The Confessions Stand

This past week my wife and I loaded up our two kids, ages 3 and 4, and have traveled cross-country, logging over 2100 miles. Believe me trucking around with 2 little ones and a sometimes-cranky person (O.K. honey that would be me), and a wife that loves to drive (me crazy) is not your normal family outing. I feel like a truck driver, a guy living in roach motels, and someone exposed to sleeping on floors at family reunions. I feel like I've been run over by a Mac truck. All this travel and all this fun--is wearing the old guy out.

The interesting thing is that our boys never seem to run out of energy long enough for Mom and Dad to get at least one good night sleep. Can you say Prozac for kids in little people's version? Of course I'm just kidding so please don't take me serious and call HRS. I am an innocent bystander of a worn out dad.

I have gained one major truth involving traveling so many miles. I definitely have Rambo boys and a very young wife. They keep me climbing mountains that I don't want to climb. Get wet when I want to stay dry. Stop for potty breaks when I just get on a roll. And of course shove me out of bed about the time all good chickens should get off their roost. The meaning to all this is what? That dad will need a real vacation once this escapade is over.

The truth of the matter is I have come to a wonderful revelation. In spite of my worn out syndrome--we are never too old for change. We either decide to take a deep breath and roll with things or things will end up taking our breath and we are the ones who get rolled (bowled) over. We can be our own best friend or our very own worst enemy. We live by the choices we make or of course we also die by the choices we make. ( Not always literally of course).

Jesus stated that he came to bring life to those who needed some abundance in their lives. If you read the Bible closely, I bet Jesus wasn't talking about an abundance of stress, love loss, pain, or an abundance of making bad choices. Oftentimes when we do the math, we can find just how much we have done ourselves in. Ever had bouts with some stinking thinking and railroad rides of emotional non-bliss. I have to admit that on more then one occasion, I've been the engineer of some very long train rides and even train wrecks. Thank God for his saving grace and mercy, because I have needed both throughout my lifetime.

The older I get I'd like to think the better I am getting at something--especially my own emotional well being. I get tired of trying to make myself better by fitting into a mold of perfection. I have been working on me for the ages. All the mirror mirrors on the wall...I haven't been the fairest of all. But hey you haven't either, have you?

Maybe there is a better clue to all this madness. I am not talking about a clue for survival. We all have done enough surviving. I am talking about a clue for thriving. Jesus hits the ole nail on the head when he says, "come unto me all you who are burdened and heavy laden and I will give you rest." Now that sounds pretty promising and emphatic to me. So why do we seldom take him up on his offer? I guess we are too busy defending our need to stay miserable and disappointed. Must be our sense of destiny in feeling upset and bent out of shape. Perhaps we have become all too familiar with the pain and mental sleeplessness, when in fact we should be enjoying the peace of God that passes all understanding of having a disgusting existence. Who knows?

One thing I do know is I am working on convincing myself that we are never too old for change. I guess in reality even an old dog can decide to stay on the porch or can start walking around the neighborhood. For that matter, even a young dog can constantly lie around or decide to get up and on the move. Still comes down to that one magical word called CHOICE. Like this is some new concept.

This old dog is going to opt for change. For the rest of you dogs (young or old) you go ahead and make your own decisions. Hopefully, we never meet somewhere, on the same porch, doing the same thing. That would be doggoning senseless.

Don't like being called a dog?

Then get off the porch with me!

I woke up today feeling kind of frisky, which is a good thing since I am not really a morning person. After doing my morning routines I dashed to the kitchen area of my brother Rics house. We are in Ohio visiting for the 4th of July. There sat the family and my lovely wife. My friskiness overtook me and I gave her a good morning hug and kiss. Then I kept repeating my efforts to the ooohs and aaaahhs from my wife and family members comments such as you go boy!

Then suddenly the moment turned to a statement that my wife made after I asked her if she was enjoying all the attention. She said, yeah! The only thing missing is having you do this more often. Can you say bull’s-eye. Her words felt like a cupid arrow straight to the heart. Not bad coming from a woman that I tease is only right half-of-the-time. She nailed me to the wall and I am still trying to remove some of my body parts. Of course her intentions were not intended to be an evil slam, rather a statement of desire.

Today, I am embracing this statement of desire as my very own. However, I would feel very selfish and guilty if I did not share this blog in hopes that a woman's words can be heard round the world. "The only thing missing is having you do this more often!" Men everywhere beware--your significant other, your wife, may need you more then you think. So on this 4th of July why not celebrate a life change, by creating some fireworks, and love on your wife more and more each day. No I am not indicating becoming the 3-letter man either (S.E.X.). I am proposing becoming THE FIVE LETTER MAN (L.O.Y.W.M.)--Love On Your Wife More.

I am going to have to admit to something. I confess! When it involves becoming a five-letter man my wife wasn't just half right--she was "right on" I have to say yes dear, I heard you loud and clear.

Have a great Life.

Right On!

Today I replied to an email that one of closet associates sent to me. He has his heart set on becoming a church planter, walking in my footsteps and hundreds of others in the world. He wondered if he was crazy and I kindly agreed with him.

For all the church planters in the world here is a very special shout out. You get to read some uncensored advice I passed along to my ole buddy. If you are up to it then send a shout out back to me. When you do, feel free to add your two cents worth on church planting advice.

Enjoy the correspondence!

Subject: I might be crazy but I don't think so

I might be a little crazy but you know you only live once. Maybe twice if you count the whole born-again thing.
I know this is something God has placed in me for many years and to boot it really fits my personality and strengths.
have known for sometime that God was leading me to Pastor a church one-day. I will also love youth ministry and have a heart for teens but have lately realized that I can do more for them not as a youth pastor.
also feel that I have about 13 to 15 great years of communicating in me and then my greatest contribution will be in leading and probably writing as I train up a younger generation.
I don’t want to waste those years. So to get around to what I am trying to tell you.
I really want and am going to plant a church. I’m a builder and love to start things from scratch…just like we have done everywhere we have gone.
So…I need your help now…cause although I know quite a bit about a lot of it…. I have never done it. I know some of the steps and have already been taking them.
It is going to be done largely on faith…I don’t have the financial resources naturally…but may have the people resources.
But I’m not worried…well maybe a little…I know God is my supplier and that He has prepared me for this. And I want to take full advantage of it.
I am right now fixing to start a process of finding a non-ministry job in town here that will supply my financial need as we begin the process of building something.
If you have any ideas, thoughts, absolutely anything that can help me it would be great.
My best option would be to raise about 20,000 dollars to take care of my financial needs over the next 6 months.
With the people we have jumping on board we are pretty certain that we can attract and build something. Of course that is by faith. I think we have potentially 5 to 6 families that would help start this.
So go ahead call me crazy…I don’t care…I just want to make as much impact that I can.
So any help or advice you can give me in launching this…would be awesome.

MY RESPONSE:

crazy...............crazy........................crazy..............................Crazy.................crazy.................CRAZY......................CRAZY.....................CRAZY................CRAZY..................CRAZY

SOME UNCENSORED ADVICE

1. If you can't read this don't do it.

2. If your wife can't read this don't do it.

3. You and your wife take a church planter assessment.

4. Rally and keep some good mentors around you.

5. Read everything you can on church planting but realize you will only use small portions of what you read.

6. Don't waste your time; paying to go to every church planting conference, you will need that money.

7. Don't plan to plant a church because no one wants to come to a planting of sorts.

8. Plan to launch a church (like a space shuttle), people will come to that.

9. Do it your way and forget most of how someone else has and is doing it.

10. There is only one you so you better eat right, exercise, and take time off or your health will crumble.

11. This is not a dreamer’s game; every demon in hell will try and stop you.

12. Spend more time on your knees than on your blogs.

13. Spend more time reading the Bible (the Word) than reading the "Word" of someone else.

14. Never lie to yourself about how wonderful things will be.

15. Know that God will not always be bailing your butt out of uneasy circumstances; though in the end there will be deliverance.

16. You can trust other people to help you, but remember you can trust them to leave you and break your heart at times.

17. Plan to get in this for the long haul or you will continue to keep taking out the trash every day.

18. This church planting business makes you a farmer so get ready to slop the pigs and shovel the manure.

19. You better believe that church planting is so big that without God it will fail.

20. Plan to get hooked into a support team involving a church group (i.e. denomination) that you fit with that can help financially and prayerfully, but also gives you autonomy. Think long and hard about this one.

21. You will need a system of discipline and accountability or you'll end up floating downstream with no canoe or paddle.

22. You will need a REAL PLAN, and REAL PLANNING to get this mission accomplished.

23. Keep the simple church mentality in mind or you will have to abandon ship and jump overboard. (Ever hear of Jonah?)

24. If you eat, drink, and sleep this job you will go nowhere but straight to the county morgue before your time.

25. Your wife and children matter in this decision more than you will ever know.

26. Go after a select target group (like the unchurched) and stick to your mission regardless of who doesn't like the music.

27. As the leader determine the vision (BE SPECIFIC) and never never surrender the vision. NEVER!

28. When people on your start up team think they have all the answers and start trying to do your job, be brave enough to remind them that they are joining you (in the vision) and you are not simply joining them.

29. Remember that you will go to bed thinking you have a grip on knowing what your doing and wake up wondering what your doing.

30. Once you make a major decision--never look back.

31. Hire slow--Fire fast.

32. Make a ministry budget (even if you have 50 cents) and stick to it and never start robbing Peter to pay Paul.

33. Never handle the ministry money, but as a leader make sure how the money is handled.

34. Create a top notch ministry system right up front (i.e. job descriptions, volunteer job descriptions, budgeting, assimilation, etc.) Sound familiar?

35. Plan to quit what you start a hundred times in your head, but plan to never quit inside your heart.

These things will get you started on your new adventure. After you feed on and digest what I've written then give me a shout out and I am sure I can shoot you another list. A final word to the wise is when seeking advice be sure to eat the meat and be sure you spit out the bones.

Randy

Today I bolted from my office and tried to take a ride into the wild blue yonder. My purpose was simple--run away from the busyness of the past few weeks. I should have known that running doesn't always have any therapeutic value, when your brain is still collaborating with everything unfinished and that is bottled up inside you. To say the least my office exit felt almost like I had never left.

As I drove I tried to convince myself that shortly I would somehow be supernaturally emotionally changed. That was several hours ago and I still am trying to convince myself that the happy train will be arriving soon. Those of you out in cyber-space that can relate can I get a witness here? Oh yeah! Can I get a big amen please? Will someone start singing twinkle twinkle little star how I wonder where you are or something that can brighten up the atmosphere around here a little.

Have you ever felt like lost in outer space, feeling held captive by alien forces? Forces that some how warp your thinking and battle you over supremacy for feeling good. The aliens getting the upper hand on all the good stuff. Man, will someone tell me what's fair about that.
I don't know about you but I am sick and tired of the aliens invading my private space found located between my ears and behind my eyes. I want to arrange for a nation wide protest against these forces of evil and discontent. Since it is my idea the first protest should be conducted in my own neighborhood. Any Objections? I didn't think so!

The more I reflect on these alien forces and creatures of the night the more I am reminded of that Bible oracle that blurts out that "we don't wrestle against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers in heavenly places." I wouldn't argue with the WORD, but it sure appears to me that there is a lot of wrestling with flesh and blood--I know this to be a fact cause it is my own. My own flesh and blood that is.

I guess my Bible scholar degree tells me it is these aliens that lurk behind the scenes and keep upsetting my apple carts as I push them throughout life. Boy, they make my flesh crawl and my blood boil. Thus I have it figured out. In reality it is the principalities and powers behind the scheme of things in disrupting my sanity by using their alien influences against my life and me. Oh didn't God tell me that before? Hmmm I think he did when he referred that we would be led like sheep to a slaughter.... and for us to be of good cheer cause he'd help us overcome the world. That includes the aliens doesn't it? I think he threw in that "in this world we'd have tribulations." OOOOOh bummer! Except there was something said like, those that endure to the end shall be saved. I think that means from eternal hell and our some times hell on earth.

Before I forget I better get back to my original reason for writing this blog. Remember I left my office for some cruise time and mental R & R, which I couldn't seem to find anywhere. So I decided to pull off the road and take a walk through a Fireman's Memorial located next to a cemetery. I figured a walk through the cemetery wasn't in my best interest. Shortly into my walk I noticed a speckled bird on the ground. Being only a few feet away I was sure it would fly off as soon as I passed by it. To my amazement the bird did not go airborne on me. I knew then something was wrong.

I decided to take a closer look at the speckled wonder and could see that it was ill, wounded, and blind in one eye. So what did I precede to do but begin a conversation with the bird. It went something like this... Hey little buddy...you not feeling very good. I'm sorry! Looks like both of us are having a tough day aren't we? Well in the end I felt more about the birds condition then my own. It makes me wonder if God in his scheme of things had the bird and I cross paths.

For the record I scooped up the injured bird and he now resides inside my garage. I gave him the space where normally I would park my car. I don't know if he or she will make it through the night. What I do know is that having a conversation with an injured bird and becoming its caretaker made me take my mind off my circumstances long enough to care for something else that had a greater need then me.

In closing I just wonder if you may need to have your own conversation with a "bird" in need. It just may help you to get your mind off yourself long enough to care about something else.
Besides in our hearts we all know that in the end--God will feed us like sparrows on a rainy day.

Have you ever been using a shovel while digging in the dirt and suddenly the handle snaps and there you stand with the broken portion of the handle in your hand. How about using a hammer and the head fly’s off just missing your face by inches. There you are relieved that the near miss was just a near miss. Or have you been caught using an axe and to your surprise the axe handle breaks. Of course none of these may capture your profile but maybe it was a broom handle, mop handle, or a door handle.

Have you ever stopped to think about how many "handles" that we have in this world and how much we need those handles to function the way we do. Besides these material handles there are other handles of sorts that can easily affect our lives. Ever hear someone say, just get a hold of yourself--get a grip. Or I can handle that--no, no, I can't handle that. Can you handle that? In basketball players are assessed by their skill level. One very important skill is whether or not they are considered to have "handles" or not. Which is the ability to dribble a basketball with both hands sufficiently. In player and fan terms can they handle the rock baby?

In spiritual terms I often wonder if any one besides me struggles to constantly get a handle on this whole idea of God, Jesus, creation, the devil, humanity, salvation, sin, heaven, hell, life, death, fear, failure, hope, love, sickness, health, and way too many other thoughts one can find the time to think about. Has any one besides me faced the challenges of digging through life and feeling like progress and comfort has been unearthed and then the dreaded happens. Yep you got it. The darn handle breaks right off in your hands, while a sense of vulnerability and disappointment begins to swirl inside your head. Not such a good feeling is it? Especially when you’re spiritual life and life in general has been moving along quite nicely on cruise control. Now you’re left with no feeling of control at all. How can you be when your standing there with a broken handle in your hands?

The reality of living is that handles are breaking all the time--all over the world, in every city, neighborhood and home. Even when we feel we've got a pretty good grip on our relationship with God or we are trying to get a good handle on living a spiritual life, something always breaks and is in need of repair. That something can be someone we know and it can be the someone we look at in the mirror on a daily basis.

So if you hold dear to your heart a faith in the God from the Bible and you remain in constant flux in trying to get a handle on God I have some timely news. It may do your heart well if you actually stop trying to get and keep a grip on God. We all would be better suited in allowing God to keep a handle (grip) on us. I read somewhere that nothing can separate us from the love of God. That would include our broken handles.

Psalm 5:3 "In the morning, O Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests (my broken handles) before you and wait in expectation."

It will do the heart good if we remind ourselves that it isn't how much we think we need to hold onto God so tightly--it is remembering that he is the one who is holding onto us.

As long as I have been alive I have noticed that not everyone plays by the same rules or believes in the same things. Human beings are as diverse in their thinking as they are in their looks. Like this should be a surprise to anyone.

In the world we live in chapters have been written about what should be considered a value, moral, or a fundamental belief. In this vacuum of choices culture clubs have popped up everywhere. There is a grandmother somewhere with a southern mentality, a grandfather with a workaholic heritage, a baby boomer with Wall Street dreams, a baby buster with living it large pulsations, and a mosaic generation that wants little boundaries or beliefs. It simply is cool to be different and for any of us to do it our way. Remember the ole Burger King slogan, have it your way--right away?

Since the mentality of the ages is to have it our way--right away is it fair to assume that we will never be able to answer a question asked from the beginning of time. What is the difference between right and wrong? This question is as expansive as the Grand Canyon. Have you ever noticed how many rules and regulations resolve around society and us? Just think about it for a minute. We have state and federal laws that stake claims to right and wrong. Company policies and manuals proclaim the right way and wrong way to do things as an employee. Schools have school rules that are supposed to regulate the students, parents, teachers, and the administration. I assume you see a pattern of right and wrong that has been developed here.
But does this pattern give us the telltale, all-inclusive goods on a sense of "rightness" or not so right, or downright wrong?

Trying to figure out all the differences, rational, opinions, and religious fronts places my brain inside a fish bowl where I find myself drowning in self-analyses. My only claim to sanity comes from by bandwagon venture of riding the Bible Express. Being the avid reader that I am I have read so many books on the psyche of life and have crawled about two inches forward in my thought processes. But with my reading itinerary including the Bible as one of my best reads, I have crawled a bit further down the road. Hey I am at least more then three inches from start to finish. Progress is progress!

In seriousness, I have watched and experienced the battles trying to discern between what is right and what is wrong. Of course I am not including the standard set laws we are required to live by. I am talking about things that may be shaded or outside the box of expectation. Things like is it o.k. to drink alcoholic beverages as a Christian? Is it appropriate to watch bad-rated movies? Is sex the way to go before marriage? How about is it hot with someone else when a marriage has cooled off? Are white lies really white? How angry are we allowed to be? Which religion is right? Which religion is wrong? Whose God is right? Whose God is wrong? The list can keep going with little end in sight.

Well, like we have made any more progress since I started writing this. That is, progress in determining what is the difference between right and wrong. All I can agree with is that determination begins between the ears and finds its way into the heart and eventually outside our bodies into the atmosphere in which we live. It comes down to belief and choice. Nothing more and nothing less. Just like whatever we decided to wear out into public today-- was just that--what we decided to wear. The difference between right and wrong--is whatever we decide is right and wrong. So go ahead and wear it on your sleeve, we all do it.

One final thought as we close this blog is to understand that every life choice will reap an outcome. Especially when it comes to how we position ourselves between what we believe is right and wrong. So when it comes to our spiritual beliefs we should consider all it entails, how it relates to life, and ultimately how it directs our steps toward eternity. That would be what we think will happen once we die. So please consider this.... eternity is too long to be wrong!

As you make your considerations this week it may do you good to consider one proven fact. The Bible remains the world’s bestseller. Is that just a coincidence or is it because the God of the Bible will have no other gods before him? I thought number 1 always rules? Isn't that the law? Isn't that the difference between right and wrong?