West Cocoa Chat

"This is the city," seem to always be the openning line to "Dragnet." Let me slide over a little bit and say, "This is the church, the Central Church of Christ in beautiful Cocoa, Florida.
We’re a relatively “young” church if you factor in that I’m the “oldest” elder at a ripe old age of (soon to be) 48. I know our median age of our church members has gone down in the last few years.

There are some positive aspects to being a relatively young church. First, lots of kiddos which I believe are a sure sign of the life expectancy of a church. Second, we have a fairly large segment of folks who could have been classified as “un-churched” before they came to Central. I once heard Charlie Hodge say at the Spiritual Growth Workshop something to the effect that when a church gains another church’s ex-members, you’re not gaining members; you’re gaining someone else’s “goats.” I don’t believe that is true in every case but I’ll bow to Charlie’s wisdom in this case.

Some of the (lets not use the word “negative”) more challenging aspects of shepherding a young church probably can be summed up by saying there is a need to strengthen in the area of individual “spiritual discipline.” Some of those “disciplines” might be “excelling on the grace of giving,” prayer life, commitment to the “ministry of encouragement,” and witnessing to a lost world. I don’t know how “missional” that sounds but it’s my observation nonetheless. So, guess what we (the leadership) had, yes, a meeting!

No doubt most meetings can put you to sleep but I believe the Holy Spirit was working in our meeting this past Wednesday night. The main topic was our upcoming budget but the Spirit led us to begin focusing on individual spiritual disciplines. BTW, Bobby Valentine posted an excellent blog on (http://stoned-campbelldisciple.blogspot.com/) “Healthy Practices for Lovers” concerning (July 24, 2006) this subject.

Now, here is where you come in if you want. I have some questions I’d like you to weigh in on:

1. List some “spiritual disciplines” that are important to the lifeblood of a church.
2. List some ways to help individual members of a church to become more spiritually discipline.

As always, I look forward to your input and have a good weekend.

The album cover containing the Beatles song, “Drive My Car” I think is appropriate for what I’m about to go through tomorrow.

But first, in my son Steven’s first summer baseball game for Cocoa High since returning from our SoCal trip and wisdom teeth extraction this past Friday, he went one for one. He didn’t enter the game until the 4th inning. He played second base and got a nice backside hit keeping a rally alive. We ended up wining 3 to 1. Steven said when the coach was going over the highlights of the game he said, “And “S-Walk” who has been on hiatus for 2 weeks comes back and gets a key hit.” Always good for the Coach to give you a little post-game props.

Back to the Beatles hit, “Drive My Car.” Our son who we sometimes affectionately refer to as “Steve-o,” will be getting his driver’s license tomorrow at 10:15am. We will then drive to our insurance agent and do major damage to our monthly budget.

There is a big part of me that looks forward to his ability to drive himself to school, to practice, and to home. I also realize that this will probably drive me crazy as well. Keep the boy and his parents in your prayers. The following scripture comes to mind from Luke 12:

12:25 "And which of you by being anxious can add a single cubit to his life's span?
12:26 "If then you cannot do even a very little thing, why are you anxious about other matters?12:27 "Consider the lilies, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin; but I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory did not clothe himself like one of these.
12:28 "But if God so arrays the grass in the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, how much more will He clothe you, O men of little faith!
12:29 "And do not seek what you shall eat, and what you shall drink, and do not keep worrying.
12:30 "For all these things the nations of the world eagerly seek; but your Father knows that you need these things.
12:31 "But seek for His kingdom, and these things shall be added to you.

I once heard someone pray for something to happen in the worship service that wasn’t planned. That occurred at our church this past Sunday.

Earl Williams from Texas (and by way of the Spiritual Growth Workshop) preached for us this past Sunday. His lesson was on “forgiving” and “forgiveness.” One of our members responded to the invitation. He was upset because he had recently spoken out in anger during a Sunday night class. He told the church he didn’t want to be a stumbling block to anyone and he asked for their forgiveness. It was truly a beautifully moment of Godly resolution.

In my comments to the church I stated that I believed God had foreseen the events that led up to this dear man’s public outburst of anger, the need for resolution, and the fact that we would have a guest speaker who knew nothing of the events present a sermon of forgiveness. The church reaffirmed this man and it was a great day to be at Central.

At lunch one of my fellow (you know what Randy) “??” came up to me and said, “You don’t know how accurate your comments were today.” When I asked him what he meant he relayed to me that Earl had intended on preaching another sermon but couldn’t find it that morning so he preached from another sermon outline that was stuck in his Bible. I feel like I’ve found another kindred brother who stuffs his Bible with sheets of paper.

On to the “Blessings.”
This past Friday my son Steven has all 4 wisdom teeth extracted. The next morning our compressor in our home air conditioning unit decided to go home to be with the other a/c compressors that decide to quit in the middle of the summer in lovely, humid Florida. The cost estimates ranged from $400 to $1500.

My good friend and neighbor Monty worked on my A/C through the night before pronouncing my compressor “D.O.A.” He was able to use his vast “Cocoa network” to procure not only a replacement compressor but a good friend to help him install it. In the meantime we stayed with my in-laws who live 5 houses down from us. They were great.

Jason showed up last night around 6pm to install the compressor. They were done around 10pm and neither one of them would take any money despite my best efforts. There is a special place in Heaven for these 2 guys. My grand total was a little over $300 and I’m sitting in the comfort of my home. Thank you Lord and thank you Monty and Jason.

Have a “cool” day bloggers.

My 16 year old son just went through one of those “rites of passages” that most would dread – having his wisdom teeth out. Several people had told Steven that he would be “out of it” when he recovered. This made him bound and determine to be “aware” when he woke up from the surgery.

When the nurse escorted us back to where Steven was when he woke up, he was almost agitated. The nurse said that he had done quite well and in her words, was somewhat lively. With gauze sticking out of his mouth and a numb face, he pumped his fists into the air and mumbled, “Yea, Dr. Nissen said I did well. I’m ready for my baseball game today.” It was all we could do to calm him down and to try to get him to stop talking.

On the way home in our car, he told us that he was going to feel better tomorrow. In fact, he said, “I want to go to the Spiritual Growth (taking place in Orlando this weekend) Workshop. I love the Lord.” Even though he was in an anesthesia induced state it still warmed our hearts and made us giggle, to hear our son use that phrase.

I just hope that I’m bold enough in my walk with Jesus to tell people in my waking state that I too love the Lord. Keep Steven in your prayers as he recovers. At this point it’s been 3 hours since the surgery and he has had a milk shake, pudding, and some yogurt.

We arrived back in beautiful and humid Florida from our visit with the England’s in SoCal around 4pm yesterday. In fact we were home in such a timely that we had enough time to make it to our mid-week Bible Study. I even had enough time to meet with a “recently” disgruntled member of our church. I thought our meeting was productive and we parted in prayer and with hugs.

I wanted to thank Greg and Jan for allowing us to be part of their lives. Over the years our 2 families have taken numerous vacations together. My son Steven thinks of Greg’s “children” as his cousins. The Long Beach Church feels like a second church home to me. But this visit was special.

We witnessed and participated in the wedding of Greg’s son Joshua to Heather. The wedding itself was actually “fun” which isn’t a term I usually use when describing weddings. Greg and Jan also opened up their home to our family and our good friends, the Cox’s, as well. That brought their grand total up to 10 sharing their living space and I don’t care how big or small your home is, that is quite a number to house.

I’m also thankful (believe it or not Greg) to Greg for sharing his guitars and his love of playing them (often referred to as “the sickness”) with my son Steven. Steven missed not being able to hang out with Josh (he was gone on a silly little thing called his “honeymoon”) but was more than comforted by the trips to the Guitar Center and the personal lessons Greg gave Steven on becoming a better guitar player.

Greg made a statement to Steven that is stuck in my mind today. He told Steven that the only way you get better at playing the guitar is by hanging out and playing with people that are better than you. I think that holds true for our spiritual walk as well. I’ve often heard people say that I don’t need to go to church because I can commune with God on my own.

I think of hiking in Rocky Mountain National Park or Yosemite and I know that I’ve felt close to God when I’m walking among his beauty. But I don’t think the experience helped me to be a better person to my fellow man or to react more like Jesus in “un-Jesus type of situations.” As the song says, “People Need the Lord” but we need each other as well.

As our vacation with our good friends, the Cox's, comes to an end I wanted
reflect on the last 2 days. Being in SoCal with Greg and Jan has been enjoyable once again. They are in "chill" mode and who can blame them considering all that they went through in getting through the wedding of Josh and Heather.

Two nights ago, Monty and I engaged in an activity with our sons (Tyler and Steven) that we won't be able to do or at least somewhat competively do, to much longer. We played them in a game of 2 on 2, street ball, playground (anybody want to start singing "Black gold, Texas tea") basketball in Greg's backyard. In the first game our sons whipped our "bu-tras" 11 to 5 or so. Yes, the memory is going as well. In between that defeat and the next game, Monty kept whispering to me that we had to do two things:
1. Play them again.
2. Win at all costs, no matter what rules or bones we had to break.
So we did.

Drum roll please - Yes, the "geezers" avenged our first loss with an 11 to 8 victory. The best part of the rest of the evening (not counting the fact that I was still breathing and hadn't broken any of my bones) took place about an hour later. Greg, (who offered advice, CPR, officating) Monty, and I were sitting outside in the cool SoCal air enjoying good convesation and a glass of tea when my son Steven, came to the door. He opened the door, look at the mass of middle age flesh that was trying to recover from the evening's activities, and said, "You guys aren't bad for a couple of old guys." Yes, vindication and another chance although fleeting to relive one's childhood. Anybody know the song, "The Old Playground" from Bruce Hornsby and the Range?" Here are some of the lyris:

"Walking on the sidewalk,
roundball under my arm
Everybody knows how you play is who you are
Walking down the road, looking for a game or twoThe real moves come through, no matter what they're gonna do
It's down to you

Take me to the old playground
Where the old ones rule, and the young ones do their time
Take me to the old playground
Where the talk is cheap
And the restless stalk the baseline."

Yesterday I fulfilled a promise to my son to take him surfing. We went to Huntington Beach and were able to rent a board and wet suit for $30. As we walked out onto the beach I got a little worried seeing the size of the surf. My fearless 16 year old son plunged into the water and gave it a go for a couple of hours. He had both a smile and a look of exhaustion when he got out of the water. My look I'm sure was one of relief.

We finished out our evening last night in Greg and Jan's backyard watching a couple movies on a portable movie screen Greg set up in front of his garage. Greg used a portable video projector and wall-la - we had our own version of a drive-in theater.

Our vacation comes to an end tomorrow at 4:30am local time when we head off to LAX for the four and a half hour flight home.

Have a good day bloggers.

Greg has pointed out in the past that when one is really into blogging, one begins to look for people or situations to become blogs. Or as one of Greg’s members once said when Greg asked him a question, “Oh no, I’m not becoming a sermon illustration.” Unfortunately the subject of today’s blog doesn’t get a choice and he really doesn’t deserve it due to his behavior.

BTW – Before I go any further let me say:
1. This event occurred while Greg and I were buying health food, I mean doughnuts yesterday.
2. Greg being the gracious person that he is, immediately claimed “first blogging” rights as we walked back to our car.
3. Later, Greg relented and decided to include me in a little blog / witness experiment.
4. The conditions of our little experiment provide I post this blog without looking at Greg’s post, which will be on the same subject.
5. It should be interesting to see how our 2 eyewitness accounts coincide or contradict each other.

Here goes – Yesterday as Greg and I walked into “Angels Doughnuts” we were witnesses to a man, a “little” man in character” in my opinion, throwing a fit over a cheese, ham, and egg croissant. Apparently the man had consumed the croissant and was now complaining about the amount of or lack of egg, cheese, and ham in his croissant.

In his protesting he even tried to draw us into his pity party by pointing out to Greg and me that the owner / operator apparently couldn’t read his own sign that advertised the ingredients in question of his croissant. Greg and I chose to ignore him and the storeowner was displaying the patience of Job. He offered to make him another croissant free of charge but the man insisted he be given his money back along with the receiving of an additional croissant.

I couldn’t help but think of the phrase “big man, small pond.” I don’t know the economical or working status of this individual and I might have been a bit more sympathetic to his cause if he hadn’t consumed the first croissant.

I also thought of Jesus at the Last Supper. If he had the mind set this man had, I could almost imagine Jesus yelling at this Disciples at this last meal they would share, screaming, “I need your full faith, not just the measly, puny, unfulfilling faith you’re going to display in just a few hours when I’m arrested.

But knowing that was going to happen anyway Jesus gave all of us a lesson in our “customer / service / demand what you have coming to you” society. Take the position of not just a servant, but also the lowest servant when you serve one another.

The hero of yesterday (wasn’t Greg or me) was the storeowner who never raised his voice and kept his cool in the face of very un-servant like person.

Greg and I made a road (hence the image from “Animal House”) trip last night to take Randy and his son Reese to the San Diego Airport. We made the 109-mile trip in fairly good time. This was my first trip down “the 405” and “the 5” to San Diego. We passed through the Camp Pendleton Military Reservation where they train for “amphibious landings.” We were able to see a Marine Hovercraft being put through it’s paces. When we arrived in San Diego we were able to see a couple of Aircraft Carriers docked in the Harbor. This was a major rush for this Discovery Channel junkie.

We enjoyed the time spent with Randy and Reese. Reese and I played several rounds of ping-pong and then took a nice refreshing plunge into Greg’s pool. He is a neat kid and is certainly Randy’s son with his gift of humor.

Back to the Road Trip – We left Long Beach a little after 6pm and made it back by 10pm. I can’t imagine having to make that trip by myself although Greg told me that he has in the past. Road trips are one of those things best shared. In keeping with yesterday’s blog theme, can you name some things that in your opinion are best shared?

Have a great day bloggers.

I remember someone asking me what I was going to do on vacation in SoCal? There are plenty places to see just in SoCal alone not to mention the close proximity to Vegas and the Grand Canyon. But our June (as usual) was extremely busy with Bible Camp and the Mid-Ohio Valley Work Camp almost back to back. I told this person my goal (after Josh’s wedding) was to sit out in Greg’s back yard and enjoy temperatures that for most of the day were in the 70’s!

Simple pleasures are the best in my opinion. Today’s simple pleasures included instant messaging Greg while we both sat in his Family Room just feet apart, shooting baskets with my son who came close to breaking the “Chuckster’s record” of 8 in a row behind a certain line (actually a crack) on Greg’s driveway, a couple of trips to Wal-Mart, going to see “Pirates of the Caribbean 2” with Barb, Steven, Greg, Jan, and Jessica, eating at “In and Out Burger with Randy and Reese, and watching Greg give Steven lessons in playing guitar. Oh, I left out the obligatory trip to the Guitar Center.

I think Jesus enjoyed simple pleasures. He certainly knew how to party using such and occasion to turn water into the best wine (John 2:1 – 11) and he loved being with (Mark 9 and 10) children and using them as examples of “Kingdom living.

If you have time, what simple pleasures help to restore your energy or help to remind you of “Kingdom Living?"

We're now one day removed from Josh and Heather's wedding.

My love for Josh as one of my own not with standing, Josh and Heather’s wedding was one of the best I’ve attended. Memo to all planning a wedding – A good way to make a good impression is to provide a round of golf on the day of the wedding. Josh had 12 of us playing golf at the Pala Mesa Golf Resort. My neighbor Monty, his son Tyler, and my son Steven made up our foursome. Our tee time was 7:30 but it wasn’t a problem since our bodies were still on Eastern Standard Time. Monty and I had a great time with our sons. The hotel that Greg had us staying in was a Holiday Inn Express so you can probably guess how many times we were quoting the line from the “Express Commercial” any time someone hit a good shot.

We spent the afternoon back at the hotel with Greg and Jan who had driven the 90 miles from Long Beach to get ready for the wedding. It was fun to be together with them as well and Monty and Sally.

The wedding was at 6 and despite the afternoon temperatures approaching 100, by the time the wedding started the weather was beautiful. This was important since the wedding took place outside.

Now, feel free to pull my “man card” but I’ll have to admit something. When Greg walked down the aisle next to Josh it brought tears to my eyes. I couldn’t help but think about the many trips we’ve taken with the England’s, Josh’s baseball games, and the way our kids have grown up over the years.

Heather was a beautiful bride and Greg did a masterful job at officiating the wedding of his son. I loved his number one rule about dating Josh – Prepare plenty of chicken and pizza – Josh’s favorite foods. Rule #2 was to refer to rule #1.

The reception, the meal, and the dancing were great. Best moment of the night was seeing all of Greg’s family dancing and singing to the top of their lungs, “Sweet Home, Alabama.” You had to be there. I told somebody; if you want to get a bunch of rednecks fired up, just play “Sweet Home, Alabama.”
The wedding ended around 10pm. Josh and Heather should be on their way to the U.S. Virgin Islands. We’re in Long Beach now hanging out with Greg and Jan while our son Steven is spending the night with Jessica at Azusa Pacific. Have a good day bloggers.

Tomorrow (Saturday) my family along with our good friends and neighbors, the Coxs leave for SoCal and Josh's wedding. I can only imagine what is going through the minds and "memory cards" of Greg and Janice because as I reflect on this upcoming event, I can't help but think of the many memories I have of Josh as a little boy, teen, and now the young man that he had become. When the Englands first moved to Central Florida, Josh was probably 3. I can remember Josh being dressed in a suit (much as he will be on Sunday) leading his “home church” of little kids in worship. We’ve spent many summers vacationing with the England’s. One of the highlights of those experiences (besides the inevitable rain / re: “England Factor”) was the way Josh and Jessica were the big brother and sister that my son, Steven, never had. Baseball was also part of our shared experiences. For many years I looked forward to the few times that I could watch Josh play and then later grew to admire him as he turned into a fine High School Baseball Coach. It was the highlight of my summer 2 years ago when Josh took Steven with him to one of his Summer games only to end up having Steven play with his team and to be coach by Josh. Steven was reminiscing about that today and he remembered the hit he got for Josh that day.

I’m also thankful God gave me the chance to visit with Josh’s future wife, Heather, this past May. She is a beautiful person, both inside and out and I can only pray that my son chooses as wisely as Josh did for his soul mate.

I guess the above epitomized a second look. Today the Lord reminded me of second chances. “Brian” just left our home. Brian was one of 2 campers that we sent home from our camp last year. He and a “friend” brought some alcohol and proceeded to drink it one night during camp. They were both discovered and we were forced to send them back to their parents. Steve and I told both boys that we were glad that they decided to do what they did at Camp. Our reasoning was they could have been behind the wheel of a car or with friends who would have led them into doing something even worse. Being discovered at Camp allowed us to take care of them (they were both extremely intoxicated) both physically and spiritually. We told both boys that they could use this experience as a springboard into turning from evil and living for God. We also invited both boys back to Camp the following year which would have been this year.

Brian took us up on our invitation and we couldn’t have been more proud of him. He is truly (despite his Dad being an alcoholic) trying to live for God the best he knows how. I told Brian it took a lot of courage to come back to Camp and I was proud of him for it. Brian came over from the west coast to hang out with our sons and he spent the night here last night. He plans to attend Teen Week which starts on this Sunday. Keep Brian in your prayers.

Keep us in your prayers as we fly out of Orlando this coming Saturday at 9a.m. Love you guys.

The "Phantom" is back. This was a nickname my Dad hung on one of his friends due to propensity for disappearing for days at a time. I’ve been “gone” for a period of time as well from our blog family. Please forgive me.

Our trip to the Mid-Ohio Valley Work Camp held at Ohio Valley University was great. Our kids were outstanding and to a person worked their fannies off on their individual homes.

My home was especially challenging. When we had our “Area Meeting” (my home was in the North Parkersburg area) my area leader looked at me, smiled, and said, “You have the most difficult home in our area.” I was thinking “what are you smiling at buddy.” Our home wasn’t as especially big but it was in poor shape and needed mega amounts of scraping. The home owners were 92 and 85. Ruth was taking care of William who was bed-ridden. Each day we went inside to pray with William and each day, Ruth joined us on her porch during our devotional time. They were a blessing to us who were there to bless them. Isn’t it funny how that works?

We ended our week with a full day trip down the New River. This was my 4th time rafting the river. On my previous trips the water level had been quite high making for a fun, rough, tiring trip after a week of scraping, priming, and painting a house in 4 days. This year the water level was just right. The rapids ran at class 3 and 4 levels. We had many spots were we were able to body surf some of the rapids as well as float down the river. My kind of trip at the ripe old age of almost 48.

Our youth group and parents had a July 4th party at our Youth
Deacon's home. It was a great day of food, volleyball, and swimming. It was also our teen’s annual rite of seeing who they could throw into the pool. At one point I heard our teens plotting to throw a friend of mine into the pool. I decided to relive some football days and join the fun. As 4 of them were trying to be sly by surrounding my buddy, I emptied my pockets of cell phone, keys, and wallet. I strolled over to the impending “pounce.” As our 4 teens grabbed Ray, I did my best imitation of an NFL “bull rush” and crashed into the pile. The boys were so stunned that Ray and I were able to take all 4 of them into the pool. Now I’m sore but it was fun.

Hope your 4th was fun and “restful.”