Connection

 People connect when they associate with one another or are linked together. Each day we have multiple opportunities to connect with others. Some people choose not to connect. This could be for various reasons. Some have been severely wounded by people they once trusted. Others have been abused physically or psychologically and they simply do not trust people.

We were created to connect with people. This should happen within the context of family. I connect with Brenda and our four sons on a deeper level than I connect with other people. We also connect with extended family, friends, people we worship with, and others in the community. 

Nobody connected with people better than Jesus. He connected with people from all walks of life. Rich and poor, moral and immoral, wounded and broken, shunned and shamed, religious and irreligious. Jesus looked past the external appearance and loved people where they were. He still does. He sees past what others see. Skin color, piercings, tattoos, colored hair, body shapes, and clothing styles. Jesus even connects with people who have checkered pasts they are not proud of and try to hide. Jesus made connecting with people a high priority when He walked this earth. He still connects with people through activities like prayer, Bible reading, and worship. 

Sadly, some churches lose sight of Jesus' example. Christians often judge people outside their holy huddles whom Jesus loves and desires to form connection. Religious people often get hung up on traditions of men and miss out on the main mission of connecting people who are disconnected. Connecting with people starts with caring. Caring leads to compassion. Compassion often leads to connection. This may take time. 

 Jesus walked slowly through the crowds. He was often inconvenienced by the sick, demon possessed, outcasts, and immoral people. He made time for them. He listened. He felt compassion for them. He loved them and helped them. We are mandated to do the same. 

Christians are supposed to do the same things. We are told not to judge. [Matt 7:1-5], to forgive [Matt 18:21-22], and to love [John 13:34-35]. If we did a better job of doing those things I suspect houses of worship would be more crowded. Churches would be filled with people of varied pasts, races, and cultures. Connection would Jesus can bring transformation to individuals, families, and even communities. 

One day I was talking to the janitor of my home church who was also the worship pastor at another church. He did what he called street ministry. He and his church went into the slums to talk to people about Jesus. They encountered gang members, drug addicts, alcoholics, pimps and prostitutes. I can't forget how he started weeping and said, "Those people want to connect with Jesus, but they can't get to Him because they stumble over church people who get in the way." 

O God help us. May that not be true of the Christians in Hutchinson county. May Christians go the extra mile to connect with people. To love the unlovely. To go after the forgotten and neglected. To seek sinners and welcome them rather than shun them. I remind each of us, at one time, we were the sinners Jesus connected with and brought into the fold. We must extend the same kindness to those who need to be connected with the Savior. 

Make It With Love

 Brenda and I ventured out and tried a little off the beaten path cafe where the reviews were favorable. We walked into the small modestly decorated, but clean cafe. We were the only customers. An elderly man with a friendly face greeted us and showed us to our seats. We both ordered breakfast burritos. We chatted over bacon, egg, potato and cheese burritos. They were fantastic. I would tell you the name of the place, but I do not remember it myself. 

I struck up a conversation with the elderly man when we paid. I introduced myself and Brenda and he told us his name was Daniel. Earlier he gave us two options for salsa for our meals. One was definitely hotter than the other. He asked which I used and I told them both. He looked surprised and over my shoulder asking did you drink all your water. We both chuckled because I drank my water and part of Brenda's. He is the owner with this wife of that establishment. 

He said something that stuck with me. He reported how when he first got married his wife asked how he liked his eggs cooked. He told her it did not matter to him as long as she cooked them with love. He told us they cook their food for the customers with love. Those burritos are so good I woke up today thinking about them. It is because they were cooked with love. 

What if we adopted Daniel's attitude about our work? What if we did everything on our jobs with love? The Bible exhorts us to do that in Colossians 3:23. We are to do our work heartily as unto the Lord and not men. We are to sweep floors with love giving our best effort. If we mow the lawn, we should put our whole heart into it with love to please the Lord. If we are students, we should study and do our work with love giving our absolute best. If we wait on customers at a store or wait tables, we should do it with love. If we teach, coach, nurse, wait tables, weld, ranch, or farm we should do our work with love. 

When our four sons were little Brenda assigned me breakfast duties. I came up with some creative concoctions. My favorite was hot dog alaespecial. Chopped up hot dogs in scrambled eggs. We rotated between pancakes, breakfast burritos, cinnamon rolls, pigs in a blanket, biscuits, sausage, and eggs. They often asked me why it tasted so good. I told them it was because I cooked it with love. Just like Daniel and his wife. 

What if people really put love into their work. No matter if it is a prestigious job or a lowly one. Work would be done more joyfully, energetically, and with more excellence. People act like they should give minimal effort if the pay is minimal. We are challenged to give our best. To treat work like an offering of worship to the Lord. He sees when others do not notice. I noticed Daniel yesterday, even though his cafe is small, and serves few customers. He does his work heartily with love and for that reason we will eat their again soon. May we all follow Daniel's example and do our work with love. 

Trailblazer

 A trailblazer is a pioneer and an innovator. Trailblazers also make new tracks through wild country. I think of those early pioneer trailblazers who settled Hutchinson county, TX where Brenda and I now make our home. They had to be tough to traverse the country to settle here. Traversing wide open spaces and navigating deep canyons they trudged ahead to find the place they would settle. Battling blazing hot summers and blizzard winters they built their homes. They were mostly alone and had to travel great distances just to get basic supplies. It would be a long time before even 100 people settled this area. 

Other trailblazers came later with the vision of starting churches and s school. It started with the dream in someone's heart. The dream spread to others and they collectively worked together sacrificing to see those dreams come true. Many are willing to follow once things are established. It takes a special breed of people to be trailblazers. Not everyone is cut out for such adventure and hardship. Those early primitive church services and school houses must have been something to behold. 

We enjoy the comforts of a community because of trailblazers. We are able to attend the worship of our choice because trailblazers went before us. Our children and grandchildren are afforded an education because trailblazers paved the way for public schools. Each generation of teachers invests in the lives of the next generation of trailblazers. Sitting in those little desks are young lives with impressionable minds like sponges. They will make significant contributions in the fields of healthcare, law enforcement, the judiciary, politics, technology, farming and ranching, education, and maybe missionaries. The potential is exciting. The advancements they will make as families on society are unlimited in scope. 

Fathers and mothers just trying to keep their heads above water right now raising kids and paying bills may miss the bigger picture. They are raising future trailblazers. They are weighed down with cleaning up messes, breaking up fights, hounding children to do their homework, and finding time to entertain them. You never know what will spark a child's interests. A book. A story. A movie. Parents are often blinded to those trailblazing moments when God plants His dream in those young hearts. 

It happened for me in a fifth grade creative writing class when we were assigned to write a short story. I fell in love with the craft of writing that day. Students hung on every word as I got to read my assignment to the class. I was hooked that you could move people with the words you write. At 12, I asked for a typewriter at Christmas. I wrote my first book 30 copied on a copy machine and bound with plastic spiraling. I trailblaze through helping others through writing. 

Trailblazers often go unnoticed. History does not always recognize them. Such people just followed their dreams. They worked hard to survive and do what they thought they were created to do. They did not seek applause or fame. They just did the work before them. Day in and day out. They lived and died without fanfare. Their trailblazing ways certainly made a difference. 

Maybe God puts a little trailblazing in all of us. In some way each of us leaves our mark long after we are gone. Maybe we break the cycle of dysfunction in our families. Maybe we spend our days helping others in need. Maybe we love and accept people where they are in life. Maybe we help others discover faith for themselves. Maybe we demonstrate work ethic to the younger generation. Let me challenge all of us to trailblaze and pioneer our God ordained destiny. To make life a little better for the next generation through our labor and sacrifice. I also exhort us to stop and offer up a thank you for those who did the same for us. Hopefully we'll leave the world a little better for future generations when we are gone. 

The Seasons of Life

 It has been an unusual spring with cooler than normal temperatures going into the end of May. The seasons change. We are about to hit the dog days of summer with brutal heat. One lady described the wind blowing in the summer like sitting under a blow drier for an extended time. While we enjoy these cooler temperatures now, we know the temperatures will soon rise. While summer means vacations, the end of school, and water activities summer doesn't last forever. Sometimes it might seem that way if you have to work outside much. 

Eventually the summer will fade into fall. The temperatures will decrease with cool spells that blow into town. Soon the leaves will turn into those beautiful oranges, yellows, deep reds, and shades of burgundy. No matter how hard those leaves try to grip those limbs, the brisk autumn breezes will blow those leaves to the ground. The fall means football, homecoming, harvest, and Thanksgiving. 

Fall eventually fades into winter. Those dark bitter cold days of bone chilling icy cold weather are not fun to endear. Sure we celebrate Christmas and New Years Day, but the winter months are often as difficult to endure as the summer months. Outdoor activities are held to a minimal. Each Groundhogs Day we hope for an early spring.

The prize for enduring winter is spring. Where vegetation comes back to life. Flowers bloom. People go back outside as the weather warms. Spring is a happy time as students enjoy Spring Break and Christians celebrate the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Spring also brings strong winds and the danger of wildfires. Even with those spring brings optimism. Wildflowers bloom as if buckets of paints have been poured from the sky onto the canvas of grass below. 

Just like there are different seasons, people endure different seasons of life as well. Spring represents when we are born. We grow as children and learn so much at this time. Summer is the early adult years. People may choose to enter the work force or pursue formal education. During this time of life many people fall in love and get married. People get established in their career. In the summer season children might be added to the family. Fall represents the middle aged years in life. Children grow up and graduate from high school. The body ages a little more. Joints ache, hair thins, greys, and wrinkles may appear. People come to grips that they are no longer young. Finally, people enter the winter season of life. This is the last stage on our earthly journey. During the winter years health may decline and people face their own mortality. This season is characterized between many doctor appointments and attending many funerals of family and friends. Eventually the end will come for all of us during this final season. 

I don't know where you are in the seasons of life. Each season brings its own joys. Brenda and I are definitely well into our fall years. Our four sons are grown and out of the house. The oldest is married and we anticipate the joy of grandchildren in the future. We are empty nesters enjoying time with just the two of us. We celebrate the times we get together as a family. 

Find the joys in the season you are living in. If you are in a tough season of life, know that those seasons do not last forever. Even in the winter of life there is the hope of heaven for those who embrace Jesus as Savior. There are joys to be discovered in each season of life. Look closely and you will find some. Treat each day as a gift rather than a drudgery. Just like each season gives way to the next, so will the circumstances you have to endure. Storms come and go. Better days are ahead, if not in this life, for Christians in the life to come. 

73

 He hobbled over to me in great discomfort leaning heavily on a cane. He was an older gentleman. He wore blue jeans, cowboy boots, a black jacket and donned a black cap. He started the conversation with these words, "I lost my wife in September. We were married 73 years and I am still not over losing her. I have had a hard time."

He married his wife when she was only 17 years old. There are many people who do not live to be 73 much less remain married for 73 years. Do the math. They were married in 1952. 

It was a far different world in 1952. President Dwight Eisenhower was elected President that year. King George the VI died and his princess daughter became Queen Elizabeth II. Notable events included detonation of the first nuclear bomb in Nevada, the invention of the first transistor radio, and the invention of the classic popular toy Mr. Potato Head. It was a far different world. No cell phones. No internet. No streaming services for music or movies. 

Just two young lovers tieing the knot and starting their marital journey together. Could either have dreamed they would make it to 73 years? Over seven decades of meals shared, private conversations, paying bills, raising children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, and great great grandchildren. In that span of time there were mighty triumphs like having children, wage increases, and major purchases such as automobiles and houses. 

The tears in his eyes betrayed his lingering grief. He told me it was hardest when he is alone and he has time to think. So many memories. So much emptiness without the love of his life. I have noticed over the years that when a spouse, child, or anyone else close dies people rally around in the initial days following. Then people get back to their busy lives. They move on while the grieving cannot. They are forced into a world of sorrow that does not subside quickly. They try to go back to a normal life, but what is normal about the person gone whom you spent decades loving. There is no normal. There is going forward and trying to do the best you can. 

My heart hurt for that elderly man. It made me hold Brenda a little tighter and not take even the routine things for granted. A simple meal turned into a snapshot of the heart. A routine conversation into a moment to communicate my unwavering affection. In about four weeks we will celebrate our 34th wedding anniversary. A far cry from 73 years. What a testimony of love. Not something to be taken for granted. So I tip my cap to that man. I am thankful for his example and reminder to not take my beautiful bride for granted. Not after 34 years or even 50 years. Not sure we can make it to 73, but I want to love her to my last breath no matter how many years it ends up to be. 

Connecting

 Brenda and I have been in Fritch for about six weeks now. In that time God has allowed us to start connecing with people. We have shared more meals with folks from the church than I can count. Someone is constantly asking us if we want to go eat with them. These have been great opportunties to get to know people and get connected. 

In our short time we have had multiple opportunties to go the hospital to visit people. This has given us more opportunties to connect with people. To get to know them. To begin shepherding them. To demonstrate that we truly care about them. People do not trust a pastor merely by what he preaches. They learn to trust when a pastor is there for them in critical moments. 

God gave me the opportunity to connect with one of our senior adult widows who came in for Sunday Schoo a couple of days ago. She was a little late and hobbled down the hall way. I greeted her and she told me she was moving slow because the wind caught her car door and closed it on her foot as she was getting out of the car this past week. I asked if I could pray for her right then. We shared a moment of prayer and a deeper connection than we had previously. 

It is not easy to become the pastor of a new flock. Becoming the preacher can take place in a very short period. Connecting with people as pastor takes time. Lots of time. Lots of visits, phone calls, shared meals, and a great deal of demonstrated love and compassion. There are other pastors in this community who have served their congregations for two decades. They are beloved by their fellowship of believers as well as the community. It is time to earn my way too. To serve and not be served. 

Actions speak louder than words. Acts of service sometimes speak louder than any sermon can ever do. Lazy preaches hide behind closed office doors. They are contented in their ivory towers of scholarship. They seek to impress people with how much knowledge they have gained. Jesus connected with people by loving them and serving them. I must do the same thing if I hope to ever really become the pastor of this flock in Fritch, TX. I must put in the hard work to earn the right to be trusted. To earn the right to be loved and endeared. Connecting with church and community will not happen quickly. They have seen pastors come and go. Talk is cheap. They watch to see what Brenda and I do. It is something that willl take time and I hope to put in the work to develop trust. Each day Brenda and I hope to connect with a few more and on a little deeper level. 

A Sunday to Remember

 Things did not start out well this past Sunday morning. We lost the Memorial Day tribute video we were supposed to start the service with that day. Five minutes before the start we scrambled and found a different one. Then we could not get the video to work as we started. I introduced the video and then we sat in awkward silence for several moments. Our children minister got up to make an announcement followed by more anouncements and then the video finally came up but there was no sound. I was frustrated before we ever sang one note and remained in that frame of mind trying to repent and get my mind right. 

I had 41 verses to cover in the message and hit the platform in high gear. I did not feel anointed. I felt rushed. Then God stepped in. Several people responded to the altar call. Multiple people bent their knees in prayerful submission to God. It was beautiful to behold. We also had a couple join the church. Things had started out rough, but God turned it around in the end. He was just beginning little did I know. 

 Multiple peopel clamored to talk to me afterward. One family waited behind and made their way to my office for a private consultation. I had no idea what was on their mind. Turns out their oldest child had questions about getting saved. I explained the plan of salvation as best I could and asked if she knew what sin was. She did indeed. She bowed her head as I led her in a prayer asking Jesus to save her. When I said amen, she had tears streaming down her cheeks. She hugged her parents and the tears kept flowing out into the hall way when they left the office. 

We next talked about baptism. She was emphatic informing me she wanted to be baptized in Lake Meredith located only minutes from the church. We are going to wait until after VBS as we anticipate others might join her on that special day. 

What started out so badly turned out wonderfully, but God was not done. The chairman of our finance committee informed me that someone had put a $19,000 offering in the plate from a sister church. We were shocked and humbled by the goodness of God. It truly turned out to be a Sunday to remember. 

Like a Vapor

 Why is it in some instances time seems to crawl? Like a student waiting for the bell to ring to get out of school for the day or weekend. Like a child slowly counting days off the calendar until Christmas. Or the worker waiting for quitting time. It can happen to drivers waiting in a drive through pick up line at a restaurant or at a red light impatiently waiting for the light to turn green. 

There are other instances when time seems time fly by. Like parents sitting at commencement exercises for their child wondering where the time went. How is it possibler that little bundle of joy has grown and already finished high school? It took 18 years but somehow it seems to have passed much faster than that. Or a daddy walking a daugher down the aisle at her wedding. How did his little girl grow up so fast and is now starting a family of her own. Pictures on the wall and a desk capture special moments when those children were young.The credenza behind my desk is littered with pictures of our four sons fron toddlers to adulthood. Brenda andI,I like so many before us, are learning to adjust to lives as empty nesters. This will the first summer in 22 years we have not had at least one or more of our four sons living with us for the summer. They have all graduated college now. One is married. Two are working on their Masters Degree. The other is finishing up to be certified to teach and coach. Our four little boys are now four grown men. Where did the time go?

To the right of my computer screen is a bridal portrait of Brenda just days before we married. That was 34 years ago now. Where did the time go? It has flown by in decades of chasing careers, raising children, sitting in the stands of more ball games from little leauge to collegiate sports than we can count, to multiple moves in ministry. We are more madly in love than ever, but time has taken its toll on both of us. Time has flown by. 

Later this morning I will preach the funeral for an 88 year old lady. I am sure time flew by for her as well. I thoght about her as a little girl toting her younger brother on her hip, and climbing trees. Then she grew up and got married. Life flew by as an adult with moves and major milestones. Sadly, six years ago she got diagnosed with that cruel diseasse Alzheimers. I bet she never planned on that as a little girl perched on a limb in a tree surveying the world beneath. Time stops for no one. 

James 4:14 reminds us that we are only on this earth for a little while and that life is like a vapor that appears for a little while and then it vanishes. Cemeteries are filled with grave markers indicating the date a person was born then a dash followed by the date they died. Here for a little while and then gone. Like bluebonnets in the spring. Only here for a little while. 

We look in the mirror and wonder where the time went. I feel like a young man on the inside, but joints tell me a different story. We must not take life for granted and espcially life with those we love for granted. Let us squeeze every moment out of life we can with those we love. For life is like vapor. We are only here for a little while. 

Mustard Seed Faith

 I had the bright idea one Sunday morning about preaching on the topic of mustard seed faith. I actually bought a bottle of mustard seeds and had my sons, Tucker and Tuner, pass them out among the congregation. Multiple people could be heard across the sanctuary exclaiming when they dropped theirs. The seed was so tiny I could not see it when I held it between my thumb and index finger. 

In Matthew 17:20 Jesus talked about faith the size of a mustard seed moving mountains. Brenda and I have faced a few mountains over the years. I went off to a prayer room earlier today to pray about a couple of current mountains. I asked the Lord to look into my heart to see that I had faith larger than a mustard seed. 

What about you? Do you have faith at least the size of a mustard seed? There is a huge difference in having an intellectual faith and living by and praying with genuine faith. I know what I intellectually believe God can do. I also know when faith has to be put into action and what I believe God experientally to do. 

The size of the moutain is irrelevant. It is the size of our God that really matter. He dwarfs all our mountains. He has never faced a difficult task. Not delivering Israel from Egyptian slavery and drowing Pharaoh. Not providing food and wather for millions of Hebrews in the desert. Not slaying a giant by a shepherd. Not healing the blind, leprous, paralyzed and even raisding the dead. What we face is not hard for God no matter how dauting it seems. NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE WITH HIM!

Let that sink in. No thing is too hard for Him. He can revive any church, save any lost person, penetrate any closed country with the gospel, provide any need no matter the amount, reclaim prodigals, and answer any mustard seed prayer. Mustard seed faith is tiny. I think Jesus told us that it does not take much faith to see Him do marvelous things. 

If people heard and knew some of the audacious things I've asked God to do they would think I was out of my mind. Big, bold, and boundless prayers that I believe glorify Him when He answers. Brenda and I love to testify when God answers. People have commented to me they wished God would do similar things for them. He absolutely can. What people do not see is the hours spent alone shut up with God travailing for those answers days, months, and at times years and decades to answer. 

Right now Brenda and I praying about a house. We have signed a contract on one we feel a peace about living in. We have prayed every step of the way. I am not just content to get a house. I ask God repeatedly for such a miraculous work as to pay the house off and to own the home debt free. I have mustard seed faith to believe that God can and will do this for us so we can boast about Him. At the same time, I'm praying for two vehicles debt free. Not because we just want new vehicles. Both of ours, one 21 years old, the other 19 years old, need major repairs that no longer make wise financial sense. For well over a year I've gone to the secret place to pray in these miracles. I am firm in my commitment to God to not go in debt on vehicles. Our money is tied up in getting into a house. So I summon mustard seed faith and ask God to move that mountain. I can see it in my spirit. One day I will see them in my garage. When He does it I will testify about the power of mustard seed faith and a God who chooses to respond to it in marvelous ways. The travailing is hard work. The end result is glorifying God. 

Faith Steps

 Brenda and I moved to the Panhandle of TX on April 18. Today is the first day I have been able to get into my blog since that day. I had to set up a new computer and work through many techonology issues which I am not qualified nor skilled to do. One day I spent seven hours on the phone trying to get the new computer set up. To say that was a frustrating day is an understatement as Brenda will testify. Today is a small victory getting back to be able to blog again. 

So much has happened in the past month. Brenda's mom died the day we loaded the moving truck. We made a couple of trips back to the metroplex to clean out her apartment as well as to have the funeral. Turner graduated from college. We just signed a contract on a house here in Fritch, TX. 

Brenda has not worked since April 18th. God has provided in ways only He can. We have not missed paying a bill. We have not communicated our financial needs to people and God has provided over and over again. He has come through. We actually have more money in our checking account now than we did when she worked. Only God can do that. 

He has provided in some of the most unusual ways. I found money in an envelope inside my Yukon on the day we moved. Brenda's boss paid her extra and gave her money in a card on her last day. During this time we went back to Seminole for a funeral. Once again God provided in unusual ways. I was given a check from a family in Seminole worth $1,000. A former church member and coworker of Brenda came out to the place we stayed to visit. She handed Brenda an envelope. Inside a card was a check for $2,500. The next day at lunch I was getting on to a man from that community who dropped out of church. When I was done he reached in his wallet and handed Brenda $500. We did not communicate a financial need or ask any of those people for money. God moved each of them to provide for us. To the tune of $4,000!

From the beginning of feeling the call to move to Fritch, to the actual move, and to the purcahse of a home on one income at this time we have taken the next steps in faith and God has done wonders. He rewards those who obey by faith according to [Heb 11:6]. We gave up a free house, paid utilities, and  Brenda's salary to relocate to the Panhandle to First Southern Baptist Church of Fritch. He did not abandon us. He has helped us each step of the way. Including the death of Brenda's mom. 

When it became apparent that God was moving us, Brenda prayed that God would allow us to stay in Weatherford until her mother died. Her mother's health was failing, but we had no indication that she would die soon. She fell and was taken to the hospital. She battled cancer, heart problems, and a disease in her legs. In the hospital her health deteriorated. The day before we were to load the moving truck Brenda and I joined her sisters and the rest of the family at the hospital. It was then her mother gathered us around the bed and told us she was ready to go to heaven. They put her on hospice the next day. She  died while Brenda was at work and I loaded the moving truck with some men from Fritch. Many times since then Brenda has thanked God for allowing us to be in Weatherford right up to her mother's last day of her earthly pilgrimage. 

In a couple of weeks we will close on a house trusting God each faith step of the way. We are working and praying feverishly about this and to see God heal and rebuild this church. We are trusting God for a great revitalization of First Southern Fritch. We spend our time trying to connect with people, planning events, attending meetings, and I spend a lot of time in the prayer room. We ask God to develop a culture of prayer here. The real faith steps begin as we watch God transform this church and community one faith step at a time.