to be so weighed down by the contents of this earth that I might miss the privilege of soaring to the heights of the real joy that is found when I take the time to get to know the beautiful majestic God created containers of heavenly gold that are known as human beings!  I want to hug someone that can hug me back!  I want my love and time and energy and tons and tons of sweat to be invested in those that are eternal and not that which is temporary and passing away!

On Sunday before church, we as the entire body of believers of San Marcos, both young and old, made up of both USA and Dominicans, marched triumphantly through the humble streets of the neighborhood together holding homemade banners that we had made the day before that proclaimed our unashamed love for God- and invited others to join us for the Service to follow- and served as the backdrop to our singing songs at the top of our lungs to just celebrate life!  “This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it,” Scripture exhorts us- but how can you be glad in the present when you are so stressed out by yesterday and so overwhelmed by tomorrow?  Could it be that if we gave more away- it would allow us to be less worried by what doesn’t really matter in the long run anyway?

I have planned a Banner Day for The Lighthouse Church on Sunday August 26^th at our annual Beach Service down at Morey’s Pier.  I can only hope and pray that we here will be just as exuberant about the exercise as my San Marcos family was.  If we will only make the time to take the time to totally dive in to the project- it will be a sight of pure joy to God and an opportunity for all of us to make a bold proclamation of who we are and what we are truly all about!  If I can bring banners to Citi Field to cheer on a lousy Mets baseball team in New York City- how much more I long and want to make a placard of praise to a God who never loses what I fully surrender to Him and He will always be about genuine victory!  We don’t just win a pennant- we win a place with Him forever!  If you have nothing else to do on that Sunday- join us!  But don’t come without your artistic bed sheet of sheer shouts to a shining Savior!

Thank you Lord for allowing me another trip to San Marcos!  Thanks to all my family and friends who helped support the venture with prayers and needed finances!  Thanks to “Just Sports” in Cape May Court House for donating the first new baseballs that these men and boys had ever seen! Thanks to Dr. Eric Thomas for the cases of toothbrushes and tooth paste.  Thanks to Tina and Dan Nees for the many “Michael Fisher T-Shirts” that we handed out.  Thanks to Doreen Verrity and the ladies who sewed with love the unique stuffed animals that we passed out to all the kids!  Lord willing, I will be taking a group of college and career aged young people in January!  It will be here before you know it so until then I wrote a little ditty sung to the tune of “My Favorite Things!”

“Avocado sandwiches straight from the tree… Boiled yuca and bottled pepsi… The smiles of the people who love here so free! These are a few of my favorite things! Singing “El Gozo” again and again…  Playing real baseball like I did back when…  Making our banners that tell all God can…  These are a few of my favorite things!  When the kids hug- sharing God’s love-makes me feel so glad- I simply remember my favorite things and then I don’t feel so bad!”

Yes it is time for our annual journey to San Marcos of Puerto Plata in the Dominican Republic.  This year I will be taking along a Team of 22 individuals made up of a few adults but mostly courageous young people who are not satisfied in just wasting their summer- but they are longing to invest it into what will equate into eternal dividends!  In the heat of the heart of August, we sojourn to a land that may be impoverished when it comes to material things- but they are very rich in those wonderful intangibles like contagious faith and genuine joy and an enviable gift of gracious hospitality!  Why do those who have so little always seem to be so ready to share so much more than those who already have?   

As you read this, we will already be there and jumping right in to our missions venture from August 2^nd through the 8^th!  We have been going to the same area since 2003 when The Lighthouse Church made a connection with some wonderful people who lived in a tiny neighborhood, off the beaten resort path, that just ached with a hunger for the Lord and a place for them to gather to worship.  We bought land and built a church and saw it as a privilege and an honor to come alongside Pastor Jose and Maritza Pena.  Together we are still in the process of building a school and to be totally candid, we on this side have received way more than we have given by doing home makeovers in the barrio for those who attend the church and even those who don’t!  We have provided strategic water tanks in the area so that safer “agua” is there to drink and above all else- we have become family with “hermanos y hermanas” that we would never have known if we didn’t go beyond the boundaries of our own backyard!

It really is all about the relationships.  This venture is so much more than some impersonal good deed that we nice rich Americans do!  For me- it is a family reunion!  I love hanging with my San Marcos Flock!  We all dive in right into the culture.  We eat what they eat!  I am already anticipating and salivating over my avocado- straight from the tree- sandwich! And yes, we may give up all the comforts of home for a week and sweat it out in some steamy temperatures that will wreak havoc with my body- but it does make us all realize how much we do have and how little of that we do share when we are home here in the States!  Little things do mean a lot but we humans normally don’t appreciate what we have until we don’t have it anymore!  Maybe now would be a good time to pause and say a prayer of ‘Thanks!” for something that you have been taking for granted lately!  

I purposely lead the Youth Trip because I love the willingness and openness of these awesome kids to do whatever it takes to make some lasting lifetime memories.  Let’s face facts- us older adults tend to do lots more grumbling than we should!  “It’s too hot! The shower has only cold water and there was a rat and a giant spider in there with me!  There is no computer or television or soft mattresses or air conditioning!”  Right from the time that our airplane lands- there is little complaining and lots of contributing amongst the teens!  We want to get to the neighborhood!  We can’t wait to play with the kids!  These precious children with their smiles and their need to be loved and held- how can you not be moved by that?  I love leading the group in some jamming for Jesus singing!  I show off my aging baseball skills with the other men in a neighborhood tournament!  I preach and share with several “iglesias” my passionate love for the word of God!  Love in any language is a heart to heart way of communication anyway.  I may fumble my way through my high school remembrance of the little that I learned in my Spanish classes, but I know that we will speak volumes in the very same lingo when it comes to expressing acts of kindness via our behavior on behalf of our Savior!  I know that even here in our own country, churches would do a whole lot better with a little less talk and a lot more action!  Who can you surprise with a random act of kindness today?

The theme for this year’s adventure is “Todo Poderoso!” When you translate that into English, it means “Total Power!”  Our verse for the week is from Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”  It is not by our own efforts that we are going to do what we do but by our availability to becoming instruments for God to do what He wants to do in us and through us.

I would hope and pray that every one of my readers gets a chance to go on a Missions Trip some time in their life.  It is necessary for us to get out of our own comfort zones and be able to view a much bigger God doing a much grander thing in a much more gigantic way than we sometimes give Him credit for!  God is not an American.  God is not a republican or a democrat!  God speaks a language that includes every tongue of every tribe in every nation in every color, shape and size and economic class!  I sometimes think that what we here in this country call blessings actually may be the very obstacles that block the real true heavenly blessings from coming our way!  Using things and loving people- that’s the way it’s got to be.       

So please say a prayer for us this week.  I will share with you all when I return!  Let me close with some powerful lyrics in “Espanol!” The name of this song is the very same words of our theme:

“Todo Poderoso!” “La unica razon de mi adoracion… Eres tu mi Jesus… Mi unico motivo para vivir…  Eres tu mi señor… Mi unica verdad…  Esta en ti…  Tu eres mi luz y mi salvacion… Mi unico amor…  Eres tu señor…  Y por siempre  te alabare… Tu eres todo poderoso…  Eres grande y majestuoso…  Eres fuerte, invensible y no hay nadie como tu…”

                                I know I am going to make some of my faithful readers unhappy with my article today, but being an individual who has been wired by God to express what is stirring within his heart- I must get this off of my chest!  Is there anybody else out there who like me were raised in the era when everybody who participated in a team sport didn’t get to win the game and we all didn’t get a trophy and every now and then we even got cut from a team or were told that we weren’t quite good enough yet and needed to improve if we wanted to be part of the program? 

The political correctness of our day just sometimes drives me crazy! I remember being heartbroken the first time that I ever got cut from the basketball team- but I also remember my Dad teaching me that we would learn from this experience and practice harder and the next time when I tried out and made it- it was a true personal victory!  I had worked hard and made the team because I wanted to! In the process I also learned that not everything is handed to you- and if you really want something or to excel in a particular area- you’ve got to practice and give it your best and be committed!  As a Coach for the last 30 years, I believe that there is nothing worse for me than trying to lead a wonderful young kid who would rather be anywhere else than on a sports team- and yet- they are made to be there because their parents want them to play!  I have actually had children ask me to not put them in the game or to take them out of the line-up!  This was sacrilege in my day!  Nobody wanted to sit the bench and back then- many kids did!

I tossed these thoughts out to my Facebook Friends this week and here are some of the replies that I received.  Dana shared, “My best friend and I thought life was over when we didn’t make the cheer leading squad in 7th grade but guess what? We survived!!!”  Janie who today is as successful a woman as one can be, reminisced about always being the last one picked for kickball.  I am sure they don’t let the kids pick teams anymore for fear that there must be somebody picked last or worse yet- not picked at all!  It is quite ironic now knowing that there is nothing that matters in life today that Janie wouldn’t be everybody’s first pick for! Helen also chimed in, “What life lessons are learned when everyone makes the team? I can understand for the really little guys but when you are older you have to learn to work hard to reach a goal. Everything is handed to kids today and they expect to be given all that they feel entitled to. When they get out into the real world, many of them can’t even think for themselves. That is why in my opinion the work ethic stinks with the younger people.”

Cal had some wise words when he summarized, “Winning and losing, that is what life is and everything else in between. It is better to learn it when you are young, than be shocked by it later as an adult.” I know Cal is on to something when you look at the condition of today’s professional sports!  Do you see how overpaid spoiled players can get their managers and coaches fired? And there is very little accountability for a player to keep working hard once he has a guaranteed contract unless he was raised with an ethic of inner integrity!  And once ownership commits to paying such a selfish player a ridiculous amount of money- even if that athlete might think that practice is a waste of time- most CEO’s won’t cut bait when it hits them so hard in the wallet!

My Facebook Friend Jim asked a great question, “So what era do you think that it was better to raise a child?”  I am not going to mince words here.  And please remember, these are my thoughts and you have the total freedom to disagree.  I do acknowledge that we live amidst a day where the technology has surpassed even my wildest dreams since I entered it back in 1960!  I am not going to be a hypocrite and say that I too don’t benefit from the internet and cable and droids and wifi!  But I long for simpler days.  We might have instant access with one another, but we don’t take the time that is necessary to go deeper with one another. 

No matter what, we ate as a family at the supper table every night together.  Not even my family can pull that off in this crazy world and I pine for it terribly.  Back in the 60’s and 70’s, we shared and laughed and talked and it was the chance to catch up on what was going on in each other’s worlds.  And then there were the Sunday dinners where the extended family would come and we’d all connect lots better than we presently do now via texting.  Where do the generations mix in this culture?  Where do we learn face to face interaction with those outside our natural peer groups?

And as for the way we do sports and grades and ventures that try to appease everyone and yet satisfy nobody- we all can’t win all the time!  Not everybody can play or excel or get an A!  I purposely would choose classes where I knew that good grades weren’t easily passed out because I wanted to learn something!  I didn’t get a trophy every time but when I did- it sure meant something!  And we were corrected when we were wrong by adults who weren’t our parents.  Have you ever tried to correct a child today who is not your own.  Even as a Pastor, I can’t tell you how many times that I have been disrespected and even hear comments like, “Who do you think you are?”  I just wish we wouldn’t be so afraid to fail.  A failure is not somebody who doesn’t make the team or gets a D or doesn’t get a ribbon at the end of Field Day- it is somebody who never tries or uses his or her God given talent to make a difference!  Not everybody can bat clean up or be the quarterback or the Class President.  But it takes all kind of parts to make a body work!  And while my thumb doesn’t get a whole lot of airplay- I know my hand would be helpless without it.

So where do we go from here?  I hope we can make wiser decisions in the days to come when it comes to coaching and teaching and raising a family and just plain being a good citizen and loving neighbor.  If you don’t stand for something, you will fall for anything and there are those moments when you must step up- and be real and say what you mean and mean what you say and if your goal is to truly teach and help and assist and affirm- even if it is not received well- you did well by sharing what was genuinely in your heart!  God loves you even if you are a C student and even if you didn’t make the National Honor Society or can’t turn a double play at second base!  What are the lessons we are trying to teach?  Just show up and you get an A- or work hard and give it your best and even if you lose- you know you left it all out on the field and coming in second makes your hunger burn to next year come in first!  So stop giving everybody a trophy and start giving everybody a chance!     

Don’t get me wrong!  I love Dr. Eric Thomas.  I think he is a great guy!  But I am not always in a hurry to see him because it usually means that I need some serious work on my teeth!  I have never been one who was able to brag about having no cavities.  Usually I am the one who keep the dentists in business!  And root canals have got to be the worst because they have to keep digging and going low below the surface to get to the main culprit of bacteria that is truly causing the problem!  That usually means extra anxiety for me because I breathe through my mouth and not my nose and all that drilling usually leads to the fear of a potential drowning for me in the chair!  But so far, so good and I have survived every appointment and actually can smile bigger and brighter because of it!

I understand that we all want to look good to one another and keep up the best of images that we possibly can!  In my line of work as a Minister, I often see people go a bit overboard in laying it on thick while they try to show off how self-righteous they are!  But I do know that God can see what even a trained human eye can miss!  I also know that God is not content to just have a surface relationship with us!  He too is looking to go deeper and to deal with the potential dangers that creep around within us that could sabotage our souls!  In a sense, we must allow God to also do a holy root canal in us if we ever long to have a genuine look of joy upon our faces!  And I have also learned through much experience with His touch that if I would just give Him my past, He assures for me a more meaningful present and an even more awesome future that I could never make happen on my own!

We can’t ignore the sin that wants to destroy us from within!  It doesn’t work anywhere we might look.  A few decades ago, several American companies authorized by the U.S. government attempted to bury toxic waste products underground. They filled large metal containers with chemical waste and other life-threatening products, sealed the drums tightly, and buried them deep down below the topsoil. They thought that was the end of it. Within a short time, however, many of the containers began to leak and the toxic waste started seeping to the surface, causing all sorts of problems. In some locations, it killed off the vegetation and ruined the water supply. People had to move out of their homes. In one section near Niagara Falls, known as the Love Canal, an inordinate number of people began dying of cancer and other debilitating diseases. Many communities are still suffering the effects of toxic-waste burials to this day.

You might ask, “What went wrong?” The answer is simply that those in charge tried to bury something that was too toxic. It couldn’t be contained. They thought they could cover it, and be rid of it once and for all. But they didn’t realize that the materials they were attempting to hide away were so powerful. They were way too toxic for the containers to hold. They never dreamed that one day these contaminants would resurface, and they would have to eliminate them all over again. But this time, the toxic materials would be dispersed, and much more difficult to deal with. Had they disposed of them properly in the first place, they wouldn’t have had this terrible problem.

It’s the same with us. When somebody hurts us, somebody does us wrong, instead of letting it go and trusting God to make it up to us, we bury it deep down on the inside. We attempt to cram an unforgiving spirit, resentment, anger, and other destructive reactions into our “leak-proof” containers. We seal those lids tightly. Then we put them aside and say, “Good. I’m not going to have to deal with that. I’m rid of it once and for all.”  But unfortunately, just as that toxic waste tends to resurface, one day the things you have stamped into your subconscious or buried deeply in the recesses of your heart will rise to the surface and begin to contaminate your life. We can’t live with poison inside of us and not expect it to eventually do us harm. Face it. You are not strong enough to contain the toxicity in your life. You need help from someone bigger and stronger than yourself. That’s why you need to give that bitterness, resentment, and other contaminants to God.  It is time to allow God to detoxify you fully and thoroughly!  Get in the chair and let him work his magic as he deals with the root issues!!!

Forgiveness is the key to being free from toxic bitterness. Forgive the people who hurt you.
Forgive the boss who did you wrong. Forgive the friend who betrayed you. Forgive the parent who mistreated you when you were younger.  Forgiveness doesn’t let that person off the hook; it gets them unhooked from you because you can’t bear the weight of carrying that poison around!   Get rid of all that poison today. Don’t let the root of bitterness grow deeper and continue to contaminate your life.  Let God do a holy root canal in you right now!

I was reading this morning from Exodus 32 in the Bible that tells of the troublesome tale of how God’s people so quickly abandoned Him in order to bow down at the first synagogue of the dairy cow!  Here was Moses up on the mountain meeting with Jehovah God as the Lord was making a way for the gap to be closed so that it could become possible for Him to dwell and be amidst His flock.  The Ten Commandments were literally hand carved in stone by the finger of the Almighty.  This was no computer generated form letter!  It was God’s heart and holiness being revealed in bold script before His own!  But because God was apparently not into speed writing, the people on the other side of Sinai grew impatient and began to draw their own conclusions and their misleading lead to an all-out orgy masked under the guise of a worship service.  How could they reduce the One who had opened the Red Sea and rained manna miraculously down from above into nothing more than a moo cow still astounds me every time I read it.

But then before I become nauseously locked into a holier than thou mode, I begin to realize that maybe I am not much different than those who demanded refunds because they got so destroyed from their participation in the Cow Aid Concert in the wilderness!  Maybe I too rather than being sold out for my Lord have way too easily sold out my faith in the Lord once too often along the pilgrimage of Christianity!  Why do I live like I am the center of this story?  Why do I act like God’s sole purpose in the universe is to tender His care to me and render His power to meet my every whim?

When I don’t get what I want- and more often than not, I don’t- my first reaction to God way too often, is that of accusation rather than childlike trust!  I pout rather than place my broken plans and dreams into His sovereign providence.  I subconsciously behave like I know better than He does about me and that results in  my story becoming way too much about what God can do for me rather than what God wants to be in me!  Why are we so misguided and so easily prone to fashion idols with our own hands and then proceed to throw a party so that we can bow down to these golden calves that do nothing more than give us some kind of perverted permission to let all hell break loose within our souls?  We all know when it is happening within us.  It is like we tie up and gag the Spirit within us and lock Him in a closet so that we can go out and do whatever it is that feeds the insatiable hunger for an anything goes mentality that rises without warning within our ego!

And the temple that we should be becomes reduced to nothing more than a circus tent for our sin!  And rather than singing the songs that rise up to bless the Creator- we start chanting melodies that elevate the creation to a place that it should never be given and deep down inside we know that none of this is how it was divinely designed to be.  And if repentance doesn’t follow quickly enough to wake us up from this free for all- we are in grave danger of forfeiting our soul in an attempt to win a pot at the poker game of all evil!

I have wasted way too much time on the way because I think I have been striving in the wrong direction!  Is my desire to walk with God based upon a true and sincere heart that longs to love Him and wants to be part of His story? Or is it more about rather than being with God for His honor- I actually spend more time negotiating with Him so that I can have my own way in the direction that I think my legacy should go. Is it a relationship or a business venture that I sincerely long for? 

Thanks be to God, it is never too late to stop this crazy merry go round of a ride that I have wandered aimlessly upon!  I have come to know that even in my mess- the Lord’s message is still “I will complete the good work that I began in you!”  It just makes me very sober of how quickly all of us could throw an eternal privilege all away because of an internal second of pleasure!  When you bow down and pray today- and all of us do whether we realize it or not- is the one you are making your petitions to really the One who can carry this whole thing through?  I thank God for the cows that provide milk and burgers- but I am not that off track that I will be thanking the cows as god for god!  Neither will I look to sports or prestige or pleasure or position or possessions to substitute for the Lord who reigns even when it rains on you and me!

It is not about me feeling entitled but God being obeyed!!!  He has showed us the way to go and we must not long for a short cut that will result in death. We cannot take the clear details of what the Lord has laid out for us and personally paraphrase them and edit them for our own ease! In settling for our own version we have committed a perversion when it comes to all that matters most! God, I need to live on this earth always falling back and leaning on Your everlasting arms and not looking to trust my own strength! I want to discover joy only in the circle of God’s sovereignty, holiness and unfailing love!!

There is a story that I would like to share with you.  Some of you might have heard it before because occasionally this inspirational tale makes its way to Christian Radio, or to a sermon. I first heard it back in 1984, when then President Ronald Reagan told it to the crowd at the Annual National Day of Prayer Breakfast in Washington DC.  I last heard it told when famed Christian Speaker Tony Campolo also told the story at a Peace Rally about a year ago.

The story is the historic behavior of Saint Telemachus, who lived about 400 AD.  As is the case with all saints, Telemachus wasn’t born all that holy.  What we know about him was recorded about 50 years after his death by Bishop Theodoret of Cyprus.  We are told that Telemachus was an unruly young man, caught up in the pleasures of the day.  After studying all over Asia Minor, Telemachus found himself sucked into the world of pleasure and indulgence. After wandering around aimlessly for many years, trying to find meaning in fun and excitement, he eventually had his epiphany and surrendered his heart and life over to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

Immediately following his conversion he entered a monastery and became a monk.  When we think of monastery’s today, we think of quiet remote outposts, out of the way, and far from the temptations of society. Nothing could be further from the truth. At that time, and really through most of history, monasteries formed the backbone of the communities they existed in.  It was monasteries that served as the business, political, and education centers of the communities in which the resided.  They would have been some of the busiest places of ancient life.  Our churches today should be more like the monasteries of old.  Rather than looking to be isolated from society- we should look to be the insulation for our culture-looking for constant opportunities to be the salt and light and hope and love for the hungering world around us!  It was from within such a monastery that Telemachus would have lived, studied, prayed and served. It wasn’t solitary, but quite the opposite.

It is said that in the year 402 AD, the young monk felt called to leave the monastery and head out into the world to not only learn what the world had to offer, but to spread the message of Christ to all who would listen.  One day in prayer, Telemachus felt called by God to leave immediately and head to Rome.  Upon arriving in Rome, he was immediately caught up in the crowd.  The crowd was immense and excited.  Soon Telemachus found himself giddy with the contagious excitement of those around him.  He wasn’t sure where he was headed but he knew whatever it was, it had to be great, and there was no way he was going to miss out on it.

Within a few moments he found himself deep in the seating area of the Roman Coliseum.  As the gladiators lined up below the emperors seat, together they stood and yelled out: “We, who are about to die, salute you.”  Soon the gladiators pulled their weapons and the bloody brawl began just a few hundred yards away from Telemachus.  The grotesque nature of the sport appalled him. Worse yet, was the reactions of those around him.  The spectators were in a blood thirsty ecstasy over what they were seeing.  Telemachus was sickened and shocked. In that instant he realized that it must stop. From his seat, he yelled out to the warriors: In the Name of Jesus Stop this Thing!!!  But no one heard.

Without thinking Telemachus jumped over the wall and into the battle arena of the fighters.  The gladiators surprised by the unexpected guests momentarily stopped their fights and stared at the monk. “IN THE NAME OF JESUS STOP THIS THING!” he yelled over and over again.  After a few moments, the silence turned to chuckles and outright laughter. One of the gladiators, with a sick enjoyment, took a swing at Telemachus with his sword, just barely missing him. With that the others began to draw their swords.  Soon they were chasing this man, across the field of battle to the laughter of the crowd. Most who witnessed the spectacle thought he was a clown or there for comic relief.  That was until they heard what he was yelling; In The Name of Jesus- Stop this Thing! Telemachus ran, jumped, dodged and ducked, and with each passing moment his words grew clearer and louder; “In the Name of Jesus, Stop this Thing!”  Eventually the gladiators surged and when the dust cleared, there laid Telemachus on the ground with a sword in the center of his chest.

All of a sudden there was a holy silence in the crowd. It was said in that moment, that his words still echoed in the coliseum; In the Name of Jesus Stop this Thing!  After what seemed like an eternity, one man got up from his seat, and left in silence. Another followed and then another until everyone got up from their seat and left in silence and disbelief.  The site of the dead monk in the center of the coliseum, and the reaction of the crowd, also led the emperor and his guests to silently stand, turn and leave the coliseum.  After a few minutes, the Gladiators put their swords down and they too left. All that remained in that giant coliseum was the scrawny lifeless body of the young monk. History reports that this was the very last gladiator game at the coliseum.  There was no more killing in the Coliseum. There were no more gladiator matches in Rome. There was no more killing as sport. All because one man, stood up and boldly said “In the Name of Jesus Stop this Thing!”

Church Family, we need to be the people, who no longer let the culture and the ways of the world influence us, and instead us start to influence them. We need to look at all the ways of the world that lead to pain, bitterness, anger, hate, and injustice and scream out: “IN THE NAME OF JESUS STOP THIS THING SO YOU CAN START A NEW LIFE!”  When we see the oppression of our neighbors, when we see the greed of our leaders, when we see the system failing those who need the system the most, we need to stand up and say; IN THE NAME OF JESUS STOP THIS THING!” When our daughters are told that beauty is a measure of the skin they expose, or when our sons are told that power is shown in a clenched fist, or when the world is told that we have to care about us and me first, we need to be the ones who say: “IN THE NAME OF JESUS STOP THIS THING!”

It truly breaks my heart, that the faithful body of Christ has evolved from being Jesus Followers to merely being church gatherers! Somewhere along the way, the radically revolutionary and world changing message was replaced with something else. We turned the church from a hospital for sinners into a sanctuary for us to hide out, and to pretend that we have one upped the world. We come to this place on weekends, and we assume that just by our mere presence indicates that we are different. Yet we leave here and we allow the world to continue forward on its broken path. We have exchanged what was miraculous and wonderful about that early church, for a place that serves as our escape. Instead of finding the place that we come to recharge from standing face to face with the world, we have created a place where we go and pretend that we are different.

We need to be willing to see through the crowd, and let our voice be heard.  We need to be willing to jump over the wall and into the heart of the battle.  We need to be willing to look straight onto the laughs of ridicule of the world.  If you want this place, this church to make a real change in our community then it all begins with bringing the good news to the poor and proclaiming release to the captives and bringing sight to the blind and going into all the world to show and shine with the love of Jesus!  We must be willing to look at the world and not be afraid to grab their hands, and with true passion and sincere love say: “In the Name of Jesus- Stop this Thing!”

The other night my wife asked me if I was happy.  I answered quickly with a pronounced, “No!” As a matter of painful fact, I haven’t been happy for any length of time in years!  Now don’t get me wrong.  I have had my moments of genuine joy over the quickly passing months- but as for being truly content, I can honestly say that I have not experienced a sustained euphoria in quite a while.  And I am not proud of that last sentence- just talking truth!

This is quite the quandary for me because I live to laugh.  I gravitate to comedy!  I have felt the cleansing and healing flow of a deep and invigorating belly whopper!  And I know that it is my being divinely designed and equipped with a working sense of humor that has kept me alive! But I have to admit that a larger percentage of my hours in this past decade have been spent battling a deep depression and a devastating despair- complete with an overwhelming sense that God has abandoned me and left my building.  I ache with a daily hungering to grasp a handle on why things have happened in my journey as they have and I beg the Lord to give me some kind of sign that would aid me with a renewed and personal purpose and a practical assurance that my life is not some kind of cruel joke.  For an internal optimist it is rather deflating to always be on the wrong end of the proverbial shoe dropping!  It makes me want to go barefoot and I would if I wasn’t given such ugly feet!

Please change the scenery God, this story is getting old!  How come my dark night of the soul has to be prolonged to match the span of an Alaskan winter? Will I ever be given the room to just be free so I can be me again?  I feel like I am running with one of those bungee cords attached to my behind!  I bust out of the starting gate with the appearance that I am gaining ground only to be caught and flung wildly back to the beginning in a moment of no control!  I feel like an American prisoner of war in an enemy camp during World War II.  I know that I am on the winning side- but the enemy won’t stop beating on me until he is finally stopped for good.  I am not going to give up on my faith for I know that it is only the grace of God that allows me the ability to navigate my way through these foggy seasons.  I just long for the time that I know I will be able to move and breathe and exercise my spirit with no hold back pressures again!  It will come.  I don’t know how and I obviously don’t know when- but I know it will get here! 

And if you are worried about me, don’t be.  I have discovered that I have lots of company in the men and women who battled through their own issues in the pages of the scriptures.  Have you ever really read Jeremiah’s tale?  If you dig within the lines that he rattles so deliciously beautiful in the journals of his soul- one might wonder if he ever smiles at all!  It is a hard life and yet he knows that the circumstances that pound upon his body all around him don’t rob him of the steady supply of faithfulness, compassion and daily mercies to his soul!  He knows God’s love never fails even though everything else does.  Jeremiah is not one of the present day feel good saints.  He has been field tested and whatever he says- I hang on to because I know that he knows how it feels.  You also get the same message when you take a slower trip through David’s Psalms and Habakkuk’s Sonnets.  I think that somewhere along the line we were sold a bill of goods that lied to us and deceived us into believing that if God was really good, He would owe us an easy walk that would feature us tip toeing through the tulips amidst the garden of earth.  But that close and peaceful walk was defied and denied when we disobeyed the Lord in the Garden of Eden and when our sin entered into the picture- it was no longer a picnic we were promised- but it became a rescue where He would have to save us from being devoured in the poppy fields of delusion before we could ever step foot in His Emerald City!  God has been there for me by always staying there with me through the deaths of my children Nicholas and Benjamin and the miscarriages of the other three babies that Terri and I never got to meet.  He has carried me as a Father would pick up His own son, as I continue to miss my Dad daily since he died in 2000, a victim of such an ugly bout of cancer. The other night I had such a vivid dream of Heaven where I actually got to enter into a party room of reunion and I didn’t wake up until after I got to cling to my Dad once again.  And I knew as I woke up that God was reminding me that as lousy as this life can be some times- my story won’t end in defeat! 

I guess what I am trying to communicate through this weekly outpouring of my precious two cents worth of wisdom is that maybe the goal is not to be happy through it all- but more to not lose the hope that God is making me holy in it all!  There is a depth to me that I never had in my early days of Christianity.  I can say that my commitment to Jesus has been road tested and battle proven!  It has survived what my critics once pronounced would do me in for good.  The old song we once sang told me that “Happiness is to know the Savior,” but I tend to now disagree.  I think it is better said that, “Survival from the battling barrages of life’s bombshells is to have Jesus know you!”  I still love to smile but I do know this and I say it from the bottom of my heart and that is my laughs these moments are not cheap but treasured times that are almost hors devours of what lies ahead in that state of reunion!  

“O Joy that seekest me through pain, I cannot close my heart to thee; I trace the rainbow through the rain, and feel the promise is not vain, that morn shall tearless be…”  George Matheson