West Cocoa Chat

Just got off the phone with my son. He just finished his second day of Community College Baseball practice. He described his first day as “being all over the place.” When I asked him to explain he said that at one point, the Head Coach kicked him out of the infield with a comment along the lines of, “You’re terrible. You can’t field a ground ball.”

Then a few minutes later he was “invited” back into the infield and after practice the Coach told him, “Great practice today.” This morning Steven showed me an email from the coach that was sent to the entire team. In so many words it said, “I’m crazy but you’ll get used to it. Good practice. See you tonight.”

For some reason it reminded me of a scene from the movie, “Remember the Titans.” The team is at the Training Camp at Gettysburg College. At one of the first meals in the Cafeteria, Coach Boone asks for a volunteer to stand up and say something about his (opposite race) roommate. The large white offensive lineman, Louie Lastik, is the first to volunteer and is quite animated as he talks about “Rev.” Coach comments by saying, “I like a self-aware man.” I guess in some ways Steven’s Coach by virtue of his email is a “self-aware man.”

At the second practice Steven said he hit the ball well with one ball hitting the fence. He said later on the Head Coach yelled over in his direction and said, “Hey, there’s something about you I like.” Steven wasn’t quite sure the comment was directed at him so he asked the Coach, “Coach, are you talking to me.” The Coach answered and referenced his high school of origin, “Yeah “Cocoa,” I’m talking to you.”

So, we seem to be off to a good start but we all know how the fortunes of baseball can change on a dime. Or in this case, change on a slump or what ever.

Hey, how would it go over with my flock if I screamed at the church, kicked them out of the building, and then invited them back in? Of course I would send them an apologetic email.

What do you think? An Elder who is a loose cannon. Makes me want to say, “Go ahead church member, make my day.”

Have a good one folks and remember Dee and all the folks in the firing line of Hurricane Gustav.

This week has already been about many "next steps." At my school, many of us were talking about how we weathered T.S. Fay and what our next steps would be based on the amount of damage. Despite the fact that our rain totals in Cocoa were impressive, 20 inches, my colleagues who live in Merritt Island and Satellite Beach had to put up with 24 and 26 inches respectively. Some folks are still dealing with toilets that cannot be flushed and boil water alerts.

For my wife who is a "freak of nature" having taught Kindergarten for 28 years, she has had to endure the families of the children in her class who are facing their first "next step." Do you remember the "stress" of sending your kids to school, full time? For those of us who have grown kids or kids entering college, that "stress" almost seems laughable now. Of course, it isn't laughable when your child is going through it.

For me in a Middle School, it's the 7th Graders who are experiencing their "next step." I see my son in their eyes when he first came to our school after going to the same elementary school for 7 years. That next step was brought back to me when I was on my planning period standing in the hall between classes. I could see it in this boy's eyes for I've seen that look a 1000 times and in Greg's eyes as well. A look that says, "I'm lost!" He was in the wrong part of our building and needed to get to a different section. I started to tell him how to get there and then I thought about how I would have wanted my son to have been treated. So I said, "Come here buddy, I'll take you there." The relief in his eyes said he was going to make it through this "next step."

Steven starts his "next step" in baseball tomorrow. The Brevard Community College Baseball Team starts practice for it's Fall Season. All the Community Colleges in Florida play in a Fall "Wood Bat "League. Steven told me that he wants to try out for Short-stop. Baseball is his passion so keep him in your prayers as he continues to pursue his dream.

Our church takes it "next step" hopefully this coming Sunday. We're scheduled to be back in our renovated auditorium. As you guys know, we've been meeting in our Fellowship Room during 2 services, a-capella and instrumental. Our next step will involve worshipping in both modes in one service. We plan to start off with instrumental praise and then move into a period of a-capella worship.

To say that this will involve give and take from folks of both "worship persuasions" is a major understatement. But isn't that the beauty of the Christian Faith? God's Word is filled with give and take, unity, and not judging your brother. One only need read Mark 9:38 - 41, Acts 15, and Romans 14 to see these attributes and they are no less Biblical today than they were then.

So perhaps this coming Monday I'll be able to tell you of our church's next step. May all of our "next steps" bring us closer to Jesus.

I’m sitting in my family room watching the closing ceremonies of the Summer Olympics. 
I can here my son playing his guitar in his bedroom and singing “Blessed Be Your Name.” 
I think the following lyrics (also from Job 1:21) from that song could be our church’s theme song:

“You give and take away

You give and take away

My heart will choose to say

Lord, blessed be Your name.”

This has been a great summer for our church in a number of ways. 
For us, being able to offer both an a-capella and instrumental service has been a blessing.  
Now you might think Barb and I are “sick” people but we actually hang around for both services or at least one and a half.  

We usually attend the early / a-capella service because we like the earlier time. 
After Sunday School we’ll attend the first part of the instrumental service. 
Now, we have a somewhat vested interested since our son is singing with the instrumental praise team. 
What is heartening is to see energy and passion in both services as well as smiling faces.  
Our a-capella praise team has taken our a-capella service to the levels (my opinion) that I’ve encountered at the Pepperdine Bible Lectures or even at a Zoe Conference. 
In addition, I can’t say enough about our instrumental service and it’s worship leader. 
He has taken us to places in such a small amount of time that is simply amazing.

I know I may sound like I’m bragging but I’m like Greg in that I write about such things so there is a written record of these kinds of things for future generations. 
I pray that the legacy we leave behind for our children, grandchildren, and beyond is that like Jesus, Martin Luther, Alexander Campbell, and David Lipscomb, who left a template of living out a faithful life, never afraid to re-define how to live out the Christian life.  

Have a great and “dry” week family.

It is amazing to me how our lives can go through various stages within a matter of days. On Monday Barb and I started our 28^th year of school. As late as Monday afternoon our School District had not made up it’s mind as to whether we would be open on Tuesday. That call was made later that evening and then another 3 times as we ended up missing the rest of the week courtesy of Tropical Storm Fay and her 20 plus inches of rain.

I think it was Dee and Randy who remarked about the stress I was communicating on Wednesday night as we felt the full force of Fay. Tonight we went out with 10 of our friends to our favorite Mexican Restaurant and then enjoyed a movie together. A very stress-less environment. Life can literally turn on a dime or in this case, a tortilla chip. The food was good and the movie was funny but what made the evening was relationship.

Without being so pompous that I would try to interject my logic on God, I do think there is a rhyme and reason to why Jesus tells the Pharisees that the two greatest Commandments in Matthew 22 are:

³⁶"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" ³⁷Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' ³⁸This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' ⁴⁰All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."

The second commandment implies relationship. We cannot be a church of one and if you’ve ever seen one of my favorite movies, Christmas Vacation, it also means that we’re going to have to work with each other. There will be times when everyone is getting along and then there will be times when you’ll feel like Clark Griswold from the movie when after a number of family disasters he tells his wife Ellen, “We’re on the threshold of Hell.”

Paul anticipated these times among believers. Part of his letter to the Church in Rome where he delves deep into the theory behind the Gospel, he addresses these times in Romans 14:

¹ Accept those whose faith is weak, without quarreling over disputable matters. ² One person's faith allows them to eat everything, but another person, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. ³ The one who eats everything must not treat with contempt the one who does not, and the one who does not eat everything must not judge the one who does, for God has accepted that person. ⁴ Who are you to judge someone else's servant? To their own master they stand or fall. And they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand.

⁵ Some consider one day more sacred than another; others consider every day alike. Everyone should be fully convinced in his or her own mind. ⁶ Those who regard one day as special do so to the Lord. Those who eat meat do so to the Lord, for they give thanks to God; and those who abstain do so to the Lord and give thanks to God. ⁷ For we do not live to ourselves alone and we do not die to ourselves alone. ⁸ If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. ⁹ For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living.

¹⁰ You, then, why do you judge your brother or sister? Or why do you treat your brother or sister with contempt? For we will all stand before God's judgment seat. ¹¹ It is written:
" 'As surely as I live,' says the Lord,
'every knee will bow before me;
every tongue will confess to God.' " ^[a]

¹² So then, we will all give an account of ourselves to God.

¹³ Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister.

As I said earlier, the matters of eating meat sacrificed to idols and the observance of pagan holidays were considered serious doctrinal matters. Sound familiar? Do we have these kinds of discussions today? Absolutely. How do we handle them? Let’s let Paul speak.

Vs. 4 – Paul says have your discussions but leave the judging out.

Vs. 5 – Paul says its O.K. to have a strong opinion.

Vs. 10 – Paul not only says leave the judgment at home, again, he also says watch that attitude.

Vs. 13 – Paul says the first and primary level of sustaining our relationships in the church is to not put a stumbling block in front of your brother. He clearly defines that stumbling block in verse 13 as the passing of judgment on each other.

We can have our opinions and differences in the church as long as we value the relationship above the issue. Being in a community of faith is hard work. We have to work at getting along with each other when we have differences in doctrine. We also have to work at being open in our relationships so we can assimilate new folks that come into our church family.

I’m so proud of our church for it is in this matter, relationships, that they seem to excel. As a church moves towards non-denominational / autonomous Christianity, there will be differences of opinion. I love the way our church works at working this out but we all know it can go awry at a moment’s notice. May we all be in communities of faith that can follow this pattern of Paul’s in Romans 14.

Here is the latest radar loop for Central Florida as of 10:25pm. I want to thank all of you who commented and, or prayed for us yesterday. I was up until about 3:30am last night praying, pacing, checking on things, and watching the weather updates of a seemingly stationary Tropical Storm Fay.

Now, are we ready for a profound blog moment? Here it is and I know some of you can really appreciate this:
All of my worrying and pacing did not stop the rain or start Fay moving. Anybody shocked by that revelation. Why is it so hard for us worriers to not only realize the futility of worry but to actually act or in this case, not act on that revelation? The extra hours did give me time to work on my "Sling Blade ("mmm huh" and (this is for you Terri) "I reckon I'll have summa them french fried taters".) lines."

The leak in the ceiling stopped and the rain for the most part slowed down. I used our carpet cleaner to dry out the carpet to the best of my ability. It is amazing that we have received over 2 feet of rain and then some and yet are still above water. Steven and I got out in our "Expo" and took some pictures of our area which I'll post once I find my USB cable.

So my blog family, keep the prayers going up so Fay will get up and move out. I love you guys and thanks for caring. God bless.

1:30am and the rain is still coming down. I now have a dripping leak in my gameroom ceiling as well as some wet carpet. If you're awake, we could use a "rain-stopping / Fay moving" prayer.

It's about 20 minutes past midnight and we're up to 13 inches of rain. Our road is almost covered and the water is starting up our yard. If you're awake or when you wake up, say a prayer to stop this rain and get Fay moving out of here. Thanks.

I wanted to thank everyone that has been praying for us as we continue to weather Tropical Storm Fay. Here in West Cocoa we had about 10 inches of rain but so far we’ve had no septic backups or major flooding. Unfortunately this is not the case for Cocoa, Merritt Island, Cocoa Beach, Satellite Beach, Melbourne, and Palm Bay.

Satellite Beach alone has received (http://www.wftv.com/news/17242588/detail.html) 24 inches of rain from Fay. There are about 50,000 homes that have had sewage backups into their homes. Fay is still moving extremely slow and at times is stationary. There are times when you “prefer” a hurricane, as they tend to move faster and drop less rain. Schools here in Brevard are closed again tomorrow for a third consecutive day and I wouldn’t be surprised if we miss Friday as well due to the flooding and schools being used by the Red Cross as shelters.

I went for a run during a lull in the rain. My usual route starts out at our church along U.S.1 and takes me down along the Indian River. For me, there is something cathartic about being out during a storm. I still remember driving with my Dad in 1979 during Hurricane David. I don’t remember any of our conversation but I do remember being with him, dodging debris as we took some food to some folks who were at the local newspaper. There was quite a bit of debris on the River Road as I ran so my thoughts went back to that night.

I was brought back to reality when I made my turn to head back to the church and was caught by a feeder band that was coming in from the ocean. Running in the rain is literally one of the coolest things you can do as far running conditions are concerned.

I’ll leave with that profound thought. Don’t forget the folks in South Brevard as well as us as another feeder band is headed our way.

We’re still here and we haven’t floated away due to Tropical Storm Fay, yet. My Father-in-law told me we had received 3 inches of rain although he thought the actual total was higher. He said when rain is blowing sideways (which it was at times yesterday) his electronic rain gauge won’t record it. Just 20 miles south of us on the coast, Satellite Beach, received 13 inches of rain in the last 24 hours! That was my greatest worry and for the moment, here in West Cocoa we’ve seemed to dodge that bullet, praise God.

Fay has been an unusual storm in 3 ways:
1. It’s track has confounded the forecasters.
2. It actually got stronger over land and that is unheard of in the science of tropical systems.
3. It maintained a well defined “eye wall” over land and being only a tropical storm. A well-defined eye wall is usually indicative of a powerful hurricane.

Fay’s eye is somewhat over us for the moment but the rain should start back up soon. We’re off from school again which sounds like a school teacher’s / student’s dream except when you think about having to give up some holidays to make them up.

We went over to some good friend's home last night for some "Tropical (basically anything chocalate) System comfort food." My fellow “Trek / 14 blisters / Deacon of Youth” companion, Bret, asked if we had seen the movie “Sling Blade” with Billy Bob Thornton? How about you bloggers? In honor of “another” first day of school courtesy of T.S. Fay, raise your hand if you’ve seen “Sling Blade?”

If you have then you’ll understand how I’m driving Barbara crazy when she asks me a question by answering “mmm huh.” I thought it was a great movie and I didn’t recognize Billy Bob Thornton in his title role. Definitely not a kid’s movie although a large portion of it is somewhat touchy feely except the beginning and the end.

Steven spent the night with his “New Orleans friend” Zack in a home on the River Road which runs along the Indian River. The owner, whom they cut the yard for, was out of town as worried about his wood floors. It was a good thing they were there as they called to say they were in the process of using duct tape and towel to battle some leaky windows.

Appreciate the prayers folks and hopefully Fay will move out of here today. God Bless.

We’re heading into the home stretch of the renovation of our auditorium. It was overdue and this point was brought home by a visit from an elderly couple just before we started the renovation. They were going on a cruise out of Port Canaveral and decided to stop by our building. They told our minister (Don) they had been members of our church when the facility was dedicated in the mid-60’s. They took one look at our auditorium and told Don, “Hasn’t changed in forty years.” As you can imagine it was time to renovate the auditorium.

This past Sunday we had all of our members meet in the nearly finished auditorium for Sunday School. Don spoke from Nehemiah 10 when the Temple is rebuilt and the people make promises to God. We then passed out permanent markers and asked everyone to write promises or messages to God on the un-carpeted floor.

Without even looking at what folks were writing it was heartening to see our church, from young kids, their parents, single folks, and all the way to the elderly bending down and actively writing promises and messages to God. Steven told me he wrote Romans 1:16 - I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.

A Mom of all boys wrote, “I promise to raise my boys in the Lord.” In this day and age that is a powerful and eternal commitment that will go beyond the life of the carpet that will cover those words.

The message that struck me the most and I didn’t see it’s author said, “Thank you God that this church had the courage to change.” If you think about it family, it does take courage to change, especially as one seeks to be transformed into the image of Christ. Our church has been on an amazing journey that started years ago. There isn’t one individual that you can point to and say he or she was the one that started this church on it’s continuing journey towards non-denominational Christianity. It has been the work of the Holy Spirit on the minds and hearts of many men and women and I pray that He isn’t done with us yet.

I write this not to boast or prop us up as some kind of model. To do such would continue one of the worst kinds of doctrinal errors that is, to point to any church whether it be from the First Century or the 21^st Century as “The Model.” Paul put it succinctly in I Corinthians 15 –

¹Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. ²By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.

³For what I received I passed on to you as of (emphasis mine) first importance^[a]: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, ⁴that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,….”

Not only does Paul identify the model, Jesus, he also gives Him a priority rating, “first importance.” My prayer is that our focus will always be Jesus.

Have a blessed and “dry” day. We’re home and watching the weather reports on Tropical Storm Fay. The 2 updates that just got my attention:

1. Our county (Brevard) will probably receive the worst weather from Fay as in 50 to 60 mph sustained winds along with 7 to 10 inches of rain.

2. Fay could move out into the Ocean and strengthen into a Hurricane.

We appreciate your prayers.

“Fay-vorable” day tomorrow. At least, kids will think so as it seems inevitable that our second day of school will be cancelled due to deteriorating weather conditions. Despite the fact we’re living in the 21st Century, Fay has given forecasters fits. As of yesterday evening the computer models on (http://www.wunderground.com/) Weather Underground had Fay shifting to the West and barely glancing our west Coast around Tampa. At 2:00 today, it looks as if Orlando may be the site for a possible “Eye” pass over. That puts us (Brevard County) on the “wrong side” of the (east side) storm where most of the rain and winds occur.

Except for possible tornadoes, Fay’s winds should not be a problem but the possibility of rain the likes we haven’t seen since Hurricane (http://cwinwc.blogspot.com/2005_10_01_archive.html) Wilma in 05, has me concerned. So keep us in your prayers as we experience a Tropical System, the first day of school all over again, and a son going to College.

Would you like to know how to live longer? Ponce de Leon did and he ended up discovering Florida instead of the “Fountain of Youth.” Perhaps this is where the first “Florida Re-count” occurred? Well today on the way to school to get ready for the first day of school that might be interrupted by possibly Category 2 Hurricane Fay, I saw the following sign on the marquee of a Medical Equipment Rental company:

Sleep Apnea?
Want to live longer?
Try one of our CRAP Units.

I don’t know what “C.R.A.P.” stands for but when you read it at 50mph it looks like (no pun intended) “crap.” I called one of my good friends to tell him about the sign and he said, “Imagine how much longer you would live if you had one of their “good” units.”

Speaking of living, I’d like to share something with you that happened yesterday at my school. The State of Florida in their infinite wisdom sponsored a program of “teacher bonuses” tied to test scores called “M.A.P.” Now rewarding “high performing teachers” (HPT) sounds like a good idea, yes? That is until you have so many “HPT’s” that there isn’t enough money to go around. So our District did the most (WARNING – sarcasm approaching!) logical, fair, equitable, and expedient act one can do in such a situation, they put names into an “electronic hat” and chose the lucky recipients by lottery.

BTW – If you’re ever close to someone that mentions the idea of rewarding HPT’s instead of giving all teachers a pay raise, please feel free to slap the silliness right out of them, in love of course. Let me digress and give you one reason why. My lovely wife was a HPT. She had the test scores and the evaluation to qualify her as an HPT. She should have gotten 100 points out of 100 points except for one little detail. Despite the fact she had high test scores and words like excellent, exemplary, and high performing peppered throughout her evaluation, in the final summation paragraph her administrators accidentally left them out and thus, she ended up with 96 our of 100 points.

O.K., now to the good stuff. My Principal called the 23 teachers from our school that qualified up to him during a break in a Faculty Meeting. He told us 18 of us were chosen from the lottery. At that point we in unison asked him not to tell us who was lucky and who wasn’t. The discussion began – how are you going to feel if you’re one of the “unlucky 5?” We then discussed the possibility of pooling our funds after taxes and splitting them evenly 23 ways.

Sin Confession – I must admit that although I was somewhat leading the discussion there was a part of me saying, “May-Day, May-Day, what are you doing!!??”

We held a secret ballot vote with the understanding that unless it was a unanimous decision in the affirmative, we would let the chips fall where they may. The vote was held and family, it was a unanimous “Yes!” I have never been more proud of group of people. When our Principal told us who the unlucky 5 were, I wasn’t one of them but I felt very lucky, no, blessed, to work with a group of teachers such as we have at our school.

Now if we can avoid possible “Hurricane” Fay next week the circle of starting school will be complete.

I met up with Steven, his friend Zack, and Chad, our Youth Minister for Lunch yesterday. We ate at Kay's Barbecue Restaurant. Kay's has been around since I was in school. My Dad used to take me out to Kay's. Our conversation would usually center around school and sports. My Dad ate there so often that he would order by just saying, "The usual."

So it's special when I hook up with Steven at Kay's and it was a serendipity to have Zack and Chad there. Our conversation centered around church, college, the Olympics, and the upcoming "Rock (http://www.rocktheuniverse.com/?__source=ps.yahoo.rtu&s_kwcid=TC-2981-147126169022-S-32579695522) the Universe" being held over at Universal Studios in Orlando. I'm looking forward to the second night because "Third Day" and "Jars of Clay" will be the featured performers.

A little side note - I would ask that you keep Steven in your prayers as he prepares to play for Brevard Community College (BCC) in a Fall League. He's hoping to play well enough to earn a spot for the Spring.

I went to an inservice at Cocoa High today for all the District's Math Teachers. We have a new member in our department who was a student of mine back in the late 80's. She had called me "Mr. Walker" several times when I finally asked her to call me by my first name. She looked at me like I was crazy and said, "Mr. Walker, there is no way I'm going to be able to call you "Cecil."
I then did a "Kung Fu" flashback and remembered being a young teacher, teaching at a middle school that I had attended as a child. I too had become a colleague of some teachers that were my teachers when I was a student and I had the same problem. I told her there were worst things she could call me.

For me, it was one of those experiences that reminded me that I'm getting old. Anybody have some "BenGay?"

At the bottom of today's post will be a quote from Mike (http://preachermike.com/) Cope's blog. He quotes Daniel Rodriguez, who is an associate profession of religion and hispanic studies at Pepperdine. Rodriguez comments about the early American Restoration Movement.

It’s hard to know how to start this post. When I think about the journey God has brought our church on I am simply amazed. Some may differ with me on my use of “journey” and “God” but I would dare say that the vast majority of those “differ-ers” (how’s that for a new word) are not part of our church here in Cocoa.

We are a Church of Christ by heritage. There have been many men and women that have sacrificed over the years for this church. The number of good works in the name of Jesus are too numerous to attempt to list.

Like all churches our church has some skeletons. There have been times in the past when the treatment that some suffered at the hands of members and leaders of this church would put some of the politics that goes on during Draft Day at a Little League field to shame. We freely claim the good with the bad.

Just as with our Restoration Heritage. The American Restoration Movement (ARM) was a movement of unity through Biblical understanding. The Restoration Fathers agreed with Paul in Romans 14 in that striving for Biblical understanding will cause us at times to come to different doctrinal positions. Most scholars agree that the Romans 14 issues of eating or not eating foods sacrificed to idols, and “holy days or festivals,” were as volatile as a capella worship and instrumental worship is for our fellowship.

In the early days of the ARM, fellowship was not withdrawn when disagreement occurred over such matters. As we all know, that heritage was lost. Randy Harris said just a couple of weeks ago at the Spiritual (http://www.spiritualgrowthworkshop.com/) Growth Workshop, he felt it was both a mistake and tragedy that churches in the early 1900’s that became “pre-millennial” in their doctrine were dis-fellowshiped along with anyone who fellowshipped them. I liked what he said which was basically he disagreed with the pre-millennial doctrine but if they end up being right and he’s wrong and Christ comes back for a 1000 year reign, so what. We’ll all end up in Heaven anyway.

Yet, this practice goes on today. That’s what I love about our church. From the very moment God began to put us together with a local Conservative Christian (CCC) Church, that kind of anti-Romans 14 thinking / I can’t even eat with you because you worship with an instrument hasn’t been a problem. You only need to talk with some of these folks from the CCC to understand that they are brothers and sisters in Christ. They believe in the inspiration of the Bible, the need to be baptized into Christ, the divinity of Jesus, and the weekly observance of the Lord’s Supper. They are us!

I love our church because it has reached out in the past to local traditional Churches of Christ. Our members who can worship with our a capella praise team or our instrumental praise team, could quite easily go to a local traditional Church of Christ and worship in the style they are accustom to without judgment or walking out. We might believe they are erring brothers and sisters but we’re humble enough to know so are we.

There isn’t one example where Jesus condemns someone for their style of worship. A reading of Matthew 25 will tell you he will condemn you for not using your gifts for God as well as not ministering to those who need it.

I do love our church. Not because it’s perfect. Just by the fact that I’m there makes it imperfect. No, I love our church because we realized we’re on a journey. Have we been persecuted for some of our decisions in the name of Jesus’ plea for unity? You bet. But I’ll leave with a comment a brother in Oklahoma wrote on his blog, “The irrelevant are never persecuted.”

I pray persecution continues to come our way. God bless you guys.

Here is the quote from Mike Cope's blog:
A healthy dose of humility when declaring “thus saith the Lord” is long overdue among many who embrace the restoration vision associated with the Declaration and Address. . . . Why not acknowledge, like Paul that if we truly desire to restore New Testament Christianity, there is something more important than restoring patterns of worship, church discipline, or structures of church governance? There is something more elusive to which we should commit ourselves: to imitate the love of our Savior toward our enemies as well as our neighbors and friends (John 13:34-35). His love for his disciples enabled the Lord to forgive their lack of faith, their disloyalty, and even their disobedience to his explicit commands.

In the State of Florida a student can earn what is referred to as a “Bright Futures (BFS) Scholarship” to any State University. The awarding of a BFS is based on a student’s GPA as well as test scores from the S.A.T. or the A.C.T. The BFS Steven was shooting for would pay 100% of tuition at a State Community College and 75% tuition at a 4-year University.

Steven had the grades but unfortunately missed by one point on the A.C.T. This necessitated in Steven having to take the A.C.T. again during the Summer which he did. His scores came in and then we had to wait for the State to respond. When we didn’t get a response we assumed that he hadn’t qualified. To say that he was disappointed being an Honor Grad without a scholarship as well as our wallet receiving a hit would be an understatement. But as our Youth Minister is so fond of saying, the Tomb is empty to which we gave the praise to God and pushed on.

Today was the first day of pre-planning for teachers which is usually filled with meetings. I wasn’t able to get to my computer until after lunch. I then began the process of deleting almost 200 emails that had piled in over the summer including the ones telling me that my email mailbox was over the limit.

I was about half way through the emails and came very close to deleting this one:

Florida Department of Education
STEVEN E WALKER	July 24, 2008
4601 SOUTH FRIDAY CIRCLE
COCOA , FL 32926
Dear Mr. Walker:

Congratulations! You have met academic eligibility for the award(s) listed below under the Florida Bright Futures Scholarship Program for the 2008-09 academic year. Because you may receive funding for only one award, the highest award (indicated by an asterisk) has been selected for you. If you believe your scholarship eligibility status is not correct, please contact your high school guidance counselor immediately.


* Florida Medallion Scholars award

I read this email probably no less than 5 times before I began to believe my eyes. Our rejoicing is no doubt due to the effect it will have on our cost of college tuition but more importantly we rejoice with Steven. He worked hard, persevered, and in our opinion, deserved it.

Thought I’d share our happy news with everyone. God bless.

We had a great Thursday night. We met, wait, should I keep Steve's (http://web.mac.com/smpuckster/Site/Podcast/Podcast.html) name (aka the Puckster) out of this? Nah. Any way, we met Steve and his wife Cindy for dinner at Moe's Mexican Grill and then we decided at the LAST MINUTE to see Mama Mia.

That's it, Steve, our man cards are not in jeopardy after all. You guys agree with me right? This was a last minute decision and therefore does not fall under the auspices of "Man Law." I love it when an epiphany appears in the middle of a blog.

O.K., for you lady bloggers out there I will admit that parts (like the credits) of the movie were borderline O.K. The ABBA Music made me want to dye my hair blond and make a pilgrimage to Sweden and the scenery on the Greek Island was spectacular.

I do endure, I mean enjoy a good musical in person but seeing one on the digital big screen just doesn't connect with me. At one point I sent a text message to my son asking him what he was up to and if we would be BFF. When he asked me in his text what I was doing I had to swear him to secrecy by texting, "I'm at Mama Mia and you can't tell anyone." He didn't pick up on my sarcasm be his text answer was, "Are you O.K.?"

I guess being "O.K." is relative to the degree of your location and activity. When we were on the Summit of Mount (13,700ft.) if you asked me if I was O.K. I would have answered yes despite the fact my heart was trying to exit my chest and I was bleeding a bit from some spills I had taken on the way up.

I guess would be a similar situation to what occurred on the way out of our theater. There was a theater employee waiting to enter the theater as we exited and he was asking everyone, "Did you enjoy the movie?" He was on a long string of "Yes's" when he hit me with the same question. I think the glazed look in my eye, the cell phone in my hand, and the fact that I answered with, "Somebody pull the trigger," messed up his streak.

As a sidenote my wife still loves me since I do make her coffee in the morning. She also said that the looks on my face during the movie were almost as good as the movie itself. What can I say but, "Mama mia."

First, to my fellow blogger Trey (http://www.treymorgan.net/) Morgan, I feel your pain brother. I’m thinking of the joke one of his friends played on him with the goggling of his name and getting the question, “Did you mean “Works one day a week?” As a teacher I’m routinely hounded by similar comments such as, “Must be nice to work 9 months and have off 3.” Now this post is not a defense of accusations (BTW – it’s not quite 3 months :) ) like that but rather a reflection of the summer we’ve had as we get ready to head back to school Monday.

Our week of Bible Camp with Pat Pugh just can’t get much better and as I’ve told him for years, part of the reason I still do Camp is to get to hang out with fellow blogger Steve aka the (http://web.mac.com/smpuckster/Site/Podcast/Podcast.html) Puckster.

Our trip to New Orleans and the Carrollton (http://www.carrolltonavenuechurch.org/) touched us so much that as you know, Steven and Zack when back last week to continue to work with that church and the community around it.

Wilderness (http://wildernesstrek.org/) Trek – Wow! I’m still basking in the afterglow of that experience in Colorado. Some of our teens were disappointed because we didn’t go to the Mid-Ohio Valley Workcamp this year. Although I’ve loved that experience for years nothing in my opinion has been more spiritual of an experience than Trek.

Of course who could forget Steven’s and Zack’s “excellent adventure” to New Orleans. I couldn’t be prouder of the work and ministry they chose to do on their own.

We’re also in the process of renovating our auditorium. The paint started going on yesterday and hopefully we’ll have an “Opening Day” in September or early October.
We’ve been meeting in our Fellowship Room in 2 services, one being a Capella and the other being instrumental. Steven has really connected with the instrumental praise team. I’ve enjoyed hearing them practice every Wednesday night. Our a Capella praise team took most of the summer off but they are now beginning to work again.

I can’t tell you how exciting it is to be able to offer both modes of worship and at 2 different time slots. What we’ve discovered is that some folks are choosing a worship time based on the time and others are choosing based on a preference.

There have been 2 benefits to adding an instrumental service. One is that the number of members we have from the Conservative Christian Church (CCC) as well as many of us with a church of Christ background are being blessed by this new mode of worship at our church.
Oh, let me add an opinion here – it is my blog, right? J Any way, for our church we’ve been on a path to adding an instrumental service for about 2 years since our failed merger with a local CCC. The only things that were holding us back were being able to go to two services and the talent to lead and conduct an instrumental service. God was able to bring all of that together this summer. O.K., where is my opinion?

We haven’t started an instrumental service to say, “Hey, look what we can do.” An instrumental service for most churches of Christ would not be appropriate in my opinion. For us, God brought about a number of factors that were unplanned and unexpected, but then, He’s God.
The other benefit has been we have a number of folks who have found a way to use their musical gifts for God. So now we have an a Capella praise team, an instrumental praise team, and an instrumental praise band and it is working for us.

I’ll leave with this – wouldn’t it be wonderful and another way that Jesus’ prayer for unity among his believers in John 17 could be answered, if just the local churches of Christ in our county could accept (some of us do) each other. And, how about this, that we could get together and fellowship one another.

Further, that when we got together there would be no fear of each other. In other words, if we were at a neighboring church where we knew clapping during a service offends them, they could feel secure in knowing that we would refrain from such an act in their facility. We would rather enjoy the fellowship than the freedom that we think God gives us. What do you think, am I living in a fantasy land? Sometimes it doesn’t hurt to dream because the bottom line is this; we’ll all be spending eternity together any way.

Two years ago as many of you know, we or more accurately, I was for all intents and purposes, “fired” from being a Bible Camp Coordinator at a “local” Bible Camp. The reason given was basically due to our church contemplating a merger with a local Christian Church, which would have brought about a subsequent instrumental service being offered at our church, and the fact that I was an elder at this church as well as a Bible Camp Coordinator, was an “embarrassment” that could not be tolerated by the Camp.

That night 3 things happen – I left the meeting early because I could tell that I was starting to get emotional – No pulling my “man card here” but I did cry on the way home. I don’t cry much but that night I was wounded down to my soul – and I ran one of the fastest 3 miles I’ve ever run that night after I got home. Most of you know the rest of the story of how God opened another camp during the very same week and yada-yada-yada.

Results were good but I’ve still had a hole in my heart. You can’t spend 20-something years at a Camp, work with your Mother who has now gone to be with the Lord, work with fellow bloggers Greg and the Puckster, and baptize my own son at this camp and not feel like an injustice has been perpetrated.

But God is good and he gave me a chance at some healing a couple of weeks ago. We went to hear Randy Harris at the Spiritual Growth Workshop. In the lobby of this hotel this Camp had a booth and it was being manned by a representative of the camp. I don’t know if he saw me as I was walking down the lobby but I saw him.

Now you have to understand something about me. I have a very high “Loyalty Meter.” I have to fight my default program, which is when someone wrongs me; I shut him or her down emotionally. So, my inclination was to keep walking but I believe, the Holy Spirit directed me over to him. Bless his heart, I’m sure when he saw me coming he must have wondered what I was going to do or say.

I stuck my hand out and shook his hand. I asked him how the camp was doing and he told me of some of the improvements that had been made. I think I said in so many words that I missed the camp and wished, since we’ll be spending eternity together that somehow we could work something out in the future. He was very kind to me and told me that I had done a lot of good in my years at the Camp.

Family, this brother will never know how much that meant to me. Now, I’m not sharing this with you to once again let you know what a wonderful person I am. Just call my wife and she’ll give you both reasons (little joke there) why I’m so wonderful. I guess my point in telling this is to say something about conflict. Jesus says in Matthew 18:15 - "If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over.”

The highest level of conflict resolution is going and talking, brother to brother. Jesus spells it out clearly along with other steps to take if this one doesn’t work. The key is this: YOU HAVE TO GO TO THAT BROTHER. I have never, never seen any kind of conflict for anyone of any age, resolved by not going to them. Yet, I have heard parents, teens, and elderly folks say things like, “I’m not ready to talk to them,” or “I’m not going to talk to them because they won’t listen,” or, here’s a popular one, “I’ve spoken to that person in the past and it didn’t do any good so I’m not going to go to them again.”

Now, although Matthew 18:15 is a Biblical behavior it isn’t something that we're born with. It has to be taught and I believe when it comes to kids and teens, for lack of a better term, “forced” upon them. In other words, you might have to take your youngster by the hand and take them to that person they are in conflict with, sit there with them, and try to get them to work it out. I know some folks and parents may disagree with that but again I would ask the same question – show me one time where a conflict was brought to resolution by the 2 parties in conflict not speaking to each other. Show me where Jesus said in Matthew “18:15b” – But if you don’t feel like talking to the sinning brother, no problem, don’t talk until you’re ready.”

Its hard practicing what you preach but in this case I’m glad I listened to the Spirit’s voice in a hotel Lobby a few weeks ago. God bless you guys.

Update - The boys rolled in around 1a.m. safe, sound, and full of energy and stories. Out of those 4, I'm 2 and maybe a partial 3 for 4 this morning. Thank you for your prayers.

It has been an interesting week to say the least. I know many of you are old enough that you’ve experienced what we did this past week – the first trip of your child, away from you, on his own, for a long distance. For us this trip brings a lot of warm feelings and thankfulness to God to apparently see how some of our parenting seems to be coming to fruition in Steven. Then again you wonder just how much the Holy Spirit has moved in their lives and how much of it is just plain luck.

I’m sure all parents put a tremendous amount of faith in the investment of time dedicated to bringing up a child in the Lord. I’m also sure that as a friend of ours once put it, you expect a certain “return” on that investment. As the Scriptures say, “Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.” (Eph. 6:4) In other words, I’m sure for most Christian parents, there is a belief that their children will grow up to be faithful teens, young adults, and ultimately Christian parents themselves due to the degree we, their parents, insert them in the life of a church. Yet, we know there isn’t a direct correlation. The faith walk of a parent is not guaranteed to be transferred to a child for a variety of reasons.

So, I sit here in my living room at 8pm awaiting my child’s safe return after being in New Orleans for a week with Zack. They have been doing ministry at 18 that I only began to think about, perhaps when I turned 30. I know they are not perfect, they’ve never been. For that matter, neither have their parents. We didn’t do anything different as we raised them like countless other parents, even parents at our church, have done. As they return and go on with their lives I know they're going to mess up. I still do at almost 50.

But I’m thankful and grateful to God. I’ll even be more thankful when they drive up in my driveway in the wee hours of the morning. I know this thing called parenting isn’t an exact science and I’m not saying that we have it perfected by any stretch of the imagination. But my son is coming home after having committing himself to of all things, serving others in a distant city. He and Zack have given hope to a fellow church, touch the lives of prisoner’s family, and paid for a bunch of folks washing and drying while trying to lead them to the Kingdom.

I ask for a blessing from God on all of our parents and especially those of our teens. I’m convinced that there are many more at our church that stand on the threshold of doing the same kind of ministry that Zack and Steven have engaged in this week. Yet, while they stand on the threshold there is battle going on for their attention, their devotion, and ultimately their souls. I pray that in the coming days hearts will be opened, relationships restored, and ministry breaks out all over our church.

O.K, before I put this post to bed I have to share this with you. A good friend of mine at church loaned me his copy of the book, “A Walk in the Woods” by Bill Bryson. It is his story of hiking the Appalachian Trail. At one point on their hike, Bryson and his hiking buddy end up in a town in North Carolina to get a shower and wash their clothes. His friend makes the mistake of approaching a married woman to which her husband takes great offense. As Bryson’s friend is trying to make it back to their hotel safely, he tells Bryson, “Look, if I’m killed tell my brother-in-law that I buried $10,000 under his front porch.”

Bryson responds by saying, “You really buried $10,000 under your brother-in-law’s front porch?”

His friend answers, “No way, but he such a pain in the butt he deserves to think so.”

I know that has nothing to do with today’s post but when I read that line I laughed out loud at the dealership where I was getting Steven’s oil changed. Have a blessed day.

I pasted my last post (Run the Show) plus our Mount Tweeto Summit pictures to today’s post. I did hear from Steven through a text last night (Thursday) around 11:30pm. I asked him if they were O.K. and answered back, “Yea. LOL” They must be having a good time as well which I’m thankful for since (my opinion) one of the ways Satan tries to short-circuits a trip like this is to take away the fun. Now for yesterday’s post and then the Summit Pictures below. BTW - if you want to see a picture of Steven and Zack along with their "new hairdos," scorll down to the bottom.