A Quick Reminder

So, how many will show up at my house laster this morning at 10:30am?  In case you check the blog before coming over, this is our week to check out the guys who wrote 'Same Kind of Different As Me'  over in Garland, TX.  Meeting at my house at 9:45am to leave!

My Hall of Faith

This past Sunday I was moved by Bob Hoover’s statement during our sharing time that his passion is ‘trying to be like Jesus.’  You should know that Bob is almost 80 years old, and has in the past 12 months overcome the death of his spouse of more than 60 years, Moe, as well as helped his daughter Debby overcome the death of her husband, Ray Lynn, at his own hand.  Bob has also faced some very serious medical difficulties and I was in the ICU this Spring with him when I was afraid he might not make it. He has a condition known as neuropathy, which causes him to be unable to feel anything from his ankles on down.  So, if anyone has reason to be down, Bob does.  Yet his statement in the face of all those difficulties is, ‘my passion is trying to be like Jesus.’

A little back history: Bob served as the minister at Park Row from 1967-1970.  During that time he was the president of the Arlington Ministerial Alliance and an open advocate for the unity movement between the Christian Churches and the Churches of Christ that would finally take place at ACU almost 40 years later.  During his time at Park Row he was summoned to Oak Cliff by other ministers of the Acappella movement and threatened if he would not stop preaching the heresy that our instrumental brethren might indeed also be included in the heavenly host one day.  (If you didn’t grow up Church of Christ, the weight of that may not mean so much to you!)

In the last 20 years Bob has faithfully served Moe during her 20+ operations, as well as serving as the minister for the Antelope United Methodist Church, a faithful group of 15 or so folks that I had the pleasure to meet at Moe’s funeral.  He has driven out to Antelope every other week, performed weddings, funerals and successfully dodged the Methodist hierarchy which has consistently tried to get him to be ordained, take classes in Methodist doctrine and wear a robe.

He has lived a consistent, faithful, passionate life for the Lord.  As he told me recently when his doctor suggested some risky treatment that might cause his quality of life to go down, ‘Doc, I don’t know how much time I have left!’  The irony of all this is when Bob moderated my last meeting at Park Row, an elder asked him if he had actually penned the impassioned speech he made at the beginning himself.  

As if.  

As if Hoover would EVER speak words written or influenced by someone else.  I have learned more about how to be a man of God, minister of God and faithful husband from Hoover than all the elders I have ever worked for combined.

Anne Lamott speaks of her friend, Pammy, who was battling the cancer that would ultimately claim her life in her book Bird by Bird.  Lamott called the doctor, hoping for some good news on the distressing development of the disease.  Instead the doctor told Lamott, “watch Pammy carefully right now, because she’s teaching you how to live.”

I don’t know how long Bob, or for that matter, I have left on this earth.  I do know that through the eight years of our friendship, Bob has consistently taught me how to live.  When he stood up to go and make a speech on my behalf at the congregational meeting, I truly felt that one of the giants of faith was standing beside me.

I have been very blessed to have some folks like Bob and Betty who share their collective knowledge and love with me.  But they are also the first to call me on something that they feel I need to change.  That’s called accountability and submission, words Jesus and Paul talked about a LOT!  

So, thanks to Bob, Betty and all of you who consistently lead me toward the Lord and His will for my life.  You are part of my ‘hall of faith’, like those listed in Hebrews 11!

 

On the Road Again!

I had a GREAT week this past week!  Many, many thanks to Earl Bingham and his friend Jerry, the car guy...who helped us sell our Mazda, thus offering us financial sustenance for another few weeks.  Couldn't have done it without you, Earl!

We had a LOT of visitors yesterday for house Church as well as for AXIS, and we got to know some GREAT new people!

Hope that you will have a great week...I am going to the monastery for a few days, but I will BE BACK!  Don't know how much internet access I will have so I will just remind those who want to go next Sunday to hear the guys who wrote 'Same Kind of Different As Me' at Firewheel Community Fellowship, meet at our house at 9:45am.  We will attend the 11:00am service then head to lunch together!

A powerful quote

What are you willing to do because Jesus said so?

There is so much discussion in the world today about Jesus -- people ask, do you like Him?  Was he really the Son of God?  Did He really die and then was resurrected?  Did He really mean all that stuff about turning the other cheek, loving your enemies and dying to self?

In the passage we are studying this Sunday, from Luke Chapter 5 where Jesus calls His first disciples, he uses Peter and Andrew's boats as a podium to speak from because the crowds are so big and are crushing against him.  But after he finishes teaching for the day Jesus randomly tells Peter how he should fish, and says he should go back into the water, and let down his nets again...

Now Peter and his mates have been fishing all night, so what would you say to Jesus, THE CARPENTER about his fishing opinions?  Now go and check out what Peter's response really is to Jesus in Luke 5:5...and then you'll know what we are going to discuss this coming Sunday!

Bird by Bird

So, it seems like when you are in a tough season of life, everything can be just, well, totally overwhelming.  I was over at the Elliott's the other night, and Randy was sharing some stuff that had happened to him, and we were both worried about DeeDee with all her diseases, and I was sharing things, and...we just felt overwhelmed!  We gathered in a circle and prayed together, and walked with each other through it! 

I was reading from Anne Lamott's book Bird by Bird the other day, and she describes the incident that forms the title of the book.  She says that her brother had this big report on birds due, and it had been assigned weeks earlier, but he had waited until the very last moment.  So he is sitting at the table, surrounded by paper and colored pencils, and books about birds, and he can't even pick up a pencil to begin to write or draw one of the birds.  He is just so TOTALLY overwhelmed that he has no idea where to start!  Anne's father comes over, and puts his hand on his son's shoulder and says "You just have to take it bird by bird, son -- bird by bird."  That, Anne writes is how we all have to live...bird by bird, moment by moment.

The writer of Ecclesiastes penned the following words, which so many of us know by heart:

"There is a time for everything, 
       and a season for every activity under heaven:"

But the writer concludes that same chapter with these words:

"So I saw that there is nothing better for a man than to enjoy his work, because that is his lot. For who can bring him to see what will happen after him?"

It is almost as if Solomon is saying..."You gotta take it bird by bird, son -- bird by bird."

Timing

We studied Jesus at the home of Mary and Martha this past week, a story which is found in Luke 10:38-42.  

In going over that passage some more this week, I especially noticed the passage before it, which is the story we commonly refer to as 'The Good Samaritan'.  Scholar Fred Craddock has this to say about this section of scripture: 'Jesus has met a man skilled in scripture who has trouble hearing the word of God, and Jesus offers him an example, a Samaritan.  Now Jesus visits with a woman so busy serving she does not hear the word, and Jesus offers her an example, her sister.  To the man, Jesus said to go and do; to the woman, Jesus said to sit down, listen and learn.' 

As we look this week at a bold story of some friends who will stop at nothing in order to bring their ailing friend to the feet of Jesus, I confess that right now I find it hard to be that bold.  Weathering a season of my life that seems short on answers, I find myself trapped somewhere between sitting and listening and going and doing.

And yet these words from Hebrews keep nagging at me...'Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.'  My prayer is for more boldness, more confidence, more faith!

BOLD!!

This Sunday I am using as the text a section of scripture from Luke 5:17-26, where some friends bring a paralytic man THROUGH the ROOF to get to Jesus. The place where Jesus is located is so full they can't get through the doors to Him, and so they give up. NO!!!!! They carry him up to the roof, and start ripping the roof apart! As they lower the paralyzed man through the roof, Jesus looks at this little group, and it says in verse 20...'When Jesus saw THEIR faith, He said friends your sins are forgiven!' They were BOLD in bringing their friend to Christ, and I think we need to be BOLD in our own prayers actions.  

Luke follows this section up a few verses later in Chapter 6, with his version of the beatitudes, where Christ says:  

* We should accept and rejoice when we are hated for the Lord's sake (6:22-23)  

* We should love our enemies, because who gets credit for loving those who already love us (6:32)  

* We should forgive, for with the measure we use, it will be measured to you (6:38)

Now THAT is BOLD stuff! As we prepare for our gathering this Sunday..how BOLD have you been in your faith this week?

Best Communion Bread in the World

Here's the recipe for the greatest communion bread in the world!

2 cups of flour

3/4 cup margarine

1/4 cup brown sugar

Mix together until margarine is cut in.

2 Tablespoons honey and a few Tablespoons cold water, one Tablespoon at a time so that it doesn’t become too sticky.

Add to flour mixture like a pie crust.  Knead until pliable.

Shape as desired 1/4 inch thick.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 17 minutes.

This makes two loaves.

Jesus Mean and Wild

Robert came to me after House Church and shared his real comment(s) with me about our text this morning, and interestingly enough they go along with a book I read recently by Mark Galli called 'Jesus Mean and Wild'.

We read Luke 10:38-42 this morning, where Jesus is at the home of Martha and Mary.  Jesus tells Martha that Mary has chosen the better thing by sitting and listening to Jesus (so Robert said to me, 'it seemed like Jesus is kind of cocky...like he is saying that what Martha was doing was poop!' -- at least that's a loose paraphrase of what he said).

That is the basic question at the heart of Mark Galli's book.  He says that when you strip away all the other trappings and actually listen to what Jesus is saying a lot of it is really hard to swallow.  He makes an interesting point, because I think most people actually resonate with Martha in this story...I mean, if you have Jesus in your home, don't you want it to be clean and serve Him your best?  Yet, Jesus says to Martha that Mary has chosen the only necessary thing and it will not be taken from her (by implication then what Martha is doing will be removed from her).  

Can we hear Jesus for what He is really saying?  

Are you 16?  36?  56?  76?  I haven't passed the final two mileposts, but I have gone by the first two.  And I can assure you that what is important to me now is radically different to me than what was important to me when I was in high school or college.

As we gather as a community this week, 

I would ask you to consider this question:

'What do you want from life?'

David answers the question this way in Psalm 27...

'The one thing I ask of the Lord--the thing I seek most--

is to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life,

delighting in the Lord's perfections and meditating in His temple." 

As we contemplate our priorities this Sunday, it would be good to answer this question ahead of time...

What do you want from life?

Trivia Winner(s)

The first place winner in our Bible Trivia Contest was Greg Needels, one of our house Church missionaries to Panama. The answer was Joseph.

The way you figured it was this...

I am not a man of battle,

Nor a lord of sheep or cattle, 1 

(The 2 most common roads to power in his day were military prowess and livestock holdings.  

Joseph apparently had neither)

But I’m wealthy, 2 and I’m righteous, 3 

(Genesis 41 notes his great wealth & Genesis 39:2 says the Lord was with Joseph)

Though I have been known to battle. 4 

Boastfulness gave way to patience

Through long years of tribulations, 5 (He was enslaved, wrongfully imprisoned, forgotten there, etc.)

And the providence of God used me

To bless both men and nations. 6 (His plan for the famine rescued many people)

With aristocratic wife, 7 (She was of the priestly class, Gen 41:45)

And with wealth and honors rife, 8 (same as #2)

You’d not suspect the many wrongs

I’ve suffered in my life. 9 

Actually, since Greg already has a cash prize waiting for him once he returns from Panama...we are awarding this prize to Leslie Miller, who sent her response in just after Greg's. Lester, you are the winner of a NOOMA video! Congratulations!