Hey everyone…

It’s been awhile since I’ve had time to blog.  Things have been really busy here since the fall.  The holidays were great.  We were able to spend a lot of time with family!  Following are some new pictures.  The first is the girls opening their first Christmas present on Christmas Eve.  Dad and I are next followed by a family shot of all five of us (rare to get us all on the same sofa!).   The last pic is (from left), Kenzie, my aunts Flossie and Rezzie, your truly, and Mom.  I got to go to mom’s family Christmas this year.  This was the first time we’ve been able to go since 2004!  It was great!

In other news, I now have a weekly column that appears in West Point’s Daily Times Leader Newspaper.  It is a great opportunity to get a positive, Bible-centered and Christ-exalting message into thousands of homes.  I’ll try to remember to post the articles when I write them.  Also, our weekly church bulletin is now available for download on oarchurch.com.  We are also in the middle of a 40 Days of Prayer program designed to encourage greater prayer and thoughtful reflection in 2009.  If you would like to participate, the daily devotionals and prayer guides are at www.40days2009.wordpress.com .  You can also download them from the oar church site.  We’re on day nine, but if you wanted to begin at day one, I’m sure it would be beneficial.

I’ll have more news later.

Mike

A new study released this week by The Barna Group reveals that different types of Christians want different things out of life. The survey, which was based on a random sample of 1,003 adults in May of this year, asked the participants to rate 19 possible outcomes in life in terms of personal desirability. The preferences were then analyzed according to 12 overlapping but distinct segments of Christians.

For example, Evangelical Christians, who are born-again and possess specific theological and social views, were the only group where a high percentage (90%) listed as many as six of the 19 future-life possibilities as being very desirable. The six outcomes this group chose were:
Having good physical health.
Having a close personal relationship with God.
Having a clear purpose for living.
Living with a high degree of integrity.
Having just one marriage partner for life.
Being deeply committed to the Christian faith.

The goals that were chosen by only 1 percent of Evangelicals were “achieving fame and recognition,” and “having a comfortable lifestyle.”

Other findings of the research:

Those who see themselves as Christian, but not born again, were less than half as likely to say that being active in a church or being deeply committed to the Christian faith were very desirable.
Protestants were twice as likely as Catholics to say that working in a high-paying job was highly desirable as a life goal.

By a margin of between 9 and 16 percent, Protestant Christians who attend a mainline church were less likely than non-mainline Christians to say that being personally active in a church, wanting a close personal relationship with God, or wanting to be deeply committed to the Christian faith were highly desirable.

I must confess…

I have been quite short-tempered recently. While in reality there is no excuse, perhaps mental and physical exhaustion coupled with a couple minor ailments (really just annoyances) have contributed to my recent explosiveness. For whatever reason, it doesn’t take much to set me off.

Today rudeness reared its ugly head yet again. The lady refused the documentation I gave her. “I can’t read that!” she snorted at me. I smiled (really it was more of a smarl — a tepid smile combined with the snarl of a hungry werewolf who slept through the last three full moons) and quietly said, “That’s funny. I dropped this same documentation off at two other locations and they had no problem reading it.” I produced another disingenious smile.

Then she did it. She threw her arms up in the air and said, “Well maybe they can, but I surely can’t.” I must admit, a snide remark about illiteracy and swahili crossed my mine but fortunately, it never passed my lips. My daughter, who was with me at the time, looked genuinely concerned for the welfare of the not too nice lady at this point. I averted my eyes and said quietly and as politely as I could feign, “I’m sorry you can’t read it. I’ll come back on another day and maybe we will have better luck then.” The lady threw her arms into the air again and said “WHATEVER!”

I walked quietly to the car. When I sat down, I looked into the passenger seat and said, “Honey, was I rude to that lady?” My daughter (using perhaps a greater judgment than normally exists in her 11 year old mind) said, “No, Daddy. You weren’t rude at all! But that woman… She was, she was… just AWFUL!” I smiled at her and we drove home and ate chocolate cake together. I always just love it when someone tells me exactly what I want to hear!

Later I was searching for some illustrations to use in some material I am preparing and came across this little story…

A little girl got home from Sunday school, where she had been taught the verse: “Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and give glory to our Father who is in heaven.” She asked her mother, when she repeated the verse, what it meant. Her mom said, “Well, it means that when you are good and kind and thoughtful and obedient, you are letting Christ’s light shine in your life before all who know you.”

The very next Sunday in Sunday school, the little girl got in a bit of a fracas with another student and created somewhat of an uproar–to such an extent that the Sunday school teacher had to go and find her mother to get her settled down a bit in the class. Her mother was concerned when she got to the classroom and said, “Sweetie, don’t you remember about letting your light shine for the Lord before men?” The girl blurted out, “Mom, I have blowed myself out.”

I really think I blow myself out sometimes. I’m just glad that I don’t have to be perfect to be my Father’s son. If perfection was required, I would be quite out of luck as my light is dim or flickering most of the time. However, I am learning. In times past, I would probably have returned the rudeness I experienced with more rudeness. I still can’t always answer softly, but I can walk away. Doesn’t 1 Corinthians 10 say something about a way of escape?

Alas, today is done and tomorrow is upon me — a new day. I’ll pray now and go to sleep. Rest well, World!

Note From The Preacherman:  Tony Snow served as White House Press Secretary for President Bush from 2006 – 2007.  When he discovered his cancer returned, he stepped down from his position for “financial” reasons.  He also served the first President Bush as a speech writer.  Tony died last Saturday and his funeral was today.  Some weeks ago, he wrote this column.  It is powerful.

‘Blessings arrive in unexpected packages, – in my case, cancer. Those of us with potentially fatal diseases – and there are millions in America today – find ourselves in the odd position of coping with our mortality while trying to fathom God’s will. Although it would be the height of presumption to declare with confidence ‘What It All Means,’ Scripture provides powerful hints and consolations.

The first is that we shouldn’t spend too much time trying to answer the ‘why’ questions: Why me? Why must people suffer? Why can’t someone else get sick? We can’t answer such things, and the questions themselves often are designed more to express our anguish than to solicit an answer.

I don’t know why I have cancer, and I don’t much care. It is what it is, a plain and indisputable fact. Yet even while staring into a mirror darkly, great and stunning truths begin to take shape. Our maladies define a cen ral feature of our existence: We are fallen. We are imperfect. Our bodies give out.

But despite this, – or because of it, – God offers the possibility of salvation and grace. We don’t know how the narrative of our lives will end, but we get to choose how to use the interval between now and the moment we meet our Creator face-to-face.

Second, we need to get past the anxiety. The mere thought of dying can send adrenaline flooding through your system. A dizzy, unfocused panic seizes you. Your heart thumps; your head swims. You think of nothingness and swoon. You fear partings; you worry about the impact on family and friends. You fidget and get nowhere.

To regain footing, remember that we were born not into death, but into life,- and that the journey continues after we have finished our days on this earth. We accept this on faith, but that faith is nourished by a conviction that stirs even within many non believing hearts – an intuition that the gift of life, once given, cannot be taken away. Those who have been stricken enjoy the special privilege of being able to fight with their might, main, and faith to live fully, richly, exuberantly – no matter how their days may be numbered.

Third, we can open our eyes and hearts. God relishes surprise. We want lives of simple, predictable ease,- smooth, even trails as far as the eye can see, – but God likes to go off-road. He provokes us with twists and turns. He places us in predicaments that seem to defy our endurance; and comprehension – and yet don’t. By His love and grace, we persevere. The challenges that make our hearts leap and stomachs churn invariably strengthen our faith and grant measures of wisdom and joy we would not experience otherwise.

‘You Have Been Called’.  Picture yourself in a hospital bed. The fog of anesthesia has begun to wear away. A doctor stands at your feet, a loved one holds your hand at the side.! ‘It’s cancer,’ the healer announces.

The natural reaction is to turn to God and ask him to serve as a cosmic Santa. ‘Dear God, make it all go away. Make everything simpler.’ But another voice whispers: ‘You have been called.’ Your quandary has drawn you closer to God, closer to those you love, closer to the issues that matter,- and has dragged into insignificance the banal concerns that occupy our ‘normal time.’

There’s another kind of response, although usually short-lived an inexplicable shudder of excitement, as if a clarifying moment of calamity has swept away everything trivial and tiny, and placed before us the challenge of important questions.

The moment you enter the Valley of the Shadow of Death, things change. You discover that Christianity is not something doughy, passive, pious, and soft. Faith may be the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. But it also draws you into a world shorn of fearful caution. The life of belief teems with thrills, boldness, danger, shocks, reversals, triumphs, and epiphanies. Think of Paul, traipsing through the known world and contemplating trips to what must have seemed the antipodes ( Spain ), shaking the dust from his sandals, worrying not about the morrow, but only about the moment.

There’s nothing wilder than a life of humble virtue, – for it is through selflessness and service that God wrings from our bodies and spirits the most we ever could give, the most we ever could offer, and the most we ever could do.

Finally, we can let love change everything. When Jesus was faced with the prospect of crucifixion, he grieved not for himself, but for us. He cried for Jerusalem before entering the holy city. From the Cross, he took on the cumulative burden of human sin and weakness, and begged for forgiveness on our behalf.

We get repeated chances to learn that life is not about us, that we acquire purpose and satisfaction by sharing in God’s love for others. Sickness gets us part way there. It reminds us of our limitations and dependence. But it also gives us a chance to serve the healthy. A minister friend of mine observes that people suffering grave afflictions often acquire the faith of two people, while loved ones accept the burden of two peoples’ worries and fears.

‘Learning How to Live’. Most of us have watched friends as they drifted toward God’s arms, not with resignation, but with peace and hope. In so doing, they have taught us not how to die, but how to live. They have emulated Christ by transmitting the power and authority of love.

I sat by my best friend’s bedside a few years ago as a wasting cancer took him away. He kept at his table a worn Bible and a 1928 edition of the Book of Common Prayer. A shattering grief disabled his family, many of his old friends, and at least one priest. Here was an humble and very good guy, someone who apologized when he winced with pain because he thought it made his guest! uncomf ortable. He retained his equanimity and good humor literally until his last conscious moment. ‘I’m going to try to beat [this cancer],’ he told me several months before he died. ‘But if I don’t, I’ll see you on the other side.’

His gift was to remind everyone around him that even though God doesn’t promise us tomorrow, he does promise us eternity, – filled with life and love we cannot comprehend, – and that one can in the throes of sickness point the rest of us toward timeless truths that will help us weather future storms.

Through such trials, God bids us to choose: Do we believe, or do we not? Will we be bold enough to love, daring enough to serve, humble enough to submit, and strong enough to acknowledge our limitations? Can we surrender our concern in things that don’t matter so that we might devote our remaining days to things that do?

When our faith flags, he throws reminders in our way. Think of the prayer warriors in our midst. They change things!, and those of us who have been on the receiving end of their petitions and intercessions know it. It is hard to describe, but there are times when suddenly the hairs on the back of your neck stand up, and you feel a surge of the Spirit. Somehow you just know: Others have chosen, when talking to the Author of all creation, to lift us up, – to speak of us!

This is love of a very special order. But so is the ability to sit back and appreciate the wonder of every created thing. The mere thought of death somehow makes every blessing vivid, every happiness more luminous and intense. We may not know how our contest with sickness will end, but we have felt the ineluctable touch of God.

What is man that Thou art mindful of him? We don’t know much, but we know this: No matter where we are, no matter what we do, no matter how bleak or frightening our prospects, each and every one of us who believe, each and every day, lies in the same safe and impregnable place, in the hollow of God’s hand.’       

Tony Snow

Blessed be your name
In the land that is plentiful
Where the streams of abundance flow
Blessed be your name

Blessed be your name
When I’m found in the desert place
Though I walk through the wilderness
Blessed be your name

Every blessing you pour out,
I turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord
Still I will say…
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be your glorious name

Blessed be your name
When the sun’s shining down on me
When the world’s all as it should be
Blessed be your name

Blessed be your name
On the road marked with suffering
Though there’s pain in the offering
Blessed be your name

Every blessing you pour out,
I turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord
Still I will say…
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be your glorious name

You give and take away
You give and take away
My heart will choose to say
Lord, Blessed be your name

I wish it were always easy to have that song on my heart, but it isn’t.  I can’t fathom the faith of Job who, after losing his children, properity, and health, sat in a heap of ashes scrathing his boils with a piece of broken pottery and said:  “The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away.  Blessed be the name of the Lord.”

We went with the youth group this evening to Monday Night Live.  Brother Hill gave a good lesson on Joseph, David, and Josiah and how they were able to change their world for God’s glory even in their youth.  The little church building in Eupora was filled.  I imagine the evening was a great encouragement to the congregation meeting there.  I was impressed by our kids — 14 went on the trip.  We had an excellent turn out!  I am so excited that Monday Night Live will be at our home church on July 28th.  It’s going to be great.

On Sunday, I am starting a new series called “Blessed Be Your Name.”  I started from scratch studying the attributes and characteristics of God.  I threw out my previous outlines and studies.  It is absolutely amazing how knowing God can change the way we live our lives — even the way we think — and the way we worship.  I can’t even begin to imagine how much more there is to understand about God.  Our feeble minds just can’t fathom it.  Knowing Him is loving Him — trite but true.  If you’re in the area, make sure to join us at 10:00AM for worship and these lessons.  I really feel led to speak on this unlike anything I have done in a long time.

We are leaving in the morning for Vivian / Texarkana.  It will be our second trip in a week to visit a sister who is in the hospital.  The Lord has answered our prayers and she is much improved.  When we left Texarkana last Wednesday, she was on a respirator and we didn’t know if she would live.  Now she is in a private room, talking, eating, and breathing on her own.  Only God could do this.  Glory!

We are finally unpacked at home except for a few things we probably would never miss.  The walls even have pictures!  From the first time we walked into this house, it felt like home.  And it still does.  Our new work is great!  I underestimated the difficulty in adjusting to a totally different way of doing things, but I am feeling more comfortable every passing day.  There was such a good spirit on Sunday.  Worship was awesome!  Scott and Kenny do an outstanding job as worship leaders.  I was wired on adrenaline when I left Sunday morning…  and when Sunday night came around, I was wiped out. 

Mac and Mary spent the night with us last Monday.  It was great seeing them.  It’s amazing how close you can become with some people.  We talked and laughed and maybe even cried a little together.  I miss them and everyone in Louisiana and Texas.  Our home is always open to you.

Enough rambling from me.  When you pray, make sure to stop and just say thank you for all God does in our lives.  As Dave Ramsey always says, we are definitely better than we deserve.  Blessed Be Your Name!

I always liked a good, depressing rock ballad.  Where are the groups like GnR today? 

My mind wanders… to the point at hand.

It’s been a long trip.  We are here, mostly unpacked, and trying to settle into new routines.  The house doesn’t seem as strange any more…. it’s starting to feel like home.  The girls like it a lot and that makes Dad very happy.

The move was mostly uneventful except for the last trip — the truck broke down, then the parking brake went out before we even crossed the Mississippi, and the AC quit.  It was quite the trip!

The church family here has taken us in an made us feel at home.  We’ve been in lots of homes and are participating in a lot of activities.  For those who witnessed the canoe trip to Broken Bow, the encore presentation was at Bear Creek.  This time, we decided we would be, ahem, smart and get kayaks instead of a canoe.  Oh boy!  I only flipped twice.  It’s embarrassing when your 11 year old daughter goes out for the first time in a kayak and doesn’t flip at all while mom and dad nearly drown.  LOL!  The folks were great — especially Ryan, Sheila, Scott, Wendy, and Rick…  all of the above were involved in the rescue operations.

I’m sure there will be many more stories to tell.  We really miss all the folks at Pine Street and are praying for you daily.  I hope Mac & Mary will be making a trip over soon… it will be good to see them.

~M

     John the Baptist met a terrible and tragic end when Herod served up John’s head on a platter to Herodias, Herod’s sister-in-law.  We might imagine the grief experienced by those who loved John.  The Bible records in Matthew 14:12 that “his disciples came, removed the corpse, buried it, and went and told Jesus.”  What they did was a natural thing for them to do, and millions have done likewise in the intervening years.  There are many good reasons to go to Jesus with our sorrows, burdens, and problems.  Let me suggest a few.

He Is Our Best Friend!

We sometimes sing “What A Friend We Have In Jesus” and rightly so.  Though surrounded by many earthly friends, we still will be harmed during the course of human existence.  However, there is a friend that is closer than a brother (see Proverbs 18:24) and that friend is Jesus.  Like John’s friends, we can go to Jesus with any care, concern, pain, or sorrow and He will be there to listen and relieve our pain.

He Cares For Us!

Becoming a Christian does not make all our problems magically disappear, but we are told that we should cast all our cares upon Him because He cares for us (1 Peter 5:7).  There may be times in life that we do not know who we can trust, but Jesus is always trustworthy.  Yet care-casting is a choice.  It means that we consciously decide to let Jesus carry the weight of our anxieties and fears.  We don’t like turning over responsibility for our problems.  We have been taught to be independent and self-reliant.  We may even enjoy worrying, but true freedom only comes when we realize that we are ever dependent on the One who cares for us.

He Is Compassionate!

Our pleas will never fall on deaf ears.  Jesus is compassionate and understanding.  He enters sympathetically into our joys and sorrows (Hebrews 4:15) and is always able, ready, and willing to help.  The shortest verse of the Bible simply states “Jesus wept (John 11:35).”  Even in knowing that He would raise Lazarus from the beyond, our Lord wept at the thought of being separated from His friend.  In His compassion, He weeps today when we turn away from Him rather than turning toward Him with all our cares and concerns.

The next time you encounter problems, why not stop and tell Jesus?  He is waiting!

“Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.  For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”  (Hebrews 12:1-3)

I once loved rollercoasters.  One April day, I rode what was then the largest coaster in the Southeast nine times.  It was great — or so I thought.  Later that evening, my head began to spin and my equilibrium was shot.  It took several days to recover.  Perhaps there are only so many twists, turns, loops, and camel-backs that a person can take. 

Sometimes life resembles a rollercoaster.  There are ups and downs, twists and turns.  Life often brings big changes — some are planned and others are not.  In times of turmoil and stress, when the ride is relentless we can’t just get off or refuse to ride.  We must go forward.  But what do we do when we do not know what is coming next?

I recently spoke with a great Christian man who just has a hard time understanding that Jesus existed from eternity.  It is hard to comprehend that He lived before He was born, but that’s the nature of faith.  Hebrews 12 says that He is the “Author and Perfecter” of faith.  When I don’t know when “the other shoe is going to drop,” I find great comfort in knowing that the one who authored the plan of salvation will stick around to perfect it in me.  He was there through it all — through the earliest days of humankind, the flood, and the Babel incident.  He strengthened Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph.  He forgave David when he erred with Uriah and Bathsheeba.  He enriched Solomon, comforted Jeremiah, and put flesh on Ezekiel’s dry bones.  He continues to do the same today.  In all of our days and in all of our ways, the promise of the great commission remains.  He will be there. 

When the relentless rollercoaster of life threatens to ruin your spiritual equilibrium, just look to Him in faith.  Consider His life, His death, His resurrection.  Learn from Him.  Spend time building a relationship with Him and you will not grow weary and lose heart. 

Jennifer Luffman, my sister, gave birth on Wednesday to Caleb Andrew Luffman.  He weighed 8 pounds, 6 ounces and was 20 inches long.  Say a prayer that the world will hold great things for the new arrival.

It’s been awhile since I visited my little corner of cyberspace.  In honor of the occasion, I decided a new look was in order.

There’s news to report.

I’m very proud of my oldest daughter.  She received an invitation from the Congressional Youth Leadership Council to attend the Presidential Inauguration in January, 2009.  In addition, she will attend an Inaugural Ball, meet several of the major candidates in the 2008 Presidential election, and receive a private tour of the capital building.  We hope to make this trip a reality for her. 

Beginning Sunday, March 30, 2008, I will be starting a new sermon series from the life of Christ.  The first message is entitled ”The Mind of the Forgotton Parent.” 

On Thursday, April 17, 2008, I will be speaking at the First Church of the Nazarene on North Pine Street at 7:00PM.  I was honored by their invitation to participate in this weeklong event designed to let people learn more about the different congregations in the area.  Garry Knighton from Church of Christ / North in Shreveport and Tim Alexander from Pine Street will be leading worship and it is my understanding that the service will be acapella.  This is a tremendous opportunity to reach out to those we may normally never encounter in our normal work.

On Saturday, April 19, 2008, Sister Timi Spock from El Dorado, Arkansas will be a special guest speaker at our annual Ladies’ Day event.  The day begins at 9:00AM.  Registration is free and lunch is provided. 

There are other major announcements coming soon, so check back often for the latest.