Tomorrow it starts..

Tomorrow my brother is entering a Teen Challenge program to get treatment for his Alcohol problem. I am really proud of him for finally acknowldeging that first he has a problem, and then secondly doing something about it. What really made me think of blogging about this family issue is something he said to me. The program is 13 months, and he was somewhat taken aback by the length of time it was. "It is a whole year of my life" he said to me once. That got me to thinking.
What is a year of your life worth? In the span of an adult life we spend more than a year sleeping. We spend more than a year probably watching TV. I know my kids probably have already spent a year of their lives playing games on the Playstation or the Wii.
So is a year of your life spent in treatment worth it? I think so, we spend so much of our other time doing other things that really won't affect our lives that much. But getting a problem fixed, well that is a life changing.
So I am hoping that his life will be so different in 13 months and it will be a good investment in the course of his life.

Changes in the weather...

Well we have been having some end times like weather here in OK. Lets see, we had almost a foot of snow at Christmas, another 6 inches a few days after, some other snowfall through January and then we had 6 inches of snow the first day of Spring, March 20th. MARCH!! What happened to Global WARMING? It has been so cold this year that I saw snowmen wearing sweaters.
So Sunday before last we had to cancel church because of the snow. Now many would ask me, why do you cancel church for six inches of snow. Well first, we do not have snow removal tools for people to not have to walk through the snow to get to the building. Second our building faces the North which usually means with six inches of snow we will have two foot drifts in front of the church and thirdly I have some elderly people who feel if the doors are open they need to be here. I went to a church that never cancelled, and it scared me every time that someone would fall and get hurt. We have had people fall on a regular sunny day so I decide not to risk it. So we cancel on occasion.
But what was weird was on Monday the high got to the low 50's and melted all the snow away, and a week later the high was in the mid 60's on Sunday this weeked. We are supposed to get to the 80's before the next weekend.
So what gives, well it is Oklahoma, as they say, "if you don't like the weather, hang around a few days, it will change."

Matchups...

So I have been following the NC2A basketball tournament the last few weeks and I am amazed at the teams that have made it through so far and those that have fallen out. The mighty Kansas Jayhawks, probably the number 1 team in the country gets knocked out by a cinderella team that no one picked to be there. We saw Syracuse, another team that spent some time at number 1 and they don't make it either. How about Kentucky? They have the best freshmen in the nation but they won't be playing for the championship either. See the NC2A tourney is all about matchups.
All teams have a weakness, wether it be a soft inside game, or a poor ballhandling game, or bad outside shooting each and every team has a weakness somewhere. The difference is the good teams can hide their weakness, accomodate for their weakness, keep their weaknesses from being exposed. The good teams also are able to attack and expose the other's teams weakness.
How do they do that? By practicing and watching and planning.
We all have weaknesses in our lives, and what we need to do is be able to improve on our weaknesses. The great teams see their weaknesses for what they are and they improve them so they are no longer a weakness in their game.
So go out and work on your game, work on your weaknesses so you can be complete and then the opposition won't be able to be victorious when the game is on the line.

So the other day...

OK, I need to rant a little...
I was listening to this woman at a restaurant in the airport behind me go off on this guy who was on the earlier flight with her who could not keep his eyes apparently off of her chest. She was just going on and on about every time she glanced his way he was staring at her chest. She was talking about how big a pervert he was, that he was probably some kind of child molester and a guy who "must have some problems" according to her.
I loved evesdropping on thier conversation until I got up to leave. As I turned around I took a glance at the gal who felt so "violated" by her fellow flier. She was wearing a cotton T shirt with a neck cut that would fit an NFL offensive lineman's neck as it ran down to about the top of her stomach. To paint a picture, it appeared that she had strapped two volleyballs to her front and they were threatening to jump out of their holsters and bounce all over the floor.
Now here is the point that I want to make. When you wear something like that, people are going to look, especially those of the male persuasion. I just don't understand why girls would wear something like that and then be insulted when someone stares or glances at them.
So ladies and guys, if you want to avoid the stares that come with provacative clothing, wear a turtleneck...
OK rant over.

Purpose?

I have been thinking a lot about purpose lately.
When you read the Bible, you see the great stories of people of purpose. The Old Testament prophets who parted seas, kings who slayed giants, prophets who did miracles. In the New Testament you see men like Paul and Peter who did great things. So I started thinking, why is the church not doing these great things today?
We were in a small group class one evening when one of the children (we usually don't have kids in our adult small groups but she was being rowdy and got stuck with Mom and Dad) speaks up in the middle of our discussion and says quite loudly, "BORING!".
We all kind of chuckled but it has haunted me. Christians today do live Boring lives and it should not be that way. We find ourselves bound by our own prison walls of work, home and church and never get far enough from the shore line to experience anything new.
When we were in the middle of building project, life was anything but boring. There was work to do, bills to pay, shedules to keep. I have never been so proud of my people as seeing the grandmas making dinner in an unfinished kitchen, teenages painting doors and men and women laying carpet base to get ready for our open house. But once the building was completed life got boring again.
We do have our fare share of excitement, just this past week we had two people in the hospital. We had a family who were having some drama that spiced things up but what I found is I like boring. I am comfortable in boring. I love boring and it should not be that way.
So I have purposed in my heart that life is going to quit being boring and we are going to become a church where crisis, drama and conflict become a way of life as we are going to get out of the normal and get out into the world to make a difference.
So what are you doing today? The same old boring thing? Well join us in getting out of the rut and into the fray.

Real life...

I have to tell you, sometimes real life is scary. You know we watch TV, go to movies and have our hobbies to escape from real life but sometimes it sneaks up on you. When it does it is like that ax murderer film where at the time you least expect it the bad guy shows up and slices and dices his way across the screen.
My wife and I are experiencing that right now. I feel like I am running in quicksand and not getting anywhere. I feel like my mouth is open in this horrifying terror induced scream but no sound is coming out. I see the world around me spinning faster and faster outside of my control.
You see, my oldest daughter is graduating high school in a little less than nine weeks. Yep, in nine weeks the little girl who was just learning to brush her hair and teeth, ride a bike, hit a ball is going to be an ADULT! (Insert woman's high pitch scream that last forever here!)
Now I realize that just graduating High School does not make one an adult. I know people that are less mature going on 50 than they were going on 5, but at graduation the world recognizes you as an adult (insert I still can't believe this is not butter ad here- that is how I feel, I can't believe it).
My daughter is filling out scholarship applications, making plans for the future and she is not doing them the way Mom and Dad feel she should. I guess that is real life, and why it is so scary. It is turning your child free to make their own decisions. You just hope when the scary music starts that that they don't go to the window to investigate that strange sound from outside...

So how do you want it?

I remember being asked this as a child when I got into trouble. It usually revolved around me doing something I was not supposed to do and getting in trouble for it. I usually had two choices, one was to get detention, grounded, miss recess, something along those lines. The other involved my backside receiving a blow from a hand, paddle or fly swatter. I to this day can tell you which was worse. Sitting around in detention, or being grounded or missing recess was always worse. I believe it was because I had to sit around and think about what I had done. Whether it was for a day, or an hour or a week, knowing you were in trouble and still having to pay for it long after it happened was torture for me. I would rather take a paddling any day, it was painful but it did not linger as long as being grounded. It was humiliating, but only for a couple of seconds and then you were off to do whatever again. It was carried out quickly and the punishment ended just as fast.

As an adult though I have found out that sometimes my resistance to punishment has increased (that means my behind has gotten bigger and more padded) that GOD has to resort to extreme measures to correct me.

I find myself now thinking more about my lack of discipline, pondering the mistakes I have made more and being more introspective of myself and my shortcomings. I have found that is a miserable place to be. It is kind of like watching all the kids from the windows of the classroom while they are on recess. They are all out there playing, swinging, running and you are locked down in a maximum security classroom.

I long for the day when I will be released from this time of inner examination. I look forward to the day when I can just go play because I have fulfilled the demands of my sentence.

Next time GOD, I think I will take the spanking. Maybe...

UNDER the OVERpass

I just recently saw this book sitting on my coffee table. Where it came from I found out later to be the school's library (go figure that!) but on the cover was this hippie looking guy in shorts, a cutoff T shirt and flip flops strumming a guitar sitting on a backpack. What I came to find out was this guy was Mike, a college student whose faith was challenged one day sitting in church. Yeah I know, having your faith challenged in church, who would have guessed it. Well Mike wondered if he could be "content in all things" as Paul had written. So Mike decided he would take a semester off from school and travel to five US cities as a homeless person. Could he survive on nothing? He had a partner go with him, Sam from OU, and their journey began at a drug treatment center in Denver. I was first drawn to the story with the thought how they were going to survive and if they would make it. Life on the streets is hard, rough and down right dangerous and here were two college kids taking it on face to face.

I won't ruin the story for you, you will have to read the book. But I did bring something out of it. How do we as the church react to those that are less fortunate?

Unfortunately in the book many times that the duo encountered the church the results were not so good. Actually it seemed that the members of the homeless community acted more like true Christians than those who filtered into the large cathedrals and proclaimed the name of Christ.

I know that I have many times have wondered what horrible things the homeless must have done to arrive there. I know others who have called them lazy, druggies and other derogatory things just because they do not have a roof over their heads to call their own.

I have come to realize that we live in an entitled society. We feel we are owed a roof over our heads, food on our table and the happiness that everyone else seems to have.

What bothers me is I see that same mentality in the church. It is not "but for the grace of GOD go I" but a warped mindset that those less fortunate are somehow under a curse of the maker. I know there are many who made bad decisions in their life that led them there, but there are also those that are there by circumstance. I hope that I never have to sleep on the street, scrounge in a trash can for a meal, or fights rats off of my bed at night, but I used to also feel somewhat entitled since I work hard and provide for my family. I needed to realize that my source is not my job, my talents, or my genius (I am really smart :-) or so I think) but my source is my GOD. Mike and Sam proved it over and over again how GOD provided for them on their journey. GOD was their source in every situation in life. I think when we begin to think that way our attitudes toward those less fortunate will change, but for the grace of GOD go I.

So I will challenge you, look through the eyes of Christ, where every person is formed and shaped in the image of GOD.