Who Are You Riding With?

May 3, 2012 1 Comment

The Lone Ranger and Tonto were out in the desert in Texas. 10,000 Indians attacked them from the north. The two fled south. 10,000 more Indians attacked them from the south. They fled east. 10,000 more attacked them from the east. They fled west. 10,000 more attacked them from the west. So there the two were with 40,000 Indians bearing down of them. The Lone Ranger looked at Tonto and said, “What are we going to do?” Tonto answered, “What do you mean we, white man?”

A few years back there was a hit country song entitled “You Find Out Who Your Friends Are.” It talked about instances such as you running your car into a ditch, needing a couch, or having your well go dry. That’s when you find out who your friends are. It reminds me of something I once read: A true friend is someone who will walk in your door when everybody else is walking out.

Along these same lines, one of the most valuable lessons that I’ve ever learned is this: The more you deal with people who like you for who you are, the happier you’ll be in life. This is a lesson that can be applied to so many circumstances. Allow me to name just three off a long, long list.

#1: If you are single, don’t waste your time and energy chasing someone you have to jump through hoops to impress. I don’t care how desirable the person is or how much you long for them. The hard cold truth is that no matter what you do you will probably never impress them anyway. And even if you do, you’ll have to keep up that standard of achievement as long as you are with them. As the old saying goes, “What you win them with is what you have to keep them with.” Remember that the highest ideal for love is unconditional love. Hold out for someone who loves you unconditionally for who you are.

#2: If you are looking for a job, try to find one where your boss appreciates what you bring to the table. Yes, I know that you don’t always have the luxury of being selective about where you work, but you get the idea. Holding down a job is hard enough without feeling like you have to prove yourself or earn your stripes every day. It’s maddening to work for someone who always seems to be looking for a reason to fire you or demote you.

#3: If you have a child who is involved in some kind of team sports, do your best to keep that child on teams where the child is a good fit. What I mean is, sometimes the team with the best winning percentage or the most successful coach isn’t right for your child. Does the coach share your standards of integrity? Does he or she share your goals for team sports? Can your child get along with the other players on the team? Can you get along with the other parents? Is your child’s talent level on par with the other members of the team? Again, I realize that sometimes you have no vote in the team your child lands on. All I’m saying is that whenever you do have some sway in this department, use it to get your child on a team where he or she will be truly appreciated and valued. That makes for such a better experience all the way around.

My point in all this is that life is hard enough without you adding unnecessary “hard” to the mix. I don’t know why the Lord led me to write on this subject this morning, but I’m guessing that someone reading this needed it. Are you that someone? Have you been knocking your brains out trying to impress or please someone you stand no chance of ever impressing or pleasing? Cut your losses and move on. Are you calling some people “friends” who wouldn’t lose one minute’s sleep if you vanished off the face of the earth tomorrow? Find yourself some new friends, some honest-to-goodness ones. Are you trying to “keep up with the Joneses” even though you can’t stand the Joneses and everything they represent? Ask yourself why you are doing that and stop it. As I said, the more you deal with people who like you for who you are, the happier you’ll be in life. It’s such a shame that so many of us spend our lives riding with Tontos who aren’t worthy of all the time, energy, effort, money, loyalty, etc. we pour into them.

Filed under Children, Choices, contentment, faithfulness, Friendship, God's Will, Parenting, Sports, Work Tagged with , , ,

A Personal Word This Monday

April 9, 2012 2 Comments

Well, I’m glad to be back with you today. Sorry for my infrequent posts lately. I had planned to do more blogging in the days leading up to Easter Sunday, but things just didn’t work out. One day I got involved in a home landscaping project that got a lot more complicated than I had estimated. Another day the high-school dismissed early because of a transformer blowout, an event that started enough dominoes falling in my life to thoroughly mess up the day I had planned. Then Ryan had a j.v. baseball game on Good Friday (don’t ask me why). The following day, Saturday, not only did I have a funeral to conduct but Ryan had an away game. On and on I could go, but you get the idea.

I’ve been told by others that I have a talent for writing. Therefore, I feel a responsibility to use that talent for the Lord. It’s tough, though, when that responsibility runs headlong into my other responsibilities, that of husband, father, pastor, etc. For one thing, there aren’t enough hours in the day to get everything done I’d like to get done. For another, at the age of 45, my energy level isn’t what it used to be.

I once heard an interview in which the great sportswriter Frank Deford talked about his process for writing. He said that he did his writing when he first got up in the morning because that’s the only time he had the energy. I said to myself, “I’m glad it’s not just me.” The problem is that some mornings start out wide open and never let off the gas!

If all I had to do was write blog posts, I’d churn them out at a prolific rate. If all I had to do was prepare sermons, I’d have a stockpile of them waiting to be preached. If all I had to do was church visitation, I’d be preaching to more people every Sunday. If all I had to do was work in the yard, my place would be the nicest on the block. If all I had to do was run Ryan and Royce around to their various ballgames and practices, we’d be there early every time. If all I had to do was help Tonya with the household chores and grocery shopping, I’d be a professional Mr. Mom. But when you throw all the balls into the air at once and have to juggle, that’s when things get hectic.

Please understand that I’m not complaining. I lead a blessed life and I know it. Also understand that I’m not claiming that my life is any busier than yours. Many of us are skimming atop life’s turbulent waves in the same speed-boat these days, aren’t we? All I’m doing is offering an explanation as to why I don’t post more blogs. The tinge of responsibility is certainly there. For that matter, when I’m at my best, the desire is even there. But when it comes to the time and energy, ah, there’s the rub.

In conclusion, let me say that I sincerely thank you for your readership. Don’t ever think that I take it lightly. Please keep checking in periodically or, better yet, click on “Sign Me Up” in the top-right corner of this page and become a subscriber. But whether you are a subscriber, a first-time visitor, or somewhere in between, just know that I appreciate you giving me a read. You keep reading and I’ll keep writing, that is as this busy life allows. :)

Filed under Children, Fatherhood, God's Work, Husbands, Marriage, Parenting, Personal, Talents Tagged with , , , ,

The Wonder of Being Childlike

March 26, 2012 Leave a comment

My son Ryan will turn fifteen in a couple of months. Naturally, then, he is acting less and less like the little boy I’ve watched grow up. Last Tuesday night, though, he took me back to a simpler time.

He is a freshman on his high-school j.v. baseball team, and they had an away game against Polk that night. So I made the hour-and-a-half drive to watch him play. The game ended in a 2-2 tie. The conference rule is, teams play six innings and then get one extra inning to decide a tie. If the score is still deadlocked after that seventh inning, that’s it, time to load up the buses and go home.

Ryan rode home with me and we stopped at a Burger King to grab a late supper. I ordered my usual Whopper with cheese and he ordered his usual chicken tenders. We sat down at the table and I got back up to fill my drink. When I returned I saw that Ryan was praying. I figured he was offering his typical “fast” prayer over his “fast” food. As I stood there, though, not wanting to interrupt him, I noticed that the prayer seemed a touch more lengthy and intense than usual.

Once the prayer was finished, I took my seat across from Ryan and just had to ask, “What were you praying?” Yes, that was nosy of me, but, hey, that’s how parents roll. Before Ryan answered, he gave a little grin as if he had been caught doing something off limits. Then he said, “I thanked God for the game. I thanked Him for the food. And I asked Him to have you let me get some dessert.”

You’d understand that request better if you knew how passionate the boy is over his desserts. It’s an ongoing issue with us that every time we walk into a restaurant he has to do a second round of ordering so that he can enjoy dessert while the rest of us are still finishing up our meal. There have also been plenty of occasions where I gave him the canned speech, “Son, isn’t it enough that I’ve spent $20 in gas to come to this game and then spent another $10 or $15 for us to eat afterward? Do you have to have another $3 for dessert too?”

By the way, before you label me as a heartless, miserly Scrooge, let me say that I almost always give in and let him have dessert. I have to admit that as I watch him wolf down those sweets I’ve never seen anybody enjoy anything more! And, yes, he got his ice cream-brownie-thing at Burger King that night too. I couldn’t refuse him after he melted my heart with such a sweet, simple, childlike request, one that he wasn’t even going to let me in on if I hadn’t asked.

But here’s the thing, that night, as I sat there eating my Whopper, I couldn’t help but think how wonderful it would be if we Christians could master the childlike faith of a boy asking God to lead his daddy to let him buy a dessert. What was it Jesus said?

Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 18:3-4)

The pure, innocent, guileless faith of a child, how much of it do you have? I confess that the longer I walk with the Lord the less I have of it. Things just seem to keep getting more complicated and convoluted between me and the Lord. How I’d love to get back to that simplistic walk I once enjoyed with Him.

Perhaps it will be that the greater toll the aging process takes on me and the less self-sufficient I become, the more my childlike faith will return to me. That’s what I suspect will happen anyway. Let’s face it, when you just can’t do for yourself, somebody else has to do for you, right? This is a concept that we instinctively understand as children, but we unlearn it when we become adults. Unfortunately, that unlearning hurts us in regards to looking to God to meet our needs and expecting Him to grant our requests. Ryan’s little prayer the other night reminded me of all this. Now we’ll see if I can reclaim some of the childlike characteristics I have lost along the way.

Filed under Aging, Children, Desires, faith, Fatherhood, God's Provision, needs, Personal, prayer, Prayer Requests, Trusting In God, Youth Tagged with , , , , ,

What Two Boys Can Teach Us About Christmas

December 19, 2011 1 Comment

One of my favorite Christmas illustrations is a true story that took place many years ago in Paines Hollow, New York. There was a thirteen-year-old boy who attended Mohawk Central School in that city. One year, at Christmastime, he heard an appeal for contributions to Santa Claus Anonymous, a group that provided gifts for poor children who would otherwise not receive any Christmas presents. The boy truly felt for the underprivileged children and desperately wanted to contribute some money to the cause. So he scrimped and saved wherever he could and managed to come up with fifteen cents to contribute. He figured that it wasn’t much but at least it was something.

But on the last day before school dismissed for Christmas vacation a blizzard buried the area in snow. The buses couldn’t run, which meant that the boy couldn’t get to school to put in his fifteen cents. Undeterred, he made the long walk through the deep snow to personally deliver the money to the school principal. As the principal graciously accepted the meager offering, he could barely hold back the tears in his eyes. You see, that boy was one of the impoverished children on the list to receive a Christmas present from Santa Claus Anonymous.

Last Thursday night our oldest son Ryan had a j.v. basketball game. Tonya and I went to the game, but we left our ten-year-old, Royce, with Tonya’s parents. When we got back, I went and picked up Royce. It wasn’t long before I learned that he had surprises for me, Tonya, and Ryan. He wouldn’t tell me what the surprises were. All I knew was that he had them hidden in a bag. I would have to wait until we got home for the big revealing.

Once we were home, Royce excitedly got us all gathered into the bedroom and began handing out the surprises. They were Christmas ornaments that he had gotten Tonya’s parents to buy when they had taken him to a store that night. Ryan got the ornament that looked like a fish because he loves fishing. Tonya got the one that said “World’s Greatest Mom.” I got the one that had the Bible on it because I am a preacher.

Were these ornaments expensive? No way. We’re not talking Hallmark collectibles here. Had Royce used his own money to pay for them? Not a chance. Grandpa and Grandma wouldn’t hear of him paying for anything! But were those ornaments wonderful? Absolutely. The fact that they came from our little boy’s giving heart made them priceless. I was so proud of him for somehow instinctively understanding something that most of us forget: It is better to give than to receive. By the way, if that sounds familiar, it’s a quote from Jesus. Go read Acts 20:35 for your Christmas homework and let its words keep you in the right spirit this holiday season.

Filed under Attitude, Children, Christmas, giving Tagged with , , , ,

A Little Bit Of Rambling From A Tired Parent

November 29, 2011 Leave a comment

It’s been a week since I last posted anything. The delay hasn’t been because I’ve run out of anything to say, but rather because I just haven’t had the time to sit down and write. Last week, of course, featured Thanksgiving day and Black Friday. That put the boys home from school, which doesn’t exactly help the writing process. We also had the big family meal at our house Thursday. Wednesday saw a lot of preparation for that and Friday saw a lot of recovering from it. I spent much of Saturday finishing up my Sunday morning sermon, and then yesterday featured a lot of errands topped off with Ryan’s j.v. basketball game.

I could say that it’s a busy time of year, but that would imply that there is one that isn’t busy. When you have two boys who each play three sports, you don’t get an off season. I sometimes find myself looking forward to the time when they’ll be out on their own. Then I have to remind myself that I should be savoring these days when we are all under one roof.

When I take a bird’s eye view of my life, the days of having the boys at home are a relatively small percentage of it. Since Ryan is three-and-a-half years older than Royce, let’s approximate those days at 25 years. Even that is giving both boys credit for checking in at home occasionally while they attend college. (And, yes, I do expect them to go to college.) So if I live to be 75 years old, 25 years would be one-third of my life.

But isn’t it funny how that one-third is intense enough to dwarf the remaining two-thirds? It kind of reminds me of what I said about our big family meal last Thursday. It takes you a while to prepare for it and it takes you a while to recover from it.

Please understand that the last thing I’m doing here is complaining about having kids. Truly, I’m in full agreement with Psalm 127:3-5, which says:

Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, The Fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, So are the children of one’s youth. Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them; They shall not be ashamed, But shall speak with their enemies in the gate.

I’m merely pointing out the obvious fact that the daily grind of raising kids can wear you down. For example, for Christmas to be a magical season for them, moms and dads have to make it happen. And there’s certainly nothing magical about shopping malls, traffic jams, and spending money, is there?

It’s interesting that those verses from Psalm 127 describe grown children as being both weapons and protectors for their father. The passage refers to them as arrows, which makes them weapons. But what does it mean that they “shall speak with their enemies in the gate”? Well, in Bible times they didn’t have courthouses, law offices, or register of deeds offices. A city’s legal transactions were conducted at its gates by the elders. Disputes were settled there as well. So speaking with an enemy in the gate would have amounted to representing your father in a legal dispute between your father and his enemy. That, you see, covers the idea of children playing the role of protectors.

I have to say that I like the sounds of all that. When I’m older I’ll no doubt need not only some weaponry but also some protection, and these will be two of my rewards for doing a good job at child-rearing. Until then, though, I’m still looking at a lot of work and expense. Are there joys and blessings along the way? Sure, far more than I could name. I mean, it’s not like everything about the task falls under the category of “grind.” And, furthermore, I fully understand that my responsibilities as a parent won’t end when the boys leave home. Trust me, I have no plans to abandon them when they get to be adults. I guess today I’m just feeling a little run down. I probably need a vacation. It would do me and Tonya some good to get away for a while. Then again, the last vacation we took we had Ryan and Royce right there with us in the van. Oh well, forget that.

Filed under Aging, Children, Christmas, Fatherhood, Parenting, Personal, Reward, Thanksgiving, Uncategorized, Work Tagged with , , , , ,

The Power of a Word of Praise

September 30, 2011 Leave a comment

Benjamin West was a famous British artist in the 1700s. He also served as the president of the prestigious Royal Academy of Arts. He was especially known for his paintings of historical scenes.

West first become aware of his artistic talents on a day when his mother had him babysit his younger sister Sally. While his mother was gone, he discovered some bottles of colored ink and attempted to keep Sally amused by painting her portrait. In doing so, he made quite a mess. When his mother returned he expected to be reprimanded. Instead she deliberately looked beyond the mess, picked up the rather crude painting, smiled, and said, “Why, it’s Sally!” From that point on, she became his greatest source of encouragement concerning his talent. He would often say, “My mother’s kiss made me an artist.”

We have no idea just how much influence we can have over the lives of others. A well-timed word of praise can go such a long way in building a person’s confidence. Likewise, an ill-timed word of criticism can go such a long way in destroying that confidence. The single greatest thing that my father ever said to me was, “I’ve seen all these ballplayers around here, and you can play with any of them.” To this day I remember how that one sentence made me feel. It made me feel like I was as good a ballplayer as anyone in our county. Maybe that wasn’t true, but that didn’t stop me from feeling it.

Jay Orr was my pastor when I felt God’s call to the ministry. I will always be indebted to Jay for helping me to yield to that call and fulfill my God appointed role in life. And there was one line from Jay that especially found a home in my heart. We were sitting in his car talking, and he looked me squarely in the eye and said, “Well, you’re preacher material.” The funny thing is that I’m sure that Jay doesn’t even remember saying that to me. But I certainly remember it.

So the purpose of this post is to get you to find someone today and brag on them a little. You don’t have to make a big deal out of it, and I definitely don’t want you to lie. But chances are that you’ll cross paths with someone today who you can sincerely praise for something. Perhaps it will be your child. Perhaps it will be someone who looks up to you. All I’m saying is, whoever it is, a budding artist, ballplayer, or preacher, you just never know the lifelong impact you might make.

Filed under Children, Communication, Encouragement, Fatherhood, Influence, Motherhood, Parenting, Personal, Sports, Youth Tagged with , , , , , ,

1,500 Sheep

September 19, 2011 Leave a comment

Not too many years ago the Associated Press ran a story that came out of Gavas, a town in eastern Turkey. According to the story, one sheep from a very large flock walked to the edge of a cliff and jumped to its death. A second sheep soon followed. Then a third. Then a fourth. Then a fifth. The A.P. report read:

“Stunned Turkish shepherds, who had left the herd to graze while they had breakfast, watched as nearly 1,500 others followed, each leaping off the same cliff.”

Incredibly, only 450 of the sheep died. The rest survived because their fall was cushioned by the bodies of the sheep that had jumped before them.

Here’s a typical parent-child conversation:

Jimmy: “Dad, can I take my skateboard and try a triple-spin reverse off the front porch?”

Dad: “No!”

Jimmy: “Why not? Tommy does it.”

Dad: “If Tommy jumped off a cliff, would you follow him?”

That comeback about jumping off a cliff really is the classic reason that parents use to keep a kid from caving in to peer pressure, isn’t it? It reminds me of the old “You’ll shoot your eye out” line from the movie A Christmas Story. Little Ralphie says, “That deadly phrase honored many times by hundreds of mothers was not surmountable by any means known to Kid-dom.”

Truth be told, though, parents have to warn their kids about jumping off cliffs because peer pressure is such a powerful force. In his book There’s A Sheep Born Every Second, David Kirkwood uses that A.P. story about those sheep and writes, “Imagine the peer pressure that last sheep must have felt. Surely 1,499 sheep can’t be wrong, can they?”

Since I’m currently raising a freshman and a 5th-grader myself, I feel that I can speak with some expertise on this subject. And apparently, if all the reports I’ve heard are true, there are some IDIOT parents running around out there. These parents lower the bar on standards, set bad precedents, create dangerous trends, and (in my humble opinion) should have their parenting licenses revoked.

So today’s post is a word of encouragement to all you parents who are still trying to hold the line. Keep up the good work. Don’t make the mistake of giving in to peer-pressure yourself, the pressure other parents put on you to let your kids: watch anything they want to watch, listen to anything they want to listen to, wear anything they want to wear, think anything they want to think, say anything they want to say, go anywhere they want to go, buy anything they want to buy, and do anything they want to do. Can 1,499 sheep be wrong? You’d better believe they can! And that’s why you can’t let your child be number 1,500.

Filed under Children, Choices, Courage, Desires, Dress and Appearance, Fatherhood, Motherhood, Parenting, Youth Tagged with , , , , , , ,

Tonya’s Birthday

September 14, 2011 5 Comments

Today is my wife Tonya’s birthday, and so I’d like to devote this post to her. I thought it would be fun to describe a typical day in her life, and since my day-to-day memory only lasts for about one day, I’ll describe yesterday. Here goes.

Just as she does every school morning, Tonya got up sometime around 5:45 a.m. I use the word “sometime” because it’s not like I woke up with her and got the official time. Once up, she had until 7:00 a.m. to: get herself ready, wake up our ten-year-old son Royce (he’s easy), wake up our fourteen-year-old son Ryan (he’s hard), make sure the boys got ready for school, fix a little breakfast, and get everyone loaded into our Dodge Caravan. She dropped Ryan off at Mitchell High School around 7:10, dropped Royce off at Gouge Elementary School around 7:20, and then reported for duty at Bowman Middle School to spend her day teaching math to 7th and 8th graders who typically don’t care about learning it.

The general idea is that her day at Bowman ends at 3:00 p.m., but that’s laughable. It’s always an after-school meeting, some work she’s got to finish, or something. Usually she doesn’t leave Bowman until after 3:30, and many days it’s not until after 4:00. Yesterday she must have left around 3:30 because she got home around 3:45. When she gets home in the afternoon, she has Royce with her because he rides a bus from Gouge to Bowman and stays in her classroom until she’s ready to leave. He’s supposed to do his homework during that time, but don’t get me started on that.

Anyway, yesterday I think that Tonya’s first words to me when she got home were, “I’ve got to be back at Bowman no later than 5:15.” I didn’t even bat an eye at that comment because I knew the deal. Every teacher at Bowman Middle School has to sign up to work three of Bowman’s home football games. Over the years, Tonya has done everything from collecting money at the gate to working in the concession stand. But, believe it or not, her favorite job is being a member of “the chain gang.” For those of you who don’t know football, “the chain gang” are the people who stand on the sidelines and handle the chains that are used to determine whether or not a team got the necessary ten yards for a first down. It’s usually men who work those chains, but for some odd reason Tonya likes doing it. I guess she likes the action of being down on the field.

“And where is her husband while all this is going on?,” you ask. Oh, he’s busy too. First, I had to get Royce to his 5th-6th grade football practice at 5:30. I’m an assistant to the assistant coach’s assistant for that team. Second, I had to leave that practice and go pick Ryan up from his j.v. football practice at 6:00. Third, since Ryan wanted to catch the last part of the Bowman game, I had to drop him off there on my way back to Royce’s practice. While at Bowman, I walked up on the field and briefly spoke to Tonya as she worked the chains. Since I hadn’t any supper, I was thrilled when she offered me half a bag of popcorn and half a Pepsi. I thoroughly enjoyed both as I drove over to Royce’s practice.

That practice lasted until 7:30, but Tonya and Ryan showed up to it around 7:15. Bowman’s game had ended (they beat Avery 30-6, had to get that in), and now the question of supper had to be officially addressed because Ryan was gnawing the dash of the van. The classic McDonalds option was tossed around, but I just wasn’t in the mood for another Big Mac. So we decided that the best plan was for Tonya and Ryan to go to the grocery store. We needed some stuff for the house anyway. They were still at the store when Royce’s practice finished up, and so I called her and told her to buy a frozen pizza for me and him. Ryan ended up going with some frozen Chinese dish that he later regretted. As usual once she’s in a grocery store, Tonya thought of plenty of other things that we needed. All told, the bill ended up being over $60. We’d have gotten out a lot cheaper at McDonalds. And what did Tonya have for supper? She fixed herself some popcorn. Yes, the woman loves her popcorn.

Well, by the time everyone had finished their supper it was after 9:00. Brilliantly, I had made Royce take his bath while we’d been waiting for Tonya and Ryan to get home from the store. So he was almost ready for bed. At least that’s what I thought. But along about 9:30 I heard Tonya reading to him as she helped him finish up his homework. I thought to myself, “Okay, once she’s finished with that she’ll go to bed herself.” That’s not what happened, though. At 9:45 she walked into the dining room and told Ryan to get in there. It was time to put the finishing touches on his miniature bust of the Roman emperor Constantine. (Honestly, you can’t make this stuff up.)

For one of his classes, Ryan has been working on a report on Constantine. As part of the assignment, he had to create a small bust of the man. Well, I was willing to help him sort through the high points of the emperor’s life, but you might as well ask me to build a space shuttle as create a bust. My best attempt would no doubt have involved the purchasing of a Mister Potato Head kit.

Ah, but Tonya does have a touch of that arts and crafts thing about her, and she stepped up to the plate and helped Ryan out. So there they were, at a few minutes past 10:00, sitting at our dining room table, painting the finishing touches onto the great Constantine. By the way, those are the types of things for which we use our dining room table. For us to actually eat off it, it would have to be excavated, cleared, and thoroughly cleaned. Such is family life in this modern world.

Well, with Constantine formally finished up around 10:15, Tonya was finally allowed to brush her teeth and literally drop into bed. For the record, I’ve never met anyone in my life who falls asleep as quickly as she does. Being a night owl myself, I have no idea why she can’t sit up late with me. Just kidding, of course. Seriously, I have no idea how the woman does all that she does. All I know is that she was back at it again at 5:45 this morning.

I’ll close now with some verses that are highly relevant to all this:

1. And the Lord God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.” (Genesis 2:18)

2. He who finds a wife finds a good thing, and obtains favor from the Lord. (Proverbs 18:22)

3. Who can find a virtuous wife? For her worth is far above rubies. (Proverbs 31:10)

Tonya will no doubt get a kick out of me citing anything from Proverbs 31:10-31. Every time I have a congregation turn to that text, she just groans and thinks, “It’s impossible to live up to the standard that passage describes.” Well, honey, I don’t tell you this enough, but don’t ever doubt that you do live up to it each and every day. Also know that I love you and I’m going to take you out to eat tonight. Of course, we’ll have to take the boys. I promise you, though, that we’ll do a little better than McDonalds. And, hopefully, I’ll be able to give you the one gift that I know you crave the most: being in bed and fast asleep by 9:30. Happy birthday!

Filed under Children, Doing Good, Husbands, Marriage, Parenting, Personal, Service, Sports, Wives, Work Tagged with , , , , ,

Is the Story of Jonah True?

August 10, 2011 Leave a comment

A little girl got saved during the local church’s summer Bible School. Unfortunately, though, her parents didn’t share her new-found faith in Jesus. They refused to take her to church or even buy her a Bible. So each Sunday morning she walked herself to church, carrying the oversized family Bible under her arm.

As it so happened, her route to church took her past the home of an atheist professor who taught at a university. As he watched the precocious little girl make her way to church each Sunday, he couldn’t help but be touched by her. But in his way of thinking he felt sorry for her because she had bought into all of the nonsense of the Bible and Christianity.

Finally his interest in the girl became too much for him to keep bottled up, and so one bright Sunday morning he went out to meet her and enlighten her. He politely stopped her and said, “Little girl, you don’t really believe that book you are carrying, do you?” She answered, “Yes, I do.” “You mean you believe that story about Jonah living in the belly of a whale?” “Yes, I do.” The professor continued, “But how could Jonah do that?” “I don’t know,” said the girl, “but when I get to heaven I’ll ask him.” To that the professor said, “Oh, but what if Jonah isn’t in heaven?” The little girl thought for a second and said, “Well then you can ask him.”

In my study I have several excellent commentaries on the book of Jonah, commentaries written by conservative Bible-teachers such as James Montgomery Boice, J. Vernon McGee, and Henry Morris. Concerning Jonah being swallowed by the “whale,” these commentators make two main points. First, it would have been simple for the God who created all of creation and performs miracles as simply as you and I breathe to have had Jonah swallowed whole and kept alive. Second, even if we take the miraculous out of play, the whole story is even possible on a naturalistic level.

The Hebrew term that is used to describe the monster is gadol dag, which can generically refer to any kind of large sea creature. For one thing, the creature in question really could have been some kind of whale. For example, the sulphur-bottom whale can reach a size of over one-hundred feet and have a mouth as wide as twelve feet. This whale has multiple compartments in its stomach, any one of which could provide more than ample room for a man to live. The head of the whale can be seven feet high, seven feet wide, and fourteen feet long, and it actually serves as an air storage chamber. Also, this whale has no teeth. It feeds by swimming along with its mouth open, straining out the water, and then swallowing whatever is left.

A sperm whale is another candidate for the creature that swallowed Jonah. Its mouth can be twenty feet long, fifteen feet high, and nine feet wide. According to one well- documented account, in February of 1891 a sailor named James Bartley was lost at sea during an attempt to harpoon a sperm whale in the Falkland Islands region. A short time later the whale was killed and drawn to the side of the ship. There it was worked up and its blubber removed. The following day the stomach was hoisted on deck. When the stomach was opened, Bartley was found unconscious, but alive, inside. He was revived and not long afterward resumed his duties aboard the ship.

Then again, the one that got Jonah didn’t have to be a whale at all. A whale shark, for example, could have fit the bill. In the early 1920s the Literary Digest ran the account of an English sailor who was swallowed by a whale shark in the English Channel. Two days later, the creature was spotted again and killed. When it was cut open, the sailors found the man unconscious but alive. He was rushed to the hospital, only to be discharged a few hours later after being found to be physically fit. In 1926, Dr. Harry Rimmer, the President of the Research Science Bureau of Los Angeles, met the man. Rimmer described his physical appearance as odd. The man was devoid of hair and patches of his skin were covered in a yellowish-brown color.

You see, those who attempt to criticize or explain away the story of Jonah do so at their own peril. The God of the miraculous is certainly not on their debate team. Neither are the historical reports of “Jonahs” from more modern times.

And then, of course, there is the one piece of evidence that should settle all doubt about the matter for the Christian. “What is that piece of evidence?” you ask. It’s the fact that Jesus Himself made a point of putting His stamp of approval on the story of Jonah when He said:

For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish (the classic King James translation goes with the translation of “whale” instead of “fish”, but “fish” is more accurate), so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. (Matthew 12:40, N.K.J.V.)

Filed under Belief, Bible Study, Children, God's Word, Heaven, hell, Scripture, The Bible Tagged with , , , , , , , ,

A True Masterpiece

June 13, 2011 Leave a comment

An artist visited a museum where one of his masterpieces was on exhibit. As he approached the painting he noticed that the museum had placed one of his earlier, lesser known works beside the masterpiece. He stood there comparing both paintings and began to feel sad. Just then someone recognized him and said to him, “You should be pleased because of the progress you have made.” But the artist didn’t share that opinion. He just smiled somewhat sadly and said, “It grieves me that I realized so little of the promise I showed in my youth.”

Truth be told, many Christians would have to say the same thing about their Christian growth. They showed such promise when they were young! They went to church. They studied the Bible. They prayed. They gave. They witnessed. They lived lives of holiness. But then they got older and ran into some trouble.

When conflict within the church caused them to become disillusioned, they stopped attending. When differing interpretations made studying the Bible harder, they gave up on it. When their prayers weren’t answered to their satisfaction, they quit praying. When their financial situation took a downturn, they eliminated their giving. When they saw no fruit from their witnessing, they hushed. When God didn’t seem to reward the life of holiness, they turned to worldly pursuits and pleasures.

Christian friend, do you find yourself anywhere in this description? If you do, I urge you to find your way back to the fellowship you once had with God. And, please, work on the fellowship before you start working on the service. If you can get the fellowship where it needs to be, the service will inevitably flow, but if the fellowship isn’t there the service will seem like drudgery. Try to rediscover that simple, childlike faith that you once had, a faith that was sincerely shown even in a rhyming prayer: “God is great, God is good. Let us thank Him for our food. By His hands we all are fed. Thank you, Lord, for daily bread. Amen.”

Consider Matthew 18:1-4:

At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” Then Jesus called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them, and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”

Isn’t it fascinating that Jesus said that we must “become as little children” AFTER we are “converted”? Why would He say such a thing? He said it because He knew that we are prone to become more hardened, cynical, and doubtful as we age. The adult life has a way of knocking the childlike faith out of us, and even authentic Christian conversion doesn’t eliminate that tendency. That’s why we adults must become again “as little children.” Is that a tall order? You’d better believe it. But is it one worth meeting? Absolutely, because when we meet it that creates a true masterpiece.

Filed under Adversity, Attitude, Backsliding, Bible Study, Children, Choices, Disappointment, Evangelism, faith, giving, God's Work, perseverance, Personal Holiness, prayer, Problems, salvation, The Bible, trials, Trusting In God, Witnessing, Youth Tagged with , , ,

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