Archive for the ‘Youth’ category
June 5, 2015
WORDS FROM W.W. June 5, 2015
Recently I watched a DVD that brought to the surface the breakdown of a community in a major metropolitan area of our nation. The deterioration didn’t happen overnight, but rather over a period of twenty years or so. One of the fractures that rose to the surface was the breakdown in the family system. Absentee fathers…parents not investing into their kids lives, sometimes because they were working two jobs to make ends meet…gangs moving into the area to fill the void in young men’s lives that needed some kind of family.
Another fracture was caused by people becoming more concerned with themselves than those who lived in their community. A hint of self-preservation gradually grew to become the odor of selfish ambition. Suspicions grew about people’s agendas. Gang activity resulted in residents being protective of the few things they had. “My brother’s keeper” became non-existent as people felt community concern for their well-being decreased.
Survival defined the environment instead of living life.
The DVD showed how the community was gradually saved…emotionally, economically, relationally, and spiritually…but it was a long journey on a pothole-filled road. It showed one church’s commitment to the high school in that community that changed the lives of students, their families, but also volunteers from the church. A community was resurrected!
And it all came back to that denying oneself to build a safe community for others. What a concept!
Jesus once said some pretty challenging words. He said, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” (Luke 9:23, NIV)
A little while later after he had experienced death and then resurrection he told is disciples to go into all the world making disciples of all nations, baptizing, and teaching them. It seems that following Jesus is about the person stepping off the throne, risking oneself, and loving others. Building community involves some people who are willing to pick up some crosses.
This afternoon I went by the elementary school close to our church that we partner with. The principal had approached me a couple of weeks ago about getting together and strategizing about our partnership next year. Today we set up the appointment and I gave her that DVD to watch before we meet.
It takes more than a community to raise a child. It takes people who would rather share half of their sandwich at lunchtime with a hungry kid than eating the whole thing. It takes vision to see the imbalance and ears to hear the impoverished. It takes a hand to comfort and feet to go the distance.
And, quite honestly, not many people are willing to be that!
Categories: Bible, children, Christianity, Community, Faith, Freedom, Grace, Jesus, love, Nation, Parenting, Pastor, Story, Teamwork, The Church, Uncategorized, Youth
Tags: building community, church-school partnership, community concern, denying oneself, gang activity, helping one another, loving others, Mission, self-centered, self-focused, selfish, selfish ambition, survival
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June 3, 2015
WORDS FROM W.W. June 3, 2015
(I received word this morning that my dad is in the Emergency Room of a hospital about 2,000 miles away from me.)
Dear Pops!
I love calling you that when you answer your phone. You always know it is me calling when I greet you with those words, “What do you say, Pops?”
I wish i could be sitting beside your hospital room bringing a smile to your face with that greeting, but, instead, I’m a couple thousand miles away typing this on my laptop.
It’s hard to not be close enough to touch you…to wait anxiously for an updated text from someone close at hand. I want you to know that I’m praying for you. When I told Diana, my administrative assistant, about you, see took time out to pray for you…and me! Prayer is something I don’t need training for, just a sense of urgency and taking the initiative to approach the throne of grace.
Dad, you have always been special to me, but in recent years as I watched you wait upon Mom and make sure that her needs were being met, you became something different.
Impressive!
You held it together when Mom was coming apart. You fed her when she could not feed herself. You listened to her when she could not communicate. You changed her diaper when she soiled herself.
You were impressive and impressionable!
I don’t believe a father can leave a greater gift for his children than a Christ-like handprint for them to remember. Not necessarily a sermon preached, but rather a sermon lived out. Although your heart has issues, your heart for God and people is healthy. When one of my kids tells me that I’m just like my dad I take it as the highest compliment.
I remember certain things that you did, like fixing liver and onions for dinner that actually tasted good; startling the neighbors each year when warm weather came by putting on a pair of shorts with those white legs of yours that were a little blinding to the eyes; preparing your Sunday School lesson to teach with your materials and Bible covering the kitchen table; and teaching me how to tie a necktie.
Let me confess something to you while I’m thinking about it. I was the one who broke the blade on your pocket knife. You had probably already guessed that, since I tried to scotch tape the broken blade back on. Thirteen year olds think they can cover up anything!
Dad, I’m praying for strength and recovery. I’m praying for more conversations in the coming days even by phone.
Rest…and rest in his arms!
Your Son,
Bill Wolfe
Categories: children, Death, Faith, Grace, Humor, Jesus, Parenting, Pastor, Prayer, Story, The Church, Uncategorized, Youth
Tags: Aging, aging parents, Dad, father, feeling helpless, grandfather, gratitude, helpless, helplessness, hospitalization, impression, Old age, parent, Pops, sickness
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June 2, 2015
WORDS FROM W.W. June 2, 2015
Last week I swung by my insurance agent’s office to get a recommendation on a roofing company to call. As I pulled into the parking lot something was different. The two story building next door to theirs was no longer there.
I mean…gone! A dirt-covered empty lot!
It’s interesting when you become accustomed to something being there…and then it isn’t…you are taken back a little bit! In fact, my insurance agent’s one story building suddenly seemed to look smaller because of the vast empty space that now shadowed it to the east.
I asked Michelle, one of my agents, what was going on next door. She said they were going to build some other structure in the coming year on that spot. And then she made this statement:
“You wouldn’t believe it, but it took them less than a day to tear down the building that was there!”
Less than a day!
Six to eight months to build…less than a day to tear it all down!
A reputation is built over a long period of time, but it can be destroyed quickly.
As I think about that, a photo book of faces flashes through my mind of people who have been evidence of that statement. Well-respected, intelligent, esteemed for their leadership, recognized and followed…and then a weakened moment, or a hidden flaw that suddenly was exposed, or a conversation that went viral…and the structure came tumbling down.
It goes without saying that we all fall and stumble. The lives that we build are filled with pockets of errors…some more like chips of the plaster, but others that threaten the stability of tomorrow.
Writing a blog post about building and destroying won’t solve our tendency to screw up our blessedness, but maybe it will be a wake up moment for someone who is teetering on the edge of the cliff.
What is evident about the empty lot by the insurance office is just that! The emptiness of it…where just a few weeks ago there was life being lived, decisions being made, a structure to protect from the uncertain weather elements…and now having to start over from the ground up.
May today be a day of building just one more solid brick on to the firm foundation…a day where we are solid in our thoughts and actions, anchored even deeper to the Foundation!
Categories: Bible, Christianity, Faith, Freedom, Grace, Jesus, Pastor, Story, The Church, Uncategorized, Youth
Tags: building, building a reputation, collapses, crashes, destruction, failures, honesty, integrity, mistakes, moral failure, shortcomings, sin
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May 28, 2015
WORDS FROM W.W. May 28, 2015
Jerk. A four letter word that I find myself saying more frequently these days. The way I use it almost never is connected to some kind of meat, like chicken or beef, but is, however, almost always related to a meathead!
Jerk-hood for many people is not a sickness. It’s a persistent condition, like bad breath or B.O. It travels around with them like a dust storm announcing Pig Pen’s presence.
The “Big Boy” truck that weaves in and out of traffic like he’s a Duke of Hazzard…the forty-something man who charges out of the grocery door without regard for the pregnant lady coming in with two pre-schoolers in tow…any of the Real Housewives of Anywhere, USA…jerk-hood is gaining new members more rapidly than gray hairs on my head!
It’s puzzling to me! Why do more and more people act like “Biff Tannen” from Back to the Future. Do they realize it? Oblivious?
It’s interesting that jerk-hood stands out like a sore thumb compared to sainthood! Saints don’t go around wearing their good deeds and compassionate hearts on their sleeves. Jerks stand out like a leisure suit at a GQ Fashion Show!
So what’s going on? Is this a phase, a momentary trend? For one we’re more and more self-focused. We’ve even given it a name…”selfies!” We’re very much about ourselves. We’ve bought into it, and now believe it. It’s blurred the lines of what is acceptable and what is unacceptable. We’re not as sure these days.
Jerk-hood has even entered our churches. Most of the time we wrap it in Christ-like language, but it’s still there. Some weeks a person has to look real, real deep to find any fruit of the Spirit in the congregation. Part of Joel’s Osteen’s popularity has been the blurring of theology. It’s mixed up even more than a DQ Blizzard, spinning together some God talk with mostly self-talk. The message sounds appealing…and it makes me happy…which is what it’s all about! Jerks for Jesus…has a certain ring to it!
What Jesus said is a little disturbing to the jerk clan. He said “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it.” (Luke 9:23-24) Those words might not sell well to the sixty-something woman who just displayed her middle finger for me to see as she turned in front of me.
Lives are based on the mountain of momentary decisions that display our true selves. What is right, what is Christ-like, what is encouraging and positively impactful…often get buried in the last chapter of a person’s unwritten life of destructive behavior and disturbing words.
Some might miss this point, but it really is the evidence of the evil one’s intense interest in each of our lives. If I can have a few “f bombs” thrown my way it can take me off my commitment to doing random acts of kindness. If the hamburger I order at Wendy’s looks like it was put together by my four year old granddaughter it will take me into those darker moments of bitterness and disgust that will cause me to treat someone or several people with disdain and no value.
It’s a hard thing, and a spreading fog of fallen humanity, and I recognize that my membership card for jerk-hood gets displayed quite often.
Thank God that he even loves jerks as much as the saints!
Categories: Bible, Christianity, Community, Freedom, Grace, Humor, Jesus, Pastor, Story, Teamwork, The Church, Uncategorized, Youth
Tags: Back to the Future, being a jerk, Biff Tannen, denying yourself, distorted theology, DQ Blizzard, Jerk, jerks, Joel Osteen, Luke 9:23-24, people being jerks, sainthood, Saints, taking up the cross, theology
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May 20, 2015
WORDS FROM W.W. May 19, 2015
You can’t trust mail delivery these days! I did not receive my invitations from various high schools and colleges to give their commencement address to the different graduating classes.
None! I even looked in the phone book to see if there is another Rev. William D, Wolfe in the Colorado Springs area, and there isn’t…but can you really trust the phone book these days?
So now I’m left with all these thoughts and suggestions that are still being thrown around in my head that need to come out like twice-laundered clothes! Here’s what I wish I could have said.
Discern what it is you want from what it is you need! Our culture has screwed you up! Ask yourself the question, “What can I live without?” and “What is essential for my life?” A new, or even used, BMW is not essential for your existence. The latte from Starbucks on your way to your new entry-level employment position is not essential. Money set aside to pay your utility bill probably is an essential…unless you have lots of blankets! Need a microwave for the new apartment you are moving into? Go to the Goodwill store and pick one up for $10!
Most things that get advertised as being able to bring happiness into your life will miss miserably! Don’t get sucker-punched by the hidden left hook reality! What really brings happiness is rarely advertised. It doesn’t need to be. For instance, a spring rain shower that brings a freshness to the air is a momentary delight that can’t be bought. Drinking a boatload of beer with a group of young adults gets portrayed as a happy time, but it never shows the staggering half-conscious product of the occasion.
Don’t make your mom keep doing your laundry! Cut the apron strings and take some responsibility. For that matter, don’t expect your parents to keep forking over money to you like they still owe you a weekly allowance. If you could make it to the podium to receive your diploma you are able to do most of the things that you’ve always took your granted that your mom and dad would do.
You aren’t entitled! Get over it! Entitlement is an illusion created by a reality TV generation. the days of equal playing time are over. You aren’t entitled to almost anything…pay raises, big screen TV, a seat at the table, going 70 in a 45, going through the “15 Items Or Less” line with 20 different things…just get over it! Little League is a distant memory for you. Even that diploma doesn’t entitle you to anything…except maybe student loans. I recently read an article about the long-time baseball coach at the University of Texas who was asked about the biggest difference between players he coached at the beginning of his career and the players he coached towards the end. His response…”entitlement!” Players think they are entitled to things these days without putting in the hard work. Colleges are upgrading facilities to a point that players now expect the finest.
It’s not all about you! Seek to serve incredibly more than being served. Know that being an American gives you the opportunity to make a difference in someone’s life…whether close at hand or in a distant place…that most in the world can not do. Most people in the world are just trying to survive. You aren’t a survivor! You are simply fortunate! Identity one way this world will be a better place because of you, not in spite of you! Get over yourself!
Perhaps my commencement address would be a bit harsh. But I’d be willing to give it for free! Hey! eBay paid Hillary $315,000 for a 20 minute speech! I’m cheap! I go against the popular notion that you can’t get something for nothing! I’d even pay for my own dinner since many believe there is no free meal!
Waiting for the calls from…Harvard, Texas Tech…Judson University…Ironton High School…any high school…Academy Endeavor 5th Grade Graduation…Kindercare day care promotion Friday…home for the aged…anywhere!
Categories: children, Community, Freedom, Humor, Parenting, Pastor, Story, Teamwork, The Church, Uncategorized, Youth
Tags: 2015 Graduates, commencement, commencement speakers, cutting the apron strings, entitlement, graduates, Graduation, help, lattes, life experience, needs and wants, swayed by culture, wants and needs, wisdom
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April 27, 2015
WORDS FROM W.W. April 27, 2015
I’m sitting in my usual Monday morning Starbuck’s seat looking out at Pike’s Peak…except I can’t see Pike’s Peak this morning because it is an overcast day, and there are flakes of snow coming down. Let me write that again. There are snow flakes coming down!!! It’s April 27! I’m going to petition God that there should be no snowfall after April 15!
We’ve had so much snow this winter that I’m starting to wonder if the Lord finds pleasure in it. I know snowboarders do! I’ve got a guy at church who actually gets all giddy at the possibility of a blizzard because he loves getting the snowblower out.
It makes me wonder if it snows in heaven? I can’t use “at the higher altitudes” as a reason for whether it does or not.
It’s one of a number of questions that I never ask anyone around me out of fear of the looks I’ll receive. A lot of my questions actually dance through my mind in this Starbuck’s seat around the end of my first cup of dark roast. By then I am neatly dangerous!
Imagine a safety umbrella above my head as I ask the following brain drains.
-Why doesn’t Old Navy make men’s jeans in size 35? I’m dealing with waist discrimination! If I spend a month at the Golden Corral buffet bar I could easily solve it. Conspiracy theory! Old Navy and Golden Corral plotting together…especially targeting me!
-Is there something I’m missing? Are sagging pants sexy? I just don’t get it! Of course, if I wear size 36 without a belt I could be sagging as well. Are sagging pants on a sixty year old man sexy or a sign of dementia? Just asking…while I still remember!
-Why is my vertical leap now about two inches?
-Why does high fiber cereal always have to look like rabbit droppings and taste like grass clippings? Is it to convince us that we are eating something that is healthy for us?
-Why do I still listen to the flight attendant give the pre-flight instructions? I’ve heard it a hundred times. Is it my Southern Baptist growing up years rising to the surface and shoveling guilt into my thoughts…or is it in case I’ve missed something during the previous times I’ve heard it?
-What are all the recent stories about various police officers shooting citizens, and other citizens rioting in protest telling us about our culture? This is not a slam on law enforcement, but rather a question that pertains to the rise of violence in our society. Video games…professional athletes beating up people…school shootings…crowded prisons…Two A.M. bar fights…will we ever be able to honestly admit that we have a problem…and will we ever, ever, ever be able to say that it is related to a diminished regard for life itself?
-Why does hair grow in my ears like weeds gone crazy?
-Why does the dog in the yard behind our house bark at all hours, and why can I hear it as clearly as a car alarm going off but his owners not seem to be able to?
-Why does a middle school boys’ locker room rival an overflowing rollaway dumpster in odor?
-Why are so many Christians as excited about their faith as I am about eating whole hominy?
I have other questions that take journeys through my mind every day. Questions that, for the most part, have no answers, but rather remain as puzzles in my head like a boatload of Rubik’s Cubes.
I’ll stop here! I’ve got to get a refill!
Categories: children, Christianity, Humor, Pastor, Story, The Church, Uncategorized, Youth
Tags: barking dogs, coffee, Golden Corral, heaven, high fiber cereal, Old Navy, questions, Sixty, size 35 jeans, snow, Souther Baptists, Starbucks, violence
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April 22, 2015
WORDS FROM W.W. April 22, 2015
We have been blessed in so many ways and by so many people…and so often we don’t immediately recognize it.
Today it hit me…in an unusual way!
Today is the 96th birthday of a woman who I always saw as being a person of compassion, gentleness, and faith. Her name is Ruth Kennedy.
Now…you need to understand something! I haven’t seen Ruth in close to twenty years. I was taken back by the fact that she has a Facebook page…and is now one of my Facebook friends, although in my birthday greeting to you today I couldn’t bring myself to calling her Ruth. She has always been Mrs. Kennedy to me!
Her oldest daughter, Cindy, was a good friend of mine in high school, and several of us hung out quite often at the Kennedy mansion in Ironton, Ohio, between the flood wall and North Second Street. The Wolfe’s and Kennedy’s were a part of the same church, and our youth group as close-knit.
Mrs. Kennedy would welcome us into her home, and then…this is important!…give us space! She would go to another part of the house and let our group of friends laugh and converse together.
She was faithful! She would sit with her husband Jim on the Vernon Street side of the sanctuary each Sunday for worship at First Baptist Church. Ruth was not a hit-and-miss attender. She was consistent and friendly and warm.
And now years later it hits me how blessed I was to have her in my life during those high school and college years.
We talk about the saints that go before us, but sometimes we are blind to the saints that are with us! And then years later…in an unexpected Facebook post you catch sight of how special someone in your past was to you.
Mrs. Kennedy was just one of many saints who affirmed my call to ministry in 1979 when I was ordained. I can see some of the other faces…Pastor Gale Baldridge, Pastor Jerry Heslinga, Bill and Sue Ball, Paul Hughes, Glenn Fairchild, Ralph and Phyllis Carrico, Ramona McCollister, Dale Clark, Betty Douglas, Rev. Earl Dale…the list could stretch on to the horizon! Some have gone on to Glory…some were like “church moms” to me…and some were encouragers. All had a part in shaping me and causing me to press on!
Happy birthday, Ruth…I mean, Mrs. Kennedy!
Categories: children, Christianity, Community, Death, Faith, Grace, Parenting, Pastor, Story, The Church, Uncategorized, Youth
Tags: being blessed, blessings, church saints, coaches, consistent, examples, faithful, Ironton, Ironton First Baptistm mentors, Ruth Kennedy, sainthood, Saints, spiritual maturity
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April 13, 2015
WORDS FROM W.W. April 13, 2015
I sat beside my dad in worship yesterday at Beulah Baptist Church in Proctorville, Ohio. It’s the church he’s been a part of for the past several years after moving up-river from Ironton, Ohio. The pastor of Beulah asked Dad to give the closing prayer for the service, and he referred to him as Deacon Emeritus.
I was surprised because Dad had never said anything about it. In fact, my first thought was that Pastor Rob was recognizing Dad’s age, but wasn’t really serious about the title…kind of like calling our Regional Executive Minister the Baptist Pope. A fitting title, but not one he is going to put on his business card.
Later on that day I asked my dad about it just to make sure I heard the pastor correctly. Yes, he said, he had been given that distinction a few months before that. I wanted to say, “And you never said anything to me about it?”, but it occurred to me that my dad never would.
You see, titles and awards have never been what his life is about. He has never put much stock in things you can hang on the wall behind your desk. Humbleness doesn’t dwell on accomplishments. It doesn’t go with “bragadocious!”
Sometimes, as sons and daughters, we fail to observe our parents long enough to be able to identify their qualities and characteristics. We’re absorbed in our own lives and what we’re doing too much to take a look. Perhaps we still see our parents as those supervisory figures who don’t really have lives of their own. They’ve just always been Mom and Dad!
And then a pastor refers to your Pops as “Deacon Emeritus” and you go “Huh?”
There is not a plaque on his wall to let visitors to his apartment know. The church didn’t give him a name tag for visitors to know that he is highly-valued. He is still content to be who he has been and who he is and who he will always be until Glory calls.
A person of wisdom who thinks before he speaks.
A storyteller of family history…and just as the Israelites tell the Passover story over and over again, my dad retells the family stories that I never get tired of hearing.
A person of convictions. He still believes that certain things aren’t right, no matter what public opinion says, but he has never forced his beliefs on someone else.
An organizer…chaos does not set well with him. My oldest daughter inherited this from my dad…he folds his clothes a certain way and everything is to be in place. I did not receive that gene in my list of passed on traits!
A person of the Word. His Bible is a bit tattered…but it’s organized tattering!
A person who is personal. I’ve noticed this week at his new senior apartment complex that people come to him to talk just as he initiates conversation with anyone who might be sitting in a front porch rocking chair. One night I noticed there were two people sitting in rocking chairs when I dropped him off at his building. I watched as I slowly drove away. He stopped to talk to them. I proceeded to the end of the parking lot and made the turn to come back towards the exit. He was still engaged in conversation and the two rockers seemed to be enjoying the moments just as much as him.
A person of integrity, which means he lives life with consistency and truth, but recognizes and admits the errors of his humanness.
A great-grandfather who my granddaughter gravitated to, even though she has spent less than two weeks with him in her first four years of life. A grandfather that my three kids love dearly even though they all live five states away.
A great dad!
So, even though he would never say so, and never say it is so, there is not a more qualified person to be designated “Deacon Emeritus”, and, without a doubt, will never bring up the subject again!
Categories: Bible, children, Christianity, Community, Grace, Humor, Jesus, love, Parenting, Pastor, Story, The Church, Uncategorized, Youth
Tags: Beulah Baptist Church, convictions, Dad, Deacon, Deacon Emeritus, granddad, humbleness, integrity, Passover, Pops, respect, storyteller, truth, wisdom
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March 30, 2015
WORDS FROM W.W. March 30, 2015
If I typed the letters “M” and “J” on this page many of you who are reading this would instantly think of Michael Jordan or Magic Johnson. It’s the end of March…March Madness…basketball frenzy time…Spartans in the Final Four (My excitement is showing!).
But since I’m a pastor who has “been through it” more times than I can count “MJ” also has another meaning for me…especially since we just went through a Renewal Weekend at our church.
“MJ” is short for “Moses and Joshua.” If the church is to experience renewal it needs to be a “Moses and Joshua Renewal.” Moses was in the final part of his journey. Joshua was in the first half of his. For that time in the history of the Israelites…from wandering in the desert to crossing into the Promised Land…it took both men to bring the people along in the journey. It took the elder and the younger walking together to figure things out.
I firmly believe that renewal amongst the people of God is a multi-generational event. Back in the 1980’s a multitude of churches bought into the idea that growth was tied to attracting people who look like you. Racially, economic class, theological beliefs, and such! The last twenty years has resulted in a new twist on the church growth idea: churches growing because they are focused on one or two generations. Elders worship with elders. Youngers worship with youngers.
Here’s the thing! Moses needed Joshua’s energy, strength, and courage; and Joshua needed Moses’ wisdom, experience, and depth.
Some might raise the point that the generation that exited Egypt, wandered in the desert, tested the patience of God, and questioned their leadership had to pass away before the Promised Land could be reached. That’s spot on, but think about those years of wandering. How often did those of Moses’ generation share their experiences, their mistakes, their “If I could do it over again” moments? There is a recent song by the group “Mercy Me” entitled “Dear Younger Me.” It tells of someone sharing with a younger version of the desire to talk about past errors in order to help prevent the younger person from doing the same.
Church renewal is everyone on the journey together, not just those you like or don’t get on your nerves. What would have happened if Joshua would have decided that Moses was too archaic and traditional to stay with him, so he departed “to start a new ministry?” What would have happened if Moses would have decided he wanted to put down roots in the desert and told Joshua if he wanted to go any further that was his choice? Leave him out of it!
One thing that needs to be understood: Leaders are called to lead. Seldom are leaders called to leave.
Leaving is a contemporary version of satisfying the self. It’s the statement that our culture has bought into that says “It’s all about me!”, but simply clothes in a spiritual sweater.
What would happen if the people of God committed themselves to Moses and Joshua renewal?
Another MJ moment!
Categories: Bible, Christianity, Community, Faith, Jesus, Pastor, Story, Teamwork, The Church, Uncategorized, Youth
Tags: church renewal, Dear Younger Me, Joshua, Mercy Me, Moses, multi-generations, people with value, Renewal, self-satisfying, value, Working together
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March 26, 2015
WORDS FROM W.W. March 25, 2015
Yesterday was a pretty amazing day for this guy! Our third grandchild was born in the mid-afternoon. Carol and I were both able to hold her in our arms about an hour later. Our oldest daughter did well through the whole labor and delivery experience, and the other two grandkids spent the night with us. We’re blessed, we’re blessed, we’re blessed!
I’ve noticed, however, that people react different ways in different situations…especially when it comes to “church stuff.”
I speak as a pastor of 36 years, so I’ve seen a lot of things although I haven’t seen it all. A recent question that has made me ponder as my head lays on the pillow is what are those things that Christ-followers are concerned with that God couldn’t care any less about?
Put in a less eloquent way, what the things that we spend so much of our time backing about and bickering about that aren’t even on God’s radar?
The birth scene of our newest grandchild makes for a good, although let me stress…a fictitious example! What if the four grandparents present at that grand occasion starting bickering about who got to hold the baby more; or what if one of the grandmothers starting getting all upset because the new grandchild didn’t have on an outfit that she had bought for her? What if one of the grandfathers started complaining that the birthing room was on the east side of the hospital instead of the west; or the creamer for the free coffee was a generic brand?
Do you read what I’m getting at? The birth…this new life…is what is important, but the focus would have been shifted to some side show issue that would make good fodder for “The Real Housewives.”
The story of the Hebrew people being freed from Egyptian bondage has always intrigued me. God rescues his people. They are headed towards their promised land. What did God care about at that point? To save his people and fulfill his promise that they would reach the land across the Jordan. On the other hand, what were the issues that occupied the top of the people’s agenda? We need food…we’re tired of manna…we want meat…we’ve got too much meat…we need water…we long for the golden days of slavery.
The fact that God has saved them from bondage and from the Egyptians is no longer high on the list of discussion topics.
I wonder…have we really changed much since then? What are the issues that church people are willing to go to fisticuffs over that yawns about?
I’m biased, I know, but I think a couple of things that he is intimately concerned about include the word “Great” in their label…”The Great Commandment”…”The Great Commission.”
One involves how we treat one another and the other involves the words of hope that we carry in our hearts about salvation now and forever.
I think God is concerned about how we treat one another, or mistreat one another…or how we allow others to mistreat others. He’s concerned over our tendency sometimes to avoid being the hands and feet of Jesus.
I think he’s concerned about the loss of being storytellers of faith…telling others about our love stories with Christ, the difference he has made in how we live and love. I think he’s concerned with how infrequently we “go into”, and how much we stay put.
What is important to God seldom seems to involve a meeting where minutes are recorded, or a vote is taken that leads to winners and losers.
But now I run the risk of including my personal petty peeves and trampling over the purpose of the past few hundred words. We must always keep asking the question of our ministries and our lives. What is really important, and what keeps me from seeing what is important.
As I held my new granddaughter in my arms yesterday I wasn’t thinking about how high the price of the latte was that I had just purchased in the hospital espresso cafe’! All I was thinking about was how blessed I am! Holding a baby who is just entering into her second hour of life tends to make you react like that!
Categories: Bible, children, Christianity, Community, Faith, Grace, Jesus, love, Parenting, Pastor, Prayer, Story, The Church, Uncategorized, Youth
Tags: baby, birth, blessed, bondage, grandchild, Granddaughter, Great Commandment, Great Commission, Hebrew people, importance, new born, new life, Salvation
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Words from WW Blog 