Do what?

I was preaching a funeral this week when in studying I ran across a particular section of scripture. It is in 2 Samual chapter 15. Let me set the stage for you, Absolom has taken the kingship from his father and David is fleeing in an attempt to save his household. Absalom has taken the city and as David is leading his family and those men loyal to him out of the city. As they leave David holds back to make sure everyone is making it out OK when something strange happens. Ittai a Gittite is in among David's followers. David asks Ittai what he was doing? You see Ittai just showed up in Jerusalem the day before. No one knows who he is, he just arrived and yet he is leaving with the deposed King? Crazy huh? Well David thought so too. He tells Ittai to go back and serve Absolom as David does not know where he will go, wether they will be overtaken and killed by Absolom, or even if they will have enough provision for everyone. David says go back because that is the rational choice. Ittai says he will stay with David through life or even death, that wherever David goes he will go as well even though it is as Spock would say, Irrationtional...
Following GOD is a lot like that. We really don't know what the future holds. We may think we do but how many times does it really work out the way we think it should? We don't know what will really happen tomorrow. I have never got ready to leave for work and saw I had a flat tire adn thought, well I knew this morning I would have a flat! It is always a surprise.
So back to Ittai, how did it work out for him? Well he followed David in chapter 15. In chapter 18 it tells that David split the country into thirds and gave three men rule over each third. Yeah, you guessed it, one of the guys was Ittai, the crazy dude that followed when following was not rational. Who pledged his loyalty when pledging loyalty was not rational, who became a ruler even though he just got to town yesterday...

Wow.... and again I say Wow....

I just sat through a 2 hour awards assembly at my daughters high school. Now granted we have a little school so the Jr. High was there as well and received awards which I am sure added to the lengthy time, but wow, when did we start awarding kids for mediocrity?

When I was in school, you know when the snow was four feet high and we all walked to school barefoot uphill both ways, well we only got an award if we did something really significent. Like discover a new star, discover some kind of roto virus, or figure out how to pasturize milk. I saw kids get awards today for mere academic mediocrity and it got to me to thinking. Is it better to get an award that is lessened because everyone got one or not to get one at all? I was the kid on the playground who always got picked first. I could not help it that I was bigger than everyone else. It was not my fault that my genetic genes somehow aligned to make me a decent athlete, musician and scholar. I was labeled early on to be a success when I grew up. How I wanted to go live under a bridge and show up at our twenty year reunion with a ratty beard, dirty clothes and an old shopping cart. I just know it would give those kids who always got picked after me a thrill. Anyway I digress.
So when did we start rewarding mediocrity? I remember at my high school graduation the only thing I really figured I would get was a diploma. At least I hoped I would get a diploma. Actually they gave us a blank piece of paper and told us to come back on Monday so we could find out if we had passed all of our courses or not. Not that I was worried, I had good grades but not "that" good that I was up for any awards. I remember getting called across the stage and I got my diploma and the "Presidential Academic Fitness Award". I did not remember registering for it or even applying for it but Ronald Reagan must have caught a press clipping about my 10 points and 4 rebounds when we played Claremore. Anyway I got back to my seat and one of my friends, Keith Anderson (yeah the country western singer) leans back and points at my award and says, "what is that?". So I tell him what it was and he gives me a weird look and says, "I lettered in four sports, why didn't I get one of those". It was at that moment I saw in his eyes the haunted looks all of those kids who got picked last for the kickball game. I felt bad for the all stater, the supreme athlete that everything came easy to. I actually had something that All American Keith Anderson did not have, a Presendential Award to say the least! So I have always felt good about that award, until today that is. They were handing out some award that one of the kids said Barak Obama had signed. I mentioned it to my wife, who did not play sports past the 8th grade year in school, when she said she had gotten that award too and Ronald Reagan had signed hers as well! It was then that I realized that they have been awardig mediocrity for some time... I just did not realize that I was mediocre until today...

That old time religion...

I am reading "Like a Prarie Fire", it is a book about the beginnings of Pentecost in Oklahoma. As a minister I am always looking to expand my knowledge and understanding, and sometimes you need to go back before you can go forward. I am just slightly into it and two things have stood out to me.
Point number one: The author writes about the early church pioneers in Pentecost and penned this point. "Their consecration was so deep that there was no room for anything other than GOD and his will in their lives". Wow. If we could tap into that we can change a world. We need a church today who is willing to give all they have to the cause of Christ. Where there is no room in their lives for anything other than GOD'S will. We have so many other distractions that keep us occupied and lead us away from GOD'S will. Wether it be hobbies, relationships, work, home, addictions or anything that seperates us from GOD, we need to willingly give those things up and replace them with GOD and GOD alone.
Oh LORD that I would surrender everything to you, and allow you to fill every part of my life.
Point number two: The author writes about the singing. Now if your church has not had a split over worship at this point you are probably safe or still singing these songs that the early pioneers sang. What really grabbed me was this quote. He writes; "Only the "worldly" would dare sing a fast song. Pentecost changed that forever. The new Pentecostal songs - even the old Holiness hymns - were sung at a breakneck speed. It was if the joy of the Lord was so built up in them, they exploded during the song service." Wow again. Can you imagine the things that were said? "They keep singing that same chorus over and over". "They are singing about their love for GOD, they should be singing about the Bible." Mainly led by an acoustic guitar and a tamborine they sang loud and long. Well it sure seems like some things never change in the Pentecostal church. People are still griping about the musis being too long and too loud.
Oh GOD, that I would sing as loud as I can so that anyone within earshot can hear. That I would sing as long as I can so those that have yet to pass by would hear your glory.
Sometimes I think we need that "ole time religion"...

Hanley Ramirez...

Have you seen it yet? http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/Marlins-Ramirez-should-sit-051810
Hanley Ramirez of the Florida Marlins loafing after a ball? Here is the scenario. Hanley is a remarkable athlete and the highest paid player on their team who plays the most difficult position short stop. So there was a bloop single that fell in front of the left field and behind Ramirez. Both players gave chase and arrived about the same time when the ball hit the turf, but an unexpected bounce found the ball striking Ramirez's foot and he accidentally kicked it into the left field corner. Now that is a little weird but what happens next is even weirder. Ramirez jogs all the way out to the fence to get it. There was no sense of urgency, no sense of busting it to get the ball back into play, did I mention there were men on base at the time? So Ramirez takes his sweet time to get the ball and throw it back in. His manager is displeased with his effort, his teamates are displeased with his effort and Ramirez doesn't undertand what all the fuss is about. Now before you think I am bashing him, I want to assure you that we all act the same way.
Have you ever mailed it in? You know, you were supposed to do something and did it half way, or not at all or just enough to get by? I know I have. I hate to admit it but there have been times in my life that I really did not want to do something and I put it off and put it off until I had to do it and then I did with with a half hearted effort. It always seems that those things come back to bite me in the backside.
I even had my grandfather get onto me once about doing a half way job. He really let me have it and I decided that if it was worth doing it was worth doing well. I realized my mistake and instead of trying to blame others for my poor efforts I realized it was me that needed to change. Instead of ignoring it I realized I had to deal with it to get it to go away.
I hope Hanley realizes this as well, he is still a young man and will be better for it, I know.

Children are an inheritance of the Lord...

I am so proud of my kids. Proud in a good way not the my kid is better than your kid kind of way.
My youngest is such a great kid. He is smart, sometimes too smart for his own good but has a heart of gold. My next youngest is smart, athletic and funny, so he will either be a businessman, a comedian or an athlete or maybe all three. My next oldest is my youngest daughter, who has so much talent she hasn't even tapped into it all yet. She is a model, honor scholar and soon to be athlete after a four year layoff. But today I want to talk about my oldest, who will graduate school this spring and will be heading off to college in the fall.
She has always been the "big sister". My youngest son until he was around six years old did not even know her name, she was always "big sister" to him. She is the motherly sort that looks after her younger siblings like Mom would in her absence. She is tough on them one moment and then lets them lay all over her the next like a big old family pillow. She is smart, better than a 4.0 GPA, and is in line for many scholarships next fall because of her academics. And she is athletic, gaining a scholarship for basketball in the fall.
She is responsible, accountable, a leader, a teacher, a friend and just a down right good kid. I am so proud to be her dad and I am looking forward to all that she will accomplish in her life.
I can't take all the glory for her, for she has some of my genes, and some of her mom's, but she was formed by the very hands of GOD.
Sierra I am proud to be your Dad, do all you do for the glory of GOD and I know he will bless all your ways.

B A L <> A N C E

Have you ever noticed that you need balance in your life?
Remember when you were a kid? You had to have balance to get through life. You could not ride your bike, play on the monkey bars or be good at sports without balance. I remember thinking I would never be able to balance my bike when I first learned to ride. My father did not believe in training wheels, at least that was what I thought. He just sat you on the bike and told you to pedal while he held the seat, then when you weren't looking he would let go. Many times I did fine till I realized that he let go, then I focused on him letting go instead of balance and I crashed and burned.
Well we serve a GOD that never lets go. He is always right there even when we don't see him. But to really be able to sense his presence in our lives we have to have balance. When we get so caught up in the things around us we start to do things in our own power, with our own skills and we forget that GOD is right there helping us through. It is at those points in our lives where we are in a dangerous position, thinking we are doing it on our own. What I love is that before we get to caught up in our own abilities GOD takes his hand off the seat for just a moment. Our balance gets bad, the handlebars start to sway side to side in our hands and it appears that we are about to careen out of control and we are headed for a nasty crash and GOD reaches back and grabs ahold of us and puts us back into balance. It is a scrary place to be when you see things starting to shake, sway and go out of control in your life. But it is at this place when you realize that you need to let go and let GOD do what he is always trying to do in out lives, give us balance.

Mother's Day...

How we should love our Mothers...
First we should thank them every day for bringing us into this world. I know many times they second guess their decision making process that day of our birth.

Second, we should lavish praise and adoration on them. You are never too old to have your mother get the switch and give you an attitude adjustment.

Thirdly, we should thank them for being our mediator, our lawyer and our probation officer. You know the time when Dad got really mad at us for something, and Mom (The Mediator) went to our defense and told Dad that we were just kids and did not know better. And that Dad was partially to blame for our offense (the Lawyer) because he did not put his stuff away, and that Mom (The Probation Officer) would punish us by sending us to our room with a stern talking to. Dad would have just killed us and told the neighbors that we ran away, Mom though knew the neighbors would not buy that...
That is why she is Mom...

where are you headed?

I remember asking this question one time to a person in our youth group. He got up as we were having a discussion at a restaurant. At that moment in time the question came to my mind about his future, so I blurted out, "where are you headed?". He looked at me kind of funny and said, "I am going to the bathroom, is that OK?".
You see the question I asked what not where he was headed right now, but where he was headed to? In the whole scheme of things, where are you headed?
Too many times when we are asked that question we respond like my friend did with the destination that we have in our sights right now. The short term destination. But I have found that the really successful people in life don't think in terms of short term destinations, but in long term destinations. Short sighted people look at short term solutions, short term destinations and short term dreams. But long term thinkers dream better solutions, better destinations and better dreams, because they are usually bigger, take longer to get there, and solve problems to an even greater degree.
So I will ask you, where are you headed? And don't say to the bathroom...

I just can't stop...

Traveling.
My job requires a certain amount of travel as I need to go see customers and attend trade shows. It seems lately that I have traveled at least part of the last six weeks straight. I am my own worst enemy with scheduling my travel because there are trips that I have to make, conventions and such, as well as customer trips that I have to make as well. It seems they are all wanting me at the same time and when I get an opportunity to spend a week without traveling something else comes up.
So how do I learn to just say no?
I have not figured that out yet but I am going to have to get my mind wrapped around it as with the schedule I have been keeping, ain't nobody happy.
So my mantra now is "no, no, and no again" until I get a handle on it.