YUCK!

Well, I feel like Greg Kendall-Ball........I'm telling you about a new computer. We got our desk tops taken away from us, and now I have a brand new HP laptop. Yeah, I HATE it. Like the dude said in "City Slickers"......"if hate were people, I would be China!" I feel like the folks in our fellowship that gripe and say "What's wrong with the old songs!" :) Change in computers is NOT what I signed up for today. But, this too shall pass and I will adjust. Such is life. I will give you two guesses which key I am hitting the most.......I hit it no less than 10 times during this ONE SENTENCE....yeah, the "backspace" key. The person who invented that key is a life-saver, huh?

Those of you who know my dad know of his health issues. I won't go into all that history right now, but I am going home today because he is in the hospital with an infection in his leg.....and mom needs help. Please keep him and my mom in your prayers.

I saw "A Few Good Men" for the umpteenth time last night on TNT. One line jumped out at me. At the end when Downey is saying "we didn't do anything wrong", Dawson responds by saying "yeah we did........we were supposed to take care of those who couldn't take care of themselves, and we didn't do that". Sounds a lot like Matthew 25 to me.

That is why I appreciate the Larry James and the Lowell Myers more and more everyday!
Their lives are ALL ABOUT helping those who can't help themselves.

See ya next week.

Belief vs Conviction

I can't remember who I heard say this, but sometime within the past 5 or 6 years I heard someone say this nugget that has stayed with me: "belief is something that you hold, conviction is something that holds you". That is a precious jewel to me.
So, what are some things you believe, and what are some things you are convicted about? My guess is that your conviction list is shorter than your belief list. Is it possible to be convicted about your beliefs? I sure hope so. I am convicted about the belief that my family loves me. But, I can promise you there are some things that I believe that I am NOT all that convicted about.

Conviction vs belief.......belief vs conviction.........either way, it is an interesting concept.

What say you?

Theology

My trip to NE Oklahoma was a good one, but it is always great to be back home! I went with Greg and Jill Taylor to eat at "Billy Sims Barbeque". That particular Heisman Trophy winner and Sooner star might out-date some of you. The food was good, but the company was much better! Greg and Jill will be a blessing to the family at Garnett, no doubt.

Here is a quote from the book "Christ Plays In Ten Thousand Places: A Conversation In Spiritual Theology" by Eugene Peterson. I'll leave the quote with you without any comments, applications, or suggestions. I'll leave that part up to you!


"The single most important thing to understand in spiritual theology is that it is not about theology ... it is a cultivated disposition to live theology."

Random Thoughts Before Hitting the Road Again

Headed out for Northeast Oklahoma tomorrow, so I won't be posting for a few days. I am excited about getting to spend some time with my brother Greg Taylor at his new position at Garnett. Nashville's loss is our gain.

Congrats to Tiger in winning the British Open.....again. Wasn't it nice to see Freddie Couples doing really good again? And Big John Daly was in the middle of it for most of the tournament.

Congrats to Jermaine Taylor from Little Rock for winning the World Middle-Weight Championship on Saturday night. His story is an inspiring one.

Football season is around the corner! YIPPEE! That means cooler weather is also coming.....just not soon enough. I gotta think this is Bama's year. Come to think of it, when have I NOT gone into a season thinking that it was Bama's year? :)

Finally, I just want all of you to know what a blessing it is to be a family member at Downtown! God for sure is moving in the lives of the believers in that fellowship, and I feel SO blessed to be a witness to what HE is doing. I hope all of you feel the same way about the group of people you call your spiritual family.

God is so good, isn't He?

I Won't Be Tutsi Anymore

I finally rented "Hotel Rwanda" last night. I was really glad I had read quite a bit about it before I watched the movie. I think I remember reading about this particular incident in "We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families: Stories of Rwanda" but the scene that really knocked me for a loop was when the Red Cross volunteer told the story of the little girl who was about to be murdered hollering out "I promise I won't be Tutsi anymore". That just really hit my heart very hard. I just can't imagine hearing that in real life instead of a movie. I hope by the grace of God that the parents did NOT have to hear those cries for help.

Can you think of a situation that might even come close to putting you in that kind of hellish nightmare? I can't. I suppose I should feel blessed, but that is not my response right now. I am angry. And I got a lot of questions that can't be answered except by Him. Yes, I still have the "I believe in YOU" kind of faith, but it doesn't keep the anger from showing up, and the questions from being asked.

800,000 lives in 100 days. All because of "tribe".

"I promise I won't be Tutsi anymore".

"I Believe in YOU" week

It was great to be on vacation for a week! YES, of course I missed reading the blogs while I was away. But I found out you can catch up on what you missed fairly easy. Being with my brother and his family is ALWAYS a blast! I wish I could see him and them more often. More importantly, having MY family (Jan, Matt, and Luke) all together for a few days is like Heaven to me. So it's been a blessed week.

It also has very much been an "I believe in YOU" week for us, and for many of you too. I don't understand how people can be so full of hate that they kill innocent people, especially children. "I believe in YOU". I don't understand how a gun can go off by accident and kill a wonderful mom and wife in Little Rock and leave an empty place in a family and faith community. "I believe in YOU". I don't know how a good friend hangs on to his fragile marriage....."I believe in YOU". I don't understand why hurricanes and tornadoes have to kill innocent lives. "I believe in YOU". Jan and I volunteered at the local Christian Health Ministry yesterday. It won't be the last time, because it was such a blessing. But you want to talk about your down and out, and people at their ropes end......literally. People that you can see written all over their faces and in their hopeless eyes.......that life is a drudgery and all hope has faded away a long time ago. I don't understand why it has to be this way for SO many people. "I believe in YOU".

Jesus said something to the effect of "when I am lifted up, I will draw all men to myself". I know he was talking in the context of the Resurrection here, but like so many other times, I think his words had more than one application. I for sure believe that if we lift Him up, HE will draw all people to himself and eternal life. That's why I can stand beside our sister Martha in the midst of all these things we don't understand and say "I believe in YOU!"

That keeps me going. How about you?

Sacred Cows and Disney World

My buddy Chris Gonzalez has been hitting it out of the park with his recent blog posts about "Smells like Church Spirit"! If you have missed them, go get caught up.
One minute you will be grabbing your side from laughing so hard, and the next minute you will be on your knees asking for forgiveness. Here is the web site address, and please don't waste your time in the comments section trying to teach me how to do it where it is a link where all you have to do is click on it. That would be too easy and I am old school.........you gotta work for it here baby! :)

http://homefront.blogspot.com/

One line from his post today just grabbed me around the throat and it still has me. Here is the sentence: "My loyalty to God and depth of spirituality was measured by the degree to which I could defend those fat sacred cows." You know what sacred cows he was talking about.......no need to digress any further by naming them. The part that probably bothers me the most is that the criteria of defending sacred cows is STILL the measuring stick for how "strong" or how "sound" you are as a Christian amongst many of us today. Am I mistaken? Chris used past tense language when he said "was", but I know congregations and "leaders" who would use that criteria today. Is it as prevalent? Probably not. Thank God. But I contend it's STILL there. If you don't believe me, go "Google" some names of ministers that you know are not old school or institutional mind-set guys. It's not for the faint of heart, there are some ugly things being written all under the umbrella of defending sacred cows.

I heard at the PU Lectures this year that a few years ago Disney World did an exit interview and found out people were leaving the theme park disappointed. No kidding! Can you imagine that? Me either, but it happened. Guess what they were down about? They enjoyed the rides and other frills, but they had also come to see ONE person and hadn't seen him. Who in the world would that be? Yep, Mickey Mouse! DUH! People were let down when they had spent all that money and spent all that time, and yet at the end of the day walked away without seeing Mickey. So, they brain-stormed about how they could solve this dilema. If they put him at both main entrances, some kid might have a stroke when he came in one gate and saw Mickey and then took the tram over to the other gate and saw Mickey again in about 5 minutes. They couldn't rock some kids world with him or her finding out there wasn't just ONE Mickey. So here is what they decided to do. Every day at Disney World there is a parade. One guess as to who the Grand Marshall is! If you are at Disney World and attend the parade, it's a done deal you are going to get to see the ONE PERSON you came to see.....Mickey Mouse!

Who are hurting people coming to see when they come to our churches? As crazy as it might sound, it's not our "sacred cows". There is ONE PERSON they want to see, and He is the one person that has the answer they are searching for. They want to see JESUS, and we better make sure they see Him the first time they come.....even if it takes a parade. We don't need them to leave disappointed that they saw a lot of good things, but they never saw the Savior. It won't matter that we are "unique and distinct" if they don't encounter the Christ. Some have suggested that we need to shut our doors if we quit being unique and distinct.........wrong. We need to shut them when people who come to find Jesus leave disappointed and end up going to AA to find Him.

Headed to vacation land next week, so no more bloggin for a while! This addiction is strong, so I'll probably encounter some rehab while I am gone. Hope everybody has a WONDERFUL 4th!