The Call Kansas City

If you are unable to join us at Bartle Hall in Kansas City on December 31, join us through internet webstream at http://www.thecall.com/ for FREE or via GOD TV (channel 365 on DirecTV). Also, be sure to join Lou Engle, Eddie James, Mike Bickle, and Will Ford at Bartle Hall in Kansas City or via internet webstream at http://www.thecall.com/ for a special prophetic call to African-American leaders on December 28.

TheCall Kansas City: Making America a House of Prayer

Historic outpourings of the Holy Spirit have always been preceded by an extraordinary movement of prayer and fasting led by ordinary men and women. History bears witness to this reality with Evan Roberts and the Welsh Revival, with Frank Bartleman and the Azusa Street Revival, with Count Zinzendorf and the Moravian movement, and, above all, with the young disciples gathered in the Upper Room in Acts 2 that led to the rapid expansion of the Church in the first century. Again, a generation is emerging that is laying hold of the prophetic promise of revival in this nation. 2008 looms largely ahead of us and is rapidly becoming the battlefield on which a generation must contend for revival. It will take nothing less than a nationwide movement of prayer and fasting . Thus, we are believing that every family, every church, every business, and every college campus will become a House of Prayer (Isaiah 56:7). We believe that 2008 will be a year that is marked with prayer and fasting–with young adults starting prayer furnaces on college campuses, with men and women starting prayer meetings in the marketplace, with local churches becoming day and night houses of prayer. Over ten years ago, the Lord gave a prophetic friend of mine a profound dream that pointed me back to my life's calling and vocation. In the dream, a Buddhist house of prayer sat atop a Christian house of prayer and dominated it. But then, the Christian house of prayer began to wrestle with the Buddhist house of prayer and began to overpower it. Through this dream, the Lord resoundingly spoke to me and challenged me to "raise up a house of prayer that contends with every other house." Moreover, just a few years later, through a series of profound prophetic events, the Lord spoke to me prophetically that "wherever TheCall goes, I (the Lord) will establish My House of Prayer."To that end, we are calling for 30,000+ to gather in Kansas City on December 31 for TheCall Kansas City where we will seek God in fasting and prayer to visit this nation with a historic revival and cry out to God to establish His House of Prayer in cities all across America. I believe that our nation has yet to see the Church in its full potential to transform cities. However, I believe that a new sound is emerging that will explore the limitless power from on high when we partner with God through unceasing prayer and fasting. I believe that now is America's time to raise up Houses of Prayer in cities all across the nation to contend for breakthrough!For more information, visit http://www.thecall.com/.

A New Grandson

It's about time that I did a little bragging. Our middle child, Alicia, and her husband, Ashley are the proud parents of a new little boy -Ashtyn. He was born a week and 2 days ago - December 15 to be exact. He weighed in at 7.5 pounds and stands 20.5 inches tall - actually he stretches to 20.5 inches long - horizontal. He has dark hair and, according to his very biased dad, he looks like the Mills side of the family. Here's a pic of the little guy's hair, just to demonstrate the dark hair part.

Now for a fuller view:

As you can see, we got our Christmas present early this year.

Speaking of Christmas - I pray that yours is filled with wonder and blessing. And I pray that Jesus will be born anew in your heart every moment of every day.

Fresh Revelation

I think I have just come up with some fresh revelation! Texas truly is God's chosen state. I have proof from the Bible! What is the "nick name" for the state of Texas? The "Lone Star State." And how many stars are on the flag of Texas? One - one lone star.

Now, how many stars guided the wise men to the child, Jesus? Was it a whole constelation? No - it was one single star. God chose to lead the magi to Jesus with one, lone star because He knew that one day there would be a place called Texas whose symbol would be a single star. Thus, Texas is God's favorite state.

Of course, I'm being silly, but as an amateur teacher of Biblical Hermeneutics (the art of interpreting the Bible), I am constantly amazed at what people can do to the Bible - all in the name of "fresh revelation." Some of the "fresh revelation" is pretty harmless and so I don't make too much fuss over it. However, some of it causes us to miss significant truth in God's Word. For example, in Matthew 18:19 Jesus says, "Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven." I can't tell you how many times I've heard that verse quoted in prayer meetings (especially when only two people showed up), in an attempt to convince God that He has to answer your prayers because two of you are praying together. The implications of that wrong "hermeneutic" are significant. If Jesus really meant what people have said this verse means, then no one could ever pray with any confidence when they are alone. If the verse really meant what people say it means, then it would reveal that Jesus' actions of going off by Himself to pray were wrong - or at least that He couldn't expect the Father to answer since He wasn't praying with someone.

Now you may not think this is any big deal - but the reality is, this particular verse doesn't have anything to do with prayer. Instead, it has to do with getting a friend to help in the restoration of a broken relationship. Jesus has just taught that if a brother sins against you, it is imperative that you do everything possible to restore that lost or broken relationship. And then He promises, that if two of you will agree to restore the broken relationship, then He will work with you to make it happen. That understanding of the verse is significantly more powerful.

I want to encourage you to seek fresh revelation from Scripture - but make sure that the "revelation" you receive truly is that, and not just the product of a good imagination.

The Times They Are A Changin'

Come gather 'round people

Wherever you roam

And admit that the waters

Around you have grown

And accept it that soon

You'll be drenched to the bone.

If your time to you

Is worth savin'

Then you better start swimmin'

Or you'll sink like a stone

For the times they are a-changin'.

The line it is drawn

The curse it is cast

The slow one now

Will later be fast

As the present now

Will later be past

The order is

Rapidly fadin'.

And the first one now

Will later be last

For the times they are a-changin'.

These are the first and last verses to a familiar Bob Dylan classic which was first released in 1964. In 1967 they were re-released, and that is the version I was most familiar with. I had no idea that 40 years later those words would be significantly more meaningful to me personally than they were when I was 16. In those days the hippie / free love movement began at the corner of Haight and Ashbury in San Francisco - the Israeli army conducted the famous 6 day war - Viet Nam was raging - and my family moved from the only home I had ever known growing up, into a school whose junior class alone was more than two times larger than my entire high school had been. The times, they truly were a'changin'.


Then, this past week I traveled with Debbie and Marisa to visit my mom and dad in the Dallas, Texas area. My parents no longer live together. After 64 years of marriage, my dad has had to be moved away from my mom into an Alzheimer's care facility. My mom lives in a retirement village and has assistance 5 days a week. For them - and for the rest of the family - the times they are a'changin'.



My dad is no longer the dad I have known all my life - he is but a shell of the man who gave himself so diligently and lovingly for his family.



My mom, though lucid most of the time, can be seen sitting in her chair talking to people only she can see, or going through motions with her hands as if she were sewing something precious to her - movements she has done thousands of times making dresses for my sisters and quilts and such - though there is no needle, thread or fabric in front of her.

For us all - especially mom and dad - the times they are a'changin'. I pray that we all will continue to make the adjustments with grace and dignity - and the love we learned from these two wonderful parents. Bless you Mom and Dad - and thanks for giving us all life and love.

For Those Who Give Their Lives

Memorial Day in the United States is designed to remember those who have defended this country, and to pay special tribute to those who have lost their lives in that defense. I might not be allowed to write this note were it not for all of them - thanks is just not adequate - but add my feeble attempt to the millions of others who are thankful for the sacrifices you and your loved ones have made and perhaps you will be able to hear our hearts.

In addition to those brave soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, and coast guard who have lost their lives, as a Christian, I want to also remember all those who have lost their lives in defense of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Thank you for making it possible for me and my family to know and love Jesus - to know that Jesus loves me. Thank you for all the missionaries who serve today. Thank you for all those who even at this moment are in prisons around the world - simply because they love Jesus. For all of you I humbly pray:

The Lord bless you and keep you;

The Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;

The Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace.

Amen

The Responsibility of Preachers

That's a pretty lofty title isn't it? I didn't mean it to be - I'm not going to talk about moral or social responsibility - I just want to point out the importance of communicating the Word of God with clarity. There is something about the human brain that longs for clarity and organization and I hear too many preachers that come up short in both areas. What's even sadder is that they blame it on the Holy Spirit! "Well, I just preach as I'm led" becomes the mantra of laziness and irresponsibility on the part of the preacher.

Let me give you a little picture that may help. If not, then I'm guilty of the very thing about which I'm concerned. Anyway, imagine yourself at the head of a car caravan. You have just left a wedding and your job is to get all those that attended the wedding ceremony from the church to the location of the celebratory gathering we call a reception. Imagine further, that you are the only one who has directions from the church to the reception hall. It is your responsibility to drive in such a way that you get everyone to the party. With that image, you understand that you will drive differently than if you were going to the party all on your own. If you didn't have the responsibility of getting others from point A to point B, you would drive a little faster; you would speed up going through traffic lights - even daring to go through the intersection when the light has turned yellow. You would always use your turn indicator. You would change lanes with much greater care and soon enough for everyone in the caravan to make the coming lane adjustments and turns. Every time you went through a traffic light, you would check your rear view mirror to make sure the whole caravan was still in tact. If anyone happened to miss the light, you would pull over and wait until the traffic light changed and those missing cars rejoined the caravan. The point is, you just drive differently when you know people are depending on you to get to a particular destination.

Now, translate that to preaching. First, a preacher must know the destination of the biblical text or the whole experience is an exercise in futility. Did you know that studies have been done that indicate that 50% of preachers have no idea what point they are trying to make with their sermons!!! That means that half of the congregations in America are following someone who has no idea where they are going!!!! That's frightening to me. We know those 50% are totally disorganized - that's a given. On top of that, probably half of the remaining preachers - even if they know the destination - even if they know where the text is headed - they are so disorganized that people have trouble following them. Too many preachers preach like they do personal devotions - it's a kind of stream of consciousness extemporaneous speaking - one thought or verse of scripture triggers another thought or verse which triggers another and so on. In the end, when the preacher looks back - the caravan has dispersed and no one shows up at the party - the celebration of God's Word.

I don 't know why that was on my mind this morning - but it was - so there you have it.

A Sad Commentary

I still get my denominational newspaper each week - the United Methodist Reporter. In the latest edition, there is a story about an Episcopal Church in New Jersey that has a major dilemma. They have no money and they are contemplating selling their "Tiffany Stained Glass Windows" in order to survive a little longer. The once vital congregation has dwindled to almost nothing and one solution that has been suggested by the pastor is to sell the windows. Each window is insured for a half million dollars, but brokers indicate that the most anyone could expect to get for a "religious themed" window is $200K. Of course there are many opinions related to what the congregation should do - Episcopalians are like Methodist in that regard - wherever two or three Methodists are gathered together there are at least 5 or 6 opinions! Anyway, in one discussion, the article quotes one concerned congregant (see how I use that denominational language with ease!!) said, "This is what makes the church, the historic stuff!"

In another realm, a letter to the editor in the Kansas City Star recently was lamenting the fact that people had made such a big deal out of the life of Jerry Falwell. The letter writer was aghast that anyone like Reverend Falwell could be considered a Christian. He even went so far as to say that Mahatma Gandhi, a Hindu, was a better Christian than Jerry Falwell because he was more accepting of gays and lesbians - or something of that nature.

And now for one more story: I was a campus minister at one point in my life and our campus ministry had an intramural basketball team. In one of our games, the officiating was obviously one sided against us. By the time the game was down to the last 3 minutes of play, our team had been to the foul line only 3 times (that means that only 3 fouls were called against the opposing team in the entire game), and the other team had shot more foul shots than we could count! Needless to say, our guys were quite frustrated and began to show that frustration toward the referees. Finally, the debacle was over and as our players walked off the court, refusing to shake the hands of the opponents (I'm not saying that behavior showed good sportsmanship, but it was understandable), one of the chief offenders from the other team (the one who fouled our guys most and got away with every one of them) yelled, "I thought you were supposed to be Christians!"

The implication in all of those stories is that we, the Church, have lost our way. From the church lady who thinks that it's the historic stuff that makes the church, to the gay guy who thinks that being a Christian means you have no standards, to the basketball player who thinks a Christian is one who never gets frustrated in the face of injustice - we learn that the church is obviously communicating a wrong message. We have wandered far off course from our mandate to "Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit." It's time we Christians examined ourselves and see where we have lifted up our denomination, or our rules, or our attitudes and failed to lift up Jesus.

My Excuse Is...

Actually, I have no excuse - just a really good reason for not blogging - I'm lazy. That's a reason isn't it? The excuse I would have used, were I so inclined, is that my mentor - my friend - my inspiration (well, maybe that takes it a little too far) - but anyway, the guy who got me started, Randy Bohlender, quit and now he's back, so I guess I can give it another shot.

What a great 2 weeks I've had! Jonathan and Heidi along with Kai, Salem and Faith have been here for 12 days and in the middle of that Alicia, Ashley, and Aria came for Mothers' day! We have had a blast! The time had flown by so quickly. Ashley headed back to Madison, WI on Sunday; Debbie and I took Alicia and Aria to the airport this morning; and Jonathan's crew head out at O-dark thirty on Thursday. It will be disturbingly quiet around the Mills house. I would add pictures - but my grand kids are just soooooooo cute that it would create a flood of envy; and besides, I have too many pictures and just can't choose which ones to exclude. So, maybe in days ahead, I'll share a few.

Be blessed, y'all!

Factoid Friday

Wow - does time ever fly!!!!! I can't believe it's been a week since my last post. That is not a good thing for building loyal blog buddies. Perhaps I'm in a creative slump - perhaps I never had any creativity in the first place - perhaps I'm just a slacker - perhaps .... well never mind. I'll not bore you any longer with my delinquency and continue to bore you with

FACTOID FRIDAY!

Today's factoid has to do with local driving issues. Did you know that the 6th worst place in the United States for driving a car is (drum roll please) ..... Kansas City, Missouri! At least we aren't as bad at driving as the people in St. Louis, Missouri - they are the number two worst place. The worst place in the US for car crashes and reckless driving is Columbia, South Carolina. Because I don't want to leave you with a totally negative factoid to haunt your weekend, I will tell you that the best, safest, and most crash free city in the US is Des Moines, Iowa. Once again, folks, I don't explain 'em, I just report 'em. Have a great weekend!

Factoid Friday

After missing the last couple of Fridays because of my trip to Hawaii, it is once again time for

FACTOID FRIDAY!

Did you know that the human brain processes about 11 million pieces of information EVERY SECOND? That's lots of information, right? Now here's the really interesting part - only 40 of those pieces of information are processed consciously. That means that 10,999,960 pieces of information are processed by the unconscious brain! The implications of this information are - now get this - mind boggling. There is a lot going on in and around us that is completely beyond the scope of our awareness - and yet it impacts how we feel, what we think, how we act, what we do.


I have no idea what you are to do with this information - but I'm just committed to reporting the factoids - I'll let you figure out the implications.

Back in KC

Here it is Thursday and my brain has yet to catch up to my body - We left Honolulu at 6:40 pm Sunday (11:40 pm KC time) and arrived in KC at 11 am on Monday - that's 11.5 hours in transit. Sleeping is virtually impossible on an airplane and we promised ourselves that we would not go to sleep before the normal 10 pm on Monday - didn't make it! I think we finally gave up and went to sleep at 9 pm. The good news is that when we arrived in KC our daughter, Alicia, and granddaughter, Aria, were there to meet us. Then we had the opportunity to take care of Aria for the next 24 hours so that Alicia, Marisa and their friend Lindsay could have a little "girl time." We were more than happy to take care of little Aria - she was just wonderful!

Yesterday (Wednesday) I spent most of the day getting ready to teach on healing and communion. It is a great study in 1 Corinthians. I focused my study on 2 significant words from 1 Corinthians 11 - proclaim and examine. Time didn't permit me to do more than "proclaim" last night, so next Wednesday I'll focus on the "examine" part of the text. I shared that when Jesus told the early church to "do this in remembrance of me" He was not talking about a sentimental remembrance, but He was telling the people to "remember to proclaim everything I did for you in My death." That proclamation involved two elements - the broken body and the spilled blood. When Jesus said, "This is my body broken for you," he was calling attention to the words of Isaiah 43:4-5 which ends with this promise: "By His wounds we are healed." When we proclaim the broken body of Jesus we come face to face with our faith - do I really believe that His death provided for my healing? Every time I partake of the broken body of the Lord, I am proclaiming my trust in His promise - and I am bolstering my faith to believe it even more! I'll talk about the shed blood element of the proclamation later.

For now, I'm just enjoying being back in the prayer room!

Aloha Oi

Well - this is the last day for Hawaii - we head out this evening at 6:40 - that's 11:40 pm KC time. Arrive in KC Monday morning at 10 am after a stop in Houston. When I get home, I'll have a few more parting photos and thoughts. Hope you've enjoyed sharing in our little Hawaiian excursion - it's been fun.

Maui Wowie 6

Last full day in Honolulu! Heard that it sleeted in KC last night (Friday) and almost immediately heard some kind of voice calling me to stay in the islands. If I'm not back in place next week, you might want to check the beaches of Honolulu to see if I'm still hanging around here. Debbie is out buying last minute gifts - you know the kinds of things that people don't need or really want, but that give you one more opportunity to say, "Nyah, nayh - I got to go to Hawaii for 10 days and you didn't!" Anyway, that's been the point of this blog the last few days.

I would like to thank our friends who made it possible for us to come here free of charge! They covered air fare, hotels, car rental, and most of our food. God has certainly been good and He has used them as instruments to bless us. This is Debbie and Vickie at one of the fine eateries in a nearby hotel. We do not want to miss the opportunity to thank Him and them for this tremendous gift of love and kindness.

Here are a couple of parting shots. Forgive the grainy nature of some of the pictures - they are the result of 35 mm film going through the x-ray machine at the airport. I'm glad there was at least this much. The lady at the film developing store told me that they could have been completely erased. So - here ya go!

Maiu Wowie 5

Actually, we have left Maui and are in Honolulu on the island of O'ahu. This is an entirely different experience. Maui seems to cater to the "high end" folks - example, breakfast cost $25 EACH. So Debbie and I spent $50 each day just to eat breakfast! Today, we both ate for just over $15 TOGETHER. Honolulu is more touristy than Maui. We are staying right across the street from Waikiki Beach - and if you look really close, you can actually see the sand between the bodies. Debbie and I just got back from a walk and for some reason, I kept hearing Jimmy Buffett sing "Margaritaville" - perhaps it was the "tourists covered with oil" that triggered the memory. Anyway, it's going to be quite a different experience. Here are a couple of images from our "lanai" (for those of you who have forgotten or just checked in, that's a Hawaiian porch).

We did go to the International House of Prayer of Honolulu last night (Thursday) and had a great and refreshing experience. We met some great folks who have been going hard after prayer for a couple of years now. They are small in number but mighty in Spirit. A few of them have been to KC and one, Regan (not sure of spelling), the pastor/leader of the group plans to come to KC for a year beginning in about 4 weeks. He told me he plans on recruiting, so you might want to begin now praying about joining him in a year to help with the IHOP Honolulu! Well, Debbie is trying to get me to become one of those "tourists covered with oil" so I'll write more later!

Maui Wowie 4

Thought I'd take a minute to check in and share a few more photos with you. The sights, sounds, and smells are just amazing!

Today is a bit rainy, though, so I took some time to study. I've been working on some teaching I will do when I return. It relates to the celebration of the Lord's Supper and healing. I've been studying 1 Corinthians and I've discovered that we seem to have really missed the point of 1 Corinthians 11 related to self-examination, sickness and communion. It appears that the primary thrust of the text in conjunction with the focus of the entire book has to do with "discerning the body" in the elements. We have a tendency to focus on our own personal sins (which is necessary), but it really focuses on our understanding of our sins in relation to the entire Body of Christ. When we don't see how our personal sins impact the entire Body, then we bring judgment on ourselves in the form of weakness, sickness, and even sleep or death. I'll share more as I get more, but for now, you might examine how you really feel about the Body of Christ - the weaker parts, the unseemly parts, the parts who hold different doctrines from you, etc. I'm not at the point of conclusion yet, but I'm really intrigued by how different our western independence is from the image I seem to be getting from Paul related to the unity of the Body of Christ.

Maui Wowie 3

Please pardon the delay - I didn't post yesterday because there was a power surge and it knocked their server out for a while. All continues to go well. We went to a luau a couple of nights ago - wind blew like I was in West Texas again - major difference was there was no dust involved. It did make the luau a little interesting though. Part of the luau was entertainment by a local dance troupe. Check out the pictures!







Before the human entertainment, the sunset put on a pretty spectacular performance of its own. Nice, huh?





Today, we went to a Tongan Methodist Church and heard some great music by a brass band who just happened to be touring Hawaii from Tonga!


Of course no trip to Hawaii would be complete without a trip to the beach. Guess whose feet are in this picture? We're having a great time and look forward to sharing more as time goes by.

Maui Wowie 2

Well, we arrived safely yesterday - not one hitch in the process. Kudos to Continental Airlines for great service all the way. We were (and still are) tired - long hours of travel will do that to you, but it is well worth every moment of confinement in a tiny space with no leg room. However, there are advantages to being less (a lot less) than six feet tall when it comes to air travel. Anyway, we slept very well, and didn't wake up at 6 am KC time, but made it all the way to 6 am HI time - so I consider that a pretty big victory.

I wanted to give you a couple of shots of the view from my porch. They call is a lanai (I think), but to me it looks like a porch.

We had a great encounter with a woman in the airport in Honolulu while waiting for our shuttle flight to Maui. She is from Houston and was headed for Maui for her nephew's wedding. She shared that she was concerned that neither he nor his wife were believers and she was one of the only family members attending who was a believer, so she felt a huge responsibility to be there for them. She so wanted the new couple to know the love of Christ. It was moving that she almost broke into tears every time she talked about the couple. Debbie and I have prayed for her and ask you to do so as well. Since I did not ask permission to share this, I don't feel I can share her name, but that really isn't necessary. She's standing in the gap for these kids, and if you think about it, you might stand in the gap for her as well. It was also great to be able to share one of my books with her. She read part of it on the short flight between Honolulu and Maui and at the baggage claim she made a point of telling me how she had already been impacted and couldn't wait to finish it. Pray for her to deepen her relationship with Jesus even more as she encounters Him in Glad to Forgive.

Pray that we will have more of those divine encounters as the trip progresses!

Maui Wowie

Hold on fellow bloggers - tomorrow morning, Thursday, March 8, 2007, Debbie and I head for a 10 day all expense paid trip to Maui and Honolulu!! That's right, folks, 7 days in Maui - sailing, snorkeling, luauing, and just plain ol' kickin' back and relaxing. Follow that by a short flight over to Honolulu for the last three days which will include an excursion to Pearl Harbor and the Arizona Memorial as well as a contact with the Honolulu House of Prayer. My goal is to blog each day (except tomorrow because I will be traveling all day) and try to create as much envy in you as possible - only for the purpose of exposing something that needs to be confessed and cleaned out. Of course my motives are purely pastoral! I'll keep you "posted" (get it? Posted? Never mind).

And coming to Him as to a living stone which has been rejected by men, but is choice and precious in the sight of God, you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
1 Peter 2:4-5

This is a call to be temple – a living temple – a living place of worship. This is the call to step into the role of priests. As you read through 1 Peter, you notice that prior to this call to be "living stones" Peter calls Christians to live as "obedient children" and "newborn babes." One of the most important things we note about this third metaphor is that you can live as an obedient child individually; and you can live as a newborn babe individually; but you cannot be living stones that are being built into a spiritual house unless other stones are involved. Even though the emphasis all along has probably been on the corporate nature of being a disciple of Jesus, it now becomes imperative. A living stone cannot be built into a spiritual house all by itself – it is the purpose of the Church, the body of Christ, to house this holy priesthood. It is the purpose of the Church to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. This necessarily makes this section missionary and evangelistic. The only way to build up the house is by constantly adding more living stones!

Hal Linhardt preached one of the most powerful and significant sermons on evangelism I have ever heard. The notes (For some reason I couldn't get the command to publish a link to work, so I'll just do it the ugly way - if you want to read the notes for Hal's sermon go to this link http://www.ihop.org/Group/Group.aspx?ID=1000000380) for his sermon are nothing more than a list of scriptures that demand and motivate Christians to give up the fear of man and begin to rescue people from the jaws of hell. It is time for believers in Jesus to step into our role as living stones and minister to God in worship, to represent God to lost people, and to intercede on behalf of those lost people before the throne of God.

Factoid Friday!

Seems that I just wrote one of these, but once again it's time for

FACTOID FRIDAY!!!!

Did you know that if you have a persistent tickle in your throat that causes you to cough, you can stop it by scratching your ear? Strange but true. "When the nerves in the ear are stimulated, it creates a reflex in the throat that can cause a muscle spasm," says Scott Schaffer, M.D., president of an ear, nose, and throat specialty center in Gibbsboro, New Jersey. "This spasm [created by scratching the inside of the ear], relieves the tickle" and thus stops the cough.

Now, I don't advise using a drinking straw or even a cotton swab, but if you use your little finger and get it placed just right it actually works!

Giving a Final Exam

I'm currently waiting on my students to show up for the Final Exam to end this module of teaching. For some reason I had a really tough time with this class - I don't know if it was because I was teaching new material, or because the material I was teaching was difficult to teach, or because of ... hey, I haven't had time to process it yet. One thing I do know though is I'm tired. Motivation is at a particularly low ebb right now. I could really take a nap - but I've never been particularly good at napping - I tend to wake up feeling drugged - and then I don't sleep at night. But then you didn't pay good money to listen to me bellyache. Now that I think about it...you didn't pay good money at all...you get to read this great stuff for free! (I heard that "guess-you-get-what-you-pay-for" comment!)

Anyway, let's talk for a minute about "The End of All Things: Writings of Peter." 2 Peter is a kind of general letter written to a group of Christians that are facing a difficult time from inside the camp. A group of teachers has developed from among the faithful. This second of two letters says (2:1) that they have "infiltrated" the church with "destructive heresies." It seems that some stealth ninjas have smuggled in some ideas and concepts that are just plain wrong, and Peter is trying to give these Christians the "heads up." Words like "brazen" and "insolent" and "irrational animals" are used. My favorite, though, is when he calls these people "stains and blemishes." (2:13) You stain! Now that is an insult!

What seems to make matters worse is that these folks used to play for the home team , "through the rich knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." (2:20) And to make matters worse, they are still wearing the home team's uniform! (2:1) But instead of remaining faithful, they have "gone astray" by "forsaking the right path." (2:15) And they have taken it on as their personal mission to "exploit" anyone who will listen to their "deceptive words." (2:3) They will even deny "the master who bought them." (2:1)

As we come closer to the end of all things, we must be ever on the alert for those who teach contrary to the Truth. Let's agree to help and encourage one another - "...be on your guard that you do not get led astray by the error of these unprincipled men and fall from your firm grasp on the truth." (3:17)

(illustration by David Newton, from a recent issue of Nature)

Giving a Final Exam

I'm currently waiting on my students to show up for the Final Exam to end this module of teaching. For some reason I had a really tough time with this class - I don't know if it was because I was teaching new material, or because the material I was teaching was difficult to teach, or because of ... hey, I haven't had time to process it yet. One thing I do know though is I'm tired. Motivation is at a particularly low ebb right now. I could really take a nap - but I've never been particularly good at napping - I tend to wake up feeling drugged - and then I don't sleep at night. But then you didn't pay good money to listen to me bellyache. Now that I think about it...you didn't pay good money at all...you get to read this great stuff for free! (I heard that "guess-you-get-what-you-pay-for" comment!)

Anyway, let's talk for a minute about "The End of All Things: Writings of Peter." 2 Peter is a kind of general letter written to a group of Christians that are facing a difficult time from inside the camp. A group of teachers has developed from among the faithful. This second of two letters says (2:1) that they have "infiltrated" the church with "destructive heresies." It seems that some stealth ninjas have smuggled in some ideas and concepts that are just plain wrong, and Peter is trying to give these Christians the "heads up." Words like "brazen" and "insolent" and "irrational animals" are used. My favorite, though, is when he calls these people "stains and blemishes." (2:13) You stain! Now that is an insult!

What seems to make matters worse is that these folks used to play for the home team , "through the rich knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." (2:20) And to make matters worse, they are still wearing the home team's uniform! (2:1) But instead of remaining faithful, they have "gone astray" by "forsaking the right path." (2:15) And they have taken it on as their personal mission to "exploit" anyone who will listen to their "deceptive words." (2:3) They will even deny "the master who bought them." (2:1)

As we come closer to the end of all things, we must be ever on the alert for those who teach contrary to the Truth. Let's agree to help and encourage one another - "...be on your guard that you do not get led astray by the error of these unprincipled men and fall from your firm grasp on the truth." (3:17)

(illustration by David Newton, from a recent issue of Nature)

Just Saying "Hi"

I just wanted to stop by this morning and say "HI!" I've missed sharing with you lately, but I only have a few more days left in this teaching module (3 week intensive) and then perhaps I can stop by daily. Right now, I am studying like crazy. I joke (but it isn't a joke at all) that I'm just 30 minutes ahead of the students. I study, prepare, study some more, write, put together a PowerPoint presentation of the lesson and get that completed about half an hour before walking into class. I "dump the load" for 3 hours and then head home for more study, preparation, study, PowerPoint, only to head back to class for another 3 hour information dump. This goes on Monday through Thursday for three weeks. I'm not sure what the students are getting, but I am learning a lot! Perhaps in coming days I'll share a little - but I'll resist the urge to make it a 3 hour post.

Factoid Friday!!!

Well, it's that time again. Since I've not posted with any regularity lately, I'm a little embarrassed; but since it's only a little embarrassment, then I'll go ahead. If I were a LOT embarrassed, then I'd find another avenue of expression. However ... it's time for

Factoid Friday!!!

Did you know that it is easier to influence a person to your point of view after he (or she) has had a large dose of caffeine?

That's correct! Australian researchers apparently didn't have enough to do, so they gave participants in the study either a placebo (containing no caffeine) or a drink that contained the caffeine equivalent of 2 cups of coffee. Following the ingestion of the brew, the participants were asked to read a persuasive message stating an opinion which they had formerly opposed. The folks hopped up on caffeine were more likely to be persuaded to change their opinion than the folks who got the placebo.
Two observations:
1) I must stop watching the news while I have my morning coffee!
2) If I need to sell something, there are a few apparently easy targets in the IHOP-KC world.

Have a great weekend!

A Little Catching Up

On Valentine's Day, I reported that my wife left me. Well, I'm happy to report that she made it back safely. The return trip was not without it's hassles - her flight from Ft. Wayne was delayed, which caused her to miss her connection in Detroit, which required that she be re-booked at another time which put her back in KC about 4 hours later than expected - but she did arrive safely home! It is good to have her back.

In addition, I've been teaching from 1 Peter the last couple of weeks at Forerunner School of Ministry. Monday, we focused our attention for a few minutes on 1 Peter 2:1 - Therefore, putting aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander.

In that study, we discovered that our calling as Christians is to "fervently love one another from the heart." (1 Peter 1:22) And now, reading 2:1 we have discovered that there are some practices that will keep us from doing what we are called to do. The first thing that will keep us from fervent love is malice. We learned that malice is really a desire for evil to come upon someone. We also learned that evil is not the opposite of God, it is the absence of God. So the desire for evil to come upon a person is the result of a void in a person's heart. If I have "malice" toward another person, it is a signal that an emptiness exists in my heart. The only explanation for a malicious thought or action is that I have an emptiness in my heart that needs to be filled.

After malice, there are other hindrances to love listed: deceit, hypocrisy, envy and all slander. Without going into any major detail, it appears that Peter has given us a progression that leads away from love. The progression goes something like this:

1) If the heart is not filled with the fullness of God, that void produces an evil, self-centered desire for self preservation and self promotion and will have no concern for any injury that may come to others (malice). It is truly animalistic.
2) A malicious heart attitude will produce an insatiable need to get ahead of others at all costs. At that point, deceit takes over and no deception is too low in order for me to get what I want by whatever means necessary.
3) I will then begin to play a part (hypocrisies) that is contrary to what I say I believe. I will sink into the depths of hypocrisy. It will be subtle at first and will appear harmless, but if I allow it to run unchecked, it will escalate.
4) In that condition, I will long for what others have (envies) – not just for the sake of having it, but because I will honestly believe that it is a matter of my personal survival – with such intensity that it will literally rot my sense of right and wrong.
5) At this point, I will have no hesitation in saying whatever I have to say, or doing whatever I have to do to displace anyone I perceive as a competitor (slanders). It’s the law of the jungle, kill or be killed, eat or be eaten; survival of the fittest becomes my motto.

So now the question must be, "How do I fill the void that exists naturally in the human heart? How do I fill the void that leads to this destructive progression?"

I'm glad you asked that question, because Peter gives us the answer immediately. In 1 Peter 2:2 he says, "...like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word..." The only way to fill the void is with the Word of God. When we long for the Word of God the way a baby longs for milk, then we will begin to fill the emptiness with the only thing that will be effective. So my prayer for myself and for my brothers and sisters in Christ is that we will have a longing for the Word of God - so that the empty places in our hearts will "be filled with all the fullness of God." (Ephesians 3:19)

Something New

In keeping with the latest trend in blogging - who am I kidding? I have no idea what is the latest trend in blogging. It's just that the two blogging gurus that I know (Randy and Shawn) seem to have some kind of special subject or quiz or give away or theme on Fridays. And to avoid doing my own creative thinking, I decided to simply mimic the big boys.

So here is the first (and maybe last) installment in my attempt to communicate through the written word.

Factoid Friday!!!!

Taken from the pages of my latest issue of Men's Health, did you know that socks may help you fall asleep faster? That's right, according to page 38 of the March 2007 issue of Men's Health Magazine, Dutch researchers observed 8 people on 6 different occasions. On each of those occasions, they changed what these people wore to bed and what routine they followed prior to going to bed. Then they measured how long it took each of them to fall asleep. People who wore socks to bed fell asleep 27 percent faster than those people who went to bed barefoot. There is one proviso: don't put the socks on until just before you slip beneath the covers. Apparently if you warm your feet too soon, it doesn't help.



Hey, I don't explain 'em, I just report 'em! So before you head to bed, don the socks for a good night's sleep. Seems to have worked for this guy.

My Wife Left Me Today!

Can you believe it? Valentine's Day and my wife left me. That's right - just got on a plane and flew off. She left me!

She left me with enough clean clothes for a few days at least.
She left me a few meals in the refrigerator.
She left me a five day supply of vitamins in a little travel case.
She left me a new bar of soap (because she knew I didn't have a clue where she keeps those supplies).
She left me a big bar of 72% Cocao Dark Chocolate (mm-mm good!).

She left me alright -
She left me with a new appreciation of all the things she does for me on a daily basis.
But most of all, she left me looking forward to Sunday afternoon when she comes back from visiting her mom, sister, and brother in Ft. Wayne, Indiana.

I DIDN'T MEAN TO!!

Sorry! I didn't do it on purpose! I just tripped!

Do those sound like the words of a child who has just broken his mom's favorite antique punch bowl...or the words of a husband who was on his way to the toilet (in a big hurry - don't ask) and stepped on the laundry basket (placed strategically in the hallway between the office and toilet), strewing clothes everywhere and crushing (literally crushing) the plastic basket? By now, your votes have been cast and you've chosen option # 2 - the klutzy husband. And you are...drum roll please...absolutely correct.

What happened? I don't know - it was just one of those freak occurrences - I'm sure the phase of the moon and coming snow storm converged to create some kind of time warp vortex. Who knows? Maybe I'm just not as adept as I once was at leaping tall laundry baskets in a single bound. Whatever the cause, I'm now in the market for a new laundry basket.

Life goes on!

The Week Ahead

Today I begin a three week blitz we in the Forerunner School of Ministry world call a "module." Our schedule is such that we teach three hours a day, for days a week for three weeks. The good part is that we get to spend a lot of time with some top quality - highly motivated students. It gives us a really good opportunity to get to know one another very well. The tough part is preparation. I not-so-kiddingly say that I am about 30 minutes ahead of the students. I complete preparation for the day about half an hour before going in to teach. I, then dump the information only to head back to the books and computer to prepare for the next day. Debbie has scheduled a trip to her home town of Ft. Wayne, Indiana beginning Wednesday. According to her, this is a good time to be gone "because I won't see you anyway."

In addition to that, Marisa has 7 friends arriving for the coming weekend. I think the wave of 20-somethings starts on Thursday. The purpose of their trip is to pray for one of the group who is very ill. She is one of the 7 and will receive prayer for healing and support from her friends. If you think about it, you might join them in praying for Olivia's healing.

In addition, I'm working with some folks doing research on academic accreditation for FSM. This seems to be quite a daunting task - but well worth the efforts because it will challenge us to greater levels of organization and excellence. We have already made remarkable strides in those areas, this will push us even further. I think one thing we will discover is that we already are off the charts in terms of excellence of training.

There is more, but I'll just leave it at that for now. Have a great week. Hope to visit with you again tomorrow!

Evolution Sunday

This Sunday, February 11 has been designated as "Evolution Sunday." It occurs on the birthday of Charles Darwin. As we approach this day, I just couldn't let it pass without comment. Let me first share that I majored in zoology at a state university. I was a nominal Christian in those days - I had been raised going to church - a denomination that definitely could not be classified as fundamentalist or Bible-thumpers. In fact, I had Sunday school teachers that taught me that there was no such thing as eternal life because "it would be boring to live forever." Those same Sunday school teachers taught me that Jesus was no more the Son of God than the rest of us. So fundamentalism was not part of my formative years. While in the university, I sat through basic biology classes as a freshman, and gradually progressed through such classes as "Comparative Vertebrate Anatomy" where I learned that "ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny." What that basically means is that as a human embryo develops it "retraces" its evolutionary journey. An example is that in the early days of a human embryo, there are structures that appear to be gill slits (like in a fish). As the embryo matures, those "gill slits" eventually become lungs. Thus retracing it's evolutionary development. From that class, I took basic physiology, then cellular physiology, then microbiology, and others. The crown jewel in my zoological training was a class entitled "The Biological Status of Man." Even the professor couldn't decide if this was really a biology class or a philosophy class. It was nothing but training in evolution. I share all of that to explain that I didn't just fall off the fundamentalist turnip truck.

Now back to the original point - Evolution Sunday. In the "Clergy Letter" that established this austere day, we find this quote: We the undersigned, Christian clergy from many different traditions, believe that the timeless truths of the Bible and the discoveries of modern science may comfortably coexist. We believe that the theory of evolution is a foundational scientific truth, one that has stood up to rigorous scrutiny and upon which much of human knowledge and achievement rests. To reject this truth or to treat it as one theory among others is to deliberately embrace scientific ignorance and transmit such ignorance to our children."

The phrase in the above quote that gives me difficulty states that this theory is foundational truth. My question is, "Just exactly which theory of evolution are we talking about?" You see, we discuss the theory of evolution as if it were one - as if the entire scientific community had come up with a conclusive statement on evolution, and if we fightin' fundie Christians don't buy into it, then we are just showing our ignorance. The reality is the scientists have no conclusive agreement at all! In the newsletter Species, Speciation, and The Environment edited by Niles Eldredge we find that several views exist on several theories. He states:

Paleontologists now generally agree that stasis -- where species may persist in recognizably the same form, with little or no accumulated change, for millions of years (5-10 million in marine species; somewhat shorter durations in the more volatile terrestrial environments) -- is a common phenomenon.

Whoa there - they "generally agree?" What does that mean? It means they don't fully agree. And the reason they don't fully agree is that there are multiple theories of evolution out there. Some of these theories come from the geologists, some from biologists, some from environmentalists, some from paleontologists, and so on. Now, I love the scientific journey. I think it's exciting when scientists learn how things work. But evolution is far from a physical law. You will never hear the scientific community divided over Newton's laws of physics. No scientific journal will ever say, "Scientists generally agree on gravity." So I suggest that if churches are going to have a Sunday, why don't they have "entropy Sunday," or "gravity Sunday?"

Back From Brinkley

Well, I've been back from Brinkley, Arkansas for a couple of days now. It was a great trip and we met some really great people. If you think about it, pray for those good folks at the United Methodist Church in Brinkley. The pastor there is David Swift and his wife is Anne - both are special people seeking to minister well in the name of Jesus.

We arrived back in Kansas City just in time to participate in the three day Global Bridegroom Fast at the House of Prayer. The GBF is a monthly global solemn assembly that lasts for three days. It always occurs the first Monday through Wednesday of each month. In addition, the GBF for December lasts 7 days. When you add it all together, we have 11 months of 3 day fasts and one month of 7 fasting days which totals to 40 days of fasting each year. During the Global Bridegroom Fast, we are calling believers worldwide to join together in prayer and fasting for revival.

It's a good thing that we came back from Brinkley into 3 days of fasting, because we ate way too much while we were there. Those Methodists know how to put on the feed bag! My favorite was a chess pie that was to die for! They were talking about inviting us to come back sometime in August - I'm hoping for more pie if they do.

Brinkley, Arkansas

I'm off to Brinkley, Arkansas for the weekend. I speak Saturday evening and Sunday morning at the United Methodist Church there. I'll talk to you again on Monday (maybe).

An Obedient Child

Let me say a few more words about 1 Peter. I find it interesting that Peter challenges his readers with a series of similes. The first one, the challenge to live “as obedient children” is not exactly what we might think. He says:

1:14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, 15 but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; 16 because it is written, "YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY." 17 If you address as Father the One who impartially judges according to each one's work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay on earth…

Let’s look first at the call to “be holy in all your behavior.” If we aren’t careful here, we will miss an important distinction related to holiness. The word translated “behavior” is broader than how we act. It really has to do with every part – every dimension – every manner of life. So the implication is that this call to holiness has to do with attitude, and thought, and emotion, and will, and purpose. Then when all of those dimensions of life are given over to holiness, of course behavior will necessarily follow. So the reality of this admonition is that Peter is urging these people to grow into holiness from the inside out.

Another observation I make is that there is a model by which we are to gauge our holiness; we are to be “like the Holy One who called you.” God is not just holy in the way He acts – He IS Holy – every part of his being is holy – Holiness is God and God is Holiness. So if we are to be holy LIKE God is holy, then just focusing on behavior is completely inadequate.
Now, notice that Peter quickly moves from an image of a holy God, which some have understood to be a distant and unapproachable being who is impossible to imitate, to an image they all can identify with “If you address as Father …” He wants them to see that this is not an unattainable calling.

The overall implication of this is that the call to be obedient children is not a call to behave better so much as it is a call to be like their father. Peter basically says, “As obedient children, be like your Father.” Obedience as a child is completely different than obedience as a slave. A slave is obedient when he does what he is told to do. A child is obedient when he is reflecting the character of his father. So an obedient child is not one that does what he is told – an obedient child is one that seeks to be like his Father. And let me hasten to add, that imitation doesn’t have to be perfect – in fact, it won’t be perfect. An obedient child is not a perfect child, but he is a child whose heart is longing to be like his parent.

When I was in seminary, I had an evangelism professor named Robert Coleman. Robert had a young son at the time that loved his daddy and wanted desperately to be like him. One day, he looked out the back door and saw his dad working in the yard under the hot and humid summer sun. Quickly, he did what he had seen his dad do in a similar situation. Whenever he had been out playing hard in the hot sun, his dad had brought him a drink of water. So Robert’s little son did what he had seen his dad do. He grabbed a glass, filled it with water and ran outside to give it to his dad. He ran up behind his dad and tugged on his daddy’s pant leg. His dad turned around and looked down into the face of his son. His son lifted up a glass of water. Robert smiled, bent down, took the glass of water, drank it all and hugged his son.

Now, for the rest of the story… Robert’s son couldn’t reach the cabinet where the clean glasses were kept, so he grabbed one that had been sitting on the counter a while and had curdled milk in the bottom. It also had a fly stuck to the curdled milk. Little Robert didn’t know the difference in the hot and cold water, so he filled the glass with warm water. So when Robert drank down that entire glass full of water, it was coming from a dirty glass, filled with hot water, tainted with curdled milk, and had a fly floating on top. Was that a perfect reflection of the kind of drink the son had received from the father? No! Was it a reflection of the Father’s heart? Absolutely!

Obedient children in the context of 1 Peter are children who have looked at the holy character of God, and are seeking to emulate the character they have seen in Him. We want to be Holy, not because God told us to be holy, but because we want to be like our heavenly Father. Will we be able to do it perfectly? Absolutely not! But God is not interested in perfect behavior – He is interested that our hearts respond to and seek to imitate His holiness.

I Told You It Was Cold!!

Ok, I've had enough - and so has this snake! An eight-foot boa -- frozen solid -- was found Monday morning, Jan. 29, near the Great Miami River bike path in Middletown (Ohio) by McGraw-Kokosing Inc. employees. Now THAT'S cold!

Fervent Love

It's been a while since I've posted anything related to the name of this blog. It comes from one of my favorite passages of scripture - 1 Peter 1:22.

1:22 Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart, 1:23 for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God. 1:24 For, "ALL FLESH IS LIKE GRASS, AND ALL ITS GLORY LIKE THE FLOWER OF GRASS. THE GRASS WITHERS, AND THE FLOWER FALLS OFF, 1:25 BUT THE WORD OF THE LORD ENDURES FOREVER." And this is the word which was preached to you.

As I have spent a few minutes studying this over the past few days, I've learned some things that are pretty cool. Any time you see the word “since” in the Bible, you need to automatically check to see if you might be dealing with the result of some previous action. In this case, he clearly states the cause. Let me strip away all the modifying clauses and phrases and get to the basic structure of the sentence. Peter says, “…you have…purified your souls…for you have been born again…through the …word of God.” Sometimes in English it helps to say it in the opposite direction in order to clarify what is really being said, “You have been born again through the word of God, [THEREFORE] your obedience to [that] truth has purified your souls…”

So, coming to Jesus cleanses us. But it doesn't just cleanse us so we can be clean and pure. The cleansing is for a purpose beyond our own need. Peter says that believers have purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren. The point of the purification is to create a pathway for love. You have been obedient to the truth – that obedience has purified your souls so that you can have sincere love for the brethren – so that you can love each other from the heart.

Too many Christians think they came to Christ - they got born again - just to avoid going to hell. But here we find that one of the major purposes of that born again experience is so that we can learn how to love. More later.

It's Official!

WINTER IS OVER!! I have declared it - I have claimed it - I have named it - I have prophesied it - I am done with winter!!!! I just spent an hour shoveling the last of the ice and snow that has covered my drive way for more than 2 weeks now!!!! THAT'S TWO WEEKS!!! (okay - no snippy remarks from those of you who live in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, or Buffalo, New York. I know I'm a wimp but let me wallow in this a minute.) Today the sun is shining - the temperature is above 50 degrees Fahrenheit (about 13 Celsius or 285 Kelvin [if anyone cares]). I can just feel it in my bones that winter is ov... hold on. I just checked the forecast for tomorrow - high of 32; Sunday - high of 30. Oh well - never mind!

Fear and Trepidation

It is with great fear and trepidation that I am venturing into the world of politics - not to create a stir - but primarily to ask for information. I recently received the following information in my mail box and I am wondering if there is any veracity to it. Let me know what you know to be the facts.

Probable U.S. Presidential candidate, Barack Hussein Obama was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, to Barack Hussein Obama, Sr., a black Muslim from Nyangoma-Kogel, Kenya and Ann Dunham, a white atheist from Wichita, Kansas. Obama's parents met at the University of Hawaii. When Obama was 2 years old, his parents divorced. His father returned to Kenya. His mother then married Lolo Soetoro, a radical Muslim from Indonesia. When Obama was 6 years old, the family relocated to Indonesia. Obama attended a Muslim school in Jakarta. He also spent two years in a Catholic school.

Obama takes great care to conceal the fact that he is a Muslim. He is quick to point out that, He was once a Muslim, but that he also attended Catholic school. Obama's political handlers are attempting to make it appear that Obama's introduction to Islam came via his father, and that this influence was temporary at best. In reality, the senior Obama returned to Kenya soon after the divorce, and never again had any direct influence over his son's education. Lolo Soetoro, the second husband of Obama's mother, Ann Dunham, introduced his stepson to Islam. Obama was enrolled in a Wahabi school in Jakarta. Wahabism is the radical teaching that is followed by the Muslim terrorists who are now waging Jihad against the western world.

Since it is politically expedient to be a Christian when seeking major public office in the United States, Barack Hussein Obama has joined the United Church of Christ in an attempt to downplay his Muslim background.

Does anyone know anything about this?

True Texans

My daughter, Marisa, received an email recently with the following information:

You Know You're a Texan When...
*You can properly pronounce Corsicana, Ennis, Waxahachie, Palestine, Decatur, Wichita Falls, San Antonio, Waco, and Amarillo.
*A tornado warning siren is your signal to go out in the yard and look for a funnel.
*You've ever had to switch from "heat" to "A/C" in the same day.
*You know that the true value of a parking space is not determined by the distance to the door, but by the availability of shade.
*You think everyone from a bigger city has an accent.
*You measure distance in minutes.
*Little Smokies are something you serve only for special occasions.
*You listen to the weather forecast before picking out an outfit.
*You know cow pies are not made of beef.
*Someone you know has used a football schedule to plan their wedding date.
*You have known someone who has had one belt buckle bigger than your fist.
*You can't pass a dairy queen without getting a Blizzard
*You aren't surprised to find movie rental, ammunition, and bait all in the same store.
*A Mercedes Benz is not a status symbol. A Ford f350 4x4 is.
*You know everything goes better with Ranch Dressing.
*You go to the river/lake because you think it is like going to the ocean.
*You go to the gas station and there is a sign in the window that reads, "No Shoes, No Shirt, No Service!"
*Your family pet is the stray dog with one leg missing, that came limping up to your door.
*You say "Up-their" when you are referring to a place "Over there".
* You say "y'all" as if it was normal.
*You get made fun of for the way you talk.
*People always ask you if you own a horse and ride it to school.
*You get asked if you say "howdy"
*The weather can be sunny one day...rainy another and snowy the next.
*You actually get these jokes and are "fixin' " to send them to your friends.

*****Finally you are 100% Texan if you have ever heard this conversation:
"You wanna coke?"

"Yeah."

"What kind?"

"Dr. Pepper."

AMEN!!!

And So It Begins

Well, tonight marks the night that a huge part of America looks forward to each spring - the American Idol season has begun. For those that have never seen American Idol, you just won't understand what I'm talking about. For those of you who are hooked (and I confess that I have been led astray by my eldest daughter, Marisa), you will know exactly what this is all about. This season started in Minneapolis, Minnesota. 10,000 - that's right TEN THOUSAND people gathered for the first round of auditions. Of that 10,000 only 17 made it through to Hollywood. That is o.017%!! Less that 2 one hundredths of one percent made it through to the second round of this All-American competition. The remarkable thing is that the other 99.9% actually think they will make it! The other 99.9% actually think they are really good! The other 99.9% have no clue that they are REALLY bad - no I mean it -- REALLY BAD! Here's the point I want to make - the whole world - every human on the planet is that group that thinks they are really good when in fact they (WE) are really bad when it comes to our standing with God. Humans want to believe that they can somehow be good enough for God -- humans want to believe that their religious practices are making them acceptable to God. Humans look at their efforts and say, "God I am trying so hard to make You pass me on to the next level - You just have to somehow reward my efforts. After all, I'm not really that bad!" And yet, our efforts really stink. Our singing is off key. Our dancing is without rhythm. Our attempts to be special are weak and broken. On our best day, we humans are nothing more than a heaving heap of broken dreams and promises. The Buddhists fail. The Hindus fail. The Jews fail. The Muslims fail. The Christians fail. The atheists fail. The humanists fail. The new agers fail. The spiritists fail. We all fail to be what we think we are being. In the words of Simon (the notorious bad guy judge), "That was absolutely atrocious!" But the good news is this - Jesus "rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins." (Colossians 1:13-14) And "When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross." (Colossians 2:13-14) Even though no one can measure up to the standard set by God - even though we try to convince ourselves that we are really better than we are - when we give everything over to Jesus and trust the work He did for us on the cross - suddenly we are carried into a whole new realm of existence - suddenly we do measure up - but it has nothing to do with us or what we can do - and it has everything to do with Jesus and what He has already done. I'll keep watching American Idol. And every time I watch, I'll be reminded that even my best efforts look like the people who are really REALLY awful compared to God's perfect standard. That's when I will be even more thankful for the free gift God has given me through the cross of Christ.

A New Semester

I love the first day of school - I always have. There is just an excitement in the air. Today, there are also snowflakes in the air, but that's another story. I'm looking forward to this term, especially, because I get to teach something entirely new. I'll be teaching "The Writings of Peter." I have a month to finish preparation. The modular system we currently use at the Forerunner School of Ministry means that students can focus all their attention on one subject for 4 weeks straight. It also means that teachers can focus all their attention on the subject at hand for just a few weeks. It also means that there is little or no time for preparation during the teaching phase - you have to have all your material together on the first day of class. The next month will be a definite scramble for me to get ready. But that's part of the excitement! I'm looking forward to it. Perhaps I'll get to share some of what I teach (and learn) with you! I know you must be all a-flutter at the very thought of that. I better quit while I'm ahead.

A Cold Afternoon

It's Friday, January 12 (of course you already knew that) and it's just plain cold here in Kansas City. Freezing drizzle. Sleet. A bit of wind. I ventured into the prayer room at the International House of Prayer today for a few minutes - dummy me, I forgot my little reading glasses, so I couldn't read anything. But guess what - that's OK! I just enjoyed the worship and the warm peace of God's goodness. Didn't stay long, though - the weather was getting worse and so Debbie and I headed home after about an hour and a half. On the way there were fire trucks and police cars with lights flashing on both sides of the road - taking care of cars and drivers that had spun and crashed on the ice. One car was upside down. After a trip that took twice as long as usual to make, Debbie and I grabbed a bowl of soup (home made of course), and then headed for Wal-Mart before the weather deteriorated further. Back home again, I am now sitting in my office, reading blogs, sipping some kind of tea that I cannot identify. There was not one word of English on the box - not even one English looking letter - nothing but some kind of Asian symbols. Even though I can't identify it, it is warm and I'm certain that it is good for me. It kind of tastes like - ummmm - uh - ah - well - it kind of tastes like - uh - well, maybe like the hay bales we used to play on when I would visit a friend's farm - or perhaps like the alfalfa that another friend used to feed his sheep. And the odd thing is - I kinda like it. Oh well, so much for taste. I may just be gearing up for a long cold icy snowy weekend.