Lucky Man (Evening Prayer)

Sometimes I find my inspiration for prayers in the songs I hear. My prayer tonight comes from the words of a popular "country music" song "Lucky Man" made popular by Montgomery Gentry. I have slightly altered the words to make it more personal.

I have days where I hate my job
This little town and the whole world too
And last Saturday when the Sooners lost
Lord, it put me in a bad mood

I have moments when I curse the rain
Then complain when the sun's too hot
I look around at what everyone has
And I forget about all I've got

Got some friends who would be here fast
I could call 'em any time of day
Got a brother who's got my back
Got a mama who I swears a "saint"

Yea I know I'm a lucky man
God's given me a pretty fair hand
Got a house and a piece of land
A few dollars in a coffee can

My Yukon's still running good
My ticker's ticking like they say it should
I got supper in the oven, a good woman's loving
And one more day to be my little kids' dad
Lord, knows I'm a lucky man

Beard Trimming

"No Shave November" has come and gone. This trend during the month of November appears to be growing (pardon the pun) in popularity. The purpose of not shaving (or in my case not trimming) of the facial hair varies from person to person. Some do it for personal reasons, while others are attempting to raise awareness of some good cause.

For me I made a vow to God that I would not trim my beard for the entire month. During this time my desire was to increase my own awareness of the need to pray for people who are fighting diseases such as cancer. I wish I could say that the experience was an incredible success, but alas my truthfulness gets the best of me again.

The truth is after about a week into November, I had fallen back to business as usual. Yet, it was not without its moments. in the last week people have began commenting on my beard. Everytime I was offered the chance to share with them why I was letting it grow. This reminder served me well also.

And so a few moments ago the beard trimmer came out of its cave, and much of my hair has been removed. My prayer is that one day soon, cancer will be able to be removed with such ease.

INTIMATIONS OF IMMORTALITY FROM RECOLLECTIONS OF EARLY CHILDHOOD

I

THERE was a time when meadow, grove, and stream,
The earth, and every common sight,
To me did seem
Apparelled in celestial light,
The glory and the freshness of a dream.
It is not now as it hath been of yore;--
Turn wheresoe'er I may,
By night or day,
The things which I have seen I now can see no more.

(William Wordsworth)

3 Little Pigs and a Big Bad Wolf

A favorite story in my house is the 3 Little Pigs. The story is of 3 pigs who come of age, and move away from home. For the first time they are away from mother's protection, and must make decisions for themselves. The 1st pig wants to have fun, and does not want to work too hard. He builds a house out of straw, which is not very strong. The 2nd pig is also more interested in fun and games, and does not put in the effort to have a strong house for protection. His house of sticks is not much better than the straw house. The 3rd pig is much different. He takes the time, and puts out the energy to make sure his house of bricks is strong and sturdy. In the end an enemy (the Big Bad Wolf) come along to eat them. The 1st and 2nd house do not protect the first two pigs, but the brick house provides safety for them all. This reminds me of the wise and foolish man that Jesus spoke about. The wise man builds his house upon the rock, but the foolish man builds his upon the sand. What kind of house are you building for you family? Is it sturdy, or will it fail to protect you when the Big Bad Wolf comes to eat you?

Matthew 7:15-27
“Watch out for false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are voracious wolves.You will recognize them by their fruit. Grapes are not gathered from thorns or figs from thistles, are they? In the same way, every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree is not able to bear bad fruit, nor a bad tree to bear good fruit.Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.So then, you will recognize them by their fruit. “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter into the kingdom of heaven – only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.On that day, many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name, and in your name cast out demons and do many powerful deeds?’ Then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you. Go away from me, you lawbreakers!’ “Everyone who hears these words of mine and does them is like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the flood came, and the winds beat against that house, but it did not collapse because it had been founded on rock. Everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain fell, the flood came, and the winds beat against that house, and it collapsed; it was utterly destroyed!” (emph. mine)

An Evening Hymn

Softly now the light of day
Fades upon my sight away;
Free from care, from labor free,
Lord, I would commune with Thee.

Thou, whose all pervading eye
Naught escapes, without, within,
Pardon each infirmity,
Open fault, and secret sin.

Soon for me the light of day
Shall forever pass away;
Then, from sin and sorrow free,
Take me, Lord, to dwell with Thee.
(George W. Doane)

A Father's Prayer

Today I gave them food and drink,
Today you gave me your body and blood.

Today I played and laughed with them,
Today you played and laughed with me.

Today I gave them instruction,
Today you gave me instruction.

Today I gave them love,
Today you gave me love.

Today I lost my patience with them,
Today you showed me mercy.

Today I said some things in anger,
Today you held back your anger.

Tonight as they sleep I watch over them,
Tonight will you watch over us?

The Word

This may seem bold. It may upset a few preachers. I even admit it may be somewhat unfair. This is not well thought out. It is probably full of holes. Naysayers, may wish to pick it apart. Yet, I feel a burden to express an issue on my heart, because I fear in the past I have been the chief "sinner" of this problem. I cannot count the number of times I have heard sermons and lessons on the importance of the Word of God. Yet, what troubles me is the lack of public reading of that very Word within some elements of Christianity. I see short scripture readings in church services as though 3-4 verses will be all the flock can stomach to chew upon. Some well known preachers are marvelous motivators, but the soul can starve to death on the amount of heavenly bread served in their sermons. Other sermons are filled with zip code preaching (you must do this or that, Book/chapter/verse, BCV, BCV), where the scriptures are alluded to but never actually quoted and studied within their context. What is amazing is that the very ones who think others are not preaching the Word are not really preaching much of it themselves. I am thankful to be around a mentor (Milton) that engages the scriptures. I am thankful for recent friends like bro. Spring who has taught me the power of reading long passages of God's word. So I wonder, what would happen if we read entire chapters, even entire books each Sunday? What if our teaching was more expository and inductive in nature? What if we actually preached the Word instead of just talking about doing so? What if? If Only...

Resurrection

Do you ever go through slumps? It seems like one minute everything is going well, and the next it all falls apart. I wonder if that is the way the followers of Jesus felt when he was crucified. I wonder if they thought all hope was lost. We know they were scared and many of them ran for their lives. Then after three days of sadness and confusion; Jesus rose! Resurrection made these same followers become courageous. Resurrection brought a joy to their lives they had never experienced. Maybe your in a slump today. Maybe your like me, and have gone through an extended slump at times. Just remember that the Lord is the God of Resurrection. Turn to the one who can bring you out of the pit. Easter may have passed for this year, but Resurrection is something to remember everyday.

VBS 2010--What will 2011 have in store for us???

This was our slide show from VBS last year. I can't wait to see what we do this year. Can you?

The Long Road

Have you ever made plans to do something that once you finally get around to it your realize just how long it took to get there? I suppose this is how I feel typing this right now. I would like to say I have something amazing to share, but alas I am just trying to write again. I figure if I just start typing then something might eventually spring out from this crazy brain of mine. I pray everyone is well, and I am hopeful that I have a renewed spirit for this blog. It has been a long road, but sometimes life is full of those roads...