West Cocoa Chat

As I type today’s post, my “hammy’s” (i.e. – hamstrings) are talking to me. I’m sure they’re trying to communicate to me that at age 50, they will have plenty to say when I engage in a period of time like the following:

Wed. – Ran 3 miles.
Thurs. – Played pickup basketball with some of our middle school kids.
Fri. – Played in our annual Faculty vs. Boy’s Team game.
Sat. – Up at 4:40 a.m. helped unload a Semi-trailer for our Angel Food Ministry. Also helped carry down and then up our copious sets of stairs, all of the Angel Food orders which went from over 100 in October to over 300 in November.
Sun. – Played several games of Beach Volleyball.
Yesterday – Ran 5 miles.

Today – I’m heading home after school. Most of “our” wives are getting together at our Preacher’s home for as we might say in the South, “a hen party” or rather a Ladies’ gathering. Our “displaced preacher,” I, and several other guys are meeting at a brother’s house to grill some burgers and (line from “Planes, Trains, and Automobiles”) “talk about them Bears.”

BTW – backing up to Saturday and Angel Food. The Semi that brings in our Angel Food orders delivers them to a church just south of us in Eau Gallie. Each container of food (steaks, chicken, sweet potatoes, ect) is called out by the name of the church. The cadence usually sounds like this:

1. Immanuel (Methodist)
2. Our Father (Catholic)
3. Family Values (not making that up)
4. St. Johns
5. (and then us) Central

Do you see my consternation? I told my Angel Food brothers – we need a cool name like “Immanuel” or “Family Values.” “Central” just doesn’t seem to have the “pizzazz” the other church names have.

What would you suggest?
I suggested “The Church of the Immaculate Cecil” but was met with little support and I can’t figure out why?

Any suggestions out there?

This post will contain a plethora of thoughts from the last few days. Along a familiar theme of “how do I know I live in a (and I say this with pride) redneck area” – I called one of my good friends at church to see what he was doing this past Friday. The conversation went something like this:

Me: “Hey Buddy, how’s your Friday been?”
Buddy: “Fine, I’m coming home from Deland.”
Me: “Really? What are you doing over there?”
Buddy: “I’m picking up my son’s gator head.”
Me: (as if this happens every day) “Cool.”

As I told my friend, there can’t be too many other places in the world where 2 friends could be having such a conversation. For clarification, his son killed an 11ft. gator during the recent gator hunting season. He had the head mounted.

Speaking of conversations, we had one of those “holy ground” conversations with our son this past week. Not that he even comes close to being perfect for neither are his mother and father. We’re on a journey towards spiritual transformation. In that quest he thanked us for being the type of parents that always insisted whether he wanted to or not, on him going to church and attending youth functions. He told us that he didn’t know where he would be spiritually, if we had allowed him to have his way when it came to our commitment to our Savior.

Parenting is tough work but I’m reminded of a movie line that our preacher reminded me of in a recent sermon. In the movie, “Midway,” Cmdr. Carl Jessop played by Cliff Robertson, asks Vice Admiral “Bull” Halsey played by Robert Mitchum, his opinion concerning a decision he has to make as the newly appointed Commander of our remaining Carrier Fleet and Halsey’s replacement.

Halsey looks at him and says, “If you’re in command, command.” Parents are given a tremendous and precious responsibility, the raising of the next generation. If you’re a parent, then parent.

I’ll leave on that note. Happy Monday.

Welcome to Part 2 of “Truth.” As you can probably tell, I feel very strong about this “paradigm of truth.” In my lifetime of experiences as I’m sure unfortunately for a lot of us, I have had too many experiences such as:

1. Brothers and sisters in Christ, treating other believers with anything but the love of Jesus.

2. The wonderful practice of the “un-invitation,” blackmailing or black-balling from church members, churches, or Para-church organizations.

3. The attempted restricting of cooperating with other denominations.

4. The attempted restricting of cooperating with other Para-church organizations that are not comprised of 100% members of our fellowship.

I believe these practices to be false, wrong, and unbiblical. I believe that all of the above are a result of a false “paradigm of truth.” It follows the old adage with a little twist; if you’re not of us then you’re against us which means “you” could not possibly have any iota of truth since you’re not part of us. I think Paul destroys that paradigm in a couple of places:

1. In Acts 17:22 – 28, Paul is in Athens trying connect with some Greeks who are all about Philosophy. In verse 28, Paul says, “28'For in him we live and move and have our being.' (emphasis mine) As some of your own poets have said, 'We are his offspring.'

They think they are not talking about Jehovah God, but Paul says yes you were. In fact, Paul takes their statement about hundreds of Gods and makes it about His God. Paul doesn’t just affirm truth here, he claims it for himself and he doesn’t care who said it or who they were saying it about. What they said was true and he is claiming it as truth for himself.

In Titus 1:12 – 13, Paul quotes (12Even one of their own prophets has said, "Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons." 13This testimony is true. Therefore, rebuke them sharply, so that they will be sound in the faith…) a poet from Crete, affirms the truth he speaks, and claims it for himself. For Paul like we should today, God’s truth can be found in anybody and anywhere.

So, where do we go from here?

1. When we or our kids hear something that is true from someone other than “us,” its O.K. We can claim it as truth for us.

2. This view will free us up to do works for the community that can be inner-denominational and even inner-faith.

• We can work with those not of our movement for the common good of our community.
• We can learn truth from them.
• They can learn truth from us.

O.K., those are my thought. Feel free to claim what you feel is truth and reject as Paul said in 1Thessalonians 5:21, what is not. Have a good weekend.

“What is truth?” “Where can you find truth?” “Are “we” the only ones who have truth?” How about that for some light questions to start my first post of the week? I believe truth can be found in many places. I still remember being in a “World’s Religions Class” at a secular college and hearing what I thought was truth, being taught. I remember being confused. What I heard from a secular Professor sounded like it matched up with Biblical Truth but he wasn’t part of “us.” How could this guy know, teach, or have any claim to truth without being one of us? You know, the ones who claim to know all truth and have all the answers which by the way, at this time of my life was not “Churches of Christ.”

I believe we need to teach a Biblical worldview of truth and part of that worldview is that God is not somewhere else or confined to a certain group or people as well as His Truth. Just look at Isaiah 6:

1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. 3 And they were calling to one another:
"Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty;
the whole earth is full of his glory."

God and His truth are right here among us. Look at Psalm 24:1

1 The earth is the LORD's, and everything in it,
the world, and all who live in it;

I believe the New Testament bears this out as well. In Matthew 8, Jesus takes a statement of faith from a Roman Centurion who is far from being a fellow Jew, and claims it as truth.

I’ll close with this – We need to be “grounded in Scripture” (1 Thess.5:21) so can test what is good and truthful. However, this “grounding” does not confine us to staying within our own confines to finding truth. Hang in there for the next post when I’ll attempt to discuss the ramifications of this viewing of Truth.

First, I want to thank everyone who commented about their spiritual journey yesterday and for those you may not have commented but reflected as well. Sometimes it helps to know where we’re going by thinking about from where we came.

A quick commercial – I ran 6 miles on Monday! Now I know for folks like Brady (http://www.evendays.org/) and Trey, (http://www.treymorgan.net/) a 6-mile run is a warm-up but for this 50-year old, it’s a bit of an accomplishment. I know for some (Greg) they would liken it to an unsuccessful assisted suicide and I must admit that even my lovely wife asked, “Why are you doing this?”

Now on to my subject. On the way to school this morning, our local Contemporary Christian Radio Station was playing one of my favorite songs, “Blessed Be Your Name.” I always turn up the volume when it gets to this part:

You give and take away
You give and take away
My heart will choose to say
Lord, blessed be Your name!

Most of you know this comes from Job 1:20 – 22.
20 At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship 21 and said:

"Naked I came from my mother's womb,
and naked I will depart. [c]
The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away;
may the name of the LORD be praised."
22 In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.

As I thought about that song and those verses, all of you, my blog family and my church family came to mind. There seems to be a consistent theme for all of us who have committed to not only being a Christian but also leading in some way whether it be a minister, elder, deacon, or ministry leader. That theme is that if we hang in there long enough, we too will see the Lord “give and take away.”

What things has the Lord taken away from you and by the way, this list may get a bit touchy because some of my things you might argue God doesn’t take. I’m not trying to get into a theological argument. I’m just going to list some “things” that I once had that I know longer have such as:

Parents, friends, a Bible Camp, a church, a reputation among some, just to name a few.

Now I know that our “given list” for all of us would include Jesus, our salvation, our ongoing transformation into His image, and God’s unmerited Grace and those alone certainly trump any and all of the members of the “taken away” list. Beyond those, what things has the Lord given you? My list would include:

(I feel somewhat ashamed and Judy reminded me of the blessing our BLOG FAMILY) My wife, my son, friends, a church trying to be Jesus to each other and the community as well as be non-denominational, a Bible Camp that actually wants us, freedom, people around me who do ministry far better and deeper than I ever could, humor, a job that is also a calling, good health for the moment, just to name a few.

What would your lists include? Feel free to share.

Something that Brady (http://www.evendays.org/) wrote in his last post (“Gotta Go To Church) inspired today’s post. I came away with the question, “What is it that motivates folks to want to attend church?” It made me think of my journey and my commitment to God.

For me, I was a sports junkie. Living in central Florida with our year round weather, I played in 3 softball leagues, city league basketball, played tennis, racquetball, and tried to fit in some camping in my early adult life. Church was a place to go to meet some friends occasionally as well as have a venue to play softball. What made me crossover from “causal Christian” to whatever I am today?

The “fire starter” was (http://gregengland.com/) Greg. He was our Preacher in Rockledge and we grew to be close friends. As I began to look past our friendship I was captivated by Greg’s approach to Scripture. He was the first to teach the fundamentals of asking:

1. What was the context of the passage?
2. Who was it written to?
3. When was it written?
4. Who wrote it
5. What was going on at the time the text was written and so on?

I found that approach appealing and enticing. Now it goes without saying that for the most part, I’m a social animal. The idea of being able to serve folks and do it with others was appealing and still is. To this day I always believe that I make a better “Deacon” than Elder.

Becoming part of something larger also was enticing. When I attended my first Pepperdine Bible Lectures, I can still remember standing outside after an evening Praise Service at the Smothers Theater. There were crowds of people laughing and fellowshipping which I’m sure included a trip over to the Cafeteria for some AWP pie. I remember looking into the nighttime sky, taking in the cool air, and realizing that I “belonged” to something that was bigger than me or my local church.

I know, like my personality the above is a random collections of thoughts. How about yours? What made you step over the line, want to follow Jesus, and commit yourself to a local body of Christ? Happy thoughts.

This is a story our youth guy told me last night and I don’t think he would mind if I share it with you.

This took place on his first long range trip with the teens at another church. The trip took him from Florida to West (no, he didn’t need a passport) Virginia. He was driving a new church bus and they were approaching Atlanta, at 5pm! A “rut-row” would be appropriate.

Being the responsible youth guy that he was, he was intent on keeping his eyes on the road but he wanted to go around Atlanta. He asked one of the older teens to look at the map and find a by-pass around I-75. As I’m sure you have guessed, the teen not only couldn’t help him find the by-pass, they ended up in the middle of Atlanta during rush hour on I-75. Our youth guy told me he was trying to do his best to maneuver this brand new bus full of teens in and out of traffic as best as he could at this point because they were committed.

He did begin to notice one thing that was raising and raising his level of concern. No matter how careful he was, signaling when he made a lane change, allowing for plenty of room, keeping the proper follow distance, and driving as Christian like as one can under these conditions, horn after horn was being blown no matter what move or non-move he made. He said he was really becoming scared and agitated when he looked in the rear view mirror and found the problem. Any one want to venture a guess?

That’s right, his teens, the ones he was trying to lead to Jesus, the ones he was challenging to be bold in their walk – were doing all of the above. How? They had made signs and were placing them in the windows that read:

“Honk If You Love Jesus!”

Apparently lots of folks in Atlanta, even in rush hour love Jesus. Unfortunately Chad had to implore them to take their signs down until he got out of rush hour traffic!

You just never know, do you? Have a great Thursday Family.

And so the great American Experiment, one that has been recycled every 4 years since the nomination of George Washington, the election of an American President. I call it an “experiment” because like our walk with God, it is a work in progress.

I remember voting for the first time in 1976, the race between Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter. A race when the office of President was perhaps at it’s weakest following the unprecedented resignation of Richard Nixon and his Vice-President, (how many of you remember this name) Spiro Agnew.

The other reason I call it an experiment is something we as Americans, can be proud of – the smooth transition of power. Or, another way to put it, when my bitter (although John McCain ran a classy race) rival becomes my supporter. This phenomenon of America plays itself out every day, especially in sports. In a game as violent as football, a sport that each rival is literally trying to knock the other’s head off, at the end of the game each rival can walked up to each other, hug, shake hands, and even at times, pray together.

Can Christians support President Obama, even if we didn’t vote for him? Absolutely and this goes beyond our call to duty as Americans. No, this goes to the very heart of the Christian experience. Truth is bigger than what we only hear in churches, from preachers, and from fellow Christians. I believe that to be true because:

1. Matthew 8:5 – 13, the Roman Centurion. Jesus doesn’t just find truth in this professional soldier of an occupying force, he finds faith greater than he has come across in any of his fellow Jews.

2. Acts 17:23 – Paul quotes an inscription of a Greek Idol to teach truth to the Athenians.

3. Titus 1:12 – 13, Paul quotes a Cretan Philosopher and even states that his statement about folks from Crete is truth.

Now I stated all of that to say this, we as Christians can find truth and right in an Obama Presidency. That doesn’t mean that we will agree or like everything he will say or do. Paul calls on us to do the following with anything of the world as Christians:

I Thessalonians 5:16 - 22:
16 Rejoice always, 17 pray continually, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.
19 Do not put out the Spirit's fire. 20 Do not treat prophecies with contempt 21 but test them all; hold on to what is good, 22 reject whatever is harmful.

Remember family, we live in the world, we experience the world, we are to test the world, hold on to what is good and reject what is harmful. We can do that no matter who is our President.

God bless, God bless our new President, and God bless the USA.

So it’s finally here, Election Day! Oh, I approve this message.  This past Sunday we dedicated our service to our “senior saints” and sang all “traditional (whatever that is) songs.” One of them is coming to mind as I think about the election.

Our Praise Team sang the “Its alright” intro to the song, “Just A Little Talk With Jesus.” I can still hear Steven’s tenor voice singing that part. I thought he was (warning: proud Papa / old man moment coming) really good. As I said, the “its alright” part keeps reverberating in my mind for no matter who wins today, tomorrow, or in (little Florida / recount humor coming) December, God is in control. Take a deep breath family because as the song says, its alright NO matter who wins.

Now, don’t think I’m telling you to shriek that responsibility of voting. If you haven’t already voted, get out there, stand in line, smile, feel free to sing “Its Alright” along with “Just a little talk with Jesus makes me whole,” and be a light to the world. Light doesn’t stop shining just because darkness wants to close in.

If you’re still here, here’s a story about that song:

At the last church I was at, there were several factors that led us to leave after 20-something years. One of them was that song, Just A Little Talk With Jesus. The preacher devoted an entire sermon to the “false teaching” of that song. Can anybody guess why? Yep, you got it – everyone knows that the lyric, “Just a little talk with Jesus makes me whole,” refers to a belief in baptism not being necessary for salvation. Right? At least, that’s what he taught in a sermon.

Then a friend of mine spoke to him after his sermon and asked, “What about the part that goes, “It bathe my heart in love?” Couldn’t that refer to baptism?” Of course his answer was there was no way to tell since the song was written by a Rev. Derricks who was born in 1910. I know, you’re thinking a discussion of such a matter is silly and you’re right but let me add one more post script.

One of our song leaders was in the Army Reserve and was away at Drill during that Sunday. He was the song leader for the following Sunday. Guess what song he led off with? Un-huh. I went up to him after the service and before I could say anything he asked me, “Why was the preacher scowling at me?” My response, “You didn’t get the “holy memo” brother but you will shortly.

BTW – the Church blasted that song out that day. Remember family, it will be alright.