All I want for Christmas

Every year I try to get all of my Christmas shopping done early. Around the first of September I start planning and I make a pledge that this year I will have all of my shopping done by the first of December so that I can truly enjoy the Holiday Season.  If I get one thing a week by the time Thanksgiving rolls around I will be in good shape and by the first I will be done. Well, at least that’s how the plan goes.

     December first hits and once again I’m horrified to find out that I have picked up only one or two things. That’s when the Panic sets in.  What am I going to do? Where am I going to go? When am I going to find the time? Between work, family events, Church functions, and well life in general, the precious days turn into hours, and the hours slip past like seconds.

      As if the time issues were not enough you have to figure out what to get everyone on our list. What do I get for Mom? What do I get for Uncle Herman? Who do I include? Who do I leave off? Is a Gift card too impersonal? If I get her something that she does not really want, am I going to get it back for next year’s Birthday?

     From the middle of October on we get it from all sides, Christmas displays and carols hit you before the witches and goblins have disappeared and Thanksgiving turns into an afterthought to the commercial aspect of the season. We are surrounded by a cacophony of lights and sounds. Everywhere signs proclaim SALE!! SALE!!! SALE! Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Door busters, and this year for the first time stores are remaining open for days on end to extract the last pennies out of a sluggish economy.

     If you are not careful the whole experience can cause even the most devoted to the season to echo those immortal words,”Bah Humbug!”  If you are not lucky you find yourself with only an aversion to Christmas music, fifteen pounds that you cannot explain where they came from, and a facial tick that won’t go away till Easter. Even worse you can find that you have missed everything that Christmas has come and gone without you being able to enjoy it at all.

     All the signs were there. You could not miss the trappings of this Christmas. The venders busy hocking their wares, the shops filled to the roof tops. An air of expectation and excitement fills the air; electric with the anticipation of things to come. The people were rushing off to work and going about the business of living. They missed all the signs, they were supposed to be watching and waiting. But in the end they didn’t even see the star, the star that heralded the coming of the Messiah.

      Oh, it didn’t go totally unnoticed. There were the lowly shepherds who would witness the birth of the Prince of Peace. Not to mention those foreigners who traveled across deserts from the East. Other than that very few people even noticed the first Christmas night. Few could be bothered to interrupt their busy lives to celebrate the birth.  The most awesome event in the history of mankind came and went without it even showing up on anybody’s radar.

     If we are not careful we can fly through the holiday season and miss everything. No, I’m not talking about the music or the presents; we can miss the meaning of the season completely caught up in the tinsel and the lights, the hoopla and the hype. We can miss celebrating the birth of our Savior. We can wind up missing Jesus.   

Want to bet?

      I’m a fan of the James Bond Movies. I’m even a fan of the Roger Moore years.  The purest among you will say that has been only one James Bond, that being Sean Connery, though Daniel Craig the newest Bond to hit the screen would be my choice. (Or at least my second choice right behind Sean Connery)

     In the beginning of the Bond movies there was only one enemy to contend with,” Specter”.     These were the franchise of super villains like Goldfinger. Goldfinger was the only man in history to be able to menace 007 while stroking a cat while delivering lines like “No Mr. Bond I expect you to die!”  That Man was a Death ray away from being the super villain of the century.

     Invariably, sometime during the movie, Bond would find himself arriving at a Casino, his game of choice Baccarat. I always thought that the game of Baccarat looked like a combination of Black Jack and Poker. (In the last Bond flick they were playing Texas Hold-em)  Bond would play until he was face to face across the table from the Bad guy. The game would progress until the very last hand  where Bond would push all of his chips into the center of the table declaring, ”All In” to the gasps of the onlookers.   

     Jesus in Luke 14:25-27 sets out the conditions for becoming his Disciple. He says “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters, yes even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.”  I don’t know about you but that seems pretty harsh. I have to hate my family? I even have to hate myself?

     Jesus is asking us to bet it all. There cannot be anything that we have that is more important to us than he is. Not our families, not our Jobs, not anything. When we come to Christ it is an all or none proposition. He wants us to go “All In” not leaving anything off the table.  Anything that we leave out can come back to haunt us later keeping us from fully following Christ.

     The disciples left home and family. Some left in the middle of work, leaving their nets and boats behind. Others left lucrative businesses behind. All of them bet everything that they had to follow Jesus. When it came to my turn, I told him that I would follow; anywhere, anytime, and at any cost. But now the time has come for you to decide what you are willing to give up, what it is worth to you to follow Jesus. It’s time for you to decide, if you are going to go “all in” or Fold. Whether you are going to follow or fall away.    

Oopsie, Did I do that?

      Being a Father is still a new experience for me.  Having to deal with temperamental and often defiant children and not losing it has been a near exercise in futility.  I have said no and don’t do that more times than I can count, and that’s just today.  Yet, I got to tell you, I love my children.

      My relationship with my kids has been at times a fragile thing. This past week my son severely broke our relationship. Although I’ll reframe from giving details, the names have been changed to protect the guilty, but he cruelly hurt me.  I know, I can hear ya’ll saying, welcome to the club rookie.  This has happened in the past only to be forgotten and forgiven but this time was different. My wife confronted him with the fact and his response was a whiney and unapologetic”Sorry.”   He seemed put out that he was being confronted with what he had done. That anemic little “sorry” was supposed to fix the problem and restore the relationship, but it didn’t, not by a long shot.

     As is often the case, God uses parts of my life to teach me a lesson.  God has shown me that there have been times in my walk with Him that I have treated Him the same way my son treated me this week. I have from time to time broken the relationship that I have with Him.

      I got to admit that at times I have been a disobedient and willful child. When I have been confronted with this fact I have responded with my own whiney “Sorry.”  I thought that if I said I was sorry that that would solve the problem. The only problem was that I didn’t mean it. I did however expect for God to take that pathetic apology, forgive me and restore the relationship and get back to the business of blessing me.  I was often surprised to find that I did not hear from God during these times. My prayers would go unanswered.  Why didn’t He forgive me, after all, I said I was sorry?

     I had broken the relationship that I have with God. I grieved the Holy Spirit. All that I gave in return was a perfunctory “Sorry.” I did not even mean the words, and without true repentance it is impossible to repair the riff that was caused by my callous behavior. We should be broken over our breaches; it should hurt our hearts and cause us to seek to mend the relationship.    

Reaching Out

     Early in my ministry I was a member of the First Baptist Church single’s department mission team. Over a three year period our little team went to New York City and for a week during the summer we dedicated ourselves to introducing people to Jesus. (I know – “New York City!”…Get a Rope)  

     One year we did vacation bible school in Central Park, another year we handed out tracts and Gospel of Johns underneath the iconic Cyclone Roller Coaster on the boardwalk at Coney Island. God blessed us with being a part of a food drive in the heart of Brooklyn. Along with our host Church, the Brooklyn Tabernacle, we were a part of a Children’s ministry in the most dangerous park in the United States, Fort Green Park in Brooklyn. We saw many children come to know Christ and we got to love on some people that we may never have been exposed to in our life. 

     On these mission trips we were given down time that we could use anyway that we saw fit. During the down time we were able to do some sight-seeing. One morning I was rudely awaken from my sleep only to escort the woman of our group down to the set of the Today show to see if we could get on TV with Al Roaker. We ate incredibly good Pasta at Luna’s in Little Italy. We saw Derrick Jetter pitch in the now none existent iconic old Yankee stadium. We saw Les Miserable and Phantom of the Opera on Broadway. We shopped in FAO Swartz and Macy’s, and ate breakfast at Tiffany’s.   

     One of the greatest memories that I have is of a Fourth of July that we spent in New York. Most of the group wanted to stay at Central Baptist Ministries where we were staying but two of the women in the group and I decided that we wanted to go down to the Hudson River so that we could see the Macy’s Fireworks Display and if possibly hear Ray Charles sing the National Anthem. As we made our way down to the river we were joined by wave after wave of people who had the same idea that we had.  

     Somewhere under the FDR Bridge packed in the middle of thousands of people we waited for the fireworks. It was one of the most awesome experiences of my life. Just looking around me I saw almost every type of people you could see, people of every nation, color, background and age. I was standing next to a Methodist Pastor from the Midwest. The only thing that I could think was that this is what it is supposed to be like, this was America. For that one night we were all Americans. I was so proud to be an American; this was Mom and Apple pie.

    Two months later, high-jackers flew two planes into the twin towers and nothing will ever be the same. You do not know what it is like to look into a jagged pit and try to reconcile with your brain that a building should be there; that your brain insists has to be there, yet is no longer there. There is no going back.

     Genelle Guzmon was the last person to be pulled out of the rubble of the twin towers. Genelle was buried in that wreckage for twenty seven hours. The authorities had already come to the conclusion that anyone that was going to be found alive had already been found. No one could survive the devastation.

     The first responders had traveled over the area where Genelle was buried hundreds of time without knowing that she was there, never hearing her muffled cries for help. Trapped under the rubble Genelle prayed that she would be found. She prayed that God would give her another day and another chance. Genelle heard the voices of the responders and in desperation she thrust her fist forward hoping against hope that someone would find her. She did not know which direction that her hand was going or if anyone could see it but somehow it hit open air. A responder named Paul found her and grabbed her hand never letting go until Genelle was finally uncovered. Paul reassured her that he would not leave her. He never left her side until they took her to the hospital. He did not leave her side until he knew that she was safe.   

     I was blessed to be able to hear Gazelle’s story firsthand about a year after that fateful day in September. Genelle still walked with a limp and had to lean on the arm of her fiancé. The story of the twenty seven hours that she spent buried in the rubble of the twin towers will stay with me for the rest of my life.

     Day after day we live our lives. We travel, going back and forth over the same territory. We never know what we are missing in the course of our days. There are people who are buried under the rubble of their lives, covered in their desperation. There are people who are close to giving up.

     Christian has been charged with taking the words of salvation to a hurting and lost world. We are to find those who are desperate, those who have lost hope. We may be the one who finds them before it is too late.   We may be the ones to set the captives free with the love of Christ.     

Road Trip!

     Road trip! Every six months or so, I do a road trip. Over the hills and through the woods to grandmother’s house I go.  This usually entails hours and hours and miles after miles of interstate highways, State toll roads and the occasional road designated only by a number.

     The trip also entails listening to a little nag pestering me to go this way and that. Turn left, turn right, take the next exit, nag, nag, nag. Lucy is my traveling companion, she does not eat much, but she just refuses to shut up. Lucy has an English accent that does not make her droning any less annoying.    

     Lucy sits on the dashboard of the car in her 3 inch by 4 inch box. Lucy is the name that we gave to the car’s GPS. Lucy was the first English name that came to mind when we heard her voice. Lucy was named after the character Lucy Pevensie from the C. S. Lewis classic Narnia. Small, English and annoying, she had to be Lucy. Kind of like the little sister that I never wanted

     Although I have now taken this trip four times and could find my way through three states to get to my Grandmother’s house, I still rely on Lucy to get through some parts of the trip. She ticks off the miles and gives a turn by turn commentary of the trip. Even though we bring out Lucy on every one of our trips, we have, missed a turn or two which just causes her to say,” recalculating, recalculating.”  Lucy searches for a way to get us back on track and going in the right direction.

     Life is full of wrong turns. We turn left instead of turning right. What looks like the right path for our lives can turn out to be a dead end or worse we can find ourselves miles from the place that we wanted to be. We can get further and further from the right path. On our own we can get ourselves desperately lost.

     The good news is that we don’t have to go it alone. We have our own GPS that we can follow. For those who are willing to listen we have God’s Positioning System. God says in the book of John, “My Sheep know my voice and they follow me.” Through the pages of our bible, through our church services, and even through our prayers we can navigate through life by listening for God’s voice.

     Through the midst of the chaos and tumult of our busy lives we hear his turn by turn directions. But we don’t hear him in the whirlwind, we don’t hear him in the earthquake, but we can hear him in his still small voice. By listening for his voice, we can avoid the dead ends, one ways, and the wrong turns of life. We don’t have to worry about getting lost, but even if we do get off course, God’s word recalculates to get us back on the right path.       

Long row to hoe.

     I’m a city boy. I don’t like to be far from the creature comforts. The only things that grow around me are asphalt, glass, and steel. The only green of the city are the weeds pushing up between the cracks in the sidewalks. Eggs come in Styrofoam containers by the dozens and milk in sanitized cartons behind frosted glass doors.

     An hour drive in any direction and it is a different story. Buildings turn from skyscrapers to single level storefronts; multiplex malls turn into mercantile and feed stores. The speed of the city turns to a slower pace, and the inherent tension slowly disappears like a sigh.

     Drive out into the country and you’ll see a patchwork of farms. Each farm  neatly lined with cultivated rows ready for the spring planting. In some will grow corn, some will contain wheat, others a myriad of possible vegetables.

     This is a life style that is foreign to me. It is a life that, though it has its appeal, can never replace the home of the city boy.  After all, how can you return to the farm once you have seen Paris?

     Just because I’m a city boy does not mean that I’m beyond taking a lesson from the country side. Jesus often used the agrarian life as a setting for his parables when he taught his disciples. He taught about planting seeds, he called his followers to go into the fields that were already ready for the harvest, he talked of vineyards and warned of Gods threshing floor where the chaff would be removed from the wholesome wheat.

     One of the images that strike me is the image of the man who plows the fields. Jesus tells one of his potential followers in the book of Luke, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”  It is a lesson that all Christian should remember. 

     The man who plows the field does not look behind him while he is plowing. If he looked back the rows would meander all over the place. None of the rows would be straight. He only looks forward to the end of the row.

     In our walk we have to go forward as well. The past can only serve as a distraction from our walk with Christ. No matter if the things of our past are beneficial or not.   Those past things will get us off the path and take us into a different direction from the one that He, Christ wants us to follow.  

     The things of the past only serve as a distraction.  Everything that we did in the past, even those things that we got right, those things have to be set aside. It does not matter that you once taught Sunday school or that you had a wonderful prayer life it is what is happening now. Used-to-be’s  don’t  make honey. What you are doing now in your relationship with God is all that matters. We have to keep in mind that we have an end goal and Christ is at the end. Our goal is to become more like Jesus, to achieve Christ likeness. We can only do this by looking forward and by keeping our eyes on Jesus the author and finisher of our faith.     

 

Trust Me

     Have you ever had to go to one of those team building meetings that seem so popular these days with companies and organizations?  The whole bases for these meetings are to get your staff or organization to work together as a cohesive unit.

     Each of those meetings use various games, all geared to solve some problem; creating a stories out of random words drawn from a hat, building a structure out of straws, or drawing a picture from the instructions proffered by their team members.  One of the oldest of these games is a trust building exercise where one person falls backwards into the waiting arms of another person.  At least they hope that they will be caught.

     Building trust is essential in any relationship. In our spiritual life it is mandatory. Hard habits are hard to break. Especially here in Texas we are an independent breed. We hold the notion that we will be beholding to no man. We think that, “If it is to be, it is up to me.” We would not even trust one of our own family members to catch us in one of those exercises.  My family would yell, “Ole,” laughing as I crashed into the floor.

     We spend most of our lives making ourselves into our own personal god. It is extremely hard for us to “Let go and let God.” Most of us would say that I trust God to take care of XYZ, but I’ll take care of the rest. It does not even have to be on a conscience level. We can let God have every aspect of our lives and yet still find ourselves picking up things or worrying about things that are not ours to worry about.

      Jesus said follow me because my yoke is light. It is light because He is taking care of everything. Doing all the heavy lifting. The weary can have rest because He is carrying their burdens. It is all in His power not in ours. If it was up to us we would mess it up every time. Nothing says that we mistrust God like a joyless life filled with drudgery.

     Not too long ago I was blessed to perform the wedding of a dear friend. This was not my first Rodeo, not my first wedding. It was important that it go off without of a hitch. I have been preaching off and on since 2002 and I have always been a little nervous before a sermon.

     While preparing the sermon I trusted God to give me the right words. I trusted Him to give me the right passages to read from. I even trusted Him to run all aspects of the service.  Yet I was more nervous than I’ve ever been.  I almost forgot the sermon that I had spent hours memorizing. The rings got tangled in the strings of the pillow. I had to have one of the groomsmen untie it so that I could do the ring ceremony. 

     I was upset that the wedding had not come off the way that I had thought that it would. I was so disappointed. I had the perfect passages.  I had thought of everything that could go wrong and had minimized it. I had memorized the sermon and I had it down cold. All that I had to do was to preach the service.  Give me a half an hour and I could still do the service by memory today.

   And yet… and yet…  After the service I prayed. I asked God why things had gone wrong, why I was so nervous. The answer that God gave me stunned me. He said,” You did not Trust me.” “You trusted me in everything, but when it came to the sermon you did not trust me.” “When it came to the most important part, you did not trust me.”

     In the clutch I did not trust God to catch me. I figured that he would let me fall so I took things into my own hands. I tried to do it in my own power. I took out the “me” god, and put it at the center of my life. I should have seen the outcome before it even happened.  Trust is essential in any relationship. Our relationship with God is no different. It may take a while but we can cultivate a relationship built on trust. It does not even take toilet paper suits or crayon drawings suitable for framing on you fridge.