What are You Kicking?

This chicken is hilarious! I saw this at the same time I was meditating on something strange that a man of God said to Eli the Priest in 1 Samuel 2:29:

Why do you kick against my sacrifice and my offering which I have commanded in my dwelling, and honor your sons above Me, by making yourselves fat with the choicest of every offering of My people Israel?

It seems that God wants His people to honor Him above all else. Eli thought he was honoring God by being Priest, but because he was allowing his sons Hophni and Phineas to profane the office of Priest, God said he was honoring them and not Him. In fact, Eli was even getting fat from the behavior of his sons.
We may think we are honoring God by going to church and sometimes reading our Bible, sometimes praying, sometimes giving money, but what really makes us fat? What really do we desire in our lives?

If we fudge at giving God everything, if we ignore His Word, ignore His commands, we are really "Kicking" at the things of God. We are "kicking" at the wrong goal. To paraphrase the commercial: "our kick is not right."

As we begin a new year, we need to determine what and who we will honor in 2008. We need to get our kick right. The young boy Samuel is our example of one who got his "kick" right. 1 Samuel 3:19 says the Samuel let none of God's words fall to the ground. For the Lord revealed Himself ...by the word of the Lord. Clearly Samuel was a young man who honored God.

May 2008 be a year in which we chose and commit to honoring God with everything we are and have. We want to have that kick that propels us to God's finish line. We want to Kick the Winning Field Goal.

Mattress Sliding

I definitely think this should be an Olympic Sport. It certainly is fun! Gracie was afraid at first, but soon discovered how much fun it is. She did not want to stop. We were giving these mattresses to Tonya, along with the day bed, and an impromptu sport was born. I was even able to do it! Perhaps one cold snowing evening you too can discover the joys of Mattress Sliding! You are never too old!

Look What You Started

I remember her very clearly. It was a beautiful sunny afternoon in September. As President of the Senior Class it was my duty to host an outdoor reception for the incoming freshmen students. There we were in the circle drive at Baptist Bible College, students all around me, when a sweet smiling, long brown-haired gal caught my eye. I casually went up and introduced myself, and from then on it was only a matter of time. My heart had been captured by her grace and sweet spirit. New Years day found me in Houston, proposing to her at a Steak and Ale. By May 18, 1974 we were married.

Our kids and grand-kids were going to surprise us with a photo of everyone for Christmas. Ben and his family as well as Andy were flying in from DC/Baltimore, and ran into flight delays. The surprise was ruined, and we had to be included in their plans. That is how we came to be a part of the huge family portrait.
From that meeting in September, we now have a family of six children, four spouses and seven grandchildren.

Hopefully, this is just the beginning...

My New Job - Santa

I never thought I would become a Santa Claus. Our church adopted nine children this Christmas, and I thought it would be fun to dress like Santa when we delivered the presents. Due to an accident on a Segway, The Mays and the Baileys and the Johnson had not been able to get their picture with Santa, so they asked if I could stop by. I did, and my new career was born. Here's Ty, cousin Shelby, aunt Beth, granma Georgia and mom Laury. Ho Ho Ho and a Merry Christmas. I think I'll stick to being a pastor, cuz the beard really bothers me.

Here I am with one of our adopted families. The people of our church really pulled together and provided these kids the Best Christmas Ever! Plus we shared the gospel of Christ with them with the "Evangecube".

Can There Ever Be Peace on Earth?

I have a son whose Christmas List always has "Peace on Earth" at the very top. We have never been able to get him that gift for Christmas.

This song by Jars of Clay is a very haunting Christmas Song. If you are like me I am concerned for my seven grandchildren and the world they will be growing up in. In 60 years what will this world be like? What conflicts and terrorist threats will they be facing? One thing is certain, peace will never come until Jesus Christ reigns from Jerusalem. He alone is the Prince of Peace. He alone can bring peace to wayward hearts.

A Little to Give So Much to Gain

Well, our church met our goal for Lottie Moon. We set an ambitious goal of $2,500. We met it early even, on Dec 16th. A young man in our youth group, Matt Ellifritt, had volunteered his scalp as an incentive to surpass the goal. We went $500 over our goal, enough to see that Matt got shaved at the end of our worship service. The extra money will go toward our youth mission trip in the summer. Praise the Lord and pass the clippers.

The Ice Man Cometh

Well the ice storm that wasn't came on Sunday Dec 9. Most every church in Belton and Peculiar canceled. I chose not to cancel. One of those little maxims that guides my life kicked in. If people can get to work and go shopping, we shouldn't cancel church. Sure enough, we got sleet instead of ice. A lot of people stayed home, but we had 21 people for a combined Sunday school class and 25 for worship. We even had two returning visitors as well as one new guest who brought his 6 week old daughter. He had not been to church in a year and is wanting to re-connect with fellow believers. Parenthood tends to bring that out in us. We had a great time of singing and worshiping the Lord. The fellowship was really great.

I left praising God for having been in His house.

If you are interested, here is the sermon on anxiety that I preached.

The ice man is still around however. He started hitting us last night (Tuesday). We had to cancel our ladies Christmas Tea and ornament exchange. The men had to cancel our broken tool exchange. I was really looking forward to getting rid of a couple broken pliers.

How to Deal With Anxiety

It's funny, here I have just uploaded my sermon and powerpoint for tomorrow, and the weatherman is forecasting a major 1/2" ice storm. Already the side streets are iced over. I guess I should be anxious and all worried. Funny, I'm preaching from Phil 4:4-9, about how to deal with ANXIETY! Ironic isn't it? My wife (she will deny this if you ask her) is telling me to call off church. I even had a call from a member about what the procedure is for bad weather. Being the macho manly Pastor I said there is no procedure.

I will be at church. I don't cancel church.

I will leave an hour early in order to get there if I have to.
Am I being stupid? Am I being senselessly brave? Am I trying to make people feel they are a lesser mortal? I don't know. I just don't think we should cancel morning worship. Sunday night or Wednesday may be OK from time to time, but never Sunday morning.
Am I all anxious about tomorrow? Surprisingly not. If I make it to church I make it. If I'm stuck in a ditch somewhere, it won't be that far to walk. I guess I'll wear socks just in case. If anyone shows up, we'll have a living sermon on dealing with anxiety. Aren't those the ones that really impact us?