Raising the Roof

There comes a time when you just have to make the call.

You can’t avoid the tough decision. You grimace and bite the bullet. Something has to go. Something has to stop. Something has to change. Something has to give. You got to draw the line, tighten up and hunker down. So much for ease!

It’s never a good thing to run out of money. Being short on cash can make your spending options pretty simple...unless your Credit Score (almost as an important a number as your ACT or SAT) will qualify you for the Platinum Card at Bank One. Then you can ‘charge it’ and run up a debt load via EBay or taking a vacation with Eskimos. If the load gets too heavy…ask your Creditor to raise your credit limit. Now, there’s a solution!

Maybe you heard about the guy who said that he loved his kids too much to leave them anything that might cause a sibling squabble when he departed from this life. To eliminate the infighting, he intended to leave them his indebtedness, instead. He felt that it would be the ‘gift that would keep on giving’. Actually, the guy was a comedian that I heard on Sirius. At first I thought he was a financial analyst for Bloomberg Radio.

Sad is the day when the politico is debating how much MORE to raise the national debt ceiling. The National Debt Clock says that each day our nation plunges 3.82 BILLION more dollars into debt. Us Baby Boomers may be able to dodge some of the crushing impact of the 14.3 TRILLON of existing US debt, but what about our kids and their kids? The Millennial Generation (born between 1980-2000) is about to get the hammer. One thing that the Boomer Generation owes big time to the Millennial Generation is an apology!

You might be surprised to learn that the Bible has quite a bit to say about money. It’s not bad counsel either. The fact is that God cares about our take, our attitude and our use of money. He loves us too much for our households to be turned upside down with debt. “The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender” (Proverbs 22:7). God is always more gracious than mortgage companies.

I am not a politician. I am a just a married guy with grown kids with a couple of grandsons who happens to be a Christian and a pastor. I have made my share of financial blunders in the past, and have regretted every one of them. I have witnessed marriages busting wide open because of an unnecessary family debt crisis. I have counseled my children and my churches to be grateful and wise stewards of their finances through the years, and to experience the freedom and the joy of knowing and loving God more than ‘mammon’ (Matthew 6:24).

Before we raise the debt ceiling, let’s raise the roof with prayer and intercession for our duly elected decision makers. These are critical days of making the tough call, getting it right and dealing with the yoke of our national debt.

Looks to me that we may need to revisit that currency motto imprinted on our coins and dollars; “In God We Trust”.

Battery Charge

I am power dependent.

The wife and I were so stoked about navigating the river for our extra day weekend, only to discover that our boat battery was dead just moments before our attempted launch from Ellis Landing. 

A bummer but we were not bummed out.  We have a charger at the house!  We could charge our dead battery and be on the water in a couple of hours…  that was our thinking, anyway.  Just so you know, an Interstate Marine Battery usually need several hours to fully charge from a 5 volt slow charge.  Most boaters probably already know that.  New lesson for Team Weber, though.

We finally dropped in a bit late and ready to fish the banks of the river.  As is our custom, we use the current and our trolling motor to navigate the boundaries of the picturesque Alabama waterway.  Great plan, except for one thing…our trolling motor battery was dying!  There was no possible way that I could position the boat for my angler spouse to catch the big one.  After that, I WAS bummed out.

I had what I needed for both batteries to be fully charged, but had gotten used to launching out without first charging up.

You know what I’m talking about.  You’ve been drained, too.  You’ve been running on empty.  You know what it’s like to keep charging on without being charged up.  It’s an uncanny presumption that we sometimes fall prey to, the notion that more to do will rev us up when actually we are woefully left on empty.  Someone, somewhere said it best; “You can’t sail today’s ship on yesterday’s wind.” 

“Live full lives, full in the fullness of God.”  Ephesians 3:19

This is just one power-packed segment of the Apostle Paul’s prayer request for his friends in Christ.  If there is one thing that Redeemer God is all about, it’s being the power supply for those whose energy packs have been exhausted.  Where do you go when you need some voltage in your amp?  The Heavenly Father’s supply is all you really need.  You may need more than a brief charge, so take the time to power up properly before you launch out on your day today.

While you’re plugging up the power supply to your Kindle, GPS, cell phone and laptop, pay attention to your spirit first.  Running low can cost you more than a morning boat trip on the last day of your holiday weekend.   

It’s all gone

Can you imagine losing your husband, wife, or children?  If your home and all its memories and contents were literally blown away, how could you even function, much less consider recovering or rebuilding?

The city of Phil Campbell, Alabama was just about blown off the map in Franklin County when the tornadoes came raging through on April 27^th.    Death and damage rocked this rural community as well as neighboring Hackelburg, just a bit to the west, but also in direct line of the storm path.

Pastor Sammy Taylor of Phil Campbell’s Mountain View Baptist Church and I became friends just yesterday.  Because of relationship connections that extend from Camden to Phil Campbell shared by our church families, I wanted to speak to the pastor that I had read about to offer encouragement, intercessions and the assistance of the good folk here in the Camden Baptist Church.   

Pastor Sammy and I became fast friends. 

He told me of the 16 families within his church whose homes had been totally destroyed.  He mentioned to me the 3 fatalities of those who were members of the Mountain View Baptist Church.  He told me of the sad fact of 12 precious lives that perished just across where the MVBC gathers to worship.  His heart was understandably saddened.  My heart was overwhelmingly stunned to hear first-hand of such calamity.

The building that houses the Mt. View family is gone as well.  Pastor Sammy has answered the pastoral call for 33 years at MVBC and the Phil Campbell community, and he is not backing away from the greatest challenge and calling of his life and ministry now that the damage is done.  In the midst of the wreckage, Pastor Sammy sees hope.

Camden Baptist Church will respond in a direct partnership with Sammy and the Mountain View Church now that the recovery process has begun and is progressing.  Next Tuesday, I and members of the CBC Mission Action Team will meet Pastor Sammy personally.  We will take with us a trailer of items that he specifically mentioned are urgently needed.  We will begin to develop an action plan that will assist our brothers and sisters in Christ and express the grace of Christ in the midst of such painful loss.

I am asking all CBC family and friends to rise to the challenge of living beyond ourselves once again.  Pray for Pastor Sammy and the Mountain View Church Family.  Assist by the contributions that you can make both financially and through provisions that are being asked for through the ITEM LIST that has been posted on our website. 

“It’s all gone.”  We cannot replace what has been lost, but we can express the heart of our Loving God and Redeeming Lord in the days, weeks and months to come to our new friends in Phil Campbell.  ‘Faith without deeds is dead’ says the Word.  At CBC, we will put shoe leather to our faith once again…this time in Franklin County, Alabama.

Perspective

"There is a time to be born and a time to die."  Ecclesiastes 3:2

 Sorrow.  Joy.  Sorrow.  Joy to come.

On one morning I am speaking tribute to Mary Dunning, my mother-in-law, whose body is about to be laid to rest while her spirit has already been united with Christ.  The very next day, I rejoice in the safe arrival of grandson, Jake Robert, who is waiting to meet his grandmother and I within days of his great grandmother's funeral and burial.  A mother rejoices.  A daughter grieves.  "There is a time..."

While enjoying Jake Robert in St. Louis, I receive word of a tragic loss of an adult son as his shocked parents begin to navigate through their heartbreak.  As I pat newborn Jake on his back, I cannot but imagine the thoughts of these two precious parents, re-tracing their history of loving their dear son for these many, but all too brief years.  I hold Jake close to my heart and without so much as a word exchanged, I love this new Weber even more.  Time is too short...I have to read to Gavin, (my 2 year old grandson, Jake's brother) before the wife and I make our journey back to Alabama from Missouri in just a few days.

There is a lot to be said about life.  It is precious.  It is fleeting.  It is confounding and confusing.  Life is fun, but it sure can be tough.  If I bank everything on THIS life, then I will be overcome with sorrow.  If I mix eternity in, then I gain perspective on this life while I anticipate the life to come...without fear, and one day free, completely, absolutely free from the grip of sorrow.  Maybe that is what the Apostle meant when he said; "For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain."  (Philippians 1:21). 

I do not see how anyone can really live apart from God.  Life is too demanding, complex, unfair, and confusing for that, to me, anyway.  Life is too startling, amazing, awe-inducing and complex to ignore the obvious ingenuity of Majestic God.  I can't help but to be drawn to Him for these reasons and myriads of others for that matter. 

Thank you, Father for creating Mary Dunning.  I will miss her until I am reunited with her.  Thank you for creating Jake Robert.  I will try to make every opportunity I have with him count., and to point Him toward You with my attitude, actions and words. Thank you for the joy You promise to those who know you.  I am banking on this pledge from you today...and probably tomorrow too;

"Weeping may last for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning."  Psalm 30:5

Thanks Ben!

Daylight Saving Time (DST) was the brainchild of Benjamin Franklin. NOT!

Although he coined the phrase, 'Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise,' Ben's proverb became a legal proposition of New Zealand's George Hudson in the late 19th Century.  The addition of an extra hour of daylight would give George the chance to trap more pests...he was an avid insect collector.  OK...


In 1918, the United States adopted DST (scheduled for the second Saturday in March each year) so that all of us could catch more insects...or play more golf, or enjoy more jet skiing...or read more books on the porch, (can you believe that some folk would actually choose that with extra daylight?).  In other words, more time to play, goof, vacation, enjoy, stay out, grill, and drive convertibles.  You could even use DST to dodge the draft!  Check out this story;

Draft Status, Vietnam War

A man, born just after 12:00 a.m. DST, circumvented the Vietnam War draft by using a daylight saving time loophole. When drafted, he argued that standard time, not DST, was the official time for recording births in his state of Delaware in the year of his birth. Thus, under official standard time he was actually born on the previous day--and that day had a much higher draft lottery number, allowing him to avoid the draft.

Hard to believe that DST and be so abused.  Even in the light, folk have a dark side.  You just can't say that about the God of the Bible though.

Light is a good thing.  Plants need light to grow.  Your body needs sunlight to be healthy, actually.  In the Bible, 'light' is a repeated description of the unmistakable character of God himself;

"God is light, pure light; there's not a trace of darkness in Him." (1 John 1:5).

There is a purity in light.  There is nothing shaded or hidden in the character and the Person of the God of the Bible.  He wants to disclose Himself to you in a very personal way.  No matter what you may think about God, He is not one to keep Himself a secret.  He longs for you to know Him and to experience the joy of His amazing grace.  

I encourage you to walk in the light as He is in the light.  Start by picking up a Bible and reading 1 John chapter 1, (it's near the back of your Bible, in what is called 'The New Testament').  You don't have to run from Him, or hide from Him.  You can go DST right now!  Don't wait until Saturday is my suggestion.

AWESTRUCK

“Awe”:  What you feel when God shows up.

There are some things that catch my attention.  High definition graphics, the aroma of ribs roasting on the grill, a brilliant red sky at dusk for starters.  A truth realized is a bit more gripping as it penetrates deeper into my core being.  A conversation or a melody can strike me in a way that makes me think seriously about my life while eliciting emotions and responses that sometimes surprise me. 

It’s different when God shows up.  Much different.  In the Bible, the word for that kind of uniqueness is ‘holy’.

When God shows up, my attention is not simply caught, it is captured.  A holy moment transforms me and I cannot and should not ever be the same.

This past Sunday, I felt ‘awe’.  I was not the only one.  God showed up as His people worshiped Him and transformation was the result.  Lives were changed and forever marked.  His grace abounded and His people poured out their hearts to Him in obedience and gratitude.  I was just one of the many who stood in awe of His greatness.  We were living in  the midst of a holy moment.

His church at Camden experienced an Acts 2 moment on Sunday, February 27th.
“Everyone around was in awe.” (v. 43)

I think this is the beginning of something very holy.  It’s ‘awe-some’