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Healing

Tuesday, February 16th, 2016

Before you get your undies in a bunch, this will not be a “Is he for it or is he against it?” post.

Sorry.

Over the weekend I finished #Struggles by Craig Groeschel. (Thanks to Sunday afternoon’s snow) I’ve written some posts based on it recently. His conclusive remarks made me stop and take notice. I am not a social media “freak.” I don’t do FB, Tweet, Pin, Snap (except to occasionally say it), or any of the other myriad options. I blog. When I am home I check my mail on my phone (since I don’t have a computer at home). I listen to YouTube, where I have a playlist of my favorite artists, when I do my puzzles or ride my bike inside.

I say I have other things which give me enough trouble without adding more time-consuming playthings to my already full time schedule. Craig reminded me of the #struggles we all have, but he didn’t leave me hanging. I’d like to share three thoughts with you which come from his book. He takes his thoughts from John 5:1-15. Here they are:

  1. The longer a problem persists, the more discouraged you become. Any addict will tell you this. I’ve read enough and known enough people who want to break the chain of addiction (to anything) that discouragement becomes a very real issue.
  2. The longer a problem persists, the more excuses you make. Gotcha on that one Craig. Excuses become our “go to” mechanism. The way I see it excuses also become harder and harder to come up with. We start wondering, “Have I used that one before?”
  3. The longer a problem persists, the more you learn to compensate. When I was a sophomore in college I came back to school during the Christmas break on crutches. A badly sprained ankle, which probably included some ligament damage, made it impossible to walk, let alone play. Yet, 2 weeks later I was limping up and down the court, shooting off one foot, rebounding off one leg…then I visited the chiropractor that summer when I couldn’t bend over. (And I still visit one to this day). Compensation hurt me big time.

I like what Craig writes: “You cannot change what you are willing to tolerate.” (p.198).  Is it time for you to clean some house? I’m going to get my Shop-vac. That sucks it up nice and strong.

War

Monday, November 16th, 2015

Several years ago the church’s peace, calm and “settled-for existence” was shattered by a war.  It was a war of such magnitude the stained glass windows of traditional pipe-organ churches were rattled; the foundations of many of the “tried-and-true” denominations were shaken; it brought out the pundits to condemn and criticize endlessly; and it brought about both cries for help and also cries of revival.

The war?

It was given the title “Worship Wars.”

For those of us involved in the church sides were taken. “How dare they bring that new music into the church?” vs. “We heard this new song and it has excellent lyrics. Here listen!” The new music was either embraced or rejected. Depending on which one determined which side of the “worship war” you were on.

I will say it up front. I like the new music. I like music that moves my heart and moves me. (I don’t dance so that is not what I’m talking about). I like music with a beat. I also like music that slows down some.

What I don’t like is sameness. Same order. Same songs. Same beat/rhythm. Same 4 verses & chorus arrangement. I’m not a pipe organ fan by any stretch. I’m not a hymn person and singing songs in worship which are not worship songs at all (Beyond the Sunset, When the Roll is Call Up Yonder, In the Garden, etc).

What I really dislike in sameness is doing the same thing each week. It is so ingrained in some churches that you would think Lucifer appeared if the order is changed.

Only two prerequisites were required to worship and they are straight from Jesus’ mouth: “Those who worship must worship in spirit and in truth.” Worship must be from the heart and centered around God’s revealed truth. That can happen with hymns or it can happen singing Chris Tomlin.

The only thing worth “fighting” for is for the fame of God’s Name. That is to be the purpose of worship anyway. The style of music and the order of worship can be varied. Just don’t mess with giving glory to Him.

Your thoughts?

This is part of my ongoing and random posts on this book:

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Stone23

Tuesday, November 3rd, 2015

Incubation.

Such a not-so-nice-sounding word. It congers up pictures of babies in shell-like containers, often with wires and tubes everywhere.

This past Sunday we had a son, Owen Franklin, born to a family in the church. He has had trouble breathing so only mom has been able to hold him and that has only been in the Special Care Unit of the hospital. Two sisters and a brother (especially the younger sister) have not been able to hold him or get close to him. And yes it is killing them.

I was able to see him through the window Monday. Not hooked up to tubes and not encased in a shell, but still receiving excellent care as he gets stronger. I won’t call it complete incubation…just partial.

My grandson just got a tortoise for his birthday. It is supposed to get to be 100 pounds and live 65 years. Oh…WOW! Right now it is like he is living in an incubator. Two different kinds of lights (day and night). The right food. The right environment.

Randy contends in Stone 23 that “each church is to be an incubator.” No church is to be an end in itself.  There are far too many people who think that is all there is. The purpose of a church is to reproduce. It is not to keep people down or strapped to tubes (legalism). Every church is to be an incubator, being used to lead people to Jesus, not make decisions on our own.

This is a random post based on this book.

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Stone22

Wednesday, October 21st, 2015

Without a doubt, cultures are different.  What works in one culture won’t work in another. We might hear something like, “If we would copy the New Testament church and do things the way they did we would be able to say we have ‘gone back to the Bible.'” One word: unrealistic. I know. I said it.

As Bob Dylan sang: “The times they are a changing.”

What works in one church doesn’t work in another. What worked several years ago is now passe’.

What hasn’t changed down through the years, though, has been the constant attempt (translated: sometimes forcing a guilt trip on people) trying to get people more involved. It is laudable. It is important. No, make that essential. But it appears many churches are facing or have accepted that it is a losing battle.

We are not producing worshipers in this country. Rather, we are producing a generation of spectators, religious onlookers lacking, in many cases, any memory of a true encounter with God, deprived of both the tangible sense of God’s presence and the supernatural relationship their inmost spirits crave. (Prodigal Church-p.1-3-204)

Randy would certainly agree. That is what Stone22 is about-accepting church is just an audience. I might add: a spectator sport. A body best functions when all its parts are working together, supporting each other. When riding my bike, a cranky right knee which has caused some atrophy (and loss of strength), is causing the left leg and thigh to pick up the slack.

Church is to be the same. Not a spectator sport where we all stand around while a few do the job, but an involvement where everyone pitches in.

If you attend a church, I do hope you are pitching in and “pulling your weight.”

This post is based on a series of random posts based on this book.

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Stone21

Tuesday, October 6th, 2015

Physical discipline is the only form of punishment.

So says some legalists. So says Stone 21 which Randy is refuting.

Don’t believe it? Ask Westboro. They flaunt those stupid signs which say, “God Hates Fags” and protest veterans’ funerals who die in combat. Why? Because they believe their death is the result of God meting out His vengeance and punishment upon American soldiers for America’s drift to okay homosexuality. While I have my personal belief about the morality of homosexuality (which is not the point of this post), I TOTALLY DISAGREE with Westboro that a soldier dies as punishment. In fact, I will go on record and say, “That is a bunch of crock!”

David committed sin with Bathsheba. The ramifications of that were felt down through the years. His loss of joy (not physical). The rape of his daughter by a heathen. The subsequent killing of that man by Absalom. The revolt of Absalom against his father. The eventual death of Absalom and David’s mourning. Chastisement and judgment comes in many and varied ways.

A wayward father who loses the love of his family. The drug-addled teen who loses his mind. The late night computer visits by a mom who decides to leave her family in the lurch. The devastation brought on by sin is ravenous but also different. No size fits all. Consequences of foolish choices happen.

The reality is this: no matter how discipline or chastisement happens it is a sobering thing.

This is one of my random posts from this book. What do you think?

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Stone 20

Tuesday, September 29th, 2015

I wanted to call this External but decided to stay with my “Stone” heading as I make my way through this book with random posts.

Randy begins this Stone with two stories-one personal and one which made me want to upchuck. His personal example was from when they moved to Oslo to serve as missionary church planters. They were young and legalistic and made their narrow views known when introduced to men with long hair and women wearing slacks.

His “upchuck” story came from a church event where a young couple walked into the church- she wearing sandals, snug fitting jeans and a pullover blouse which revealed a bit of a midriff; he with shoulder-length hair, wearing black leather pants, and sporting tattoos all over his upper arm. The pastor’s topic was “Carnality” and to emphasize his point he used them as a reference to his topic. They never attended again. (Neither would I).

“Judgments-based on externals-like the two samples above are often skewed and misappropriated, not to mention destructive.” (p.111)

It is within us to render judgments based on externals. We have ALL done it. Colored hair. Freaky makeup. Short skirts. Long flowing hair (on men). Tats up the arms (either sex). The list goes on and on.

The point: just because we all do it DOES NOT MAKE IT RIGHT! I, least of all, have nothing to brag about. True: I don’t have long hair (no comment)…but I wish. I don’t have any tats (I honor my wife with that). I wear jeans and t-shirt/buttoned shirt to preach in. Gasp! You mean no tie? E-X-A-C-T-L-Y!! I wear one to marry and bury.

I’m going to be totally honest with you. I have better things to do than care about externals. I’m glad they are sitting in one of our chairs! I’m going to agree with Randy with his final words: “Again, maybe we should look harder and closer at people’s lives before we categorize, name call, and pronounce judgment simply because of what is seen on the outside.”  (p.114)

‘Nuff said.

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Stone19

Tuesday, September 29th, 2015

Life has happened so I have been somewhat invisible the past few days. That means, of course, very little interactivity here or anywhere else.

I remember as a teenager I had an almost every Sunday ritual. At the invitation during church, I would walk forward to “rededicate” my life. I was convicted over the fact I was not living the way I perceived a Christian was supposed to live so I did the only thing I knew to do: walk forward and “rededicate.” I look back now at the foolishness of that, but partly blame the folks around me for those actions.

Why? Because I like to blame others?

No.

Because no one took me aside and said, “Bill, everyone is going to struggle. Everyone is going to sin. You don’t need to “walk the aisle” every Sunday. Confess your sin on a daily basis. Use the Communion time to refresh your heart.”

I didn’t know any better. I was just a hormone-filled teenager struggling with a whole bunch of junk and being told “God only uses clean vessels.” Say what? If that is the case, I’m still in trouble. Even Isaiah recognized the sinfulness within and pleaded for the cleansing touch of God.

Frankly, if God only uses clean or “righteous” vessels, we are all in trouble. The only vessels I know are chipped and marred, smudged and filthy. But still usable. I call that GRACE.

Any thoughts?

This is part of my random posts based on this book.

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Stone17

Monday, September 14th, 2015

This Present Darkness started it for me. Piercing the Darkness continued it. Ephesians 6:12 sealed it.

The presence and working of demonic forces was not a high thing on my “let’s consider this” priority list. I knew about the armor in Ephesians 6 but didn’t really take it much further. In fact, I have to admit basic ignorance to the whole spiritual warfare thing. I knew demons were real. I even did a study/paper on them in college. But the reality of warfare just did a whoop (*sign of hand passing over top of head*).

But then I read the two aforementioned books. I read again in Ephesians 6 and for the first time understood the seriousness of our battle.

There is a danger in this. In fact, it became a very real danger. When Mr. Peretti wrote his two books, he wrote them as fiction. Fiction! Not non-fiction. But people began looking for demons behind every crack, every door, on every shoulder. Demons became the scapegoat for everything bad. They were given names. The Demon of bad choices. The Demon of Lust. The Demon of Jealousy. Etc. Literal demons mind you.

Truth is: demons do exist. Our true enemies are not human; they are forces of darkness. Therefore, the battle cannot be won by weapons of modern warfare. So says Ephesians 6:12.

Remember our enemy is not of the fleshly variety. Our enemy is the unseen sinister spirit working behind the scene where we can’t see it.

This is an ongoing series of posts I am posting randomly from this book.

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Stone16

Wednesday, September 9th, 2015

If you are like me you are tired of hearing about some girl named Ashley Madison. I just read today about a professor/pastor who committed suicide because his name was on the list.

I’m sorry for bringing that “lady” up in this post but it does give me a way to introduce my thoughts on this stone. It is easy to set people up as idols, as people who are bigger than life, only to watch them fall from the pedestal we have put them on. I’m not denying the whole idea of higher moral expectations we do and should place upon leaders in the Christian community, but for someone to take their own life because of shame is beyond comprehension. I can’t understand the devastation the exposure caused to him and what his family must be feeling right now.

The real tragedy is we set people up for a fall when we idolize. Sin doesn’t happen overnight. Giving into temptation doesn’t happen overnight. No one wakes up and says to themselves, “Well, self, let’s destroy my life and those around me today.” For something to happen like this it had to have been festering for awhile in the heart. An affair festers in the heart. It may have started with pornography, with an “innocent” chat at the water cooler or office, a passing comment, or some other form of interaction. Soon the seed planted in the heart becomes an overgrown weed.

I’m drawn to Jesus’ interaction with the woman caught in adultery in John 8. But more with the hypocritical Pharisees who dragged her to Jesus with accusations flying. His response to her ought to be ours. GRACE. No stones. Perhaps if we started looking at the blackness of our own heart we might not be so judgmental when it comes to others.

Any thoughts? This is part of my random posts based on this book.

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Consider

Wednesday, August 26th, 2015

I’ve been reading The Emotionally Destructive Relationship (EDR) by Leslie Vernick the past week or so. I have found it slow-going, not because the book isn’t good but my schedule is whacked right now. I had a few moments to sit down and read some on Tuesday night and read the following two thoughts. I share them with you for your consideration.

First some background: Leslie is writing about the consequences of an EDR and its effect upon an individual. Under Emotional Effects she wrote this:

Here’s a good rule of thumb: If you’re in a relationship that lacks mutual caring, safety, honesty, or respect, and you regularly feel anxiety, fear, shame, anger, or despair, then your emotions are warning you that you are in a destructive relationship.  (p.51)

Under Generational Effects:

Children learn how to see themselves, others, the world, and even God through their parents’ eyes and actions. Children pick up on what makes life worth living for through the behaviors they witness at home, including destructive behaviors or attitudes not directed toward them. For example, many young boys living in homes where their fathers abuse their mothers learn that men have more power than women do. They observe that the way to get what they want is to threaten, force, or hit someone. They may even think God entitles them to act this way because they’re men…” (p.58)

I actually used the latter one in a conversation Wednesday with someone. It also comes down to breaking the cycle. it starts with me, with you, with our children, with those we know whom we can teach and model for.

What are your thought?